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No. 38 NEWSLETTER Winter 1997

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

 

Inland Sea Horses
 

This is positively the last reference I will make to my daughter’s early Saturday morning horse riding lessons. It had been hot and sunny, a number of days before 19th July. All the blue linseed fields in the Stourbridge area had lost their colour, all that is except the West facing field between High Lodge Stables and Bunkers Hill Wood. Presumably it must have been a late sowing, it was also in 'set-aside' last year which might have some relevance that for the moment is lost on me given the topic of this article.

Recording for the Millennium Atlas, I gradually became aware of steady numbers of Green Veined Whites all flying directly East towards the sun from the field at a height of circa 8 feet. On reaching the boundary all stopped, half turned back, and the rest immediately dropped down to nectar. All eventually returned to the linseed. The low numbers of Small White and Large White all came from different directions. After 15 minutes I realized that a pattern was emerging and started to look at the blue field with more interest, this included collecting a pair of binoculars from the car.

Again it took me time to appreciate the scene. Across the whole field I was witnessing slow but regular waves of white emerging out of the depths. The butterflies just reached the surface and immediately started sinking back down again, it was only the odd one that forgot to dive back and it was those I had originally counted. Each wave numbered between 10 and 20 and I conservatively logged 170 green veined whites for the Atlas, though this figure could well have approached 300. I did not notice any butterflies on the linseed flower, so presumably they were not nectaring.

So all you experts I would love an explanation for this phenomenon, also has anyone got an example of a similar occurrence.

Final Thought:

There is a lot to be said for stationary butterfly watching. I would never have noticed the linseed sea horses on a normal walk, but I do not want this to be an excuse for you to stop tetrad bashing. Countryside pubs with good outside gardens might also be able to adapt this article into their promotions and yes I am open to offers of free beer.

Richard Southwell

 

Book Review

Butterflies of Britain & Europe by Tom Tolman and Richard Lewington
published by Harper Collins at £17.99

The new Collins Field Guide to the Butterflies of Britain & Europe is now in the shops and would make an ideal Xmas present for the aspiring butterfly buff, especially those whose horizons extend to butterflying on the continent. This new guide is an overdue replacement to the former Collins classic by Higgins and Riley first published in 1970 which has travelled in many a butterfly fanatic’s rucksack on their European travels over the past 25 years but is now showing its age. While following a broadly similar format, the new publication shows some marked improvements over the old.

First and foremost, the species accounts are bang up to date and provide additional information on life histories, foodplants and, in some instances, behaviour; all of which, of course, can assist with identification. Maps showing distribution are now incorporated within the species accounts rather than appearing separately as was the case with Higgins and Riley, which is much more user friendly and should help with speedier identification of those all so similar Blues and Fritillaries. Unfortunately, the colour plates (more than a 100) are, like its predecessor, plonked in the centre of the book which means a lot of thumbing backwards and forwards between the plates and the text. As we have come to expect from Richard Lewington, however, the plates are of an extremely high standard and there has been a conscious effort to group together similar species which should aid the task of identification. Two introductory plates serve to illustrate the characteristics of the main families of butterflies to be found in Europe and should be of help to the beginner. Butterfly twitchers will also no doubt appreciate the addition of a full checklist of European butterflies with accompanying tick boxes.

All in all, then, a worthy successor to Higgins and Riley and a book that will no doubt prove essential packing to the European traveller well into the next century.

* Butterfly Conservation members can obtain a £2 reduction on this price by using the order form in the Autumn issue of Butterfly Conservation News.

Mike Williams