Hello Neil,Neil Hulme wrote: While I'm plugging the book (only a few copies now left before it sells out), there's some discussion of how the risk spreading provided by split diapause timing in Small Tortoiseshell (thread: Early hibernation?; Simon-in-Kent) may have been affected by huge changes in the phenology of this species (p.199).
BWs, Neil
The Small Tortoiseshell's sensitivity to climate change.
Over the last few years in Lincolnshire, the over-wintered Spring Small Tortoiseshells, generally, have been noticeably fresher in appearance than those seen 2013 & 2014, when I lived in the South (Surrey). This butterfly is very special, in that it is annually 'double brooded' and over-wintered as an adult (imago).
I think that the emergence times of the over-wintering adults and time in flight before hibernation, can dramatically affect the species performance in the Spring.
Kind Regards, Philip