Thanks Goldie, Wurzel and David, much appreciated
Wurzel wrote: ↑Thu Dec 15, 2022 8:29 pm
...Is Grafton Wood easy to find - I've got in-laws that live in Worcester so I'm trying to convince my wife that we need to visit them
Quite easy Wurzel although there is a walk from the car park. Take the A422 west from Worcester and look for the turn off for Grafton Flyford. Head for the church where there is space for parking. You then need to take the public footpath through the farmyard and follow the path over the fields to the wood.
Looking back at 2022 part 3 – Late Summer into Autumn.
The last day of July saw us going up to the Arnside/Silverdale area for a few days. The main reason for this trip was to catch up with Scotch Argus as I had not seen this species since before covid struck, in fact my last visit up this way was in June 2019 which was to see other species and was obviously far too early for Scotch Argus.
As is our usual practice on our trips to this area, we arrived with a few hours to spare before we could check in to our B&B and so we called in at Warton Crag. We had left the midlands under thick cloud and on our way up had driven through a couple of heavy downpours as well as some nice sunny spells. As we went further north the general scenery became much greener than back home and it was obvious that there had been more rain up that way, something that was confirmed in a number of conversations over the next few days. This really brought home to us how much our weather can vary in different parts of the country and some people up there were rather disparaging about the media coverage of ‘the drought’. Their opinion was that they had seen a bit less rainfall than usual but they were more concerned about the almost constant cloud, something we also saw a lot of during our few days along with it being quite windy.
Anyway, Warton Crag produced plenty of the usual suspects, these mostly being Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns with a scattering of Common Blues and Brimstone plus a few Small Tortoiseshells and a couple each of Peacock and Painted Lady. I also saw my first couple of Graylings for 2022 and a surprise White-letter Hairstreak.
- Painted lady - Warton Crag 31.07.2022
- Grayling - Warton Crag 31.07.2022
- White-letter Hairstreak - Warton Crag 31.07.2022
With time still to spare we carried on to Arnside Knott where I found a couple of dozen Scotch Argus in the usual spots. Both males and females were flying with some already looking worn and faded although nice fresh looking examples were easy to find with this being still quite early in their flight period here.
- Scotch Argus - Arnside Knott 31.07.2022
During a couple more visits to Arnside Knott, I saw plenty more Scotch Argus along with a few worn and faded Dark Green Fritillaries. The DGF females were mostly in better condition than the few males that I saw that really were on their last legs.
- Dark Green Fritillary - Arnside Knott 03.08.2022
On my previous visits up this way, I have often managed to see a High Brown Fritillary or two, although these were often a bit worn by this time. On my visit on August 1st I initially concentrated on the lower areas where I had seen these before and was rewarded with a nice female that was still if fairly good condition. I did see a another possible HBF in another part of the knott on the next day but couldn’t get close enough to be absolutely sure.
- High Brown Fritillary - Arnside Knott 01.08.2022
Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers were seen in good numbers along with Graylings which were mostly around the areas of loose scree. There were also plenty of Small Skippers, some of which were surprisingly fresh looking for this time of the season…although it must be remembered that some species do fly later up here than in the south.
- Gatekeeper female ab. excessa - Arnside Knott 31.07.2022
- Small Skipper - Arnside Knott 31.07.2022
Another surprise for this trip was a Brown Hairstreak seen up on Arnside Knott after a tip off from a couple of other enthusiast that had seen one (or maybe two) up here. This turned out to be the only Brown Hairstreak that I saw this year as, back home, the circumstances previously mentioned preventing me having the time to see any more.
- Brown Hairstreak - Arnside Knott 03.08.2022
Back home in the second week of August, Common Blues and Small Coppers were flying at the local spots that I managed to visit although only small numbers of both species were seen.
- Small Copper - Wagon Lane 09.08.2022
- Common Blue - Wagon Lane 09.08.2022
Gatekeepers were looking tired now and Meadow Browns had all but finished around here, as had the skippers.
Lots of Whites were around with Green-veined easily outnumbering Small and Large Whites still only being seen occasionally.
Speckled Woods had been seen constantly seen through the summer and late August saw a definite upsurge in fresh ones emerging.
Most of August had been a warm month here with some very warm days in the middle of the moth although we had a lot of cloud, usually increasing through the day after clear nights. By the end of the month and into September we started to have a lot more rain, often in the form of thunderstorms.
Following one such thunderstorm on the night of Sunday 4th September, we set out for another couple of days down at Sarah’s in Emsworth. We saw loads more rain on the way down but on our arrival in Emsworth it began to brighten up and with some blue skies heading in for the afternoon I decided to make the most of it and have a look around Thorney Island.
As the clouds thinned and more blue sky appeared, it became quite warm and more and more butterflies appeared as I ventured along the perimeter path down to the southern end of Thorney. These were mainly Speckled Wood and Small White to start with but as I went further along the path they were joined by Small Heaths and a few Red Admirals as well as a couple each of Comma and Small Copper.
I was hoping to catch up with Clouded Yellows here, this often being a good spot for these and was therefore pleased to catch up with a few down at the southern end, including a nice female helice.
- Clouded Yellow female helice - Thorney Island 05.09.2022
Apparently, Clouded Yellows had a good year and in some notable cases were seen in large numbers in fields and herbal leys around the country, including one in Warwickshire, but these on Thorney turned out to be the only ones I would see in 2022.
We had a spectacular thunderstorm that night and after a dull start to the next morning (Tuesday Sept. 6th) a visit to Old Winchester Hill produced second brood Adonis Blues and half a dozen or so Silver-spotted Skippers, both species mostly looking past their best now.
- Adonis Blue - Old Winchester Hill 06.09.2022
- Silver-spotted Skipper - Old Winchester Hill 06.09.2022
Also past their best were a small number of really knackered looking Chalk Hill Blues with this being the only occasion I saw this species this year.
Back home in mid-September, thing were winding down fast with just a few Speckled Wood and Small Whites being seen.
The last butterflies that I photographed in 2022 were singles each of Speckled Wood, Comma and Red Admiral that appeared in my garden on 23rd September and spent some time around the flowering Ivy when the sun came out.
- Speckled Wood - Coverdale 23.09.2022
- Comma - Coverdale 23.09.2022
Other than that, we had a lot of cloud and rain here in the later part of September and then going into October with the last butterflies seen being a couple of well-worn Speckled Woods that just about hung on into the second week October.
So then, a strange year in many respects, not least the fact that I couldn’t get about as much as in previous years which obviously mean that for a lot of species I cannot really make accurate comparisons with previous years.
After a dry spring, the summer saw some very hot weather with record breaking temperatures in some parts, although we never saw the magic 40 degrees that some experienced. I believe the highest temperature recorded locally was 38.5c which is still well above normal. We also saw a lot of cloud around here at times, seemingly a lot more than further south, although not as much as I was told about up around the Arnside area.
Some species, most notably those flying during the warmest and driest periods, appeared to have shorter flight periods than usual. Also, the dry conditions caused a lot of desiccation of foodplants as the summer progressed and it remains to be seen how this will affect numbers next year.
For me, the season fizzled out rapidly in mid-September with just a few butterflies hanging on into October as described above.
That completes my look back at my 2022 season and it just remains for me to wish everyone a...
Merry Christmas
and a
Happy New Year.
