Long-tailed Blue ALERT

[Neil Hulme]

Long-tailed Blue ALERT

From the BC Sussex website (webmaster Martin Kalaher):

Long-tailed Blue ALERT: I have received two messages which I am sure will be of great interest to the membership. The first as follows: "There are good numbers of LTB eggs in a number of private gardens in an East Sussex locality. Several are already hatched, and I would guess these were laid very late June to very early July".

The second message is from Neil Hulme, and he replies: "The species was observed egg-laying at Freshwater (IOW) on 27 June and one was seen in a Storrington garden on 29 June. Although one or two earlier sightings are made in the years when LTB reaches our shores (particularly since 2013), the main influx usually occurs from the second week in August onwards. However, it appears that an earlier shift northward may have occurred this year, in response to the extreme (record-breaking) heatwave experienced in Spain this spring. Eggs laid along the South Coast at the start of July could produce a significant number of homegrown adults at the start of August, leaving plenty of time (both in terms of day-length and foodplant availability) for a second brood on British soil, which if proven, would be a first. This would represent another new chapter in the species' developing status as a regular migrant to the UK, in response to a warming climate."

[bugboy]

Ooooh, I can already hear the shouts of "released, released" from various Facebook groups

Could this potentially lead to a secondary northward migration from these 'first brooders'?

[Neil Freeman]

Ooooh, I can already hear the shouts of "released, released" from various Facebook groups

Well, at least Long-tailed Blue is a species with recognised migratory habits, unlike Black-veined Whites which as far as I am aware is normally sedentary in nature.
This just illustrates the problems caused by the irresponsible unauthorised releases all over the place, the blurring of what is genuine and what is not. I saw one guy the other day on one of the larger Facebook groups who was quite proud of the fact that he has raised hundreds (according to him) of Painted Ladies from those caterpillar kits you can buy and released them all around his area.

Could this potentially lead to a secondary northward migration from these 'first brooders'?

I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

LTBs have been thin on the ground in the Alps & Pyrenees this last couple of weeks.

It'll be interesting to see if the UK experiences another invasion as numbers down here don't suggest any potential for it.

[ClaireB]

I've bought a new camera battery in anticipation of their arrival!

A Four-spotted moth arrived in my garden last week after the storms, so perhaps other visitors won't be far behind.

[Neil Hulme]

Events have unfolded very much as predicted. The early wave of LTB arrivals (making landfall in the last days of June and early July) has produced an atypically early crop of Sussex-born adults in early August, some of which have been seen mating (both male and female being pristine, e.g. Lancing Ring on 10 August). Had the weather not collapsed in early July, I suspect many more would have made this earlier-than-normal crossing, which is essentially an entire brood ahead of the usual calendar. It is therefore almost inevitable that we will be seeing double-brooding on UK soil this year. With day length and foodplant availability in their favour, it would be unsurprising if there was not a further push inland by the progeny of these early arrivals. There is already a hint of this happening, with LTBs seen in Burgess Hill and north Horsham (pristine female).

The main wave of primary immigrants started to arrive in Sussex on 15 August - a typical timing based on observations in most of the years from 2013 onward, when everything suddenly changed for this species in the UK. At Lancing Ring (the kingdom of chief LTB-spotter, Lindsay Morris), tired looking primary immigrants started mixing with pristine Sussex-born individuals, with inevitable results; a beautiful local female was molested by a knackered old male with half a face.

A significant number of primary immigrant males (at least six) suddenly appeared north of Lancing Clump on the afternoon of 16 August, with another three travellers already behaving badly in the chalk pit to the south. This main wave appears to have landed across a wide front, from at least Bognor to Winchelsea. If the weather holds, it's going to be another fantastic late summer and autumn of LTB fireworks.

BWs, Neil

[David M]

Thanks for the heads-up, Neil.

Let's hope we have a benign period once this storm has passed over. Long-Tailed Blues could yet provide an end-of-season flourish.

[Allan.W.]

I had a couple of hours at Winchelsea Beach this afternoon ,plenty of BLEP in good flower but never found any Long Tails (bar 1 possible at distance ) plenty of Holly Blues around and also a fair show of Commons ,i,m pretty sure that they (Long-tails ) were found along this small byway a few years back ........................i,ll be back !
Allan.W.

[Trev Sawyer]

A female spotted egg-laying in Bedfordshire today (reported on the Beds and Northants BC Facebook page), so it's starting

[John W]

Hi Neil,

I've just see an extraordinary rant on Facebook about how the Whitehawk LTB's are released every year:

I trust your judgement far more than his. Have you ever had cause to believe that the LTB at Whitehawk are releases?

Cheers
John W

p.s. I saw an LTB at Whitehawk on Friday 18th August.

[jasonbirder]

Without wanting to comment on any records (and i've always assumed all these South Coast LTBs were genuine) you can't blame anyone for being skeptical of any records these days.
The volume, variety and regularity of releases in the UK is utterly ridiculous and whilst in many ways it makes Butterfly Recorders jobs a difficult (nigh impossible) one, I don't feel we in the Butterfly world are anywhere near as discerning about escapes/introductions as bird recorders and observers are.

[bugboy]

Hi Neil,

I've just see an extraordinary rant on Facebook about how the Whitehawk LTB's are released every year:

Screenshot 2023-08-20 at 19.08.20.jpg

I trust your judgement far more than his. Have you ever had cause to believe that the LTB at Whitehawk are releases?

Cheers
John W

p.s. I saw an LTB at Whitehawk on Friday 18th August.

ltb - 1.jpeg

He's been on that rant for years now, keeps mistaking opinions for facts!

[Devon Dave]

I am excited to report I spotted a Long Tailed blue in the outskirts of Plymouth today, definately not a Release as it was in open countryside and not anywhere one would expect one, no Everlasting Sweet Pea or any other similar plant anywhere near as it was on a Buddleia bush leaf edging woodland. It was in lovely fresh and pristine condition and I might hazard a guess, a UK local emergence, and not a European migrant due to its lovely appearance.
I will search the whole area again in the next few days for any others, and possible food plants. Wow ,what a great Day for my Bucket list.

[Neil Freeman]

Just seen via Twitter that a LTB was seen at Aston Rowant on 22nd.

https://twitter.com/biffa69/status/1693968933915664797

Cheers,

Neil.

[Jack Harrison]

You can't believe anything these days. It's very sad. I very nearly made a trip south - fly, hire car, to go to Whitehawk Hill.
But the origin of the LTBs there is now questioned.

So instead found my own this morning - a stunning ab at that. Where is this all going?

Jack

[Schmetterling]

This is the first year I can recall where long tailed blue larvae and pupa were freely available over the Internet. Undoubtedly this will muddy the water where reported sightings are concerned and all will be treated with a degree of caution. However, those earlier sightings along the South Coast are probably of genuine migrants, whether topped up with later releases is impossible to say. Does anyone know the status of long tailed blue across Northern Europe, this year? If the population is low then all sightings maybe suspect.

[Jack Harrison]

There needs to be some debate on how the provenance of a report or an image can be determined.  I have no idea.  My LT Blue ab was clearly a spoof: indeed (for the sleuths) the EXIF information was a give-away.

Ten years ago, I had never heard of 'Conspiracy theories'.  Five years ago, I had certainly heard of them, but thought : "How can anyone be so naive as to believe that?"  Today, I am utterly confused as to what to believe.

The BBC has recognised the problem with 'BBC Verify'.  We need - somehow - to do the same.

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

The main immigrant wave of Long-tailed Blue, which started on 15 August (following a more modest earlier influx), is still arriving, with an increase in the number of eggs being found in Sussex. A few days back, a friend found fresh (or relatively fresh) eggs at 12 different sites, so they’re far more widespread than most people probably realise.

This year, the species has again arrived along almost the entire length of the South Coast, from Devon to Kent although, as always, their distribution is far from evenly spread. In Sussex they’ve been recorded from Bognor, Storrington, Cissbury Ring, Lancing Ring, Brighton, Newhaven, Seaford and Winchelsea, but I suspect that many more locations will have been overlooked. Egg-laying activity has recently been observed at Whitehawk Hill, where the same environmental cues have been drawing the Long-tailed Blue for at least 164 years now (see viewtopic.php?p=173237#p173237).

As predicted, the earlier-than-normal influx produced UK-born adults which have taken the opportunity (sufficient day-length and foodplant availability) to take another step northward, resulting in sightings further inland than in most years, with Sussex sightings in Burgess Hill and north Horsham. Elsewhere, the butterfly has been seen in Oxfordshire, Bedfordshire and Suffolk.

It is the progeny of the ‘main wave’ influx that will emerge from late September, through October and probably into early November, before turning southward on return migration. Last year, we actually observed quite a few adults flying out over the water from Worthing beach. The population will shift southward through mainland Europe in the same manner as it comes northward, breeding as it goes, before pouring over passes in the Pyrenees, where numbers of migrating insects, including large numbers of Long-tailed Blue, are monitored by researchers (e.g. Puerto de Bujaruelo, University of Exeter and others).

The highly polyphagous nature of this species, which allows it to use the wide variety of foodplants potentially available during its long travels, is one of many reasons for its global success. Interestingly, in a friend’s garden near Bognor, all of the eggs from the ‘early wave’ were laid on Wisteria, and all from the ‘main wave’, on Broad-leaved Everlasting-pea.

I’ve been asked if the species will reappear at the Worthing seafront site this autumn. This area was/is no more than a staging post, where the butterflies were fuelling-up (and sometimes mating) before crossing the water; it’s not a breeding site. It’s almost certain that the breeding site was the very large area of allotments just 1km due north of here, so all depends upon whether a sufficient number of immigrant females have located the site again.

As always, there’s been much misinformation doing the rounds on social media. Everyone is, of course, entitled to their own opinion, but there’s something that the conspiracy theorists will always overlook; the butterflies aren’t listening and will just keep coming.

BWs, Neil

[Matsukaze]

I give it three years before someone claims that the Long-tailed Blues themselves are part of the conspiracy.

[David M]

I give it three years before someone claims that the Long-tailed Blues themselves are part of the conspiracy.

They'll be blaming it on illegal migrants next!!

These bloody things have been witnessed coming in unassisted from the Channel (and observed going back too).