Possible mass influx of Whites

[Devon Dave]

It seems that we have had a mass influx of Large and Small Whites from the Continent in Devon over the last few days
I was astounded this Tuesday on my normal Coastal Path walk in looking for Clouded Yellows (which have been noticeably absent here this year) by hundreds of Whites everywhere along the costal path.I have never seen so many, there must have been 300 + in less than a mile. I cant image they are a fresh emergence from this summers English generation as they were hardly any about in Summer locally. Has anyone else noticed this mass appearance other than my observation in Devon ?
All I can hope now is that the same mass influx may apply to Long Tailed Blues or some other exotic European species in the next few weeks,fingers crossed of course.

[millerd]

Hi Dave - I think the influx of big numbers of both Large and Small Whites has been seen all along the Channel and North Sea coasts. They have also filtered well inland and on my local patch on the western fringe of London there have been far more than usual. I believe in Kent the numbers have been quite spectacular.

Red Admirals have also been seen in large numbers, and there has been a small but noticeable immigration of Painted Ladies. However, aside from one or two here and there, very few Clouded Yellows or LTB.

Cheers,

Dave

[Charles Nicol]

a lot of whites well inland in Cambridgeshire in the last few days

[bugboy]

Currently on a work conference up near Birmingham and every buddleja has plenty of White's so they have come a fair way Inland, although on my transects in Central London on Monday I managed just 3

[Mark Tutton]

I suspect you are right - I was on Southsea Beach last week and Small Whites were coming in off the sea at the rate of three or four a minute quite a few Large White too.
Kind Regards
Mark

[David Lazarus]

As you have probably seen from my recent sighting posts over the past week or so, hundreds of Small & Large White along the Essex Coast. Within them Painted Lady & yesterday my first Clouded Yellow sighting - 3 along the Thames Estuary Path at East Tilbury.

[David M]

Plenty here in south Wales too, although by contrast Large Whites are very thin on the ground.

I'm getting small numbers of Painted Ladies turning up near the coast too, although I'm not aware of any Clouded Yellows being sighted locally yet.

[Pete Eeles]

Any seen on the south east coast should be checked for possible Southern Small White - numbers in the Netherlands have really picked up this year according to Chris van Swaay.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Devon Dave]

Many thanks to all your interesting replies, but as Peter mentions I never thought to check them carefully in case any were Southern Small Whites.But basically there are so many, literally hundreds and I don't know I would be able to spot the difference of a SSW compared with our well know British Small White amongst them.
One thing that was very noticeable was that there were a lot of aerial group bunches chasing each other , maybe 6 or more at a time dancing in the sky which I have witnessed before with one small group of say 4 in the air but only with one bunch, not lots of them performing aerial dances all at the same time with larger bunches than normal.
If I get a chance over the weekend I will go back to the coastal paths to try and photograph some, but our Devon weather is due to collapse this weekend into wind and rain.

[Jack Harrison]

Southern Small White
Who is going to hit the jackpot? The storm on 20th September that crossed the southern counties from east to west from Kent to South Wales could easily have had all sorts of 'goodies' caught up in it. My daughter near Gatwick says that she has never seen such large hailstones.

Southern Small White identification might be tricky. I'm sure some of you have nets hidden away at the back of a cupboards - that might make i/d easier.

[David M]

...Southern Small White identification might be tricky...

It's only tricky until you see one.

Like Essex/Small Skippers, if you know the definitive signs then it's quite clear-cut, especially in the summer brood mannii where the black markings are bigger and darker.

For instance, there's no way this one below could be a Small White; the underside spot is huge:

[David M]

...One thing that was very noticeable was that there were a lot of aerial group bunches chasing each other , maybe 6 or more at a time dancing in the sky which I have witnessed before with one small group of say 4 in the air but only with one bunch, not lots of them performing aerial dances all at the same time with larger bunches than normal.

Yes, they were doing that too on the Gower coast the other day, Dave. Furthermore, they were settling very readily to take nectar as if they had just touched down after a long flight.

Normally, Small Whites are on the move endlessly, and if they do come down, it's usually for only a few seconds before they're up and off again.

I thought this behaviour was quite unusual given how many were feeding and how long they remained doing so.

[Trev Sawyer]

It might be worth keeping an eye on Candytuft and Bladderpod plants if you live around the South/East coast over the next few weeks for the larvae.
https://www.birdguides.com/articles/inv ... all-white/

[Matsukaze]

Loads here in Sarthe/Mayenne (NW France) at the moment. But I wonder. The weather has been pretty similar to SW Enland, and 1st brood in Somerset was atrocious but 2nd brood pretty good. Perhaps they have got away from their parasites this year?

[IAC]

I recorded a very large number between 200 and 300 Large White over a Phacelia field margin back last month August 10th on the outskirts of Eyemouth, on the Scottish Borders east coast. Most, if not all of the Butterflies were in very good condition and I had figured that it was unlikely that they were homegrown. All summer there have been pulses of Red Admiral, Silver Y, Painted Lady etc moving through with nothing sticking. The Large White influx lasted a few weeks before fizzling out. The Adults were laying eggs on Shepherds Purse in very small egg batches. Nothing has quite matched that influx since, so all quiet here for now.