Large tortoiseshell

[markhows]

Can you please post directions / where to park etc.

I am hoping to visit this weekend weather dependant

Thanks

Mark

[Neil Hulme]

They've tried to lock me away Pete but I'm too fast!
Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Mark,
Get off the ferry at Fishbourne, out of the compound turn right (all traffic), turn right at the first set of traffic lights onto the A3054 to Wootton Bridge, over the water and take (I think) the 5th turn right (Palmers Road?), take the second left and follow this winding lane until you come into the woods. There is a small pull-in area by a metal 'gate' across a track into the woods (green and white 'For Sale' board here). Walk down the track which soon bends sharp left, then sharp right. About 30m along the straight section is an immature ash bent out across the path. This is the males territory (he will sit on the ash after c.2pm when it becomes sunlit. Good luck!
Neil

[Ian Pratt]

Great to share the discovery with others.

[markhows]

Many Thanks for the info, hope the weather is OK tomorrow

Mark

[johnrowell]

Hi all
Having been the transect recorder for Woodhouse Copse for the last ten years I can advise my first sighting of a LT at this site was 22.4.06. On 27.3.08 another was seen for three days. My first sighting this year was on 19.3.09. All of these sightings have been within two hundred yards of one another. The time of year indicates the sightings are of a hibernator, especially as there are many old log piles in the woods.
What are the odds of LT being at the same location for three out of the last four years.
I have checked with Butterfly World and they confirm they have no LT pupae in their supply chain.
As apart from one or two other members of B Conservation, I am not aware that anyone else regularly records at this site and I think the chances of a deliberate release is zero
My last sighting of LT at this site was on 2.4.09
John Rowell

[Gruditch]

Thanks for the report John. As they have been there for 3 of the last 4 years, then like you say, 0 chance of being a release.

Lucky you on the transect, all I got to report on my first week, was a single Peacock, and one Brimstone.

Gruditch

[markhows]

John,

Nice to meet you on Saturday many thanks for your help, pity the torts were a no show.

Hope they return next year

Mark

[Ian Pratt]

I spoke by phone to someone yesterday evening who had seen a large tortoiseshell in his garden in Brighstone in the west of the Isle of Wight in late March. From the description he gave I believe it was a LT but sadly he took no photograph!

[chitin]

I bred the Large Tortoisehell two years ago and photographed them in netting cages which I unzipped a few inches to get the lens in. Two escaped completely accidentally and I informed the local butterfly recorders. The following spring, and I cannot remember the date, I saw this huge butterfly and thought what the hell is that ! it was one of the two torts which had hibernated ,as they do soon after emergence, in a thick conifer hedge. Saw both of them for a day or two. They are very readily available from dealers so some caution is advised.

[Charles Nicol]

i have just checked the Beds & Northants website ( http://www.bedsnorthants-butterflies.org.uk/index.html ) & they have listed the Large Tortoiseshell as a recent sighting but with no details...

does anyone know any more ?

charles

[alex mclennan]

Hi Charles
The Beds recorder states that an observer saw and photographed a rather worn large tortoiseshell at Pegsdon Hills, Beds, on 26th April
Alex

[Charles Nicol]

Thanks Alex...i shall keep my eyes open in case they head as far as Cambridgeshire



Charles