Dorset First Week in August

[Dave]

Off to visit family during the first week in August and will be roaming around Dorset and the New Forest, distance no object really. My main hope is to photograph Essex Skipper which remains one of two species I have yet to photograph (I hate Mountain Ringlet ) so if anyone could give me details of a Dorset/New Forest area site that would be lovely. Additionally a good White Admiral and White-letter Hairstreak site would be a great help. I know Dorset quite well so am ok for most species, Any help at all would be Super and if anyone knows of any Small Red-eyed Damselfly sites too that would be even better and I promise not to tell that we went off topic. Thanks
Luv from Dave.

[Mikhail]

Dave, Essex Skippers are now fairly well distributed in East Dorset in dryish grassland. There used to be, and still may be, a large colony on the Bere Regis by-pass. I shall be checking it out soon, weather permitting, for Roesel's Bush-cricket, which is spreading like the Essex Skipper. I have seen the Small Red-eyed Damselfly in Bournemouth, but cannot recommend a reliable site hereabouts. However, I have seen it in numbers on the boating pond on Southampton Common. There have also been recent reports of Red-veined Darter there. I'm afraid I can't think of anywhere for White-letter Hairstreak: it suffered badly from the latest wave of dutch elm disease, and the local council didn't help by felling the remaining trees with eggs on in the winter a few years ago.
Wootton Coppice Inclosure , just north of New Milton, might be worth a visit for White Admiral etc, though possibly past their best by now. I understand a Purple Emperor was seen there recently.

Misha

[geniculata]

hi dave and misha,

for white letter hairstreak you might want to try pear tree common in southampton ive not been there myself but at the end of june andy barker, hants bc counted 40+ there and a freind visited and said it was good.

for essex skipper you could also try my local patch barton common (sz 248 932) as they have been showing in number for over a week there now.
the white admirals have been showing well in wooton coppice inclosure over the last month, but misha is right in saying they are pretty worn now.

also for interest to you misha, i don't now if you are aware but there is a colony of roesel's bush cricket in wooton coppice.

gary.

[Mikhail]

Thanks Gary. I am indeed interested to know of the colony of Roesel's b-c in Wootton Coppice Inc. You may be interested to know that in 2005, when many macropterous specimens invaded our area, Barton Common was one of the places where I located it, but unfortunately the mowing regime has prevented it from colonising. I'd forgotten about the Peartree Green white-letters. Roesel's is there too now!

Misha

[geniculata]

hi misha,
ah yes,
thanks to the new milton town councils bl--dy mowing regime, yet another species to add to the list lost, or being lost because of it!
sadly ive only seen 1 male grayling this year after not seeing it at all last year, after finding a strong colony there for many years,
unfortunately they started blancket mowing the place at the begining of july when the grayling hatch, depriving them of nectaring plants like the scant heather and knapweed.
this year they mowed a month earlier which took out all the budding up knapweed so that the marbled white have not coincided with it for nectaring, but at least so far the very short heather has some flower on it still, so if there is grayling to make a come back they will have something to feed on.

i have it on good authority that holmsley inclosure also has roesel's in it but ive not seen them myself.

gary.

[Mikhail]

It's the same in Poole, I'm afraid. Some really nice grassland habitat beside Holes Bay, newly colonised by Essex Skipper and with plenty of Marbled Whites, not to mention hosts of grasshoppers etc., is now shaved to within an inch of its life, and is completely lifeless. I never visit Poole now.

Misha

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
On the subject of Roesel's Bush Cricket spreading - I was surprised to find it has already reached as far as Fermyn Wood in Northants when I visited recently. I'm not sure how far north it's been documented as yet. Anyone know? The attached pic was taken at Noar Hill a couple of years back.
Neil

[Mikhail]

Neil, Roesel,s has reached as far north as the latitude of the north Norfolk coast. There are, however isolated populations at Spurn and the Fylde, which are unconnected with the current expansion, which originated from the original population around the Thames estuary. There is also a long known colony at Needs Ore on the Solent. Here's a picture of the macropterous form that is responsible for the expansion. The usual short-winged insects are flightless.

Misha

[geniculata]

hi misha,

on the subject of crickets colonising, back in september 2006 i had this little fellow drop in on me from the heavens into my back garden quite literally,
being an incredibly good flyer, maybe taken on an air current it zoomed in and hung on a bamboo, immedietly catching my eye i gave it closer inspection and didn't recognise it as native.
after bringing it in the house to secure it, i did some reserch and identified it as phaneroptera falcata.
a species expanding north through europe and apparently back then having a toe hold over here down in hastings.
after giving the insect over to a brian pinchen who kept it alive for some six months it finally ended up in the winchester musuem collection as the first hampshire record.
do you know of any further info on them and to how they might be doing over here?

gary.

[Denise]

No one has mentioned Durlston Country Park.
Excellent web site here http://www.durlston.co.uk/index.php?nid=2&id=1
Good for Essex and Lulworth Skipper and lots more.

Denise

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks Misha.
Neil

[Mikhail]

So it was you Gary! I had hoped there might be a locally established colony. The Hastings colony was still extant last year, but numbers seem to be diminishing, which is hardly surprising after two cool summers. These are really very warmth demanding insects, which is why they haven't been part of our fauna until now.

Misha

[Dave]

Thanks for the help guys and we hardly strayed off topic at all there

[Piers]

So it was you Gary! I had hoped there might be a locally established colony. The Hastings colony was still extant last year, but numbers seem to be diminishing, which is hardly surprising after two cool summers. These are really very warmth demanding insects, which is why they haven't been part of our fauna until now.

Misha

Hi Misha,

Wasn't this species heard stridulating a couple of years ago on undercliff near Bournemouth? I seem to recall reading that they were located using a bat detector...?

[Mikhail]

Hi Felix
No, that was yet another fly in from France, the Large Cone-head (Ruspolia nitidula) in 2005 and again in 2006. This species only just started to colonise Normandy as recently as 1999. It has a very loud stridulation, produced only at night. I used a bat-detector to home in on it, as the human ear is not very good at locating sources of high frequency sound, at least my old ears aren't. Here is one I found in 2006.

[geniculata]

nice finds misha!

and what a hansome beast it is, like the phaneroptera only more robust but still having those disproportionate large wings form traveling flight.
you obviously have a keen interest in orthoptera, so wonder if you might know were in the forest i might find heath grasshopper, i had a quick look over broad mead west of burley at the week end as ive heard they are in that area but had no luck.
im trying at the moment to get a photographic record of all the species in the forest so would be keen to find them.

gary.

[Mikhail]

Hi Gary.

It's a couple of years since I looked at Heath grasshopper in the Forest. They are very local, but I found fair numbers near the car park at Vales Moor, both north and south of the road. They are generally to be found where there is plenty of Dwarf Gorse, on the flowers and foliage of which they feed. I have also seen them south of the disused railway line and in cleared areas of Dur Hill inclosure, and next door on Bisterne Common. Look for south facing slopes with plenty of the Dwarf Gorse. If all else fails you could try Town Common, Christchurch, which I judge to be probably the best site in the country for them. Hope this helps.

Misha

[geniculata]

many, many thanks misha

if you dont mind i might pick your brains on any others i have trouble within the near future.

thanks again gary.

[Mikhail]

Don't hesitate.

Misha