British butterflies

[Padfield]

A few of the 18 species of butterfly I saw on crown British territory (Gibraltar) in February this year (19th-23rd):

(Spanish festoon)

(Provence orange tip)

(Speckled wood)

(Small copper)
If large chequered skipper counts as a British species, I think Spanish festoon should too...
Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Nice photos Guy!

Yeah - the Large Chequered Skipper is a bit of an oddball, isn't it?

And why isn't American Painted Lady on the list?

When I originally put the site together, I based the "UK" species on those used by Butterfly Conservation (on their website, in their publications, etc.). And I guess that Large Chequered Skipper is included because the Channel Islands are considered to be part of the UK and Britain.

However, things still aren't that simple, because there are still quite a few species that are omitted from the list (look at Emmet and Heath!). My conclusion was that the species included on "the list" are:

Residents
Extinctions (of residents)
Delberate introductions that have gone on to breed (e.g. Map)
Accidental introductions that have gone on to breed (e.g. Large Chequered Skipper)
Immigrants that migrate under their own steam

Exclusions include:

1-offs (such as species found in butterfly farms that escape!)
Known escapees from butterfly farms or breeders
"Possible" residents (i.e. their status is disputed)
Accidental introductions that did not go on to breed
Immigrants that must have been imported on ships, in fruit, etc.

Not particularly scientific, and I'll ask someone from BC HQ the next time I'm there!

Cheers,

- Pete

[eccles]

Super pics. I'd love to see the Spanish festoon in the UK mainland someday. It's a stunning butterfly.

[Padfield]

Thanks for the comments on the pics!

I think you have the right species on the site, Pete - only tongue-in-cheek about including Gibraltar butterflies on the 'British' list! Large chequered skipper may be anomalous, but it's a very interesting anomaly.

Anyone care to speculate as to what might be the next addition to the British list, as the climate warms up and more and more Brits become familiar with the continental species?

Guy

[Chris]

I don't know about what will be next, probably a migrant that will start breeding or over-wintering. Given the number of Red A that have survived the winter, it'll be interesting to see how many early sightings of Clouded Yellow or Painted Lady we have. It would be nice to see Large Tortoiseshell make it's way back of its own accord, though I don't know whether this is a climate thing.... Pete??

[Pete Eeles]

That's a really difficult question to answer! I guess what I'd expect to see is the status of certain species changing. Such as "migrant" to "resident" or, better still, "extinct" to "resident"

As for a new species not already on the list - absolutely no ideas - not even a guess!!!

As for individual species, there isn't always an understanding of why they've disappeared. The Large Tortoiseshell decline was inevitably accelerated by Dutch elm disease. But other species, such as the Black-veined White, remain a complete mystery in terms of their demise.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Wayne]

I would like to see the recently reintroduced Large Blue more widespread. Would be nice for the Large Copper to be resident too!

We might see migrants "sleeping over" with the climate change.


One thing I have noticed living on the North East coast, when I was a young lad (and very much into butterflies) I never seen a peacock or a painted lady near where I lived. Red admirals were very rare too.
However after recently getting into Photography, and taking photos of butterflies the last couple of years, these butterflies are now common in my area!
Quite a change in about 20 years.

[Matsukaze]

I wonder if Gibraltar has more butterfly species than mainland UK?

[eccles]

Spain has around 70-80 species according to this list: http://www.spanishbirds.com/butterfliesmoths/
Some might be mountain species and not be resident in Gibraltar, but because Gibraltar is so close to Africa there will be some overspill from that continent.

[Padfield]

Gibraltar is a fascinating place, steeped in history and prehistory (the last known Neanderthals lived there), but also now swamped in the grotesque over-development that tragically mars the entire Costa. Furthermore, the territory is barely two and a half square miles in area, so I would be very surprised if it hosted as many species as the whole of the United Kingdom. But it does have some great stuff all the same (as does the surrounding region of Spain) and is well worth a visit, if only for the pleasure of relaxing with a pint of John Smith or Bass (keg) after a day's exotic butterflying.

The figure of 70-80 species of butterfly for Spain is far too low. I have recorded 114 species in the Val d'Aran alone and I only ever visit it in the second half of July! Perhaps the website referred to intends a more specific region of Spain (the 'Ronda' region it mentions is just north of Gibraltar).

[Matsukaze]

Anyone care to speculate as to what might be the next addition to the British list, as the climate warms up and more and more Brits become familiar with the continental species?

Cupido argiades?

What other species are spreading north through France at present?

[Padfield]

It would be wonderful if argiades (short-tailed blue) became regular/resident in Great Britain. Living in Switzerland, I hardly ever see this butterfly. My local Everes is alcetas (Provençal short-tailed blue) and I see argiades increasingly rarely on my yearly jaunts to the Pyrenees. I would also love to see semiargus (mazarine blue) return to England. Its foodplant (red clover) is common and the butterfly abounds on the continent. Quite possibly it is a matter of climate and ants, which may (or may not) change in favour of this species. If climate change brings mild winters I would expect lathonia (Queen of Spain) to be one of the first oportunists to move into localised hotspots in the south. This year this butterfly was (anomalously) continuously brooded in the Rhône Valley in Switzerland, my first individuals being on 3rd Feb, many of them worn.

So far as I can gather, the recorded history of British butterflies covers the period since the 'mini-Ice Age', when many formerly resident species might have retreated. Even in this period there are ancient records of things like hippothoe (purple-edged copper). Do we really know what flew in these islands earlier, during the warm Mediaeval period, for example?

The challenge for conservationists is to ensure that if, against man's best efforts, the climate does move back into a warm phase, there are still diverse habitats in Britain for species to return to. The more general wilderness we can preserve, as opposed to pocket-handkerchief nature reserves managed for particular complexes of species (good things in themselves, of course) the more likely this is. I find it quite alarming how little modern man values wilderness.

Guy

[Matsukaze]

I had meant to suggest alcetas (which I understand is spreading north in western France), not argiades. I have trouble with species with similar names in the same genus. Bumblebees are worse - I keep muddling up the local Bombus sylvaticus with the extremely rare Bombus sylvarum.

As recently as 200 years ago, black grouse and hen harrier occurred in all the south coast counties, as the downs and heath had been managed wilderness for many centuries and the habitat suited them. What butterflies may have occurred in such places we will probably never know.

[Roger Gibbons]

Argiades and alcetas are both very attractive blues (OK, all blues are attractive, but the rarer ones somehow seem more so) and it would be very exciting if one made a return to the UK. It looks more likely that argiades would be the favourite as it reputedly occurred in Dorset in 1885 in Bloxworth and is sometimes known as the Bloxworth Blue. Strangely, my copy of W S Coleman’s British Butterflies of 1893 makes no reference to it at all, even though it includes some very dubious possibilities as rare migrants or extinct species. I’m surprised it had reached the UK by migration as it always seems a very sedentary species to me.

The Lafranchis book on French butterflies shows the distribution of alcetas as very much restricted to the southern half of France (slightly more northerly in western France) and I have not recorded seeing it except in the south. Argiades is more widespread but the northern distribution is still patchy. The only place I have seen both together, in good numbers, is in the Dordogne. On checking my records, they do seem to have become scarcer in recent years and I did not see a single argiades in France in 2006 (out of 156 species seen), so hopefully it is a blip and not a trend.

They can be quite difficult to tell apart especially if there is very little orange on the underside hindwing (as argiades can sometimes be), but someone helpfully pointed out to me several years ago that any orange indicates argiades – alcetas has none.

I certainly agree that those that named these species could have given them more distinctly different names. And while on the subject, who decided to call the Reverdin’s Blue plebejus argyrognomon??

I think I mentioned in a previous post that the Mazarine Blue was considered (almost) extinct by Coleman in 1893, and I would tend to have doubts about records from the mid-1850s or earlier.

Coleman also includes the Purple-edged Copper (lycaena hippothoe) as a historical possibility as it was recorded by Mr Stainton, an entomologist of some repute at the time, which seems very unlikely. I wonder if it could have been a mis-identified Large Copper although the purple sheen of hippothoe should have been definitive. There is a high altitude subspecies eurydame with no purple but this could not have occurred in the UK.

[Padfield]

Thanks for the thoughts, Roger. I'm interested you are finding argiades harder too.

For those (like me) who don't have a copy of the Coleman book Roger mentions, it can be downloaded in its entirety from Google Print. Just type something like 'W.S. Coleman Butterflies' into Google Print, hit return, and when you are taken to the book click on the download button to the right. The file is a little over 5MB and contains the complete 1860 edition, with black and white plates.

I couldn't find a digital copy of E.B. Ford's butterflies (mine is in England and I am not) but I do remember him citing a Latin description of British purple-edged copper which quite clearly alluded to the purple edges and which Ford took to be unambiguous.

Finally, for what it's worth, 'argyrognomon' means something like 'judge (or tester) of silver' in Greek. Perhaps the little specks of silver on the hindwing undersides look like silver dust left on someone's hands...

Guy