September sightings

[David M]

Now don't all rush. A Long-tailed Blue female was seen at Cheyne Weares, Portland yesterday. Photos can be accessed via http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk.

Misha

Excellent sighting. It's times like these when I wish I lived nearer the south coast.

[NickB]

Ditto!

[Jack Harrison]

I once saw a LT Blue on Christmas Eve!

Jack

[Dave McCormick]

Was out walking my dog an hour ago as I have day free and saw 21 Small Tortoiseshells all nectering on Red Valerian for hibernation. Also saw 2 small whites and 20 speckled wood which I got videos of a few of them as I found my mini HD video camera, will post when I process and upload them.

[Padfield]

Now don't all rush. A Long-tailed Blue female was seen at Cheyne Weares, Portland yesterday. Photos can be accessed via http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk.

Misha

Excellent sighting. It's times like these when I wish I lived nearer the south coast.

As I mentioned in my reply to Gibster's post on this butterfly, there was one seen (confirmed with photo) as far north as the East coast of Suffolk a few days ago...

Guy

[NickB]

Was out walking my dog an hour ago as I have day free and saw 21 Small Tortoiseshells all nectering on Red Valerian for hibernation. Also saw 2 small whites and 20 speckled wood which I got videos of a few of them as I found my mini HD video camera, will post when I process and upload them.

Over here in Cambridge I have seen very few Nymphalidae recently, Certainly no ST's - 21 is a great sighting! Only a very few Red Admiral, the odd Painted Lady, and virtually no Peacock or Comma, even on the ivy - a good late nectar source where I would expect to have seen them. Still a reasonable number of Speckled Wood though and the odd Small Copper and a few Small/GV White. Generally a much reduced count, especially compared to last year. Anyone else having a similar year - my local transect counts are well down in numbers on last year
N

[Dave McCormick]

Was out walking my dog an hour ago as I have day free and saw 21 Small Tortoiseshells all nectering on Red Valerian for hibernation. Also saw 2 small whites and 20 speckled wood which I got videos of a few of them as I found my mini HD video camera, will post when I process and upload them.

Over here in Cambridge I have seen very few Nymphalidae recently, Certainly no ST's - 21 is a great sighting! Only a very few Red Admiral, the odd Painted Lady, and virtually no Peacock or Comma, even on the ivy - a good late nectar source where I would expect to have seen them. Still a reasonable number of Speckled Wood though and the odd Small Copper and a few Small/GV White. Generally a much reduced count, especially compared to last year. Anyone else having a similar year - my local transect counts are well down in numbers on last year
N

I was at a BC talk on wednesday night and was chatting with the butterfly recorder for NI and he told me that Small Tortoiseshells in Northern Ireland are doing well (someone saw 50 in same area) but he said Peacock butterflies have nearly all vanished this year, numbers are very low (I have noticed this too) so that seems worrying. I figured why I was seeing such small numbers of small tortoiseshells before. In spring, I think not that many made it overwinter, but those that did were able to breed, then there wasn't many around. Then the cats from those fed up, pupated and hatched and there was higher numbers of Small Tortoiseshells then but those had another brood (finding some hatching out of chrysilises now when out and about, I still have an unhatched one waiting to hatch). I wasn't seeing many, doesn't mean they were not there, it could have been because of looking for food, they wandered to find flowers and why so many are being seen around the last flowering plants, all gather up resources to overwinter.

[millerd]

Here in the bottom left corner of Middlesex (or top left of Surrey - it depends!), there has been a similar dearth of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells lately. There were a lot of both, particularly Peacocks, emerging from hibernation, and good numbers of resultant caterpillars. Then... nothing much at all. I did rear a small nest of Peacocks, but at least half succumbed to various parasitic flies. An interesting contrast to 2009, when there was a notable second brood of Peacocks locally, with the adults emerging this same week of September.

Numbers of Red Admirals have been good, though there are few about now. Commas have been the most abundant throughout, and a stroll yesterday evening around 6 produced several new specimens.

Painted Ladies? Not a one round these parts all summer.

Dave

[Essex Bertie]

Just got back from a week in the western Lake District – probably saw barely 50 butterflies, but of these 30+ were Small Tortoiseshells. Others: Peacock 5, Red Admiral 3, Large White 3, GV White 10+ and a doddery female Gatekeeper. All the Small Tortoiseshells were in superb condition, so I wasn’t sure whether they were second brood (had seen lower numbers in the region in late July) or far enough north still to be first brood. (Didn’t see any partial 2nd Brood Small Heaths or Common Blues). Anyone know whether there is evidence that the Peacock adopts a similar single/double-brooded split but further south? My ‘Collins’ book says it’s only ever single brooded/diapausal – this website suggests other possibilities!

Bertie

[Piers]

Hi Bertie,

The Peacock is 'officially' single brooded, certainly in Britain. However, in 2009 there was a decumented second brood in pockets across the South of England, and circumstantial evidence suggests that in previous years the butterfly has produced an additional brood in one or two scattered localities in Southern Europe.

A second brood in this species is an exceptional occurrence however.

Felix.

[Mikhail]

Felix, I beg to differ. The Peacock is certainly double brooded over most of Central and Southern Europe. All my books testify to this. According to Lafranchis and my Swiss book it may even produce three generations in a year in favourable places and years.

Misha

[Jack Harrison]

I suspect that the term “brooded” is not always used correctly. For example, I have heard reference to “spring brood Brimstones” and “summer brood Brimstones” implying that the Brimstone has two emergences in a year. I do not interpret things that way at all. Brimstones that emerge in the summer hibernate as adults and re-appear next spring. But this is the same single brood.

So when Mikhail says:

The Peacock is certainly double brooded over most of Central and Southern Europe. All my books testify to this. According to Lafranchis and my Swiss book it may even produce three generations in a year in favourable places and years.

I think Mikhail’s books (and certainly not all my books have any mention of double broodedness) fall into that trap. In other words, Peacocks normally emerge just once in a year and then hibernate (this could erroneously be called the summer and spring broods). Exceptionally, a few individuals from the summer emergence do not hibernate but produce new individuals that same year. This might erroneously be called the third brood; in my interpretation, it is the second brood.

Jack

[Piers]

Felix, I beg to differ. The Peacock is certainly double brooded over most of Central and Southern Europe. All my books testify to this. According to Lafranchis and my Swiss book it may even produce three generations in a year in favourable places and years.

Misha

My mistake and a thousand apologies; I meant to write "Britain" but was thinking about Europe and consequently wrote that. Now corrected, and thanks for pointing out... and thanks for the interesting info regarding multiple broods.

Felix.

[Mikhail]

I agree with Jack that the word brood is misused by some people, but I really don't think that the continental literature can be accused of this. Lafranchis (Les Papilions de Jour de France etc) writes ...juin-octobre (novembre) en 1 à 2 générations selon les regions; vraisemblablement 3 générations dans le sud-ouest de la France. My Swiss book says: Im Tiefland hat der Falter an klimatisch günstigen Stellen zwei, unter Umständen drei Generationen, in höheren Lagen nur eine. The diagram showing its seasonal development indicates clearly two distinct generations with eggs in May and August.

Misha

[Essex Bertie]

Thank you everyone for some great answers. It does seem confusing to see fresh-looking Peacocks re-emerge in October for a final feed, but worth keeping an eye out for larvae about this time in exceptional summers.
Bertie

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Misha, Jack, Felix, Bertie etc,
From 'The 2009 Butterfly Year' (BC Sussex Butterfly Report, 2010):
'The protracted, warm autumn saw mid/late September records of third brood Brown Argus and second brood Large Skipper, together with second brood Peacock and third brood Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars.'
In some years at least, there is a 'true', albeit partial second brood in the UK.
Neil

[millerd]

Certainly in my patch near Heathrow, there were relatively fresh Brown Argus, Common Blue and Small Heath to be seen on 1st October 2009. And there were several nests of Peacocks around in mid-August, which produced adults in the first week of September (I collected and bred some through. They also produced parasitic tachinid flies).

Dave

[Piers]

Dave,

That Peacock is exceptional..! Has the blue colour reproduced accurately? and the extent of the blue scaling is very impressive.

Also: did you happen to save any of the tachinids by any chance..?

Felix.

[Perseus]

Hello,

12 September 2010
A cloudy day with ample sunshine made a visit to the lower slopes of Mill Hill obligatory. The female Adonis Blues now outnumbered the males with 25 and 36 respectively giving a total of 61 on the 1.2 acre transect with more on the steeper slopes. Almost all the females were in good condition and recognised as definite Adonis Blues.

Go to the site below for the report of the Clouded Yellows by Colin Knight and you can click on his blog for some more photographs.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2010.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2010.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: September 2010
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Sept2010.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316

[lee3764]

Hi all,

A very nice afternoon walk to Pontsmill, Par, mid-Cornwall with my wife Lisa & young sons, Robert & Michael (aged 6 & 4) produced 2 x fresh Clouded Yellows which given their sedentry habit in the same field flying round & round are probably home bred in that very field (privately owned but I climbed the gate to explore with my children knowing that the worst that could happen is that someone would yell at us to get out but no-one did) . This was also witnessed by Roger Lane (Cornwall Butterfly Conservation Migration Officer) standing & watching these Clouded Yellows by the gate with my Wife Lisa Slaughter. Given an average 2 months lifecycle in the wild on average, I calculate that these are offspring from immigrant adults that oviposited on or about 7th-15th July. Were there any Clouded Yellows seen in Cornwall during that time?

There was also a very fresh Comma & a bright blue that flew up into the trees which could possibly be a late Holly Blue although Roger Lane thinks it would have probably been a Common Blue despite it flying up into a tree. Quite a few Speckled Woods still about with a few Large & Small Whites too. Altogether a nice Sunday Afternoon for mid-September.

Cheers all,
Lee Slaughter (Par, Cornwall).