Neil Hulme

[Neil Hulme]

Wurzel: Yes, she's definitely a she. The abdomen would be slimmer in a male - and the tip of it would just about reach the inner margin of the rear copper band. She was behaving like a lady and showed no interest in attacking passing insects.

hideandseek: This is common practice, but we notice it less than when butterflies take shelter from inclement weather, largely because we seldom see really hot and sunny conditions in a British summer! But sheltering from intense heat is just as important to butterfly survival as hiding from the rain - dehydration is a potential killer. Purple Emperors become lethargic and then inactive once temperatures reach the top 70s and certainly when they break 80 degs. In such conditions a few summers back I watched Silver-washed Fritillaries congregating on a shaded stream-bed to escape the sun and take a drink. Like your Brimstone they will often hang below a leaf and I've seen them disappear deep inside hazel coppice stools on more than one occasion at midday. In my diary write-up for Arnside Knott I mentioned Scotch Argus burying themselves deep inside tussocks of grass, in order to escape the atypically warm sunshine I enjoyed during my visit.

Neil

[Nick Broomer]

thanks Neil, you`re a mind of information. i had heard of this behaviour before but in much hotter climates around the world, and never expected to see it on our shores with our much milder weather.

thanks again hideandseek

[Wurzel]

Excellent - I got it right - thanks for the pointers in the previous posting they defo worked!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Hulme]

High On Hemp

This afternoon (13th September) I joined Mark Colvin for an hour or two at Kithurst Hill near Storrington. He had called me to report a large number of Red Admirals up there, in addition to the Painted Lady he was watching. When I arrived there were at least a couple of dozen Admirals enjoying the Hemp Agrimony. They always become very approachable when they gorge themselves on this flower, and today was no exception. There were other species around in low numbers, including Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Small and Green-veined White, but I only had eyes for the Red Admirals, many of which were in pristine condition. Lined up in their velvety red, black and white livery they reminded me of Coldstream Guardsmen. Certainly on my patch they are having the best year for a long while.

[David M]

Certainly on my patch they are having the best year for a long while.

Agreed. They're far more abundant than they were last year in south Wales too.

I wonder why this is?

[Neil Hulme]

Hard Going

It's getting harder by the day now to find good numbers of butterflies which aren't on their last legs. That said, my walk on the Downs at Steyning and Storrington with Mark Colvin today (19th September) proved that there are still Speckled Woods emerging. There may yet be fresh batches of Wall and Small Copper to enjoy, and possibly even UK-born Clouded Yellows (the progeny of females seen in low numbers since late July). But I've set my sights much lower now and I'm happy enough just to be out in fine weather and beautiful surroundings. The most interesting find today was a pretty Knot Grass caterpillar at Steyning.

Knot Grass Caterpillar

Speckled Wood Male

[Neil Hulme]

Kingley Vale

This afternoon (22nd September) I met up with Brian Henham to spend a couple of hours on his local Kingley Vale NNR near Chichester. This time last year the slopes were literally crawling with freshly-emerged Small Coppers when we visited, but not today. Following an exceptionally warm spring and then rubbish summer, the timing of the third brood is quite tricky to predict for individual sites; so it may be that they will appear in their usually impressive autumn numbers next week. But as always a thorough scout around turned up something nice to photograph and I was pleased with this unusually photogenic Small Heath. Most are now very tatty and faded, so it would appear she was one of the last to emerge this year.

[EricY]

Last night (22nd) I was surprised at 6pm to look out of my kitchen window & find a Hummingbird Hawkmoth nectering on my Ceratostigma willmotianum (also known as shrubby plumbago to some). today it had lots of common large whites & I have seen HHM's on it in previous years. Has a pretty bright blue flower & no trouble at all as I cut it to 1" in early spring & it makes a rounded bush about 2feet high with thin wiry stems. Seems a good bet for the garden to attract HHM's.
Otherwise on my wanders around Norfolk I am only seeing Red admirals, Spec Woods & comma + of course LW's, not a lot about even the birds have not arrived in quantity due to all these south westerly winds we are having. Eric

[EricY]

sorry Neil, my apologies not concentrating & thought I was in the sept sighting thread. Eric

[Neil Hulme]

No Probs Eric. But that's the first time I've been invaded by shrubby plumbago!
Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Time To Fight Again

Here's a copy of a news item I've just posted to the BC Sussex Branch website. I suspect there will be others within the UKB community who will be equally worried about these developments.

Disproportionate Government Cuts Threaten Butterfly Conservation’s Work

Our Chief Executive Dr Martin Warren recently wrote to me with the shocking news that Natural England (NE) is slashing its grant to Butterfly Conservation (BC) by a massively disproportionate 85%, amounting to a reduction of more than £250,000 in funding. We must all shoulder our fair share of the financial difficulties suffered as the economy falters and we appreciate that NE itself has lost staff (and will lose more) as the result of the 30% cuts it faces over the next three years. However, it is the disproportionate nature of the cut in the Species Recovery Grant to BC which causes me so much concern. For sixteen years this grant has funded our species action plans and a hugely diverse array of projects which have been successful in conserving butterflies and moths. This has come just as it appears we are turning the tide in our battle to halt and reverse many declines, as borne out by recent data.

The driving force behind this move appears to be the new England Biodiversity Strategy (EBS), which places far less emphasis on species conservation and far more on habitat conservation and landscape/ecosystem. Landscape scale conservation can be interpreted in more than one way. It is certainly important to continue species conservation on a landscape scale, ensuring that habitats and populations can be linked across large swathes of the countryside; this is something that BC has advocated for many years. It can also mean the more recently adopted holistic approach to the management of ‘whole habitats’, such as chalk grassland or broad-leaved woodland, and this approach has been widely adopted at the expense of more traditional species conservation. For several years now, based on what I have seen with my own eyes, I have been arguing that both the old and new philosophies must be run hand-in-hand. Where only the modern holistic approach is adopted the majority of fauna and flora will thrive, even the vast majority, but there have already been local casualties amongst those species which are most at risk, and there will be more. Traditional, species-focused conservation must be continued as an equal priority, fully funded, if we are to continue the sort of successes shown by BC Sussex Branch in conserving the Duke of Burgundy butterfly (see histogram). Too great a shift away from one approach to the other will only manage to reduce biodiversity, by shaving off the corners where the ‘awkward’ species sit. It is a matter of balance and we appear to be losing it. There is much to be commended in the EBS; it is not wrong, it is lacking.

The proposed 85% cut in the grant to BC presents other very significant threats to our work in conserving butterflies, moths and their habitats. BC is an organisation of 17,000 members, with volunteers running the more than thirty regional branches. Many more individuals are actively involved in hands-on conservation work, giving more than 150,000 volunteer days per year with a value of £9.5 million. All of this relies upon a small, central body of professional staff. Such a nucleus is essential in providing the structure, support and guidance to the much larger voluntary sector. This is a good example of where ‘Big Society’ congregates around smaller organisations such as BC, so it seems strange that the government should promote ‘Big Society’ on one hand, but pull the rug from beneath its feet with the other.

Volunteers like me and many others I know, who give a huge amount of time every year to this cause, find this all very dispiriting. I very much hope that the Environment Secretary will reconsider these proposals as a matter of extreme urgency.

What can we do?

I have written along these lines to both the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman and my local MP Peter Bottomley (Worthing West). You may wish to write to your MP. Below is a template letter written by our Chief Executive Dr Martin Warren. If you wish to register your views please either use this template or construct your own letter from the information provided in these two documents.

Template Letter to your MP

Xxxx MP
House of Commons
Westminster
SW1A 0AA

Dear XX MP

Cuts to volunteer work on the conservation of threatened species

I am writing on behalf of XXXX Branch of Butterfly Conservation to express our deep concern over the recent major cut in our charity’s grant from Natural England to save threatened butterflies and moths from extinction. This runs completely counter to the stated Government aim to work in partnership with Civil Society and engage with volunteer groups such as ours. I am asking for your help in raising this matter urgently with the Environment Secretary.

In the foreword to the recently published England Biodiversity Strategy, the Environment Secretary Caroline Spelman, says “Biodiversity is key to the survival of life on Earth .……. Achieving our aims will be a big challenge. Government will play an important role but can’t deliver this strategy alone. Our conservation charities, supported by millions of members of the public and volunteers, already make a vital contribution in protecting biodiversity.” One of the four key aims of the new strategy is to put people at the heart of biodiversity policy. It states “It is crucial to engage more people in biodiversity issues so that they personally value biodiversity and know what they can do to help. Civil society organisations play a front line role, directly engaging and enthusing the public about biodiversity. We will work with them to engage more people and empower them to make a difference.”

Butterfly Conservation has indeed been in partnership with Natural England and its predecessors for the last 16 years and has pioneered recovery projects which are beginning to reverse the decline of many species. This has helped the government to meet its international commitments under the Convention on Biological Diversity to halt the loss of biodiversity. However our volunteers have relied on the professional staff employed under this Natural England grant, who have run training courses, provided the professional back-up, evidence and information to target our work; thus making the best use of voluntary time. Butterfly Conservation is proud that this support yields over 150,000 volunteer days / yr, equivalent to £9.5 million of voluntary effort. All this good work is put at risk by the massive cut in our Species Recovery grant, which will discourage local volunteers and plunge many species back into crisis.

Butterflies are one of the most rapidly declining wildlife groups. Over three-quarters are in decline and almost half (24 species) are on the Government’s Priority Species list (section 41 of the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act, 2006). Yet our grant to work on these species has been cut completely, including work on the globally endangered Large Blue which is held as a flagship for conservation around the world. Our grant to work on Priority Moths has also been cut, amounting to an 85% overall cut in our work to save these beautiful and important species.

We regret that the recent disproportionate cuts to our charity will oppose the strategy aims by disempowering local volunteers, thus harming the species that both the Government and our charity are desperately trying to conserve. We are asking for your help by taking this matter up urgently with the Minister, such that she urgently re-instates the Species Recovery Programme grants to the voluntary sector. The amount of money is modest (c £1 million pa) but this levers many times that amount in voluntary efforts such as ours.

I look forward to hearing from you

Yours sincerely


XXXXX

[Neil Hulme]

Second Time Around

One area where data is pretty thin on the ground is 'second pairings'. There is evidence that some females in a few of our larger, longer-lived species will mate for a second time, but there is scant or no evidence for many species. This pair of Small Heath I photographed at Cissbury Ring on 23rd September provides strong circumstantial evidence for just this. Female butterflies, particularly those which emerge into tight-knit colonies, do not remain virgin for very long. However, this female (she's on top ) is showing clear signs of having been around the block. To me there is little doubt that this is her second mating.

[Pete Eeles]

Well put Neil - especially since most of the BC and UKB membership are unaware of these very worrying cuts. I've summarised the situation for the Hants newsletter due out in the next week or so, and have asked Martin if he wants the troops mobilised given the correspondence he's sent out to the branch chairs. If so, this will be a prominent item on the UKB homepage, the UKB Twitter feed and Facebook page, and newsletter.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Neil:

this female (she's on top )

Don't quite understand the significance of the smiley

Jack

[Colin Knight]

An easy way to write to your MP (or any elected official) is by using this website: http://www.writetothem.com/

Colin

[Ian Pratt]

I have sent the letter to the IOW MP Andrew Turner.

[MikeOxon]

You may wish to write to your MP.

Also, please note that if you choose to e-mail your MP, you must include your postal address, as they will only respond if they know that you are one of their own constituents.
Mike

[Neil Hulme]

Raptor City

I should mention the Peacock and Red Admirals I saw nectaring in the gardens of Burpham village this afternoon (26th September), as this is meant to be a butterfly diary. But it was the abundance of raptors currently enjoying the farmland on the Norfolk Estate that I was here to see. The Estate is doing a great job of improving the land for the benefit of birds such as the Grey Partridge, Lapwing and Corn Bunting, in addition to being very helpful with some of our butterfly projects. The widespread implementation of uncut field margins, conservation headlands and beetle banks has clearly resulted in a packed larder for birds of prey. I had some fantastic views of the much-twitched juvenile Pallid Harrier, together with Marsh Harrier (male), Red Kite, Common Buzzard, Sparrowhawk, Merlin, Hobby and Kestrel. Currently in the area, or recently passed through, are Hen Harrier, Osprey and Peregrine. Thankfully a very different picture to twenty years ago. The Lumix FZ38 is hopelessly inadequate for this sort of work, but I at least managed a few record shots.

Juvenile Pallid Harrier

[dave brown]

Raptor City.
I hope that you don't mind me adding to your perosnal blog, but its so nice to hear of an estate doing many things to help wildlife. Friends from Kent who have visited for the Pallid Harrier have all expressed the same view as yours, saying what a good area for wildlife and particualry raptors. All have enjoyed their visit with some saying that it is worthy of a repeat visit despite the distance involved. Like you they saw a good range of birds but good views of the Pallid Harrier was the icing on the cake. Whilst there are other good estates around would be nice to see more follow their example.
Dave

[Neil Hulme]

A/A - couldn't agree more Dave. The Norfolk Estate should be proud of what it is achieving across both farmland and woodland. The Estate Manager and foresters have been more than helpful in assisting with projects for Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Duke of Burgundy, with many other species benefiting along the way. Their habitat work for farmland birds has been exemplary.
Neil