Blue Boost Goldie M

[Goldie M]

I've just received my copy of Butterfly from "Butterfly Conservation" and " Blue Boost " was the heading to the article.
It's talking about restoration of Limestone grassland for the Cotsworlds and wild Thyme and Primula's being planted there for the threatened species of Butterfly like the Duke of Burgandy and the Large Blue. All these things ring a bell for me,
at Gaits Barrow we have the Lime Stone, Primula's and the DOB, could it be possible to introduce the Large Blue? I'm no expert but it seems like we've got three of the most important things already, maybe not the Wild Thyme, not sure about that, we've certainly got the rest though.
Maybe the climates too cold but there seems to be loads of places for the Butterflies to shelter and we've got lots of rare species there.Goldie

[ChrisC]

could all depend on what ants you have there too. play a big part in the lifecycle of large blue.

Chris

[Goldie M]

I don't know Chris, I'll have to find out.
When I was in Kent this Summer the Ants in East Blean Woods were nasty and there were loads of them, do they have any thing to do with the Heath Fritilary, or is it just the Blues that depend on them Goldie

[Mark Tutton]

The large blue is probably one of the fussiest butterflies we have. I have had the good fortune to visit green down in Somerset where there is a closed site - and chat to some of the experts in charge of its reintroduction to various new sites. The species of ant is crucial and the ant itself -Myrmica sabuleti - needs very specific requirements and travels up and down in the soil to regulate the temperature of the nest I believe. If it uses other Myrmica species the larvae rarely survive. The sites need to face south to catch the sun and the soil has to be reasonably deep over the underlying substrate - thin soils like those favoured by chalkhill and Adonis tend not to support The Myrmica ants required. To quote one of the students I chatted to " the large blue almost deserved to become extinct as it so damn fussy!" Mark

[David M]

Hard to conceive of a Large Blue presence in northern England. To my knowledge, it has never been recorded there so a 'reintroduction' would be a bit of a misnomer.

[Goldie M]

I suppose your all right, I didn't realize the Butterfly was so particular, I'll have to visit Somerset and take a look at it.

We certainly have trouble with Ant's round here though, We came home from holiday one year and they were all over our big window that over looks the back garden, flying Ants ugh! We've had a new Sliding door put in but we've still to put powder down every year Goldie

[Essex Bertie]

I'm not suggesting that David M thinks there is a 'latitude problem' for Large Blues in Northern England, but his post reminded me of something I overheard whilst visiting one of the Cotswolds sites 2 years ago. One theory as to why they weren't doing so well at that particular site was that they thought the old Large Blue colonies there may have had a 2-year life cycle, being a bit further north than the old Somerset colonies. All seemed a bit odd as the new stock has come from Sweden.

[Goldie M]

Must be because of the Ants if they play so big a part of the Butterfly 's life . Sweden is colder than here Goldie