September 2013

[lee3764]

Last Sunday was my birthday and as it was sunny I decided at about 13.00 to visit Brading Down on the Isle of Wight where I live. I saw the following:
Chalkhill Blue (2), Common Blue (2), Small Copper (2), Red Admiral (1), Small Heath (1), Speckled Wood (2)
Someone else the same day reported from the same site the following:
** reports from Brading Downs (SZ597869) where the following observations were made: Meadow Brown (54), Marbled White (41), Common Blue (3), Chalkhill Blue (52), Speckled Wood (1), Small Skipper (2), Small White (22), Large White (26), Peacock (1), Comma (2), Painted Lady (2), Brimstone (1), Small Copper (1), Clouded Yellow (1).
This seems suspicious as it will be the latest sightings on record for both small skipper and marbled white for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight.
Am I right to be suspicious?
Ian

Just my opinion......No way 41 Marbled Whites at end of September & Small Skippers finished 1 month ago! Have not seen a Meadow Brown around in last few weeks either! This sightings list must be 6 weeks out of date at least!!
Cheers,
Lee Slaughter.

[Padfield]

I'm with Lee on that! Marbled whites and small skippers at the end of September would be highly anomalous anywhere in Europe!! There must be some mistake.

Guy

[Ian Pratt]

Thanks Lee and Guy-I am not going mad quite yet!

[millerd]

I read that on the same website and suspect someone is just posting some sightings a few weeks later than the actual date seen. It raised my eyebrows for a moment, mind!

Dave

[Jack Harrison]

Ian wrote:

Am I right to be suspicious?

My guess is that somehow the dates got mixed up and that impressive list of sightings was actually made earlier in the year: a simple typo by that observer led to the apparently strange report. Maybe he meant 29th July and not 29th September as it was given. That would be a plausible list for end of July.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

I've let Robin Turner (the webmaster) know. There is clearly an error in the date.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Perseus]

29 September 2013
When the sun came out so did a few of the more notable flying insects including at least seven Comma Butterflies and a few Speckled Woods in the shade, as well as a few Small White Butterflies and at least one Large White Butterfly on the Downs Link Cyclepath from Old Shoreham to Upper Beeding. A Common Darter (dragonfly) was seen at Upper Beeding and a Southern Hawker at the southern edge of the Salting's Field at Bramber by the River Adur. A splendid large hoverfly Volucella zonaria, settled on a flowering Buddleia on the cyclepath by the Cement Works. There were a few small orange-brown moths which might be Vapourer Moths ??? but these were not seen close-up.
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/AdurLevels2013.htm