www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

On the subject on Clouded Yellows, does anyone think are we likley to have similar sightings at Birling Gap this year to those from last year?

As in, do they breed there now, would the harsh winter have affected them and/or were last year's numbers the result of migration?

Cheers

Lee

Hi Lee,
We are unlikely to see a repeat of the Birling Gap Clouded Yellow swarm this autumn, as last year's event was the result of a 'perfect storm'. CY spring migrants (arriving with the Painted Ladies) bred in Sussex, and then the UK-born progeny bred again. These emerged in the autumn, on the fields at Birling Gap, while 'new migrants' were arriving from The Continent. The winter 'took out' all the late season CYs, so we are now reliant upon fresh migrants arriving from France.
Neil

Thanks Neil

Cheers

Lee

It does seem a shame about those Clouded Yellows - on 25/9/09 there were hundreds, but my last visit to Birling Gap on 30th October produced just one rather sad individual.

Dave

But back to the present...
In what might be called "bright" conditions and distinctly breezy with it, I stopped off on a trip down the M40 to visit the north side of Aston Rowant. All butterflies were grounded unless disturbed, but walking along a path across the slope, I found a surprising number basking on bare patches of chalk rather than roosting or hiding in the grass. Every other step threw up a Silver-spotted Skipper, and there were reasonable numbers of fresh Chalkhill Blues too. Add in a Small Copper, a couple of Brown Argus and two distinct gatherings of Common Blues, it was quite a productive excursion.

Dave

A couple of pictures to go with the last post...

Dave

Late afternoon today at Brading Down IOW on wild marjoram were chalkhill blues, common blues, brown argus and adonis blues apart from the usual small heaths, meadow browns, large /small whites and gatekeepers.

Now I'm located in Hampshire, took a trip to Shipton Bellinger on the advice of Pete in search of one of the new local specialities - Brown Hairstreak which I'd never seen before (We don't get them in Kent alas).

Was not disappointed and within 30 mins had seen half a dozen or more flitting up high in the trees, and as the day warmed up the count rose to around 20 as I covered quite a large proportion of the site, and quite well spread throughout including several low down. Never really appreciated what a stunning looking butterfly these are until I saw one in the flesh. The pristine females are amazing to see and extremely co-operative for photos unlike the other hairstreaks!

Alas no time to upload any pics due to getting ready to go off to Switzerland on Saturday.

The site also produced hundreds of meadow browns + Gatekeepers, several Common Blues. More Holly Blues than I have ever seen before - don't think I saw any last year but they seem to be everywhere this autumn! Loads of large, Small and Green Veined Whites. Brown Argus, Speckled Wood, newly emerged Brimstones and one surprisingly quite fresh looking Dark Green Fritillary.

Also bumped into Roger Buchanan and friend and several quite friedly walkers. One said last year there was a White Tailed Sea Eagle in the area for a couple of weeks?? Seen them in Norway but never realised they ever got anywhere nearer than the Scottish islands in the uk! Maybe another local speciality for another time lol!

Would very much appreciate accurate directions to the Shipton Bellinger BH site. It would be a relatively easy journey for me for a species I'd love to see. Thanks for any help, Alex.

Beautiful morning in S.Wales so I travelled to West Yatton Down near Chippenham thinking the same would be true there. However, the cloud cover became thicker the further east I travelled, and in the two hours I spent there, the sun only broke through for approx 10 minutes. This was disappointing, since this is an excellent site and it meant that many of the butterflies I DID spot were ones I disturbed walking through the grass. It certainly wasn't a 'basking' day, which is evidenced by the lack of Peacocks, Red Admirals and Tortoiseshells. Still, there were plenty of the grassland types wandering about:

1. Brown Argus 40-50 (never thought I'd go anywhere and see this species commoner than any other)
2. Common Blue 30-40
3. Hedge Brown 18
4. Chalkhill Blue 18
5. Small Heath 16
6. Green Veined White 15
7. Meadow Brown 15
8. Speckled Wood 13
9. Comma 3
10. Small Copper 3
11. Silver Washed Fritillary 2
12. Large White 1
13. Small White 1

David M:

Beautiful morning in S.Wales so I travelled to West Yatton Down near Chippenham thinking the same would be true there. However, the cloud cover became thicker the further east....

Always worth checking this satellite picture to minimise that sort of problem:

http://www.sat24.com/frame.php?html=vie ... gb&sat=vis

(at night, it is less useful infra red)

Jack

fantastic link Jack..... just what I need!!! PS.... I'm under the REALLY crap bit!!!!

I'm at Hamshire at the moment at my aunties house and we are going to the New forest on sunday, can any of you tell me what butterflies I can see there at the momment?

In her garden I saw 5 large whites, 1 Brimstone, 1 Speckled wood, 3 Holly blues(which one of which was laying eggs on her Ivy!).

Felix

felix123 wrote:I'm at Hamshire at the moment at my aunties house and we are going to the New forest on sunday, can any of you tell me what butterflies I can see there at the momment?

You should see plenty of Grayling up on the heaths. Whereabouts are you going - the New Forest is a big place!

Cheers,

- Pete

Paul wrote:fantastic link Jack..... just what I need!!!

Jack - have you ever thought of writing a summary of how to monitor and predict the weather? What are the best websites to use? I think a lot of the UKB membership would love a summary from someone with your obvious knowledge in this area, and I'd also like to have such an article for the website!

Cheers,

- Pete

I second that.

There's nothing more frustrating than being under a broad lump of cloud when the forecast has suggested fine weather.

After retring I spent the next ten years 1998-2008 giving forecasts for gliding both online and in person at gliding competitions. That is a specialised branch of meteorology but adaptable to general needs.

I can modestly say that as “weatherjack” I had a decent enough reputation. I still maintain a page of links to the best sources of information. At the moment, I am having some website hosting problems but I’m sorting out although there is a bit of a hiatus this weekend as I am staying away with friends in north Norfolk. You can try weatherjack.co.uk but it might not work at times until the migration to the new webhost is fully completed. (There are nuermous sub-links to deal with - it's not as simple as it might sound to you I/T experts).

So after Pete’s suggestion, I can see another winter’s task in prospect.

Jack

It was pretty miserable out there this morning, but I did manage to find a few roosting Adonis before I was rained off. As I upload this picture the flipping sun is coming out.


Regards Gruditch

Brilliant shot Grud, it has that dull weather subtlety of tone about it. Did well to get both focussed.

Back home in rainy Suffolk I saw a single clouded yellow flying south along the coast on 11th August and a single painted lady in heavy cloud yesterday, 13th. The clouded yellow brought my global year total for this species to three! They have been almost entirely absent in Switzerland, completely eradicated by last winter and apparently not replenished with summer immigrants.



Guy