www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Mike
I do despair about the management of Noar Hill for Brown Hairstreak! As it is one of only two population centres in Hampshire it seems bizarre that more care is not taken over the blackthorn management. I thought that it was bad enough that the entirety of the north lane was flailed earlier but took some comfort having recorded good numbers of eggs in the Triangle area - now I find they have probably been cremated ......
Fortunately I did find reasonable numbers across the whole reserve, and indeed outside, before Christmas, but this is little consolation as what was the best best year for egg laying I have recorded in the last five years now seems to have been thwarted by 'management' of a nature reserve - incredible.
I still have a dozen eggs at home that I saved from the flailed remnants before Christmas but could have saved probably thirty or forty at least had i been given the opportunity....... Very unfortunate.
Hope Petes discussion with HWT - of which I am a member - does not come too late.
Mark

Hi Mark, we share your despair regarding the management of Noar Hill for Brown Hairstreak. I don't know when you last visited the site, but a lot of the northern corner has also been cleared, removing the suckering blackthorn there also, (from the first entrance gate in the north east lane). Between this point and the triangle there are some areas of suckering blackthorn which contain reasonable numbers of eggs, and we can only hope that these will remain safe! We didn't look in any other areas at the time, but as you say you have found reasonable numbers across the whole reserve, providing no more new growth blackthorn is cut, the Brown Hairstreak may stand a chance of reaching reasonable numbers this year. We too could have saved more eggs, given the opportunity!
Well, at least Pete's discussion with HWT is a step in the right direction in helping secure the future of Brown Hairstreaks at Noar Hill. We may then be able to see more beautiful females, like this one we watched egg laying in the triangle, last August.

Mike

Thanks Neil, we'll do our best

Mike

Lovely shot of the Brostreaks - I hope that the management issue gets sorted. Is this a conflict of managing the site for one species over another or just non-joined up thinking?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel, in my view it's both of those reasons, plus aggressive hedge cutting in the landscape surrounding Noar Hill. In addition, the cutting of lots of short, suckering blackthorn containing BH eggs along verges of the lanes and track edges bounding the reserve, must be having a cumulative negative effect.

Mike

At lunchtime today we were on our way to post a parcel. We had just entered a roundabout when my wife began shouting about something yellow. As usual there was someone in close proximity to our rear bumper. I managed to turn around and we parked up and crossed to the roundabout, and there flying in the glorious sunshine, was a fantastic male Brimstone, our first butterfly sighting of 2014, it made our day We got some strange looks from other drivers, but they didn't see what we did

Hi Maximus

Well done on your Brimstone I saw my first 2014 butterfly on Sunday, also a lovely male Brimstone.

I am not greatly experienced in Brown Hairstreak matters and indeed failed to get any positive sightings last year at Noar Hill. However, your observations at Noar Hill do concern me greatly. If I am not mistaken it is not the first time this matter has come under discussion.

Last year I had the need to have a moan to HWT about their management of verges along The Itchen way. My specific complaint was at the cutting of large areas of Garlic Mustard which was covered in Orange Tip larvae. I sent an email and had a reply stating that they would alter their cutting regime to avoid the areas of Garlic Mustard. Whether this was ever put into practice I can not confidently say as I was unable to monitor it effectively. I am only a small voice in a big world but I will send them a similar message about Noar Hill. Even if it just backs up other peoples discussions with them it will be a worthwhile thing. Incidentally the Hants and IOW wildlife trusts HQ is only just round the corner from me. So if a personal visit is in order

Good luck with your Purple and Brown Hairstreak eggs. I shall be watching your progress and comparing notes

Hi Jack, glad your first butterfly of 2014 was a Brimstone too.

We have been back to Noar Hill, and searching through cut blackthorn twigs in the north-eastern part of the reserve, managed to rescue six more Brown Hairstreak eggs. We now have some young blackthorn planted up in pots ready for the larvae when they hatch. More importantly we had a good few hours at Noar, and the good news is that we found (as Mark Tutton did), that there is plenty of suckering blackthorn containing very good numbers of BH eggs across the whole reserve, and also outside the reserve! Perhaps therefore the losses in the cleared areas will be offset by what was obviously a very good year in 2013 for egg laying female Brown Hairstreaks.

Glad you E-mailed HWT about the effect strimming was having on the Orange-tip larvae on the Itchen way, and if enough small voices are heard, they can add up to a much larger voice, which will be listened to!

Hopefully this potentially will help the Brown Hairstreak butterfly population at Noar hill.

Mike

You're doing much better than me Mike I've yet to see a Butterfly this year, hopefully I won't have to wate much longer.

Thanks B Rex, I hope you see your first butterfly of 2014 soon.

We saw three male Brimstone in this mornings warm sunshine, two were in our garden and one was actually settled!! I could possibly have got a photo, if only I had my camera with me Once I had it, he was no longer settled At one point he even flew into the open greenhouse, but I did not have the heart to close the door Its really brilliant to see these lovely butterflies on the wing once again

Congrats on getting off the mark Mike I reckon that it's almost time to start carrying the camera everywhere just in case

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi all - here's an official response re: Noar Hill:

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=7451

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Pete, thanks for that information and thanks to Dan for giving us the overall picture of ongoing habitat management at Noar Hill. We fully understand the reason behind the management practises carried out at Noar Hill and appreciate a lot of hard work is put into maintaining the habitat for the diversity of wildlife species there. However, we believe it could further benefit the Brown Hairstreak population at Noar Hill if, prior to the necessary scrub management being carried out, there was some form of notice given, perhaps a message on Butterfly Conservation's website? This way, interested persons would be given the chance to collect the eggs that would otherwise be lost, and those that were successfully reared through to adults would be released back onto the site. Not trying to tread on anyone's toes here, but considering only about 1 egg in 100 in the wild will reach adulthood, surely the opportunity to make a difference, albeit a small one, by home-rearing, makes sense.
We have, at present, 15 Brown Hairstreak eggs which we found on cut pieces of blackthorn at Noar Hill, and hope that the odds, in our controlled conditions at home, are going to be far better. We hope, therefore, to release some adults back onto the reserve at Noar Hill this summer. We are also aware that other people are doing the same thing, which can only be a positive step, because these eggs would otherwise have perished.

Cheers,

Mike

7th March

This afternoon we went looking for adult butterflies for the first time this year, and we found some. It was warm and sunny in Alice Holt Forest, which had woken some hibernators, which played hard to get before we managed our first butterfly photos of 2014.


These butterflies have survived the wettest winter Great Britain has seen for many years, and we were very pleased they had In total we saw three fighting Commas, and two Red Admirals.

Great shots Mike I read the report from Butterfly Conservation that suggests the flooding hasn't been too much of a concern and that the threat of parasitism was much greater, but never the less the Comma and Red Admiral have done really well to get through the dismal 'winter'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great to hear that butterflies have come through the recent wet weather. I am sure that it must have drowned a number of chrysalis, caterpillars and hibernating adults.

Hi Wurzel, I have seen that report too, lets hope that parasitism is not a major problem in 2014.

Hi Nick, I'm sure that overwintering stages have been adversely affected by the wet winter, but its good to see some great survivors



7th March

The continuing good weather brought this welcome visitor into our garden this morning


We also recorded two male Brimstones and four Small Tortoiseshells, though none of these gave us any photo opportunities there are clearly now lots of hibernators on the wing

Great Peacock shot there Mike I'm not seeing many down my way yet. I'm hoping that the great season we had last year will compensate a bit for the losses over the winter. I'm sure last summer was a bumper one for egg laying so with my optimists hat on and my fingers crossed it will be another good year..... weather permitting.

B'saurus

Thanks B'Rex, I'm sure you will have seen some Peacocks today and hopefully it will be another good year



9th March

What a great start to the season today has been, we have seen butterflies everywhere. In the garden this morning there were Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Brimstones. On our trip out around our local area this afternoon we found very good numbers of the hibernators on the wing, the exception being Red Admirals, of which we saw none.

Hi Mike,

Nice photos, especially like the Brimstones .

cheers,

Neil