www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Guy,
Thank you very much for your comments. I really appreciate your expert view.
The reason I went for Berger's was because the hind wings appear not to have a black margin. However, I have never been sure how people can tell the difference!
For the Argus, I originally thought montensis, then changed my mind to morronensis, but only remembered to change the Common Name! The underside markings seem closer to montensis, but I was swayed towards morronensis by the much reduced orange markings on the upper side of the wings.
I will apply Google Translate to my Sierra Nevada book and see if I can do better!
I would appreciate you letting me know how you can tell the difference with both of the above butterflies.

Hi Nick. For the clouded yellow, the colour looks quite wrong for Berger's, which has no hint of orange in it. The outer dark border of the forewing also seems to run parallel towards the trailing edge, enclosing the pale spot, though the black spot on the underside somewhat obscures this. The difficulty I have with photos of these species is that in the field I always know whether it is crocea or hyalensis (my word for hyale/alfacariensis) before I photograph it, from the flight appearance. For the argus, I agree the upperside is very weakly marked if it is montensis but the orange lunules are well developed on the underside, the ground colour is far too pale for morronensis and the wing shape is wrong. My general impression is that it belongs in the artaxerxes group - and therefore must be montensis. But I could be wrong ...

Guy

Padfield wrote:Hi Nick. For the clouded yellow, the colour looks quite wrong for Berger's, which has no hint of orange in it. The outer dark border of the forewing also seems to run parallel towards the trailing edge, enclosing the pale spot, though the black spot on the underside somewhat obscures this. The difficulty I have with photos of these species is that in the field I always know whether it is crocea or hyalensis (my word for hyale/alfacariensis) before I photograph it, from the flight appearance. For the argus, I agree the upperside is very weakly marked if it is montensis but the orange lunules are well developed on the underside, the ground colour is far too pale for morronensis and the wing shape is wrong. My general impression is that it belongs in the artaxerxes group - and therefore must be montensis. But I could be wrong ...

Guy

You are far more likely to be right than me!! I will bow to your superior knowledge and change the identifications accordingly.
It seems that many of the butterflies occurring in the Sierra Nevada have slight differences to those occurring elsewhere. I can't recommend the Sierra Nevada highly enough and I would have loved to spend several days there.
Thank you for your help.


Edit: Here is another picture of the Clouded Yellow if it helps!

During our recent holiday to southern Spain, we paid a quick visit to Gibraltar. While my wife and kids went up to the top of the rock in the cable car, I spent a couple of hours in Alameda Botanical Gardens, as I remembered that it was a good spot for butterflies when we visited a couple of years earlier.
This time it was the same! One of the first flower beds I came across had several Holly Blues enjoying the flowers. There were Small Whites everywhere and they were certainly the most numerous butterflies there. I returned to an area where two years ago I had seen a lot of Southern Brown Argus, Geranium Bronze, Common Blues and Small Coppers feeding on the flowers. Unfortunately this year the flowers were not doing as well and there were a lot fewer butterflies at this spot. I did see this nice Common Blue, though. While I was watching it, out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a large butterfly drifting past. Eventually I tracked it down in the high branches of a pine tree. It turned out to be a Two-tailed Pasha. According to the books this flies in May/June and mid August to October, so I was surprised to see it the second week in July.
Nearer the entrance I spotted another enjoying something sticky on the lid of a bin. I then noticed some more in a tree. As I watched it was apparent that there were seven or eight of them, some quite fresh-looking and others very ragged. I don't know what kind of tree this is, but it was obviously very attractive to the Pashas and other insects. They would keep chasing each other from the choice fruit and fly across the path to the trees on the other side of the path. I spent quite a bit of time tracking them trying to get a picture, but they would always land high in the trees. At one point I completely lost sight of one of them as it flew past me. I couldn't figure out where it had gone, but then noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I had a Two Tailed Pasha sitting parrot-fashion on my shoulder! Unfortunately my camera strap was too short for me to get a selfie with it!

Close to where the Two Tailed Pashas were flying was a patch of milkweed and right on cue a Monarch landed on one of the plants. They have their own little breeding colony of Monarchs at the botanical gardens and I saw quite a few during my visit. Also enjoying the Milkweed was this Wall Brown. There were a few Speckled Woods enjoying the dappled light. This was the only Lang's Short-tailed Blue I saw that day. And I only saw one Small Copper. There were plenty of Southern Brown Argus there, though. Also flying in the botanical gardens were Large Whites, Geranium Bronzes and Cleopatras. And on our walk from the border to the bus station we saw a Brimstone and a Clouded Yellow. Our trip to Gibraltar added two new species to my holiday list bringing it up to 48 species, 20 of which were lifers for me!

I had an amazing day on Thursday. A friend and I went to a woodland to look for signs of Purple Hairstreak, after being told of a possible sighting there five or six years ago. Sadly, we didn't see any Hairstreaks, but we were almost overwhelmed by Speckled Woods. Up until 2009 we had no records of Speckled Woods in East Lothian. That year we had two sightings reported to us and each year since the number has gone up and they have spread westwards right across East Lothian. In an area of woodland about 200 metres by 400 metres we saw hundreds of Speckled Woods. Probably about 400, or more. Everywhere we looked they were dropping out of the trees, basking on the path or sunning themselves on a leaf. There were quite a number of darker individuals amongst them, which I hadn't seen before. I particularly liked these Sycamore and Ash trees in a loving embrace! We are so lucky to have Speckled Woods up here now. I have never seen so many butterflies in one place. Apart from them I only saw two Peacocks and two Red Admirals.

Nick, when did you see your first Speckled Wood in your locality?

David M wrote:Nick, when did you see your first Speckled Wood in your locality?

David,
The first Speckled Woods I saw here were in 2011, but I received one record in 2010 and two records in 2009. They seemed to arrive here along the east coast, with the Lammermuir Hills to the south an apparent barrier. It has been interesting tracking their progress along the coast and now inland.

NickMorgan wrote:
The first Speckled Woods I saw here were in 2011, but I received one record in 2010 and two records in 2009. They seemed to arrive here along the east coast, with the Lammermuir Hills to the south an apparent barrier. It has been interesting tracking their progress along the coast and now inland.

Interesting that, for it was about that time when they started appearing in the Isle of Man where they are now fairly well established.

I had an in1teresting day on Saturday, when I was invited to join a group counting Grey Seal pups on the islands of Inchkeith and Inchmickery in the Firth of Forth. The reason I was there was to identify butterflies that they had seen hibernating in old underground military buildings in previous years. I hadn't realised that both islands are almost entirely covered in old military buildings of various ages.
Last year they had noticed large "clumps" of butterflies on the walls and ceilings of some of the rooms. This year they were very disappointed to only see one or two butterflies at a time. I found it all very interesting. I wondered how the butterflies had found these locations. They seemed to only be in the underground buildings. There were none in the tunnels or rooms with direct access to the outdoors. They were all in rooms that had just the slightest hint of daylight and no perceivable movement of air. When we searched rooms that were further underground we found nothing.
We found a total of 77 Small Tortoiseshells and 7 Peacocks on Inchkeith. The buildings on Inchmickery were all above ground and didn't appear to have any butterflies at all. We also saw two Small Tortoiseshells flying outside on Inchkeith. The seal pups were pretty sweet, too!! Today I was walking along the coast at Gullane and saw a Peacock flying past. It was only 8 degrees, but lovely and sunny. I have never seen so many butterflies in November!

Nice reportage, Nick. Must admit, I 'googled' Inchkeith after reading your earlier post and it seems it has quite a history!

I can't explain why the butterflies are attracted to underground locations, but am confident that 'they know best' and there must be some kind of reason for them behaving this way.

David,
Yes, Inchkeith certainly has had quite a history. There is hardly a square inch without some sort of building, concrete or tarmac. Nice to see it all reverting back to nature, though.
I imagine that the butterflies choose the underground chambers on the island as the temperature should remain just above freezing and the lack of wind will help them through the winter without desicating. I am now thinking about similar buildings inland that may be suitable for butterflies. They have to be hibernating somewhere around here too!

You may be right there, Nick. Perhaps butterflies instinctively know that a coastal location is a prime spot due to there being less risk of extreme low temperatures and a greater degree of moisture in the air.

If only we were as clever as they are!

Having received most of the butterfly records I am expecting for butterflies in East Lothian last year, I thought I would put together a summary of what has been recorded.
The winter of 2013/14 was the mildest I can remember. For the first time in my lifetime we didn't have any snow here and the Geraniums in our window boxes survived the winter because of the lack of a serious frost. Whether this was beneficial to the butterflies is difficult to determine.
We had a reasonably good spring and the early months of summer were warm and sunny. However, August and September were much cooler than normal and rather grey. This, I think, did have an impact on the butterflies.
Our first frost was at the beginning of October, but winter didn't really arrive until the beginning of December.
2014 was the best year I can remember for butterflies in East Lothian. Many species were seen in much higher numbers than normal. Two new species were recorded here and other species expanded their range.
Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae
The first butterfly recorded in East Lothian in 2014 was a Small Tortoiseshell that I found on the pavement near where I work on 28th February. I picked it up and put it on a flower in the sun! Small Tortoiseshells continued to be recorded in good numbers through to 10th November. Peacock, Aglais io
The first East Lothian Peacock was seen on 6th March. They did very well this year with the adults being recorded through to early June. Then in the third week in July the new generation emerged and an enormous number of Peacocks were recorded throughout East Lothian. Their number reduced quite rapidly, probably not helped by the cool weather in the second half of the summer. The last records of butterflies I received in 2014 were both Peacocks flying on 30th November. Comma, Polygonia c-album
The first Comma was recorded here on 11th March and they went on to do very well this year. They were first recorded in East Lothian in 2004, but normally only one or two are seen at a time. In 2014 they were seen regularly and in July when the second generation appeared they did particularly well. On one occasion I saw six on the Buddleia in my garden. Small White, Pieris rapae
The first record of a Small White this year was on 5th April. The great thing about having so many people contributing sightings is that we could see a clear division between the spring generation and the summer generation. The spring Small Whites were seen until the middle of June. The summer generation started to appear in the middle of July and continued through to 26th September.
Green-veined White, Pieris napi
The first record of a Green-veined White was on my transect on 11th April. Green-veined Whites are very common here and this year was particularly good for them. The two generations follow a very similar pattern to the Small White. Orange Tip, Anthocharis cardamines
The first Orange Tip seen this year was on 14th May. Thereafter they were seen in good numbers until the end of May. I was pleased to see that they had recovered after a poor year in 2013, which was a knock-on from the flooding we had in 2012. Large White, Pieris brassicae
The first Large White was seen on 18th April. Generally we don’t see Large Whites in great numbers here, however in 2014 they were seen in good numbers. The summer 2013 generation was higher than normal and I remember seeing a lot of caterpillars later in the year. However, the caterpillars that hatched in 2014 may not have done so well. Those that hatched in August on the Nasturtiums in our garden perished in the cooler than normal weather. It will be interesting to see how many Large White butterflies emerge in 2015. Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria
Speckled Woods were first recorded in East Lothian in 2009. Since then they have spread across much of East Lothian. 2014 saw them continue to expand their range along the River Tyne to Haddington, right along the coast and further inland. If they continue like this they will be found all over East Lothian in 2015. The first record of a Speckled Wood this year was on 20th April and they were seen through to 18th October. In one small woodland near Aberlady they were seen in their hundreds, quite unlike anything I have seen before anywhere. Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui
The first Painted Lady was recorded on 4th May. There were a few more records throughout the year, but they didn't reach East Lothian in any great quantity. I imagine the wet summer in Europe didn't help, as these butterflies migrate, through a few generations, from north Africa.
Small Copper, Lyceana phlaeas
The first Small Copper this year was recorded on 6th May. They continued to do well, being seen in good numbers through to the 2nd October. Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta
The first Red Admiral we saw this year was on May 8th. This was a particularly good year for them, particularly once the second generation started to appear in August. They were seen until the 29th November.
Wall Brown, Lamiommata megera
Wall Browns were first recorded in East Lothian in 2010. They have continued to spread slowly along the coast and to a couple of inland sites. The first Wall Brown this year was recorded on 9th May and they were seen through to 5th September. On 21st May I saw a male Wall Brown near Haddington, a long way from any other colonies. Despite checking the area regularly for the next few weeks I didn't see any more in that area.
Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus
The first Small Heath was recorded on 21st May. It is a common butterfly along the coast in East Lothian and it is also found in the Lammermuir Hills. This year they appeared to do exceptionally well. Green Hairstreak, Callophrys rubi
On 30th May a Green Hairstreak was reported to me just outside East Lothian. The following day I found some, again within feet of the East Lothian border. However, as butterfly records still use the old Vice County areas both of these records turned out to be East Lothian records. There are old records of Green Hairstreak in other areas in East Lothian, but despite looking for them, I have never seen them there. Now I know what habitats they like I will need to spend some time looking for them this year. Common Blue, Polyommatus icarus
The first Common Blue was recorded on 1st June. They did really well this year and were seen in good numbers. They were seen through to 19th August. Northern Brown Argus, Aricia artaxerxes
There are only four colonies of Northern Brown Argus in East Lothian that I am aware of. Three of them are very small, only a few feet across. The first record of a Northern Brown Argus was on 11th June. They did really well this year, with good numbers being seen at the main site. The other sites are perilously clinging on, but work is being done to try to ensure their future survival. Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus
Ringlets bounced back in 2014 after a poor previous year. They were first recorded on 14th June and continued in very good numbers until 9th August, which is very late here.
Grayling, Hipparchia semele
Graylings appear to only occur at three sites in East Lothian. Unfortunately one of these sites is earmarked for development, so may soon be lost. 2014 was a good year for Grayling. The first record was on 16th June and they were seen through to 24th July.
Meadow Brown, Maniola jurtina
The first Meadow Brown was seen on 16th June. Again, they did really well, being seen in good numbers right through to the end of August. I also saw a very ragged individual on 5th September.
Dark Green Fritillary, Argynnis aglaja
Dark Green Fritillaries are never seen in great numbers here. They mainly occur along the coast and in the Lammermuir Hills. The first record for 2014 was on 16th June. Numbers on the coast were about average, but they seemed to do well in the Lammermuirs.
Large Skipper, Ochlodes sylvanus
The most exciting news this year was the arrival of Large Skippers into East Lothian. They have been expanding their range in the Scottish Borders for a number of years and in June they were found just over the border within sight of East Lothian. Despite searching suitable sites on our side of the border we weren't able to find any here. However, on 19th June I received a report that one had been found a couple of miles inside East Lothian. Six days later I was walking along a road verge and spotted one right in front of me. This is the same area that Wall Browns and Speckled Woods first entered East Lothian, so I am looking forward to hearing about Large Skippers working their way along the coast. Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris
Small Skippers were first seen in East Lothian in 2011 at Aberlady. A couple more were seen in 2012 and in 2013 they had increased considerably. In 2014 they not only increased in numbers again, but they were also seen at a number of sites, quite far apart. They seem to have spread right along the coast to Levenhall and were found at a couple of inland sites. They were seen between 30th June and 5th August. Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, Boloria selene
I found Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries for the first time in East Lothian last year. As far as I am aware they only occur at one site. They were seen there again this year on 11th July and again a few days later.
So, 2014 was another great year for butterflies in East Lothian. Two more new species were recorded and I wonder how long we can continue to find new species here! The sad news was that I didn't receive any reports of Holly Blue this year. It would be sad if they have died out here, having been seen at a few sites in 2012.
Now that I am receiving records from the Ranger Service and about 15 volunteers, we are beginning to build up a really good picture of how butterflies are doing here. There is a lot to look forward to in 2015. It will be interesting to see if Large Skippers increase in numbers or extend further into East Lothian. Now that I know what sort of habitat Green Hairstreaks like I am going to check out some of the areas where they used to occur. I wonder if there will be any more new species this year.

I find it interesting that you consider 2014 to have been largely a good year for butterflies in your region. I suppose East Lothian is one of the most exciting areas in which to study butterflies as all the evidence seems to point to butterflies increasing their range northwards, and your 'patch' is right at the heart of this battlefield.

By contrast, last year was fairly disappointing in south Wales. 2013 saw better than average tallies of High Brown and Dark Green Fritillaries, Small Blues, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Small Coppers, Brimstones, Small Whites and Small Skippers.

2014 was really only notable for larger than normal abundance of Green Hairstreaks.

I was rather hoping for a cold blast this winter but this seems fairly unlikely now (unless February turns up the goods).

Nicely done Nick. Some very nice photos as well. A memorable year, no doubt about it. More to come I reckon. I always keep my ear to the ground every season for interesting snippets of information from the north of England on butterfly distribution, and especially news of any population shifts north. From what I have gathered over this past few years, we will be waiting a while for the next wave of wanderers. Brown Argus have been known for a while from the south of Northumberland. No shift northwards yet on the east side. But I did hear that Brown Argus may be breaking through in the North West. 1 confirmed close to Whitehaven I believe. Unlikely to have been Northern Brown Argus. Brown Argus would be quite interesting in Scotland considering our NBA colonies and what it might mean for them...one for the future perhaps. Gatekeeper are not budging from there current distribution much, though there have been sightings in the Scottish Borders for a number of years now that have been discarded fairly quickly as Meadow Brown///and that is probably right enough. White Letter Hairstreak is a possibility. It keeps popping up in Northern England fairly erratically. We do have some very suitable habitat for this species, and have had for a while. Lots of suitable Elm suckers at a good age now. Purple Hairstreak are very likely present in East Lothian as well as the Borders. They will have been present for many years...finding them is quite a job...they have eluded many sharp eyes for many years. Holly Blue probably present still in East Lothian and Scottish Borders....where though? I have only seen ghost butterflies of Holly Blue...twice out of season blue butterflies on the coast. I say out of season meaning...not expecting to see Common Blue in early May. I saw one blue butterfly flying among cliff top shrubbery a few years ago....it got away before I could get close...I am very sure they are still around.
Essex Skipper...maybe? For East Lothian...Scotch Argus and Large Heath...cant remember if you have any Large Heath up in East Lothian anymore. They are disappearing fast in the Scottish Borders, sadly. Scotch Argus would be a long shot, most of the Borders Scotch Argus are in the west now. Dingy Skipper, not a butterfly on the move..but...well...in the Scottish Borders there are very few habitats suitable for this species. However in East Lothian there are plenty that match similar habitats used by the Dingy Skip in Northumberland and South West Scotland...post industrial sites being very popular.....that's a very long shot indeed....find Dingy Skipper in East Lothian and expect a reward
In the Borders we have historical, some hysterical, records for Silver Studded Blue, unlikely to have been, Silver Washed Fritillary, who knows...unlikely, Large Tortoiseshell, maybe, a secretive species, unlikely now, Marsh Fritilary, still possible, but unlikely to still remain, Pearl Bordered Fritillary, perhaps in the west of the region. All of these 19th century records were by collector naturalists at a time when there would have been great competition to find the most exotic species in the region...so pinches of salt more than likely added. The exception is the Silver Studded Blue record from the 1980s up at Abbey St Bathans, it caused great excitement at the time only for that record to have been a duplicate of an earlier record from the 1880s...this record was since discarded as it never appeared in any of the lists of Lepidoptera for the Eastern Borders throughout the remainder of the 19th and early 20th century.
Well Nick...thats my ramble over, thanks for inspiring me with your report. I am looking forward to hearing what you find next season up in East Lothian.

Iain.

David M wrote:I find it interesting that you consider 2014 to have been largely a good year for butterflies in your region. I suppose East Lothian is one of the most exciting areas in which to study butterflies as all the evidence seems to point to butterflies increasing their range northwards, and your 'patch' is right at the heart of this battlefield.

By contrast, last year was fairly disappointing in south Wales. 2013 saw better than average tallies of High Brown and Dark Green Fritillaries, Small Blues, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Small Coppers, Brimstones, Small Whites and Small Skippers.

2014 was really only notable for larger than normal abundance of Green Hairstreaks.

I was rather hoping for a cold blast this winter but this seems fairly unlikely now (unless February turns up the goods).

David,
It is interesting that different parts of the country had different results with their butterflies. I think that last year we didn't have any period of poor weather earlier in the year. Yes, the winter seemed to drag on a bit, but once spring arrived the weather was reasonably warm and dry until August. The second half of the year was not so good, but probably we will see the impacts of that in 2015. I would have to go back to about 2008 or earlier to find a comparable year, but then we didn't have many of the species we regularly find now. The two that stand out are Speckled Woods, which were so numerous this year and Small Skippers, too. What was also notable was butterflies like the Large White and Comma which are normally seen in ones or twos were far more numerous than I have ever seen.

Iain,
Interesting to read your thoughts on potential new species. I had a similar discussion with someone at work recently and we wondered if Gatekeepers or Brimstones were expanding at all. I spent days looking for eggs and later adult Purple Hairstreaks with Abbie Marland last year without success. We concentrated much of our effort on Aberlady and Gosford. Somewhere like Woodhall Dean may be a possibility with the ancient oaks there. I spent a day looking for eggs, but didn't manage to get back when adults could have been flying. I did look for adults in 2013 on one occasion.
I do fear for Holly Blues here. There were none reported from the Newhailes/Brunstane area last year. The previous year, I think there was only one record. It was early 2012 that we found the new colony at Aberlady and we had three other records from North Berwick, Gullane and Dirleton. Unfortunately the summer was a complete wash out and I think it finished them off here.
There are a few areas in the Lammermuir Hills that I would love to check out. A few spots around Crystal Rig wind farm away from the managed grouse moors. Could there be hidden colonies of butterflies still to be discovered? It would be amazing to find Large Heaths or Scotch Argus.
Of course I am still waiting to find some Small Blues on the East Lothian coast, too!

Just as a matter of interest, Nick, which species do you think is most likely to be the next to turn up in your neck of the woods?

David M wrote:Just as a matter of interest, Nick, which species do you think is most likely to be the next to turn up in your neck of the woods?

David,
It is difficult to imagine any more species arriving here. I still can't believe that we have had six new species establish themselves here in the last eight years! The only butterfly that I think we have any real chance of discovering is the Purple Hairstreak. They are north of here in Fife, so can manage our weather. I often wonder if there is a little population hidden away somewhere.
There are Small Blues in the borders, not far away from us, but they would have to jump quite far between areas of Kidney Vetch, so I think they are unlikely to make it up here. Large Heaths are found in the Borders, so could they buck the trend and expand up here. The butterfly that would really excite me would be to find some Scotch Argus in a hidden valley in the Lammermuirs. I hear they are quite specific in their habitat requirements, but I live in hope!
Common butterflies down south such as the Brimstone may occasionally stray up this way, but we don't have any buckthorn for them to breed on! And I wonder what stops Gatekeepers spreading further north?
I can't think of anything else that is likely to make it here. It would be lovely if Holly Blues could re-establish themselves here. Maybe there is a possibility they will spread northwards.
Iain (IAC) is best placed to predict our next species as they will most likely have to spread through the Scottish Borders before reaching here.

Interesting report Nick and timely as I'm about a quarter of the way through mine ( Skippers and Whites written ). It's interesting to see you observe higher numbers of Large White this year as down here they were well down, one mans gain is another mans loss I suppose

Have a goodun

Wurzel