www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi all

An interesting point, and one which I've given some thought to already. My own perception of 'British butterflies' includes residents and regular migrants, so I've always included Painted Lady. 'Regular' is difficult to define, but I don't think it will be too many years before most people would agree that Long-tailed Blue has qualified for inclusion in that club.

Part of me doesn't want to accept that change in status just yet, with some justification beyond wishing to retain its reputation as a genuine rarity. I've probably seen more than most in the UK (now a minimum of 70 individuals), but that remains a long way short of the number of Painted Ladies I've seen in the last 50 years!

Wurzel: I think we'll start to see a significant number of UK-born LTBs by mid September, although I suspect the first has already hatched in Devon.
This species is as hard as nails, so it won't get 'knocked on the head' unless night-time temperatures drop below 4 degrees for a day or two (larval tolerance was tested in 2015); that's unlikely to happen for a while yet.

BWs, Neil

Filming The LTB

This morning I was interviewed by BBC South East's Yvette Austin, together with BC Sussex Branch members Kirsty Gibbs and Dave Cook, for a news article on the Long-tailed Blue (available for a short while at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... s-28082019 starting 20:04). Unfortunately a few facts (including Dave's surname) got scrambled, but I was pleased with the amount of airtime we were given. In a few weeks time these old warriors will be replaced by shiny new Sussex-born LTBs.

Great stuff, Neil! I feel a bit disloyal to Sussex having travelled to Kent yesterday to see them, but they seem to be turning up all along the south coast at the moment. I'm looking forward to the next generation in a few weeks time, touch wood!

Neil Hulme wrote:...This morning I was interviewed by BBC South East's Yvette Austin, together with BC Sussex Branch members Kirsty Gibbs and Dave Cook, for a news article on the Long-tailed Blue (available for a short while at https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m ... s-28082019 starting 20:04).

Grr. That's showing as 'no longer available' when I click the link.

Hi Andy. Far from feeling guilty about leaving the motherland, it's great to get data from further afield, where there is sometimes less observation or reporting. I would have covered Kent myself if there wasn't so much going on in Sussex.

Hi David. Unfortunately the daily news items only stay up for 24 hours. Blink and they're gone.

BWs, Neil

Losing Steam

Although the male Long-tailed Blues at the Whitehawk Hill TV mast were still performing well yesterday (29 August), I suspect that the majority of the primary migrants we are likely to see have now arrived, and the majority of eggs have now been laid. On several occasions yesterday, three males were in sight at the same time, but subsequent examination of my images proved that four were present (not all shown). It is certainly worth visiting them this weekend, but by next weekend I suspect that numbers will have dropped off, and they'll all be looking as ragged as some of the old boys already are.

Great to see that the LTBs are still going reasonably strong, and some are even not totally ragged yet! I am travelling down from Yorkshire this evening for the weekend to see whether I can find one for myself. If you (or anybody else in the know) happens to see this in time, I wonder whether you'd mind giving me a grid reference for the Whitehawk Hill males, please? It looks like a big site, and not one I'm familiar with...

Hi Callum
Stand at TQ33000452 and you should be fine this weekend.
BWs, Neil

Neil Hulme wrote:Hi Callum
Stand at TQ33000452 and you should be fine this weekend.
BWs, Neil

Many thanks Neil! I was indeed fine, photos to come on my PD once I'm back home...

Ragged or not, they're a joy to see, Neil. I'll certainly be keeping my eyes peeled in south Wales later this month just in case any have made their way as far as here.

Bag Of Coppers

I didn't make any accurate counts during my visit to Cissbury Ring on Sunday (8 September), but I saw about 30 Small Copper and at least 20 male Adonis Blue, some of the latter in areas where I haven't seen the species for many years. Other highlights included a female Brown Hairstreak and a steady stream of Red Admirals heading south.

This site is rapidly attaining some of its former glory (I spent many hours here in my youth) thanks to the excellent management in recent years by the National Trust. The combination of pony grazing, cattle grazing (eastern compartment) and scrub control is likely to bring even greater rewards over the next few years.

We also noted Red Admirals flying south, along the cutting at Hutchinsons Bank, where Red Admirals are not usually seen in numbers.

Beautiful Coppers, Neil. Not seen too many lately on the forum but this time of year usually sees them come into their own.

Thanks, David. I never spend much time chasing this species in the spring and summer, but the third brood always provides one of the highlights of autumn. These won't be the last images I post!
BWs, Neil

Wonderful Knepp

With every passing year I find that I'm spending more and more time on the Knepp Wildland in West Sussex, which fortunately is on my doorstep. Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP3-TsRRSys to a video which gives a flavour of what has been achieved in relatively few years. It gives me huge hope when so much of our landscape and wildlife has been degraded. Well worth a visit at any time of year, but the next six weeks will see some real fireworks as the Red and then Fallow Deer ruts get underway.

Neil Hulme wrote:...Here's a link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mP3-TsRRSys to a video which gives a flavour of what has been achieved in relatively few years.

Thanks for posting this, Neil. It was a delight to watch. What's interesting is the statement later in the clip explaining how the financial returns are actually better than when the estate was being intensively farmed.

Was good to see a few Emperors and nightingales too!

British boeticus

Despite suffering increasingly painful tonsillitis (no pain, no gain) I went up to Whitehawk Hill yesterday (17 September), mainly on the basis of Katrina Watson’s image taken on 16 September, which shows a pristine male Long-tailed Blue, with fringe hairs completely intact. I believe that the condition of the fringe hairs is critical in differentiating Sussex/British born individuals, particularly during this period when some primary immigrants are overlapping with the first born on Sussex/British soil.

Based on my 2013 and 2015 observations of this species, it starts to lose fringe hairs almost immediately on emergence, rather like the Chequered Skipper. The fringe hairs appear to be so loosely attached that I doubt any butterflies could cross the Channel with them completely intact, so whereas Painted Lady, Clouded Yellow and other species can cross in perfect condition, I suspect that boeticus can’t. As an aside, I think Mike Galtry’s female at Lancing Ring on 30 August was probably the first Sussex born example seen this year (which would mean the egg was laid in late July).

As I walked through the male lek below the TV mast, I flushed what at first appeared to be a moth, but when I saw the ‘moth’ land delicately on a grass stem I got rather excited. I had the company of this mating pair between 12.22 and 13.18 hrs, when she finally kicked him off. I believe that the male was a Sussex born individual, only a day or two old (probably Katrina’s butterfly), but the female had much of her fringe missing, some minor chips and a heavily scarred upperside; I estimate she was about a week old, and most likely a new arrival from France.

I also saw two other males, which were of some age and almost certainly primary immigrants. However, they were in much better condition than those seen regularly up until end August. Those seen yesterday match the condition of males seen since 10 September by David Phillips and others. I believe that we have seen at least two (discernible) waves of immigrants, the beginnings of which started approximately one life cycle apart (some supporting evidence from Lancing Station today).

This makes differentiating late wave immigrants from Sussex/British born individuals potentially tricky. I think the burden of proof, at least for the next week or two, must be quite high in confidently determining the latter, which undoubtedly are now beginning to emerge.

Eyes to the pea; things are going to get very exciting over the next month or two.

That's a pretty good shot of the mating pair Neil

Very exciting times indeed - and an excellent analysis! Thanks Neil - and that shot of the mating pair is incredible!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks, Pauline. Sometimes you need luck and I got it in spades that day. If I hadn't walked within a metre of them, I would probably have gone home empty handed. And they were so cool that they didn't budge for an hour. When it warmed up slightly they split and I saw two more males briefly before the cloud thickened and the temperature dropped.

Today, under clear blue skies and heat, I got three or four high speed fly pasts in three hours. The camera never came out of the bag.

BWs, Neil