Lincolnshire Rainbows
Posted: Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:25 pm
Forget about the red hot weather and the cerulean blue skies - the colour currently making all of the headline news in the land of the Yellowbellies is the colour PURPLE!
After a long absence, Lincolnshire rejoined the Purple Empire back in 2014, when a reintroduction, carried out under the stewardship of the late Martin White, returned the Purple Emperor butterfly to Chambers Farm Wood. Ironically, His Imperial Majesty was already in the process of naturally recolonising the county from the south and west at around the same time, and over the past few years has become well established in a number of woods in south and central Lincolnshire.
This year it is out and about in excellent numbers, and is continuing to expand its Lincolnshire Empire, having turned up at several new sites in recent weeks. I found it yesterday in private woodland to the west of the River Witham from a site where it has not been recorded before, and today I saw two males and an egg-laying female at another new site, New Park Wood, in the Limewoods area. Others are making similar discoveries, and one incredibly fortunate individual photographed a stunning ab.lugenda last Saturday at Chambers.
If purple is not your colour (and why on earth wouldn't it be?) then take heart from the fact that Lincolnshire has also gone silver over the past decade, as the Silver-washed Fritillary has colonised the county and is now to be found in ever-increasing numbers in most of the larger, and many of the smaller woodlands. It got here a year or two ahead of the Emperor and has paved the way for its liege admirably!
The stories of these two species, and all other Lincolnshire butterflies, can be read about in Butterflies of Lincolnshire - A Modern History, by Peter Cawdell and Pete Smith. I am reliably informed that it is quite a good read
Two-thirds of the print run has now gone, but copies are still available. If anyone who hasn't got a copy is interested in acquiring one, please PM me
After a long absence, Lincolnshire rejoined the Purple Empire back in 2014, when a reintroduction, carried out under the stewardship of the late Martin White, returned the Purple Emperor butterfly to Chambers Farm Wood. Ironically, His Imperial Majesty was already in the process of naturally recolonising the county from the south and west at around the same time, and over the past few years has become well established in a number of woods in south and central Lincolnshire.
If purple is not your colour (and why on earth wouldn't it be?) then take heart from the fact that Lincolnshire has also gone silver over the past decade, as the Silver-washed Fritillary has colonised the county and is now to be found in ever-increasing numbers in most of the larger, and many of the smaller woodlands. It got here a year or two ahead of the Emperor and has paved the way for its liege admirably!
The stories of these two species, and all other Lincolnshire butterflies, can be read about in Butterflies of Lincolnshire - A Modern History, by Peter Cawdell and Pete Smith. I am reliably informed that it is quite a good read
Two-thirds of the print run has now gone, but copies are still available. If anyone who hasn't got a copy is interested in acquiring one, please PM me