Lancashire - 30th Dec 07 - Peacock???

[nick patel]

Flying Peacock today at Carr house green common (nr Catforth, Preston) in Lancashire, presumably awoken by weird conditions or disturbed by something??? Any ideas?

[Padfield]

There are lots of reasons why hibernators suddenly wake up in the middle of winter. A common one is humans suddenly turning on (or up) the heating in parts of their houses that weren't heated up until then. This might be because of a very cold spell or because of family descending for the holiday season &c. Physical disturbance (digging the Christmas lights out of the garage, for example) can also do the trick providing the ambient temperature is high enough; or moving things from a window so sunlight suddenly shines in where it wasn't before. Basically, anything that changes the conditions under which the insects chose their hibernating spots is likely to interrupt their sleep.

In my experience, the true hibernators, unlike things like red admiral and clouded yellow, are generally quite well-behaved over the winter and don't fly except when humans disturb them or the weather is exceptional. Red admirals are really just hangers-on from the previous season and sudden warm weather can easily rouse them if they are still alive.

Guy

[Lance]

Yes a few reports of RA's on the wing during the mild weather.