www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Just a wee update on how things are progressing here in sunny Bewickshire. April got of to a promising start with Comma , Peacock and Small Torts in reasonable numbers, then toward the end of the month....nothing.......disaster, then along came the sunshine at long last, and May has heralded, "slowly" a bumper crop of butterflies. Comma are few and far between here but they are establishing themselves well. Peacock numbers slightly down on previous. Small Torts ,after a slow start are gradually showing there hand, only today I recorded 20+ !. Orange Tip are doing well, lots of males, females are slow, however I did see today the little orange eggs on the Garlic Mustard....so they have been busy. 1 solitary Red Admiral today in great shape. Green veined whites now becoming very numerous ,out manouvering the Orange Tip males for airspace.Thats all for now ,hope to see some Small Cops soon, and still no Small Whites ? dunno why ! Here are some snaps

Excellent report IAC

I hope you keep reporting through the season, since you have quite a few interesting species (and subspecies) north of the border!

Cheers,

- Pete

Interesting you are finding Commas as here in Somerset I have found just one so far, when normally I would expect a couple of dozen.

Matsukaze the first Comma 2008 here was 3rd April, then it rained pretty much the rest of the month, at the present moment , I have seen 6-12 Comma, in a 5sq mile radius of the village of Chirnside, Berwickshire. I have no idea why you have seen so few Matsukaze.........all I can say is that maybe the local habits of the Comma here differ from those in the South. For example , I am finding all the Comma in the vacinity of sucker Wych Elm, and last year they were egg laying on the Elms, instead of the plentifull nettle stands, it maybe the secret of there rapid expansion North, as the Elms as you know were pretty much destroyed by the Elm bark beetle ,the suckers have reached a certain maturity, and have pretty much become trees of there own........only a theory.....thanks for your reply....IAC..

I think it is weather-related, after the poor summer last year. I record mainly in 10km squares ST65 and ST75, south of Bath, and the Comma population here has collapsed completely. I have records from around a quarter of the 1km squares in these areas from 2006 and 2007 - widespread but always in low numbers - but none at all so far this year (just one elsewhere).

There are some strange goings-on with the butterfly populations here. The Brimstones are fine in extensively wooded areas, but much scarcer than usual elsewhere, and I cannot find the females anywhere. Small Tortoiseshell is very scarce, except in one field near me where I see a few on every visit. I have still to see Small Copper or Common Blue, which I would expect by now. Yet the whites and Holly Blue are everywhere.

The elm is also behaving oddly. Very few trees appear to have produced seeds.