October 2009 Sightings

[Vince Massimo]

Hi all,

I made a mess by posting yesterday's report in the September pages. I will leave it there because it seems to round off the Clouded Yellow topic fairly well. At the same time I will open the new month by putting the report in the proper place and adding a photo.

I made one final trip to Birling Gap, Sussex on 1st October, before the weather changes. It was quite bright by the time I arrived at 11.15am, but there was a slight northerly breeze. I would estimate that there were at least 300 Clouded Yellow flying in the two big fields either side of Hodcombe Farm opposite the Shooters Bottom car park. There were more females out today compared with Monday and, as the afternoon wore on, some of the males were pausing to feed. So, lots of photo opportunities, but the breeze made it difficult. There were four f.helice seen as well as a couple of newly hatched females and a mating pair. I left the site at 3.20pm.

It would be interesting to re-visit the site on a sunny day in November to see the result of all of this mating activity.

Also seen on this visit were 8 Painted Lady, 4 Red Admiral, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Small Heath, 1 Meadow Brown, 5 Small Copper, 3 Large White and 2 Small White

Cheers,

Vince

[Susie]

Every time I see butterflies now I think perhaps they will be the last for this year. Today was a good day and there were painted ladies, small and large whites and comma in the garden.

[Dave McCormick]

Went out looking for butterflies in an area that is usually where small tortoiseshells and red admirals hibernate, but did not find much. I did find this little moth, but I was on "P" mode instead of TV mode, so I was suprised it came out good as it did, handheld too. I still have not ID'd it yet as I am not very good with micros

Micro on Ivy Bud

Think the butterflies are hibernating or gone from here now. It was about 12C here, but in full sun I thought I'd find something, but a passing shower didn't help much.

[Ian Pratt]

I have just returned from seeing friends in south west France for four days and was amazed by the weather and the varieties of butterflies seen as follows: clouded yellow, large white,small white, small heath, meadow brown, wall brown, common blue, an unknown blue to be identified, red admiral, painted lady, speckled wood, small pearl-bordered fritillary and geranium bronze (photo attached)- I was hoping to put this in for the September competition until I realised the photo had to be taken in September and the posting until today was only for September sightings!

[Denise]

My garden has been pretty quiet of late, but my heart skipped a beat yesterday when a large dark butterfly was lurking at the top of the ivy. It clearly was not a Red Admiral and at first I only got glimpses of it, but it had what appeared to be white edges to the wing. It was a trick of the light, and hopes were dashed when a tatty Peacock flew down.
Speckled Woods are still around but in single figures, the odd Red Admiral and still several Comma. White numbers are also down to single figures. Season's nearly over.

Denise

[Perseus]

Hello,


Meadow Brown
Speckled Wood
Red Admiral
Common Blue
Clouded Yellow
Comma
Wall Brown
Small Heath
Painted Lady
Large White
Small White
Peacock
Small Copper






Thirteen species of butterfly seen in the first two days of October 2009 in the Shoreham area

First Adur Butterfly Dates 2003 to 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ButterfliesFFT.htm

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: October 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Oct2009.html

[Susie]

Nice photo, Ian, I love those little geranium bronzes. I would be quite happy to give up my geraniums and cape daisies to have them in the garden.

[Ian Pratt]

I had only my wide angle 17-40 lens so got in close with flash and hey presto!

[Deano]

Hi Vince
Fantastic to hear that you saw so many Clouded Yellows! I've only seen 2 here in Suffolk. I'm still thrilled to see the little beauties, but a few dozen more would be nice!

[Vince Massimo]

Deano,

It was a an absolutely mind-boggling sight to see so many Clouded Yellow concentrated in one place. Even though it meant a 100 mile round trip, I made 3 visits in the space of a week because you never know when this spectacle may ever be repeated. As this is clearly a breeding site, I have not given up hope of seeing more later in the year. I am hopeful that a visit on a sunny day in late November may produce some more sightings.

I am attaching another of the photos which was taken on 1st October of a beautiful f.helice. Now that the weather has changed, I think we all need a bit of cheering up at the moment.

Cheers,

Vince

[Matsukaze]

Hi Dave, the little moth on the ivy is one of the Nepticulidae, probably a Stigmella, though I have no idea which one. They are easier to identify by their larval leaf-mines.

[Dave McCormick]

Hi Dave, the little moth on the ivy is one of the Nepticulidae, probably a Stigmella, though I have no idea which one. They are easier to identify by their larval leaf-mines.

Yeah you could be right, I can guess those small moths can be hard to ID without looking at genetalia or leaf mines. But I think it could be Stigmella plagicolella given most other Stigmella are not found in October (as far as I know) and this one is one of the few that has foodplants in the area I found it.

Thanks for help.

[Dave]

Tiny little Painted Lady around flowers in front of my office. A vividly bright example, exactly when will British PL's hatch because I'm sure this once wasn't a migrant.
I'm not exagerating the size either - I'd never do that

[IAC]

Hi all,
An extended butterfly season ongoing up here in South East Scotland. Red Admiral are the main event with 50-60 each day, over a period of a week nectaring on Ivy by the local riverside...the weather has been cool, however this has not bothered them much. Also Painted Lady in low numbers with Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock. Comma have made sporadic appearances as well as the odd Small White.
Cheers IAC.

[Zonda]

Nice pics IAC, chances like this seem a long way off where i am. It's rained almost solidly for the last 2 days.

[Matsukaze]

Where have the Red Admirals in Northern Ireland and south-east Scotland come from? It's been a very poor year for them in the south so far as I know. Are they descended from butterflies that survived the winter in the area, or have the migrants just missed out England?

[Denise]

I had one today, it zipped from the hedge to the Rowan tree in pouring rain!

Denise

[tmhotten]

Two pristine Small Coppers nectaring on dandelion in the Wild area of Wisley RHS Gardens this morning

Terry Hotten

[IAC]

Where have the Red Admirals in Northern Ireland and south-east Scotland come from? It's been a very poor year for them in the south so far as I know. Are they descended from butterflies that survived the winter in the area, or have the migrants just missed out England?

Hi Matsukaze,
The brief history of 2009 in SE Scotland concerning Red Admirals reads thus....I did not see any Red Admiral up and into mid summer, the odd one or two showed up during the Painted Lady influx. Not until July really did they begin to look like a normal yearly population...there were spikes though....I was finding groups of 10-20 in places this was unusual in late July. Since then and up until today they are everywhere, very fresh despite some very stormy weather recently. The group of 50-60+ by the river on Ivy is very unusual I have never seen so many so late. I have no real answer as to why there are so many here just now....but I do wonder if any at all will survive the winter.

Cheers IAC.

[Zonda]

The rain stopped today, and unbroken sunshine brought between 6 and 10 Red admirals to my garden in south Dorset, they were feasting on my ivy plus a comma, and a couple of whites.