Welsh Brown Hairstreaks
Posted: Fri Oct 15, 2010 9:11 pm
Just thought I'd copy and paste a message sent to me by Nikki Sanderson, who is one of the volunteers helping the Brown Hairstreak to thrive in west Wales.
Looks as though this year has been pretty good (has it been similarly good at other BH sites around the country?)
The following is a summary of events thus far in 2010:
A record year all round for Brown Hairstreak butterflies at
West Williamston SSSI- Pembrokeshire
Following the outstanding record number of 301 Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs found along the foreshore transect, and 29+ eggs found on a single old Blackthorn bush last December, the summer months have proved to be just as fruitful on this exceptional Wildlife Trust reserve in Pembrokeshire.
After several larvae were found moving around Blackthorn leaves during daytime in spring, the first adult was recorded egg laying in the Butterfly Glade on 15th August. It appears that this was possibly the first BHS recorded in Wales this year. By the end of September more than 44 females had been recorded throughout the reserve, with three at a time on two separate occasions. Several sightings were also made on the Limestone Ridge. Adults have not been seen there before – indeed until quite recently records consisted of only one or two sightings a year, making all these records particularly rewarding.
On 26th September, and despite some torrential rain over the previous couple of days, a female was observed a third of the way up in Ash, where she remained until 4.10pm – a very late-in-the-day sighting.
Our latest sightings this year were on Friday 8th October when four females were seen in the Glade at the same time, one on Saturday, and a remarkable 5 sightings on Sunday 10th in pleasant sunshine. These are some of the latest ever records for Pembrokeshire, and with the good weather continuing, who knows if there are still more sightings to come.
The ‘assembly’ or ‘significant’ trees have still not been located at West Williamston, and so achieving this will be our challenge for next year.
Nikki Anderson and Jean Hambly – October 2010 Wildlife Trust South & West Wales volunteers
Looks as though this year has been pretty good (has it been similarly good at other BH sites around the country?)
The following is a summary of events thus far in 2010:
A record year all round for Brown Hairstreak butterflies at
West Williamston SSSI- Pembrokeshire
Following the outstanding record number of 301 Brown Hairstreak butterfly eggs found along the foreshore transect, and 29+ eggs found on a single old Blackthorn bush last December, the summer months have proved to be just as fruitful on this exceptional Wildlife Trust reserve in Pembrokeshire.
After several larvae were found moving around Blackthorn leaves during daytime in spring, the first adult was recorded egg laying in the Butterfly Glade on 15th August. It appears that this was possibly the first BHS recorded in Wales this year. By the end of September more than 44 females had been recorded throughout the reserve, with three at a time on two separate occasions. Several sightings were also made on the Limestone Ridge. Adults have not been seen there before – indeed until quite recently records consisted of only one or two sightings a year, making all these records particularly rewarding.
On 26th September, and despite some torrential rain over the previous couple of days, a female was observed a third of the way up in Ash, where she remained until 4.10pm – a very late-in-the-day sighting.
Our latest sightings this year were on Friday 8th October when four females were seen in the Glade at the same time, one on Saturday, and a remarkable 5 sightings on Sunday 10th in pleasant sunshine. These are some of the latest ever records for Pembrokeshire, and with the good weather continuing, who knows if there are still more sightings to come.
The ‘assembly’ or ‘significant’ trees have still not been located at West Williamston, and so achieving this will be our challenge for next year.
Nikki Anderson and Jean Hambly – October 2010 Wildlife Trust South & West Wales volunteers