January 2015

[David M]

I believe UKB member William is already off the mark for 2015 with a Red Admiral sighting in Exeter!

Tomorrow looks to be promising with 10-12c temperatures and a bit of sunshine on offer.

[William]

I am indeed - delighted to see one fluttering around the eaves of Exeter St David's, platform 5 of all places!

Happy New Year All!

BWs,

William

[Vince Massimo]

The weather conditions today were the same as those on Christmas Day when I saw my last Red Admiral of 2014 at my local hot-spot viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8075#p93872

I have been monitoring this rather nondescript location since 2006 and found that it is an established overwintering site for this species. It comprises a strip of road, about 200m long orientated south to north which is sheltered from the prevailing winds by a belt of ivy covered trees on the western side. It is a cul-de-sac and there are houses on the eastern side.

Red Admiral site, Crawley (facing north) 2-Jan-2015

The orientation, sheltered aspect and expanse of tarmac seem to create a warm pocket in the early afternoons which draws the butterflies out when the sun is at the right angle. All sightings here in November and December have been between 12.30 and 13.15. Sure enough, a Red Admiral was seen at 12.55 today, basking high on the ivy on the left side of the site. At that time the air temperature was 9C and the light westerly wind was being blocked by the trees.

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 2-Jan-2015

The butterflies also bask on the rear wall of the house on the right and the south-facing fence, as well as the tarmac. Additionally they can sometimes be found 100m further south in front of the New Moon PH.

EDIT: The site is of further interest inasmuch that it also usually produces late sightings of Speckled Wood on the grass strip at the northern end. In 2014 single individuals of the species were seen on 4th and 9th November, but the latest ever sighting of a Speckled Wood here was 22nd November 2007.

Happy New Year everybody

Vince

[Lee Hurrell]

Wonderful to see sightings off the mark already!

Happy New Year everyone.

Best wishes,

Lee

[David M]

Well done, Vince. That's at least two of us off the mark!

[Vince Massimo]

Thanks David, but on balance I would prefer to be in the middle of a proper winter

Vince

[David M]

Thanks David, but on balance I would prefer to be in the middle of a proper winter

Vince

Agreed. A nice 10 day sub-zero blast would suit me fine too. There's still time.

[Jack Harrison]

Crawley used to be a "Nuclear Free Zone" - whatever that meant. I don't know how they expected the Soviets to respect that but I think the "nuclear free" had more to do with electricity. Even so, with some 5% of UK's electricity coming from France where nuclear energy is much more widely used, I have always been puzzled to know how the residents of Crawley filtered out the nuclear component of their electricity.

But nuclear free was clearly good for Red Admirals.

Jack

[William]

Another Red Admiral yesterday in Somerset - having a great start to the season!

[NickMorgan]

I have been monitoring this rather nondescript location since 2006 and found that it is an established overwintering site for this species. It comprises a strip of road, about 200m long orientated south to north which is sheltered from the prevailing winds by a belt of ivy covered trees on the western side. It is a cul-de-sac and there are houses on the eastern side.

Interesting. Have you established where they go to hibernate?

[Vince Massimo]

Hi Nick,

I have not observed any actual "hibernation" or roosting behaviour on this site. All I know is that I can usually find them on the wing there on suitably sunny days in winter.
My understanding is that they over-winter on the trunks and branches of trees (as explained here)
http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com/Br ... alanta.htm
I also strongly suspect that the existence of ivy plays a part as well, but have no evidence to support this.

This season I have been photographing all individuals here and will try to match these up with those seen flying in the coming spring.

Vince

[Matsukaze]

First of 2015 - hibernating Small Tortoiseshell found today in Trudoxhill, Somerset.

[Mark Tutton]

We made our traditional visit to Noar Hill on New Years Day to look for Brown Hairstreak Eggs and it was reasonably successful finding 24 in an hour or so - most in the reserve but a few outside. These included three doubles and one very popular sucker with four individuals on it. In all a pleasant way, if cold and damp, for Maddie, Sarah Flossie and I to blow the Christmas lethargy away and welcome in the new year.

I had an interesting conversation with other UKBers at the Winter get together about Brown Hairstreaks, and their apparent rarity in Hampshire and the consensus seemed to be that they are probably under observed for the following reasons:
1. Most people visit the two known sites if they want to see them
2. Their flight season is at the end of the year when there are fewer butterfly observers are about
3. They are not normally found in large numbers and infrequently come down to low level
4. They are easily overlooked on 'unkown' sites as just another little brown job

Sussex BC members have certainly proved that they are much more widely distributed in their county than previously thought by conducting methodical egg surveys in the winter, and as noted by Colin Pratt in his excellent 'Complete History of the Butterflies and Moths of Sussex' there are more than 100 2km squares where eggs have been found in NW Sussex - not that far from Hampshire.

Having 'got my eye in' the challenge will now be to try and find some eggs away from the reserve. I have looked for the past three years on Selborne Common without success but I have identified three more areas around Selborne that look promising. I know that Betulae eggs have been found fairly widely around Selborne - just can't find them myself!
In addition I will persevere along the Sussex border East of Petersfield and will also follow up on a sighting of a female in the Meon valley last year, miles away from the two 'known' sites. If the efforts of the Sussex BC members are anything to go by, Brown Hairstreak must be more widely distributed in Hampshire - just need to find them

[Paul Harfield]

Excellent work Mark Like you I believe that the Brown Hairstreak must be more widely distributed in Hampshire than is currently known. The isolated sighting in Hampshire last year was not a million miles away from my local Stephens Castle Down site. Whilst there is not much chance of seeing anything else perhaps I will take a look there using the advice you gave me at the 'Winter Social', you never know.
I think another line of investigation could be to check old sites where Brown Hairstreak was recorded in the past. I know they used to exist at Farley Mount years ago. However, I am not really sure where to find additional historical information on sightings in Hampshire. Any advice?

[Mark Tutton]

Hi Paul
Interestingly I have been doing some research today using the Hampshire butterfly reports for the last 10 years, Matthew Oates ' Butterflies of Hampshire' and Barry Goaters ' Butterflies and Moths of Hampshire' (1974)
The established areas around Shipton Bellinger the Cholderton Estate and Selborne/Newton Valence feature greatly. A number of other areas have historical records including Botley Wood (1970's) two areas in the New Forest Balmer Lawn and Ringwood (1960's) more intriguing records at Southwick and around Bishops Waltham, Shedfield and Corhampton (1940's) was also locally common in Portsmouth! Matthew Oates also recorded eggs on the Gault clay belt from Alice Holt to Hawkley NW of Petersfield during the 1970's. There has also been a number of recent reports around Broughton/ Middle Wallop area - plenty of scope methinks.
Mark

[ChrisC]

peacock briefly in the garden today.

[MikeOxon]

Red Admiral reported at 10:30 this morning in Yarnton, Oxon: see http://oxonbirding.blogspot.co.uk/

[Vince Massimo]

With the sun having been shining all morning, today presented another opportunity for a sighting at the local hotspot.

Red Admiral site, Crawley, Sussex (facing north)

At 12.55 a Red Admiral was spotted flying which then alighted at the base of the western hedge. I am almost certain that this is a different individual to that seen at distance on 2nd January.

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 11-Jan-2015

The air temperature was 8C and the wind was not a factor today because it was from the WSW.

Vince

[robpartridge]

I am sure that this sighting is not very unusual but it does add another species to the 2015 total. Every year I grow nasturtiums on the south-facing garage wall, and these are much visited by the various whites. Large and Small Whites often lay eggs upon them and I allow them to do so - we still get plenty of flowers. This mild year the blooms went on into December. Yesterday I saw this perhaps two-thirds grown caterpillar of the Large White on the wall nearby. The nasturtiums have now withered away and presumably the caterpillar is searching for food.

It was given a piece of cabbage and placed in a container in the unheated garage, just to see whether it will make it through to the spring,

Rob

[Testudo Man]

Well, Im off to a great start for January 2015. Two Species on the day...Location - Kent.

At lunchtime today (13/1/15) I spotted a Red Admiral basking on top of our back garden fence. I took a couple of long range photos from my upper bedroom window, but it was a fair distance away, even if i was using a Nikon teleconverter on the end of an 18X optical Panasonic bridge camera!
The 2nd Species being a Small Tortoiseshell, which was at the top of my driveway, but i didnt see it until i had scared it into flight! It flew onto my neighbours wall, above her garage, where it continued to bask. No time for a photo though, i was on my way out, and already running late!

Very pleased with these garden sighting in January though.

Cheers Paul.

EDIT - Forgot to mention, a Queen Wasp was also seen in my back garden today, she was basking on my sons football!