Notes and Views January 2015
Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:44 pm
Sightings of Red Admirals carried on through December 2014 and into the New Year, which is not unusual for this species. In fact 2015 is the 7th Year in the last 11 where an adult has been sighted on 1st January (this by William Langdon at Exeter Railway Station). viewtopic.php?f=8&t=8132#p94044
What is more significant is that winter sightings of immature stages are also becoming common. The website of the Sussex BC Branch carried a report from Dave Harris on 7th January of "good numbers of both first instar caterpillars and unhatched eggs" in Newhaven, East Sussex.
An update posted on 23rd January advised that "the last of the Red Admiral eggs laid on 29th November (2014) hatched today (exactly eight weeks as an ova), having endured winds, snow and frost to minus 3.5ยบ last night. The recent gales and cold seems to have done considerable damage to the nettles, however, and it was not possible to find evidence of any earlier hatchings, although hopefully they may be somewhere in the new growth just appearing at the dead stem bases."
(The link to the website is here http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.html but the reports will slip down the page as the weeks pass).
Vince
What is more significant is that winter sightings of immature stages are also becoming common. The website of the Sussex BC Branch carried a report from Dave Harris on 7th January of "good numbers of both first instar caterpillars and unhatched eggs" in Newhaven, East Sussex.
An update posted on 23rd January advised that "the last of the Red Admiral eggs laid on 29th November (2014) hatched today (exactly eight weeks as an ova), having endured winds, snow and frost to minus 3.5ยบ last night. The recent gales and cold seems to have done considerable damage to the nettles, however, and it was not possible to find evidence of any earlier hatchings, although hopefully they may be somewhere in the new growth just appearing at the dead stem bases."
(The link to the website is here http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.html but the reports will slip down the page as the weeks pass).
Vince