www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

As Locations Coordinator for UKB I have been, over the last few months, researching potential butterfly sites not yet listed via our excellent Site Listings directory. The main thrust of our exercise is to record locations where the less common species are found (with the exclusion of sensitive sites which we don't list) although, with the general decline in our butterfly species, I appreciate the term 'less common' is subjective.

With this in mind it would be very useful if our army of UKBers could assist by letting me know of sites as yet unlisted in our directory so that we might compile a comprehensive listing of butterfly locations across the UK. In particular we seem to be thin on the ground in Wales, an area rich in species - locations such as Silent Valley SSSI, Branches Fork Meadows, Priory Wood SSSI, Strawberry Cottage Wood SSSI and many, many more. Being Wales-based I will be visiting some myself but cannot cover them all for obvious reasons. Of course this exercise is not limited to Wales, we need to build a comprehensive database of sites UK-wide.

If members have fresh data on currently listed sites, such as previously unrecorded species becoming established or existing species disappearing, this would be equally as important so that I can update those sites with the latest information.

All you need to do is let me know the name of the location, where it is and the species found there and I will endeavour to add them to our site listings. You can contact me via kevin@ukbutterflies.co.uk.

Many thanks in anticipation of your support and in the hope this will be a good year for our butterflies.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

I visited Lathkill Dale in Derbyshire on Saturday. Orange-tips were more common here than most places I visit. Three Green Hairstreaks were also present.
The other species I noted were Green-veined White, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood.

Regards
Alex

Many thanks, Alex. I will update our site records.

Kevin.

Holme Fen TL199896 - Small Copper, White Admiral, Silver-washed Fritillary

Aversley Wood,TL164821 - Silver-washed Fritillary, Purple Haistreak, White-letter Hairstreak

Thanks Rosalyn.

Kevin.

Hi Kevin,

You might like to add the following species to Bison Hill (SP999184):

Dingy Skipper
Green Hairstreak

both well established here.

ATB

Peter

Thanks Peter.

A fuller list of species for Castle Hill NNR Woodingdean Brighton
Dark Green Fritillary
Silver Spotted Skipper
Grizzled Skipper
Dingy Skipper ( nearly always a 2nd brood )
Small , Chalkhill , Adonis and Common Blues
Brown Argus
Green Hairstreak
Marbled White

Thank you, Mark. Seems I'm going to be busy!

Aston Rowant

Adonis Blue, only on the north side though

Beacon Hill Nature Reserve Rottingdean East Sussex

Whilst not a spectacular site compared to many others , there is a very good population of Marbled Whites here . A few Dark Green Fritillaries are seen most years and a very small colony of Chalkhill Blues seems to have clung on for many years in limited suitable habitat . The odd Adonis Blue has been recorded here but they are probably strays from other nearby sites .

Site listings have now been updated. Many thanks for the contributions. If there are any further updates members wish to submit I'll ensure they are included in our listings.

Kevin.

Thanks Kevin!

Cheers,

- Pete

Where possible could we also include a usable Post Code for sites as most Sat Nav systems don't actually use Grid References? Some are available on Wildlife Trust webpages or a nearby pub is quite handy?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:Where possible could we also include a usable Post Code for sites as most Sat Nav systems don't actually use Grid References? Some are available on Wildlife Trust webpages or a nearby pub is quite handy?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel - just bank the grid reference into StreetMap then, below the map, click on "Click here to convert coordinates". I'll look into doing this automatically at some point.

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Wurzel,

The site listings also include a link to Google which lists website links for the location. From there you can get postcodes and glean other information about the local area such as pubs, directions, local activities. etc. Hope this is helpful but we're always open to suggestions as to how we might improve our site listings.

Thanks,

Kevin.

Hi Wurzel
most Sat Navs that I have encountered have a 'navigate to point on map' facility whereby you move a cursor where you want to go and hit navigate to!
I find this much more useful that using a postcode as you can be absolutely specific about where you want to get to, far away from the nearest postcode, down dirt tracks etc.
During the winter I worked through numbers of sites I intended to visit, first identifying them on Ordnance Survey and then plugged them into my favourites on the Sat Nav - this is even more useful when you want to navigate between sites in unfamiliar territory. Got me all the way to Glasdrum Wood last week and arrived straight to the car park no problem at all.
Hope that is useful.
Mark

It should be worth adding the new BC reserve at Westbury Beacon (Somerset - ST502507) - unusual species include Chalkhill Blue, Dark Green Fritillary, Wall, Dingy Skipper and Grizzled Skipper.

Matsukaze wrote:It should be worth adding the new BC reserve at Westbury Beacon (Somerset - ST502507) - unusual species include...Wall...

How the once mighty are fallen! Such a shame that this once widespread and common species is now a rarity.

Hi Matsukaze,

Thanks for the Westbury Beacon note. It does already appear in our sites listings as 'Westbury Beacon BC Reserve' including all the species you mentioned. What would be very useful is an indication of how numerous each of the species is, if you know that level of detail. Thanks again.

Kevin.