British Butterflies

Hells Mouth - a 'rubbish' beach in North Wales

2008-09-11T21:00:00.013+01:00

Visited the Lleyn peninsula in North Wales last weekend. Despite the rain, Debbie and I managed to get out and see most of the area by car plus quite a few walks when it stopped raining.

Overall, the Lleyn is a wonderful place. The towns and villages are clean. The wildlife is no doubt excellent but we didn't see a great deal due to the time of year and the weather. Highlights were Ringed Plover, Chough, Common Lizard, Redshank, Common Blue, Red Admiral and a Small Tortoishell Butterfly.

Above: Common Lizard

Above: Common Lizard

The only real shame was the wonderful beach called Hells Mouth, south west of Abersoch. Its approx 5km long with a soft cliff face which is constantly erroding. The beach is a mixture of fine sand, cobbles and in places, an unbelievable amount of plastic rubbish.

How sad is it that the world has come to this... within 20 years human beings have turned our oceans, seas and rivers into rubish dumps. Just seeing it made me feel sick... and the i found a dead Cormorant among the rubbish. Just another innocent victim of waste caused by human greed. Not sure if the locals aor the council ever tidy this beach but they would be fighting a loosing battle... this plastic could continue to wash up on this beach for hundreds of years even if we stopped dumping our rubbish in the sea mmediately.

I feel disgusted to be part of the human generation responsible for this complete and utter lack of respect for our planet.

Above: Among the detritus... Johnsons Baby Oil... kind to your baby's skin... not so kind to the planet?

Above: View looking south east along the cliff face where a constant spread of plastic drinks bottles could be seen. Nice place to lay down your towl and sunbathe!!

Above: Nylon fishing nets, rope and other plastic bits and pieces such as plastic gloves, plastic containers etc.

Above: Wonder where this came from?

Above: here... a victom of all this rubbish... the speckly brown blob in the centre is the poor Cormorant

But is was not all bad... the broody weather produced some nice sunsets!!

Hunting on Exmoor... in the rain

2008-07-17T23:40:00.007+01:00

What seemed like a whole week of rain on Exmoor still provided plenty of opportnities for new experiences and to explore.

On the non-butterfly side of things, a Nightjar was one highlight. While walking up Bin Combe near Dunkery Beacon, Debbie disturbed this elusive bird which flew a short distance before landing and allowing me the chance for just 3 photographs before it flew off into undergrowth.

Above: Nightjar at Bin Combe

The Nightjar was however not the target of our visit to Bin Combe... we were here to see Heath Fritillary butterflies but the weather was so bad that we did not see any and by Wednesday we had pretty much decided that we would forget about Heath Fritillary till next year.

On the last day of our holiday, the sun finaly appeared... so such so that we even paddled in the sea for about a mile along Saunton Sands before returning to the car park via Braunton Burrows where among all the wild flowers and butterflies we met this male Common Lizard.

Above: Common Lizard at Braunton Burrows

Dispite the bad weather, we did also manage to seem some stunning butterflies... Marbled White, High Brown Fritillary, Silver-washed Fritillary and Dark Green Fritillary being the highlights with Heddons Mouth, Watersmeet and Braunton Burrows being the best locations.

Above: Dark Green Fritillary at Heddons Mouth

Above: A male Silver-washed Fritillary at Watersmeet

Above: A male Silver-washed Fritillary at Watersmeet

Above: High Brown Fritillary at Heddons Mouth

Above: High Brown Fritillary at Heddons Mouth

and I only managed to take over 1,500 photographs!!

On the hunt for Silver-studded Blues

2008-07-17T23:14:00.008+01:00

Back from my holiday on Exmoor and can now finally report on my visit to Prees Heath and Great Ormes Head three weekends ago on the search for Silver-studded Blues.

Dispite being slightly cool with some sunny spells, we found it easy to find Silver-studded Blues at Prees Heath. The site has recently been purchased by Butterfly Conservation and is the only site in the midlands where the Silver-studded Blue occurs. The butterflies at Prees are of a subspecies 'masseyi'... the females being completely brown with only small traces of blue on their upper wings.

Above: A view of the underside showing the slivery blue studs.

Above: The steel blue colour and white fringes of a pristine male is unmistakeable

Above: A female showing only small traces of blue.

We then went further north west into Wales to the Great Ormes Head where the Silver-studded Blue also occurs. Here it is in the form of the subspecies 'caernensis' where the butterflies are smaller and the females have much more extensive blue colouration on the upperwings. Dispite the rather cold wind, it was sunny in North wales for most of the afternoon and when we finally decended from the sumit to more sheltered areas, Silver-studded Blues were seen in large numbers.

Above: A female from Great Ormes Head showing extensive blue colouration and more defined orange lunes.

Above: A male

Also on the Orme is the subspecies 'thyone' of the Grayling which we also saw.

Above: Grayling nectaring on Valerian

Above: The undersides are ideal for camouflage.

Above: Several Dark Green Fritillaries were seen on the Orme.

Latest news

2008-07-03T12:13:00.002+01:00

A visit to Prees Heath and on to the Great Ormes Head in North Wales for Silver-studded Blue and Grayling proved to be an excellent move last Sunday. Had a superb day and took loads of photographs which I hope to post the best of here soon but I'm on hols next week in Exmoor on the hunt for Heath Fritillary if the weather improves so on my return, I hope to report back on Exmoor too.

Getting The Blues at Green Down and Collared Hill...

2008-06-27T18:59:00.004+01:00

My first visit to Green Down, a Wildlife Trust site which has probably the largest colony of Large Blue butterfly in Britain last Sunday following the rain of the preceeding Saturday provided some good views of Large Blue plus the opportunity to photograph a mating pair.

Dispite the previous days poor weather there were a few Large Blue on the wing along with Marbled White, Ringlet and other species. It was a really enjoyable visit although our time there was restricted to approx 1 hour.

Above: A mating pair of Large Blues

Green Down is not open to the public during the flight season of the Large Blue but you can visit by applying for a ticket during an open day each year. The site is superb for butterflies and wild flowers.

Above: Green Down in the sun following horrible weather the previous day.

Its also well managed and because access is restricted, its a pleasure to visit and you are encouraged to put the butterfly's wellbeing above everything else.

A visit to the only public site for the Large Blue at Collared Hill is a different story. My first visit to Collared Hill last year left a bitter taste as photographers from far and wide behave like missbehaving paparazzi where their photo takes priority over the butterfly's wellbeing.

Above: Large Blue at Collared Hill

Its great to have a public site where the general public can visit but the behaviour of a few people is quite depressing. At times, I dare not twitch or even indicate that I had seen a butterfly for fear of being pounced upon by photographers desparate to get 'the' photo.

I enjoy taking photos too but I also respect the subject, its environment and people sharing the experience. I find my own butterflies (there were plenty to go round) and prefer to take photographs in peace... something which seems impossible to do at Collared Hill. So after approx 45 minutes we left, disheartened by the behaviour of a few. Although I love butterflies and its been my dream to see the Large Blue and to get a few good photographs, one thing I will not be doing again in the forseable future is visiting Collared Hill.

As a protected butterfly, we are privilleged to have the opportunity to see the species in the UK after it was declared extinct here in 1979. The re-introduction has been a success but those who visit sites such as Collared Hill should perhaps give the butterfly and other people more respect. Then perhaps we can all enjoy the beauty of such a wonderful creature.

Wyre Forest Fritillaries...

2008-06-11T18:47:00.007+01:00

A visit to the Wyre Forest on Sunday 8th of June provided an excellent show of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (SPBF) in the meadows in Dowles Brook along with a Chimney Sweeper moth. Also witnessed a couple of rather worn Pearl-bordered Fritillaries (PBF) laying eggs along the 'pipeline'.

We also saw SPBF in the Hurst Coppice area of the Forest where Butterfly Conservation have been conducting some excellent habitat managment work to help benefit SPBF, PBF and the Wood White.

Other butterfly species seen include: Grizzled Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Small Copper, Common Blue, Green Hairstreak, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Brimstone, Large Skipper, Small Heath and lots of Speckled Wood. A possible Wood White was also seen briefly but cannot confirm 100%.

There are also plenty of Green Tiger Beetles along the forest tracks although photographing them can be quite a challenge!!

Dragonflies seen include: Club-tailed Dragonfly, Black-tailed Skimmer, Broad-bodied Chaser, several Beautiful Damoiselle plus a few other unidentified.

Above: 2 Photos of the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Above: Speckled Yellow (Moth)

Above: A Common Toad on one of the tracks in the Forest.

I would recommend anyone visit the Wyre Forest for some stunning wildlife and peace and quite. Throughout the whole day, we bumped into at most 10 people so you can really get away from everything in the Wyre... so, if you are thinking of visiting, don't... I prefer it without lots of people!! ;-)

Missing moth... found...!!

2008-06-05T18:11:00.005+01:00

The Moths Count project has uncovered a real rarity in the Highlands of Scotland!

During a training session at Aigas Field centre in May, Mark Young and Roy Leverton were getting ready to talk about how to find and rear caterpillars. Andy Scott and Margaret Currie showed some of those at the event, pictures of a medium-sized black micro moth, with a characteristic orange body. Mark and Roy instantly realised that it was a photograph of the fabulously rare 'Ethmia pyrausta'.

Ethmia pyrausta (photo: Margaret Currie).

A single specimen was found in the valley of the Shin, north of Inverness in 1853. Then in 1996, Mark and one of his students trapped two specimens at Glas Maol in the Cairngorms. Two more specimens have since been seen but no-one has ever found the caterpillars in Britain.

The caterpillars feed on meadow-rue. The team will now try and find out where the moth breeds so they can make sure that its habitat is safe for the next 155 years!

Butterfly Conservation
Monday 2nd June 2008

Butterflies of Rodborough and Oakridge

2008-05-26T20:29:00.018+01:00

A visit to Rodborough Common and a site near the village of Oakridge, both in Gloucestershire in the 24th May 2008 produced a wide range of species. Dispite the poor weather forcast, the day was wall to wall sunshine although quite breezy at times. Apart from the butterfly species listed below we also saw some interesting wild flowers including Greater Butterfly Orchid.

Rodborough Common (Little London area):
Duke of Burgundy (10+) Brown Argus (10+)
Green Hairstreak (2)
Common Blue (4)
Dingy Skipper (10+) inc. mating pair
Large White (2)
Red Admiral (1)
Small Heath (10+)
Adonis Blue (5 Males, 3 Females)
Small Blue (6)
Large Skipper (1)my for this year
Cistus Forester Moth (6+)

Oakridge:
Marsh Fritillary (5)
Peacock (1)
Small Blue (3)
Small Heath (5)
Holly Blue (1)
Small Copper (1)
Adonis Blue (2)
Dingy Skipper (4)
Green-veined White (1)
Common Blue (2)
Cistus Forester Moth (2)

Here's some of the best photographs from the day.

Above: Duke of Burgundy at Rodborough Common

Above: Duke of Burgundy (aberant form gracilens) also at Rodborough photo by Debbie Hibbitt

Above: Male Adonis Blue (Rodborough)

Above: Female Adonis Blue (Rodborough).

Above: Marsh Fritillary (Oakridge).

Above: Dingy Skipper mating pair (Rodborough).

Above: Wild flowers such as Sainfoin...

Above: And Greater Butterfly Orchid at Oakridge.

Above: Detail of Greater Butterfly Orchid.

Butterfly Walk at Prestbury Hill with Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire.

2008-05-19T22:02:00.008+01:00

Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire organised an event for branch members to visit Prestbury Hill in Gloucestershire on Sunday 18th May 2008.

It was a good turnout with over 20 people attending. Dispite the cold northernly wind, the clouds broke to give us plenty of sunshine throughout the day.

We were looking for several key species which are present at Prestbury, namely the Duke of Burgundy, Small Blue, Green Hairstreak and Dingy Skipper. The Duke was our primary target as they are not present in Warwickshire (extinct in the County since 1987). We saw good numbers of Dukes, more than I have every seen before at Prestbury including an aberant form gracilens along with plenty of Small Blues at their normal locations along with a few Green Hairstreak, and singletons of Brown Argus, Painted Lady (very worn) plus other more common species.

Below: Duke of Burgundy aberant form gracilens

Below: Getting up-close to the Duke.

Below: The Duke of Burgundy showing the wonderful underside pattern of its wings.

Below: Dingy Skippers showing different colour variations.

Below: A pristine Small Blue

Butterflies of the Chilterns...

2008-04-27T21:17:00.005+01:00

On Saturday 26th April, visited Tottenhoe Quarry, Sewell Cutting in the morning, followed by Ivinghoe Beacon and later a Bluebell Wood which was very busy with people before popping up to the Duke of Bridgewater monument on the Ashridge Estate. Today was the first real day of strong sunshine for 2008.

At Tottenhoe, we were greeted by a pair of Yellow Hammers. we saw several species of butterfly including Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange-tip, Brimstone and Green-veined White and Large (Cabage) White but there was no sign of Duke of Burgundy. We bumped into a chap on a Transect. He hadn't seen any Duke of Burgundy's either but he was kind enough to provide the directions to Sewell Cutting.

Sewell was superb. Lots of Brimstones and Peacocks around along with Comma, Orange-tip, a single Speckled Wood and a couple of Holly Blue's. We returned to the car parked at Tottenhoe for lunch.

Off to Ivinghoe in the mid afternoon. Less butterflies here probably due to the wind on this exposed ridge on the chilterns but the views were stunning and the sound of Skylarks made for a pleasant walk. We walked down to the more scrubby areas after a short rest to see if we could find Duke of Burgundy here but non were seen. Again, Peaocks were the dominant species.

From Ivinghoe, we stopped off in a busy car park oposite a Bluebell Wood which seemed very popular. At the far end of the wood, furthest away from the road, a view across a field full of lambs into more woodland gave us clear sightings of at least five Fallow Deer. Apart from the Bluebells, the wood also has a few areas supporting Wood Sorrel.

We then popped up to Duke of Bridgewater monument on the Ashridge Estate where on a short walk, we observed a Wood Mouse at very close quarters feeding of the fresh leave of a Bramble bush.

Pooley Fields - First Butterflies for 2008

2008-04-11T23:13:00.004+01:00

A visit to Pooley Fields, near Polesworth on 30th March 2008 brought my first butterflies of the year.

4 Comma including the friendly individual below which happily basked in the spring sunshine while posing for a photo on Debbie's finger, 9 Peacock and a single Small Tortoiseshell (see photo below).

Above: Comma basking

Above: Small Tortoiseshell basking

So what will Butterfly World do for our butterflies?

2008-03-14T21:43:00.002Z

Its an interesting question.

My personal opinion is that I think Clive Farrell and his team should be congratulated for getting butterflies in the media spotlight. The project at St Albans will be great for butterflies and for educating people about ourenvironment. It will also help raise much needed cash to help ourbutterflies through Butterfly Conservation.

However, until our government, the EU and the general public wake upto the sorry state we are in when it comes to wildlife in the UK,then we will never make any progress, no matter how much money is spent on or raised by such a wonderful project.

Farmers get a raw deal for the produce they grow and increased human population in the UK results in even less farmland (due to increased house bulding and associated roads and other infrastucture) and higher food prices... both of which combine to place huge presure onour wildlife.

Reports that the loss of EU set-aside funding will result in a population crash of Wild Hare (for example) will certainly also effect our butterflies. Uncontrolled cutting of hedgerows due to loss of farming subsidies means species like the Brown Hairstreak will suffer (as reported at Grafton Wood, in Worcestershire).

The lack of joined up thinking by apparently 'clever' people who run this country is not a result of a lack of inteligence, far from it,its a result of a culture dominated by big business, money and greed. So, although this is a great project which should be celebrated for its educational value, I wonder what could be done with £25 Million out in the wider countryside? I also wonder what the project impact will be in terms of traffic and polution in the St Albans area?

There are lots of positives and lots of negatives to this project. What we really need however is a government which rather than year on year cuts environmental budgets, it increases them. Until that happens I fear that we may see further species extinctions in the UK. A huge butterfly dome will not save wild butterflies (such as the High Brown Fritilary) if their habitats are destroyed through so called 'development' no matter how much money it raises for Butterfly Conservation.

Should we instead, encourage the general public to go out into the countryside and see and protect butterflies in the wild rather than create a culture where our children will only ever see animals in a zoo?

As A child, I remember seeing lots of butterflies in our garden. Today, the same garden is rarely visited by butterflies because the garden is now so much further away from the countryside. Children now growing up in the same street have never seen a butterfly in the 'wild' let alone collected caterpillars from a nettle patch down the road. Our countryside is being sanitised (field upon field of extensive farming practices, excessive road verge cutting, hedgerow cutting and gardens converted to block-paved eyesores) yet we don'tseem to care about the plastic bags tangled in trees and lining ourstreets. If we did, there would be more urgency to make the change.

I hope the St Albans project is a success. Its just a shame that we have to re-create habitats at a tourist attraction in order to educate people about the importance of butterflies and wildlife as a whole.

Attenborough urges us to heed the plight of the butterfly

2008-03-14T21:37:00.003Z

£25m project plans to help reverse 76% decline in UK butterfly species

Sir David Attenborough marked the start of construction on Butterfly World, a world-class pioneering project, with a stark conservation warning:

“More than three quarters of British butterfly species have declined in the last 20 years, some of them very rapidly. That is worrying, not least because these declines indicate an underlying deterioration of the environment as a whole. For the sake of future generations we must take action now."

“Butterfly World is doing just that. It is putting the issues on the agenda and is seeking to help reverse this environmental catastrophe.”

The renowned broadcaster and patron of Butterfly World Trust, was joined by an impressive line up of familiar faces at the Royal Society for the official unveiling of Butterfly World – an impressive £25m world-class visitor attraction and an active conservation vehicle to fund research and community projects.

Project Trustee David Bellamy, actress and Patron Emilia Fox, Patron Baroness Helena Kennedy QC and world butterfly expert Doctor Jeremy Thomas are lending their weight to the project, planned just off the M25 near St Albans.

Within the next few weeks work will start on the £25m ultimate butterfly experience that gives equal prominence to indigenous and tropical species and is expected to attract, educate and inspire up to 1m visitors when it is fully operational in spring 2011.

This will be the world's biggest walk-through butterfly experience with over 10,000 tropical butterflies in flight at any one time, creating a kaleidoscope of movement and colour filling the 100m biome. Sections of the dome will be submerged to incorporate underground caverns featuring many tropical creatures including scorpions and spiders.

Phase one will see the regeneration of the 26 acre site designed – by the renowned landscape designer Ivan Hicks - in the shape of a butterfly, with the dome as its eye. It will restore bio-diversity to this low grade agricultural land and turn it into one of the richest wild flower meadows in Britain – a perfect habitat for protecting our fragile and endangered indigenous butterfly and moth species.

A key aspect of Butterfly World is ‘ Future Gardens '. Future Gardens will be a true showcase for contemporary and sustainable garden design. It will become an annual event spanning from June to September. Phase two/stage 1, will see the construction of the spectacular roof of the biome in which, a huge tropical garden will be featured from June to September 2010. Phase two/stage 2 will complete Butterfly World and the planned opening set for March 2011.

Butterfly World is the vision of award-winning Lepidopterist, Clive Farrell. While he could also be described as an entrepreneur, property developer, entomologist and philanthropist, Clive is ultimately passionate about conservation and specifically butterflies.

Clive said: “Butterflies are like the canaries in the coal mine. When their environment is under stress, they are the first to suffer and disappear. During the 20th century, five of Britain 's butterfly species and sixty moth species became extinct. Drastic butterfly losses are continually being reported as we destroy their natural habitats at a frightening pace."

“Butterfly World is designed to bring the public into direct contact with some of the most fragile and beautiful wildlife in the world and send out a clarion call on behalf of this endangered treasure.”

The £25m project will be self-sustaining. The economic impact on the region is conservatively forecast to be around £123,000,000 in the first five years of operation according to the London School of Economics.

The project will help:
• Raise awareness of the extreme threats to the world's butterfly and moth population
• Educate the public about the conservation of all wild flora and fauna
• Preserve the natural environment for the benefit of the public
• Continually fund research into the natural environment
• Within the first few years of full operation, directly invest over £1m annually on community and charity projects in the area including advice centres, youth groups and crime prevention initiatives.

For mor information, visit: http://www.butterfly-world.org/

Large Tortoiseshell see near Seaton, Devon!!!

2008-03-08T14:38:00.008Z

What a start to the year... some lucky people have already seen one of our rarest butterflies, the Large Tortoiseshell (Nymphalis polychloros) near Seaton in Devon.

Species already recorded in 2008 include:
Painted Lady, Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Large (Cabbage) White, Small White, Holly Blue and Speckled Wood. These are all species which you are likely to expect to see as our winters become milder.

This remarkable sighting of a Large Tortoiseshell is even more important when you realise that the species is thought to be extinct as a breeding species in the UK. Many sightings are thought to be of migrants from mainland Europe.

It is also important to note that unofficial or accidental releases by butterfly breeders make it almost impossible to tell at present if there are breeding colonies present in Britain or if the reported sightings are of released, captive bred butterflies so understanding the true status of the Large Tortoiseshell in the UK almost impossible.

The sighting was reported on the Bird Forum web site on 4th March 2008: http://www.birdforum.net/
Find out more about the Large Tortoiseshell on my web site http://www.britishbutterflies.co.uk/

Here's the report posted by Kevin Hale:
"I popped home to drop off a bag of wild bird seed and to lend a mate of mine a long handled pruning saw, when i noticed 2 Butterflies around the apple trees to the side of my house one being a peacock the other being a Large Tortoiseshell! - panic then set in ( i was thinking i should really buy a camera) luckily Steve and Karen (Woolley) both sooned arrived (with camera) and the butterfly showed really well taking in the sun perched on the trunk of the apple tree".

And the photos by Steve/Karen Woolley:

No butterflies... yet!!!

2008-03-03T20:12:00.006Z

I'm yet to see my first butterfly of 2008... but pop back soon when I hope to share my butterfly sightings with you.