The New 'Wild Spaces' Project From Butterfly Conservation

 

David and I joined Butterfly Conservation at the start of the lockdowns. For the last two years I have been counting butterflies for the Garden Butterfly Survey. 

Butterfly Conservation has launched a new initiative called 'Wild Spaces'. Participants have the chance to write about their particular wild space and to post photographs. They also have the opportunity to see who else is taking part in their area (for obvious security reasons actual addresses are not shown).  

You can read about the project here. 

Sadly, with a few exceptions such as Holly Blue and Orange Tip, this has not been a good start to the 'butterfly season' for us in our neck of the woods. We noticed that Matthew Oates was saying much the same on X (Twitter) today. However, we finally saw our first Meadow Brown on Saturday, so perhaps things will start to pick up ...

 

Her Majesty, The Queen of Spain Fritillary

 

Well, what a surprise! 

I am delighted to say that I have added a new butterfly to my 'lifer list', this female Queen of Spain Fritillary. Our sighting has been confirmed by local Butterfly Conservation recorders at a time when one or two of these magnificent insects have reached our shores, almost certainly due to the strong winds. 

These butterflies have very distinctive pearl-like patches (specula and lunettes) on the underside of their wings, as you can make out in David's photographs below. 

This website gives a helpful indication of the butterfly's rare status here in England.

 

Photo credit: David Gill

Photo credit: David Gill

We stood transfixed and mesmerised as the butterfly rested, fluttered, moved from a Buddleia to (what I think is) a Brachyglottis, crossed paths with a Red Admiral and disappeared. 

This butterfly, named by Linnaeus in 1758, belongs to the family of Nymphalidae (which includes Speckled Wood, Marbled White, Purple Emperor and quite a number of other species), commonly referred to as brush-footed butterflies due to vestigial forelegs that cannot be used for walking, unlike the mid- and hind-legs.

The name 'fritillary' comes, it seems, from the Greek word φιμός, via a Latin word (fritillus). It seems to be associated with the familiar chequered design of a chess or draughts board. You will recall the square patterns on the purple petals of the spring flower, Snakeshead Fritillary. You can find more about the name here. 

 

showing the curled proboscis ...

At some point I should post photos of all the species I have seen in the UK, but here's a list for now ...

• Brimstone
• Brown Argus
• Clouded Yellow
• Comma
• Common Blue
• Essex Skipper
• Gatekeeper
• Grayling
• Green Hairstreak
• Green-veined White
• Holly Blue
• Large Skipper
• Large White
• Marbled White
• Meadow Brown
• Northern Brown Argus
• Orange-tip
• Painted Lady
• Peacock
• Pearl-bordered Fritillary
• Purple Emperor
• Purple Hairstreak
• Queen of Spain Fritillary (migrant)
  
• Red Admiral
• Ringlet
• Silver-studded Blue
• Silver-washed Fritillary
• Small Copper
• Small Heath
• Small Skipper
• Small Tortoiseshell
• Small White
• Speckled Wood
• Swallowtail
• Wall
• White Admiral
• White-letter Hairstreak

My Results: Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey, 2022

One of last year's Comma butterflies. I love the proboscis!

I noticed on Twitter that early butterfly sightings are being recorded so it seemed the right moment to post my complete Garden Butterfly Survey (Butterfly Conservation) list of 371 butterflies for 2022. 

The list shows my total number of sightings (18 species in total) and the chart below it shows the top ten species seen each month:

 

It comes as little surprise that Small Whites were my most frequently recorded butterfly. The three Graylings and a single Clouded Yellow were garden firsts. 

I tend to jot down 'bonus' sightings as well in my notebook, and note that in addition to the butterflies listed, I saw several Hummingbird hawk-moths and a couple of Silver Ys. A passing shimmer of red could have been either a Cinnabar or a Burnet moth. 

 *

“Garden Butterfly Survey (2022) by Butterfly Conservation supported by The National Lottery Heritage Fund, licensed under CC BY 4.0”. 

NT Sutton Hoo ... Largely Late Butterflies

 

We had a brief spin around the wooded path that leads to a view of the river Deben at NT Sutton Hoo last weekend. There were spells of warm sunshine, and insects were making their presence felt in the less shady areas. I rather like these carvings that appear at intermittent points along the track. The path is covered in needles and the occasional chestnut case. 

Sadly, I expect it will be some months before we find four species of butterfly in so small a patch again. And on the subject of lepidoptera, I was saddened, if not surprised on account of the cold spring, to find a very disappointing result from the 2021 Butterfly Conservation Big Butterfly Count (see here, too). The new Saving Butterflies and Moths strategic plan for 2021 to 2026 looks an ambitious one.

Common Darter dragonfly

Small Copper, 1st species of butterfly

Comma, 2nd species

Another Small Copper

Red Admiral, 3rd species of butterfly

Speckled Wood, 4th species

Ichneumonid - or possibly Amblyteles Armatorius?

I am assuming that the insect in the next two photographs is a species of Robberfly. It seems to be eating a beetle with caramel-coloured elytra. 

On a bench

Tiger moths, Butterflies ... and 'Driftwood by Starlight', my new poetry collection

 

 

It seems a while since I last posted about wildlife on this blog. There are various reasons for this including the following: 

(a) having postponed last year's holiday, we finally got away to Cornwall.

(b) I have been busy with the launch of my new poetry collection and other (less exciting!) matters that accrued in the run up to it.

Anyway, the photographs show our favourite moth of the season so far, a Scarlet Tiger seen in the grounds of NT Cotehele, on the banks of the river Tamar. The moth was high up in a tree, which is why the photographs are fairly small. 

The photograph below shows the same species (I believe), also taken in Cornwall, this time at NT Trerice two years ago. This was our first sighting ever of the species, and on this occasion it opened its wings, displaying the reason for its name.

 

 

On the subject of lepidoptera, we took full advantage of the three weeks of the Big Butterfly Count organised by Butterfly Conservation. Each time we sat outside for coffee, lunch or mugs of tea we tried to do a 15 minute count, which was then submitted to the survey. 

This time last year we did much the same, and there were times when it was literally a case of take a bite, log a butterfly, take a sip, log two. It wasn't a bit like that this year; the butterflies arrived in dribs and drabs, but over the course of a week or so numbers began to mount. Even so, they don't look particularly good when set alongside those for 2020! My thanks to David for preparing these charts, which make most sense when you read them together. 

 

 

We are at last beginning to see a decent increase in Red Admirals, perhaps because the white Buddleia has finally begun to come out in our garden. We even had a male Brimstone earlier, the first for a while. 

I began this post with a Scarlet Tiger moth. One of the poems in my new collection concerns the larva of a different Tiger moth species. Driftwood by Starlight can be bought online (£6.99, $10) in The Seventh Quarry Press online shop (here). Some of you will know the Crafty Green Poet blog, where you can read a review (thank you, Juliet!).

 

Launch day

 

Driftwood by Starlight by Caroline Gill, published June 2021, available from The Seventh Quarry Press

'The beautifully-crafted poems in Caroline Gill's debut full-length collection more than live up to the appeal of its Cornish cove cover and title. With elegance and finesse, she masters a range of traditional forms, all of which beg to be read aloud so their musicality can be fully relished. In several poems, joy and wonder in the natural world co-exist with a deep, questioning concern for threatened species from the puffin to the fen raft spider, while Gill's imagery, particularly where birdlife's concerned – 'the curlew's bill of boomerang design', 'white/grenades explode as gannets pierce the sea' – surprises and delights in equal measure.'

 

Susan Richardson, author of Words the Turtle Taught Me 

(Cinnamon Press, 2018), shortlisted for the Ted Hughes Award

Largely Lepidoptera (on a Very Hot Day!)

We enjoyed views of ripening barley from a very peaceful country lane (I think everyone must have headed for the beach at nearby Felixstowe), and were able to do two Big Butterfly Counts: you can see what we saw in the lists below. We were particularly excited by the numbers of Speckled Wood.

Between the first and the second count I caught sight of the moth in the photo above. It was pretty small but had very distinctive wavy bands. By my reckoning it is a Yellow Shell, but please correct me. I have only seen this species once before, and the last time was on Mull, a very different area to East Anglia! I have posted the photo on iSpot.  

These were the results from out first count...

And our second...

Today has been sweltering at times (the image below bears this out...), and it still feels pretty warm and sticky at 11pm. 

Tomorrow is the last day of this year's Big Butterfly Count, so do keep your eyes open and report your sightings to Butterfly Conservation, using the charts they supply via the website or app...

David on our butterfly count beside the fields of ripening barley

Big Butterfly Count (and a new homepatch species)

I had a tip-off that these beautiful butterflies were on the wing in our area, but it came as a surprise when we found one in our garden yesterday. I have not seen many Brown Argus butterflies in my life, and the few I have spotted have all been in Cambridgeshire at NT Wicken Fen. We have only knowingly had one Common Blue, a male, in our garden so far this year, but I wondered at first if the new sighting could be a female. I checked this website and came to the conclusion that this was unlikely on account of the marked dark spot on the wing and the markings on the outer hindwing, but since four kind folk have now agreed with my Brown Argus ID, I think this is probably what it is (but do feel free to say otherwise - with explanation, please!). 

Yesterday marked the start of the Big Butterfly Count, organised by Butterfly Conservation. This citizen-science survey made the national BBC News here in England so I hope there will be a good response, particularly since many species are in decline. David and I did two fifteen minute counts this afternoon on a quiet lane bordered by fields and hedges, now that my 'government shielding' advice allows for time beyond the garden in the company of another adult.  

Meanwhile, I continue to count butterflies in the garden for the Garden Butterfly Survey. 

Oh, and on another note entirely, the BATS were back in the garden last night. It is only the second time we have seen them this year. I saw two, both too large for Pipistrelles, and David saw more at the front of the house. I wonder what they are...

Day 25, #30 Days Wild: Ringlet butterfly

We saw our first Ringlet in the garden today, the first Ringlet we have ever seen here (though David noticed one on his walk around the block yesterday). I have just added it to my insect total for the garden: it is number 98 on my list. I am nearing 100, but it is taking a bit longer than I had expected.

Today's butterfly was very skittish, and I failed to photograph it before it fluttered over the fence; but when we set eyes on it, neither David nor I were in any doubt over its ID. The photos I have posted are from previous sightings in Yorkshire, Buckinghamshire and Scotland. 

I would like to think today's Ringlet was attracted by our long unmown grass. We have now seen a current total of 16 butterfly species in our suburban Suffolk garden this year: I know because I have been listing them on the Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey. This year's Big Butterfly Count will run from 17 July to 9 August 2020 and I look forward to taking part.

Last Big Butterfly Count of the Season

There was a certain 'early autumn' feel as we set off on our final Big Butterfly Counts of 2018. It wasn't actually raining at that point, but it wasn't exactly sunny either. We decided to visit one of the two Local Nature Reserves near our home as previous visits have produced the Green and White-letter Hairstreak.

There were few white butterflies about; and the Holly Blues, often flitting around the ivy, came top in terms of numbers. We counted a couple of Speckled Woods, a Gatekeeper and a Meadow Brown. Where are all the usual Peacocks and Red Admirals, I wonder? There was no sign of a Comma on the blackberries, which seemed a bit unusual. Today's weather has, of course, to be factored in; but even so ...

Still, a fifteen minute count is a count whether or not a butterfly shows up, so we refused to be too disheartened. We have done more counts than ever this year, and I feel a certain sadness that the counting season for Butterfly Conservation is over. The results will be very interesting.

Big Butterfly Counts at NT Wicken Fen and Sutton Hoo

David and I have now submitted several Big Butterfly Count surveys: there is still time to do a survey this weekend, and longer still until the final submission date. 

Large and Small Whites have been showing in good numbers in our neck of the woods, but the 'red row' on the survey chart for Commas, Peacocks, Red Admirals and Painted Ladies has been consistently lacking in the counts we have undertaken so far. 

We were at NT Wicken Fen near Ely again last Saturday, and were told to keep an eye out for the Brown Argus. To the novice (me), these butterflies can look very similar to the female Common Blue, but from what I have read on what I consider to be reliable websites, I believe we certainly saw a few Brown Argus.

The fenman's cottage garden at the approach to Wicken Fen was in full bloom.

I think this may well be one of the Brown Argus sightings, though it helps when you can see both sides of the wing!

... And there were definitely a few Speckled Woods about. 

We only saw one Small Copper.

On our previous visit there were plenty of Gatekeepers, but this time it was the Meadow Browns that were showing in good numbers. 

That little 'smudge' in the wing design intrigues me. 

A number of beautiful Brimstones were sighted and duly marked down on the chart. 



The only 'red' I saw was this Red Admiral, high up above the boardwalk. We usually see a few Commas down on the Butterfly Walk, but there were none about on this occasion. 

There were signs to say that some of the sedge had been harvested. 

The last two photos were taken at NT Sutton Hoo on a small clump of Viper's Bugloss. The Silver Y below is, of course, a day-flying moth and not a butterfly, but it is one of the species featured in the Big Butterfly Count, so we were pleased to find it. And, incidentally, we saw our first one in the garden a few days ago, too (or to be more precise, on a windowsill).

If you have a spare 15 minutes, do take part in the Big Butterfly Count. Oh, and I haven't forgotten to post a selection of holiday photos: I have in fact been busy making myself a Photobox album with some of them ...