Clouded Yellow

Bumbling Around for Butterflies

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My quest to see all 58 species of butterflies in the UK seems to have stalled somewhat, but I’ve still had a really good summer for butterflies this year, both at home and out and about. Best and most surprising of all was getting to see some Large Copper butterflies less than 40 miles from home. Given that the Large Copper is actually considered extinct in the UK and has been so since the 1850s, it’s not a butterfly I ever imagined seeing. But some bright spark had chosen to release them (possibly as caterpillars) at the brilliantly named Bumble Hole Nature Reserve in Dudley.

I resisted for at least 10 days after the first photos started appearing on Facebook, but finally gave in to temptation and headed north to Dudley. With some help from a kind lady in the visitor centre, I headed to the butterfly hotspot – obvious when I was in the right area due to the dozen or so other butterfly twitchers. I was still fumbling to get my camera out, when the first Large Copper appeared.

The males are pretty much all bright orange on the upper surface of the wings, with a pale blue dotted with black spots underneath.

The females have more brown markings, stripes and spots on the upper side, but are similar underneath.

It was a baking hot day and my plan originally had been to stay out just long enough to see the butterflies and then head back to the safety of the air-con in the car! But the butterflies were so stunning and more numerous than I had expected, so I kept getting side-tracked by another one each time I started to head back. My final reward for this heroic effort (an hour in baking sun for a dumpy middle-aged woman is I’m sure the equivalent of an iron-man challenge for other people) was to spot this female laying eggs. Well worth the sunburn.

It was a magical thing to see these butterflies in the UK, but sadly it is probably not all good news. As their release seems to have been unsanctioned, the chances of the butterflies surviving at this site are apparently small. Although they were clearly mating and obviously laying eggs, will the eggs and/or caterpillars be able to make it through to next summer? It would be wonderful if they did manage to establish a colony here, but many people are doubtful that the conditions at Bumble Hole will be right for them.

For comparison here’s a Small Copper taken at Croome Park this week.

In other news the local Facebook groups were buzzing with the news that there were multiple Clouded Yellow butterflies down in the fields near Grafton Wood. As usual I could resist anything but temptation, so headed down there to see for myself. First attempt was a complete wash-out as I picked the only cold cloudy day in August, but second attempt was more productive. Together with a very nice couple I met down there, I watched in frustration as the bright yellow flashes of several Clouded Yellows dashed about the centre of the fields. Not wanting to trample across the farmer’s fields we could only watch and hope they would eventually come to the margins. Eventually a few did, but they were so flighty that all I managed was these blurry yellow blobs for photos. But at least I saw them.

Slightly more obliging were some Common Blue, Small Heath and Brown Argus.

At home I did a couple of Big Butterfly Counts earlier this month. The garden generally has been busier than recent years for butterflies, but as usual most of them declined to put in an appearance during the 15 minute counts. But so far this year I’ve seen Red Admiral, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Painted Lady, Large White, Small White, Holly Blue, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Ringlet butterflies in the garden. But best of all was a Silver-washed Fritillary which graced my buddleia and bramble-strewn garden with its presence over several days.

So that’s a round-up of this summer’s butterflies; some old favourites and one completely off the radar “extinct” species.

 

Clouded Yellows & Big Butterfly Count

/ nrowberry / 5 Comments

For one reason or another I’ve not had the chance to blog this last month, despite it being full on Butterfly Season. So to make up for lost time, this blog post is a bit of a catch up on all things butterfly in the Too Lazy world. Firstly we’re still in the midst of the Big Butterfly Count – one of the biggest citizen science projects in the world.

As I type this there have already been over 74000 counts and there’s still a few days to go. So if you haven’t done it already, get along to https://www.bigbutterflycount.org/ and find out what it’s all about.

We’ve done several counts in both the garden and down the allotment. The lottie produced, not surprisingly a lot of “Cabbage Whites” – in reality a mix of Large, Small and Green-veined Whites. In the garden, our first common blue of the year obligingly turned up in time to get counted. Similarly it was nice to count Painted Ladies and a Red Admiral to add to the tally of Whites, Gatekeepers and other garden stalwarts.

A trip to Trench Wood in early July was prompted by reports of large numbers of Purple Hairstreaks coming down and settling low enough to get photos. Seemed too good an opportunity to miss. Trench Wood is always a delight and this year was no exception. The wood was full of the usual Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Ringlets, plus plenty of Whites and White Admirals.

The ever gorgeous Silver-Washed Fritillaries were also out in large numbers, tropical looking as they bombed around the open rides.

My target species for the day – the Purple Hairstreak – didn’t disappoint. Almost as soon as I left the carpark they were visible along the path, settling comfortably on the bushes either side. The reports I’d read hadn’t exaggerated – there were too many to count and I’ve never seen them settle so well at a reachable height!

A quick trip to the nearby Guarlford Straights gave me the chance to see some lovely butterflies practically on my doorstep. Common Blues were probably the commonest species, flitting about the dry grass in the sunshine.

Amongst the Common Blues I found at least one fairly fresh looking Brown Argus. It’s only a couple of years since we saw our first ever one of these, so it’s still a bit exciting to spot one.

Small Coppers were also reasonably common. Athough none would pose nicely with their wings open, I found the underside of the wings to be just as beautiful in a more subtle colour pallet.

Finally the high spot of the last few days was a trip to Venus Pools in Shropshire. It’s a small reserve (with as the name suggests, some pools) run by the Shropshire Ornithological Society, but it’s also really good for butterflies. In particular, Common Blues were everywhere – they should be renamed Abundant Blues! We’ve never seen so many in such a small area, including several courting couples like these.

Amongst the Common Blues, were the occasional Brown Argus and Small Copper.


Also present were Painted Lady, Small Tortoiseshell, Large, Small & Green-veined Whites, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper & Meadow Browns. But the real reason we’d driven 50 miles was reports of Clouded Yellow butterflies. For two weeks prior, we kept seeing gorgeous photos of Clouded Yellows at Venus Pools on social media. Having never seen one, this seemed the perfect opportunity. We spotted our first one almost immediately – unmistakeable bright yellow, but very, very fast. Only once did one stop long enough for us to grab some quick photos.

So not the finest pics, but recognisable enough to count as butterfly no. 47 on our quest to see all the British species. Well worth the 100 mile round trip! So all in all this last month has been a butterfly filled delight. Fingers crossed all this hot weather won’t spell trouble for the caterpillars and next year’s butterflies.