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 NEWSLETTER No 1 - Summer 1979

WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION

Local News

So far, despite the disappointingly late spring, we appear to have had a reasonably good butterfly year. Proof perhaps that butterfly numbers are more a function of the weather in the preceding, rather than the current, season. It may well be that the harsh winter of 78/79 will have done a power of good for British butterflies, whatever else may have suffered. Certainly, the hibernating butterfly or caterpillar is not harmed by the freezing conditions, and as the cold weather often means fewer natural predators, then we can look forward to the coming season with optimism.

Numbers of our more common species seem well up on the previous year, even if their dates of emergence have tended to be later than usual, sometimes by more than a fortnight. Easter weekend heralded the real start of the butterfly season for most of us, with the winter hibernators first to emerge. I was in Wiltshire for the weekend and was able to find four out of the five hibernators on the wing, (the exception being, not surprisingly, the Large Tortoiseshell). The rest of April and early May were fairly miserable, and it was not until the middle of the month that the first Orange-tips and Green-veined Whites appeared. They made up for their lateness, however, by appearing in much greater numbers than usual. They were frequently seen, not only flitting along country lanes where Jack-by-the-Hedge is common, but also in parks and gardens.

The most startling record locally, however, was of two Swallowtail caterpillars found feeding on Rue in a Coventry garden. Their origin remains a mystery but they turned out to be of the European, and not the British, race, so a breeder must have had a hand in the affair somewhere! The butterflies were eventually released into the Warwickshire countryside, never to be seen again. Both were of the same sex, by the way, so no chance of any progeny.

June proved rather better weather-wise, and the weekend of June 9/10 saw the first field trip of the year, with Coventry members visiting two Warwickshire sites - a railway cutting and an old quarry in the Southam area. The weather that weekend was bright and warm, but with infrequent sunshine. The day proved very successful, with 14 species recorded:- Common Blue, Green Hairstreak, Wood White, Small Blue, Dingy and Grizzled Skippers, Wall Brown, Small Heath, Brimstone, Small Copper, Large and Small Whites, Green-veined Whites and Orange-tips. Particularly exciting amongst these were the Small Blue and Wood White, Warwickshire being on the extreme edge of their range. Wood Whites have only been recorded at their Warwickshire site in the last five years, but seemed to be present in good strength. It is encouraging when we hear so much about the decline in butterfly populations, that this fragile woodland insect is managing to extend its range to areas very different to its traditional habitats.

Small blues are known at five sites in Warwickshire, which leads one to wonder if this tiny, delicate butterfly might have been overlooked elsewhere. We would be interested in having details of any new colonies in the West Midlands area. Of course we would not publish the precise locations in the Newsletter.