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NEWSLETTER No. 44 - Autumn 1999
WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH, BUTTERFLY CONSERVATION
Instructions for Contributors
The Deadline
for
Spring Newsletter
contributions is
Saturday 29th January 2000
Hand-written articles will be transcribed and returned for
checking. Printed documents are less prone to transcription errors and can often
be scanned in. Laser printed 14 point copy usually scans perfectly, 12 point is
OK but 10 point is hopeless. Text on 3.5” disc is best of all but please send
unformatted text (e.g. saved as a .txt file under MS Word) as some formatted
texts received recently have proved to be incompatible with my system. Limiting
file compatibility seems to be the latest marketing ploy. Extra safe is to use a
simple editor, such as Notepad (under Accessories in Windows) or Edit (MSDOS).
Please label your disc with your name.
Pictures will normally be scanned in and should be black and white. (The final
reprographic process for printing off the newsletter does not do justice to
‘grey scale’ or colour). Note that, unlike text, pictures cannot be modified by
me (except for size adjustment).
Copyright: Pictures for publication must of course be free of copyright
restrictions.
Spelling: I will try to correct obvious spelling mistakes unless this affects
the writer’s style but, in the cause of achieving a consistent format, will use
the Word UK dictionary spelling where there are several options.
Christine Chance
4) Having to explain to Richard that a visit to the bog, (Shropshire), was not a
call of nature but to search out Grayling (successful), and then having to
remind a Telford woman of the name of a Michael Powell Emeric Pressburger film;
filmed on the Stiperstones (“Gone to Earth”), so she could relay this to her
mother who lived at a nearby pub.
5) Seeing the expanse of Blithfield Reservoir for the first time whilst checking
out nearby Bagot Forest (Staffordshire).
6) Finding an additional colony of Northern Brown Argus, close to the
established Castern Wood site and counting the largest number of this species,
personally seen, in four previous visits.
8)The discovery of the caves and views from Ossoms Hill (Manifold Valley).
9) The flora - common valerian, lead sandwort and potential fragrant orchid at
Ecton lead mine and its environs (Staffordshire).
10) Being shown a wing damaged kingfisher whilst checking out some Atlas sites
with Maurice Waterhouse Coombes Valley R.S.P.B. Reserve (Staffordshire).
Philip Hopson
Conservation Corner
Northern Brown Argus
The lack of proper monitoring of this species in north Staffordshire has
long been a source of embarrassment but hopefully all is about to change thanks
to the Staffordshire Wildlife Trust. Arising out of the Staffordshire
Biodiversity Action Plan, the county wildlife trust were able to commission a
local ecologist, Colin Hayes to carry out a proper survey of Castern Wood NR
earlier this year with the aim of establishing guidelines for effective
monitoring of the site. Helen Gee, the Conservation Officer at the Trust has now
been able to identify a local volunteer prepared to carry out a transect walk at
Castern next summer which is a major step forward. The field trip in July gave
our own members a good opportunity to reacquaint ourselves with the site and
enjoy seeing the butterfly in very good numbers.
Flying start for Moth group
The new Worcestershire Mothers Group has made an excellent start with
records of nearly 200 ‘macros’ at various sites in its first full season (see
separate report). By the end of the year, the Group will have visited around a
dozen sites in the county covering a range of habitats including woodland,
limestone grassland, wetland sites and heathland. A report is in course of
preparation which will be sent to English Nature who part funded the work and
further copies for interested parties can be obtained from Neil Gregory.
Something not recorded in the report was our brush with the law at Grafton Wood
in August when members of the group were apprehended by a police panda car on
our return from the wood around midnight. Apparently, we had been reported as
acting suspiciously by a vigilant member of the village Neighbourhood Watch
scheme who had seen us heading off for the wood in gathering darkness carrying
various strange objects! Next year the plan is to frighten the inhabitants of
rural Herefordshire and anyone interested in joining in on the fun should
contact Jeff Andrews.
Birmingham & Black Country Biodiversity Action Plan
The value of our own Regional Action Plan for Lepidoptera has again been
highlighted over the summer through the branch’s involvement in the drawing up
of the latest Biodiversity Action Plan within the region. Jim Chance and myself
have represented the branch on the Lepidoptera working party for the Birmingham
& Black Country BAP and, as a result, were asked to draft Species Action Plans
for Wall Brown and Green Hairstreak. These plans will serve to highlight the
importance of urban habitats like canal towpaths and old industrial sites for
butterflies and hopefully will result in a higher profile for such sites and
better management.
West Midlands branch to champion Small Pearl-bordered
As part of the Staffordshire BAP process, West Midlands Butterfly
Conservation has agreed to act as lead organisation for the Small Pearl-bordered
Fritillary within the county. Small Pearl-bordered have declined sharply in
Staffs over the past 15 years and are now only known from three remaining sites.
Under the new Action Plan, we will be looking to update our information on the
current status of the butterfly and work to improve management at extant sites.
In the longer term, the Plan suggests the possibility of re-establishment at
former sites but this will remain a secondary objective until all existing
colonies are identified and safeguarded.
White Admiral egg-laying choices
Research into the ecology of the White Admiral undertaken by Dr. Jenny Joy
at the Dudmaston NT estate near Bridgnorth has now been published in an article
in the Entomologist’s Gazette (J. Joy et al 1999, Entomologist’s Gazette 50:
169-179). The article compares egg-laying sites at Dudmaston with those in part
of the Wyre Forest 9km to the south and suggests differences between the choice
of habitat between each site. Previous research has suggested that White
Admirals choose to lay their eggs on drapes of honeysuckle growing in shady
conditions and avoid low growing honeysuckle growing along ride edges and
generally the Wyre Forest conformed to this pattern. This proved not to be the
case at Dudmaston, however, particularly in the first year of study 1996-97 when
the majority of larvae were found on low growing clumps of honeysuckle along
track edges. Although still generally in shady places, most larvae were found on
south-facing aspects on leaves within 20cm of the ground. This may partly have
been a reflection of what honeysuckle was available to the females or the
particular weather conditions during that year (very low rainfall figures) but
may also suggest differences in the ecology of a species on the northern edge of
its range. Interestingly, choice of egg-laying site also appeared to impact on
overwintering larval survival with eggs laid on honeysuckle drapes doing much
better than those laid on clumps which are presumably more vulnerable to being
eaten by rabbits, deer and possibly spiders. All in all, a fascinating piece of
research proving once again that we should not assume that what we read in
textbooks necessarily applies to all sites in all seasons.
Wyre Forest experimentation
Wyre Forest is one of the most important sites nationally for the
Pearl-bordered Fritillary thanks to some excellent work carried out in recent
years by Forest Enterprise and English Nature with active support from Butterfly
Conservation and the Wyre Forest Society. As such, it is an ideal location for
experimentation into the impact of different kinds of management on population
levels. A meeting between Ruth Feber, Butterfly Conservation’s new Threatened
Fritillaries Officer, and representatives of Forest Enterprise, English Nature
and West Midlands Butterfly Conservation in August has now led to a series of
new proposals which hopefully will enable us to compare the success of different
management techniques such as coppicing in strips, scarification, scalloping of
ride edges and regular mowing. A series of sites have been identified where
these different techniques will be applied over the course of the winter and
monitoring is to be established involving students from a local College with
support from Rosemary Winnall from Forest Enterprise. Further details will be
published in a future Conservation Corner.
Mounting concern over High Brown Fritillary
1999 proved another extremely poor year for the High Brown Fritillary at its
remaining West Midlands sites. Very few were reported on the Malverns and at the
Bromyard site, while numbers at Bircher may be worse than at first sight appears
because of the presence of Dark Green Fritillary there possibly boosting the
figures. On the Malverns transect it was the fifth consecutive year of decline
with only 2 High Browns being reported with none seen at all at Chase End Hill.
A Fritillaries seminar organised by Butterfly Conservation in July brought
together all the relevant groups to share experience and good practice. In the
continuing absence of grazing, it would appear that more radical measures need
to be introduced if we are to have any hope of retaining High Browns in the
region. Already, the Eastnor Estate have sprayed an area of bracken while the
Malvern Hills Conservators have used a bracken breaker on a large part of
Swinyard Hill. Similarly, at the Bromyard site large tracts of bracken have been
cut over the summer in an attempt to increase potential habitat. Only time will
tell whether these measures and others elsewhere will succeed in reversing
current trends.
Pyrenees trip - last chance to book your place
We now have just two places left for the trip to northern Spain planned for
next summer as part of the branch’s 21st anniversary celebrations - first come,
first served. Provisional dates are 21st June - 6th July 2000 and an information
sheet is available from Mike Williams. The itinerary allows for four days in the
Picos de Europa mountains followed by a similar period in the French Ariege and
finally three days in the Spanish Pyrenees. We shall be targeting up to 100
species of butterfly during our two week stay and also hope to be able to run a
moth trap at each location. Birds and wild flowers should be pretty good as
well, with even a chance of spotting whales and dolphins from the ferry on the
outward and return journeys!