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3rd June 2008

Congratulations to our septugenarians Howard Frost and David Baker
who both achieve that milestone quite soon.

Alarm call for Yorkshire's fragile butterflies - Last year will probably rank as one of the worst for Yorkshire's butterflies and moths. The heavy rains came just at the time when many species were about to fly - with devastating results. Many eggs and caterpillars were washed away or covered in deep water. One of the worst affected seems to be the Grayling, already down to a single known site on the Yorkshire Wolds and a handful of brownfield sites around Wakefield and Middlesbrough.
Did you see Howard Frost's article in the Yorkshire Post this weekend?

Nice to meet some of you in Dalby Forest on the 1st June where the branch was represented at the Dalby Ology Day. Despite the sometimes torrential downpours and leaking tent, quite a few people came to visit our stand. We set a challenge for the children to draw a butterfly and the competition was popular and difficult to judge, so difficult in fact that we awarded joint first place to

Katie Abram and Olivia Butterworth
both of Scarborough.

Well done you two!

Katie's Picture	Olivia's Picture

13th May2008

Yorkshire Branch Butterfly Conservation Walk
Date:10th May 2008
Location: Otley Chevin
Target Species: Green Hairstreak

The weather forecast predicted very sunny and warm weather for the day, with the possibility of thundery showers later on. On arrival at the car park at 11am, it was already humid, though the sun was still quite hazy.

Eight attendees climbed up the short track from the car park to the target site, where we gingerly stepped into the bilberries in the hopes that we would see the odd Green Hairstreak along the way. We weren't to be disapointed, as within a couple of minutes we had spotted the first couple of individuals. This soon turned into teens, and after a full hour and a half, I reconed that we had counted a total of at least 53 indiviudals. Most of us had cameras with us and managed at least the odd photograph, before the warmth and humidity made these small butterflies too flighty to approach.

There were several different distinctive behaviours on display: sunning on the top of the bilberries in prone positions, spiralling males, flights around the rowan trees, and finally mating.

Whilst foraging in and around the undergrowth, we also saw a couple of Common Heath moths, a Holly Blue, Speckled Wood, several Peacocks, 3 Green-veined Whites, a probable Large White (seen at a distance) and several male Orange-tips. We also discovered a leather jacket (crane fly larva) and around 30 Adela Reumurella (male longhorn moths) flying and settling on a young oak tree. Also spotted, were several grass moths and a couple of micro moths which didn't stop long enough for us to photograph or identify.

Other species seen on the day included a wide range of bumble bees, tawny mining bee and carder bees. There were numerous hover flies and the odd potter, mason and common wasp (a queen at this time of year).

Butterfly Conservation were asked if we felt that the site needed any management? Based on the evidence of the day, I would have to say no, not at the present time. If the trees become too dense over the next few years, cutting out more of the light, then the green hairstreak numbers will surely begin to decline, but some trees are necessary for the butterfly and provide shelter, display points, as well as being a source of food. Thus some thinning out of the saplings may be required within the next five years, but at the present time it is thought that only an occasional grass cutting might be neccesary.

If we had carried out a full survey of the site (i.e. in a structured way) I would have guessimated that there would have been over 200 Green Hairstreaks on this prime site. There are also several other more marginal sites along the Chevin ridge, which means that here at least within Yorkshire, there is still a healthy population of Green Hairstreak butterflies.

Paul Brothers

24th April 2008
UK butterflies 'need a good summer' - Butterflies need a warm summer in order to help numbers recover from last year's washout, say conservationists. Data from the UK Butterfly Monitoring Scheme showed that eight species were at an all-time low as a result of an unsuccessful summer in 2007 read more here.

19th April 2008
The latest issue of E-moth the electronic only update on the Moths Count project and National Moth Recording Scheme can be downlaoded by cliking on the link. It includes the exciting news that the NMRS has received numerous datasets, information about a new online Humming-bird Hawk-moth survey and an updated list of free training opportunities for 2008. You will need Adobe Reader to open the document (this can be downloaded for free from www.adobe.com/uk/ ) Susan White is hosting a course on Permaculture in Chesterfield on the 10th and 11th May. Click the link to the course poster for further programme and contact details.

21st March 2008
Humming-bird Hawk-moth and Painted Lady online survey with BBC Radio 4
Butterfly Conservation has developed an exciting online survey of these two migrant species in association with Radio 4’s major series World on the Move and as part of the Garden Moths Count initiative. The survey will run throughout 2008 on the Butterfly Conservation website. Anyone who sees a Humming-bird Hawk-moth or Painted Lady butterfly can use the interactive mapping on the website to zoom in on satellite images (down to the scale of your own garden) and log the sightings. The arrival in the UK of these species can then be tracked along with their journey from North Africa and southern Europe, and then their spread in the UK during the summer. Butterfly Conservation are also keen to hear observations of interesting behaviour (such as courtship, mating, egg laying, plants used for nectaring, reverse migration in the autumn or hibernation) which can be recorded in a comments box in the online recording system. What is known about the migration of these spectacular insects comes from observations over the centuries from amateur recorders, but there is still much to learn and it is hoped that as many people as possible will help in 2008.

9th March 2008
The annual meeting of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union (YNU) Lepidoptera Group was held in Bramham today. The meeting was well attended by the motley crew below (plus a few other camera shy individuals and your webmistress alias the photographer).

The meeting began with introductions and it was good to finally put faces to the names of many of our website contributors.
Officers were nominated and the Vice County and County Recorders, along with the Chairman were re-elected en bloc.
A report from the YNU Recorders Conference was given by Terry Crawford and the progress to date on prevention of unauthorised releases was outlined. Howard Frost gave an update on Butterfly Recorders and appealed for a volunteer to take over as VC Recorder for VC65 now that Jenn and Ian Atkin have retired from the post. Howard also gave a brief overview of the butterfly report for 2007. Another appeal was made for records from previously under-recorded 1km squares (see map below). Dave Chesmore gave the county macro-moth report and descrbed the Toadflax Brocade which was a new county record for Barry Spence at Spurn. The county micro-moth report was given by Harry Beaumont who described how bad weather conditions had affected recording in 2007. That said, several new species had been seen throughout the vice counties including a Mung Moth. Charlie Fletcher gave an overview of migrant species noting that numbers were considerably less than in 2006, the exception being the Diamond-back which appeared to have had a reasonable year.

The Key-note speaker was Zoë Randle of the Moths Count Project who described the project and what it was hoped that it would achieve. The project is funded for four years by a number of partners including the heritage lottery fund and has the aim of encouraging an interest in moths along with the establishment of a sustainable UK moth recording scheme. Zoë described the progress so far and said that training events were planned to cover diverse subjects such as an introduction to moth recording through to more specific sessions dealing with software training. It is hoped that up to date distribution maps for all UK species will be prepared including a first distribution atlas for geometers.

After lunch updates on the progress of the 2007 lepidoptera report, Porritt's List and the proposed Yorkshire Moth book were given. Charlie Fletcher and Philip Winter gave an overview of Regional BAP species and Charlie went on to present an illustrated session on the identification of Wainscot Moths and the results of the Epirrita species survey that had been undertaken over the last two years. The meeting finished with a "round the table" session where members spoke of the highlights of their own mothing year or asked questions of the experts that were present.

Any motley crew member wishing a larger sized, printable version of the photograph above should email the webmistress requesting a copy - sizes available are 3600x2300px(5.95Mb), 1000 x 600px (643kb) or 800 x 500px (434kb).

3rd February 2008
Many thanks to the people who helped at the Shipley Meadow grass cutting. Despite the awful weather all the work was achieved with the co-operation of everyone who turned up on the day. We really appreciate your help.

27th January 2008
Howard Frost has sent us the map below which shows Yorkshire from 2004-07 data.
There are 2710 recorded tetrads out of 4120 in Yorkshire and the yellow dots show where 1 to 9 species have been recorded, brown dots: 10-19 species and red dots: 20+ species.

Howard says that there are still some stray dots to be cleaned up along the coastline etc and there remain some large unrecorded areas: to the west of Goole and the Humber Estuary; to the west of Scarborough through the Vale of Pickering to the Vale of York, then northward through the northern Vale of York. There are also weaknesses in highland areas of the Pennines and the N York Moors.

We would like to encourage everyone to beam in on these areas in 2008, the last year of our current 5-year update Survey - please help if you can.

20th January 2008
Check out the new 'On The Wing' section of the website to find out the most common moths flying in each month of the year.

12th January 2008
Jim and Jesika Bone contribute their thoughts on Blooming Buddleia.
Late autumn butterflies feed on our buddleia in November each year. Through trial and error, we have discovered that cutting our bushes between the end of April until late June/early July, we have blossoms when most of the butterflies are flying. Conventional gardening wisdom says to prune buddleia heavily in March. This means they flower in June /July. We see the bulk of our butterflies in July, August and September. It therefore makes sense to cut to feed the insects. Our last cutting is in early July on a south facing bush which attracts masses of insects, butterflies, nectar feeding moths, hoverflies, drone flies, bees, wasps. It's a 5 Star insect restaurant which flowers into November. For those with only one bush pruning half in late May/early April and the rest in June, will extend the flowering season.

5th November 2007
Beware the invaders - Both Sally Whale (photo) in Headingley and Jesika Bone(photo) in York have reported sighting the Harlequin Ladybird in their area. There are 46 species of ladybird (Coccinellidae) resident in Britain and the recent arrival of the Harlequin Ladybird has the potential to jeopardise many of these. The Harlequin Ladybird Survey will monitor its spread across Britain and assess its impact on native ladybirds. If you see one, please take the time to report it via the survey website.

14th October 2007

		Around 50 members and guests attended the Annual General Meeting and Member’s Day at Doncaster Museum on 13th October.
		The day began with a welcome address from the Chairman, David Baker who reviewed the events of the past year including the appalling weather and its effects on lepidoptera, the launch of the National Macromoth Recording Scheme and the publication of the first Moths Count Newsletter. David outlined the Dark Bordered Beauty survey on Strensall Common and described how he and Terry Crawford had undertaken the first transect there this year. A branch nature reserve at the Yorkshire Air Museum, Elvington had been proposed and members were given details of the survey work undertaken to date during which 114 species of moth and 15 species of butterfly had been recorded.
		Dave Wainwright gave a talk on the Duke of Burgundy, a butterfly in decline which has been given Priority Species Status in the UK Biodiversity Action Plan. Reasons for the decline in numbers were suggested including the difficulty in achieving optimum site management, the suitability and size of food plants and the existence of isolated small colonies. Lack of correlation between the number of adults seen to eggs laid and larval survival was noted on some sites. Dave described the conservation work undertaken by volunteers in the Helmsley network with trials of mowing, grazing and scrub clearance being conducted. The issue of reintroduction was raised, a plan put forward by Roger Sutton was under consideration, the process was difficult to co-ordinate with all interested parties having to be consulted both in terms of capturing specimens from donor sites and release of larvae on recipient sites.
		The Keynote speaker for the day was introduced by Howard Frost. Jim Asher, who in addition to being County Recorder for Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire is also the National Recorder, gave an illustrated talk on butterflies as indicators of change. Jim said that some species had emerged up to 4 weeks earlier than normal this year and some had not appeared to hibernate last year. He described changes including Clouded Yellows on the Mull of Galloway, Essex Skipper in Wales, the spread of Speckled Wood (now found as far north as Stornaway) and the first new species in the UK for many years – Real’s Wood White. Almost five million records were now held, transect monitoring gives valuable insight into population trends and geographical spread and almost 350,000km has been walked, recording more than ten million butterflies in the process. Jim paid tribute to the many volunteers who had helped to achieve this. Some butterfly species have been in decline in the UK e.g. the Pear-bordered Fritillary which is highly dependent on coppicing and needs a warm microclimate with plenty of violets. Traditional coppicing is labour intensive and costly but machine coppicing does not achieve optimum results for the butterfly’s survival. Compared to a 76% decline for butterflies, bird species have declined by 54% and plants by 28%. Moths are also affected (33%), large enough to place the rest of the food chain at risk. Declines in both population and distribution have been noted for specialist and generalist butterflies alike. Causes including habitat loss or change and global warming were explored and the response of the butterfly to these was noted. Butterflies were said to have a high profile, a rapid life cycle and cover a range of habitats making them the valuable indicators of change which are now included in government statistics.
		Sam Ellis gave a report on the Dark Bordered Beauty on Strensall Common. Moth larvae feed on Creeping Willow and Strensall is possibly the last known site in England. Sam paid tribute to David Baker and Terry Crawford for their transect work and to the many volunteers who take part in surveys and undertake conservation work. Monitoring had given an indication that the moth has a short flight period of just two weeks. Sam went on to discuss the importance of coppicing to the conservation of many butterfly and moth species. He described the effect of light and shade and the optimum balance of width, and orientation for rides and clearings to support our lepidoptera.
At the AGM the Chairman and Secretary were elected for a further term. Tom Hubball was elected as Vice Chairman and Paul Davis as Treasurer. Dave Howson, Roy Bedford and Lee and Jax Westmoreland were re-elected as committee members for a further term. Paul Brothers was elected as a new committee member and was welcomed to the team. The Chairman noted with regret the resignation of Lawrie King and offered thanks on behalf of the branch for his contribution throughout his years on the committee. It was also noted with regret that Jenn and Ian Atkin will be stepping down as VC65 Butterfly Recorders in February 2008 and again the Chairman offered thanks from the branch for all their hard work and dedication.
		The raffle proved popular with many prizes, our thanks to Paul Hill of Bioquip for his welcome donation.
The photographic competition this year saw many wonderful entries.

Jim Asher presented the prizes, John Brookes received a Butterfly Book and DVD for the “most interesting” picture of a group of Heath Fritillaries taken in Hungary and Sheila Hirst received a pair of binoculars (donated by Bass and Bligh) as her prize for the “best picture” of the underside of a Speckled Wood taken in her Brockholes garden.

Sheila's Winning Picture	John's Winning Picture

The final session of the day was “Winging it” when our panel of experts, Jim Asher, Harry Beaumont, Howard Frost, Sam Ellis and Terry Crawford took questions from the floor. Subjects covered included Currant Clearwing larvae and pheromones, the presence of the Brown Argus on Gait Barrows, whether the adverse weather this year had affected lepidoptera and if so how, controlled reintroduction of declining species and unauthorised releases – can they be stopped.

The Chairman proposed a vote of thanks to all contributors, to those attending and to Doncaster Museum Staff for all their help.