Norfolk Butterflies and Moths (1 Viewer)

[Jasonbirder]

Where does everybody get their Butterfly news!!!
Am I subscribed to the wrong services....
Where was the QoS and was it available to the masses?

 

[James Emerson]

Private land near North Warren (per the sightings page of Suffolk branch of Butterfly Conservation) so not accessible.

Where does everybody get their Butterfly news!!!
Am I subscribed to the wrong services....
Where was the QoS and was it available to the masses?

 

[firstreesjohn]

Where does everybody get their Butterfly news!!!
Am I subscribed to the wrong services....?

Obviously. And you’re not the only one, Jason.

I am to discontinue posting on this thread, too, now- regarding it as an unnecessary waste of my time. This is after asking direct questions (which those qualified to answer have read and disregarded) and given PM advice and information on several occasions (for which no acknowledgement or thanks have been received- not, you, Pete).

As far as I’m concerned, people will just have to find their own- as I do. I heard recently, from an official of a butterfly organisation at a fabulous butterfly site in another county, ‘butterfliers are worse than birders’ (regarding suppression).

BTW, the moth in #1794 was Marbled Clover. This, an RDB3 species, was confirmed via another avenue- another observer being “quite excited” to have seen 3 there.

 

[ben_lewis]

Anyone seeing second brood swallowtails yet? People are asking, and I haven't a clue. (as usual)

Given Maps in Dorset, Meadow Fritillary in Bucks, and a Queen of Spain in Suffolk last week, I wonder what might get blown our way this week?

Yep, second brood swallowtails have now been seen, I saw my first on 31st July. A few being seen daily...when conditions allow!

Also had a silver washed fritillary on 4th August at strumpshaw but not since.

As you say we are now awaiting something possibly even more exciting soon!

 

[HarassedDad]

There are cases where landowners specifically request that details are not released, but in the vast majority of cases the lack of news simply reflects the fact that there are a multitude of information sources about and no central point of information.

With birds there are commercial firms to spread the news, all we have is Adrian Riley's Bug Alert - where he tries to monitor web postings and collate them. The vast majority of sightings don't get reported to county recorders, who have to try and keep up with all the different web sites where sightings might get reported (for example, I see above that Norfolk had a Camberwell Beauty- but that posting is all I know about it). The Map's in Dorset came to my attention via a posting on the forums on UK Butterflies, by someone who got it from a mention on a blog he followed.

So it's not suppression per se, it's simply that insects don't have the following or the infrastructure, that birders have been used to over the last few decades. We don't even have the cafe at Cley to ring.

If it's any consolation,we're all in the same boat - I still don't know exactly where in Queen's Hills the YL Tort was seen - although I've gathered that it wasn't where I thought the finder was describing - and I never saw it, though I too spent a couple of hours driving round the estate trying to find it.

And I can't ID moths - not only is there is a separate county moth recorder (and website -www.norfolkmoths.co.uk) to validate such records,but also I'm rubbish at it.

 

[James Emerson]

Camberwell Beauty

Hi.

The Camberwell Beauty was seen by Gary White at Salthouse Heath on 27/07/14. He saw it on four occasions including settled briefly but not for long enough to get any photos. I'll ask him to contact you directly about it.

Regards,
James

The vast majority of sightings don't get reported to county recorders, who have to try and keep up with all the different web sites where sightings might get reported (for example, I see above that Norfolk had a Camberwell Beauty- but that posting is all I know about it). The Map's in Dorset came to my attention via a posting on the forums on UK Butterflies, by someone who got it from a mention on a blog he followed.

 

[HarassedDad]

Thanks Ben, James

 

[Lightthiscandle]

Despite a couple of circuits of Strumpshaw yesterday & today I didn't come across any Swallowtails: last I saw were four on July 16th....
Lots of caterpillars still, though, including some quite small ones: also many Speckled Woods and Red Admirals.
I was sad to see that someone (the farmer, presumably) has ploughed under all the willow scrub and wild flower meadows either side of 'the Dr's Cottage'. This has always been fabulous for butterflies and odonata, particularly Brown Argus and Swallowtails....

 

[Nick Robinson]

I've just started to look at this... http://bugalert.net/index.html and this... https://www.facebook.com/atroposjournal. If that helps at all???

 

[davidbratt]

http://www.atropos.info/flightarrivals/ is worth keeping an eye on, as I'm sure the new Twitter feed will be.

There are bits and pieces on Facebook, but Twitter seems to be the most obvious choice for receiving and disseminating news currently - though I wasn't following Gary White, I was alerted to the Camberwell Beauty within a few minutes of his post through retweets. So if you can network with enough interested parties on Twitter it appears to work well.

I'm sure someone could set up an account on Twitter to centralise local or national invertebrate news if there was enough interest, but obviously this wouldn't work for everyone.

David

 

[Tideliner]

Andy, this summer I have picked pick up both dark green and silver washed fritillarys and both on the same survey transact in my woods sometimes nectering side by side . As long as the fritillaries are settled there is no problem sorting out the species , but more care is needed with worn specimens in flight. DGF and Male SWF are smiliar sized but female SWF are a lot larger than DGF. Even worn female DGF look a shade darker in flight than SWF , but fortunetly as yet we have not seen Valezina so far to complicate things. Still plenty of SWF about , saw about a dozen today and picked up 7 on the survey this afternoon. They seem to be very attracted to black knapweed flowers atthe moment. Picked up 3 painted ladies this afternoon after a summer with only one record in the woods , plus stacks of red admirals . There seems to have been an influx of these two species following the recent high winds and today the woods are full of migrant hawkers and common darters. One of the researchers reported a common hawker too , only the second individual this year. We usualy have quite a few most Julys.

 

[ChrisBish]

Macro moths trapped in my garden (Old Costessey) have reached 162 species now, with Angle Shades and Gold Spot trapped last night (the latter seemingly quite unusual for the Norwich area and will be roosted til 9pm if anyone local wants to pop in to see it). A Peacock on 5th August was another good moth for Norwich, judging by records on the Norfolk Moths website.

 

[stevecbrum]

This morning at least 2 Clouded Yellows at Sparham Pools on wild flower field margin by permissive path, grid ref TG 078 180 with a third on the public footpath further down towards Lenwade. The two on the field appeared to be associating as a pair.

 

[Nick Robinson]

Common ivy (Hedera helix) is native to Britain and is widely distributed across the UK. It is an woody climber, able to grow in most soil types and is resilient to changes in climatic conditions. The foliage, flowers and berries of ivy provide an excellent habitat for wildlife.
In late autumn, butterflies and moths are attracted to the ivy flowers. As it provides food for many pollinating insects, wasps, green bottles and honeybees are frequent visitors to ivy flowers during September and October. The succession of flowers in November and December are also important to the survival of queen wasps.
It’s this draw of the ivy to the adult moths that attracted Mark Nowers (@stuttonsparrows) attention. Mark got together with friends late in 2012 and The Ivy League was born. http://suffolkmoths.org.uk/blog/index.php/2013/09/17/the-ivy-league/ . It’s a basic concept where you head out to check flowering ivy for moths. I think this is a great idea and I’ll be heading out to check the patches near me. Attached is a great photo of a red underwing taken by Ryan Irvine on flowering ivy (look for the specific flowers with stamen showing).
For me, I will be posting on Twitter my counts and using ‪#‎ivyleague‬. I hope to see your tweets on this over the coming months...

 

[JCL]

Wall Brown in my New Costessey garden today was a surprise.James

 

[HarassedDad]

That is a surprise - though I had a record last year from near the showground, so clearly a colony remains around the area.


Brown argus at thorpe business park this afternoon.

 

[Lightthiscandle]

Purple Hairstreak

This poor old chap was flying around at the Norfolk Showground today!

 

[HarassedDad]

So Queen of Spain at Salthouse? Anyone know anything about this?

 

[JCL]

So Queen of Spain at Salthouse? Anyone know anything about this?

Where did you hear this? Nowt on Bugalert, UKButts, Atropos or Birdguides!

James

 

[HarassedDad]

Sorry, false alarm. A case of someone mishearing talk of the one in Suffolk a few weeks ago. Got me going for a while though.