Suffolk ArgusThe

The Newsletter of the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation

Autumn 2012 Volume 55

Red

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The Suffolk Argus

Butterfly aberrationssee page 11

Photos by Mervyn Crawford

Old Hall Wood Branch with withered Chestnut leavesPhotos by Tony Prichard

Olive CrescentA new colony is discovered at Old Hall Wood

see page 12

Ringlet ab. lanceolata Green Hairstreak ab.

Photos by Neil ShermanOlive Crescent Larva

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ContentsNew Members 3

Contacts 4Editorial 5

Silver-washed Fritillary 52012 Butterfly Conservation Report 7

Red Admirals 9Changes to the Website 10

Volunteer work parties at Purdis Heath 11Butterfly Aberrations 11

Olive Crescent 12Pakenham Wood 13

The Sussex trip 14Rendlesham, Tangham & Upper Hollesley Common 15

North Downs 16Late Season Foray 17

Black Hole Surveys 18Where are all the Butterflies 19

How the season changed! 19Wildlife Edge 21

Hill-topping 22What to do in winter 24

Greenwings Butterfly tours in 2013 24

New MembersWe welcome the following new members who have joined the Branch and we look forwardto meeting them at our events in 2013.Mr M Bacon LavenhamMrs D E Blanchard BranthamMs V Grassley Stoke By ClareMrs J A J Freeman Ipswich Mr A P A & Mrs S Fox Stutton Miss J Heathfield & Mr B Bartoff Lower Somersham Mr G D & Mrs S M Janson PettaughMrs Heather Macloughlin Bury St Edmunds Mr Gary & Mrs Murriekah Last Walpole Ms Penny De Quincy Knodishall Mrs J L Savage ThorpenessMr M Stearman Old Newton Mrs J Webber Ipswich

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Suffolk BranchContacts

The Suffolk Argus is published by the Suffolk Branch of Butterfly Conservation. The opinionsexpressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of Butterfly Conservation or the Branch.© 2012 All rights reserved. For more information, see: www.suffolkbutterflies.org.ukButterfly Conservation Company limited by guarantee, registered in England (2206468) Registered Office: Manor Yard,East Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5QP Charity registered in England & Wales (254937)and in Scotland (SCO39268)

PresidentHoward Mendel c/o The Natural History Museum,Cromwell Rd, London SW7 5BDTel: 0207 938 8782

ChairmanMike Dean Coach House, Ixworth,Bury St Edmunds IP31 2HLTel: 01359 230292 email: Michael.Dean2@ virginmedia.com

Membership SecretarySusan Sidle Five Gables, The Ling, Wortham, Diss,Norfolk IP22 1STTel: 01379 643665 email: ssidle@btinternet.com

TreasurerGraham Simister The Old Bank House, Wickhambrook,Newmarket CB8 8XGTel: 01440 820471email: graham.simister@btinternet.com

SecretaryJulian Dowding 84, Clapgate Lane, Ipswich IP3 0RETel: 01473 436096 email: julian.dowding@ntlworld.com

Committee MemberBill Stone27 Draymans WayIpswich IP3 0QUemail: birderbill68@yahoo.com

Conservation Officer (Butterflies) and CountyRecorderRob Parker 66, Cornfield Rd., Bury St Edmunds IP33 3BNTel: 01284 705476email: robparker@waitrose.com

Conservation Officer (Moths)Tony Prichard 3, Powling Rd., Ipswich IP3 9JRTel: 01473 270047 email: tony.prichard@btinternet.com

Programme and PublicityMatt BerryTel: 07599 243026 email: matt.berry1@sky.com

Newsletter EditorPeter Maddison Barnmead, Fishpond Rd, Waldringfield, Woodbridge IP12 4QXTel: 01473 736607 email: prmaddison@yahoo.co.uk

Regional Officer, Eastern EnglandSharon Hearle 216, The Street, Kirtling, Newmarket CB8 9PDTel: 01638 731648 email: shearle@butterfly-conservation.org

Committee MemberRichard Perrymanemail: richard.perryman@ntlworld.com

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EditorialPeter Maddison

Even the most disappointing butterflyseason has a silver lining: this season wassilver washed. The fritillary was recordedin 17 Suffolk woods on those rare sunnydays in July and early August. Read aboutthe spread of the butterfly, the elation inmaking new sightings and the rain-sodden,squelching field event that oozedenthusiasm at Pakenham Wood.

The silver lining extended into the latter halfof the summer, when fine weather andfavourable winds encouraged theemergence of our Nymphalids and thearrival of migrants from the continent.Trudie Willis has written about an explosionof Red Admirals, Peacocks and SmallTortoiseshells.

At the AGM we learnt of the passing of

Douglas Hammersley who most kindlyallowed us to use his line drawings withinThe Suffolk Argus. Rob Parker made a tributewhen he included many of DouglasHammersley’s line drawings and photos inhis presentation of the 2012 butterfly season.

At the AGM Rob Parker announced hisgradual retirement from the position asCounty Recorder (Butterflies) and that BillStone would be assisting him with theintention of assuming the CountyRecorder’s role in the future.

BC websites at both National and Branchlevels are being developed, and RichardPerryman writes in the newsletter to outlinethe evolution at our Branch level.

Silver-washed Fritillary makes a welcomereturn to SuffolkRob Parker

Climate change appears to be good for theSilver-washed Fritillary, Argynnis paphia,which used to grace Suffolk woodland in the1940’s and 1950’s, but has suffered a longabsence since then. Recently it has beenstrengthening its colonies in the south ofEngland and in 2007 a couple of stray malesturned up in Suffolk. At the time these wereput down to overspill from a re-introduced

colony in Essex, but a few more in a privatewood near Stowmarket gave cause for hopein 2009. That hope turned to excitement in2010 when the butterfly had a very strongyear across Essex, Herts and Cambs, andsuddenly turned up in a dozen places inSuffolk and Norfolk. It is a woodlandspecies, and several of the sightings were inwoods that seemed to offer good prospects

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for breeding.

The early, hot, dry spring of 2011 broughtmore success than anyone had expected.Searches of the prospective breeding woodsin late June discovered paphia flying innumbers that proved that colonisation hadtaken place the previous year. They turnedup in 13 Suffolk woods, and pairing wasobserved in at least one of these. Two strayshave also turned up in gardens. The woodsin question are mainly large oak woodlands,and are spread across the county. Most ofthem already support colonies of the WhiteAdmiral too.

Although 2012 was an awful season forbutterflies in general, the Silver-washedFritillary continued its consolidation, withnumbers increasing dramatically in 3woods, and gently in others, with a spreadto nearby woods in several cases. PakenhamWood, north of Bury St Edmunds is a privatewood with a public footpath runningthrough its best open glade, and was chosenas a suitable site for a field meeting. Thisevent attracted an enthusiastic attendance,despite heavy rain on the day. At least it waspossible to show everyone where to look,and those who returned later had excitingviewing opportunities. Several observerswere able to count over 20 paphia on visits inlate July and early August. Notably, BillStone saw three mating pairs and took thephotograph on the back page showing onepair with a third in transit above them.

The number of woods with sightings in 2012rose to 17, not counting 4 sites that hadapparently had only one brief visit in 2011.

Here is a list of the best of the woods forobserving Silver-washed Fritillary. All ofthese have at least some public access(please respect the private areas to preservethe landowners’ goodwill).

Bradfield Woods (SWT)Wolves Wood (RSPB)Theberton Wood (FC)Northfield Wood (WT – only one seen so far;the wood is rather heavily shaded)Dunwich Forest (FC/ SWT – look in theglades with oak and bramble)Norton Wood (private with footpaths)Reydon Great Wood (private, crossed byHadleigh railway walk)Pakenham Wood (private with publicfootpath crossing through the wood)

The butterflies are on the wing from lateJune, they fly through July, and can be foundtaking nectar from bramble blossom orthistle. In 2012 they were still to be found inat least 3 woods on 18th August, althoughtheir bright colours had faded and mostwere worn. The females lay their eggs lowdown on oaks close to violets - the larvalhost plant.

Why not visit a wood near you nextsummer, spending time in sunny gladeswith violets. If you find any Silver-washedFritillaries or White Admirals, you canreport them via the Butterfly Conservationwebsite: ww.suffolkbutterflies.org.uk

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Following two rather poor seasons, andbeginning with a challenging winter, 2012did not inherit strong populations of manyspecies. Global weather patterns thenintervened, notably irregular jetstreams, andthese created chaotic weather which furtherdepleted wild stocks of eggs, larvae, pupaeand adult butterflies. The result was anawful butterfly season, typified by theresults of the Spring Lane transect at Bury StEdmunds, which produced the worst resultsin the 13 years it has been walked.

The preliminary analysis covered each of thebiodiversity action plan species, the onebright spot of the year, which was thecontinued success of the Silver-washedFritillary, and two other items ofconservation importance.

Dingy Skipper. The King’s Forest colonywas found flying in all the established areas,albeit in weak numbers, and without manysightings of mating or egg-laying. The RAFBarnham and Center Parcs sites were bothchecked again but confirmed as defunct.Close to Barnhamthough, the colony onThetford Heathnature reserve andthe margin of theThetford Forest wasstill present, and onemating pair was seen.

Silver-studded Blue. Emergence datesreverted to 1990’s timing, defeating pre-planned dates for the Minsmere count. As aresult, the deferred first count was still tooearly and the second attempt was rained offin the afternoon, so an incomplete weakcount was all that was achieved. Similardifficulties were encountered at most othersites, with two notable exceptions. AtWalberswick NNR, three searches weremounted in decentweather but not asingle Silver-studdedBlue was seen; it nowlooks likely that thiscolony has been lost.Better news fromBlaxhall Common,our 2007 translocation colony, was a highestever single walk count of 48, and anencouraging spread into the wider off-transect parts of the common.

White-letter Hairstreak. Sightings weredown, although this was probablyattributable to poor weather reducingsighting opportunities. Where a determinedsearch was conducted, small numbers wereseen.

2012 Butterfly Conservation ReportRob Parker, Conservation Officer (Butterflies)

The report was presented as a slide show at the AGM on the 22nd September2012, using the photography and artwork of Douglas Hammersley, a talentedcontributor to ‘The Suffolk Argus’, who passed away earlier this year.

White-letter Hairstreak

Silver-studded Blue

Dingy Skipper

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Grayling. Judging by casual sightings,Grayling seemed to have a reasonableseason in West Suffolk, and good numberswere seen at several of the traditionallystrong coastal sites.

White Admiral. Casual sightings werestrong, partly because they were found inmany of the woods where searches forSilver-washed Fritillary were beingconducted. White Admiral was found in atleast two woods with no history of a colony.

Silver-washed Fritillary. The field event atPakenham Wood took place in heavy rain on6th July. The high turnout was a tribute tomembers’ determination; they learnedwhere to look (and where to observe theowner’s privacy) and were able to return inbetter weather for some delightfulexperiences. Several people counted over 20individual SWFs, and on one occasion 3separate mating pairs were observed. Thisbodes well for that colony, and for thespecies’ chances everywhere else in Suffolktoo. Sightings from Bradfield Woods, WolvesWood and Theberton suggest that breedingcolonies may have been established there,and sightings from new woods bring thetotal up to 17 Suffolk woods where theyhave put in an appearance. Let’s hope thatSWF is back to stay.

Wall Brown Survey. The joint SNS/BCsingle-species survey of 2011 was extendedinto 2012 on the grounds that we wereperhaps watching its final decline. Sadly, the

results so far tend to confirm our concern.Most of the sites where they were flying 2, 3or 4 years ago did not produce any sightingsthis year. The majority of sightings camefrom the known strong coastal strip fromShingle Street down to Bawdsey and inlandto Butley. Outliers still exist in the north inthe Somerleyton/Lowestoft area and in thenorth-west at Sedge Fen near Lakenheath.The latter was particularly welcome,although it was just 2 Walls on just one dayof the year. Wall is currently suffering adecline across UK, with populationsthinning out and becoming more coastal,frequenting only sites in low fertilitygrassland on well drained sandy soils. It isironic that our strongest colony sits astridethe site just chosen for the landfall of cablesbringing electricity ashore from the AngliaONE offshore wind turbine field.

The Losers. Many species had theirbreeding opportunities reduced by heavyrain during their flight periods and droughtor cold during their larval developmentalperiods. Species suffering particularly badlyincluded Common Blue, Brown Argus,Holly Blue and Small Copper, all of whichare double-brooded. The spring generationswere thin on the ground, and the latesummer generations have been hard to find.Many observers commented on the absenceof Vanessids on their buddleja this year,although a brief Indian Summer with a

Grayling

Wall Brown

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small scale immigration of Red Admiral andsome Small Tortoiseshell did bring a bit ofcolour to some gardens in early September.At the time of writing, it is unclear whetherwe will have a mild extended autumn – oran early winter to close this disappointingbutterfly season. What is evident, is that2012 has been a set-back, and we should notexpect a prompt return to “normal”.

Other Species. The Purple Emperor was lateemerging at Theberton this year, and wasnot reported from any other sites. The

Marbled White was again flying in LandseerPark.

Other Conservation Activity. SuffolkBranch of Butterfly Conservation has maderepresentations in the planning process forthe Anglia ONE Windfarm, in which wedrew attention to the need for mitigation ofthe destruction of habitat for the Wall Browncolony breeding astride the proposedlandfall site just north of Bawdsey. Theproposed route inland passes clear of theSilver-studded Blue colony at MartleshamHeath, so that is no longer a concern. Animportant project to improve the conditionof 14 fragmented heathland sites in theIpswich area has been funded with a grantfrom WREN. This was the subject of aseparate briefing by the project officer.

Illustrations by Douglas Hammersley.

Small Copper

Red Admirals - Large and Small

The influx of Red Admirals in autumn led anumber of people to comment on aperceivedwide variation in size.

Obviously, there is a natural spread of size,but I would have said that it is less (as apercentage) for Red Admirals than for manyother species. The good book (Emmet &Heath 1990, The Butterflies of Great Britainand Ireland, MOGBI Vol 7) gives the typicalwingspans as:male 64 - 72 mm (12% spread)female 70 - 78 mm (11% spread)

This means the normal range of 8mm foreither sex amounts to a 11-12% variation,which does not sound dramatic. On theother hand, the maximum wingspandifference betweena small male and a large

female is 14mm, or 21%. Bear in mindthough, that this leaves a much largerimpression when judged by wing area, as 78squared divided by 64 squared amounts toan extra 48% of wing area - so an observernaturally sees this as much larger. (OK, Iknow their wings are not really square!)

Another factor is dwarfism. When foodplants dry out, undernourished larvaesometimes pupate one whole instar (skincast) early, and are undersize when theyemerge as adults, maybe 15 to 25% smallerthan typical. I doubt there were dwarfs inthe early September immigration though.Interestingly, my own 2012 season beganwith a very early sighting of a tiny Orange-tip, and as an isolated specimen, this stoodout as a dwarf.

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Changes to the Branch Website

You may have noticed that during the pasttwo months the Branch website has startedto include more information. The website isa key component of what we do but, in thepast, we have probably not been using iteffectively to publicise the importantprojects we undertake or to give members asmuch information as we could. Wetherefore decided to make the site moreactive, vibrant and informative. The aim isto improve the information for membersand so that other people who visit the sitewill find it interesting. Rather than startagain the site will evolve - this is less time-consuming and can include suggestions forchanges from members.The main changes so far have been:-

Sightings – as is the case with otherBranches you can now send in sightings (sightings@suffolkbutterflies.org.uk). This does not replace the annual returnrecorders send to the Butterfly Recorder,which it is essential to continue. Anysighting that you think will be of interest toothers can be included. Especiallyinteresting would be the first or last of anyspecies seen in the year, unusual numbers,unusual locations or scarce species. Forexample the entry that showed the Wall hadbeen seen at Bawdsey would encourageother people to search in similar locations.Clicking on the grid reference produces amap of the exact location.

Recording – this will be expanded to givemore information about formal recording.This also includes news of the latest surveys

of UKBAP priority and study species e.gSilver-studded Blue, and butterflies new toSuffolk e.g. Silver-washed Fritillary.

Conservation – this highlights the importantprojects on which the Branch spends timeand money. It includes updates on thesuccess of previous work e.g. thetranslocation of the Silver-studded Blue toBlaxhall Common, and progress on newprojects such as Ipswich Heaths.

Other information which will be includedbefore next year will be good sites in Suffolkto see butterflies (we have no BC reserves)and the species which can be seen there.

The main Butterfly Conservation site willalso be changing in December. As well aschanges to the main pages they areintroducing an easier way for people toobtain information about their local Branch.By entering a post-code a page ofinformation about the local Branch will bedisplayed. This will include a link to thelocal Branch site.

It is therefore essential that our site is seenas up-to-date and informative as the mainsite. Anyone visiting the site must see thatwe are an active Branch with volunteerscarrying out important work for theconservation of butterflies.

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Autumn 2012

Volunteer work parties at Purdis Heath

For the past two years we have been hostingvolunteer work parties at Purdis Heath inIpswich. As many of you will know we’vebeen working alongside other partnerorganisations to rescue an ailing populationof Silver-studded Blue butterflies and to getthe heath back into a better overall conditionfor other wildlife that thrives in a well-managed heathland site. In essence what isrequired is regular scrub management, torestrict the spread of Gorse, Silver Birch andOak, onto the main areas of Bell Heather andLing – food and nectar plants of the Silver-studded Blue. An open sunny heath is alsorequired for the ants, which have an intricate,beneficial relationship with the butterfly.

We will have an organised work party onevery first Saturday of the month,throughout the winter. The first of whichwill be on Saturday 3rd November. Parkingon site is limited, in a layby on BuckleshamRoad, opposite the Suffolk Showground. Wewill meet there at 10am and then walk to thework area with our tools and the important

tea and biscuits!

In brief the kind of work you can expect toget involved in will be cutting down smalltrees and shrubs with bow saws and loppers.We use some of the material to constructhabitat piles on site. These benefit (amongstother things) resident reptiles that use themfor shelter, especially Viviparous Lizards.

We usually finish by about 3pm, but you canof course come and go as you wish. Youdon’t need to bring anything, but do wearsensible outdoor clothes for winterconditions and stout boots. If you have yourown work gloves please bring them as wehave limited supplies. If the weather on theday is significantly bad we may have tocancel, so in those circumstances pleasephone to check first before setting out.

If you would like to find out more or haveany questions please contact me on 07599243 026

Butterfly Aberrations

Green Hairstreak ab. photo page 2The Spring Issue 109 of Butterfly magazine contained a photograph of a Green Hairstreakin which the underside white ‘hairstreak’ was distinctly enlarged. Although this seemedcompletely new to the Natural History Museum, I was aware that specimens with thehairstreak completely missing were not that uncommon and reasoned that at the other endof the scale some insects could have bolder than normal markings. So a point was made thisyear of examining closely all of the thirty or so Green Hairstreaks that settled and this onewas found at Wangford Warren on 26th May 2012.

Ringlet ab. Lanceolata photo page 2The cool wet summer this year seemed to suit Ringlets which were found in scores, evenhundreds at some sites. So it was a good time to look for aberrations and four were spottedin Mildenhall woods and this one was actually not the most striking one seen.

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The Suffolk Argus

Olive Crescent MothTony Prichard has news of a colony discovered in Suffolk

Earlier this year, at the end of June, theSuffolk Moth Group held one of its mothnights at Old Hall Wood, near Bentley. Thegroup has visited the site in recent years forsome general recording as well as targetedsearches for particular species that mightoccur at the site. One of the species searchedfor has been Olive Crescent, an RDB andBAP species that in East Anglia is restrictedas a resident to Stour Wood in Essex. It alsooccurs in a few scattered woods in some ofthe southerly counties but the picture isconfused a little as the moth appears to bemigratory and has turned up at varioussoutherly coastal localities in the past.

In Suffolk the moth’s first county record wasa singleton at Ipswich Golf Course, whereNeil Sherman recorded it in 2005. At thetime this was thought to be either a migrantor possibly a wanderer from across thewater in Essex. At the SMG moth night thisyear we were quite surprised to have twelveadults of the moth appear at some of thelights in the wood. This number of moths allappearing at once is strongly indicative ofthere being a colony present in the woodand in addition the habitat in the woodappears suitable with plenty of oak, sweetchestnut and beech trees.

Neil Sherman and myself made a daytimevisit to the wood in late September and veryquickly found a number of larvae of OliveCrescent feeding on the withered leaves ofoak and beech. The larva can be found onbunches of leaves that have snapped orbroken off and remain suspended in thebranches - why they prefer the witheredleaves when there is plenty of fresh foliagearound is unknown to me. The finding oflarvae confirms the presence of a colony andone probably of recent origin, as we’ve notseen it during past visits. We also had asearch in Wherstead Wood but failed to findany Olive Crescent larvae.

The following day I made a brief visit toGreat Martins Wood and found a couple oflarvae feeding on withered sweet chestnutleaves - a second site for the moth in Suffolk.John Chainey and Jenny Spence fromHertfordshire were also searching for thelarvae at this time but failed to find it atFreston Wood, Cutlers Wood or WhersteadWood.

Further searches will take place at some ofthe other woods south of Ipswich, there area few of them to check, to see if we can findany more colonies.

Editorial copy dateContributions for the Spring edition of our newsletter are very welcome and should be sentto the Editor, Peter Maddison, no later than Saturday 12th January, 2013.Any piece of writing considered to be of interest will be published and we also welcome linedrawings, prints and photographs.Contributions (preferably electronic) can be sent to the address on the Contacts page or byemail to: prmaddison@yahoo.co.uk

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Autumn 2012

Pakenham Wood Friday 6th July 2012Rob Parker

Never before have we held a ButterflyConservation field meeting on a day whenthe met office forecast ‘a month’s rain in aday’.

So it was remarkable that 10 optimisticenthusiasts turned up in wet weather gearfor an excursion that was never likely to findany Silver-washed Fritillaries. I predictedthat at best we might see a few Ringlets.

We were glad of the hospitality of the porchat Pakenham church for our dry briefingbefore setting out for the wood. The mainobjective of the walk was to show people thebest publicly accessible points to see theresident White Admirals and the recentlyarrived Silver-washed Fritillaries that wehope will also become residents. We beganwith a circuit of the public footpath aroundthe wood and the short cut across to theheart of the wood. At this point, the mainride through the private part of the woodmeets the footpath in the largest clearing,where sunlight can enter (but not during ourvisit) and fall on a mass of bramble blossomand a thicket of flowering thistles. This is thesheltered playground of the Silver-washed,and a good spot for the honeysuckle thatdangles from some of the tall oaks.

As we walked in the pounding rain, werecalled the ongoing contest for the leastproductive butterfly field meeting. Therewas Richard Stewart’s walk along theLavenham railway line - with nothing but asingle Speckled Wood, then the DingySkipper hunt in the King’s Forest (also wellattended despite the pounding rain) when

nothing at all set the unbeatable zero points,and the probability that we were about toequal that record. However, by the time wegot to the eastern end of the wood - a goodviewing opportunity from the publicfootpath - a roosting Ringlet was spotted,followed by several more, and then one inflight. We kept count, just to see whether thebutterfly : observer ratio would break even,and finished the walk at 15 Ringlets to 10observers.

Everyone had at least had the opportunityto familiarise themselves with the habitatand plan for their return visits. What ismore, we had all had a good time, despiteour wet feet.

Four stalwarts went on after a picnic (churchporch again) for a look at the closed landfillsite at Lackford. By then, the rain had easedslightly, but it was an inspection of the floraamongst the conservation grassland ratherthan a real butterfly survey. Two MeadowBrowns on this artificial hillside showed thatit merits another visit in better weather.

Bedraggled enthusiasts at Pakenhamphoto by Jo Sweetman

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The Suffolk Argus

Our first male ChalkhillIts wing colours reflecting A pastel blue sky.

Walking into rain And how it trickles intoEvery dry corner.

In one tall thistleDispensing fragrant nectarA crab spider waits.

Female Common BlueSuffused with veined male coloursA living jewel.

A well worn skipper’s Antennae prove a challengeAt last we agree.

Deep marjoram beds Full of feeding butterfliesAnd breeze blown perfume.

Tossing and turningIn a shrill shrieking tumblePeregrine falcons.

He stalks the Wall BrownDigitally determined This will be the one.

A blaze of ragwort Cloud shadows drifting over Then the glory returns.

In a warm gulleyOut of the freshening breeze Marbled Whites gather.

The Sussex trip- ten haikai by Richard Stewart

Common Blue by Beryl Johnson

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Autumn 2012

Field Event Wednesday 11th JulyMorning at Rendlesham and Tangham ForestRichard StewardSeven members met on a morning ofindifferent weather but with enough sun forbutterflies to be moving. Our inspection ofa long heather strip about a hundred yardsfrom the entrance produced a Small Heathbut our attention was quickly diverted whenStella Wolfe spotted an initially high flyingWhite Admiral, which then obliginglylanded on nearby bramble, giving closeviews and photo opportunities. A secondWhite Admiral was seen further along thered marked trail, above a large clump ofhoneysuckle. The other two were bothflying in cloudy conditions. SeveralSpeckled Woods came out in the sun, twounusually perched next to each other onsunlit bracken. At the first area of water adistant Red Admiral was seen from thebridge but our view of the pond on the otherside was severely restricted by a spreading

alder. I love trees but this one is in thewrong place and could be removed- thereare plenty nearby. Meadow Browns andRinglets were now abundant and at thesecond smaller and more secluded pond werecorded dozens of azure and a few largered damselflies. Later, after somedisorientation caused by forestry workdiverting the route, we had to shelter undera beech during a short shower, and in doingso disturbed several fallow deer. The lastspecies recorded was Small Copper, on along path to the left of which bracken wasvirtually a monoculture, even starting toclimb some trees. This bracken problemneeds to be addressed, as it must bereducing the biodiversity. Several siteswhich, a few years ago, held a wide varietyof butterfly species, are now completelycovered by bracken.

The likelihood of a deterioration in theweather encouraged a speedy lunch beforewe drove to Upper Hollesley Common.Here the Silver-studded Blue was our targetspecies and within three hundred yards ofthe parked cars we found the colony. Twoshallow trenches bulldozed into theheathland as an X shaped marker, originallyused for parachute training during theAmerican era at RAF Woodbridge, servesnow as a sheltered, heat retainingenvironment, suited to the Silver-studdedBlue. In the abundant bell heather werecorded 12 male and 4 female butterflies,totals that would suggest the peak

emergence had not been reached. Withinthe relatively short distance that we walked9 Small Copper, one of which was var.caeruleopunctata, 5 Small Heath, 5 MeadowBrown and 2 Ringlet were sighted. Offtowards the perimeter fence a pair ofstonechats perched high on gorse scrub.Their calls beckoned us further on to theheath where patches of both bell heather andling invited further exploration, butoverhead heavy clouds had gathered andwith the first rain drops of what became aheavy downpour, we returned to thevehicles.

Afternoon at Upper Hollesley CommonPeter Maddison

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The Suffolk Argus

North Downs 11th August 2012Richard Stewart encounters ‘clouds of butterflies’

There have been very few days, in my manyyears of British butterfly recording, when Ihave been unable to count accurately,because of the large numbers involved. Onesuch day occurred at Ranmore Commonand Denbies. The actual target species,second brood of Adonis Blue and DingySkipper, weren’t found and Ranmoreinitially was poor, with vast swathes of longand rank grasses, reducing nectar sources.As I moved downhill the habitat improvedand I soon realised this was going to be aday when one species dominated: ChalkhillBlues.

Both males and females were everywhere, acloud of silvery blue and chocolate brownbutterflies all around me, against abackground of multi-coloured chalklandflora. It was a veritable ballet, with up toseven males pursuing one female in flightand others chasing Meadow Browns andone Comma out of their territory. I observedboth courtship and matingbut, unable tomake any effective count, I decided at twopoints, near the bottom of Ranmore andhalfway up Denbies, to adopt a differentstrategy. I initially stood still, then slowlyrevolved my body for 360 degrees, trying tocount the Chalkhill Blues all around me; as Iturned full circle the first count wasapproximately 150, the second around 200.I spent most of the day on these twostretches of the Downs and would calculatea total of at least 2,000, possibly nearer 3,000Chalkhill Blues. Not all were active,allowing me to look at the subtleties oftexture, colour and pattern through my close

focus Papilio binoculars, adding anotherdimension of beauty to the day.

On a memorable visit back in May 2005, Icounted over 30 first brood Adonis Blues onjust one fox dropping, along theCarriageway path. With no second broodAdonis seen, these droppings weremonopolised by Chalkhill Blue males,jostling so closely that at two of the sixplaces where I witnessedthis behaviour, Ialso discovered a dead Chalkhill male. Themaximum number around one droppingwas 17.

I walked back along the Carriageway toDorking station and the banks either side ofthe path offered better opportunities forcounting, though there are also longstretches of deep shadow beneath trees. Mycount here was 108.

I have heard many elderly naturalists talk offrequent ‘clouds of butterflies’ encounteredin their youth- this was certainly comparableand an unforgettable experience.

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Late Season ForayDerek and Valerie Soper

We had just returned from a slowish drivearound neighbouring lanes of High Suffolkon a hot, early September mid-morninghoping, in less visited tetrads, to recordbutterflies. It was desperately unrewarding:we saw none! The only creatures observed(no humans) were the occasional dragonfly,plus numerous pheasants along headlandsand roach in a moat waiting supposedly forthe shooting and angling fraternity.

In order to seek reassurance that butterflieswere still around we returned to our owngarden and were pleasantly surprised toobserve two Red Admirals, a Small Copper,several ‘whites’ and a Silver-Y moth busilynectaring on Verbena bonariensis. Moreover,there was also a Silver-Y on meadow claryand a Comma on a shallot flowering head.With the buddleias ‘going over’, the Verbenaand meadow clary are ideal late nectaringprovision. Small Coppers enjoy Echinacea,and the other flower deserving particularmention is the lawn ‘weed’ lesser hawkbit,visited by whites, wild bees and hoverflies.Hawkbit does however go-to-bed-at-noon,so care must be taken not to mow it off in theafternoon when the yellow inflorescencesare not apparent. Fallen apples also providea good feeding source for Commas and RedAdmirals, which we witness daily.

In our tetrad only two species: Ringlet andSmall Tortoiseshell, were recorded in the1986 Suffolk survey and a further four:Gatekeeper, Green-veined White, LargeSkipper and Meadow Brown, in themillennium survey of 2001. Here in ourgarden over the past eleven years we have

recorded 18 regularly-visiting butterflyspecies, 24 in total.

The one-acre property we own is ratherisolated, being surrounded by intensivearable farming. Although there arecontiguous grass strips these have beenmown and are only suitable for rodents andthe foraging barn owl. No wild flower seedhas been sown with the grass. Thistles andnettles are not allowed to grow and theroadside verges are cut early. Althoughsome hedge planting has been done, this isalongside roads and never across the vastwide-open fields.

The reason for the dearth of butterflies in oursurrounding countryside is clear. There areno late-nectaring opportunities.

At present we have Comma pupae onstinging nettles in an old greenhouse. As theadults emerge we must warn them to stickaround.

References: Mendel and Pietrowski (1986) TheButterflies of Suffolk.Stewart (2001) The Millennium Atlas ofSuffolk Butterflies

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Black Hole Surveys: West Suffolk

I was offered free membership of ButterflyConservation last autumn, shortly afteragreeing to take Voluntary Early Releasefrom MOD.

I learned from the BC papers that it is easy tokeep casual records of what you identify andnoticed that Exning was an area where Icould make a difference by reporting justone butterfly in a tetrad.

I had planned to be with Stella Wolfe on22nd April (event reported in The SuffolkArgus Summer 2012, page 16) but it was notuntil 15th May that I met with others in theBranch. The Dingy Skipper Hunt in KingsForest was not successful but it was a greatday for me. Attending events at Minsmere,Pakenham and Lackford increased myrealisation that I had a ‘black hole’ ofknowledge to address as well.

Exning is surrounded by Cambridgeshireand I quickly found suitable places to findbutterflies in the surrounding area. I thenwent to Red Lodge, Herringswell where mydaughter lives, which is east ofNewmarket. I did return to PakenhamWood on 30th July.

It was a beautiful day. Rob Parker hadpreviously shown a group of us where wemight find Silver-washed Fritillary andWhite Admirals. I had been wanting to seea White Admiral since the age of four, soseeing 2 as I entered the wood was magic. Ithen met with another BC member and herhusband and soon the fritillaries were

around but the rain came. As I left the sunreturned and I met with a ‘birder’, Stevewho had heard about the fritillaries andwanted to see them. We went to the gladetogether and slowly the numbers increased.It was just like the films I had seen on TV ofthe Monarch butterflies, but this was real.

Steve counted 22 mostly feeding on thethistle and bramble flowers and missedmany that were flying about. As we stoodand marvelled, I told him of the WhiteAdmiral; he wanted to see one and hedid. And all the while we had the mewingof a young buzzard as it flewoverhead. Dreams are made of such days.

With August the summer came and I took tobutterfly surveys in earnest. Things aredifferent now. There are more butterfliesabout: they fly faster, look more worn andspar or pair up. I am getting 1-9 species foreach tetrad I visit, so next year the challengewill be to increase the species list andbecome more disciplined in the recordingprocess so that population trends can beassessed. Meanwhile, thank you MOD forgiving me the time to enjoy going todifferent places and watching butterflies.

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Where are all the Butterflies

Every year, people ask why there are nobutterflies on their buddleia. Generally, thefirst buddleias come into flower a couple ofweeks before the widespread emergence ofour familiar Peacocks, Commas, SmallTortoiseshells and Red Admirals. But thisyear that gap has been greatly extendedbecause the butterfly season was two weeksbehind normal. This was largely down tothe stop-go nature of the awful 2012weather.

However, things are worse than just timing.Last winter was relatively harsh andfollowed a below-average year, so we got offto a poor start. The cold wet weeks of whatought to have been spring and summer havehad a serious impact on butterflypopulations. They do not emerge on time ifit is too cold, they cannot fly if it is rainingand they cannot meet and mate if theycannot fly. Thus their reproductive chanceshave been poor this year, and it will need afine year in 2013 for them to have anychance of picking up. For those species thathave more than one generation a year, suchas the Common Blue, Small Copper, Brown

Argus, Small Tortoiseshell and SpeckledWood, the impact is felt in the same season;a wet May will have reduced the number ofeggs laid, and those that hatchedsuccessfully will have had to survive thedownpours of rain that can wash them awayand greatly increase the risk of fungaldisease. Caterpillars can tolerate a briefinundation, but a couple of days underwaterwill kill them (remember all those images ofour summer floods?). Even if we do get anIndian summer, I am still not expectingdecent numbers of these species. For smallisolated colonies, this is the kind of setbackthat can eliminate them entirely.

That is all pretty gloomy stuff for our‘common’ species, but happily, there hasbeen some good news for a couple of ourscarce species. Two of our delicately-balanced Silver-studded Blue colonies havehad good seasons despite the weather, andour newly-arrived Silver-washed Fritillarieshave bred successfully in the shelter of theirchosen woods. Two Silvers, but no Golds inthis Olympic Year!

How the season changed!

From Trudie:‘Things have changed dramatically at PriorsOak. Last Saturday (25th Aug)I walked up tothe Buddleia walkway and was astounded. Outof the blue it was teeming with butterflies, to theextent that it was reminiscent of the PaintedLady influx. Today I needed to do a count for youand despite a fairly strong wind, I was over awedby my results. I walked quietly outside the

walkway and counted over 100 Red Admirals(mostly new specimens). This included the twolarge yellow Buddleias at the very top. I thenstarted again and counted over 40 Peacocks butthe real joy was counting the same amount ofTortoiseshells. I can only say that my count wasprobably half of what was really there as I wasonly counting from one side of the shrubs/treesand not counting on the adjoining field and trees

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where they appeared to be sunning wherever Ilooked. Feeling very elated I went over to Peter’sheather and found it full of Small Coppers, SmallHeaths, Graylings, Meadow Browns and acouple of Common Blues. A party of latebutterfly visitors couldn’t believe their eyes. Itwill only take a good late hatching of Commasand Speckled Woods and I would say it was thebest year in the past 5. No idea how this latehatching has arrived but bodes so well for nextyear. I never dreamed I would see them tumblingin 3’s and 4’s this year. Still totally confused,very delighted and wondering if as the Sedumscome into flower they will move towards themain garden for nectar. Interestingly theTortoiseshells and Peacocks were only in the newBuddleia walkway but each flowering bush wascovered in them, however the big Buddleias at thetop were mostly only Red Admirals. Willmonitor how things progress but am totallyconfused by this weekend’s appearances,especially as I had only seen half a dozenTortoiseshells in the past few years, and almostalways as single sightings. Also at least 4Painted Ladies in very good order.Amazing! Look forward to hearing what feedback you get elsewhere.’

More snippets……..

From Julian:‘On Sunday 26th August, I walked the RSPBMinsmere reserve from the sluice outfall on thebeach (near the east hide) towards Sizewell for amile-ish and counted 38 Graylings among thegrasses, path, Ling and Bell Heather. Also 5Small Heath and one very blue female CommonBlue. This was around 3.30 pm-5.15pm. I don’tknow whether you think this is a high or lowcount for the Grayling, but it certainly raised myspirits. It was lovely to observe their marbledpaleness fluttering in the failing sunlight andthen to try and work out where they had settled.’

From Stan:‘As an update, I can add the recording of a PurpleHairstreak in my garden moth trap atSicklesmere. I have lived at this address since1970 and this is the first record that I have of thisspecies. There is a large mature oak at the bottomof the garden, it was mature when I moved here,but I have never seen Purple Hairstreak herebefore. This record was from the night of 14 July2012. You may recall that I recorded one frommy moth trap at Elveden last year.’

Rob’s reply:‘Interesting Stan, My usual advice for spottingPH is to sit in the afternoon sun watching an oakfrom a deck chair with a glass of gin in one hand.Now I can add . . . by moonlight, with a mug ofcocoa!’

From Mervyn, the day after sighting twoWalls at Sedge Fen - the first Walls seen inWest Suffolk since 2009.‘I returned to the spot near Sedge Fen yesterdaywith the main purpose of a photo ID of the placewhere two Walls were seen on Saturday. The Wall sightings of the day before were not tobe repeated - rather a disappointment, but largeBurdocks (and Hemp Agrimony) are probablythe best nectar sources in these fenland areas. Onthe same ‘bush’ were three S.Tortoiseshells, twoRAs, two Small Coppers, a Gatekeeper, a femaleBrimstone, a GVW, a Comma and a couple ofvery late Large Skippers. Just for a dismal comparison, around ten/twelveyears ago Sheila and I recorded Walls in dozensalong this track - they well out-numbered anyother species.’

From: Paul (4 emails)1. ‘Having posted a picture on Facebook Idiscovered that a friend had spotted a WhiteAdmiral in a field yesterday; am checking where.’2. ‘The one spotted by a friend was flying into a

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patch of woodland at TL953726. Will go andinvestigate further!’[Paul did so within hours, returning withWhite Admiral sightings from 2 woods fromwhich there were no previous records, in atetrad also without any previous records.]3. ‘Success! I parked just off the A143 by theentrance to the Green Lane; there are a couple ofpassing places where one can sensibly leave thecar. I walked through into the main body of HalfGrove Wood and about three quarters of the waythrough got to a little clearing on the path withhoneysuckle growing up an oak tree and therewas one flitting about. I could see to the souththat there were sunny glades and there were atleast half a dozen White Admirals there. I workedmy way through to the further glade passinganother couple of White Admirals on the wayand there were two more in the next glade. In allI am confident I saw at least 13 individual WhiteAdmirals, several looking in very fine shape.’

4. ‘A very 21st century find! My PakenhamWhite Admiral photo on Facebook elicited aresponse from Claire. I Googled the location tosee where to go and used the Maps app on myphone to work out where I was. Couldn’t havehappened even 5 years ago.’

From Tim:‘Back in July I visited Bradfield Woods a fewtimes to see the White Admirals. Wellies wereessential, but paddling through the mud wasworth it. I got the impression they were doingwell, and saw them along more rides than inprevious years. I even found one basking on thegravel path not far past the visitor centre when Iwas there on July 15th, and counted a total of 15that afternoon. I didn’t see any Silver-washedFritillaries at Bradfield this year, but probably Iwasn’t looking in the right areas, and waspreoccupied with the White Admirals.’

Wildlife Edge

How about an impressive display of colourin your garden, which not only pleases theeye but also encourages wildlife to thrive? Ihave come up with a very simple idea thatwill transform your garden, bring in thewildlife and enrich your life.

Most gardens consist of at least one area ofgrass. This always has to be kept in checkeither by strimming or digging out the edgeswhen the grass grows over pathways. Aftera tough gardening job of scrapping grassand soil from a tarmac path which hadspilled over from a lawn, I came up with agood plan to prevent it happening again. Idug out a 20cms wide border around the

edge of the lawn. I planted it with Ajugareptans which has purple leaves and flowerspikes in early Summer. These produce tinypurple flowers which attract bees andbutterflies. This plant spreads easily,covering the bare ground and the lawn edge.This means that there will eventually be anend to cutting the lawn edge with shears asthe plant will weave itself into the grassyedge.

I planted Lavendula angustifolia ‘Hidcote’ allalong the border 60cms apart. These plantsare nectar rich, attracting bees and varioustypes of butterfly. I scattered a huge amountof Papaver rhoeas ‘Wild Red Poppy’ seeds in

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amongst the existing plants. This Poppy isnot only incredibly stunning in appearanceit is also a good source of pollen for bees.

So far these are my ‘3’ plants which arecurrently growing in that border. The nextlot of plants that I shall be adding arecornflowers. They come in many coloursand have a long flowering period. These willattract various insects and birds one of

which is the goldfinch.

Many other wildflowers can be added toyour Wildlife Edge.

Helpful books on this subject are – ‘TheWildlife Garden Month by Month’ by JackieBennett and ‘RSPB Gardening For Wildlife’by Adrian Thomas

This year I had a reminder of one of thoseendearing but complex examples ofbutterfly behaviour which has come to beknown as ‘hill-topping’. On the continent,particularly in the hot, dry and scrubbyregions bordering the Mediterranean, thisstrange habit can be very key to the survivalof a species within a certain district. Itwould appear to facilitate the meeting of thesexes, and the subsequent courtship andmating of several iconic Europeanbutterflies. In some parts of the world,notably Australia, even small changes to thetopography and disturbances to plant life ofsites used by hill-topping insects have led tolocalised extinctions of some species.

This September, our Spanish hotel wassituated on a rocky promontory surroundedon three sides by the sea. The seaward sideof this outcrop was as high as the six-storeyhotel itself and covered in gnarled pine trees.After three days the European Swallowtail,so similar to our Britannicus version, wasbecoming conspicuous by its absence. Soafter one of those notoriously satisfyingbuffet breakfasts and leaving my wife toenjoy the scorching poolside, I scrambled upthe slopes of this small wood with camera inhand. The reward was to come across a

number of thesebutterflies eitherresting on driedstalks of Fennelor patrolling asmall clearing atthe ‘summit’.Nectar sourceswere non-existent,so the attraction offered by this particularspot was hard to see. Mated femaleshowever, would have to leave such a siteand fly for a considerable distance to laytheir eggs, which would just have time tohatch and achieve the pupal stage before theshort, mild Mediterranean winter arrived.

Another hill-top site well documented inprevious editions of the Argus newsletter byour former chairman, is the ‘Ermitage’, asmall monastic building near the town ofCeret on the foothills of the Pyrenees insouthern France. This spot is within quickand comparatively cheap reach of Stanstedwith its fleet of Ryanair jets which fly at leasttwice on most days into Perpignan. The siteis enriched in places by a number of Fig treeswith their usual underlying carpet ofdecaying autumn fruit. Here in Septemberone is confident in finding numbers of that

Hill-topping

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exotic-looking inhabitant of the coastal 30km. strip, the Two-tailed Pasha, theCardinal, the Lesser Purple Emperor andeven perhaps the odd Camberwell Beauty,but the summer emergences of the LargeTortoiseshell, as they once did in England,will have already gone into hibernation.

A ‘hill-top’ can qualify as a recognised siteby just being appreciably higher than theland surrounding it, and such is the casenear the village of Pras-de-Lys, which itselfis at quite an altitude close to the popularski-resort of Les Gets in the French Alps.The area I came across a few years backprobably covers several hectares, but even asite no larger than a tennis court can be usedfor hill-topping. Here the Apollo and SmallApollo were flying together, but were neverseen in the nearby village or surroundinghillsides. Even other species not generallyrecognised for their hill-topping behavioursuch as the Dark Green Fritillary and Black-veined White were far more prolific herethan elsewhere, whilst two Nettle-treebutterflies on the extreme edge of theirEuropean range were observed at this spot.

A favoured hilltopcan take the formof a ridge andextend for severalk i l o m e t r e s .Examples of thisare on the Halkidikipeninsula, themost westerly ofthose three fingerswhich stretch into

the Aegean from Northern Greece. Abovethe resorts of Hanioti and Pefkohori theseridges are criss-crossed from south-west tonorth-east by several very narrow stonyroads with their seemingly endlesssuccession of steep hairpin bends. The viewsand butterflies at the top are well worth the

effort. My visit a few years ago coincidedwith large numbers of Queen of SpainFritillaries, together with Woodland andGreat Banded Graylings, many of whichwere drinking along the edges of a smallstream and very approachable. None ofthese were seen along the coasts at sea-level.

Aside from ‘hill-topping’, many butterfliescan often be observed at extraordinaryaltitudes. On a beautifully clear Septemberday we once took the cable car fromChamonix in two stages to Aiguille-du-midi,not that far from the summit of Mont Blanc.Here the altitude caused breathlessnesswhen ascending just a few steps, whilst thetemperature varied from 28°C in the sun tobelow freezing in the shade. The landscapeconsisted of just snow, ice and rocks, yet weobserved a passing Small Tortoiseshell, aLarge White and several Humming-birdHawk moths from the viewing platform.

In the increasingly popular destination ofCroatia, one can travel high into the hillsinland to see the rather scarce False Commaand Eastern Festoon which appear to beextending their range northwards into thisarea.

In Europe, genuine ‘hill-topping’ behaviouris attributed mainly to the Swallowtails anda few other species, whilst on othercontinents it includes many of the Skippersand the Blues. There are no elevated placesin the Broads for our own solitarySwallowtail species to use. However, whentaking that next holiday in the Med., I hopethe foregoing might encourage some toavoid the pre-planned coach tours, hire thatsmall car, and take to the hills. Don’t forgetthe camera, as apart from the views, thecomparative solitude and slightly cooler air,you should be pleasantly surprised at whatyou might find.Illustrations by Mervyn Crawford

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What to do in winterMatt Berry

The months of winter can be a bit of adepressing time for the butterfly or mothenthusiast, with very little on the wing, cooldays and long dark evenings spent indoors.Unlike a Small Tortoiseshell or Brimstonewe cannot tuck ourselves away somewhereand sleep through it, so what can we do tolift the spirits whilst we wait for spring?

Well, like me I am sure many of you willmake use of digital cameras to captureimages of butterflies, moths and caterpillars.But what do you do with all of thesecaptured memories? I would be willing tobet that mostly they languish on thecomputer and rarely see the light of day –that is what happens to most of mine! Werarely print photographs these days, so goneare the days of browsing through albums onthe sofa. However, with digital technologycomes a vast amount of potential for sharingimages, not just with our immediate friendsand families, but with the whole world – viathe internet.

So this winter, why not spend some of thosedark nights going through your images andsharing them with others? I am anadministrator for the Butterfly Conservationphoto group on the Flickr photo sharingwebsite. It currently has almost 600

members and a bank of 12,000 photos. It isa great place to upload your photos and tosee what others have seen and snappedaround the country.

Or how about joining us on Facebook andsharing them there? We have almost 500friends, some of whom already upload theirphotos. It’s a useful way for them to ask foridentification help, point out a sighting inSuffolk, or just to share their pleasure inwhat they have seen.

We look forward to seeing yourphotographs and especially any that depictthe interesting or unusual, such as anaberration or some kind of interestingbehaviour. Don’t forget, if you have imagesthat aren’t digital, they could still be sharedonline by scanning them first.

The web address for the Flickr group ishttp://www.flickr.com/groups/butterflyconservation/

Our Facebook username is BC.Suffolk . Justlog in to your own account and search for ususing that name. We are also on Twitter andcurrently have almost 850 followers. Ourusername there is BC_Suffolk.

Butterfly tours in 2013Matt Berry from Greenwings outlines some of next year’s toursAs autumn and winter take over from thefairly disappointing British summer we’ve justexperienced it is time to look forward to nextyear’s butterfly season. We have a number oftours abroad (complete with guaranteed sun!)to tempt you with, all of which can be foundon our website at www.greenwings.co. Iwould just like to point out one or two that I

am particularly looking forward to myself,both of which are in Greece. It is something ofa second home to me as I have a Greek partnerand have been spending time with her therenow for over ten years. I love the Country, itswildlife, people and the delicious Greekcuisine - not to mention the very agreeablewarm climate!

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Birds & Butterflies of north Greece withBirdWING: 4th May – 11th May 2013 £900

On this tour we’ll spend our timepredominantly on birds, but also butterfliesand other wildlife. We’ll be based at LakeKerkini National Park, in north-east Greece,near to the Bulgarian border. It is anexcellent and accessible location, being lessthan two hours’ drive from Thessaloniki,where direct flights from London are readilyavailable. We’re delighted to be teaming upwith Steve Mills and Hilary Koll fromBirdWING (Birdwatching in NorthernGreece) for this tour. As a wildlife charitytheir mission is to raise awareness of birdsin Greece and to raise money for theconservation and restoration of bird habitatin the region. These aims match our ownand so some of the proceeds from this tourwill be donated to Birdwing to help fundtheir Dalmatian Pelican conservationproject. We’ll be able to see some of theconservation work they’ve already fundedin the areas we’ll visit during the week, suchas Common Tern breeding rafts. With theirexpert knowledge of the birds of the regionand the locations in which to see them wewill enjoy an avian feast and 100+ speciesshould not be difficult to achieve (over 300bird species have been observed in the area).A flavour of what’s on offer includesDalmatian Pelican, Pygmy Cormorant,Squacco Heron, Black Stork, Great WhiteEgret, Glossy Ibis, Golden Oriole, EuropeanBee-eater, Roller, Blue Rock Thrush, Red-backed Shrike, Scops Owl, Eagle Owl,Whiskered Tern, Black Tern, Penduline Tit,Black-eared Wheatear, Middle SpottedWoodpecker, Hoopoe, Grey-headedWoodpecker Black-headed Bunting andHawfinch. During the week we’ll visit variouslocations, including Dadia Forest, close tothe eastern border with Turkey. It isjustifiably labelled as “the place to go inEurope for raptors”, with 36 species

recorded and 20 that breed there. Highlightsof this raptor fest include Black Vulture,Griffon Vulture, Egyptian Vulture, GoldenEagle, Imperial Eagle, White-tailed Eagle,Lesser Spotted Eagle, Booted Eagle, Short-toed Eagle, Honey Buzzard, Goshawk,Levant Sparrowhawk and Black Kite.

We should also be able to enjoy a goodnumber of species of butterflies on this tour.A selection possibly on the wing includeSouthern Comma, Southern and Easternfestoons, Lattice Brown, Nettle-treeButterfly, Large Tortoiseshell, PowderedBrimstone, Yellow-banded Skipper, EasternDappled White, Black-veined White,Gruner’s Orange-tip, Duke of Burgundy,Map, Little Tiger Blue, Long-tailed Blue,Lesser Fiery Copper, Chequered Blue, OsirisBlue, Blue Argus, Green-underside Blue andEastern Baton Blue - to name but a few!

Balkan Butterflies with Tristan Lafranchis:15th June – 22nd June 2013 £1,185

This trip features one of the most celebratedbutterfly mountains in Greece, MountChelmos in the northern Peloponnese regionof Greece, where we will enjoy seeing between75 – 100 species of butterfly. We will be basedon the slopes of Mount Chelmos, in thecharming mountainside village of Kalavryta.We will stay in a small, friendly hotel with allthe usual modern facilities. In the winter thearea is a busy ski resort, but during the rest ofthe year it is a remarkably peaceful place andas we explore the mountains we’ll be morelikely to see goats than other people. We willenjoy a leisurely week, exploring the slopes ofChelmos and other hidden corners and secretglades, for a week of fine weather, butterflies,birds & botany.

We are very pleased to have TristanLafranchis on board for this tour. Tristan is acelebrated author, publishing the highlyacclaimed field guide ‘Butterflies of Europe’

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The Suffolk Argusand the wonderfully illustrated two-volumework ‘Flora of Greece’ in 2009. Tristan’sknowledge of the wilder parts of Greece,particularly the butterflies and plants, issecond to none. This and his friendly andeasy-going manner make him an invaluableand much sought after leader. Tristan is alsoa proficient birder and a keen herpetologist.He speaks fluent English, Italian and goodGreek.

Tristan’s expert knowledge of the butterfliesof Greece will be a huge bonus to anyonewishing to hone their identification skills.There are many different Blues in the area,which can easily confuse. Let Tristan showyou how we can identify them in the field!

During our stay we will try to seek out thefamous Chelmos Blue, a rare speciesendemic to the mountain and some parts ofTurkey. There are also many other delightsto discover; Southern White Admiral,Clouded Apollo, Cleopatra, Lattice Brown,Large Wall Brown, Camberwell Beauty,Powdered Brimstone, Southern Swallowtail,Scarce Swallowtail, European Swallowtail,Grecian Copper, Nettle-tree Butterfly, LargeTortoiseshell, Queen of Spain Fritillary,Spotted Fritillary, Cardinal, Great BandedGrayling, Mountain Small White, Escher’sBlue, Anomalous Blue, Amanda’s Blue, IlexHairstreak, Greek Clouded Yellow, OliveSkipper, Oriental Marbled Skipper, BlueArgus, Osiris Blue, Pontic Blue, Odd-spotBlue, Little Tiger Blue, Greek Mazarine Blue(helena, often considered a distinct species),Balkan Grayling, Grecian Grayling,Southern Comma, Blue-spot Hairstreak,Adonis Blue, Zephyr Blue, Ripart’sAnomalous Blue (pelopi, often considered adistinct species) Silver-studded Blue,Meleager’s Blue, Great Sooty Satyr, White-banded Grayling and many more!

We are also offering an optional extension tothis tour, crossing the Gulf of Corinth to the

Greek mainland, to visit Mount Parnassosand Delphi. The mountain is as rich inbutterflies as Chelmos. During our shortstay we’ll pay an early morning visit toDelphi and the Temple of Apollo, to soak upthe atmosphere of this ancient site beforetourists arrive and also to do some butterflyspotting! One target species for the area willbe Europe’s smallest butterfly the GrassJewel - we’ll all need to join in on helping tohunt for this tiny treasure! Anyone wishingto undertake this extended part of the tourcan discuss exact details with us at the timeof booking. Please note, Tristan is unable tojoin us for the extension.

10% of the profits from this tour will bedonated to Butterfly Conservation.

Tour information Both tours will be at arelaxed pace to enable maximum enjoymentof wildlife. The walks are graded as easy tomoderate, which should pose no problems forpeople of any age that are used to someregular walking. As a general rule of thumbmaximum walking distance per day isapproximately 5 miles.

The prices include accommodation withprivate facilities, all food, all groundtransport by minibus and photographyadvice & tuition where desired (tour leadersare usually excellent and often awardwinning photographers). The maximumgroup sizes are fourteen plus two or threetour leaders.

For further details please visitwww.greenwings.co or contact Matt directvia email at matt@greenwings.co or byphone on 01473 602389 or 07599 243026

For more information about BirdWING visittheir website at www.birdwing.eu

Please note: Tours are the sole responsibility ofGreenwings Wildlife Tours Limited.

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Autumn 2012

In 2013 watch these butterflies........ in Suffolk

Map

White AdmiralPhoto by Peter Maddison

WallPhoto by Douglas Hammersley

........ and in Greece

Balkan Marbled Whitephotos by Matt Berry

Eastern Bath White

Grecian Copper Lattice Brownphoto by Julian Dowding

The Suffolk Argus

Silver-washed Fritillary makes a welcome return to Suffolk

A mating pair of Silver-washed Fritillaries in Pakenham Wood with a flyby.Photo by Bill Stone, July 2012

FemalePhotos by Peter Maddison

Male