BSM Work Party. Paul Tinsley-Marshall, BC's Regional Manager for South East England, and I had a great day with the intrepid work party attendees at our Bentley Station Meadow reserve today. This was an opportunity to present Steve Luckett, our outgoing volunteer warden, with a small gift from the branch, and to wish him well in his new job. The team managed to clear an area of scrub adjacent to a very productive meadow where Brown Hairstreak eggs have been found. I can't wait to see the site in spring! [Posted by Pete Eeles]
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| Photo © Pete Eeles |
BSM Volunteer Warden. Butterfly Conservation is looking for a Volunteer Warden at our Bentley Station Meadow reserve - someone who can help ensure that their local nature reserve is a haven for wildlife and the people who enjoy it! Details can be found here. [Posted by Peter Eeles]
White-letter Hairstreak egg-search near Hursley. Taking advantage of the bright winter sunshine I made a brief (20-minute) search for White-letter Hairstreak eggs on a roadside elm near Hursley. This is a site where I have seen the butterfly regularly over many years, so it's usually possible to find one or two eggs in the winter months. Unfortunately all the lower branches had been cut back, so I only found one egg today, on the branches that were within reach. The eggs look like minute flying-saucers, with a thin flange around the edge. I've included both top and side view photos to show this to best effect. [Posted by Andy Barker]
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| WLH habitat (roadside elm) Photo © Andy Barker | White-letter Hairstreak egg (side) Photo © Andy Barker | White-letter Hairstreak egg (top) Photo © Andy Barker |
Early Brimstone at Magdalen Hill Down. The volunteers at today's work party at Magdalen Hill Down were rewarded by the sight of a male Brimstone flying around in the early afternoon sunshine, although the temperature couldn't have been much more than 5 degrees. He was either showing his appreciation of their efforts, or perhaps registering his disapproval at the disturbance! [Posted by Rupert & Sharron Broadway]
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| Brimstone at Magdalen Hill Down Photo © Rupert & Sharron Broadway |
Brown Hairstreak egg-search. If you want to do some butterfly-related winter surveys, January is a great time to go searching for eggs of both Brown Hairstreak (on blackthorn), and White-letter Hairstreak (on elm). It's best to start in places where you know the butterfly has been recorded, but once you've had a bit of success, why not try some new areas. Although the eggs are small they're not too hard to find once you've got your eye in. Make sure you take a hand-lens or magnifier with you to check what you've found, and my advice would be to go on a day of bright winter sunshine, as the eggs are much easier to see. I visited Shipton Bellinger today, and was able to locate nine Brown Hairstreak eggs on suckering blackthorn. They are typically on small twigs at the forked junction between old and new growth. I also found a pair of Blue-bordered Carpet moth eggs, which are laid in the same sort of location. They are distinguished by being like elongate lozenges with a depression on the smooth top, compared with Brown Hairstreak eggs which are white hemispheres, with an intricately ornamented surface. See photos below for comparison. [Posted by Andy Barker]
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| Typical Brown Hairstreak hedgerow Photo © Andy Barker | Brown Hairstreak egg Photo © Andy Barker | Blue-bordered Carpet moth eggs Photo © Andy Barker |
25-year transect trends now available. The latest 25-year transect trends for Hampshire and Isle of Wight butterfly species are now available. To see these, including a comparison with the England trend, just click on the "Transect" tab of this website, then the "25-year trends" sub-tab. An example graph for Chalk Hill Blue is shown below. [Posted by Andy Barker]
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| Chalk Hill Blue 25-year transect trend Photo © Andy Barker |
More Eggs on Portsdown. I took advantage of a rain free day to have a look for more Brown Hairstreak eggs on Portsdown. In a 90min search of South facing Blackthorn with plenty of suckers I managed to find three new eggs - a pretty reasonable rate of one per 30 minutes for an area where adults are pretty scarce. It gives me a good baseline for future searches [Posted by Mark Tutton]
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| More Eggs Photo © Mark Tutton |
Hayling Island. One Red Admiral on the wing this morning at Hayling Island Oysterbeds [Posted by Barry and Margaret Collins]
BSM Meeting. Despite the soaking today at our Bentley Station Meadow reserve, this failed to dampen the spirits as a few of us got together to discuss the management of the site, and build on the great work undertaken by Steve Luckett and the veritable army of work party volunteers. Despite the conditions, the consensus was that the site is looking very good with some fairly straightforward tasks to be completed this winter - and I cannot personally wait to see the results. The site is exceptional for both spring species, such as Orange-tip and Green Hairstreak, and also summer woodland specialties, such as White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary, with the occasional Purple Emperor and Brown Hairstreak turning up on occasion (Steve has already found an egg this winter!). My thanks to Steve, Andy Barker (Chair, Conservation and Records Subcommittee), Dan Hoare (BC Director of Conservation), Paul Tinsley-Marshall (BC Regional Conservation Manager for South East England) and Fiona Scully (BC South Downs Landscape Project Officer) for a memorable start to the year! [Posted by Pete Eeles]
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| BSM notice board Photo © Pete Eeles | View from the top of the reserve Photo © Pete Eeles | Dan, Andy, Fiona, Steve and Paul Photo © Pete Eeles |
New Year's Day egg hunt on Portsdown Hill. As has become custom we embarked on a New Years Day hunt for Brown Hairstreak eggs. This year it was much closer to home on Portsdown Hill and consequently pretty hard going as this species is far from frequent here. I spent 30 minutes in an area of south facing Blackthorn where I had been fortunate to see a female in the summer. There were lots of distractions as there were literally dozens of Blue-bordered Carpet eggs with 15-20 on a single sprig but eventually I tracked down one Hairstreak egg on an east facing hedge.
I will be back to have a look for more as I am sure there are more to be found. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
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| Success! Photo © Mark Tutton |