Neil Hulme

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Neil Bugboy asked the question that sprung to my mind - what is the likelihood of it being homegrown?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pete Eeles]

Well done Neil - wish I could have been there!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Several points to be made. These are pure speculation

While “home grown” Large Tortoiseshells cannot be ruled out, the run of exceptionally warm southerly winds must strongly point to immigrants from mainland Europe (no doubt keen to get here before Brexit day!)

A large number of observers including you Neil (surely the expert) didn’t find making contact easy, so it must raise the question as to how many LTs – perhaps a huge number - remain undetected?

Your observations of Peacocks giving the LTs a hard time might point to inter-species habitat competition. Peacocks seem to have become much more abundant in the past 70 years (coinciding with the poor times for LT). Of course the two species don’t directly compete (for foodplant) but maybe Peacocks just don’t allow LTs enough “free space” for them to be able to get on with breeding.

The definitive proof of breeding LT’s in Britain will come from finding early stages. North Stoke Neil?

Jack

[trevor]

I have been following the Portland Large Tort. saga on another platform.
There was speculation on there about the possibility of two specimens present,
which you have confirmed.
The Portland find seems to have played out in a similar fashion to the Queen of Spain Fritillary
event at Piddinghoe ie. obliging Butterflies remaining in one location for some days,
to be enjoyed by those who have risked a long journey, and had success.

And your ' old camera ' did just fine! .

All the best,
Trevor.

[Neil Freeman]

Excellent report from Portland Neil

I have been following the sightings of the Large Tortoiseshells on social media and have seen photos of two different individuals. I assumed they were migrants given that they appeared at the same time as a lot of other migrant activity I have seen on various moth group social media.
The only thing that made me consider that they may have been home bred was the fact that there were two in a comparatively small area but then again I am familiar with Tout Quarry and it does not seem to be the kind of habitat I would think of as ideal for this species.

Cheers,

Neil.

[False Apollo]

Glad you caught up with the Large Tortoiseshell Neil. I can imagine there were a lot of enthusiasts in Tout Quarry on Wednesday searching. When I first saw this butterfly sunning itself on the rocks late on Tuesday it really did hit me how beautiful it was, it was literally glowing colour, and boy was it big! Everybody was well behaved and some people were called on the phone and given directions to go past the Gormley sculpture to see it. It really behaved itself and they managed to see it, one observer arriving on crutches. Apparently it had been seen earlier and had flown off. When I arrived around 14.15 everyone was looking with no success. Eventually I was told it was put up by a fly. Interestingly there were no Peacocks (that I know of) seen that afternoon. It did land for a short time but then flew off and really settled down on the rock face for a good 30 minutes.
There were indeed 2 individuals seen, this was obvious later when photos from two separate observers were studied. Portland Bill observatory did email me wondering why I had said 2 on my twitter feed, later they realised there definitely were. Originally found and photographed on 24th February, the butterfly(s) remained in the relative shelter of the quarry.
Interestingly Portland and the surrounding area has become a hot spot for this species. Large Tortoiseshells were seen on Portland on 1st July last year and another just outside Weymouth at West Knighton on 26th April. I do think the 2 over the last week were likely migrants. Habitat does not look that suitable on this part of Portland either compared to the Isle of Wight for example, but I will be watching with interest to see if they are seen here again.

Regards
Mike Gibbons

[PhilBJohnson]

Thanks Neil,
Nice to read up about your winter work.
Fritillaries for the Future
I have a question regarding "best practice" with hazel and lime coppice. As the common dog violet was the primary food source for so many of our United Kingdom Fritillary species which the caterpillars depended on, it was assumed that one needed to encourage the native plants our Fritillaries evolved with, rather than garden hybrid viola that might be more fragrant or produce a profusion of blooms, rather than leaves (a bit like garden primulas, instead of our Brimstone coloured, native Primroses).
In Lincolnshire, I thought that Butterfly Conservation was contracted to the Forestry Commission in Southrey Wood to coppice areas on a 12 year cycle rotation. I know that one result was an amazing display of wood anemone in late March.
Might you recommend (or have you recommended) a best practice of both short and long term coppice rotation for the benefit of Fritillaries?
We now have the Silver washed Fritillary in several of our Lincolnshire Woods (including a resident population at Chambers Farm Wood).

Kind Regards

[Benjamin]

Nice updates Neil, and glad you had a good day with the Large Tortoiseshell.

I was very close to making the trip myself, but ended up overwhelmed by the urge to 'find my own', and instead spent the sunny warm spell wandering about the Arun and the Cuckmere river valleys. Many miles covered and some good potential habitat (to an amateur's eye) but no luck unfortunately - i will return to a few spots later in the spring for sure.....

cheers -

[David M]

Amazing to see a February Specklie, Neil. Can you now conjure us a Large Tortoiseshell?

Well done, Neil.

As ever, you delivered.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all.

I would take a lot of convincing that these Large Tortoiseshells (LTs) are anything other than individuals appearing from their hibernation hidey-holes in the quarry, having dispersed from their continental birthplace during the late June - July period last year.

This species is not an obligate migrant (unlike Painted Lady or Clouded Yellow) which annually migrates to a broadly consistent plan (north in spring, south in autumn) in order to track favourable environmental conditions for breeding. Larger scale movements appear to be driven by population irruptions and influenced strongly by prevailing weather conditions (winds), in a manner similar to Camberwell Beauty and Scarce Tortoiseshell.

These influxes occur soon after the butterflies emerge from the pupa, with mixed sex groups travelling together and then hibernating at a suitable location on arrival. The last major event for LT occurred in the summer of 2007 (of course more recently for Scarce Tortoiseshell).

I don't think there's any evidence for long-range dispersive movements immediately post-hibernation (I think the recent immigration of e.g. Painted Lady is coincidental). Such behaviour would probably render the chances of finding a mate closer to none than slim. It's already difficult enough for these species to colonise terra nova given their MO of 'disperse, hibernate, locate a mate'.

The dispersive movements of LT in the summer are usually less 'visible' than the spring survivors (unless involving an influx of the 2007 magnitude) as the butterflies will rapidly feed-up and hibernate. The highly territorial males are much easier to spot the following spring, when they can be 'twitched'.

Tout Quarry doesn't look anything like suitable breeding habitat for LT, but it does look like an ideal overwintering site. Any adults crossing The Channel in late June - July would find plenty of nectar to fuel-up on, and plenty of nooks and crannies to disappear into.

I suspect there are more LTs around on Portland, possibly including the female which was spotted on 1 July 2018. Once mated, any females which survived the winter would probably head off in search of elms or willows.

I wrote at some length about the possibility of transient colonies in the UK in The Butterflies of Sussex.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Philip.

There aren't really any 'secrets' to making coppice work for early successional species such as Pearl-bordered Fritillary (PBF). If the local soil chemistry allows Common Dog-violet to grow (it doesn't always) it will soon appear.

The important factors are that each coppice coupe must be of sufficient size, be easily located by dispersing females, and be cut every year; continuation of the rotational management is essential.

There's an extensive section on woodland management, including coppicing, in the PBF chapter of The Butterflies of Sussex.

BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

25 February & 26 February Catch-up

Last Monday, in beautiful, warm sunshine, I visited North Stoke, in the hope of finding a Large Tortoiseshell; I didn't, but I did see a lot of butterflies. My tally of 22 male Brimstone was much lower than the counts of 76 (23 Feb) and 40+ (24 Feb) made by David Cook and Jonathan Crawford, but this is very typical for the species; Brimstones tend to congregate in favoured overwintering locations, but rapidly disperse into the wider countryside. I also saw a further 8 on the road verges between Worthing and North Stoke. Other species included Peacock (6) and single Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Red Admiral (egg-laying).

I then moved on to Houghton Forest where the Forestry Commission has widened and regraded the main track, but has sympathetically retained the large sallow trees which are used by the Purple Emperor (great job!). Here I saw Brimstone (6), Comma (3) and Peacock (2), before making a final visit to Ferring Rife. It's still early days, but the single sighting of Small Tortoiseshell does suggest that the species may have crashed, following last summer's drought.

On Tuesday I was joined by Chris Letchford, Simon Mockford (SDNPA) and Paul Day, to continue coppicing Hazel on the Angmering Park Estate. We saw Brimstone, Comma and Peacock, and two Orange Underwing moths - this is the earliest I have ever seen this species.

[Neil Hulme]

More Work For PBF

Many thanks to Simon Mockford (South Downs National Park Authority) for helping me to complete the clearance of a newly cut section of Sweet Chestnut coppice at the western end of the main W-E ride in the southern part of Rewell Wood last Friday (1 March). A full 1km length of this ride has now been widened to produce top quality breeding habitat for the Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Do keep a look-out for deer tics - I've already removed my first of the year!

[David M]

I would take a lot of convincing that these Large Tortoiseshells (LTs) are anything other than individuals appearing from their hibernation hidey-holes in the quarry, having dispersed from their continental birthplace during the late June - July period last year.

This species is not an obligate migrant (unlike Painted Lady or Clouded Yellow) which annually migrates to a broadly consistent plan (north in spring, south in autumn) in order to track favourable environmental conditions for breeding. Larger scale movements appear to be driven by population irruptions and influenced strongly by prevailing weather conditions (winds), in a manner similar to Camberwell Beauty and Scarce Tortoiseshell.

These influxes occur soon after the butterflies emerge from the pupa, with mixed sex groups travelling together and then hibernating at a suitable location on arrival. The last major event for LT occurred in the summer of 2007 (of course more recently for Scarce Tortoiseshell).

I don't think there's any evidence for long-range dispersive movements immediately post-hibernation (I think the recent immigration of e.g. Painted Lady is coincidental). Such behaviour would probably render the chances of finding a mate closer to none than slim. It's already difficult enough for these species to colonise terra nova given their MO of 'disperse, hibernate, locate a mate'.

The dispersive movements of LT in the summer are usually less 'visible' than the spring survivors (unless involving an influx of the 2007 magnitude) as the butterflies will rapidly feed-up and hibernate. The highly territorial males are much easier to spot the following spring, when they can be 'twitched'.

Tout Quarry doesn't look anything like suitable breeding habitat for LT, but it does look like an ideal overwintering site. Any adults crossing The Channel in late June - July would find plenty of nectar to fuel-up on, and plenty of nooks and crannies to disappear into.

I suspect there are more LTs around on Portland, possibly including the female which was spotted on 1 July 2018. Once mated, any females which survived the winter would probably head off in search of elms or willows.

I wrote at some length about the possibility of transient colonies in the UK in The Butterflies of Sussex.

Very interesting, Neil. One can only hope that any males find females who then go on to locate the foodplant and lay their batches of eggs.

It would be wonderful if early stages could be discovered at some point, proving that this species is at least breeding again in this country.

However, as you say, these colonies may merely be transient, although the fact that the Large Tortoiseshell was once spread over a decent portion of southern Britain gives cause for hope.

I would have thought that, for this species at least, global warming would assist it in recolonising its former UK haunts.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi David. I do think Large Tortoiseshell is making an attempt to come back home ... and I'm sure we all wish it the best of luck. Irrespective of its rarity, I think this is one of our most beautiful and impressive species. However, I suspect that the challenge of finding early stages will mean that it's breeding long before we find concrete evidence.
BWs, Neil

[Neil Hulme]

Coppicing Completed

Yesterday (7 March) Chris Letchford and I finished the now annual cut of Hazel coppice on the Angmering Park Estate, creating top quality habitat for woodland butterflies, which will hopefully include species such as Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Grizzled Skipper in the future. This work is physically demanding and takes considerable time, so I'd like to say a huge "thank you" to Chris, and to Paul Day and Simon Mockford (National Park Ranger) who have helped here on numerous occasions over the last month.

[David M]

Hi David. I do think Large Tortoiseshell is making an attempt to come back home ... and I'm sure we all wish it the best of luck. Irrespective of its rarity, I think this is one of our most beautiful and impressive species. However, I suspect that the challenge of finding early stages will mean that it's breeding long before we find concrete evidence.

Thanks, Neil. Yes, this butterfly is a great draw wherever it is found. I think large nymphalids are always highly sought after; they're bold, powerful, colourful and exhibit interesting behaviour.

I'd say on my trips to France it is always in the top half dozen or so in terms of people's reactions....probably only slightly behind Camberwell Beauty.

[Neil Hulme]

Toad Balls

Yesterday (9 March) I visited a small pond hidden away in the upper reaches of Rewell Wood. Just a month from now I'll be here looking for Orange-tips, but on this occasion I was looking for amphibians, following a tip-off from the Norfolk Estate's Head Forester.

I was not disappointed, as an estimated 500 toads were crammed into the pond, or taking a rest from their exertions, sitting quietly around the margins. The water was thick with strings of toad spawn, mixed with huge mounds of frog spawn. Adult frogs were much less visible than the toads, but very vocal. I also glimpsed a Great Crested Newt, but the toads provided the main act.

I took dozens of images, but was particularly keen on photographing the clusters of amorous toads. It was quite tricky getting all the animals in focus, particularly as the 'balls' were constantly moving as more male toads tried to join in the fun. Some of the facial expressions were priceless; 'toad erotica' at its best!

[Jack Harrison]

Jack

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Jack
Looks like a job for the Jeremy Kyle Show.
BWs, Neil