No.80Autumn2011 In late April, it was the most common butterfly ... huge increases. For example, on the Longdon pipeline, numbers increased by 526% (from 57 in 2010 to 300 in 2011),

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No.80 Autumn 2011 www.westmidlands-butterflies.org.uk

The CommaRegional magazine of West Midlands Butterfly Conservation

Bringing butterflies and moths back to Britain

2 The Comma • Autumn 2011

Cover story

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No.80 Autumn 2011 www.westmidlands-butterflies.org.uk

The CommaRegional magazine of West Midlands Butterfly Conservation

Bringing butterflies and moths back to Britain

Fritillariesbounce backThis issue’s stunningcover image taken byJason Kernohancelebrates there-introduction of thePearl-bordered Fritillaryinto Grafton Wood andthe explosion of Pearl-bordered Fritillaries in theWyre Forest this spring.Trevor Bucknall reportson the captive breedingprogramme andDr Jenny Joy gives anupdate on the success ofthe Back to Orangeproject and the invaluablehelp of oganisations andvolunteers in turningaround the fortunes ofthis spectacular butterfly.

This year’s recording started with a bang – a brilliant warm andsunny spring. Our monitoring of spring BAP species went well andthe numbers broke all records.

Grizzled Skipper,Dingy Skipper and Pearl-bordered Fritillary didexceptionally well. Even more interesting was the fact that these speciesexpanded their range.Grizzled Skippers were found at Grafton Wood for the first time ever

and six miles from their nearest colony. Dingy Skippers were found inGrafton for the first time, Monkwood, and on Bredon Hill for the firsttime in 18 years. A large new colony was also found at Pennyhill, nearMartley.Being a bit of a sceptic, I was a bit suspicious that these could have

been unofficial introductions. However, when I opened my copy of‘British Wildlife’ I found an article by Nick Bowles and Richard Fox tosay that this phenomenon had been widespread. With the good weatherand wind directions species had significantly increased their range.Analysis of recording will show this when all the records come in.Pearl-bordered counts broke all records at our key sites at Wyre Forest

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Notes from the Chairman

Have van will travel: Here’s the West Midlands Butterfly Buswhich drew a lot of attention at many events this summer.

Notes from the Chairman

and Ewyas Harold. The official re-introduction of this species took place at Graftonand seemed to go well.Our main projects continued, with recording taking place ofWoodWhites in the

Shropshire Woods project and Small Pearl-bordered in the Fritillary project.Not all good news; after a thorough search neitherHigh Brown nor Dark Green

Fritillaries were found on the Malvern Hills this year. A group of us went to SouthWales (where these species are doing well) to look at management techniques andhabitat requirements. This gave us encouragement for possible reintroductions.

The Transects season will finish at the end of September so please get yourresults in to myself at [email protected] by the end of November andyour casual recordings to Nigel Stone at [email protected]

We have had some good publicity opportunities this year with newspaper articles and loads of events – seephotograph of the West Midland Butterfly Bus.As a result of the publicity and the effects of interest generated by the Big Butterfly Count ourWest Midland

Membership has gone up from 650 to 825. This in times of financial depression is an amazing increase.

Several members of Branch are very keen to increase our reserves in the West Midlands as a way tomaintain interest and increase membership. Ian Hart and Mike Williams went to Head Office in Dorset todiscuss this withMartin Warren. They both felt that they had a positive response. We are now looking at thepossibility of increasing the Prees Heath Reserve in conjunction with Shropshire Wildlife Trust.In a similar way we would like to buy meadows adjacent to Grafton to increase its size and to give us better

control of Brown Hairstreak habitat.

We are now about to start the habitat management stage of our year. Blackthorn cutting for BrownHairstreak has already started at Grafton.The removal of 8.1ha of conifer is in progress at Grafton. This area will be cleared and left to natural

regeneration.Loads of volunteer work will be required this winter, shown in the events guide, so please get involved as

this is an important part of our year.

Autumn 2011 • The Comma 3

By John Tilt

Our very social BranchSecretary Joy Stevens,who is known to enjoy

the odd pint or two of realale, had a double-take duringa recent trip to Nottinghamwith a group from CAMRA.Joy didnʼt expect to find anybutterflies, but waspleasantly surprised to findthis Comma pump clip in thefirst pub visited. Castle RockBrewery in Nottinghamproduces a number ofwildlife themed beers. Thatreminds me Joy, donʼt youowe me a pint?(Photo: Dave Lucas)

Stop Press News: due to themassive cuts in funding to BCfrom Natural England head officeis asking members to write to theirMPs regarding this issue. Thereduction is from £300,000 to£40,000 per year!


Pearl-bordered Fritillaries:Back from the brink

In May 2010 John Tilt and I met up with MikeWilliams and Nick Greatorex Davis in the WyreForest on the railway line. The objective was to

capture adult Pearl-bordered Fritillaries for acaptive breeding programme for a later release intoGrafton Wood.To do so legitimately is a long process, to get the

permission of all parties involved, the funding,surveys and feasibility studies. It took about 10 yearsto get to this stage!We were only allowed to take up to 10% of the

adults we saw. Fortunately, the weather was fine andwe saw around 200 adults. We took a dozen adults,which Nick deemed was more than enough, from therailway line and the Elan Valley pipeline to try to

ensure a broader genepool. Nick then tookthem home in his coolbag to mate them,although he suggestedwe probably didn’tneed the males as thefemales had probably already been mated.The subsequent news was good in that we had

hundreds of larvae. In late July I took over some ofthe stock from Nick as he wasn’t sure he would beable to find enough violets to feed them all.Fortunately, quite soon afterwards, they went intohibernation, and were left to overwinter against anorth-facing wall in the lee of the house to give someshelter from the worst of the rain. The cold is not anissue.

Magic moment: Mike Williams and Trevor Bucknall release the first batch of butterflies (John Tilt)

By Trevor Bucknall

Larva about to pupate


I brought violet seedlings into the warm inJanuary to force them on and then, in earlyFebruary, the pots with larvae in were moved intoa sunny position. When the sun comes through thelarvae emerge and feed in earnest, non-stop in fact.At times I thought I had run out of food plants. Alot of care is required at this stage due to theamount they eat, and the fact that many climb upon to the netting to pupate in the sunlight and needregular spraying to stop them drying out.We had some disappointments with predation

by spiders and ants despite our best efforts.The good news is that a total of 78 adults were

released over a period of a few weeks, and each

A mating pair in the wood at Grafton. Black andred marks on the wings denote release on differentdays. (John Tilt)

time the adults were marked with a different colour tosee how they migrated around the wood and to see ifthey mated. This was on top of a release of 110 larvaeduring the previous July.Fortunately, the weather was largely good during

the flight period and lots of mating and egg laying wasobserved. I also kept back a few adults to captivebreed, and have a few hundred captive larvae to top upin 2012 if necessary.Many thanks to Natural England for permission

and funding, Worcestershire Wildlife Trust as jointowners of the reserve, the Forestry Commission forpermission to take stock from Wyre, Nick GD for hisexpertise, and John Tilt for being a taxi taking stockfrom my workplace to release them into the wood!

Also, this couldnot haveh a p p e n e dwithout thet r e m e n d o u svolunteers whoput in over2,000 hours tocreate the righthabitat for therelease.

The story made headlines in the Worcester News(above) and the Malvern Gazette newspapers.

Larvae in final instar (Trevor Bucknall)

Pearl-borderedFritillary pupae(Trevor Bucknall)


The Wyre Forest has always been known for itsFritillary butterflies, but this year the wholeforest has been a sea of orange.This is not an

exaggeration but a true reflection of the exceptionalnumbers (literally thousands) of Pearl-borderedFritillary seen in the forest this year.

In late April, it was the most common butterflyflying and in places they were so abundant thatthey were jostling for positions on patches of bugle.Sites monitored for years within the main ForestryCommission England (FCE) forest block showedhuge increases. For example, on the Longdonpipeline, numbers increased by 526% (from 57 in2010 to 300 in 2011), in nearby Longdon Orchardthe increase was 725% and, on one tiny area ofhabitat where the potential breeding area is tiny(measuring no more than 20x5m), but which hasmaintained Pearl-bordered Fritillary for years,numbers increased by 204%. These dramaticincreases in Pearl-bordered Fritillary numbers weremirrored on the adjacent NNR managed by NaturalEngland. Here, two coppice plot counts in theWithybed area had increases of 156% and 780%,95 were counted in one new area of coppice in theLongdon area and 174 were recorded along ridesin the Shelfheld and Withybed areas, which untilrecently had been almost devoid of any butterflies.Increases were also not restricted to long termmonitored sites but included many new areas suchas a 0.5ha roadside plot where brash was clearedfollowing conifer removal in which 159 werecounted and a new area where the rides werewidened and over 70 were seen. There were alsoencouraging signs of dispersal away from knownbreeding areas including an outlying area ofwoodland some 4 kms away from the main blockwhere the butterfly had not been recorded foralmost 30 years.

These amazing numbers are not just the resultof the incredible warm spring but a testament to thehuge management effort undertaken in the WyreForest over the past few years. A three year projectcalled ‘Back to Orange’, jointly managed byForestry Commission and Butterfly Conservation,was completed in 2010 as part of the Grow withWyre Landscape Partnership Scheme with fundingfrom SITA Trust and the Heritage Lottery Fund. Theaim of this project was to improve the habitat for avariety of butterflies and moths but was particularlyfocussed on fritillaries (hence the name!). Theproject work was recently endorsed by our BranchChairman John Tilt who said: “Congratulations toall those who have worked on the Wyre Forest Backto Orange project. Trevor Bucknall and I walked

along the pipeline this morning and I estimate thatthere were between 200–300 Pearl-borderedFritillary. The weather was perfect but I am sure thatthe habitat is just ideal.”

There is also no doubt that the return of goodnumbers of Pearl-bordered Fritillary elsewhere inthe forest is also down to coppicing and wide-ridening programmes which have recently beenimplemented by both Natural England and FCE.These regimes are especially successful when theyare concentrated on south-facing slopes north ofthe Dowles Brook. This work combined with othermanagement regimes such as summer brackenrolling, cattle grazing of meadows and the cutting ofrides to encourage nectar sources is what ismaking the Wyre Forest the huge success story it istoday.

One of the other positive outcomes of ButterflyConservation’s involvement with the Grow withWyre Scheme has been the development of a WyreForest Butterfly Recording Group which iscoordinated by Mike Williams (West Midlandsbranch Landscape Area Champion for the WyreForest) and which resulted from two years ofrunning butterfly ID training workshops locallyalong with Rosemary Winnall. There are now over20 volunteer recorders involved in the survey andmonitoring programme at the Wyre Forest who arehelping us to vastly improve our knowledge of theabundance and distribution of many butterflies(including the Pearl-bordered Fritillary) across awider area. Anyone else interested in helping nextyear should get in touch with Mike.

Butterfly Conservation is also currently trying toobtain funding to build on the successes of theBack to Orange work through a project called ‘Re-connecting the Wyre’. This project aims to focus onimproving strategic links across the landscape andsetting up more sustainable coppice managementinvolving local coppice workers.

Acknowledgements: Thanks to all the volunteerbutterfly recorders who are now active in manyparts of the forest and to Mike Williams(Landscape Area Champion – Wyre Forest, WestMidlands Butterfly Conservation) for co-ordinatingthe survey and monitoring effort. The success ofthe Back to Orange project is largely due toconsiderable effort by Forestry CommissionEngland (especially Richard Boles and PhilRudlin) and Natural England (Saul Herbert). Weare also very grateful to SITA Trust and HeritageLottery Fund for supporting this vitally importantwork.

Dr Jenny Joy, Senior Regional Officer

Wyre turns to a sea of orange


Dingy Skippers had agood spring with anumber of reportsfrom new areas of theWyre Forest. Branchcommittee memberMike Williams sawthree at MonkwoodNature Reserve inMay – the first recordthere since 1995.

He says: “Whetherthese are examples ofnatural recolonisationor whether they havepersisted in the past atlow population levelsand have beenoverlooked is difficultto say. Most of thesesites are well recordedso perhaps the formeris more likely whichthen opens up theintriguing question ofexactly where theyhave come from? It’sencouraging andperhaps demonstratesthat when conditionsare right butterflies aremore mobile than wegive them credit for.”

John Tilt alsorecorded DingySkipper at GraftonWood for the first time.He says the butterflywas recorded regularlyin Monkwood until1995.

First Dingyfor 16 yearsat Monkwood

Dingy Skipper(Rosemary Winnall)

Trench Wood Moth and ButterflyWeekend was a great success on 9 and 10July. Mike Southall and four more moth-erstrapped a total of 43 species, including aBlackneck. This is believed to be the first recordof the distinctive Blackneck for the reserve. Itsmain larval food plant is Tufted Vetch which is found along the woodland rides.The reserve has clearly benefitted from recent ride widening management. Thefollowing morning, the moths were displayed at the start of a butterfly walk ledby Mike Williams. Eighteen people recorded 14 species, including WhiteAdmiral, Silver-washed Fritillary (which has recently colonised the wood) andPurple Hairstreak. (Main photo: Mike Williams; Blackneck: Mike Southall)

Branch Chairman and Grafton Wood Nature Reserve Manager John Tiltbriefs members of the Institute of Ecological and Environmental Management(IEEM) during a Butterfly Workshop at the reserve on 13 July. (Mike Williams)

Branch News…


Prees Heath in Lottery bid hope

Pupils enjoy Big Butterfly Count

Prees Heath Common ReserveManager Stephen Lewis and hiswife Lucy took the Butterfly

Conservation roadshow to the Meres &Mosses Festival on 15 May. The event waspart of the public consultation exercise forthe £1.5m Meres & Mosses LandscapeHeritage Lottery Fund bid. ButterflyConservation is a partner for this bid, andapproximately £50,000 will be sought forthe renovation of the old airfield controltower on Prees Heath Common Reserve.Plans for the building include installing

a green roof, bricking up most of thewindows, painting it in camouflagecolours as it was in World War 2, andinstalling a series of information panelstelling the geological, social, military andnatural history of Prees Heath Commonand making part of the interior suitable forbirds and bats. The bid, if successful, willfund a five-year project (2012 - 2017).

Picture poser: Lucy on the Prees Heath Common Reservestand at the Meres & Mosses Festival. But what’s a photo ofBob Marley doing on the display? Answer: his father, CaptainNorval Sinclair Marley, was based on Prees Heath in WorldWar 1. (Stephen Lewis)

Pupils at the Corbett CEVAPrimary School, Bobbington,joined in enthusiastically

with our Big Butterfly Count.Although we did see the sun, thebutterflies were few and farbetween. Hopefully, the event hasinspired pupils who promised tocontinue butterfly recordings overthe summer and report back. Theschool at Bobbington is close toHighgate Common and twoStaffordshire Wildlife Trust rangersprovided a bug hunt and activitiesfor the younger children in theschool grounds. The school isbuilding up close relations with thestaff at Highgate, spending timethere learning about the specialwildlife of the heath. Amongst otherthings, the bug hunt yielded amagnificent stag beetle. Joy Stevens


Keen moth-ers DaveJackson, SteveWhitehouse andRoger Wasley couldn’tbelieve their luck thenight it rainedRannoch Loopers.They set up fourmercury vapourSkinner traps inOrlestone Forest, nearAshford in Kent, on4 June in the hope ofattracting ScarceMerveille du Jour, aspecies not found inthe West Midlands.They not only foundtheir target, but alsocaught 21 RannochLoopers which areusually only seen incentral Scotland! “Itwas such anunexpected windfall,”said Dave. “The wardenat Dungeness later toldus that RannochLoopers, probably fromthe Ardennes, fell fromCornwall to SuffolkThere was also one inTrench Wood.”

The night itrained RannochLooper moths

Male Rannoch Looper

Scarce Merveille du Jour

Amazing find as Daveencounters a RingGate

West MidlandsBranch memberDave Plowman

was amazed when hespotted a rare cross speciespairing during his lunchbreak. Dave was taking astroll from his engineeringwork at Brierley Hill, closeto Saltwells NatureReserve, when he saw afemale Ringlet matingwith a male Gatekeeper.“I thought this was a

very rare occurrencebecause of all the booksand research I have doneover the past few years,”said Dave. “There has been no mention or even hint of this happening. I doubtthat any offspring will appear BUT, if they did, wouldn’t it be nice to see aRinglet und and a Gatekeeper ups? I would call it a RingGate.”Weather permitting, Dave usually walks this area every lunchtime and keeps

a look out for anything that moves, but predominantly butterflies. The area is aseries of tracks leading to the reserve, canal, various fields and small roads whererunners and dog walkers are the main users. From May to September he usuallysees 26 species, including Marbled White and small colonies of Green andPurple Hairstreaks, and Dingy and Essex Skippers. The habitat can be harshand wellington boots are advisable even on a glorious sunny day due to thebrambles and pot holes.It is an ideal habitat for wildlife and the birdlife can be equally rewarding with

a Reed Warbler and Yellowhammer keeping Dave company most singing days.“The RingGate mating pair were disturbed by me while looking at thistles to

check for any photographic opportunities,” said Dave. “They were at firstattached to a thistle but they then flew from grass to bush to grass to bush withme in close pursuit. I managed to get photographs which identify clearly thedifference in species and show them clearly mating.”Five years ago, Dave set himself the task of photographing every species of

butterfly in the UK, which he achieved in just 18 months due to being maderedundant at the correct time of the year! Now he has set himself a new challenge:photographing every butterfly in Europe.“What I will eventually do with the photographs I have not decided, but I have

now gained a bonus to my photographic collection,” added Dave. “I often askmyself is it the taking of the photograph or the presence of the butterfly that givesme the greatest pleasure? When you see a Brown Hairstreak or Swallowtail inthe field for the first time no photograph in the world can beat that moment.”


It’s a class act at Foxcote

Richard Southwell, on the left, leads the Chimney Sweepercount at Foxcote Meadows (Roger Wasley)Inset: Chimney Sweeper moth (Jason Kernohan)

Fifteen pupils and their two teachers swappedthe classroom for a field to carry out practicalsurvey and conservation work with the support

of West Midlands Branch members. The 11 to 13-year-olds from Old Swinford Hospital School,Stourbridge, were invited by Richard Southwell tocarry out a survey of Chimney Sweeper moths andhelp reduce the amount of invasive HimalayanBalsam on Foxcote Meadows at Halesowen. Theevent was jointly led by Antony Ravenscroft andEwan Woodward of Dudley Council.After drawing an outline of the field and filling in

the features, Patrick Clement and Roger Wasleyshowed the students some of the moths they hadcaught the previous night. The youngsters werethrilled to be able to let Poplar Hawk-moths crawlup their arms!The party then carried out a supervised traverse of

the meadows which resulted in a new Branch recordfor this species with a count of 693 Chimney Sweepermoths. The previous maximum at this site was 253.After a picnic lunch, Ewan explained the issues

and actions for pulling out invasive HimalayanBalsam. The school party was joined by new memberAndrew Barker and branch secretary Joy Stevens.Afterwards, some of the children spoke about

their experiences. Tom Brehaut, aged 13, said: “It’sbeen a great day. I loved checking out the ID’s of allthe different species in the moth book.”

Rogan McGilp, aged 11, said: “Getting a record

count of the Chimney Sweeper was a sense ofachievement. I never expected the day to be likethis.” And Jamie Nash, aged 11, said: “My best bitwas finding a funnel web spider.” Callum Iliw, also11, said that even pulling the Himalayan Balsam wasgreat fun!Richard said the event ticked so many boxes for

everyone: “Yes we appreciated nature, yes there wasa conservation message, yes there was actualconservation (recording and pulling), but, just asimportantly, relationships were started between theWest Midlands Branch of Butterfly Conservation,Dudley Council and Old Swinford Hospital Schoolthat, hopefully, will lead into on-going conservationin the local community.”

Pulling up Himalayan Balsam (Andrew Barker)


Brown Hairstreak Caterpillar Crawl

For all keen Brown HairstreakersSpring can be a bit of afrustrating time of year. The

frantic egg searching over the wintermonths has come to an abrupt end inMarch with the appearance ofBlackthorn blossom, making anyfurther searches nearly impossible.Then in April, when the young BrownHairstreak caterpillars have hatchedfrom their winter quarters, they remainstubbornly hidden from view, havingburied themselves deep into thedeveloping Blackthorn leaf buds. Bylate May though the rapidly growingcaterpillars should have emerged fromthe Blackthorn buds and attachedthemselves, via a silk pad, to theunderside of a leaf. From here they make nocturnal journeys to other nearbyleaves to feed, thus avoiding the prying eyes of hungry birds during daylighthours (but hopefully not from those of the Caterpillar Crawl Team).The eagerly awaited Caterpillar Crawl took place on Saturday 21 May 21.

Thirteen keen Brown Hairstreakers of all ages met beside Grafton FlyfordChurch on a gloriously warm sunny morning and began the walk to GraftonWood full of expectation. Who would find the first one? How many from therecord breaking six-egg batch would we find? How big would they be? Thetension was building as the group approached the outskirts of the wood.Blackthorn saplings, which had been found with eggs on during our winter

survey, had been carefully marked in the hope that caterpillars would benearby. A strategy that surely couldn’t fail, but one after one, the markedsaplings were examined without success. This was going to be much moredifficult than we thought.Then a caterpillar was sighted and a cry went up. There was great

excitement as the rest of the group ran over to the spot… but it wasn’t a BrownHairstreak. A few minutes later, another cry of “found one” was heard.Excitedly, books of caterpillar photos were examined, but again it was a mothlarva. Only the sight of some of the newly-introduced Pearl-borderedFritillaries flitting through the coppice lifted our spirits as it seemed thecaterpillars’ camouflage was getting the better of us.Finally, after about an hour of patient searching the first

Brown Hairstreak caterpillar was found. The finder got toname their ‘beast’ and a label with the name, size and othersurvey data was fixed to a nearby twig. By the afternoon wehad reached a grand total of eight. Alvin, Bethany, Claude,Delilah, Elisabeth, Fleur, Gertrude and Ruth ranging in sizefrom 6mm to 14.5mm were recorded and labelled and left toturn into some of the beautiful Brown Hairstreak butterflieswe’ll be back to look for in August, hopefully an altogethereasier task! Simon Primrose

Becky Lashley finds the first Brown Hairstreak caterpillar – ‘Alvin’

Thomas Gulliver with aDrinker moth caterpillar

Close-up image of ‘Bethany’ (Les Clarke)


Since the early arrival of spring and the masses of Orange-tip, whichwere active all over the reserve, we have had quite good numbers ofthe regular visitors. Green-veined Whites have been going strong

since springtime and there are still plenty about. We have also seen a largenumber of Commas, which were making the most of any warm sunny days,basking on dead timber that is spread around the reserve. Early sightings ofPeacock were encouraging and I have to report that these have continued inlarge numbers (we have a lot of Hemp Agrimony) in spite of reports thatthere have been less recorded around the county. Just out of interest, Icounted in the region of 40 in about five minutes on two relatively smallBuddleia in my daughter’s garden just outside Measham. Their preferencewas the white version rather than the pink. Red Admiral was also presentand sharing basking rights on her shed roof.We did have one or two early Common Blue and Small Copper, but

these seem to disappear when the weather changed and the cooler spell setin along with stronger winds. In July on a very warm still day we recordedtwo (there might have been more) Marbled White in the uncut meadow.This was good news as the last one recorded was a long time ago and it justpassed through. Small Tortoiseshell were about, but only a few.

Small Skipper have been in attendance for some time and they are stillaround even though we have cut most of their meadows. Doing this hasnoticeably reduced numbers in these parts of the reserve. We have left widemargins with still flowering plants, which we hope will benefit the latearrivals. We have also seen early and late Brimstones, but not in anysignificant numbers.I followed and photographed the progress of two Orange-tip which I

photographed in tandem, a female on the Lady’s Smock and subsequentlytwo eggs on a single plant. I managed to get the development of thecaterpillar through all of its stages. Unfortunately, I was not on site when itdecided to turn into a chrysalis and, although I spent many hours on myhands and knees searching, failed to locate it. Never mind there is alwaysnext year!Over the recent months the numbers of Ringlet, Meadow Brown,

Green-veined White and Speckled Wood have been significantly higherthan in previous years.As I write this in earlyAugust we have a few Common Blue, quite good

numbers of Red Admiral and Small Skipper. There are impressivenumbers of Gatekeeper, which has not been the case in previous years. Iawait with hope the sighting of BrownArgus that we only recorded for thefirst time two years ago. They are in plenty locally just outside the reservebut this is on untouched land where no management takes place, interesting!A female Brown Hairstreak was eventually seen on the reserve in late

August and eggs have been subsequently found.Paul Meers, Reserve Manager

Spring comes early toFeckenham Wylde Moor

The first Small Copper wasrecorded on 27 April.

An single Orange-tip egg laidon the stem of Lady’s Smock

Burnets in cop, one havingjust emerged (all Paul Meers)

Marbled White


Walks guidebenefitsbutterfliesand mothsThe 40-page guide to30 of the bestbutterfly walks in theWest Midlandsbranch area is inprofit, which meansthat every new copysold will help make adifference to thehabitats for butterfliesand moths in ourregion. Each walkdetails the specieswhich may beencountered, the besttime to visit and a sitemap. So if you haven’tordered your copy yet– or you knowsomeone who wouldenjoy a copy as a gift– send a cheque for£5.95, made payableto ‘ButterflyConservation WestMidlands Branch’ to:Mike Williams,2 Dewberry Close,Stourport,Worcestershire,DY13 8TB.

30 YEARS of saving butterflies, moths and their habitats in the West Midlands

30 Butterfly Walksin the West Midlands

Supported by

30 Butterfly Walksin the West Midlands

The highlight of the summer at Prees Heath Common Reserve was onWednesday 29 June, when, for the first time, volunteers attempted acomplete count of the Silver-studded Blue colony. This included not

only the reserve, but also the eastern half of Prees Heath Common and the oldhangars compound by the A49.Twelve volunteers attended and, after a brief training session, they worked in

pairs in allotted areas. The total was 3,364; a good number, but, considering thenumbers on the Silver-studded Blue transect (which has been walked for thepast 20 years) were below average, the total would have been surpassed if theweather had been more favourable. The butterflies started to emerge early thisyear (4 June) and this is worth bearing in mind if any members are planning avisit in 2012.Those familiar with the reserve will know that in August 2010 the vehicle

barrier gates either side of the access track, the kissing gates, the informationpanel frame, the leaflet box and the dog waste bin were all smashed with a JCB.Fortunately, the individual responsible was caught in the act, and he has nowbeen convicted of criminal damage in Shrewsbury Magistrates Court. He wasgiven a two-year conditional discharge, ordered to pay Butterfly Conservationcompensation for the cost of replacing the items damaged and banned from thereserve until further notice. He is appealing against both conviction andsentence and we await a date for that hearing. Meanwhile, the gates have beenre-installed.On the day before that hearing approximately 50 caravans invaded the

reserve in a well-planned operation. They remained for a week, and left behinda lot of rubbish and garden waste which they had imported onto the site to becleared up. I would like to thank the 40 or so mainly local people who turnedout a week after they had left to help clear all the rubbish. To deter a repetitionof this invasion 12 concrete blocks have now been installed to give the reservesome added security.On a brighter note, the new pond, constructed just 18 months ago, has

already seen Little-ringed Plovers, Snipe and four species of dragonfly and fourspecies of damselfly. It is good to see that even in the dry weather we have beenhaving the pond has not dried out. Stephen Lewis, Prees Heath Warden

The trials and tribulations ofour Silver-studded Blue haven


Ewyas Harold Spring MeetingReserve Manager Ian Hart leads the spring meeting at Ewyas Harold (John Tilt)

The main target species for our Spring Meeting at Ewyas Harold Commonand adjoining BC reserve on 15 May were Pearl-bordered Fritillary andGrizzled Skipper. My previous visit had been two years earlier at the

opening when persistent rain merely whetted the appetite for a return trip in morefavourable conditions. Thus our group of five joined Ian and Dyllis Hart andJohn andMiriam Tilt for an informative tour of this lovely part of the world. Thedepth of knowledge of our members is something we should treasure and Ianproved an excellent guide pointing out the best areas for different species of floraand fauna. We also learned much about birdsong and all the areas which hadreceived the particular attentions of John’s chainsaw gang.The weather was not too promising when we arrived – cloudy and with a chilly

wind. Nevertheless, we were much encouraged to find a Clouded Silver mothright by where we parked our car – a great start! The choice of date was timed tocoincide with the peak flight time for PBF but, with the early emergence of ourspring butterflies this year, we worried that we may be a little late. However, it wasnot long before my husband, Adrian, spotted the first PBF of the day. In fact, wesaw several but all rather faded and worn. The wealth of wild flowers is the key tothe success of butterflies here, large areas of violets beneath dry bracken providesthe perfect habitat for PBF and patches of bugle are a favourite source of nectar.We had to search for the butterflies but still managed to see a good number of

PBF, a single Small Heath, a couple of roosting Common Blue and severalspecies of moth. The meadow within the BC reserve was full of BurnetCompanion caterpillars and pupae. Alas, we did not manage any GrizzledSkippers this time.The morning was rounded off with a visit to The Dog at Ewyas Harold where

we enjoyed fine ale and an excellent Sunday lamb lunch. Before our return toStourbridge, we took a short walk around the village and one final discovery –around the lanes there was much garlic mustard and I pointed it out to my friendsas one of the plants used by Orange-tips to lay their eggs. Just to prove the point,there on the plant was a bright orange egg. Many thanks to Ian for his expertcommentary. Joy Stevens

Pearl-bordered Fritillaryon bugle (Joy Stevens)

Clouded Silver(Joy Stevens)

Mother Shipton(Duncan Dine)

Common Blue(Steven Cheshire)


Ludlow member Gareth Thomas thought readers of The Comma mightlike to see his pictures of day-flying mothAdela reaumurella and someof the butterflies he encountered at Shropshire Wildlife Trust’s new

reserve at Catherton Common on the east side of Clee Hill, near CleoburyMortimer. The moths were jostling for position high up on a wild Prunus tree,and looked a little like St Mark’s flies, only smaller. “Those flies were juststarting to show as well,” said Gareth. “The most striking feature of thesemoths is the length of the antennae on these males. They are small moths,perhaps 1cm long in the body, including wings, and were new to me.”Worcestershire moth recorder Tony Simpson adds: “The moth is very

common but quite spectacular when literally hundreds can be seen swarmingaround trees and shrubs in the sunshine at the end of April and early May. Thelarva feeds in leaf-litter on the ground from a flat case made from dead leaves.”Catherton Common, with Cramer Gutter adjacent, is a good location to see

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Green Hairstreak. The reserve is alsohome to the rare Bog Bush Cricket, Keeled Skimmer and Golden-ringedDragonfly. Marsh Gentians and Early Marsh Orchids are also a local speciality.

Longhorn moth at new reserveAdela reaumurella is one of the longhorn moths, also known as fairy moths, and has very long antennae

Green Hairstreak on bracken Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary on bird’s-foot trefoil

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary


Iwas very glad when Tessa Lovell, enterprise manager of theNational Trust property Dudmaston Hall welcomed ShropshireButterflies – a poetic and artistic guide to the butterflies of

Shropshire book into the Dudmaston shop; and allowed us to hangsome of the artwork from the book as an exhibition in its tea room.When I told Mike Williams that all of this was happening, he

suggested an additional idea to me – an idea I thought was prettybrilliant. So, on 24 July, as a celebration of Save our Butterflies weekand of the official launch of the book, we ran a Butterfly and PoetryWalk at Dudmaston.

Adrian Miles was our butterfly and Dudmaston expert. PaulFrancis (a poet and author from Much Wenlock) and I were on handto read the poems. It was a gloriously hot day; and over 20 of uswandered through the grass and soon saw a Meadow Brown – andheard Meadow Browns’ Gathering by Marilyn Gunn. Then, after abit of pointing, heard Ringlets by Patricia Newland. At the entranceto the Dingle we stopped under an Oak – only a few of us spotted thefast flash of a Purple Hairstreak and so Paul decided to only readthe first half of the poem by Jean Atkin. We snaked through theDingle, and to my surprise I found myself giving out snippets of myown newly-gleaned knowledge out to the stragglers about theSpeckledWood, theWhites and the Peacocks, along with the poemsas we walked through stripes of shadow and light and then onto thebridge by the lake where we heard several poems based on HollyBlues, Skippers and Gatekeepers.Soon we were standing – with lake and Hall in front of us – a

picturesque landscape indeed. However, we all had eyes focused onthe Small Tortoiseshells feeding on Ragwort as Charles Worth’swords about their name floated over them. As we walked furtheralong we were lucky enough to get a second chance at seeing PurpleHairstreaks and so were rewarded with the final section of theirpoem! At the end of the walk many of us had refreshments in the tearoom – and saw the pictures there, having spotted a pristine Comma.Meanwhile, I have sent £502 to Ron Hatton, the West Midlands

branch treasurer; this is the money raised from theentry price into the Morville event on 11 June andinitial sales of the book. The Dudmaston exhibitionand walk has raised money for the National Trust, theartists themselves, plus hopefully increasingawareness of these gorgeous creatures.To buy the book please go to

www.fairacrepress.co.uk or send a cheque for £13.99(includes £2 p&p) made out to Nadia Kingsley,Hunters Bridge, Newton, Bridgnorth, ShropshireWV15 5lY, along with your name and address.The exhibition will be in Dudmaston Hall’s tea

room until 28 September.

Butterfly anthology takes offBy Nadia Kingsley

Nadia Kingsley leads the butterflyand poetry walk at Dudmaston Hall

Paola Minekov’s Comma design

Nadia reads ‘Large White’ by Jeremy Stretton


Aninvitation to moth trap a new venue alwaysmeans the exciting possibility ofencountering species I have not seen before.

Even recording common moths that I have seenmany times previously seems worthwhile if norecords exist for the site. However, I always treatsuch an invitation with caution until I havediscovered some details.When I received a request to survey for moths at

Avon Water Meadows Community Wetland atPershore, although I was unfamiliar with the site, Iimmediately responded positively as this wasobviously not going to be just another mixedwoodland! A little research showed Avon WaterMeadows to be a new reserve created in a jointproject between Wychavon District Council and theEnvironment Agency, and is an excellent example ofwhat can be achieved, transforming unremarkableriverside meadows into a stunning wetland habitat.Scrapes have been created and planted with aboardwalk made from rot-proof, recycled plastic.My contact was Richard Stott, Chairman of the

volunteers, whose enthusiasm for the survey wasrefreshing and encouraging. Adrawback was the need to arrange adate in advance, allowing Richardenough time to warn nearby residentsof the presence of ‘strange lights atnight’. As a compromise we agreed Iwould trap on one of three successivenights at the end of June, the exact datedepending on the weather forecast.As the time approached we were

blessed with a mini heatwave and I chose the first ofthe three available nights only to hear a forecastshortly afterwards predicting an abrupt end to theheatwave with thunderstorms occurring during theevening of the event! Committed, I departed forPershore beneath dark, threatening skies, expecting acomplete wash-out and the few spots of rain that fellduring my journey were, I thought, just a taste ofwhat was to come. I was the first to arrive and used awheelbarrow to transport traps, large fishingumbrellas (to protect moths and traps from the rain),cables and heavy generator the 100 metres fromvehicle to site. Negotiating the kissing gate with aloaded wheelbarrow was challenging, made more soby the adjacent lush growth of stinging nettles. Ipositioned my three traps and was soon joined byAlan Prior and Oliver Wadsworth, bothexperienced enthusiasts who, like me, would be ableto identify any species we were likely to encounter.Both Oliver and Alan were suffering from too littlesleep and were only running a single trap to reducetheir workload.Although the weather was clearly changing with a

breeze across the open areas and occasional claps ofthunder, we were extremely lucky to have no rain atall and our five traps gradually attracted 140 species.Of these, 11 species could be regarded aswetland/reedbed dependant including SouthernWainscot and Obscure Wainscot. The micro mothGynnidomorpha alismana, which feeds on water-plantain Alisma plantago-aquatica, appeared to bepresent in good numbers with 17 individuals being

recorded and was a new species for allof us. Two other notable micros wereGrapholita lobarzewskii and Eanaosseana, in each case being only thethird record for Worcestershire.A personal highlight was to finally

catch up with Garden Tiger, oncecommon but sadly much declined. At3.30am two individuals came to Alan’strap, the last one to be switched off!

Gynnidomorpha alismana, Southern Wainscot, Obscure Wainscot and Eana osseana (All Patrick Clement)

Garden Tiger (Alan Prior)

Water Meadowsturn up trumps

By Patrick Clement


Brownfield sites supporting Dingy Skipper in theTelford and Wrekin area were first identified tobe a regional priority for Butterfly Conservation

back in 1997 with the production of the Regional ActionPlan for the West Midlands. Today they still have thatstatus even though a survey carried out in 2006worryingly predicted that Dingy Skipper would beapproaching extinction in the area within the next 20years if the rate of decline in numbers (estimated to be32% during the period 1997-2006) continued.The reason for the status of the area was the large

number of Dingy Skipper colonies known. In 1997, 15colonies were identified (with a total of 94 DingySkippers being recorded) whereas this fell to 13colonies (and only 64 being recorded) in 2006. Morerecently, a number of new sites have been identified.Many of these Dingy Skipper colonies occur on formerpitmounds which are characteristic of the Telfordlandscape and a legacy from the coal mining activitieswhich were prevalent in many areas (e.g. Ketley Bankand Lawley) with open-cast mining still occurring in thearea today albeit now only on one site.Currently there are around 20 Dingy Skipper sites

and varying levels of activity taking place to conserveand enhance them with Butterfly Conservation beinginvolved in much of this work. These sites alsofrequently support Green Hairstreak and otherbutterflies and moths commonly associated with thistype of habitat (e.g. Burnet Companion and LatticedHeath).One of the main areas for Dingy Skipper is the

Granville area on the north-east side of Telford whichused to support the largest coal mine in EastShropshire (employing up to 560 men) before it closedin 1979. Since then the site has been reclaimed, someof the colliery buildings have been preserved and alarge area has become Granville Country Park which ispartly managed by the Shropshire Wildlife Trust. Oneof our recent focuses of activity here has been theWestern Stockpile which will eventually be part of theextended Local Nature Reserve (LNR) on the basis ofthe unique wildlife it supports (causing someamusement as LNRs don’t usually have this sort ofname!) and is currently owned by SITA Trust. A planfor further restoration and five year aftercare is nownearly complete with the maintenance and expansionof the Dingy Skipper being one of its main

Action on the Ground

By Dr Jenny Joy and Graham Statham

Burnet Companion moth (Roger Wasley)

This unimproved grassland habitat at Randlay Valleysupports Dingy Skipper (Graham Statham)


considerations (in addition to stability and drainage!).A planning condition was also placed on theconstruction of a new factory in the Granville areacalled Nom Dairy in 2008/9. A visit to the site in 2011showed that this condition had been successful interms of creating new butterfly habitat and a number ofbutterflies were already present (although this visitwas too late to record Dingy Skipper).In the Wrekin area, the Shropshire Wildlife Trust

created some trial scrapes for Dingy Skipper at ErcallQuarry over the 2010/11 winter. This work isparticularly important as numbers here have been verylow for the past few years (only one or two beingrecorded) and the private owner of the one other nearbysite is not keen on any management work beingundertaken.In Lawley, (an area of Telford mined for centuries

including a large open cast area worked until the late1980s), the creation of a corridor on the Ironbridge WayMound has been successful and links the site with anewly created railway line extension which was foundto support Dingy Skipper in 2011. Dingy Skipper werealso recorded on the edges of Lawley Greenspace (anarea of land managed by a local community group) in2010.Butterfly Conservation has also been in liaison with

partners with regard to Rough Park in the Woodsidearea which is a particularly good grassland site forDingy Skipper where part of the site is in an annual cutand collect programme organised by Telford andWrekin Council; Coalmoor, a Veolia Environmental Ltdowned site in the Lightmoor area of Telford whereconservation after-use has been agreed; and RandlayValley in Central Telford where a ‘friends of’ group wasset up early in 2011 to encourage more communityinvolvement (e.g. in terms of site maintenance andenhancement and wildlife survey and management) onthis site. Randlay Valley has continued to support DingySkipper over the past few years in the absence of anyactive management. In 2011, 17 were recorded hereover 8 visits.As part of the Dawley Regeneration programme,

Langley Fields one of the largest Dingy Skipper sites inTelford in the past, is due to be lost to development.Butterfly Conservation has been working with theconsultants identifying the mitigation needed tocompensate for the habitat losses for several years. At

d in Telford

Dingy Skipper at Ercall Quarry (David Williams)

Ercall Quarry showing trial scrape in the foreground(Dr Jenny Joy)


present, it is anticipated that enhancements will bemade at seven other sites to compensate for the lossof Langley Fields (and that this will include work atRandlay Valley).So to end on good news – Graham Statham has

recently agreed to become Butterfly Conservation’sLandscape Area Champion for the Telford & WrekinArea. There is already a good group of recorders andas Graham is in touch with many local groups outsideof Butterfly Conservation (including the new TelfordWildlife Forum), the group can only get stronger. Sofrom now on Graham will be coordinating the surveyand monitoring programme in the area so if you are

interested in helping please contact Graham [email protected]

Jenny Joy and Graham StathamAcknowledgements: Many thanks to all the volunteerrecorders who have surveyed sites in recent years, toour partners in the area especially Telford & WrekinCouncil (Caroline Last, Adrian Corney and KeithSlater), the ShropshireWildlife Trust (Pete Lambertand Robin Mager) and others such as Nom Dairyand the Ironstone Project. Thanks are also due to theGreen Gym who help with the maintenance of thesehabitats across Telford who we hope to work closelywith in the future.

Bird’s-foot Trefoil left (Dr Jenny Joy) at the Western Stockpile right (Andrew Law) which is part of theproposed LNR extension

Thanks to volunteer recorders

Every year I learn something new aboutbutterflies. Towards the end of July I spotted aSmall Copper at Kinver which took my breath

away. It was pristine and its forewings were suffusedwith a brilliant scarlet. I have added a couple ofphotos to my folder on the Branch Forum(http://groups.yahoo.com/group/butterflyconservationwestmidla

nds/) which do not do it justice but you can see the red.On looking back through The Comma, the photo onthe front of the Spring 2010 issue of a mating pair(Gavin Woodman), also shows as similarcolourisation, so I wondered if this was a commontrait. All these years of seeing Small Copper and Inever noticed this before. I’ve always thought it oneof our particular gems and this one just made my walkat Kinver that bit more special. Joy Stevens

Never too late to learn something new


New online WorcestershireMoth Recorder information

The last published information on the Worcestershire(VC37) moths was by Harper and Simpson in the Atlasof the Larger Moths and the two Atlases on the Smaller

Moths of Herefordshire & Worcestershire published by theWest Midlands Branch of Butterfly Conservation in 2000 to2003.There have been a lot of changes since then in the numbers

and status of moths in VC37 both because of the spread ofnew species to our area, the increases and decreases infrequency of a lot of species possibly related to climatechange, and because of an enormous increase in recorders andrecording effort over the last ten years. There was obviously aneed to bring county moth recording up to date.

Nigel Stone has been keeping the database for the wholeof the West Midlands but has now asked the counties to takeback the responsibility for the management of their ownrecords, as the huge number of recent records has made hiswork load increasingly onerous. A big vote of thanks is due tohim for his sterling work and help which has been muchappreciated. He will continue to keep a back-up databasewhilst we run and manage the county list and records.I remain the county recorder for Worcestershire (Vice

County 37) but Oliver Wadsworth has kindly agreed to bethe IT manager for the county records. Jeff Rush produced an online moth list including information on statusand flight times and based on this Oliver and myself have produced an up to date county list and notes forVC37 moth recorders which can be obtained from Oliver at [email protected] Danny Arnold haskindly agreed to hosting up to date copies of the “recorders package” and an on line version of the county listat http://www.temevalleywildlife.com/galleries/WorcestershireMothWebsite.htmSpecies are listed separately under Smaller (Micro) and Larger (Macro) moth lists with Bradley number,

English names for the Larger Moths, scientific names and their status, usual flight times, and for rare speciestheir first and last records and some details of their sites in the county. The species have been put into thefollowing categories: Common/Fairly Common and Widespread which are accepted without need for otherdetails; Uncommon/Localised for which a photo or specimen may be needed unless previously recorded fromthat site or area; species which need dissection to be certain of their identification and should otherwise berecorded as an aggregate; Rare/First County Record/presumed Extinct for which a specimen or photo whereappropriate is needed. We will keep the list of species and changes in status up to date and this will be availableon line in a readable only format. Further information is in the Notes for Recorders. For those who contributeto the Garden Moth Scheme it should be noted that we no longer automatically receive these records andtherefore it is important to send us all your records as these will otherwise not get into the county moth data.Records can be emailed to Oliver, or me at [email protected] or by post if wished to:

A.N.B. Simpson,The Sycamores, Old Rectory Gardens, Leigh, WR6 5LD. Tel. 01886 832637.

including up to date list of species and recording advice

By Tony Simpson

Yellow-tail (Paul Nicholas)


By Paul Butter, Szabolcs Sáfián and Mike Williams

Brown Hairstreak Egg-hunt March 2011

Four West Midlands branch members joinedvolunteers on a visit to the Hungarian NaturalHeritage Trust site in Kercaszomor in the

Örség National Park (Western Hungary) to survey foreggs of Brown Hairstreak under the guidance ofSzabolcs Sáfián (known to many as Safi) withthe assistance of young Hungarian lepidopteristsMártin Strausz and Bálint Horváth. The groupvisited many locations within the Park that supportblackthorn, the larval foodplant.During a four-day intensive search, Brown

Hairstreak eggs were located in 27 new 2.5x2.5 km2

UTM grids (which are used as mapping units in theÖrség National Park). Eggs were found in a varietyof aspects, although south was slightly favoured andfrom 10 cm to over 2 metres above ground level. Thefinding of several eggs at over 2 metres was asuspected response to the growth of the invasiveCanadian goldenrod (Solidago) which can reachnearly this height effectively putting any lowerblackthorn shoots into heavy shade. In some cases,relatively isolated groves of blackthorn (over 500metres from other blackthorn) were found to be wellused by the butterfly. Doubles were found infavoured spots and a maximum of four eggson a single shoot was recorded. In addition toBrown Hairstreak, there were also severalBlack Hairstreak eggs located and eggs ofGreen-brindled Crescent were found on blackthorn

by Tony Simpson. One ring of Lackey eggs was alsorecorded, while egg-clusters of the IUCN red listedOrange Eggar were located at a few new places.Among commoner over-wintering butterflies,Large Tortoiseshell and two Camberwell Beautywere also observed. As a consequent result of theegg-hunt, the Hungarian assistants continued findingeggs from new localities as “they were well trainedduring the egg-hunt”!

The Hungarian Natural Heritage TrustThe relationship between the initiators of the

Trust and West Midlands branch members goes backto 2006 when the first volunteer group visitedHungary to undertake a two-week monitoringprogramme organised by Ecotours Ltd., the leadingHungarian eco-tourism company. Branch membersspent one week in the Örség, contributing in theresearch of the habitat used by Scarce Large Blueand Dusky Large Blue. The programme was led bySafi. Within three years, the foundations of theHungarian Natural Heritage Trust (TermészetiÖrökségünk Alapítvány) were laid by a collaborationof Hungarian and British lepidopterists who alsocontributed financially to the survival during theearly years of the newly-founded Non GovernmentalOrganisation and the management of about 10hectares of Maculinea land in Kercaszomor village.Since then, the Trust has received a grant from theHungarian Ministry of Environment and Water forthe introduction of sympathetic land managementand has carried out biodiversity monitoring projectsin two national parks. Its biggest achievement, andalso a challenge, is the two year research contract bythe Örség National Park, during which the Trust willmap all butterfly species, which appear in the ÖrségSpecial Protection Area (Natura 2000). The Trust

Branch members give their supportto Hungarian Natural Heritage Trust

Eggs of Black Hairstreak were found (Colin Bowler)

A ring of Lackey eggs (Tony Simpson)


would also like to develop eco-tourism potential inthe Örség region. In 2011 it plans to buy an old housein Kercaszomor village, which will be renovated as abutterfly conservation centre and guesthouse of theTrust by selling shares to people, who want tocontribute to butterfly conservation and have a nicebutterfly rich holiday at the same time. The FourLarge Blues Tour, also hosted by the Trust, ispossibly the only event where all EuropeanMaculinea species could be seen in a single locality.The Four Large Blue Tours will be run in July everyyear. At the 1st International Butterfly and MothConservation Camp for Young Scientists andEnthusiasts in Kercaszomor, held from 21-26 May,internationally recognised lepidopterists helped trainthe next generation of conservationists, who camefrom all over Europe, and even from Turkey, toensure the future of Hungary’s butterflies.

EIG contribution: Fund-raising TourSlovenia 2010A special fundraising butterfly tour was

organised by GreenEye Ecotours (seeadvert on Page 21) and BC’s EuropeanInterest Group to support the HungarianNatural Heritage Trust in August 2010.During a very successful week in Slovenia(butterfly-wise), just over 10,000 euroswere raised to help butterfly conservationactivities in the Örség which was atremendous achievement. The firstpurchase from this generous donation wasa new Husqvarna brush-cutter, which isnow being used to remove shrub andsolidago from overgrown meadows. The Trust wasalso able to acquire an additional four hectares ofland in Kercaszomor, including a smaller area, whichis, due to lack of management, currently a youngconifer plantation. There are still relic patches of drymeadow within this plot, which is not suited toconifers and where growth has been poor. These openareas still have a good flora which should be able torecolonise the more shaded areas once felling has gotunderway. It is hoped that the remaining parts of thisplantation will become available for purchase in duecourse.The remaining half of the money raised will be

spent on the purchase of the old house, which willhopefully become a frequently visited butterflyconservation hub.

EIG Fundraising Tour 2: MontenegroTrying to repeat the great success of last year’s

trip to Slovenia, Lajos Németh, executive ofGreenEye Ecotours, offered a 100% donation ofprofit from a fundraising tour to Montenegro in July2011. Mike Williams, of EIG and West MidlandsBranch of BC, advertised the tour among EIGmembers and it filled up in a world-record fivedays!

Friends of ÖrségDuring recent discussions about fundraising with

EIG members, the Trust was recommended toestablish an informal group called the “Friends ofOrség”. Anybody donating £1,000 to the Trust willbe displayed on its internet homepage and willreceive discounts from the guesthouse and tour feesoperated by the Trust. Donors of over £5,000 willreceive a special package, which includes freebutterfly and moth holiday opportunities (one week

free on any chosen date each year for five years) inthe Trust’s future guesthouse from its completion.The first “Friends of Orség” are Hugh Glennie,Tony Simpson and David Dennis. Any other EIG orWest Midlands branch members interested inbecoming a Friend should contact Paul Butter([email protected])The Trust would like to sincerely thank all BC

members who have participated in the Slovenia tour,namely Barbara & Maurice Higginbotham,Bridget & Lawrie de Whalley, Sheila & RogerWasley, Peter Bygate, David Dennis, TonySimpson, Mike Williams, Neil Thompson, Bob &Penny Hall and Martyn Davies, and also all thosewho helped in the Brown Hairstreak recordingproject, namely Tony Simpson, Mike Williams,David Dennis, Hugh Glennie, JackWard and PaulButter and those who volunteered in the butterflymapping project: Bridget and Lawrie de Whalley.

Two Camberwell Beauty were seen (Barbara Higginbotham)


Carpets of bluebells: A profusion of colour along the Mortimer Trail in early May (Dave Roach)

Mortimer Forest in SpringtimeMortimer Forest in Springtime

Walking a leg of the Mortimer Trail through part of MortimerForest on May Day was such an exhiliarting experience thatI couldn’t resist repeating the route the following day!

Speckled Yellow is common in theopen wodland (Roger Wasley)

Orange-tips patrolled the MaryKnoll Valley (Steven Cheshire)

Dingy Skipper (Dave Roach)

Green-veined White on Willowherb(Tony Wharton)

Bluebells were at their bestand Wood Whites madean earlier than expectedappearance along the secludedMary Knoll Valley, part of mycircular route from the nearbymarket town of Ludlow.The 2,500-acre forest was

once a Saxon hunting groundbut now it is managed by theForestry Commission Englandto preserve rare species.Male Orange-tips patrolled

the edges of the wider tracks,stopping only occasionally tovisit lady’s smock, whileGreen-veined White andSpeckled Yellow moth werecommon. The odd DingySkipper on bare areas of thetrail and a few Small Copperadded further interest, alongwith a host of wild flowers andsome magnificent mature oaks.

Sheila Wasley


Organisers of the Butterfly IDworkshop and attendees atHampton Bishop Village Hall

Butterfly IDworkshop a hitin Herefordshire

West Midlands branchcommittee membersRobin Hemming and

Mike Williams were supportedby other branch members andKate Wollen, of the ForestryCommission, when they ran abutterfly identification work-shop at Hampton Bishop VillageHall, near Hereford, on 22 May.The course attracted a mix of

members and non-members ofButterfly Conservation and wasdesigned to encourage them torecord butterfly and mothspecies across the county.Robin said: “There was great

enthusiasm among those whoattended and their new-foundskills were quickly put to the testas we encountered lots ofWoodWhite and a few Pearl-bordered Fritillary in nearbyHaugh Wood. But the highlightfor many was a single BrownArgus which has not beenrecorded at the site for many,many years.”


Half-past MarchThere’s a bite to the air but it’s fresh and so cleanAnd the larch down the lane is beginning to green.There’s some daffodils silently trumpeting yellownessStanding serene in rich, earthy mellowness.The trilling of skylarks and woodpeckers drumming,Melodious sparrows and bumblebees humming,Crows spinning in circles way up aboveAnd the rhythmic lament of a lone collared dove.

Tall mighty oaks, the last trees to green,Dormant, but oozing power and keen –To show off bare limbs, defiant and proud,It’s almost as if they’re boasting out loud.Male Orange-tip butterflies flash tangerineAnd female Brimstones – the palest of green,Mouth-watering colours and exquisite grace,Spring is now showing her delicate face.

There are clumps of dead-nettles sporting pink hoodsAnd a scattering of primroses brightening the woods.Fat catkins exploding on sweet-scented willowsAnd ladybirds browsing the gold-coloured pillows.Small larvae are stirring in brown sleeping bagsAs the country casts off its drab winter rags.

Janet Vernon

Flash of tangerine: male Orange-tip (Peter Klein)

Palest of green: female Brimstone (Andrew Daw)

Entomologists are excited over the discoveryof a large number of leaf-rolling weevilsin the Butterfly Conservation and

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust nature reserve atTrench Wood, Dunhampstead, near Droitwich. Itappears that habitats favoured by butterflies arealso welcomed by the weevil.

James Hitchock, Central Reserves Officer forWWT, reports that Steve Lane, an ecologistworking for Ecoline, was extremely excited aftervisiting sites in Worcestershire. He found thatTrench Wood was by far and away the better sitefor the weevil.

“In half an hour of searching they foundByctiscus populi on every piece of suckering aspenthat they looked at,” said James. “Steve put thepopulation at many thousand which makes itprobably the best site that is currently known in theUK by a country mile. What’s more pleasing is thatour management regime is ideal for the weevil –regular clearance of rides, glades and thinning butcrucially without the removal of all the large aspenas this has allowed prolific re-generation in sunnyspots.”The weevil was identified at Monkwood in

2003 and was found in the latest survey mostlyaround the pond.John Tilt has also found the weevil in good

numbers along the newly-created glades in themain ride complex of Grafton Wood.

Weevil favoursbutterfly gladesin Trench Wood

Leaf-rolling weevil (Lloyd Evans)


West Midlands branch members whotravelled to the beautifully namedStrawberry Banks Nature Reserve

in Gloucestershire in April were rewarded byseeing both larvae and adultMarsh Fritillarybutterflies.The 5.1ha Strawberry Banks reserve

lies on the west facing slopes of a small valleybetween the Cotswold stone villages ofFrance Lynch and Oakridge. TheGloucestershire Wildlife Trust was involvedwith the site for many years prior to a formalagreement with the owners and the bankswere designated a Site of Special ScientificInterest in 1993. The banks are thought tohave once been used to grow Strawberries,hence the name, and be the crash site of aSecond World War German bomber.The Oolitic Limestone grassland contains a

superb variety of plants, including the GreaterButterfly Orchid, Bee Orchid, Common SpottedOrchid and Devil’s Bit Scabious – footplant of theMarsh Fritillary larvae.On 27 April, Chairman John Tilt and other

branch members saw more than 20 Marsh Fritillaryin fresh condition, along with Dingy Skipper, SmallBlue and one of the first Small Heath of the year.But it was the huge number of Marsh Fritillary

larvae on the grass slopes and footpaths whichpuzzled some. Richard Southwell posed thequestion: “How is it possible to see caterpillers andadults of the Marsh Fritillary on the same day at thesame site?”

Mike Williams responds: “I don’t think it is thatunusual to have both adults and larvae of a species

around at the same time, although the reasons for thismay be less clear.“I guess part of the answer relates to the position

and quality of the foodplant on which the eggs wereoriginally laid. Where eggs have been laid in sunny,sheltered positions on robust and healthy plants larvaldevelopment is likely to be speedier than with thoseeggs laid elsewhere and these are the situations whereadults are likely to emerge first.“The pupal stage of the Marsh Fritillary is pretty

short anyway, typically two to three weeks, and in theabnormal hot and cold weather conditions we had inApril this could well be considerably less.”Mike says that, in the case of the Marsh Fritillary,

there is also parasitism to think about especially if thelarvae seen were still less than full size. The butterflyhas a host specific parasite Apanteles bignellii (Big

Nelly to its friends!) whichis thought to have a majorimpact on numbers fromyear to year.“When larvae are

parasitised their speed ofdevelopment slows andultimately they die and theparasitic wasp emergesrather than the butterfly sothis could be a reason aswell,” he adds.

Strawberry Banks Forever

Scores of Marsh Fritillary larvae were seen on 27 April (Roger Wasley)

One of the 20 or more Marsh Fritillary seen by branchmembers at the reserve on 27 April (Patrick Clement)


Having photographed all the resident UKbutterfly species, I decided, a couple of yearsago, to investigate the then arcane world of

MOTHS!It was recommended that I contact Paul Batty

([email protected]) – a purveyor of the ‘finest andneatest equipment for the attraction andretention of all kinds of night flying moths’. Heproved to be very knowledgeable and helpful, and Ibought one of his ‘Hawk MV’ traps. This was thecheapest ready-made option, although he willprovide the necessary bits for the impecunious toDIY their own. The catching box on the Hawk is a bitsmall and light, so I cobbled my works ontoan old recycling box, which proved to be much morestable. Paul also provides the eggtrays with which toline the catching box.I’ve tried various sheet combinations and have

ended up with a horizontal sheet on which I place thetrap with a vertical sheet hanging up against thehedge behind it. About 60% of my catchesare off the sheets, which I check every 30 minutes orso until midnight, potting anything interesting inclear plastic ‘sample’ pots (readily available throughthe Internet). I leave the trap on all night and try toget up before dawn to switch off the lamp and

remove any moths from the sheet. If you leaveit until later, you will find a number of fat, contentedBlackbirds and Robins and a rather sad collection ofdiscarded moth wings!It is well worth joining the Back Garden Moths

website (http://www/back-garden-moths.co.uk). Themembers are a very friendly and knowledgeablebunch, who will happily provide identifications andadvice to beginners on any aspect of ‘mothing’. Youshould also contact your County Moth Recorder and,ideally, submit records each month. It is quiteamazing what turns up. I have a small, urban backgarden less than 1km from the centre of Stafford andhave already had over 240 macro species, includingmany new records for my 10km square. In 2009 Icaught an Annulet – only the 4th record forStaffordshire and not seen since 1982! I caughtanother one this year, so there must be a breedingpopulation hereabouts. I’ve also had a Coronet –fewer than five records for Staffs – and recentlyturned up a very fresh Pine Hawkmoth – miles fromthe only two known breeding populations in thecounty.It is very important to photograph anything that

cannot be positively identified. I photograph mymoths indoors, tapping them onto a suitable

Notes from a back gardenmoth-erNotes from a back gardenmoth-er

Tony Moore pots a Pine Hawkmoth (inset) attracted to a Hawk Mercury Vapour trap in his Staffs garden


background, often with a ruler included in the shot to show the size; thisis particularly important with the Pug species. It is sometimes difficultto get moths to settle, but a short spell in the fridge usually concentratestheir minds. In extreme cases I’ve resorted to a drop of nail polishremover – my wife’s, I hasten to add – on a pledget of cotton wooldropped into the pot, but do take care not to kill the poor beastie.The best nights for trapping are warm, still evenings with light cloud

cover, but stuff will turn up anytime, even when it is raining. It’s worthpaying the extra few clams for a cover over the lamp. I leave my trapout in pouring rain without problem apart from the odd bedraggledmoth on the sheet. When you open the trap in the morning, you neverknow what will turn up – it’s a bit like Christmas every day. So far, Ihave only recorded the macro species – my eyes are getting a little dimfor the micros – but there is a lifetime of study out there foranyone who’s interested. Do give it a go – there’s nothing to lose,except possibly your partner (unless he/she can be persuaded to join thefun)…You’ll be introduced to some beautiful insects, and may even get

your name in the record books. But do BEWARE – it is a fascinatingdiversion, but highly addictive, and a slippery slope of ever moreexpensive camera and trapping equipment. You may even end upbuying an anorak!Good luck and happy trapping! Tony Moore

Mother Nature was as fickleas ever for our Butterflyand Bluebell Walk in

Monkwood on 8 May. Six bravepeople turned up in the wood asthe rain pelted down. I was quitesurprised there were so many!Luckily it stopped and we madeour way up the main ride to thetop of the wood. The sun wasdoing its best to appear and wesaw a few Large and SmallWhites and a couple of Orange-tips on our way up there.

We then turned left along theperimeter path into the bluebellglade. Unfortunately, the plantswere probably a couple of weeksearlier than usual and so theglade was a little disappointing.Not only were the flowers overtheir best but other plants hadgrown up and partially hid them.The ransoms were in flower andthere was a heavy smell of garlicin the air.

We then made our way backtowards the main ride again,turning off through the wood intothe main orchid glade. InFebruary, the Sunday work partycleared this area and the orchidshave certainly benefitted from it.Over 250 spikes of Early PurpleOrchid have been counted in thisarea alone. Unfortunately againwe were cheated from seeingthem at their best as they toowere somewhat early this year.

We then made our waythrough the wood coming out onto the ride that takes you past theponds to the road. Again we sawa few whites down this ride and atthe ponds a few damselflies andsome yellow flag iris and lesserspearwort. We then made our wayback to the car park. A littledisappointing for everyone butnevertheless an enjoyable walk.

George Groves

Braving the rainfor Monkwoodbutterfly walk

It’s family fun in the sunat Highgate Common

On Sunday 3 July, in proper summerweather, around two dozen eagerbutterfly enthusiasts accompanied me

across Highgate Common. It was great to haveseveral young children along with theirfamilies, as the kids were all given nets by ourStaffordshire Wildlife Trust ranger partners andmost, if not all, of the children had great fun catching, examiningand releasing Ringlets, Small Heaths and Meadow Brownswhich, barring the last species, showed in good numbers.

Some of our group saw a Purple Hairstreak around and on anOak, and we bumped into Eric Philips, sage and all-roundnaturalist in these parts. He told us he had seen at least 3 or 4White Admirals at the other side of the Common. We did try asuperb spot with Honeysuckle climbing the trees, where WhiteAdmiral had been seen in previous seasons but the cloud covershaded out the woodland edge for 15 minutes or so, just at thewrong time! We saw Commas, a Peacock, and Small and LargeSkippers on the walk.

We plodded merrily on in the heat, and the call of a nearby ice-cream van strategically parked on our way back to the visitorcentre was just too much for the kids (and most adults) to resist.

Postscript: After the tired young enthusiasts had left, rangerPhil Playford took me to the clearing where Eric had been earlierin the afternoon, and we had three sightings of White Admiral –so it goes. Dave Jackson

Purple Hairstreak(Tony Wharton)


Anearly season trip to the Mediterranean coastof Turkey during the second week of May,centred on Antalya, saw a group of six

enthusiasts meet up with ‘Safi’ and our local Turkishguide Egemen. After a late arrival in Antalya we setoff the following morning for the drive east toKoprulu where a flowery hillside gave us the firstopportunity to ‘get our eyes in’ and an EasternMeadow Brown was first to show, quickly followedby aMallow Skipper, Tessellated Skipper, Green-underside Blues, supplemented by Large White,Clouded Yellow, and a weary Common Blue.Butterflies were not present in any number but it wasstill good to have made a start.Entering the National Park and crossing the

narrow bridge at the canyon we continued to thehamlet of Selge where the road petered out. At anestimated altitude of c1,000m the local kids throngedaround us curious to know what we were doing andkeen to demonstrate that a net wasn’t necessary forcatching butterflies! Immediately Eastern Festoonsflew non-stop along the roadside and photographywas impossible. Nigel found our sole False Apollowith its semi-transparent wings and though it flewshort distances it invariably settled deep into thegrass making the chance of a decent shot quitedifficult. Both species share the same foodplants –aristolochus – and ova were found on the undersideof several leaves, we think Eastern Festoons.On our return, we stopped at the canyon and a

black-looking lycaenid caught our attention stoppingregularly at the roadside low down on the rock wall.However, it turned out not to be a lycaenid at all butthe African Ringlet. The instant it landed it flashedopen its wings usually just once and then rested withwings closed. Our plan had been to cross to the otherside of the valley where habitat looked favourablebut it turned out to be very quiet: “more going on athome” someone said. However, a compliant Festoonwas a bonus as was a ragged Powdered Brimstonewhich came in to shelter on the ground.Under Mediterranean blue sky our second day got

underway. Our first stop was a short way down thevalley to inspect a grassy hillside recently plantedwith olive trees. Immediately we were confronted bya fiery orange copper which had us puzzled for sometime. A male, its upperside was Grecian Copper butthe underside was unusual being a grey colour withdark spots and lacking the conspicuous marginalorange-red line. If anything the underside resembledthe Anatolian Fiery Copper’s but distribution ruledthis out. Species here were not numerous but weended the visit after a good hour or so with stunningshots of an Orbed Red-underwing Skipper flushedwith purple iridescence on its forewing margins.Dinner at the hotel was good, building us up for

the after dark trek to the eternal flames of Olympos,or the flames of Chimera of Greek mythology. Wewalked up steep steps in the dark to where the naturalgas flames flickered out of the limestone ahead of us.This was quite a meeting point for trekker-types andhad an air of camp-fire conviviality.

Springtime in TurkeyReport and photos: Peter Bygate

Eastern Festoon

Southern Swallowtail

The third day began locally at adry, stony, parched valley floor withno sign of life for a considerabletime. Then an Eastern RockGrayling was netted with nointention of hanging around uponrelease and a bright LevantineSkipper was next to put in anappearance. A mint-conditionLattice Brown came into viewintent on resting low down inbushes and on trees and a couple ofMersin’s (Samos) Graylings wereseen plus a sole Small Bath White and SloeHairstreak.The ancient ruins of Olympos were approached

along a hot beach where a solitary MediterraneanSkipper nectared on a lantana bush. No sooner hadwe reached the beach than we found LulworthSkippers around a low bush and Ilex Hairstreakswere also present. The river that flows into the sea atthis point leads upstream to the Lycian, and earlier,ruins of old Olympos. The group became fixated onsomething on a low wall: it turned out to be a freshSouthern Swallowtail in beautiful condition. Ourone and only Green-veined White put in anappearance here also. The long journey west to oursecond base at Kas then began.The ancient Lycian site theme continued the next

day with a visit to Patara. One or two people sawsnakes and an Eastern Festoon larva was locatedunder a leaf by Safi. A new butterfly for the trip wasSmall Skipper and an obliging Eastern BathWhitepermitted us to differentiate it from the DappledWhite. A dark form of the Small Copper was a realdelight and a newly emerged LargeWall Brownwasalso seen.Later on that afternoon, Nigel somehow managed

not only to spot, but also to track in flight, a GrassJewel that was buzzing around anarea of stony ground. As thunderrumbled and more clouds built wecalled it a day. Back at our hotelthe weather had now turned ‘bigtime’ and the large island offshoredisappeared beneath the stormheading our way. When it hit uswith tropical intensity the drainscouldn’t cope and before long aninch of water covered therestaurant floor.Egemen had organised a boat

trip to the hamlet of Aperlai and

after waiting for the rain to stop weset-off. Brown Argus wasparticularly attractive, one of whichhad unusual white spots below thehind-wing orange lunules. The walkback to the boat was capped by anunidentified Hairstreak that fooledus all by pretending to be compliantbut which then shot off in the windand was lost.Our penultimate day was spent

in the hills behind Kas, stoppingwhere the Lycian Way crossed the

road delivering only one each of Eastern MeadowBrown, Small Copper, LargeWhite, Painted Lady(plus larvae on thistles), Lattice Brown and twoClouded Yellows.On the way in to Kalkan, driven there by rain and

the imaginary smell of coffee, we’d passed throughsome lovely habitat and returned there in sporadiclight rain. In wet vegetation we turned-up Commonand Green-underside Blues, a jazzy caterpillar,whilst Tony located a Cream-spot Tiger, or similar.With a mid-afternoon flight back home on our

final day there was little further time in the field butat the Karaman Beli pass some 10km beforeKorkuteli at 1,290 metres we dismounted to checkout a lovely herby thyme covered hillside. But boy,was it cold, despite the sunny intervals! Safi spotteda Bavius Blue rooster and it was good to seeChapman’s Blue and Brown Argus in thewindswept conditions.The Lycian site of Termessos became our final

stop. The zig-zag approach road was ascended undera grey sky and cool breeze but a pair of roostingEastern Festoons and a solitary Bavius Blue werefound adjacent to the car park. Most of the groupwent to see the amphitheatre. A final stop was madenot far from the site entrance where Tony found a

freshly emerged Balkan MarbledWhite low down on a yellow sage.This was to be the last butterfly ofthe trip.A total of 50 butterfly species

had been seen and 71 birds hadbeen recorded including(warblers) Olivaceous, Rüppell’s;(buntings) Cirl, Cretzschmar’s,Black-headed, and Corn;(wheatears) Northern, Isabelline,and Black-eared; (woodpeckers)Middle-spotted, Lesser-spotted,and Syrian.

Lattice Brown

Dark form of Small Copper



Dates for your diary

Brown Hairstreak Egg Hunt DaysSat 22 October (training day), Sat 26 November, Sun1 January 2012 (New Year’s Day egg hunt – mincedpies and mulled wine), Sat 18 February, Sat 17 March.Meet at 10.00am at Grafton Flyford Church off A422Worcester - Stratford road (GR: SO961557). Please beprompt as in some cases we will be driving on to other sites. Contact: Mike Williams 07802 274552. Othermidweek egg hunt dates will be arranged over the winter; see the Brown Hairstreak ebulletin (downloadablefrom the branch website) for further details or contact Mike.

Butterfly Conservation’s Annual General Meeting and Members’ Day 2011Sat 19 November at Cheltenham Racecourse, hosted by Gloucestershire Branch. The programme of talks fromseveral renowned speakers will include a keynote from One Show presenter and BC Vice President, MikeDilger. Browse displays and specially selected stalls selling nature, butterfly and moth wares. The day willconclude with the annual Marsh and Volunteer Awards Ceremony.

Chaddesley Wood Moth MeetingsSat 1 October at 6.00pm; Sat 5 November at 4.00pm. Meet at Jubilee Gate (GR: SO914736) and all arewelcome. Contacts: Mervyn Needham 01562 777461 or Alan Prior 0121 778 2973.

Ewyas Harold Reserve and Common Work PartiesSat 29 October, Sat 26 November, Sat 21 January 2012, Sat 25 February, Sat 24 March. Meet at 10.00am atthe northern Cwm Hill end of Ewyas Harold Common (GR: SO382302) adjacent to cattle grid. Approach fromAbbey Dore off B4347 at GR: SO384306. Contact: Ian Hart 01981 510259.

Grafton Wood Nature Reserve Work PartiesWed 5 October, Sun 9 October, Wed 12 October, Wed 19 October, Wed 26 October, Wed November 2,Wed 9 November, Sun 13 November, Wed 16 November, Wed 23 November, Wed 30 November,Wed 7 December, Sun 11 December, Wed 14 December, Wed 21 December, Wed 28 December,Wed 4 January 2012, Sun 8 January, Wed 11 January, Wed 18 January, Wed 25 January, Wed 1 February,Wed 8 February, Sun 12 February, Wed 15 February, Wed 22 February, Wed 29 February, Wed 7 March,Sun 11 March, Wed 14 March, Wed 21 March, Wed 28 March, Wed 4 April, Sun 8 April. Meet at 10.00am atThree Parishes Hall, Grafton Flyford (next to the church) just off the A422 Worcester - Stratford road (GR:SO963557). Contact: John Tilt 01386 792458.

Monkwood Nature Reserve Work PartiesSun 2 October ‘Taster Day’ for regulars and anyone who wishes to join the work party to see what we do. Thiswill include a guided walk around the wood in the afternoon. Also Sun 6 November, Sun 4 December, Sun 15January 2012, Sun 5 February, Sun 4 March, Sun 1April. Meet at 10.00am in the reserve car park off the SintonGreen to Monkwood Green road (GR: SO803603). Contact: George Groves 01905 620721 or 07989 474045.

Monkwood Nature Reserve Fungus ForaySat 15 October, meet in the reserve car park at 10.30am. Leader: Diana Bateman. Charge: Adults £2.00,Children £1.00. Booking essential with Zoe Stevens 01905 754919.

Penny Hill Landfill Site Work PartiesSun 16 October, Sun 30 October. Conservation task at Penny Hill landfill site, off Pudford Lane, Hillside,Martley, to improve habitat for the Dingy Skipper at its best remaining site in Worcestershire. Meet both daysat 10.00am at entrance to landfill site (GR: SO752612). Joint event with Worcestershire ConservationVolunteers. Contact: Mike Williams 07802 274552.

Prees Heath Common Reserve Fungi ForaySun 23 October, meet at 2pm on the access track off the A49 opposite the Steel Heath turning (GR: SJ557363).Contact: Stephen Lewis, Warden, 07900 886809, email: [email protected]

To ensure that Branch members andnewcomers to the fascinating world ofbutterflies and moths know what is happeningin our region, event and work party organisersshould e-mail full details of upcomingevents to the editor of The Comma [email protected] and to web-masterDavid Green at [email protected]


Trainees waste notime in putting newskills into practiceWith support from Shropshire Hills AONBSustainable Development Fund, threebutterfly identification workshops were heldthis summer at various locations in southShropshire. The aim of the workshops, whichwere led by Mike Williams, were to helpparticipants identify the butterflies they seeand encourage them to become activerecorders. Each workshop consisted of amorning classroom session in a village hallfollowed by a visit to a nearby location tohopefully see butterflies on the wing andpractice ID skills in the field. Variousrecording and monitoring methods were alsocovered including timed counts and transectrecording. The dates were chosen so thatthose people attending all three workshopswould have the opportunity to see a goodrange of those species found in southShropshire, including some of the keyspecies like Wood White, Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Grayling. In theevent, the first two workshops were affectedby some typical Shropshire weather butnevertheless were successful in finding thetarget species. Ten places were available ateach session and altogether 20 people tookpart. Feedback from the course was verypositive and already a number of participantshave been involved with timed counts forGrayling on the Stiperstones, as well asexpressing interest in further recording worknext year. We are grateful to the ShropshireHills AONB for providing the funding toenable the workshops to happen. We hope tobe able to offer future ID training forvolunteers in the future subject to funding.

Mike Williams

Trainees learn how to identify a butterflyduring one of the courses (Mike Williams)

Dates for your diary

Prees Heath Common Reserve Work PartiesWed 5 October, bell heather seed harvesting; Wed 23November, dead tree clearance; Wed 14 December,activity to be confirmed, morning only. All work partiesstart at 10.30am prompt and finish around 3.30pm.Meet on the access track off the A49 opposite the SteelHeath turning (GR: SJ557363). Bring a packed lunchand drink. Contact: Stephen Lewis, Warden, 07900886809, email: [email protected]

Trench Wood Work PartiesSun 23 October, Sun 27 November, 25 December to bere-arranged, Sun 22 January 2012, Sun 26 February,Sun 25 March, Sun 22April. Meet at 10.00am in the carpark off Trench Lane (GR: SO929588). Contact NeilMcLean 07710 626668.

Wyre Forest Wood White Work PartySun 20 November. Conservation task in Wyre Forest tobenefit Wood White. Meet at 10.00am at EarnwoodCopse car park on B4194 Bewdley - Kinlet road (GR:SO744784). Please be prompt as we will be driving onto the work site. Contact: MikeWilliams 07802 274552.

Wyre Forest Fritillary Action DaysSun 27 November, Wed 15 February 2012. FritillaryAction Days in Wyre Forest. Meet at 10.00am at startof disused railway line in Dry Mill Lane, Bewdley (GR:SO773763). Please be prompt as we will be driving onto the work site. Contact: MikeWilliams 07802 274552.

2012Bishop’s Wood Environmental Centre Butterfly DaySun 1 July at Bishop’s Wood Environmental Centre,Crossway Green, Stourport from 1.00 - 5.00pm. Theevent will be run jointly by West Midlands Branch ofButterfly Conservation and the Friends of Bishop’sWoodand will be open to the public. Bring a picnic. There willbe guided walks at regular intervals during the afternoonled by Mike Williams. The Centre will lay on variouschildren’s activities, including face painting, and therewill be a BC sales stall. Admission will be at a discountedprice for BC members of £2 for adults and £1 forchildren. Contact: Mike Williams 01299 824860.

South Shropshire Wood White DaySun 15 January. Joint event with Forestry Commissionincludes free barbecue for those attending. Details to beconfirmed. Contact: Mike Williams 07802 274552.


Asurvey of ash trees in east Worcestershire,organised by West Midlands Branch ofButterfly Conservation, has so far confirmed

five new trees used by the nationally rare BrownHairstreak. Among the new trees is one on theNaunton Court Fields nature reserve owned byWorcestershire Wildlife Trust. The butterfliesassemble around ash trees shortly after they emergeand it’s here that breeding takes place.

Mike Williams, Brown Hairstreak Champion forBC, explained: “While we know that ash trees form avery important role in the life of Brown Hairstreaksso far we have identified relatively few of the treesinvolved. The aim of the Big Ash Bash this year hasbeen to try to fill this gap in our knowledge and weare delighted with our success in finding several newtrees. Our volunteers made early morning visits to anumber of ash trees in the hope of spotting thiselusive butterfly.“The stronghold for the butterfly in the entire

Midlands region is Grafton Wood at nearby GraftonFlyford. Together with theWildlife Trust, we’ve beenworking with local landowners and communitiesthroughout the ancient Forest of Feckenham toimprove habitats for the butterflies.“Over the last five years we’ve seen both their

population expand in numbers and in range. To findout that they’ve successfully colonised ashes in

Naunton Beauchamp aswell as trees in BradleyGreen and Astwood Bankto the north and RousLench to the south isabsolutely brilliant news.”The butterflies are a

national priority forconservation. They spenda lot of time in treecanopies and are often hard to spot. From late Augustfemale Brown Hairstreaks will descend to hedgerowsto lay their eggs on young blackthorn. The eggsremain on the blackthorn throughout the wintermonths and hatch in late April.

The caterpillars feed on the blackthornleaves before descending to the ground topupate. They emerge as butterflies in July tofeed mainly, it is believed, on the honeydewsecreted by aphids.Around 40 people attended the Brown

Hairstreak Open Day at Grafton Wood on 4September, but once again we were badlyaffected by poor weather. Everyone was able tosee Brown Hairstreak eggs, but it was onlythose who stayed on in the afternoon who werefortunate enough to see the butterfly on thewing.Meanwhile, a number of days have been

planned over the winter to search for BrownHairstreak eggs (see page 32) and further dateswill be published in the regular BrownHairstreak ebulletin (contact Mike if you wouldlike to be added to the circulation list).

Flying start for Big Ash Bash

How the success was reported in the Worcester News

The nationally rare Brown Hairstreak (Neil Avery)

An egg (Gill Thompson)


ChairmanJohn Tilt [email protected] 01386 792458

Vice Chairman and Conservation OfficerMike Southall [email protected] 01299 251467

TreasurerRon Hatton [email protected] 01242 673923

Branch SecretaryJoy Stevens [email protected] 01384 372397

Senior Regional OfficerDr Jenny Joy [email protected] 01952 249325

Branch RecorderNigel Stone [email protected] 02476 335189

MapMate AdministratorJim Cresswell [email protected] 01785 712273

TransectsJohn Tilt [email protected] 01386 792458

Research OfficerJohn Dover [email protected] 01925 752905

Reserve ManagersEwyas Harold - Ian Hart [email protected] 01981 510259Grafton Wood - John Tilt [email protected] 01386 792458Monkwood - George Groves [email protected] 01905 620721Prees Heath - Stephen Lewis [email protected] 07900 886809Trench Wood - Neil McLean [email protected] 07710 626668

Conservation OfficersWorcestershire - Trevor Bucknall [email protected] 01905 755757Herefordshire - Ian Hart [email protected] 01981 510259Shropshire - Dr Jenny Joy [email protected] 01952 245684

Moth OfficersBirmingham and the Black CountryDavid Jackson [email protected] 01902 344716

Herefordshire - Robin Hemming [email protected] 01568 797351Worcestershire - Mike Southall [email protected] 01299 251467

County LeadersNorth Staffordshire - John Bryan [email protected] 01782 541870Central Staffordshire - Robert Winstanley [email protected] 01889 576768South Staffordshire - David Jackson [email protected] 01902 344716Herefordshire - Dean Fenton [email protected] 01568 611575

Brown Hairstreak ChampionMike Williams [email protected] 01299 824860

Newsletter EditorRoger Wasley [email protected] 01242 603765

Committee Members and Officers

36 The Comma • Autumn 2011 Printed by Tewkesbury Printing Co Ltd

Answering The Call of NatureAnswering the call of nature led to one of the

best butterfly finds of the year for WestMidlands Branch Secretary Joy Stevens. It

was on May Day that Joy went on a spring walkorganised by some friends.She recalls: “We started from Worfield, near

Bridgnorth, and followed a circular route. About halfway round, near to a village called Rindleford on thefootpath from there toAllscott, we stopped for a teamphoto by a tree stump and a clump of nettles. Therewas a single Small Tortoiseshell flitting round. Aseveryone else moved off, I felt the need to obey a callof nature – and I’m so glad I did! Just as I was re-arranging my attire, something white fluttered by andlanded in the adjacent nettles. It didn’t stay, butfluttered across the field.”The photograph on the right is the result of Joy’s

chase across the fields. The Small Tortoiseshell wasdefinitely not faded and, although it wasn’t in tip-topcondition, Joy was quite pleased she managed to getsomething on camera.The butterfly was later identified by Mike

Williams from the picture as aberration pallida. InJune 2010, Martin Ward photographed a SmallPearl-bordered Fritillary aberration pallida in theWyre Forest.Joy is not the only Branch member to find that

answering the call of nature can result in a surprisebutterfly or moth. Patrick Clement says: “Just daysbefore I heard about Joy’s amazing sighting, I had asimilar situation where I found myself‘standing’under a Horse Chestnut for 30 seconds orso during which I looked up and noticed tiny, tinymoths at rest beneath a great many of the leaves. Sure

enough they were Horse Chestnut Leaf-minersCameraria ohridella, hundreds of them and I wouldhave missed them all had it not been for that call ofnature!”

Mike Williams says: “I once spent a morninglooking for Brown Hairstreaks without successuntil I answered the call and, hey presto, one camedown and sat on a leaf beside me! Unfortunately, notthe best moment for me to photograph it.”

Richard Southwell adds: “I remember someyears back turning up at the Wyre Forest VisitorCentre as the meeting place for a moth event. Beforedeparting into the forest in our cars a number of uswent to the gents; the light had attracted two mothsone being quite rare.”And during a family holiday in Mallorca, Richard

went off to the loo at the top of a hill. There were twoholes for an electric plug in the outside wall and whatwas sticking its long probosis into one of the holes?– a Hummingbird Hawk-moth!So the next time you answer the call of nature,

look out for a passing butterfly…ADuke or Emperorwouldn’t be a flash in the pan, indeed, it would makeit a royal flush!

Small Tortoiseshell aberration pallida (Joy Stevens)

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary aberration pallida inthe Wyre Forest in June 2010 (Martin Ward)

Documents

No.80Autumn2011 In late April, it was the most common butterfly ... huge increases. For example, on the Longdon pipeline, numbers increased by 526% (from 57 in 2010 to 300 in 2011),