Just a couple of butterfly sightings in Derbyshire this last week due to smaller amounts of sunshine appearing, as follows :-
Felicity Jackson saw a Small Tortoiseshell flying across Allestree Park on the 9th of February 2022 (was the butterfly checking out how the re-wilding of the park was progressing?!) and then David Elliott tells me that he saw a Peacock flying past his south facing window in Glapwell o the 12th of February 2022. Jenny Emerson recently checked on the hibernators within the tunnel at Calke Park recently but only a couple of Herald moths were present, no doubt, like ourselves, patiently waiting for the Spring to arrive!
Pat and I have organised a couple of half day transect training sessions next month which will include a slide show of our local butterflies together with the Derbyshire transect results for 2021. The venue is the Evergreen Club, Cornhill, Allestree, Derby DE22 2FT and we will be having 2 sessions on one day, so that volunteers can choose one of them to attend, Sunday the 13th of March 2022, with a morning session from 10.30 am to 12.45 pm, which includes a 15 minute break, and an afternoon session from 1.45 pm till 4pm, with again a 15 minute break for tea and coffee. The sessions are open to volunteers from other Counties in the Region as well as Derbyshire so please let me know if you are interested, especially, but not necessarily confined to, those of you who are proposing to carry out a transect for the first time in 2022. Hopefully these sessions will be an ideal reminder of the pleasure of being involved in this great way of volunteering whilst at the same time contributing to our greater knowledge of the local lepidoptera. For those of you who do not know the venue, the Evergreen Club is a large hall with high ceilings and there are large external doors which will provide a good flow of fresh air. There is ample room for 30 chairs in the Hall in order to allow safe distances between attendees. Hand wash dispensers will be provided and if you feel the need to wear a face mask, then please do so! We look forward to seeing both new and existing volunteers before the new transect season starts on the 1st of April 2022.
Butterfly Conservation and UKBMS are keen for transect data to be entered on line so here in Derbyshire I am looking for a team leader for each site to take on this role.(a copy of instructions to get started is attached) Volunteers should complete their usual record sheets (blank copy for 2022 is attached) and copy it to everyone in the team plus myself so that any queries can be resolved quickly before the data is entered – at the end of the transect season each leader should then email me the file for their site so that all records can be included in the National database for butterfly sightings. The new website is now live at https://ukbms.org and Peter Faulkner has used this site to enter the Clough Wood data in 2021 – he is prepared to help team leaders with any queries that they might have whilst carrying out this important work.
Looking back at 2021, with just the Leicestershire transect data yet to be submitted to UKBMS, the East Midlands Branch has completed more transects than any other Branch in the UK – the overall numbers being :-
East Midlands – 183 sites (Derbyshire – 134 sites; Notts – 29 sites; Leics – 20 sites)
Hants & I of W – 177 sites
Surrey – 127 sites
West Midlands – 85 sites
Upper Thames – 84 sites
Yet again another fantastic performance by over 600 volunteers in the Region, many of whom are chomping at the bit to get in the field recording again hopefully with warm sunshine on their backs! I will be sending out invitations to many of the Derbyshire volunteers in early March 2022 when hopefully many holiday dates will have been sorted – once that information is received then I will be able to issue the relevant 2022 rotas. If you are part of a team that is covered by another Local Co-ordinator, then please make contact with them direct. Let’s get the show on the road again – Pat and I can’t wait!