Hello Everyone, Despite a dismal start to the day on the 3rd of July 2022 it did not prevent around 300 visitors making the effort to attend the 4th Open Day at Hoe Grange Quarry, the first Butterfly NR in the County. Yet again Longcliffe Quarries and their staff put on a great effort with free food, drinks and ice cream available – this was ably supported by committee members of Butterfly Conservation East Midlands and the Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. The sun soon emerged after lunch and there were queues outside the ice cream van which is always a good sign! The butterflies then appeared and we had sightings of 13 species including the Painted Lady, Common Blue, Small Heath and the Peak District version of the Brown Argus together with some day flying moths which included a Humming Bird Hawk moth seen on valerian. Steve Orridge and others did a moth watch the night before and new species included the Marbled Coronet and the Small Elephant Hawk moth. A number of dragonflies were seen around the pond in the big hole including a female Emperor which was ovipositing. Most visitors were amazed at the show of wild flowers which included many of the 200 species recorded on site such as moonwort and cudweed as well as a massive display of ox eye daisies which carpeted the quarry floor.
The new Information Centre was well received and as well as I D charts that Pat and I put up, there were some photos of the site including the one showing the wild animal bones that were found back in 1902 – these amazingly including elephant bones as well as lions and hyenas going back to the time that the UK was attached to the west coast of Africa – a bit before our time!
Other recent sightings of interest elsewhere include the Scarlet Tiger moth seen in the Belper garden of Adrian and Rebecca Rochford and a couple of sightings of the Silver Washed Fritillary from gardens at Overseal (Ruth Moore) and at Tupton (Martin Jackson).
