Hello Everyone, As July 2023 comes to an end it has been a very changeable month in complete contrast to both July 2022 and also June 2023 which were both warm (and hot) and sunny. This month has been relatively cold and wet, which is not good news for our local lepidoptera but at least most caterpillar food plants have done well in good growing conditions! The other positive is the fact that the summer hairstreaks have been seen quite often on the lower branches of trees and also because of a lack of honey dew as sustenance, they have been seen quite regularly in gardens. During this last week the rare White Letter Hairstreak has been noted at 16 locations in the County including gardens at South Wingfield (Eric Easom), Grindleford (Jane Bailey) and just over the County border in Toton, Notts ( Brian Parkes).Interestingly, Hemp Agrimony has again been used as a plant for nectar and the butterfly has been seen along the Cromford Canal by both Ruth Greaves and Alison Pritchard using this plant (see attached photos)
Similarly the Purple Hairstreak has been seen at 10 locations this last week including gardens at Whaley Bridge (Alan & Angie Seymour) and Quarndon (Graham Pollock) together with its usual oak woodlands in the County plus a new sites at Platts Wood in Hayfield ( Dave Mallon & Tony Moss) and at the Godkin site in Loscoe ( Lucy Benniston).
At last I have been receiving records for the new brood Peacock with sightings from 68 locations in the County, mostly in ones and twos on buddleias in gardens with the maximum count of 10 coming from Drakelow NR on the 26th of July 2023 ( Andy Large). Since my last Update, it looks like the species is now appearing in numbers as far north as Warwickshire and Northamptonshire so with a little bit of luck we can only hope that numbers increase from now on across the East Midlands – only your sightings will prove this! The life cycle of the Brimstone follows a similar pattern to that of the Peacock but they use different caterpillar foodplants of course, and again the new brood of this species is somewhat underwhelming at the moment – just 36 sightings from 19 locations in the County, with a max count of 7 coming from Linton on the 26th of July 2023 (Chris Leverington), gives you some idea of lack of sightings recently of this species, which, like the Peacock, will hibernate as an adult through the coming Winter (I can’t believe that I have used that word as we are yet to get to August but it feels like Autumn on some days!) Fortunately both the Red Admiral and the Comma appear to be having a reasonable month with a count of 27 Commas coming from Kedleston Park on the 26th of July 2023 ( Kevin Morris) and a count of 26 Red Admirals coming from Carr Vale NR on the 27th of July 2023 ( Mike Beck). The summer fritillaries are still on the wing and the Dark Green Fritillary has been seen in the Peak District at 30 sites this last week with the highest count of 23 coming from the transect at Coombs Dale on the 19th of July 2023 (Al & John Roberts). The other summer fritillary, the Silver Washed is more widely distributed in the County but sightings this week have come from only 21 locations but pleasingly Ray Walker saw an individual at Hoe Grange Quarry on the 21st of July 2023 – another new species for our first Butterfly Nature Reserve in the County.
Apart from the Holly Blue, the other members of the ‘blue’ family have been seen in low numbers so far this month especially the Common Blue which is not so common anymore! However, the Migrating Brown Argus is moving further north in the County with sightings at new sites recently including Mickleover Meadows (Malcolm Neal), the National Stone Centre, Wirksworth (Ray Walker) and on the Haddon Hall Medieval Park (Steve & Lin Orridge) with the highest count of 14 coming from Drakelow NR (Andy Large).
The Small Copper has had a poor year until now although there is time for a renaissance in the Autumn for this species – recent records in ones and twos have come from 36 locations with the highest count of 8 coming from Dene Quarry, Cromford Hill on the 24th of July 2023 (Nigel Davidson) Pleasingly, second brood Holly Blues are appearing across the County with sightings from 52 locations with the highest count of 7 coming from Linton on the 25th of July 2023 ( Chris Leverington).
Unfortunately there have been no confirmed sightings of the Purple Emperor yet in the County but a surprise for Phil Gilbert was the appearance of a male Wall Brown on the 27th of July 2023 at the Avenue Country Park, Wingerworth.
On the migrant scene both the Humming Bird Hawk moth and the Painted Lady butterfly have been noted in Derbyshire during the last week with sightings of the former at 12 sites, mainly gardens on red valerian, whilst sightings of the latter species have come from 20 locations mainly singletons in Lowland Derbyshire but 2 were noted on the 26th of July 2023 at Mickleover (Colin Bowler) and at Burnaston (Jean Lemagnen), although Helen Perkins noted one in her Hope garden on the 19th of July 2023.
With the 4th Test Match at Old Trafford being rained off on Sunday the 23rd of July 2023, a mere 50 miles south of there at the National Stone Centre in Wirksworth, visitors who attended the Big Butterfly Count event were treated to some sunny periods which enabled 14 species of butterflies to be recorded on site, including the rare White Letter Hairstreak, which was seen both feeding on majoram at ground level as well as individuals seen flying around the tops of the wych elm trees that are surviving at the site – there was also a great floral display for visitors to enjoy as well!
