Hello Everyone,

Despite today being the shortest day of the year (the Winter Solstice with just 7 hours 35 minutes of daylight in Derby), Malaga in Spain recently had its warmest December day ever with a temperature of 30c, whilst here in Derbyshire, Saturday the 16th of December 2023 was an unexpected bonus for us weather – wise with a full day of sunshine and a temperature of 12c here in Derby – consequently there were 2 sightings of the Red Admiral in the County – one in Wingerworth ( Martin Kaye) and another seen sunning itself on a house wall in Ilkeston (Nigel Downes), together with a surprise for Jenny Severn when she saw a Brimstone flying through her Long Eaton garden, not the latest County sighting for the species which is the 25th of December 2016. Meanwhile, Derek Brownlee saw and photographed 3 Herald moths and a single Small Tortoiseshell recently in the Church Tower at Fenny Bentley near Ashbourne (see attached) and Ian White was also surprised to see a Satellite moth in his moth trap on the 15th/16th of December 2023.

Our thanks goes out to all the 350 transect volunteers in Derbyshire together with the additional 150 volunteers that cover both Notts and Leics for diligently carrying out their surveys during this year – the recording effort in the East Midlands goes from strength to strength especially now that the transect data is being entered direct on to UKBMS for 100 Derbyshire sites by eager volunteers, and every year brings us all new sightings and also challenges which most of the 1600 recipients of these Updates manage to overcome with a total commitment – thank you so much for your efforts which resulted in Butterfly Conservation recently awarding me a Highly Commended Marsh Award for Community Involvement Certificate which in reality is down to Pat and you good people!

Hopefully 2024 will bring us our first sighting of the iconic Purple Emperor butterfly into Derbyshire – the Sallows for the Purple Emperor project is moving ahead at great pace after the inaugural planting at Rosliston Forestry Centre late last month – have a look at the Butterfly Conservation latest blog :-    https://butterfly-conservation.org/news-and-blog) or the Sun Newspaper on the 16th of December 2023 :- https://www.thesun.co.uk/fabulous/25045019/winter-colour-for-the-garden/

Our next goal is to try and get the White Admiral to expand its range from North Warwickshire into South Derbyshire and the adjacent area of Leicestershire. We need to plant wild honeysuckle in semi shaded woodlands where the plant should hang down from trees which is where the female will lay her eggs , so another project has been initiated to plant wild honeysuckle in the areas mentioned above with both Butterfly Conservation and South Derbyshire District Council joining forces again. You could help as well by potting up any wild honeysuckle ready for planting out in the Spring of 2024 – let me know if you could help. So our priorities are to follow the trail of the Silver Washed Fritillary into Derbyshire by first attracting the Purple Emperor into our woods and then hopefully the White Admiral – we have got to help Mother Nature by providing the right habitats and larval foodplants as we are all living in very changing times!

It just leaves time for Pat and I to wish you all a Happy Christmas and a Healthy New Year in 2024 .