Hello Everyone,

With sunshine at a premium during the first half of this month, it is hardly surprising that there were only 3 outdoor sightings of butterflies since the last Update, up to the 14th of February 2024 – 2 Red Admirals both seen on the 11th of February 2024 in North East Derbyshire First Neil Jones saw an individual on a sunny south facing window sill at his Barlborough house and then Lin Parkin saw another of the same species sunning itself on a wall at Linacre Reservoir near Chesterfield. The next day (12th of February 2024) Jenny Emerson and Andrew Smith visited the tramway tunnels at Calke Park where they saw 46 Herald moths and just 3 Peacocks hibernating there. Then at a FAB work party at Aston Brickyards on the 13th of February 2024, John Holloway saw a Brimstone butterfly on the wing there – this site is excellent for the species as FAB (Friends of Aston Brickyards) have planted many alder buckthorns over the years. Valentine’s Day produced an indoor sighting of 2 Small Tortoiseshells hibernating in a house in Brimington (Peter Kidd), but with a balmy flow of air from the Azores on 15th of February 2024 (17c in Derby and 18c in Staveley) a few hours of sunshine was just too much for 14 Brimstones and 3 Commas together with one of the Small Tortoiseshells that Peter Kidd mentioned above, to remain in hibernation, with sightings as follows:-

Brimstones flying at Long Eaton (Jenny Severn), Sawley (Bryan Sewell), Bargate, Belper (Jan Hall), Rose End Meadows (David Goldstraw),Markham North Pit (Mark Radford), Eyam (Trevor Hoyland), Hilton (Sue Stubbs), Hartshorne (Michael Williams) with 2 seen in Foxley Wood, Linton (Chris Leverington) and 4 noted on the Trans Pennine Trail at Staveley (Sid Morris). Commas were seen flying at South Normanton (John Parlby) and 2 noted in Foxley Wood, Linton (Chris Leverington).

At least Severn Trent Water will be pleased with the current situation with regard to rainfall as the 3 Upper Derwent Valley dams and Carsington Water Reservoir are all 100% full, although the reservoirs further south in the County are not quite there yet but will more than likely be full in the very near future.

There has been some interesting feedback from local Recorders recently regarding the Wall Brown butterfly – none more that an email from Ben Keywood, an Entomologist at the Sheffield & Rotherham W T, who suggests that ‘the species is extreme susceptible to fungus infections if the grass tussocks in which it feeds become too wet.  Interestingly, Grayling butterfly suffers from the same fungal infection.  It tends to attack the prolegs which turn black before spreading upwards and killing the larva.  Other Satyrids don’t seem to be quite as susceptible. I’m pretty sure that has been a major factor behind its decline across central England, the huge increase in rainfall, flood events and very mild, wet winters. Coastal dune system habitat where it is still doing well is largely protected from this problem, particularly as the butterfly tends to choose tussocks growing on hot steep slopes.  It’s held on in the Peak District for exactly the same reasons. It’s quite clear its decline has been from largely low lying areas’

Very interesting thoughts there Ben, which probably accounts for the fact that sheltered grassy ledges on rocky outcrops is the Wall Brown’s favoured habitat in the Peak District, such as those at Hoe Grange Quarry and Longstone Edge, but why is the species now moving back into the lower lying areas of N E Derbyshire at the moment – does anyone have any theories on that?

Analysing the transect data for 2023 confirms that the Wall Brown was present at 31 transect sites in the County with the highest overall totals coming from Hoe Grange Quarry (37 no), Longstone Edge (28 no), Cunningdale (13 no) and at Horseshoe Quarry

(12 no). Looking at the casual sightings for 2023, the top 7 sites for the most Wall Browns seen in a day were Chrome Hill ( 20 no -Nick Hatton), Cressbrookdale (18 no – Andrew Woodhouse), Moss Rake, Bradwell (15 no – Andrew Woodhouse), Higger Tor ( 12 no-

Jon Hudson), Magpie Mine, Sheldon ( 10 no – Angela Bird), Hay Dale (10 no – Ian & Joy White) and at Grin Low, Buxton (10no – Ian & Joy White).

A quick look at the overall transect totals show that approx.110,000 butterflies were recorded on transects in 2023 (135 sites walked)  compared to about 100,000 in 2022 (128 sites walked) so the average number per site has increased from 779 no in 2022 to an average of 814 no in 2023 – presumably the lack of intense heat in the summer of 2023 helped the overall situation. This is also reflected in the number of the commonest butterfly species seen in the County – the Meadow Brown, which saw numbers increase from just over 22,000 in 2022 to over 30,000 in 2023.

Moving on to individual transect sites, the top 8 sites regarding actual numbers of butterflies seen on transects in 2023 are :-

Salter Wood, Denby (3,243 butterflies), Pleasley Pit (2,601 butterflies), the Forge 2 site in Ironville (2,597 butterflies), Cinderhill site in Shipley Country Park (2,471 butterflies), Doe Lea (2,365 butterflies), Clover Close, Elvaston ( 2,229 butterflies), Drakelow NR North

( 2,163 butterflies) and Haddon Hall Estate (2,140 butterflies) – notice the lack of sites in the High Peak!

Most invitations to join our brilliant crusade to carry out the most transects in the UK again this year have been sent out but it is apparent that some existing transect sites require additional volunteers – to date there are vacancies at the following locations –

Clough Wood, Darley Dale, Horseshoe Quarry, Eyam, Longstone Edge, Mickleover Meadows, Seale Wood, Overseal and also at Woodside NR, Shipley.If you would like to get involved on a rota at any of these sites then please send me an email – your County Needs You! If you live in either Notts or Leics, there are a number of sites that need covering under the Wider Countryside Butterfly Scheme (WCBS) this year – this involves walking a set route once during the months of May to August inclusive – ie just 4 walks. Let me know if you are interested and I will forward the list to you.

Finally, Willy Lane informs me that he has organised and will be doing a presentation on the butterflies recorded at Pleasley Pit on Saturday the 9th of March 2024 from 11 am at the Information Centre there, including images of all the butterflies that have been recorded on site over the years.