Hello Everyone,
Well what a week the last 7 days proved to be with a constant nagging cold North wind, some night frosts, even in Derby, a small earthquake centred on Belper and a trail of destruction after a squall line which produced a narrow band of tornadoes in a line through Breaston, Long Eaton and West Bridgford – all in all a typical set of Spring days here in this part of the UK!
Despite all this commotion, amazingly a couple of worn Painted Lady butterflies were seen in the County this week with sightings at both Chaddesden Wood (Heather Bryant) and in Wirksworth on the 17th of April 2024 (Suzanne Clark) which were followed by the sighting of a Humming Bird Hawk moth on the 18th of April 2024 in Bradwell (Joanna Mackey) – so you never know what surprises lay in store for you these days!
At least a couple of sunny days coincided with last weekend which enabled many volunteers to carry out their transects in Week 3 but despite their great efforts at least 20 sites failed to produce a sighting yet again – however amazingly a total of 46 butterflies were seen by Marian Farrell on the 30th of April 2024 during the transect at Toton Washlands, Long Eaton, with 9 species seen including
11 no Small Tortoiseshells, 11 no Peacocks and 10 Speckled Woods.
Other interesting sightings last week include the first Green Hairstreaks seen on bilberry on the moors with 3 no noted at Chunal on the 18th of April 2024 (Dave Mallon) and a further 7 sightings of the Holly Blue in Lowland Derbyshire with records from Wyver Lane, Belper (Dave Evans), Barlborough (Neil & Lorraine Jones), Littleover (Alan Bryan), Breaston (Heather Taylor), West Hallam Ash Tip (Ken & Pat Orpe), Darley Park (Fran Vause) and at Toton Washlands, Long Eaton (Marian Farrell). Yet again the Orange Tip has been the most numerous and widely distributed butterfly across the County with sightings of over 300 individuals from over 72 locations, the highest counts coming along the length of the Cromford Canal (Cromford to Ambergate) – 35 no (Dave & Sue Evans) and at Markham Vale North (24 no – Colin Morris). Whilst both Small Tortoiseshell numbers (80 no) and Peacock numbers (137 no) held their own, the totals for Brimstone (30 no), Comma (14 no) and Red Admirals (6 no) were disappointing but given the weather for the earlier part of this month, not really surprising! This is also true of the ‘Whites’ which have yet to make their presence known in good numbers with just 4 no Large Whites, 28 no Small Whites and 26 no Green Veined Whites recorded in week 3 from 120 transect sites that were walked in the County. The only other species to be seen last week was the Speckled Wood (61 no) which was noted at 20 sites mainly in the Lowland part of Derbyshire.
With the weather forecast for Week 4 of the transect season looking fairly grim again, it will yet again be a challenge to get the transects completed this week…however the forecasters have been known to get their advice wrong so let’s hope that is the case this week!
Finally, does anyone know if there is a cut-off date when logging should be completed prior to the birds nesting season? We have a situation in Derbyshire where wholesale logging is still being carried out at a woodland site which has Schedule 1 birds present
