Hello Everyone,
Fortunately last week provided us with warm and mainly sunny weather, culminating with Mother Nature giving us her Greatest Show off Earth with a fantastic display of the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis) on Friday the 10th of May 2024, which was seen across many parts of the UK, including here in the East Midlands. For those of you who were safely tucked up in bed or without a horizon to view this spectacle then do not be dismayed – some of our vigilant volunteers went out to photograph the event which was caused by one of the strongest geomagnetic storms for years to hit the Earth – Sue Stubbs went to Sutton on the Hill and Christina Plant went to Parsley Hay in the Peak District – have a look at the attached fantastic photographs – breath taking indeed! Meanwhile back on the ground, it is possible to see some interesting sights whilst doing a butterfly transect and Alison Pritchard saw a Grass Snake basking on the towpath along the Cromford Canal between Ambergate and Whatstandwell on the 9th of May 2024.
Moving on to Butterflies and Moths, there were sightings of 3 new species this week with records of the Small Heath on the 10th of May 2024 at Markham Vale ( Andrew Woodhouse) and on the 13th of May 2024 at Salter Wood, Street Lane ( Jane Rogers) together with the first sighting of the Common Blue when 6 were seen at Whitwell Tip on the 12th of May 2024 (Dan Martin) which was then followed by 3 seen on the 13th of May 2024 at Drakelow NR ( Andy Large) – it is amazing how the appearance of this species always coincides with the flowering of its larval food plant, birds foot trefoil!. The other new species to appear was the Migrating Brown Argus which was noted on the 13th of May 2024 at Drakelow NR ( Andy Large) Only a couple of sightings of the Small Copper this week including an individual seen in the Peak District at Waterswallows, Buxton on the 13th of May 2024 (Dave Purchase et al). Despite no sightings of the Brown Argus (Peak District Version) in the County yet, the Holly Blue goes from strength to strength with sightings from 25 locations including an individual in a garden in Hope in the Peak District on the 10th of May 2024 (Helen Perkins) and another on the same day in Lathkill Dale (Ruth Greaves) – the highest count of 5 came from the Mickleover garden of Peter Roberts on the 13th of May 2024.
Pleasingly the Wall Brown is now showing itself with records from a further 5 locations up to and including the 13th of May 2024, with just singletons at Horsedale, Bonsall (Dave & Sue Evans), Hoe Grange Quarry (Clive Ashton), Holloway (Alison Pritchard), Firestone Hill above Belper (Steve Plant) and at Cressbrookdale (Andrew Woodhouse). Meanwhile the other BAP species on the wing in May, the Dingy Skipper has appeared at a further 14 ’brownfield’ locations in Lowland Derbyshire with the highest count of 32 coming from Whitwell Tip on the 11th of May 2024 (Mark Longdon), although the species has yet to be seen in the Peak District.
Other high counts of Spring species on the wing included 42 Orange Tips at Abney on the 12th of May 2024 (John Coupland) and 71 Green Hairstreaks seen in Cressbrookdale on the 11th of May 2024 (Andrew Woodhouse), this latter species being noted at a further 4 locations on the moors and a further 8 locations in the dales. Still very few recent sightings of the Red Admiral with mainly singletons at just 8 locations in the County although the Brimstone often appears when the sun comes out including 18 no seen in Hartshorne Wood on the 8th of May 2024 (Andy Large) together with 12 no seen at Pleasley Pit on the 11th of May 2024 (Willy Lane)
On the moth scene, there was a nice surprise for Simon Beavis on the 11th of May 2024 when a Humming Bird Hawk moth was seen on his allotment at the Firs Estate in Derby and a Scarlet Tiger caterpillar was noted on the 13th of May 2024 in Spondon by Riley Sharp (per Mick Sharp) which just goes to show how this species is moving into Derbyshire.
Despite all the fine and sunny weather a few sites are still struggling to see any butterflies at all but at least day flying moths are now appearing and pleasingly I saw a couple of Burnet Companion moths at Aston Brickyards on the 13th of May 2024 – in the field this species can easily be confused with the Dingy Skipper which does not have any yellow/orange colouring at the base of its lower wings.( see the attached photos for comparison).
Alarmingly I saw a snippet on the local T V the other night which suggests that the Asian Hornet is about to arrive here in the East Midlands in the very near future – if you see one of these insects then please contact the Great British Non Native Species Secretariat NNSS online notification form. or you can send any suspect sightings to the Non Native Species email address which is at alertnonnative@ceh.ac.uk. Where possible, a photo, the location of the sighting and a description of the insect seen should be included.
Are you all aware that NationalGrid is proposing to put overhead cables on pylons across the spine of Derbyshire from Chesterfield to Willington? Areas that could be affected include Findern, Swarkestone, Aston, Morley, Denby, Belper/Ripley, Alfreton, Stretton and areas south of Calow in Chesterfield. Have a look at their proposals on the following link:-
www.nationalgrid.com/chesterfieldtowillington
You have until the 9th of July 2024 to comment and/or raise your concerns – don’t delay, do it now and save our countryside and its wildlife before the actions of yet another Multi National Organisation does what it wants regardless of public concerns. Next on the agenda is the possibility of the destruction of hundreds of veteran oaks adjacent to the A38 at Markeaton Park in Derby if Highways England gets its own way – they promise to put in whips as compensation – big deal!
Finally on a positive note it looks like some L A in Notts are supporting the ‘No Mow May’ project – Jane Browne sent me the link to Rushcliffe B C which is very encouraging :- https://www.rushcliffe.gov.uk/nomow. and Lynn Preece has confirmed that Newark & Sherwood D C is also taking part, so it looks like the message is finally getting through to some Organisations, which is great.
