Hello Everyone, With the weather now back into its ‘normal summer mode’ with brief sun and some rain, at least temperatures are remaining around the low 20c, it didn’t deter the Wall Brown from appearing at a few sites during the last week with sightings from the Peak/Peak Fringe areas of Monsal Head (Paul Townsend), above Ambergate (Lara Oakley), Clough Wood ( Sue Colver) and at Carsington Pastures (John Coupland) whilst Andrew Woodhouse saw an individual on the 5th of August 2024 at Bluebank Lock, Chesterfield Canal which suggests a movement eastwards into North East Derbyshire.
Other recent sightings of note include :-
Brimstone :- Still fairly low in numbers with mainly singletons noted at 8 locations in the County with the maximum count of 4 coming from Tansley Dale/Cressbrookdale on the 6th of August 2024 (Gordon & Alison Rooke)
Essex Skipper :- An individual noted on the 6th of August 2024 in Chee Dale by Cate Beck & Sue Mitchell suggests that the species is slowly moving north westwards towards the Buxton area, where it is still year to appear.
Purple Hairstreak :- Still only low numbers being observed with recent sightings from Walton Woods, Chesterfield (Phil Gilbert), at Upper Holloway (Alison Pritchard) and an individual seen on an oak tree at the Jim Mart NR, Alton ( Nikki Mahadevan)
White Letter Hairstreak :- Sadly no sightings this week for this rare summer butterfly that is totally reliant on elm for its survival.
Brown Argus Migrating :- Just 3 individuals seen on the 5th of August 2024 at the Staveley Works site (Andrew Woodhouse)
Brown Argus Peak Race :- Counts of just 4 individuals came on the 6th of August 2024 from Coombs Dale (Andrew Woodhouse) and at Tansley/Cressbrookdale ( Gordon & Alison Rooke).
Common Blue :- A really poor year for this species with the recent highest count of 16 coming from Moss Rake on the 6th of August 2024 (Andrew Woodhouse)
Holly Blue :- Still relatively common in Lowland Derbyshire with sightings from 14 locations including 3 seen in Goseley Cutting in Woodville on the 5th of August 2024 (Kate Allies & Ruth Woods)
Red Admiral :- A few sites are beginning to see an increase in numbers with 10 seen in Hoe Grange Quarry on the 6th of August 2024 (Ray Badger Walker)
Peacock :- Still relatively low in numbers with the highest recent count of 22 coming from Thornhill NR, Bamford on the 6th of August 2024 (Joanna & Peter Mackey)
Dark Green Fritillary :- Sightings from 12 locations in the Peak District with the highest count of 9 coming from Coombs Dale on the 6th of August 2024 (Andrew Woodhouse)
Silver Washed Fritillary :- Pleasingly this species is now breeding at a number of sites in the County with recent sightings coming from 10 locations including some in the North of Derbyshire – Hay Wood, Grindleford (Jonathan Page), Thornhill NR, Bamford (Joanna & Peter Mackey) and in the Woodlands Valley, Ladybower (Andrew Woodhouse).
Speckled Wood :- As mentioned on the last Update, this species is finally coming good with the recent highest sightings coming from Goseley Cutting, Woodville (26 no – Kate Allies & Ruth Woods) and at Manor Farm, Long Eaton ( 24 no – Joan Breakwell )
Marbled White :- Unlike other spreading species which are moving north through the County, this species has not really got many breeding populations but there were a couple of late sightings on the 29th of July 2024 at the Blackwell Trail (Nikki Mahadevan) and at Clough Wood (Janet Mallichan)
Just a couple of sightings this last week of the Painted Lady butterfly with an individual seen on the Haddon Hall Estate on the 7th of August 2024 (Christine Gregory) and another noted at Stones Island, Carsington Water on the 8th of August 2024 (Simon Roddis) also a Humming Bird Hawk Moth was seen on the 30th of July 2024 in the Carsington Village garden of Paul & Susan Sowter.
As many of you know, Hoe Grange Quarry is now one of Derbyshire’s main butterfly havens and as a result of the fantastic conservation and monitoring work over the years, the site has now produced a total of 32 butterfly species recorded there which when compared to the total of 12 species in 2011 when Pat and I first found the site, is a remarkable result for everyone involved. It is not only butterflies that makes the headlines though – thanks to Longcliffe Quarries refurbishing the dew pond at the site entrance and then creating a new pond in 2017 in the ‘big hole’ we have now recorded 17 species of dragonflies – so imagine my pleasure when Tony Wardell emailed me this last week with a photo of a variety of the 4 Spotted Chaser – it is known as the form praenubila (see the attached photo) – yet another great record from this exceptional site at the southern end of the Peak District.
