Hello Everyone, Despite an early frost in Derby on the 11th of October 2024, there were some good sunny periods to enjoy this week and 9 butterfly species made an appearance in the County including 2 sightings of the Painted Lady both in gardens on the 7th of October 2024 when an individual was seen at Ashbourne (Jonathan Proud) together with another noted in Staveley (Sid Morris).
Other species noted this last week include :-
Large White :- Sightings of 9 individuals at 8 locations in the County up to and including the 11th of October 2024 when individuals were noted at Buxton (Ian & Joy White), Matlock (Kyle Winney) and in Darley Park (Fran Vause)
Small White :- Similarly sightings of 10 individuals at 10 locations in the County up to and including the 11th of October 2024 when there were records received from Buxton (Ian & Joy White) and Two Dales (Stuart Slack)
Green Veined White :- Just 1 recent sighting of this species when an individual was noted on the 13th of October 2024 in the Glapwell garden of David Elliott
Small Copper :- Just a couple of late sightings of this species on the 11th of October 2024 with records from Over Lane (Dave Adams) together with another seen in the herbaceous border at Darley Park (Fran Vause)
Red Admiral :- As expected numbers were down on the previous week’s totals but there were sightings of 42 individuals noted at 24 locations in the County up to and including the 13th of October 2024 with the highest count on the 11th of October 2024 being 5 in Darley Park (Fran Vause) and 4 noted on the 10th of October 2024 on ivy in the Glapwell garden of David Elliott and the Swadlincote garden of Ron Lane
Small Tortoiseshell :- Just 8 individuals were seen in the County this week up to and including the 13th of October 2024 when David Elliott noted an individual in his Glapwell garden.
Comma :- The most common butterfly noted during this last week when 46 individuals were noted at 21 locations in the County up to and including the 13th of October 2024 with the highest count of 6 coming from the Matlock garden of Alan Kitchen on the 8th of October 2024
Speckled Wood :- Some recent sightings of this species have been of relatively mint butterflies with records of 12 individuals noted at 7 locations in the County up to and including the 11th of October 2024 with the highest count of 5 coming from Millers Dale on the 7th of October 2024 (Ian & Joy White)
There have been no further sightings of the Wall Brown in Derbyshire since the 28th of September 2024 but Dave Chandler tells me that the species has been noted along the Essex coast up to the 8th of October 2024 and Ray Walker saw many along the Norfolk coastline on the weekend of the 5th and 6th of October 2024, so the species appears to be having a third brood in East Anglia. Also there have been no sightings of the Peacock this week although Brian & Jean Hallam visited the tramway tunnel in Calke Park and found just 4 in hibernation together with 82 Herald moths, these figures being much lower than in previous years at the same time.
With many of the UKBMS inputters having completed their tasks for the transect data for 2024, it is now possible to get a clear indication as to how bad this year has been for pollinators generally and butterflies in particular. Looking back at Update no 38 when I reported that the results for this year’s Big Butterfly Count in the Region were down 45% on 2023, the total butterflies seen on transects in the East Midlands Region this year are down 40% overall when compared to 2023 which itself was a poor year. Looking at some individual sites here in Derbyshire, the declines are even more dramatic and I have compared 24 sites to date and all of them are declines in excess of 50% with the poorest performances coming from Darley & Nutwood NR (-62%), West Hallam Tip
(-61%), Markham Pit South Linear (-60%), Calke Park ( -57%), Drakelow NR (-57%), Norbriggs Flash (-56%), Pleasley Pit (-55%), Aston Brickyards (-54%), Deep Dale Sheldon (-54%), Doe Lea (-52%) Kedleston Park (-52%) and Markham Pit North (-50%) with even Hoe Grange Quarry NR (-31%). No wonder that Butterfly Conservation has declared a ‘Butterfly Emergency’
