Hello Everyone,
After what seemed a long and cold Winter, according to the Met Office we are now officially in Spring…and it certainly feels like it! What is surprising though is that there were 25 mornings with frost in Derby this last Winter (2024/2025) which is exactly the same number of frosts for Winter 2023/2024 but pleasingly we didn’t get the weeks of rain which flooded the fields for week after week – hopefully this will be help the grassland butterfly species recover, especially in Lowland Derbyshire. So a quick comparison of the species seen so far this year to the end of February 2025 reveals that there have been 33 butterflies seen on the wing compared to 22 in 2024 during the same period – Brimstone 3 ( 2 in 2024); Comma 2 ( 1 in 2024); Peacock 8 ( 5 in 2024); Red Admiral 8 (9 in 2024) and Small Tortoiseshell 12 ( 5 in 2024).
Early March 2025 has provided us with sunny days but frosty nights, hence probably the lack of high butterfly numbers as probably many have remained in hibernation, although the 6th of Mach 2025 proved to be a good day with 35 butterflies noted in the County – species seen so far this month are ;-
Brimstone :- 31 individuals seen at 18 locations in the County including 4 seen at Sunnydale NR, Littleover on the 6th of March 2025 ( Maurice Ireland) and 5 seen on the same day at Mickleover Station/Cycle Trail (Colin Bowler)
Small Tortoiseshell :- Just 9 individuals seen at 8 locations in the County including Carrbrook Reservoir (Norman Jones), Clowne (April Darby), Palterton (Mike Beck), Higham (Louis Heath), in a Duffield Road garden in Derby ( Mike Goold), Chesterfield Canal, Tapton (Jon Hudson), Mickleover Station/Cycle Trail (Colin Bowler) and in the Whaley Bridge garden of Angie & Alan Seymour.
Peacock :- Only 4 individuals seen with sightings at Allestree Park (Felicity Jackson), Whitwell (April Darby), Foxley Wood in Linton
(Chris Leverington) and in Bow Wood, Cromford (Nikki Mahadevan)
Comma :- 12 sightings of this species at 6 sites including 1 at Barlborough (Jim Mountford), 1 at Litton (Ian & Joy White) 2 at Swadlincote Woodlands (Peter Brewster). 2 in Tideswell Dale ( Ian & Joy White), 2 in Foxley Wood, Linton (Chris Leverington). And 2 on the Mickleover Station/Cycle Trail (Colin Bowler)
Butterfly species which could be seen in the County later this month include :- Orange Tip (earliest being 4th March (2021)); Holly Blue (earliest being 11th March (2014)); Wall Brown (earliest being 25th March (2022)) and Green Hairstreak (earliest being 25th March (2022)) – these being in addition to Large White; Small White: Green Veined White and the Speckled Wood – none of which have been seen in the County yet this year.
If you are considering joining a transect team this year, there are a number of sites which require additional volunteers, these being:-
Staunton Harold Reservoir Wildflower Meadow; Dene Quarry, Cromford Hill; Crich Chase Meadows, Ambergate; Carr Vale NR; Peak Shopping NR, Rowsley and Toyota Pond and Meadows at Burnaston – please let me know if you are interested in any of them.
