Hello Everyone, After yet another week of mainly dismal weather, it is all credit to the volunteers who managed to take advantage of the short sunny spells to get their transects completed in Week 25 as at least the temperature remained warm until the 20th of September 2025, after which a northerly flow set in – will this be the trigger for the Painted Lady to head south to warmer climes?
It was, however, a pleasure to feel warm on the 19th of September 2025 and with a temperature of 22c here in Derby it felt that this indeed was the ‘last of the summer wine’ especially with the Autumn Equinox beckoning today and although some transects failed to produce a single butterfly sighting in Week 25, this was not the case at both Chatsworth Gardens and in Lathkill Dale NNR which provided most of this week’s highlights on the 19th of September 2025, the former site produced a count of 65 butterflies in 9 species for Esther Weir whilst the latter site had a total of 86 butterflies in 10 species for Liz Wheeldon.
Further sightings of the third brood Wall Brown appeared in the County during this last week with records from Dunsley Meadows on the 16th of September 2025 (Jonathan Page), Hoe Grange Quarry (Max & Christine Maughan) and Chatsworth Gardens (Esther Weir) both on the 19th of September 2025 and surprisingly at Kenning Park, Clay Cross on the 21st of September 2025 (Peter Kidd)
Further sightings of the Small Copper confirm what a great late Summer/early Autumn that this species has had in the County this year with recent records coming from 50 locations including 28 seen in Dene Quarry, Cromford Hill (Martin Cobham) on the 16th of September 2025, 33 seen on the transect in Lathkill Dale NNR on the 19th of September 2025 (Liz Wheeldon) and 37 seen on Bradbury’s Bank in Dovedale ( Wendy Astill & Tim Thomas) on the same day.
Even more common than the last species is the Speckled Wood with recent sightings coming from 72 locations including 14 seen in Lathkill Dale NNR (Liz Wheeldon), 14 seen in Toton Washlands (Brenda & Mick Meakin) and 18 noted at Drakelow NR (Andy Large) all on the 19th of September 2025.
Pleasingly the Red Admiral has been seen at gatherings of up to 8 number at 6 locations but the highlight was 31 noted in Chatsworth Gardens on the 19th of September 2025 (Esther Weir) with most seen on the tall white scented plumes of actaea racemosa ‘black cohosh’. A few gatherings of the Comma have been noted recently with maximum counts of 7 from Salter Wood on the 16th of September 2025 Jane Rogers) and 8 seen in Chatsworth Gardens on the 19th of September 2025 (Esther Weir)
The Common Blue has now been restricted to sightings of up to 4 individuals at 12 locations in the County up to and including the 19th of September 2025 and both species of the Brown Argus were seen on that date as well – the Peak District Race was seen on the transect at Lathkill Dale NNR (Liz Wheeldon) whilst the Migrating version was noted on the transect at Drakelow NR (Andy Large) together with a late sighting on the 21st of September 2025 at Swanwick (Cet & Ross Coverdale Pearson) – the last sighting of the Holly Blue was on the 19th of September 2025 when individuals were seen at both Ashbourne (Gary Atkins) and also at Toton Washlands (Brenda & Mick Meakin)
On the migrant scene, the Painted Lady has been seen at 6 locations up to and including the 21st of September 2025 when one was seen in Glossop (Patrick Anderson) and a similar number of Humming Bird Hawk moths have been seen up to the same date including sightings from the Hope Valley (Helen Perkins) and in nearby Bradwell (Sally Pereira)
After I have verified all the Derbyshire butterfly records, including those on transects, the data is sent off to Butterfly Conservation with the transect data going to UKBMS (B C & C E H). Following this, various Reports and Trends are published and eventually the Government Department (DEFRA) uses the data to produce its own Report and Accredited Official Statistics and the latest can be seen in the article below that has been sent to me by UKBMS.
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Finally, many of you will know that 2025 is the 50th Anniversary of transect walking and a Celebratory Conference has been organised in Nottingham on Saturday the 11th of October 2025 by Butterfly Conservation and C E H who are the main organisers of UKBMS. You can get your free tickets by clicking on the following link Book your place here
With the East Midlands completing the most transects in the UK during 2024, I hope that many of the fantastic local volunteers who carry out this amazing work will be able to attend and meet the people who use the information for the benefit of the survival of our much loved butterflies and moths. Pat and I hope to see you there and meet up with as many of you as possible.
