Hello Everyone, A week of cloudy and coolish weather following on from the sunny day of the 12th of October 2025 meant that there were no butterfly sightings in the County that week, but this current week has seen some sunny intervals between the showers and hey presto the hardy volunteers who ventured out into the Derbyshire countryside were rewarded with some butterfly records :-
Large White :- Late individuals were seen on the sunny day of the 22nd of October 2025 in the Allestree garden of Pat & Ken Orpe and also at Clifton, Ashbourne (Derek Brownlee)
Red Admiral :- 8 individuals seen since the 12th of October 2025 with the latest on the 22nd of October 2025 in the Grassmoor garden of Brian Cuttell.
Peacock :- A couple of individuals were seen on the 22nd of October 2025, one basking on bramble in Allestree Park (Felicity Jackson). and another noted along the Stockley Trail (Tony Hudson)
Small Copper :- Just 2 recent sightings of this species – at Brassington (Clare & Dave Henderson) and on the 20th of October 2025 at Lightwood above Buxton (Steve Orridge) where the individual was clinging on to a flowery ragwort plant searching for nectar.
Speckled Wood :- Last sighting on the 13th of October 2025 at Combs Head (Roger Holme)
Wall Brown :-Since the last Update, I have been made aware of 5 more third brood specimens of this species – details as follows :-
11th October 2025 – one in the Litton garden of Gordon & Alison Rooke
12th October 2025 – two individuals seen, with one at Brassington (Clare & David Henderson) and surprisingly another seen in the hilltop village of Holbrook, above Belper (Simon Cockayne) – it looks like Belper is being surrounded by this rare butterfly species.
20th October 2025 – A late individual was seen along the Cromford Canal near Whatstandwell by Alison Pritchard
22nd October 2025 – Another late individual was noted in Clifton, Ashbourne by Derek Brownlee – not the latest record for the County which is the 31st of October back in 1997!
Surprisingly a late Painted Lady was seen on the 22nd of October 2025 at Witches Oak Water NR, Shardlow by Rob Shaw and In addition the Humming Bird Hawk moth was also seen on the same day on verbena in the Chaddesden garden of Mick Sharp. Despite the recent cloudy days there were additional sightings of this moth at Brassington (Clare & David Henderson), Hayes Conference Centre, Swanwick (Peter Walley), Wadshelf (Jim Alder – see attached) and also in the Thorpe garden of Barbara Wager.
Finally, many of you will know that I keep basic weather conditions here in Derby and for the last 11 years I have noted sunny days, rainy days and days of 21c and over for the 6 months of the year when butterfly transects are carried out…and interestingly during 2025 whilst it was certainly dry and the second most warmest during the last 11 years, it was only the 8th sunniest during that time! (see attached chart) So whilst we enjoyed a far better year than 2024 it was only the dry period and heat of 2025 which made it very different to most of the previous 10 years. In fact 2018 was both the sunniest and warmest and also the 9th driest during the period of my weather notes – let’s hope and see if 2026 turns out to be a really good butterfly year!
