Migrants
Of the 21 species of butterfly identified in the park this summer, two do not overwinter here: the painted lady (Vanessa cardui) and the red admiral (Vanessa atalanta)
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Overwintering
Almost all of the 21 species of butterfly that have been seen in the park this summer, will overwinter here. Butterflies can hibernate in all four of the stages of their development.
Britain has fifty eight species of butterfly, and nine of these species spend the winter as an egg, thirty two spend it as a caterpillar, eleven as a pupa, and six as an adult.
Here are some examples:
Peacock
Pictures of a peacock butterfly taken by DKG during the summer.
Speckled wood
A speckled wood (Pararge aegeriais) on hawthorn berries photographed last weekend by DKG.
Continue reading “Speckled wood”Wall
The disappearance of the wall brown (Lasiommata megera) from areas of southern England has mystified conservationists for two decades.
Continue reading “Wall”Butterfly Transect
Ian Bushell, Hugh Wright and Mark Bushell conducted a Butterfly Transect in the park on Wednesday.
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Big Butterfly Count
The Big Butterfly Count 2019 ended last weekend on August 11th. Citizen scientists made an amazing 104,294 counts and logged their finding on Butterfly Conservation’s website. Here is a link to the RESULTS MAP.
Continue readingSkippers
Skippers are a family of Hesperiidae in the order of Lepidoptera; because they are diurnal, we generally called them butterflies but many authorities class them as a group intermediate between butterflies and moths. They are called skippers because of their rapid and darting flight.
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A peacock butterfly on bramble, by DKG.
And the underwings of a common blue that DKG found this morning in Lambrok Meadow.
BIRD STRIKE
A lucky speckled wood that just got away at the cost of a more than half of one of its four wings.
The picture is by DKG
Big Butterfly Count
Yesterday was the first day of the Big Butterfly Count. Here are some of the park’s butterflies to encourage you to sign up.
Southwick Country Park’s BUTTERFLIES 2019 list
The day’s wanderings
by Ian Bushell
There was a Common Blue butterfly just emerged in the old pond at the end of Lambrok Meadow and, after a long chase, I got a picture of a female Southern Hawker (see above) near the carved Wheel close to the Picnic area.
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Tattered butterflies
The first meadow brown butterflies hatch at the end of May and by now, the middle of July, some are beginning to look really tattered.
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Every year since 2010, Butterfly Conservation has conducted a survey of the country’s butterflies using thousands of volunteer citizen scientists. Last year over 100,000 volunteers took part.
Continue reading “big butterfly count”Peacock butterflies
Four nests of peacock caterpillars have been photographed in the park this year and we hope there are more. Those caterpillars will be pupating soon and we will begin to see the new adults this month.
Continue reading “Peacock butterflies”Mail from DKG
” Took these early this morning whilst the butterflies were still resting. A Gatekeeper and one other which may be a Meadow Brown or may not. There were so many of them in The Triangle near the picnic area.”
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.….. and a small skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris), which is number sixteen on our list.
Image: Creative Commons
Three more butterflies for our 2019 list and two more peacock nests; things are finally looking better.
Continue readingPart two of Ian’s walk
After he had polished the mud off his glasses, Ian Bushell continued his survey of the park:
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Here is a fascinating little video of a peacock butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. We know that there are at least two nests of peacock caterpillars in the park so, by the end of July, we should see these beautiful adults.
Beautiful images of a meadow brown taken in the park last night, at the end of the year’s longest day, by Chris Seymour.
Two peacock nests
A peacock butterfly female lays about 500 eggs under the top leaves of a healthy nettle plant. The eggs hatch out into caterpillars after about two weeks and the caterpillars immediately spin a protective web called a nest around the top of the plant.
Continue reading “Two peacock nests”Meadow brown
Lots of meadow browns yesterday morning among the long grass. Added to our 2019 butterfly list, they are the eleventh species of butterfly seen in the park this year.
Continue reading “Meadow brown”Painted lady
A painted lady (Vanessa cardui) spotted this morning at the far end of Lambrok Meadow and added to our 2019 butterfly list.
UPDATE 13.06.2019: THIS IS A NEW SPECIES IN THE PARK.
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Southwick Country Park Nature Reserve 