East Lothian Butterflies 2023 Part 1

I have been collating the butterfly records from East Lothian for the last 11 years, so we now have good data to see how butterflies have been doing over this period. Of course we only record a very small fraction of the number of butterflies that occur in East Lothian, but it gives a pretty good picture.

2023 started off with a reasonably mild, but wet winter. However, there were a few colder spells and the frosts persisted into April. The year was punctuated with an unusually high number of easterly winds. There wasn't really a lot of sunshine until mid May, when we had a warm, sunny spell, but sadly that only lasted until half way through June! The remainder of the year was rather showery, with continuing east winds. This was only broken by a sunny week in early September and then back to cloud and rain! The first frost around the 12th October saw a sudden drop in the number of butterflies.

The weather can have an impact on the number of butterfly records received. This isn't necessarily because the butterflies aren't out and about when the weather is poor, but may be because recorders are less likely to be out looking for them. It is often the weather from the previous year that can have more of an impact, preventing the adults laying eggs, or heavy rain washing small caterpillars off their food plants.

Some species had a really poor year in 2023, but others did surprisingly well.

The first record I received was of 3 Peacocks seen on the 17th March and several more were seen over the next few days. They had a pretty good year, particularly later in the summer when the new generation appeared.

On 23rd March I received the first record of a Small Tortoiseshell. Nationally there is much concern about the reducing number of Small Tortoiseshells, yet here their numbers have been fluctuating, but not really showing a decline. The number of records in 2023 was just a little lower than the average of the previous ten years.

The third species that overwinters as an adult is the Comma and they had a particularly good year, being seen in high numbers later in the season. The first one was spotted on the 2nd April. It is interesting that these three species have similar life cycles, feeding on nettles as caterpillars and hibernating as adults, yet they each had different success rates in 2023.

The next butterfly to be seen was a Holly Blue on the 3rd April. This was the real success story of 2023, with them being spotted all over the county in good numbers. It seems funny to think that prior to 2019 they were rarely recorded in East Lothian. I received records of 377 Holly Blues last year.

Next were the whites with Small White, Large White and Orange Tips first being seen on the 3rd, 5th and 7th April. These three species all had a good year  with higher than average numbers being recorded. However, the Green-veined White didn't make an appearance until the 19th April and it had the worst year since I have been collating the butterfly records. It is difficult to understand why it did so poorly when the other white species did so well. My only suggestion is that I usually associate Green-veined Whites with river banks and damper areas. Possibly the dry springs that we have had the last two years haven't suited it. Hopefully the numbers may bounce back in the future.

The first Speckled Wood appeared on 7th April. They had a fantastic year in 2023 and were seen in particularly high numbers in early September. It is interesting to speculate why they did so well in a year when the weather wasn't what we wouldn't normally think of as ideal for butterflies.

The Wall Brown has slowly been increasing  in numbers over the last ten or twelve years in East Lothian. However, the number of records peaked in 2021 and since they have decreased again. Nationally there is concern about this species reducing in range and numbers and it had been thought that Wall Browns were spreading north in response to climate change. This year, we received the first record on 25th April with the summer generation being much more numerous than the spring generation.

Small Coppers are never really seen in big numbers. More often than not a male will take up territory on a sunny leaf and fly up when disturbed only to return to the same spot. The first record in 2023 was on 26th April and it wasn't a particularly good year for them, which I can only imagine was down to the weather.

Although Red Admirals appear to be able to survive our winters as eggs, caterpillars, chrysalises or adults, the vast majority of those we see in the early summer have flown up here from continental Europe. However, there are a few early records, which are likely individuals that have found somewhere sheltered to over-winter. Our first record last year was on the 4th May, so it is difficult to be sure where this individual spent the winter! 2023 proved to be a bumper year for Red Admirals with 1421 individuals being recorded. The highest figure since I started collating the records. There were an enormous number of records in the third week of June, pointing to a mass arrival from overseas.

I will continue this on the next post.

How Butterflies Arrive in East Lothian

In previous posts I have described how Speckled Woods and Wall Browns have arrived in East Lothian over the last few years and then colonised the whole county.

They both worked their way up the east coast from Berwickshire, skirting around the Lammermuir Hills, which run along the south of East Lothian. This seems like an obvious route, taking advantage of the milder climate along the coast and avoiding higher slightly baron hills.

It does appear that the Lammermuir Hills, with a maximum elevation of only 535 metres, is quite a barrier for butterflies as they expand their range.

Speckled Woods were first recorded in East Lothian in 2009 right on the south east corner of East Lothian at Dunglass. A year later Wall Browns were discovered in the same location and both species spread around the coast and have also used river valleys as they have colonised the county.

When Large Skippers were also found at Dunglass in 2014 we all expected them to follow the same route, but we were disappointed not to find them further along the coast over the next few years. Instead, the odd record came in suggesting that they had followed the foothills of the Lammermuirs westwards. This summer they were found in good numbers at Levenhall Links, which is on the extreme west of East Lothian. So, it seems that they chose a completely different route across the county.

Of course, Large Skippers are not easy to spot as they whizz about between flowers and maybe they are under-recorded as a result.

It is interesting, then, that Small Skippers were first recorded in East Lothian between Aberlady and Gullane in 2011. They had been recorded previously in the Borders, but hadn’t been spotted anywhere in East Lothian. Over the years more records came in and we have watched them spread east and west along the coast. There were some early records from some woodland south of Aberlady and also up in the Lammermuir Hills at Linn Dean.

It would appear that these little guys took a completely different route into East Lothian and came over the Lammermuirs via Soutra. It is no coincidence that the two main roads coming north into East Lothian are the A1 which follows the coast and the A68 which comes up over Soutra. The highest point of the A68 at Soutra is 364 metres above sea level, so still a bit of a climb, but the lowest point away from the coast.

Last year we moved to the Yarrow Valley in the Scottish Borders. Our house is between 30 and 40 miles from the coast as the crow (or butterfly) flies, but this short distance makes a surprising difference to the weather. We are at 175 metres above sea level, which isn’t that much, but the elevation and distance from the sea appears to have quite an impact on the weather. I can’t say that it is very noticeable, but the season here is at least three weeks behind what it is in more coastal areas.

It is noticeable in the spring that the Daffodils are at least three weeks later, but even later in the year my Buddleia flower at least three weeks behind those plants in our East Lothian garden, from which I took them as cuttings.

Although the summers appear to be just as hot, if not hotter than on the coast it is interesting that the shorter season means that Speckled Woods and Wall Browns, that are now so common in East Lothian, haven’t made it this far inland. However, the more adventurous Small and Large Skippers have both arrived here. It will be interesting to see what the next few years bring.

Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria - 2017

In a previous post I explained how the Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria, had arrived in East Lothian in 2009 and then colonized much of the county over the next five years. Well, I am pleased to say that they are continuing to do well. In fact in 2017 they were the secondly most commonly recorded butterfly here.

I have been looking back at the butterfly records for all species recorded here over the last five years and then comparing the 2017 figures with the average figures for that period. In the graph below the average number of Speckled Woods recorded over the last five years is shown in blue, with the 2017 records shown in red.

You will see that Speckled Woods did exceptionally well in the spring, but the poor weather in June and July impacted on their numbers. However, they made a bit of a resurgence later in the year.

Speckled Woods are interesting in that they can spend the winter as either a caterpillar or chrysalis. Those that we see here in April and May are thought to have spent the winter as a chrysalis. The larger peak in population from mid-June to mid-July are those that spent the winter as a caterpillar. There is usually then a much bigger second generation later in September. 

Looking further back, the number of Speckled Woods recorded in East Lothian has shown a steady increase since they were first recorded in 2009. 2014 was a very good year for many species, and Speckled Woods did particularly well then, but even with the poor start to the summer we had in 2017 they did better than ever.

Year	No of Speckled Woods
2009	2
2010	1
2011	16
2012	11
2013	134
2014	1019
2015	465
2016	692
2017	1174

I have been mapping where Speckled Woods have been recorded and the previous maps are shown on my earlier post. This year the Speckled Wood has continued to spread and it can now be assumed it occurs anywhere there is suitable habitat in East Lothian.

It is interesting that in a year when many species of butterflies have done so badly, this species has done well. The new arrivals in East Lothian appear to be getting on better than many of the species that have occurred here for many years.

Butterflies through time (2)

Following on from my previous post I have been continuing to read up about the butterflies that have recently been recorded in East Lothian. It would seem that many of the "new species" found in East Lothian in recent years did once occur here in the past.

Grayling, Hipparchia semele

I can find very little information about the distribution of the Grayling in East Lothian. "The Butterflies of Scotland" shows some records on the east coast of East Lothian between 1900 and 1980, but it says that the Grayling has been lost from many of its inland sites. The 1970 "Provisional Atlas of the Insects of the British Isles" showed it to no longer occur here. I found a stray Grayling in East Lothian in 2001, but the first recent records of it breeding here are from 2005 at the western side of East Lothian. I have also received records of it occurring in a remote valley or "cleugh" in the Lammermuir Hills. However, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that it has been around for a lot longer, unnoticed in some remote location. Certainly it has become more numerous in the few sites it is now found in the last five years.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

Recorded around Edinburgh in 1811, but another species that disappeared from Edinburgh and the Lothians in the mid 1800s. By 1970 it no longer occurred in the North of England. It was first recorded back in East Lothian in 2009 having spread north up the east coast from the Scottish Borders. Since then it has continued to extended its range, now being commonly found right around the coast and in many wooded areas inland in East Lothian.

Wall Brown, Lasiommata megera

Again, it seems that this butterfly was found in much of Scotland in the early Nineteenth Century. It appears that it was reasonably common until it was wiped out after a series of cold summers from 1860. Thereafter only occurring in the south west of Scotland. It was first recorded in East Lothian again in 2010 arriving on the east coast and it has since worked its way around much of the coast.

Small Skipper, Thymelicus sylvestris

There are a couple of dubious records of the Small Skipper occurring in Scotland, but it is thought these could be mis-identification. The first records of the Small Skipper in East Lothian were from the Aberlady area in 2011. Since then it has slowly spread westwards along the coast as far as Levenhall and in 2014 it was also found at a couple of inland sites. There seems to be no obvious pattern to where they have been found here. It could be that, unlike many other species, they have come around the western side of the Lammermuir Hills.

There are three more species of butterflies that have recently been found in East Lothian. I will put details of them in my next post.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria, in East Lothian 2009 - 2014

I have mentioned in previous posts the remarkable expansion in the range of the Speckled Wood butterfly, Pararge aegeria. I have recently been going through the records and mapping where they have been recorded in East Lothian in the last few years.

Up until 2009 we had no records of them occurring here, but a colleague spotted one right at the eastern boundary of East Lothian in May 2009 and two months later another was seen about 12 kilometres away at John Muir Country Park.

In 2010 I only received one record of Speckled Wood at Tyninghame Bridge in August.

In May 2011 I found a pair of Speckled Woods in John Muir Country Park and subsequent visits in June and September found them at exactly the same spot. They were also seen in various other locations within the park. That year we also received records from Innerwick and at Yellowcraig about another 12 kilometres west.

Despite the poor summer of 2012 I still received a number of records of Speckled Woods. They continued to be seen at JMCP and one was seen on two occasions in a small woodland close to Traprain Law. Most exciting were a number of records received from the Aberlady area, another large leap away.

2013 was a fantastic year for butterflies and Speckled Woods seemed to do as well, if not better than most species. They spread for six or seven kilometres up the River Tyne from JMCP and continued to do very well in the woodland around Aberlady, spreading westwards along the coast to Port Seton. They also seemed to be spreading along the woodland on the Longniddry to Haddington Railway Walk towards Haddington. Late in the season, records were received from Skateraw and Thorntonloch, nicely filling in a gap on the east coast and in November a record was received from the coast on the west of the county, showing that they had spread the length of the East Lothian coast in five years!

In 2014 Speckled Woods continued to expand their range, following the River Tyne up to Haddington and moving inland towards Gifford and Saltoun Woods. In late summer they became the most numerous butterfly seen in many parts of East Lothian, and on 10th September I saw over 400 in a wood near Aberlady.

The increase in Speckled Wood records again last year must have been partly attributable to more people looking for them and sending records in, but I think we have still built up a pretty good indication of how the species has spread over this time. The rate of spread of the species seems quite remarkable and it is difficult to understand why Speckled Woods are extending their range at such a rate. It is easy to label this as another consequence of climate change, but since 2009 we have experienced two of the coldest winters in recent history and the wettest summer on record!
I am really looking forward to seeing if Speckled Woods spread to the remaining areas of East Lothian this year.

Speckled Wood Invasion

Last Thursday a friend and I went to a woodland to look for signs of Purple Hairstreak butterflies (Favonius quercus), after being told of a possible sighting there five or six years ago. Sadly, we didn't see any Hairstreaks, but we were almost overwhelmed by Speckled Woods!

Up until 2009 we had no records of Speckled Woods, Pararge aegeria, in East Lothian. In recent years they have been extending their range northwards from northern England into the Scottish Borders and in 2009 one was seen just over the boundary in East Lothian. As with other species, their expansion seems to be blocked by the Lammermuir Hills, but they are able to get around the hills on the east coast. Later that year we had a second sighting reported to us further up the coast and each year since the number has gone up as they spread westwards right across East Lothian.

In an area of woodland about 200 metres by 400 metres we saw hundreds of Speckled Woods. Probably about 400, or more. Everywhere we looked they were dropping out of the trees, basking on the path or sunning themselves on a leaf. It is remarkable to see so many butterflies anywhere, but considering that they have only been here for five years, I couldn't believe how many there were.

There were quite a number of darker individuals among them, which I hadn't seen before.

I particularly liked this Sycamore and Ash tree that have fused together in a loving embrace!

I feel so lucky that we have Speckled Woods up here now. I have never seen so many butterflies in one place. The weather is becoming rather autumnal and there are not as many butterflies flying as there were a few weeks ago. Apart from the Speckled Woods, I only saw four other butterflies.

Speckled Wood - Pararge aegeria

The Speckled Wood, Parage aegeria, is a small to medium sized butterfly with a wingspan of about 50mm. As the name suggests it is usually found in wooded areas, choosing sunny sheltered spots, where males tend to take up territories.

Pararge aegeria tircis

It is a butterfly that excites me, as until recently it hadn't been recorded in East Lothian. Over the last few years it has been extending its range in the UK northwards. In 2009 a colleague saw one just inside East Lothian and another one was seen the following year. In 2011 I came across a small colony of Speckled Woods at John Muir Country Park, about ten miles further along the coast.

In only two years since then they have continued to spread through East Lothian and now they are found in many small areas of woodland over about two thirds of the county.

The map on the left above show the distribution of Speckled Woods in 1970. I have marked East Lothian in red. (This map is taken from The Provisional Atlas of the Insects of the British Isles, 1970) The map on the right is taken from the UK Butterflies web site and shows the distribution in 2004. The butterfly has clearly extended its range considerably in those 40 years. It has also continued to spread northwards by about 100 miles since the second map was produced.

The caterpillars feed on a variety of different grasses. In the UK adult butterflies are on the wing from late March to early October in several generations. They can overwinter as a caterpillar or chrysalis. In southern Europe adult butterflies can be seen almost all year round.

Pararge aegeria tircis

The Speckled Wood occurs over most of Europe and there are four subspecies. Pararge aegeria aegeria occurs in northern Africa and south-west Europe to about half way across France. It has orange markings on a brown background.

Pararge aegeria aegeria

Pararge aegeria aegeria

The subspecies that is found in much of the UK is tircis, which occurs in much of north east Europe. This has smaller cream markings instead of orange and a slightly darker background colour.

Pararge aegeria tircis

Pararge aegeria tircis

There are two other subspecies - insula, which occurs on the Isles of Scilly. Its markings are somewhere between cream and orange. The subspecies oblita occurs in north-west Scotland and its markings are said to be closer to white on a dark brown, almost black, background.

When we were in Tenerife last July, I was delighted to find the Canary Speckled Wood, Pararge xiphioides. This looks much like the southern European subspecies. The most obvious difference is the white markings on the underside of the wings.

Pararge xiphioides

Pararge xiphioides

Pararge xiphioides

There is another species of Speckled Wood, Pararge xiphia, which lives on the island of Madeira. I haven't seen it, but that gives me a good excuse to go there on holiday in the future! I wonder if the family agree!!