Double Brooders

Last year I tended to take a lot of pictures of butterflies on our land using my phone. I would always have my phone in my back pocket whenever I was working outside and it was easy to take a quick record shot, rather than running to the house to get my camera, only to discover that the butterfly had then flown away!

Imagine my horror earlier this year when I discovered that all my pictures had disappeared from my phone. Luckily Google Photos automatically backs up every picture I take and so I have spent many evenings sifting through them and downloading the better pictures onto my laptop.

Amongst the pictures I was keen to save were some of a hutchinsoni form of the Comma that I saw last August. This is a lighter form of the Comma, Polygonia c-album, which it is thought is a result of the caterpillar developing while the day length is increasing. i.e before mid-summers day.

This form goes on to breed again the same year. Normally, in Scotland, the Comma just has one brood a year. The double brood is more common in England. This is the first time I have seen this form of Comma, but apparently a few have been seen in southern Scotland in the last few years. Possibly another sign of the climate changing, or maybe just a result of the lovely weather we had last spring.

Here is the normal form of the Comma.

And in contrast here is an interesting dark Comma I saw a few weeks later. This gave the impression of being a purple butterfly when it was flying.

Also, in August I found a cluster of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars.

Here the Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae, is normally single brooded, but further south there are two generations a year. I have never found caterpillars that late in the year and this was definitely a second brood. Again, probably the result of the great spring. I reared one of the caterpillars, which emerged from its chrysalis on 11th September, very much later than the usual early July.

East Lothian Butterflies 2019 Part 1

There was a very clear correlation between the weather and number of butterflies seen in East Lothian in 2019. After a reasonably mild winter there was an unseasonably warm week at the end of February with temperatures reaching 16 degrees. Then it was cold again until the end of March. At the end of April we experienced an even warmer week with temperatures of 26 degrees. However, we still experienced a few hard frosts in May. The remainder of the year was quite reasonable, but it was interspersed with very heavy rain showers. The butterfly season ended abruptly at the end of October when the weather turned cool and wet.

Other than a couple of hardy Peacocks that appeared in January, the warm week in February brought out a flurry of species. We had seen seven species before the end of February, which must be a record for East Lothian. Things then went very quiet until the third week in March when the butterfly season truly started. Most species did very well in 2019, probably as a result of the very good weather in 2018 allowing the early stages of the butterflies to survive in good numbers. However, from July through to September there were occasional very heavy periods of rain which had a dramatic impact on butterfly numbers.

Despite having fewer people recording butterflies than the last few years we had a record 20,598 butterflies recorded in 2019 (16,875 in 2018). This was helped considerably by the enormous number of Painted Ladies that arrived on our shores in June and July, but even without them we had almost as many butterflies as in 2018.

Peacock, Aglais io

The first butterfly recorded in East Lothian in 2019 was a Peacock seen at Aberlady Local Nature Reserve on 11th January. A second Peacock was seen at Levenhall Links three days later. Peacocks have been recorded in increasingly high numbers over the last seven years, with 2019 being the best year yet. Numbers peaked in mid August, but then dropped very quickly again to single figures by the start of September.

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae

The Small Tortoiseshells waited until the warm week in February to show, with the first record being on the 17^th. They have been declining in numbers over the last few years. However, 2019 saw a bit of a revival in numbers when the new generation emerged towards the end of July. As usual, they quickly disappeared with many of them heading into hibernation surprisingly early in the season.

Comma, Polygonia c-album

The number of records of Commas has gradually been increasing since they were first recorded in East Lothian in 2001. However, they declined significantly 2016 presumably as a result of the lousy summer. Since then they have been picking up and in 2019 the recovery continued. The first Comma was seen on 25th February and, like the Small Tortoiseshell, their number peaked for a week at the end of August and then very quickly they disappeared. It will be interesting to see how many return next spring after their hibernation.

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui

The big story of 2019 was the arrival on our shores of an enormous number of Painted Ladies. These came in two waves. The first at the beginning of June when we were amazed at the number of Painted Ladies being seen. But that was nothing compared with the number that arrived at the end of July when they were seen in their hundreds. Some of these would have been the young of the previous arrivals, but most of them were seen flying in from the sea. They were also noted flying in a very

definite westerly direction and records were received from all over Scotland including the Outer Hebrides.

I was interested to learn that Painted Ladies had done similarly well in the USA in 2019. So, on both sides of the Atlantic conditions must have been just right throughout the lives of four or five generations of butterflies.

I received records of 5395 Painted Ladies in 2019, a big difference from an average of about 80 over the last six years.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

The exceptionally mild week in February also brought about a remarkably early record for the Speckled Wood. In fact two were seen on February 26th basking in the sun on the coast at Prestonpans. There was another record on 22nd March. We normally wouldn't expect to see a Speckled Wood here until the middle of April, which is when we started to see them again in 2019. I can only imagine that the three early records were individuals that had benefited from the long summer of 2018 and had formed chrysalises late in the autumn.

The spring populations appeared in higher numbers than in previous years and I was expecting to see bumper numbers later in the summer. However, the heavy rains that we experienced appeared to knock Speckled Woods quite hard.

There were fewer Speckled Woods recorded in 2019 than in the previous year, but they are still doing well in East Lothian.

Small White, Pieris rapae

After such a great year for Small Whites in 2018 I was expecting to see great things in 2019. And it was a good year, but just not as good a year as last year! In 2018 we had records of almost 3500 Small Whites, but in 2019 we recorded 950. However, this is still good when compared with the average for the previous five years of about 360.

The first Small White seen in 2019 was on the 27th February. A good five or six weeks earlier than we would normally expect. The rest of the season was much as expected with a summer population about five times as great as the spring population.

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

The first Red Admiral record of 2019 was on 27th February. This was most likely an individual that had survived the mild winter. There were a few more records in March and April, but it was the first week of June when they started to arrive on our coasts, about three days ahead of the first wave of Painted Ladies. There was another spike in numbers at the end of August, which could have been the next generation. Red Admirals continued to be seen in good numbers until the end of October.

Orange Tip, Anthocharis cardamines

Orange Tips did very well again in 2019. This was probably a result of the great year they had in 2018. They were fortunate that their flight period was before the heavy showers started, so the weather was kind to them.

The first Orange Tip of 2019 was seen on 31st March, about a week earlier than normal.

Green-veined White, Pieris napi

The first Green-veined White was also seen on 31st March. The spring population was a lot larger than average, with the summer generation just being a little more than normal.

Large White, Pieris brassicae

The Large White has never been as numerous as the Small White or Green-veined White. 2019 was a fairly average year for them, which is a little surprising considering how well they did in 2018. The first record was on 11th April and they were recorded through to the 28th September.

I'll continue with the rest of the butterflies seen in 2019 in my next post.

East Lothian Butterflies 2017 - Part 1

2017 was a strange year for butterflies. It started off reasonably well, but the summer butterflies were rather disappointing. Luckily there was a late autumn resurgence of Speckled Woods and Red Admirals, which boosted the overall number of butterflies seen.

We had a good spring in 2017 after a mild winter with only one dusting of snow. From the end of March until mid-June we had decent weather, but then we had a period of very heavy rain. This seemed to impact on many species of butterflies (and I am told some species of birds). Certainly I saw a batch of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars wiped out by the rain in June and also an enormous group of Peacock caterpillars perished after three days of continuous rain in July.

This year, we had more people than ever sending in records. This has given a bit of a false impression of the number of butterflies that there were around. One thing I noticed this year was that there were very few records of large numbers of butterflies being seen.

I have looked back over the last five years' worth of records and noticed a worrying trend in that the number of butterflies per sighting has been steadily reducing each year.

Below is a summary of how each species did in 2017.

Peacock, Aglais io

A really early sighting this year, the first Peacock record I received was on 16th January on an unusually warm and sunny day. They were recorded every month through to November, with numbers peaking towards the end of August. Peacocks did reasonably well this year, unlike the Small Tortoiseshell, which has a very similar life cycle.

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae

The first Small Tortoiseshell was spotted on 25th January. They had a very poor year this year and despite the record number of butterfly records sent in, we had our lowest number of Small Tortoiseshells recorded for five years. What I found interesting is that the first Small Tortoiseshell recorded hibernating was on 17 August, only a couple of weeks after it must have emerged. More hardy Small Tortoiseshells were seen flying until 14th September.

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

The first Red Admiral recorded was on 9th March. I would speculate that this was an individual that had spent the winter here. They were seen every month after that right through to December, with numbers peaking in September. This was our most commonly recorded butterfly this year, and it did very well all over the UK. This is a butterfly that only a few years ago was considered as a migrant, but which has now firmly established itself here.

Comma, Polygonia c-album

The first record of a Comma this year was on 12th March. The Comma has never been a particularly common butterfly in East Lothian. Since first being recorded here in 2001 their numbers have picked up each year, peaking in 2015. For some reason 2016 was a terrible year for them and in 2017 there have been a few more seen, but still worryingly low numbers.

Green-veined White, Pieris napi

The first Green-veined White was recorded this year on 1st April. They seemed to have a fairly average year, but I think in reality numbers were lower than usual (given that we had more people recording butterflies). Certainly, the number recorded on the transects was lower than average.

Orange Tip, Anthocharis cardamines

The Orange Tip was first recorded on 6th April. The number recorded was a little higher than average, as expected. The adult stage of this butterfly usually flies between April and mid June, so they missed the terrible weather just after that.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

The first Speckled Wood was seen on 8th April. There are generally three peaks in population of adult Speckled Woods throughout the year. Possibly the first to appear had spent the winter as a chrysalis. The second peak, in June, could be those that spent the winter as caterpillars. This year the number of records received in June was much greater than in previous years, but the later generation was not so spectacular, although there were a great number of records received in late September, making this the second most numerous butterfly recorded in East Lothian in 2017.

Small White, Pieris rapae

The Small White was also first recorded on 8th April. I think that the Small White is generally a little unrecorded, as it is difficult to identify unless it lands. 2017 started off reasonably well for the Small White with normal numbers being seen in the spring. However, the summer generation was very reduced, presumably as a result of the heavy rain during June and July.

Large White, Pieris brassicae

The Large White would normally follow a similar pattern to the Small White. The first record for 2017 was on 8th April and thereafter the Large White had a fairly average year. More were recorded this year than the previous three years, but remember there were more people recording them. Why the Small White struggled and the Large White didn't appear to be affected by the weather is a mystery to me!

Wall Brown, Lasiommata megera

The Wall Brown was one of 2017's success stories. First recorded here in 2010 the Wall Brown has since been spreading westwards around the coast and to several inland sites. In 2017 the first record was on 20th April and the first generation continued to be seen until  3rd June. The second generation started on 5th August and it was recorded through to the 19th September in much greater numbers than in previous years.

Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas

The Small Copper has been fairly consistent in East Lothian over the last five years. 2017 wasn't very different from the average. 

I will continue with the remaining 12 species in my next post.

East Lothian Butterflies 2016 (1)

The weather in 2016 was very similar to the previous year. I hope this isn't going to become the norm! The winter of 2015/16 was reasonably mild again, with only one dusting of snow. We had very heavy rain in February causing localised flooding, but the rest of the year was reasonably dry. Sadly, it was also quite cool and cloudy with below average sunshine.

One unusual aspect of the weather in 2016 was the number of easterly winds we had and this seemed to bring cloud with it.

We had very local torrential rain in June which washed away the caterpillars I had been nurturing in my garden. I suspect it may have had a similar impact across much of East Lothian impacting on the butterfly numbers later in the year.

Despite this I still received almost as many butterfly records this year as I did last year. The combined efforts of everyone recording butterflies has built up a very good picture of what is going on in East Lothian.

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

The first butterfly seen in East Lothian in 2016 was a Red Admiral on 3 February and interestingly the last record I received of a butterfly flying was also a Red Admiral on 16 November. In between they were regularly seen with numbers peaking in August. The early sightings over the last few years would indicate that Red Admirals have been able to survive the last few mild winters we have had.

Peacock, Aglais io

The first record in 2016 was on 13 March and Peacocks were regularly seen until early June. Although the numbers in the summer months were lower than we normally see, they continued to be seen flying until 4 November.

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae

Small Tortoiseshells were seen regularly from 14 March until the middle of July as expected, but when we would normally expect to see an increase in numbers in late summer and autumn, numbers were disappointingly low. This corresponds with the national story and I can only imagine that the cool summer weather caused a lot of caterpillars to perish. I notice that the records where more than one Tortoiseshell was recorded were all on the coast. We are finding a few Small Tortoiseshells hibernating in the usual sites, although fewer than normal, but hopefully enough to boost the population again this year.

Green-veined White, Pieris napi

The first record was on 14^th April and they were seen through to the 27^th September. The spring brood were as numerous as normal, but they weren’t seen in anything like the normal numbers during the summer generation. However, when I check the numbers recorded on the transect the summer numbers were better.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

Speckled Woods continued to do well in East Lothian in 2016. The first record I received was on 19 April and they were very regularly recorded with no apparent break between the three generations until 31 October. The peak numbers appeared in August, which is different from previous years, when the numbers were highest in September. The Speckled Wood has spread west and south, meaning that it is now found in most suitable habitats in East Lothian.

Comma, Polygonia c-album

Commas were first seen on 19 April in three different locations! There were only 19 records for the whole year, which is considerably down on 2014 and 2015. This is a butterfly that had been building up in numbers since it first was recorded here about 15 years ago, but it certainly didn't seem to do well in 2016.

Orange Tip, Anthocharis cardamines

The first Orange Tip was recorded on 19 April and they were seen in good numbers through to 26 June. Being an early species, they were unaffected by the poor summer weather, but let’s hope that there isn’t an impact on the 2017 population.

Small White, Pieris rapae

The first Small White was recorded on 19 April. It was interesting that I received more Small White records in 2016 than in previous years, but with smaller numbers in each record. There was a fairly clear division between the first generation – April to mid-June and the second generation from mid-July to 23 September.

Large White, Pieris brassicae

The first Large Whites were recorded on a transect in early April. They were recorded until 10 September in better numbers than normal. I can't imagine why they did so well in 2016. I remember them laying eggs very late in 2015 and I didn't think the caterpillars stood a chance of surviving the early frosts. It seems they can!

Painted Lady, Vanessa cardui

2016 was a “Painted Lady year”. These remarkable butterflies arrived here in early May and were recorded in good numbers right through to 4^th November. Thereafter they hopefully made it back to Africa, from where their great grandparents would have set out back in March.

Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas

The first record of a Small Copper was on 6 May and they were recorded very regularly until 13 September. Nationally, the Small Copper didn’t do well last year, but in East Lothian they seemed to buck the trend a bit. The second generation of the year wasn't as numerous as the spring generation. We never see great numbers of them, but in 2016 I received more records than in previous years.

Green Hairstreak, Callophrys rubi

The first Green Hairstreak record was on 19 May and they were seen through to 6 June in three different areas of woodland north of the Lammermuir Hills. They haven't previously been recorded at two of these sites. Interestingly there were no records from the more remote and difficult to reach areas of the Lammermuirs, possibly because no one made the effort to search those areas.

I will continue with the rest of the butterflies seen in East Lothian in 2016 in my next post.

East Lothian Butterflies 2015

I will remember 2015 as being rather grey and cool. After a mild winter with only one dusting of snow, spring arrived in mid March with butterflies regularly being recorded from the 18th March.

Much of the summer was cloudy with only short spells of sunshine. While areas north and south of East Lothian enjoyed longer sunny periods, we seemed to miss any good weather. In fact when I was checking the Butterfly Transect results, I didn't come across one record sheet showing the temperature being above 20 degrees Celsius!

However, the weather in September and October was lovely and later in the year we avoided the heavy rain, which caused flooding elsewhere in the UK. The weather didn't really turn cold until 4th December.

Despite the weather I received a bumper number of records this year, which gave a really good picture of how the butterflies fared over the year.

Peacock, Aglais io

The first butterfly recorded in 2015 was a Peacock on 4th March. They were regularly seen with the last record of a worn specimen being seen on 30th June. On 16th July the first of the new generation was spotted and again they were seen in good numbers until 1 November.

Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae

Small Tortoiseshells also did well this year with the first record being on 19th March. There was no clear division between the generations and they were recorded through to 8 December. That was our last butterfly record of the year.

Comma, Polygonia c-album

I think 2015 was the best year we have had for Commas here in East Lothian. The first record was on 23rd March and they were regularly spotted through April. I only received one record each month in May, June and July and then from the beginning of August they were seen in good numbers through to 26th October.

Small White, Pieris rapae

The number of Small Whites recorded in the spring was down on previous years, probably reflecting the poor weather we had late in the summer of 2014. The first record in 2015 was on 9th April and they were seen through to the 7th July. From 6th August the second generation appeared and they were seen in better numbers until 1 October.

Orange Tip, Anthocharis cardamines

Orange Tips did well this year. The first record was on 9th April and they were recorded through to 27 June. This was quite a prolonged flight period, maybe as a result of the cool weather.

Green-veined White, Pieris napi

Green-veined Whites always do well here. The first record for 2015 was on 9th April and they were seen in smaller than normal numbers until 16th July. On 6th August the second generation emerged and they were seen in good numbers until 14th October.

Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta

The first Red Admiral record was on 10th April and I only received three more records until July when we were literally invaded by hundreds of them. On 1st July I saw six Red Admirals flying or blowing in from the sea on a cold grey day. Six other people reported similar sightings that day and I received several records of Red Admirals over the next few days. These butterflies went on to produce a further generation and high numbers of Red Admirals were seen until 11 November.

Large White, Pieris brassicae

Like the Small White, numbers of the spring population of Large Whites were quite low. They were first recorded on 15th April until 7th July. The second generation was seen between August 6th and October 26th in far greater numbers.

Speckled Wood, Pararge aegeria

The first Speckled Wood was recorded on 18 April. Their numbers seemed a little disappointing compared with last year, but they picked up later in the season. The last record was on 26th October. They didn't extend their range as they have in previous years, but considering the weather they continued to do well.

Small Copper, Lycaena phlaeas

Small Coppers did very well here in 2015. Because I received so many records there was a nice clear division between the two generations with the first generation being between 20th April and 8th July and the second generation being between the 12th August and 1st October.

Holly Blue, Celastrina argiolus

I only received one record of a Holly Blue in 2015 on 21st April. Whilst it is sad to only receive one, it gives me hope that there may be a hidden colony of Holly Blues somewhere in East Lothian. Records in recent years have all come from three neighbouring villages, so I intend to have a thorough search of the area this year!

Small Heath, Coenonympha pamphilus

Small Heaths were recorded from 4th May until 25th September. This is a longer season than I have seen here before, which is possibly a result of the cool summer we had.

I'll continue with the remaining species in my next post.

More Winter Butterflies

Three weeks ago the manager of a large local estate kindly lent me the keys for an old abandoned castle, after I had told him about the hibernating butterflies I had found around East Lothian. This is a magnificent building, now derelict, with parts of it dating from the 1400s.
I had a quick look in one of the outbuildings and found one Small Tortoiseshell, Aglais urticae, on the ceiling and, sadly, a lot of wings on the floor.

I had a little difficulty opening the door into the castle due to a build-up of debris from the local pigeons. I ended up climbing up through a window and clearing the ground behind the door to allow my friend to get in. Inside we were a little disappointed to find that there were very few rooms with roofs.

However, we noticed a room with a vaulted ceiling that looked very promising, but it was about ten feet above ground level.

I managed to borrow a ladder from a local business and climbed up into the room. 

At the far end, in a little nook, I found two Peacock butterflies, Aglais io, sheltering. Again, they were away from any direct light and sheltered from the wind. I found another behind some old lime mortar that was pealing away from the wall.

We were left a little intrigued, as there is a garden centre close by where there are hundreds of butterflies seen in the summer. Then I had a look up a tall chimney and saw eight or ten Peacock butterflies in the section I could see. There were probably more further up, out of sight.

We then found the perfect place, but unfortunately we couldn't get into the room to have a look. It was a basement directly below the room with the vaulted ceiling. There was a small window opening with a shaft down into the room. I could see another room off the main room, which would be the ideal place for butterflies to hibernate. The door into this basement also had debris built up behind it and I didn't want to risk breaking the door, trying to open it. At least I think I know where the butterflies were all hibernating!

We have had two beautiful days in a row now, so all of the butterflies are wide awake. I walked my transect for the first time today and I was delighted to see two Commas, Polygonia c-album, six Peacocks and six Small Tortoiseshells. Those are the three species that over-winter as adults here. I didn't manage to find any hibernating Commas, so that will be next winters mission!

In a coupe of weeks I should be seeing the first white butterflies and that is when I consider the season has really started!