Review of 2019 and 2020 - Butterflies: Swallowtails, Whites, Hairstreaks, Coppers and Blues

SWALLOWTAILS (PAILIONIDAE)

Scarce Swallowtail Iphiclides podalirius - A brief view of one at the Parc del Garaf in NE Spain on 22nd February 2020 - sadly too quick for a photo.

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WHITES (PIERIDAE)


Large White Pieris brassicae - Recorded here in the garden and at the meadows between 5th July and 14th September 2019 and between 15th May and 30th September 2020.  Also at Foxley Wood and Thompson Common.


Small White Pieris rapae - Recorded here in the garden and at the meadows between 5th July and 14th September 2019 and then (in relatively small numbers) between 20th May and 24th August 2020.  Also at a couple of other sites locally and at Llobregat Delta (NE Spain) on 22nd February 2020.  There are always a few white butterflies that aren't seen well enough to determine and with the late start in 2019 I imagine I must have overlooked some on earlier dates - having said that, butterflies in general were few and far between at my main study site prior to when these began to appear.

Small White, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 29th July 2019

Small White, Llobregat Delta (Spain), 22nd February 2020

Green-vined White Artogeia napi - Recorded here in the garden and at the meadows between 30th March and 2nd May 2019 and between 5th July and15th August 2019 then between 24th April and 8th May 2020 and between 4th July and 16th September 2020.  Also recorded on Mull on 10th and 12th June 2019 and in Spain on 22nd February 2020.

Green-veined White, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 19th July 2019

Green-veined White, Gava Mar (Spain), 22nd February 2020

Green-veined White, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th July 2020

Green-veined White, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 16th September 2020

Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines - Recorded locally between 19th April and 25th May 2019 and between 4th April and 15th May 2020.  The majority were from the Cathedral Meadows but a handful in my garden and elsewhere.

male and female Orange-tips, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 26th April 2019

Clouded Yellow Colias crocea - None.  I'm yet to record this species in the North Elmham area but should imagine I've got a good chance of finding it at the meadows in a good year.  I saw several in the Beetley/Bittering area in 2013 and I'm sure I would have found them round here had I been watching the area back then.


Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni - Mostly recorded in early spring between 22nd February and 25th May 2019, here, at the meadows and at 2-3 other sites.  Also one here on 23rd August.

Brimstone, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 29th March 2019

Cleopatra Gonepteryx cleopatra - One in the Llobregat Delta (Spain) on 22nd February 2020.

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HAIRSTREAKS, COPPERS and BLUES (LYCAENIDAE)


Purple Hairstreak Quercusia quercus - After a good year in 2018 I looked hard (well, ok, not all that hard, but I looked) for these along the railway at the bottom of the meadows in 2019 but only managed to see a single individual, on 29th July.  None here at all in 2020 but 4 at Foxley Wood on 10th July and 2 there next day.

Purple Hairstreak, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 29th July 2019

Purple Hairstreak, Foxley Wood, 10th July 2020

White-letter Hairstreak Satyrium w-album - None.  I really must make a concerted effort to see this species one of these days as it must be the most glaring gap on my list of species recorded - not just butterflies but all taxa.  OK, there are much commoner species missing among taxa like spiders that I've not paid much attention to, and even among taxa like bugs with which I've been making a fair bit of effort in recent years, but for group that I've been interested in and looking at and for pretty much my entire life this is a gap that's a little bit embarrassing!  I have looked for it at several known sites around Norfolk over the years but I clearly need to put in a bit more effort.


Green Hairstreak Callophrys rubi - No confirmed records locally (or indeed anywhere in Norfolk) although I did get a frustrating glimpse of what I think was this species at the meadows one day.  On Mull at least 3 at Glen More and 2 west of Tiroran on 10th June 2019.

Green Hairstreak, Glen More (Mull), 10th June 2019

Green Hairstreak, west of Tiroran (Mull), 10th June 2019

Small Copper Lycaena phlaeas - In 2018 I only recorded this species at the meadows in August and September but in 2019 it was the other way round with 1-3 on 3 dates between 30th April and 25th May and none later in the summer.  2020 was back to summer only, with records between 10th July and 11th September.  Also one near Carsaig (Mull) on 10th June 2019.

Small Copper, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 30th April 2019

Small Copper, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 10th July 2020

Small Copper, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th July 2020

Holly Blue Celastrina argiolus - In 2019 recorded between 18th April and 23rd May and again between 23rd July and 17th August.  Most records from the meadows (max 5 on 26th April) but also several from my garden and in Norwich.  In 2020 recorded here and at the meadows between 10th April and 20th May and between 3rd July and 23rd August (during which period also at Foxley Wood and Thompson Common).  Also at Gava Mar in NE Spain on 22nd February 2020.

Holly Blue, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 26th April 2019

Holly Blue, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th May 2019

Holly Blue, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 15th May 2020

Brown Argus Aricia agestis - Recorded at the meadows on 25th May and 24th June 2019 and 20th July 2020 (2); also 2 at Foxley Wood on 17th August 2019.

Brown Argus, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 25th May 2019

Brown Arguses, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 20th July 2020

Common Blue Polyommatus icarus - Recorded at the meadows between 22nd May and 15th August 2019 and between 20th July and 12th August 2020; also on Mull and at Foxley Wood and Thompson Common.

Common Blue, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 21st June 2019

Common Blue, North Elmham Cathedral Meadows, 3rd August 2019

Next page: Admirals, Fritillaries and allies

A trio of new moths including 9x Pammene giganteana to lure

The night of Tuesday 17th April was an excellent one with two moths in the trap that were completely new to me, Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii and Scarce Cosmet Mompha jurassicella.   I think I've seen sangii before but never been 100% certain about its identity previously.  There's been some debate about whether female sangii can be safely identified by reference to its genitalia but I think the consensus seems to be that the combination of the form of the scales on the hindwing and the relative sizes of the sensoria on its abodomenal sclerites is sufficient.

Large Birch Purple Eriocrania sangii (female), North Elmham, 17th April

Scrace Cosmet Monpha jurassicella (male, gen det), North Elmham, 17th April

There was a reasonable selection of other moths too: 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 2 Brindled Pugs, 3 Double-striped Pugs, 2 Early Thorns, Brindled Beauty, 4 Common Quakers, Clouded Drab, 3 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and Chestnut.

There were 3 Chrysoperla carnea (green Lacewings) (at least 2 confirmed males and a presumed female).  Interestingly the female was fully green while all the males I've seen so far this year have still had some of their winter brown colour retained.  There were also 2 different brown Lacewings, and surprisingly both proved to be new species for the garden, Hemerobius micans and Wesmaelius nervosus.

Hemerobius micans, North Elmham, 17th April

Wesmaelius nervosus, North Elmham, 17th April

The following day I headed out to the east coast where there were plenty of butterflies on the wing including Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshell and Brimstone.

Brimstone, Horsey, 18th April

I think this spider was Pardosa nigriceps, a new one for me.

Pardosa nigriceps, Horsey, 18th April

On the way home I stopped at St Faith's Common where insect-life included a new beetle for me, Hylurgops palliatus.

Hylurgops palliatus, St Faith's Common, 18th April

At Bittering while retrieving some algae covered oak bark to feed my Luffia ferchaultella on (see last post) I unwittingly also retained this tiny creature - but it took mne a while to work out what it is, and I'm still not sure.  I considered it could be an aphid, but I don't think so, or perhaps one of the globular springtails though I haven't seen it spring (and do any of the collembola live on trees anyway?).  A nymph of some kind of bug perhaps?  In the end I think it's most likely to be the larva of a Lacewing, but I'm not entirely sure.  I've seen green lacewing larvae covered in muck before and that was significantly larger (this was only about 1-2 mm long at most).  I guess it could be one of the smaller brown lacewings, although some photos of these show much more elongated creatures, or perhaps even one of the Waxflies?  I'm not entirely clear if all of these cover themselves in material to camouflage themselves or if it's just the larger species?  On the other hand I thought all lacewing larvae were carnivorous yet this is surviving in a pot with only some algae-covered bark for company for 12 days so far and it still seems very healthy, so perhaps it is something else entirely...?  Please let me know if you have any ideas!

unidentified insect, Bittering, 18th April

That night a good selection of moths included 4 that were new for the year: Maple Slender Caloptilia semifascia, Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, Pine Beauty and Nut-tree Tussock. The Pine Beauty was particularly welcome being my first here since 2015.

Maple Slender Caloptilia semifacscia, North Elmham, 18th April

Many-plumed Moth Alucita hexadactyla, North Elmham, 18th April

Pine Beauty, North Elmham, 18th April

Nut-tree Tussock, North Elmham, 18th April

Other moths caught that night were Common Plume Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, 4 Brindled Pugs, 2 Double-striped Pugs, 3 Early Thorns, 2 Brindled Beauties, 3 Small Quakers, 5 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 7 Hebrew Characters, Early Grey and 2 Chestnuts.  There were also 2 Chrysoperla carnea and a Black Sexton Beetle.  A good crop of leafhoppers consisted of 5 Empoasca vitis and, new for the year, Zygina angusta.

Zygina angusta, North Elmham, 18th April

I recently acquired a pheromone lure for the tortrix moth Grapholita lobarzewskii.  Jon had been trialling this in his garden last year and caught Norfolk's first example of this moth previously only known from the south east.  It's too early in the year for a lobarzewskii but I put it out on Thursday 19th April knowing that these lures sometimes attract other species too.  I checked the trap that evening and was delighted to find a tortrix moth inside - not a lobarzewskii of course, but whatever it was looked interesting.  Sure enough it proved to be a new species for me and one that's only been recorded a handful of times in the county, Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana.

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 19th April

My third new moth in as many days - what had until this week been a dire year for moths has suddently started turning more interesting!

That night Streamer and Lunar Marbled Brown were new for the year.

Streamer, North Elmham, 19th April

Lunar Marbled Brown, North Elmham, 19th April

Other moths included 3 Common Flat-bodies Agonopterix heracliana, 2 Common Plumes Emmelina monodactyla, Frosted Green, Water Carpet, 4 Brindled Pugs, Double-striped Pug, 2 Early Thorns, 5 Brindled Beauties, 2 Small Quakers, 2 Common Quakers, 5 Clouded Drabs, 8 Hebrew Characters and Chestnut.

Next day I put the lobarzewskii lure out again and this time I caught another 2 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana - amazing!

Early Oak Piercer Pammene giganteana, North Elmham, 20th April

If 3 in 2 days was good, there was more in store... I tried one more time on 21st and when I checked the trap that evening there were another 6 Early Oak Piercers Pammene giganteana in there!  There were only 10 previous records of giganteana in Norfolk so catching 9 in 3 days seems quite remarkable - but such is the power of a pheremone lure for finding things that I'm sure are always around and just not tending to come to light very often and are therefore rarely recorded.  Interestingly Mick Kerr managed to attract a giganteana to the same lure at Sporle near Swaffham too.

More Frits and a Dark Fleabane Neb

Flounced Rustic was new for the year on Sunday 13th August, the first of many of this common and not terribly exciting species.

Flounced Rustic, North Elmham, 13th August

It was a fairly quiet night - the other moths were Little Dwarf Elachista canapennella, Brown House Moth Hofmannophila pseudospretella, Dingy Dowd Blastobasis adustella, Garden Rose Tortrix Acleris variegana, Rush Marble Bactra lancealana, 9 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, Clouded Border, Willow Beauty, 3 Flame Shoulders, 2 Large Yellow Underwings, 3 Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwings, Small Square-spot, 5 Setaceous Hebrew Characters, Square-spotted Clay, Burnished Brass, Spectacle and Straw Dot. A Limnephilus lunatus was the only caddis.

Next day I took my parents round Foxley Wood where Silver-washed Fritillaries were abounding.  I put down 6+ in my notes but I've got 6 different individuals among my photos and I'm pretty sure I didn't photograph anywhere near all of them.

Silver-washed Fritillaries, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Another dozen species of butterfly included Large, Small and Green-veined Whites, Brimstone, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Peacock (at least 30), Painted Lady, Comma, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood.

Brimstone, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Peacock, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Painted Lady, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Comma, Foxley Wood, 14th August

There were some good moths too.  There was masses of Fleabane flowering here and I looked hard to find a gelechiid that flies in the day and can often be found on Fleabane flowers, but which I'd never seen.  This was successful - I ended up finding 2 Dark Fleabane Nebs Apodia bifractella.  Perhaps surprisingly since this is a fairly well-covered site there don't appear to be any previous records for the 10k square.

Dark Fleabane Neb Apodia bifractella, Foxley Wood, 14th August

A patch of Goldenrod had a Bordered Beauty feeding on it, a moth I don't see very often.  Other moths recorded were Pale-streak Grass-veneer Agriphila selasella, Pearl Veneer Agriphila straminella, 2 Common Grass-veneers Agriphila tristella, Shaded Broad-bar, 2 Common Carpets, Small Phoenix and 2 Straw Dots.

A Viburnum Beetle Pyrrhalta viburni was another insect feeding on the Fleabane and a new species for me.

Viburnum Beetle Pyrrhalta viburni, Foxley Wood, 14th August

My second ever Damsel Bug was a new species for me too, Marsh Damsel Bug Nabis limbatus.  The only Damsel Bug I had seen previosuly was one I trapped in  Cornwall in 2014 - and it proved to be a first for Britain (Nabis capsiformis) so it's high time I found one of the common species in this family! A green mirid bug proved to be Neolygus contaminatus.

Marsh Damsel Bug Nabis limbatus, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Dragonflies included several Migrant Hawkers, a Southern Hawker and a few Common Darters.  These Dark Bush-crickets were nice to see - not one I find very often.

Dark Bush-crickets, Foxley Wood, 14th August

As usual I had little success identifying fungi.  I think these are Orange Oak Boletes though Orange Birch Bolete seems to be very similar (and perhaps other species too?).  I didn't notice what species of tree they were under but there were certainly plenty of oaks in the area (and there are oak leaves visible around the mushrooms in some of the photos).  (PS: thanks to James for confirming they are likely Orange Oak Boletes).

probable Orange Oak Boletes, Foxley Wood, 14th August

I think this one may possibly be an older specimen of the same species.

possible Orange Oak Boletes, Foxley Wood, 14th August

I wondered if this one may have been a younger specimen of the same species but James thinks it's probably a Cep Boletus edulis.

probable Cep, Foxley Wood, 14th August

This one looks quite distinctive but I'm not sure.  I was leaning towards Blusher but there are one or two similar species that I wasn't entirely sure about. I'm pleased to say James agrees with me!

Blusher, Foxley Wood, 14th August

Pretty sure I've seen these before.  I wondered if they were Sulphur Tuft but I've a feeling there was another species that I have mistaken for Sulphur Tuft before and maybe I've done the same again?  Nope, James has confirmed - they are indeed Sulphur Tuft!  Thanks again James!

Sulphur Tufts, Foxley Wood, 14th August

I'm not sure what these are, though possibly one of the milkcaps?  Yes, again thanks to James for confirming definitely one of the milkcaps and possibly Oak Milkcap Lactarius quietus.

possible Oak Milkcap, Foxley Wood, 14th August

I couldn't identify the next ones but James has suggested Saffron Bolete Leccinum crocipodium for this one.

Saffron Bolete Leccinum crocipodium, Foxley Wood, 14th August

He has suggested Deer Shield Pluteus cervinus for this one...

Deer Shield Pluteus cervinus, Foxley Wood, 14th August

And this one is a mould, Fuligo septa - thanks again James!

Fuligo septa, Foxley Wood, 14th August