Butterfly Islands: April 2012

Saturday, 28 April 2012

The Glanville Fritillary at Wheelers Bay

I have mentioned Wheelers Bay several times in recent blog entries when refering to the Glanville Fritillary on the Isle of Wight.With its south facing aspect and protected to the north by sheer chalk cliffs,Wheelers Bay enjoys a very mild situation.

A few years ago the coastal defences were vastly improved here and an area created between the coastal path and the base of the cliff.This area was quickly colonised by plants and became an ideal habitat for the Glanville.Around this time a stretch of the coast at Bonchurch, which maintained a colony of Glanvilles was in imminent danger of disappearing into the sea due to erosion.Therefore chrysalides were collected there and transferred to Wheelers Bay.A thriving colony was quickly formed with several hundred butterflies on the wing.However in recent years this figure has gone down mainly due to some of the habitat becoming overgrown.Nevertheless there is still a healthy population here.

Many other species of butterfly are to be seen at the Bay,one of which at this time is the beautiful Orange Tip.The following photos are of a female enjoying a sheltered sunny spot in one of the Bays private back gardens.

Here and throughout Ventnor one can also find the Wall Lizard.It is a very handsome creature particularly the adult.

Wednesday, 25 April 2012

Still waiting for the Glanvilles.

The weather over the last week or so has been very changeable on the Isle of Wight.Although there have been sunny spells we have had a lot of rain and wind recently.This must be detrimental to the early appearance of the Glanville Fritillary and a visit yesterday to Wheelers Bay,Ventnor in search of the butterfly on the wing was unsuccessful.However I did notice that their caterpillars were on the move.Here at Wheelers Bay many Glanville chrysalides are found under the chalk boulders and stones at the base of the cliff.

Earlier on Bonchurch Down I came upon a male Wall and a Small Heath.The latter is my first sighting this year of this species. It was always one step ahead of me a good photograph proved too difficult to achieve on this occasion

Monday, 23 April 2012

More Small Blues

A brief visit yesterday to Afton Down before the weather turned wet and a first sight of a female Small Blue and also a male.At this location the appearance of this butterfly has been extraordinarily early this year with my initial sighting on the 30th March a national record for this species.Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks are already there in good numbers and hopefully very soon they will be joined by the Dingy Skipper.

Another first for 2012 was a female Wall Brown at the chalkpit.

Saturday, 21 April 2012

Waiting for the Glanvilles

The Glanville Fritillary is now expected to be on the wing in the next few days on the Isle of Wight.

At Wheelers Bay which is sandwiched between Ventnor and the village of Bonchurch the first sighting of this butterfly is always made here.The Bay is south facing and enjoys a very unique climate.Yesterdays visit did not produce any sightings of the Glanville,however I did see a male Orange Tip at the base of the chalk cliffs that mainly enclose the Bay.

Overlooking Bonchurch Village is Bonchurch Down,well known for the Adonis Blue butterfly.This butterfly too is soon due to emerge.At present there are several Small Coppers to be seen on the Down and the odd Wall Brown.

Monday, 16 April 2012

Yet More Spring Butterflies

With such an array of butterflies to be seen at Afton Down Chalkpit I returned there this morning.The weather was sunny and warm as this site can be a sun trap.Immediately I saw three Dingy Skipper and it wasn't long before two Wall butterflies were flying around.One female,perhaps the same individual as seen here yesterday and a male.Several Green Hairstreaks and Grizzled Skippers are on view along with an as yet single Small Copper.I was very pleased to see a male Small Blue as I have not seen this species since my initial sighting on the 30th March.

Friday, 13 April 2012

Small Copper-first sighting this year

A return visit to Afton Down Chalkpit and my first sighting this year of a Small Copper.Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks are already there in good numbers and hopefully very soon they will be joined by the Dingy Skipper.Another first for 2012 was a female Wall Brown at the chalkpit.

Saturday, 7 April 2012

More Spring Butterflies

The Whiteways Quarry Carpark at Freshwater,locally known as Afton Down Chalkpit is National Trust land and looks out over the English Channel to the southwest.Looking right from the carpark and one is fortunate enough to see Tennyson Down with its white cliffs.To the left and the veiw is southward down the Island coast towards Compton Bay and Glanville Fritillary habitat.

Here at back of the carpark, at the foot of East Afton Down and Compton Down is the ideal habitat for several chalkland butterflies.On the 30th March Small Blues were seen here a full month ahead of their usual flight time and yesterday the 6th April I was pleased to see a Grizzled Skipper and a Green Hairstreak at this spot.Hopefully another chalkland species the Dingy Skipper will soon be seen here.

Back to Walters Copse

Since my sighting of the Large Tortoiseshell at Walters Copse on the 27th March,I have made several return visits to this well managed National Trust woodland.

However I have not been fortunate enough to see the Large Toetoiseshell again but there have been at least two recorded sightings here in the last two weeks.As a result of the photographs taken it is certain that there is more than one individual to be seen.

Yesterday the weather remained sunny albeit somewhat cooler than of late and as a result no butterflies were to be seen in the copse until after noon.My first sighting of the day was my first sight also this year of the male Orange Tip.A beautiful butterfly of white and bright orange,it nervously visited the spring flowers in the open rides but when it rested among the dense shrubbery it became easier to approach.

Monday, 2 April 2012

A Dash of Blue

The sight of a dash of blue in the spring and it is the Holly Blue.The male Holly Blue is usually seen travelling at great speed and generally at a great height through woodland rides,parks and across country.I spotted this one at Walters Copse.Should you be fortunate enough to see it at close quarters one would notice that the underside is a light blue and the upper side a lilac-blue with fine black markings to its upper wing tips

The Adonis Blue

The Large Tortoiseshell

It seems the general view on the status of the Large Tortoiseshell in Britain is that it is now extinct as a breeding butterfly.
It is a butterfly of woodland edges and hedgerows that abound in willows,elms,and poplars.These trees are used by the adult to lay its eggs and this single brood appears in July and August.The emerging butterfly then hibernates over the winter in log piles and hollow trees until the next spring.
On the Isle of Wight sightings are more often than not made from early March to April.Have these butterflies overwintered on the Island or have they come from the continent where it is common?
Any sightings made in July/August pose the same question.Another explanation could be that captive-bred releases are responsible.Only the discovery of eggs and caterpillars will probably answer these questions.

I can now report that evidence has been found of breeding just along the coast at Portland in Dorset (June 2020) and again at the same location in the summer of 2021.

The Glanville Fritillary

This elegant butterfly is mainly confined to the crumbling undercliffs and chalk downs of the Isle of Wight.It is also found on the Channel Islands and at one or two isolated colonies on the British mainland.In Britain the Glanville Fritillary is at the extreme north-western edge of its range.On the continent it is readily found in flowery habitats.
Around the southern shores of the Isle of Wight the cliffs constantly erode causing them to slip away and provide perfect conditions for new growths of the butterflies laval host plant,Ribwort Plantain.
The eggs are laid to the underside of the leaves of this plant and normally hatch after about three weeks.The resulting caterpillars live together in communal webs spun over the plantain.In the autumn they hibernate and recommence feeding in the spring,eventually dispersing to prepare for pupation.
The adult butterfly is on the wing from May to the end of June with the female being larger than the male.They will feed on,amongst other things, Birds-foot Trefoil and Thrift.

The Wall Brown

On the Isle of Wight in particular,the Wall Brown is a butterfly of field edges,coastal cliffs and dunes,and rabbit-grazed downland.
The male is territorial and spends much of the time patrolling and basking on the ground.
The female,which lacks the males conspicuous dark sex brand across the forewings,is larger.The undersides of both sexes are beautifully cryptic when at rest.
The Wall Brown generally produces two broods a year,the first from late April until late June and the second from mid-July to mid-September.