Butterfly Islands: Small Skipper

Showing posts with label Small Skipper. Show all posts

Wednesday 25 June 2014

A Walk in Walters.

This National Trust copse at Newtown village boasts a good selection of flora and fauna and I took an extended wander through it today.

White Admiral numbers continue to grow with the Silver-washed Fritillary numbering just three at the moment with two males and a female.Ringlets are very numerous,as are Meadow Browns but Marbled Whites are scarce at present.A few more Small Skippers are out now together with a couple of Commas.With the weather continuing settled,in the main,butterfly numbers and species are set to increase.

Tuesday 24 June 2014

Small But New.

After seeing a first of the season Small Skipper last week,today while walking along the cliff top at Whale Chine I came across another male in the long grass close to the cliff edge.This stretch of coastline has an allocated strip of land several metres in depth from the edge of the cliff which is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)

Details of which are;
On the south west coast of the Island, cliff top arable fields border parts of the Compton Chine
to Steephill Cove SSSI. In these locations a buffer zone has been established by Natural England
between the arable field and the cliff top. Management of this has been undertaken through a

Wildlife Enhancement Scheme (WES) agreement between Natural England and the landowners.

These agreements are now mostly about 10 years old and are currently being re-negotiated
through the Environmental Stewardship Scheme (ESS) as Higher Level Stewardship (HLS)

agreements.

Management of the buffer under WES agreements required:-

• No cultivation within 20m of cliff or chine edge
• No application of fertilisers, herbicide or pesticide within 20m of cliff or chine edge
• Scrub management
• Control of ‘weed’ species is required by WES/HLS – to include ragwort, thistle, dock and

nettle. This appears to be achieved through annual topping in late summer.

Friday 20 June 2014

Summer Hots Up.

We are enjoying a settled period of hot, early summer weather and butterflies are certainly responding to the conditions by emerging a little head of time than one would expect.In Walters Copse today I saw my first Small Skipper of the year and the first Marbled Whites are now flying with the ever increasing numbers of Meadow Browns and Ringlets.With the White Admirals now in the copse they have been joined by Silver-washed Fritillaries and with their strong flight they seem to rush from one nectar source to the other.
Of the several types of orchid now to be seen in our woods and copse is the beautiful Bee Orchid as discovered today in Walters Copse.

Monday 5 August 2013

Summer Sweetness for Butterflies.

In the copse and hedgerows the fleabane is now in flower.It is a great favourite with many butterflies as they flock to drink its nectar

Wednesday 4 July 2012

Isle of Wight Heathland

Ningwood Common is protected heathland just west of the village of Shalfleet.It is a breeding site for the Nightjar and until last year an area where the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary butterfly was found.Unfortunately this season no sightings of this butterfly have been reported and along with the Pearl-bordered Fritillary I regret to say that both species are no longer likely to be seen on the Island.
The weather has been very wet of late but a few rays of sunshine did appear this afternnon when I was on the Common.It is edged by woodland and now Marbled Whites,Ringlets and Small Skippers can be seen flitting along the woodland edges.Out too is the summer brood of the Comma,seen above in the 'hutchinsoni' form.

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.