Butterfly Islands: Winter Heliotrope

Showing posts with label Winter Heliotrope. Show all posts

Tuesday 23 December 2014

Recalling Januarys' Painted Ladies.

Now that January is almost here again and perhaps the worst of our winter weather is yet to come I remember the month of January 2013 when summer and winter arrived.

The first day of the year produced the first butterfly of the year with a Painted Lady at Wheelers Bay, at Ventnor. The mild weather then continued and on one of a few spring-like days during that first two weeks of the month we were treated to at least three Painted Ladies at the bay. At this time of course,flowering plants are at a premium but the slopes of cliffs at the bay are covered in Winter Heliotrope and it is in flower.This was obviously a welcome food source to these butterflies and they spent a lot of time and energy nectaring on these plants.

But the balmy weather was not to last as within the next few days the winter blast arrived and cold snowy conditions prevailed. I hope that they had the sense to head south after stocking up on the Heliotrope at the bay.

Friday 11 January 2013

January Butterflies

I did not expect my first post of 2013 to be so early for a British sighting but following a report of a Painted Lady butterfly on the Island on the 1st of January,I visited Wheelers Bay at Ventnor in the hope,but not expectation of seeing one myself.

Today was the first completely sunny day since the first day of the year,although temperatures have been very mild.In fact at the bay it felt like a spring day with cloudless skies and warm sunshine.The south facing cliff is covered in places by Winter Heliotrope which is now in flower and there were three Painted Ladies to be found nectaring on the flowers.All were in excellent condition and the question is,have they flown in from the continent or have they recently emerged as a result of summer egg-laying on the Island? Whatever the answer it is wonderful to see them in January.

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.