Spring 2012 - Glasgow & SW Scotland Branch of Butterfly ...

Common Blue 2,415 (2,020) (1,258) 1 st May / 8 th Sept 106 (3)
Holly Blue 41 (4) (3) 12 th April / 31 st July 6 (4)
Northern Brown Argus 72 (141) (90) 31st May / 30 th July 4 (1)
Red Admiral 938 (959) (1,096) 10 th Jan / 12 th Nov 125 (2)
Painted Lady 44 (128) (5,885) 4 th April / 28 th Aug 24 (1)
Small Tortoiseshell 2,584 (2,287) (2,276) 28 th Feb / 26 th Nov 148 (0)
Peacock 3,126 (3,165) (2,353) 18 th March/ 19 th Oct 143 (2)
Camberwell Beauty 1 (0) (0) 23 rd June 1 (1)
Comma 78 (89) (18) 30 th March / 6 th Nov 23 (7)
Pearl-bordered Fritillary 1,818 (705) (705) 27 th April / 3 rd June 8 (1)
Small Pearl-bordered 1,719 (1,852) (1,385) 26 th April / 15 th Aug 69 (6)
Fritillary
Dark Green Fritillary 752 (1,022) (264) 10 th June / 21 st Sept 52 (8)
Marsh Fritillary 195 (278) (486) 22 nd May / 26 th July 16 (1)
Speckled Wood 564 (631) (722) 25 th April / 29 th Sept 38 (6)
Wall 381 (559) (408) 28 th April / 28 th Sept 32 (3)
Grayling 318 (268) (258) 1 st July / 4th Sept 35 (2)
Mountain Ringlet 697 (145) (361) 1 th July / 26 th July 11 (1)
Scotch Argus 4,225 (3,695) (2,328) 19 th July / 28 th Sept 61 (2)
Ringlet 8,827 (5,929) (3,685) 10 th June / 24 th Aug 122 (11)
Meadow Brown 3,678 (4,569) (3,134) 12 th June / 28 th Sept 149 (1)
Large Heath 237 (250) (279) 14 th June / 3rd Aug 16 (0)
Small Heath 3,080 (4,614) (2,508) 19 th April / 28 th Sept 130 (1)
12,171 records (of 48,229 individual butterflies) received during 2011. Records
for 2010 and 2009 include those received during 2011. * Number of 10km
squares with records in 2011 (number of new 10 km squares for this species)
Visitors to the Isle of Colonsay in June reported that the A’ Chollie Mhor
oak wood on the island, which supports a colony of Purple Hairstreak,
had been almost completely defoliated. It would be good to confirm if
this colony has survived, so anyone planning a visit to the island in
July/August 2012, please have a look for this species in the late
afternoon or early evening.
Worryingly, one of our key species, the Chequered Skipper which flies
during May and June also had a really poor year, with numbers of
records plummeting. Hopefully this was due to fewer visits by recorders
because of the poor weather, and the butterfly will have managed to
cling on! We’ll have to wait and see how they fare in 2012! Butterfly
Conservation has launched a special appeal to help with conservation of
this species.
Please help if you can at http://www.justgiving.com/chequeredskipper.
Butterflies that emerged later in the summer appeared to do better, with
Ringlets and Scotch Argus very abundant at some sites. Mountain
Ringlets benefited from targeted surveys in 2011 (see page 11), which
significantly increased the number of records for this species.
21 On the Spot – April 2012