2007 Magazine Version 05.indd - Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire

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etween Butterfly Conservation and farmers and landowners. Parallel with this activity Mike Slater was working hard to acquire a landfill site at Ryton as a branch reserve. This took several years of diplomatic effort both with the owners LaFarge and with Butterfly Conservation staff and it was not until 2004 that we were able to make the possibility of managing our own reserve common knowledge. We hope to be able to officially open the reserve this spring. Mike has also been working hard behind the scenes with Warwickshire Wildlife Trust to bring to fruition the far reaching Princethorpe woodland project, in which all the woodland in central Warwickshire will eventually become linked so that species can easily travel throughout the habitat, and all will be managed for the benefit of wildlife. We are already seeing results: Wood White and Silver-washed Fritillary butterflies have significantly increased in numbers, whereas before management took place these species were on the point of being declared extinct in the county. The Princethorpe woodland complex is also home to several rare moths such as Light Orange Underwing, Great Oak Beauty, Cloaked Carpet and Mere Wainscot. The publication of David Brown’s book, The Larger Moths of Warwickshire, was a highlight of 2006, and it was during this year that Jane Ellis started her wide ranging project to list, classify and ultimately conserve all the brownfield sites in the West Midlands. The landowners of several sites have been contacted and management plans drawn up. These measures will benefit all species found in such habitats but especially the Dingy Skipper and, hopefully, the Small Blue. Photograph © Debbie Hibbitt 2007 Above: A mating pair of Small Blue butterflies What of the future? I would expect conservation efforts to continue to move away from the exclusiveness of nature reserves and to further embrace the wider countryside bringing yet more farmers and landowners into the fold. However, this will depend as much on the government’s grant scheme for farmers and landowners as on efforts made by Butterfly Conservation. At present these are in our favour, long may they remain so. Margaret Vickery Chairman 6 Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire Branch Magazine 2007
Ryton Wood Meadows Warwickshire Branch Butterfly Conservation Reserve 2006 Report by Mike Slater and Alan Prior Welcome to the first annual Ryton Wood Meadows Butterfly Conservation reserve report. This is a joint effort - I will comment on the reserve’s butterflies and day-flying moths and the nocturnal member of the team, Alan Prior, will review his ongoing excellent moth surveying. Overall another very good year on our reserve for both our butterflies and day-flying moths. However, within this statement individual species performance varied. My comments on how well species have done will be based on the 17 years of transect monitoring that I have undertaken since 1990. This year 29 of the 33 species that are known to breed either in Ryton Wood Meadows or in Ryton Wood were recorded on the transect. In addition to these 29 species the Purple Emperor, Wood White and Holly Blue were recorded on non-transect days. The only species not recorded was the White-letter Hairstreak which is not that surprising because no Elm naturally occurs on our reserve. However thanks to the generosity of Michael Darlow, one of our members, we have now planted two areas with Elm so it is hoped that this species will colonise in a few years’ time. For the record 2,153 butterflies were recorded on the transect this year. When the average number seen in any one year is 1,358 this equates to an increase of 58% above the average. However before we get too excited it should be remembered for most of the survey period the greater part of the reserve was a large hole, when it was a sand quarry. It was not until the hole was filled in and it was colonised by various plants that the butterflies and moths increased. While most of the increase in number can be attributed to this change, those who attended the branch AGM will know that recent management of the reserve accounts for at least some of this improvement. When figures are compared, day-flying moth species have increased at a greater rate than the butterflies. This improvement is probably due to the large increase in abundance in the two species of Burnet moth. For the record 394 day-flying moths were recorded on the transect this year compared to the yearly average of 155, this equates to a 154% increase on the average yearly number seen. What do I consider to be the highlights this year? Certainly one of mine was the first sighting in 2006 of a Purple Emperor. This sighting was of a freshly emerged male on one of the reserve’s many sallow bushes, this was also the only Purple Emperor recorded on the reserve. Since we have acquired the reserve we have carried out substantial and specific management to help our rarer species. This management has included mowing, some coppicing and the seeding of areas with two Birdsfoot Trefoil and two Cranesbill species amongst others. Therefore it is very pleasing to report that species seem to have responded to our efforts. The Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak, Silver-washed Fritillary and Brown Argus recorded their highest number in 2006. Other rarities such 7 Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire Branch Magazine 2007
Page 1 and 2: Butterfly Conservation Magazine War
Page 3 and 4: The First Ten Years by Margaret Vic
Page 5: utterflies and their habitats. Rath
Page 9 and 10: Apart from the Lobster, other macro
Page 11 and 12: One September Morning at Highlands
Page 13 and 14: Photograph © Debbie Hibbitt 2007 P
Page 15 and 16: The highlight of July was a day tri
Page 17 and 18: My garden (wilderness more like it)
Page 19 and 20: A Flying Start for Brownfield Butte
Page 21 and 22: A key outcome from the meeting is t
Page 23 and 24: Countdown 2010 Conserving Butterfli
Page 25 and 26: Therefore, in future a brief summar
Page 27 and 28: 2006 Rugby Area Reports by Phil Par
Page 29 and 30: Photograph © Phil Parr 2007 Above:
Page 31 and 32: Guided Walks in the Rugby Area by P
Page 33 and 34: Warwickshire Garden Butterfly Surve
Page 35 and 36: Clearwings And Furry Gnomes by Keit
Page 37 and 38: 2006 Butterfly Highlights - A Trium
Page 39 and 40: Immigrant Larger Moths in Warwicksh
Page 41 and 42: 2nd August, Earlsdon, Coventry, (D
Page 43 and 44: Warwickshire Branch Committee Marga

2007 Magazine Version 05.indd - Butterfly Conservation Warwickshire

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