A small number of butterflies were seen in Dorset in January, despite poor weather at the start of the year, and by the end of the month records had come in for a total of six species.  This is one less than in the corresponding period of 2022 because Clouded Yellow was missing.

Things got off to a good start with a sighting of a Red Admiral on the 1^st. This was followed by a Small Tortoiseshell on the 5^th. and a Peacock on the 7^th.  Then there was a gap until a Brimstone appeared on the 24^th. A couple of days later there were records of Painted Lady and Small Tortoiseshell and finally a Speckled Wood was seen on the 30^th.

To our surprise, one of these records was of a butterfly in a kilometre square (SZ0890 on the coast in Bournemouth) which had not had anything recorded in it during the current five-year recording cycle, of which 2024 is the final year*. It is unusual for us to have a “white hole” filled in January. Previous records, however, show that we have had plenty of sightings from this square in previous recording cycles, which goes to show how our records are partly due to what butterflies are out there, but also a lot to whether somebody has seen them and sent their records in to us.

The sighting of a Painted Lady is interesting, as this is a butterfly with migrates here from the continent in varying numbers each year and is now known to migrate back to the continent in the autumn. We can only presume the individual seen did not return south and the winter has been mild enough for it to survive so far: local weather data shows that September, October and December were all warmer than usual and November was only slightly colder; December was 2.2 degrees Celsius warmer than the average for the last 30 years. A photograph of a near-pristine Painted Lady was sent into us on 1 February, nectaring on snowdrops.

Painted Lady. Photo: Gary Holderness

*Of Dorset’s 2,915 kilometre squares, 472 (16%) have not had any butterflies reported in this recording cycle, so please help us by visiting the “white holes” and seeing if you can fill them during 2024.