News Archive: 2013
Help needed with checking butterfly records
Could you volunteer to help us with the butterfly records that come in via our website?
Our new recording form on the website this year has meant we are receiving many more records than previously, and they all have to be checked before they are added to our database. The job is presently being done by one person, but we need a small team to share it between them.
Adonis Blues. Photo: Mark Pike.
You would need to
a) Have your own computer and be computer literate.
b) Be able to reliably give some time each day to this task, during the weeks you are on duty - it takes up to 1 hour per day in June/July/Aug, but almost none in the winter. How the work is split between the team members can be worked out to their mutual satisfaction.
c) Be ready to communicate (tactfully!) with recorders by e-mail when the record they have sent in appears to have an error.
d) Know a bit about butterflies. In-depth knowledge is not needed: there will be initial training and then people to support you, and you will learn as you go along.
e) Be systematic: our system allows making non-public notes to yourself, and you need to keep track of any records which you have queried so you can chase up any lack of response.
f) Be comfortable with moving text around on the records to enhance the public view of them.
g) Have a working knowledge of grid references or be willing to learn - it’s not difficult and the process of grid ref checking is partly automated.
You will get in return:
a) The pleasure of helping us grow our butterfly sightings database, which provides essential information for ensuring butterflies flourish across Dorset.
b) The camaraderie of working as part of a team.
c) Interesting contact with many other butterfly-minded people.
d) The satisfaction of seeing data come in and go out, and knowing you have helped it on its way.
If you are interested, please contact Bill Shreeves on [email protected] or 01747 852587.
Item added August 2013
Dorset Monarchs - Bill Shreeves reports on sightings in 2013
The usual time for Monarch butterflies to reach Dorset is when they get caught up on strong high-level wind currents as they fly down the eastern coast of USA on their way to hibernate in the Mexican highlands. This would normally be in very late August to October and was probably the origin of the one seen by many observers in September 2012 on Portland.
Monarch seen in 2012. Photo: Bob Steedman.
This year we have already had several sightings to the east of the County. The first was seen in a garden on the Hants side of the border on the 8th and 9th July near New Milton. Another, perhaps the same insect, was reported on the Dorset side near Highcliffe on July 13th. Later in the month, on 26th July, there was another sighting in a garden at Burton Bradstock: well to the west of Dorset. Later still, on 1st August, two more Monarchs were reported near the Tropical Gardens at Abbotsbury.
Could these have been early migrants across the Atlantic? Or perhaps a new sort of migrant from colonies now breeding in Spain & Portugal - the 2nd sighting at Abbotsbury did fly in over the cliff from the south. More likely these may have been releases from breeding houses & this is almost certainly the case with the Highcliffe sighting. As well as private breeders there are many engaged in breeding from Butterfly Weddings & Funerals & escapes do occur. The West Dorset sightings are more uncertain, and we would welcome information from anyone who knows of breeding schemes in West Dorset from which they could have been released or escaped.
Item added August 2013
Help Needed at Buddleia trial in North Dorset - lots of butterflies to record!
Dorset Branch members Peter & Judy Westgate started their private collection of well over 100 buddleia varieties in Fontmell Magna last year, with the aim of finding out which were the best for butterflies.
This year the bushes have grown larger, and are attracting even more butterflies: those who have already visited have counted nearly 100 Peacocks, plus growing numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, Brimstones, Red Admirals, Commas from the mid-summer Hutchinsoni variety and occasional Painted Ladies, Clouded Yellows and Dark Green and Silver-washed Fritillaries. Of course there are also clouds of fluttering Whites, mostly Large & Small but also some Green-veined.
We would welcome more recorders to visit & help to collect data on which varieties & colours attract the most butterflies. Last year’s champion, the amazing dark purple Dartmoor with florettes hanging down in bunches like bananas, has not yet reached full bloom, but there are many new varieties now taking the field. The collection is open at any time but if you have not visited before please contact Bill Shreeves to obtain directions on how to get there, how to record & a plan of the site. E-mail: [email protected] or write to 5,Butt’s Mead, Shaftesbury, Dorset, SP7 8NS.
If you visit, it would also be much appreciated if you could help the plants to keep flowering by doing some ‘dead heading’ – bring your own secateurs! As an extra inducement Peter Westgate has also provided a comfortable seat under the shade of the orchard from which the amazing butterfly spectacle can be contemplated!
Item added August 2013
National Moth Night at the Milldown
Four-spotted Footman moths, male on the left and female on the right.
Photo: Lawrie de Whalley
National Moth night trapping on the site of the BC Milldown transect recorded 58 species: 50 macro moths and 8 micros. These Four-spotted Footman, above, were a good find: these moths are both migrants and have been known to form transient colonies in Dorset, but are not often found (For full information on the species see www.dorsetmothgroup.info.) The North Dorset Ranger in charge of the site, his daughter and 6 Butterfly Conservation members were joined by about 12 passing visitors to enjoy seeing what was caught, which included Old Lady and Rosy Footman moths. Thanks to Colin Burningham and Bob Steadman for setting up the event.
Item added August 2013
2013 - The Swallowtail Summer?
The sightings just keep on coming!
6th July - Peter Poore reports - and photographs - a Swallowtail laying eggs on his carrots: you can see the photos on our Gallery page.
12 July - Swallowtail sighted in a Bournemouth garden, on Choisya Aztec Pearl shrub.
23 July - Swallowtail caterpillars reported on fennel in a garden, in Furzehill near Wimborne. Photo below.
Photo: Cheryl Patrick
A few days later the caterpillars had disappeared; our Records Officer, Bill Shreeves, says: "The caterpillars may have progressed into the chrysalis stage – they look fairly mature from the photo. Predation is another possibility: despite having chemicals in their bodies which are distasteful, they can be predated by birds, especially in areas where the species is not well known to local birds. Caterpillars feed for about a month before pupating so it is just possible that these may have offspring of the butterflies seen in the Pamphill area in late May. The continental sub species feeds on a whole range of umbellifers, fennel & wild Carrot. Back in the 1940s, when there was thought to have been a Dorset breeding colony for 2-3 years, caterpillars were found on Wild Carrot. The native Swallowtail of course uses almost exclusively Milk Parsley but I doubt whether any of the recent sightings have anything to do with this"
Item added July 2013
The Swallowtail saga continues
Another Swallowtail has been sighted - on 12 July, in Bournemouth. This adds to earlier sightings:
7 June - Hengistbury Head, Bournemouth
2 June - Durlston Country Park, near Swanage
2 June - Pamphill near Wimborne
31 May - Pamphill near Wimborne
The recorder of the most recent one got a photo, and it shows some damage to one of the wings, so it can be recognised if it is spotted again.
Item added July 2013
Dark Green Fritillaries thriving
One amazing piece of news from the folk who did the butterfly monitoring walk on Fontmell Down (North Dorset) in the first week of July, was that they saw 112 Dark Green Fritillaries! There were actually few parts of the walk without these magnificent freshly-emerged Fritillaries being spotted. To put this in context, the highest previous counts for these butterflies for all 26 walks in the whole year were 80 in 1986, and 109 in 2012.
Dorset Branch Records Officer, Bill Shreeves said: "How this has happened is beyond me at present. Obviously they must have had a good platform from last year to build on, but the 2012 – early 2013 weather was hardly very helpful to the overwintering caterpillars! Count numbers have also been quite high for the adjoining walk at Clubmens Down."
Only one Dark Green has so far been reported to this website, so we'd be very interested in hearing of any seen away from the transect (butterfly monitoring) walks - enter them on our sightings form, or e-mail [email protected]
Item added July 2013
Identification Workshop produces more recorders
Our butterfly identification workshop on 8 June was fully booked, and the potential butterfly recorders who attended rated the day highly. Comments included: "I learned so much and thoroughly enjoyed it"; "Really interesting day" and "Brilliant workshop". The morning was spent learning how to identify various species, then in the afternoon the group went on a field trip to practice the skills learned, finding (among other species) newly emerged Brown Argus, mating Marsh Fritillaries, Green Hairstreaks and a Large Skipper which was the first of this species to be seen in Dorset this year as far as we know.
Course attendees spread out across Black Hill near Cerne Abbas. Photo: Colin Burningham
The purpose of the day was for us to find more recorders who will join our various recording schemes, and we are delighted we now have more people to help us with Transect Walks, Wider Countryside Recording and Garden Recording (all of these are explained on the How to Record page).
Course attendees round tables working hard at identification. Photo: Colin Burningham.
Our next i.d workshop will be next year, but if you might be interested, you can send you e-mail to Bill Shreeves now, and we will contact you when plans are made for the day. If you feel you could help anyway, please go to our How to Record page and choose your method(s), which range from reporting the butterflies you happen to see, to very specific schemes like Transect Walking.
Butterflies can only be conserved if we know how they are doing, so please help if you can - it's fun!
Item added June 2013
Cerne Downs Walk
This event took place on Sunday 26 May and was attended by twenty-five people keen to see the chalk downland species of late spring. The first really warm weather of the butterfly season meant they were suitably rewarded during a three hour trek along the hills to the north of Cerne Abbas. Dingy Skippers and Small Heaths were there in good numbers plus an occasional Grizzled Skipper. Photographers in the party had the benefit of a fresh Green Hairstreak settling on the turf for a period of time (see picture), which was a new species for some walkers. Another welcome species appearing just once was the Small Copper. Progress along the eastern slopes produced a number of Marsh Fritillaries, indicating a widespread increase in their caterpillar foodplant: devil's-bit scabious, in that area.
Left: Green Hairstreak. Photo: Colin Burningham
Right: Duke of Burgundy. Photo: Colin Varndell
Once the lowest northwest slopes were reached, the appearance of the regular colony of Duke of Burgundies on the wing was a highlight of the day (see photo). As with last year, this rare and endangered butterfly flew in records numbers, on this occasion about fifteen in total. A return to the starting point found more Marsh Fritillaries to enjoy along the sunny western slopes.
Item added June 2013
Second Swallowtail sighting
Another Swallowtail has been sighted, on 2 June, by eagle-eyed 8-year old Jess Nicholls, at Tilly Whim Caves, Durlston Country Park. Luckily Mum, Nicky, was able to get a photo on her phone - see below. Very big thanks to Jess and Nicky for getting the information to us.
Jess' Grandad, Malcolm, sent us some further detail:
The weather at the time (c10.30hrs) was warm, approx 18C, with just a light NW breeze. The butterfly was first spotted by Jess at the entrance to Tilly Whim Caves. The Caves are approx 20m above sea level in an area of steep limestone cliffs with abundant thrift currently in full flower. The butterfly circled around this particularly warm and sheltered area for 20 seconds or so allowing all three of us to have good views before it moved a few yards to the west where it settled on some thrift adjacent to the coast path. It remained in this position for some 10 to 15 seconds allowing my daughter Nicky to take photographs on her iphone - I must say that I was rather surprised that it stayed in one place for so long and also that it allowed her to get so close. The Swallowtail then headed off to the west.
Item added June 2013
Swallowtail sighting
A Swallowtail has been reported on Pamphill Moor (ST995006) - seen on 31 May from 12.00-12.15pm. As our native Swallowtail (papilio machaon britannicus) has been shown by research to never 'migrate’ out of Norfolk, this has to be either a continental Swallowtail (papilio machaon gorganus) or a butterfly released by someone who has bred it. We know there has been a huge influx of migrant birds around 30-31 May, so a continental migrant is not impossible. To know which species it is, we need photos, so if you are in the Wimborne area and see it, please take some shots and send them to us: [email protected]
The only native Swallowtails in the UK are in Norfolk, where their habitat is very actively maintained for them by humans. Their caterpillars feed on milk parsley, which is not present in Dorset, so if some artificially reared specimens have been released, they will not be able to complete their life-cycle by breeding.
Item added June 2013
Help wanted for Wider Countryside Recording
Wider Countryside Recording is just that - recording in the countryside, but not on nature reserves or other necessarily good places, but in randomly-selected places, so we get an idea of how butterflies are doing generally. It takes place all over the UK.
In 2012, Dorset volunteers recorded for this survey in 45 one-km. squares, which meant we did more than any other branch of Butterfly Conservation. One result of this success was that we were duly allocated some more squares to record! A few of the new squares have found surveyors, but there are still several left and it would be great if we could find folk to walk them. The survey only has to be done just twice, once in July and once in August, so it is not very onerous, though a few rules apply, aimed at helping to keep the walks comparable.
The location of the squares for which we would like to find recorders are as follows; click on the grid references to be taken to a map.
Most of these new squares, so a preliminary visit would be needed to work out a route which met the rules, but we can advise on this or maybe do it for you if necessary. Full instruction on how to carry out the survey, recording forms and other information will also be provided.
If you are interested in taking part in the survey, please contact Adrian Neil: [email protected], Tel: 01305 832937.
Item added June 2013
Update on Rob's Small Tortoiseshell saga
If you have been browsing our photo gallery, you will have seen a series of photos about some Small Tortoiseshells and their parasites. Rob has now contacted us with the following update:
"You probably remember the alleged end of this story - sadly not quite the end.
There were a dozen or so pupae up in the roof of the shelters and I've waited (im)patiently for spring and a hatching. I finally gave up and brought 4 of them home about a month ago. No hatch. Yesterday I put them in a small plastic box and today the box is full of small flies - they must have hatched from the pupae and so must be parasites of some kind.
I don't know about you but parasites give me the willies so I put them in the microwave for three and a half minutes to eradicate them.
Now they give me the willies even worse 'cos it never bothered them at all, in fact they loved it, they came out bigger and were even mating and at least as lively as they went in."
Item added May 2013
News from our Butterfly Reserves
Nigel Spring, our Reserves Manager, keeps us up to date with how recent events went.
Lankham Bottom May 12th : low temperatures made sure no butterflies were flying, but large numbers of Glow-worm larvae and some adult females were seen on the south-facing slopes.
Alners Gorse May 16th : Nightingales, Brimstones and Orange-Tips were the stars of the day when the North Dorset Community Resource Team visited Alners Gorse. Not to forget our four Dartmoor ponies of course! This tour of the reserve and BBQ were part of the Butterfly Conservation Dorset branch Educational Access programme which benefits local schools and therapeutic groups.
Left: glow-worm larva. right: North Dorset Community Resource Team
Photos: Left - Daniel Greenwood. Right -Nigel Spring.
Item added June 2013
Lots more recorders of garden butterflies gained at Athelhampton Plant Fair
The Branch stall attended the Plant Heritage plant fair, staged at Athelhampton House on 5 May. We were lucky enough to get a gorgeous day, with just the odd gust of wind sending us leaping to hold the banner down (that's Chris holding onto it in the photo below right!) Two new volunteers: Sarah and Hazel joined us and did a great job (photo below left)
The majority of people attending seemed to come from Dorset, though the neighbouring counties were also represented. We concentrated on recruiting more people to record butterflies in their gardens, and if even half of the 30+ people who agreed follow through, our position as the County with the best record for garden sightings will be well assured.
It was a lovely place to have an event, and we even saw some butterflies, one of which a lady brought to us, as it had landed on her plastic shopping bag. It was a beautiful Orange Tip, and it posed very nicely on our sales goods.
Item added June 2013
First rung on the housing ladder
Alner's Gorse - one of our four Dorset Butterfly Reserves - has supplied the
wood for a project in Somerset. This project was nearly a year in the making,
but recently came to fruition when nearly 30 bird, bat and dormouse boxes were
erected at Hardington Moor NNR in Somerset this February. The project brought
together volunteers and staff of Butterfly conservation, West Coker Scouts and
Natural England.
The wood for the boxes was
sourced from Alners Gorse, which is part of the newly assigned Blackmoor Vale
Commons and Moors SSSI. With the help of many volunteers, part of a conifer
plantation was felled to create woodland rides and improve the habitat for the
abundance of butterflies and moths found on this site. A Wood-Mizer mobile
sawmill was used to turn this timber into a variety of planks and
beams.
Natural England Reserve Manager Monique Hustinx collected a load
of these planks and made them available to the West Coker Scout Group, who had
in the past expressed an interest in Hardington Moor NNR when they helped with
the clearing up and burning of brash after a hedge was newly laid. With the help
of leaders and parents around 40 Scouts and Cubs spent several evenings building
boxes for birds, bats and dormice, using templates provided by Monique. To give
them a personal touch many were decorated and signed by their
creators.
In early February a hardy group of scouts, parents and
scout-leaders joined Monique and voluntary warden Mike Bickerton to brave the
freezing weather and mount the boxes in several of the mature hedges surrounding
the reserve. Hopefully it will encourage many of them to return to the reserve
in spring and summer, to see if new residents have moved in, whilst taking in
the abundance of wildflowers and the enchanting Somerset landscape of this NNR.
Item added April 2013
AGM A GREAT SUCCESS
Over 70 people attended our Branch AGM at Puddletown Village Hall on March 23 and had a great time listening to the officers' reports, enjoying Jeremy Thomas' brilliant talk and networking over the usual wonderful selection of cakes.
Our Chair, Jane Smith, noted that last year we did more "wider countryside" recording than any other branch, and commended Nigel Spring's work with disadvantaged people.
- See the full Chair's Report.
Branch Treasurer, Allan Higgin, reported on the 2011/12 financial year, pointing out we have a five-year plan to finance work on our Butterfly Reserves, which is why we appeared to accumulate funds this year: they are planned spending for the next few years.
- See Treasurer's Report and Accounts Summary.
The rest of the reports were available in written form:
- Records Report - Bill Shreeves showed we achieved records for 60 transect walks last year, totalling 93,683 butterflies of 45 species, including a Grizzled Skipper on Kinson Common, which is a species not recorded anywhere in this area previously.
- Garden Recording Report - Our garden records are collated by Adrian Neil, who described results from 109 gardens. The only area of Dorset not represented is around Ashmore and Sixpenny Handley.
- Membership Report - Robin George's short report showed we now have 677 Branch members.
- Education Activities Report - Nigel Spring listed an impressive number of activities, many with children and young people.
- Website (etc) Report - Lyn Pullen reported on the website, our presence on Twitter and her gardening for wildlife blog. She showed how younger volunteers are being attracted via these new media.
- Conservation Report - A resume of the year's conservation work from Richard Belding gave a taster of the huge amount of important work carried out.
- Information, Display and Sales Stall Report - Bridget de Whalley listed the many places to which the display/sales stall has been taken by our fantastic team of volunteers.
Item added March 2013
CONSERVATION ACTION ON THE CERNE DOWNS
ECOLOGY PROJECT
Left: Keith Howland, Bernard Franklin, Adrian Neil Malcolm Wemyss
Centre: Richard Belding
Right: Colin Blyth, Keith Howland, Bernard Franklin, Adrian Neil
On a day of chilly sunshine in mid February, huge progress was made with the continuation of the Cerne Downs ecology project. This large landscape area of ancient chalk downland is home to a recorded 35 species of butterfly including the Duke of Burgundy. The photographs show the lower slopes cleared of persistently invasive ash, blackthorn and sycamore by a group of enthusiastic BC volunteers. It is hoped that in succeeding years, with restored daylight, the escarpment will revert to a wildflower rich habitat for the benefit of Adonis Blue and Marsh Fritillary butterflies. These activities are arranged in cooperation and agreement with the land owner Minterne Estates.
Left: Keith Howland. Centre: Adrian Neil. Right: Bernard Franklin
Photos: Colin Blyth (Dorset Branch) and Keith Cocker (Development Alternatives)
Urgent Help wildlife by signing an on-line letter to your MEP
The European Parliament will be voting on reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on 13th March. The current proposals will support unhealthy and environmentally damaging practices, but your MEP will be voting on this, so please sign the on-line letter and tell them you want a policy that is good for wildlife.
Good progress at Alner's Gorse
Sun, soup, and smiles celebrated a superb turnout for the Alners Gorse workparty on February 17th February.
The new glade takes shape. Photo: Tim Field
18 volunteers and two dogs turned out in the sunshine to open up a new glade through the north west corner of the block of scrub favoured by the Nightingales and Brown Hairstreak butterflies. Conifers, old blackthorn and some planted oaks were felled to link the track along the edge of the wood with another sunny clearing, helping to create the mosaic of bushes, trees and grassland which we hope to maintain on this reserve. Two of the participants brought cakes for tea and another contributed a delicious soup which was heated up on the fire to accompany the baked potatoes for lunch. The next date for Alners Gorse is Thursday March 7th.
New on-line recording form now in action
We are delighted to say that the recording form on this website, which you can use to tell us about the butterflies you have seen in Dorset, is now up and running.
It is not intended to replace the other existing schemes, described on the How to Record page, but to be a quick and easy way of reporting if you are not signed up to one of these schemes.
Despite problems with the old form, we still recorded 1,195 sightings via the website - let's go for a new record in 2013!
Vote for Dorset Branch if you use Dorchester Waitrose in March
We are one of the three charities you can support if you shop in Waitrose in Dorchester during March. This is a scheme whereby, when you go through the check-out, you are given a token which you use to vote for the charity of your choice by dropping it into one of three boxes. The store has a certain amount of money to give away each month, and each charity gets a share proportionate to the number of tokens received. Please vote for us if you can.
Dorset gardening for butterflies blog launched
Dorset Branch Committee member Lyn Pullen has started a blog, about gardening for butterflies, moths and other wildlife in her garden. Lyn says:
"For those of you not yet used to blogs, this is basically like a series of short articles about what's going on in my garden, thoughts about wildlife and gardening and some photos of flowers, butterflies etc. It will be added to regularly, so there is always new stuff to see. I hope it will be entertaining and mildly educational - just click on the link below (or in the gardening page of this website) and you will be taken to it, so you can judge for yourself. You can comment on any of the articles you read, and it would be really nice if you did so, enabling me to learn from you (and it reassures me it is being read!)"
www.butterfliesandgardens.wordpress.com
We're on Twitter!
The Dorset Branch of Butterfly Conservation is now on Twitter - find us at @bc_dorset or click the link at the foot of the pages on the website. As of 9 February, we've got 31 followers, so please follow us if you can, to increase this number. We'll be putting reminders of events out on Twitter, plus whatever else comes to mind.
National Moth Report published
"The State of Britain's Larger Moths" has just been published by Butterfly Conservation and Rothampstead Research. It reveals that two thirds of common and widespread macro moths have declined over the last forty years, with the south of the country seeing worse declines that the north.
Painted Ladies seen as far east as Sussex
We have now received another Dorset record of a Painted Lady on New Year's Day, at Canford Cliffs. Together with records we've heard have been recorded on the Isle of Wight and Sussex, it seems there must be quite a few along the South Coast.
Item added January 2013
Brown Hairsteak egg search
The beautiful little Brown Hairstreak butterfly is a threatened species that is very elusive as an adult - though many visitors to our Alners Gorse Butterfly Reserve have been delighted with close views of it, and manage some amazing photos.
Brown Hairstreak. Photo: Mark Pike
Rather than counting the adults when they are on the wing in summer, a more reliable method of assessing the population is to count the white eggs in winter - not an easy job, as the eggs are spread very thinly around the reserve, but not so difficult once you know where they most tend to be found: on the young blackthorn suckers along the edges of blocks of scrub and southfacing hedges at a height of about one metre.
A group of ten volunteers from the the Dorset Branch of Butterfly Conservation met at Alners Gorse for the annual Brown Hairstreak egg count on a chilly morning in December, then crossed over to Rooksmoor to undertake the 2012 survey.
Alners Gorse volunteers. Photo: Martin Warren
The results confirmed our suspicions that the populations of Brown Hairstreak have suffered from several poor seasons, Rooksmoor more so than Alners. At Alner's Gorse we could only find 27 eggs, while Rooksmoor Common turned up just a further 22 eggs. The Brown Hairstreak is one of the target species for our conservation management at Alners Gorse, so we are doing our best to look after it. Routine winter flailing of blackthorn hedges in the Blackmore Vale is one of the main threats to the butterfly, as the eggs get destroyed when the hedges are cut - but they are safe at Alners or Rooksmoor as this method of hedge trimming is not used. The best time to see Brown Hairstreaks on the wing is between mid July and the end of August, but in the meantime keep your eyes open for their eggs and let us know if you think you have found any.
Item added January 2013
Great day of conservation work at Lankham Bottom
Nigel Spring writes:
"On a beautiful sunny winter's day, 13 people took part in the January work party at Lankham Bottom: Butterfly Consevation's Reserve above Cattistock, continuing the programme of scrub clearance and management. Three chainsaws, two brushcutters, a lot of energy and a huge bonfire combined to eliminate a sizeable block of thorn, gorse and bramble on the southern slope, which we hope will over the years revert to herb-rich chalk grassland.
Lankham Bottom work party. Photo: Maurice Budden
The group exposed a nest on the ground containing a hibernating dormouse - a delightful but very vulnerable little bundle and possibly a new record for the reserve. It was carefully translocated to another nearby block of scrub and left asleep in a bundle of moss inside one of our cosy workgloves! The team of 13 volunteers ranged in age from early 20's to over 70 and were sustained by baked potatoes, cake and hot drinks.
Our next scheduled meeting at Lankham reserve will be on Sunday March 3rd - why not come and join the fun?"
See the Events page for details.
Item added January 2012
Painted Ladies being seen in south Dorset
The following sightings have been reported since late December:
- 27 December - Studland
- 1 January - Studland
- 1 January - Corfe Castle
- 9 January - Winfrith Heath
- 11 January - Stonebarrow, near Charmouth
- 11 January - White Nothe, near Weymouth - 3 individuals seen
- 12 January - Little Sea, Studland
The Portland Bird Observatory have been recording migrant moths like Silver Y & Rush Veneer so a small migration seems likely.
Painted Lady
We are very close to getting our new online sightings form up and running, so these records will temporarily not show on the sightings page, but if you see a Painted Lady or any other butterfly, please drop an e-mail [email protected] so we can put them into the new system.
Added January 2013
2013's first butterflies in in Dorset
Another Painted Lady record has now been received, from Studland in Purbeck, also on 1 Jan.
Added to the record from Worth Matravers on 27 December, that is three Painted Ladies seen in the same area, so we have to wonder if this is some sort of early or late migration, a few specimens having managed to hibernate here, or whether someone has released them. If you have any comments to make on the subject, please send them to [email protected]
A Painted Lady has been reported near Corfe Castle, and a Peacock in Winfrith Newburgh - both on 1 January - what a great start to the butterfly year!
Added January 2013
Help needed to put up tent at events
Dorset is a very active branch of Butterfly Conservation, attending many events through the Spring and Summer months to enthuse people about butterflies and moths. We find we increasingly have to take our own gazebo to these events, and this is getting to be a bit much for some of our volunteers who man the stall. We are therefore looking for help at events, to put the stall up at the beginning of the day and take it down at the end. It is probably a two-person job and you would need to be able to store the tent between events. We anticipate this will apply to about six events next year.
Whether you stay for the day or not will be up to you, but it does get you into places without paying and we can always do with another pair of hands....
If you think you can help, please contact Bridget de Whalley on 01258 880524 or e-mail
Item added January 2013
