Butterfly Islands

Wednesday 9 December 2015

Seeing Out the Winter.

In the top corner of a sheltered window frame on the outside of our house is a Large White pupa or chrysalis.It will remain there for up to eight months until the arrival of spring.The chrysalis is secured by a silken pad and girdle, and its colour can depend on its surroundings. Length is 25mm.

Sunday 15 November 2015

Top Highlight of 2015.

The past season has thrown up several exciting sightings, such as the close encounter with White-letter Hairstreaks on an elm in Newport town centre,the joy of seeing the valezina form of the Silver-washed Fritillary in numbers at Porchfield,and finding a colony of Lesser Spotted Fritillaries on the beach on the Greek Island of Thassos. However the best must be the discovery of Glanville Fritillary pupae or chrysalies on the Island back in May.Here the habitat for this fritillary is unique as the continental Glanvilles frequent meadows,riverbanks,and woodland clearings.On the Isle of Wight it is a butterfly of our cliffs and clifftops.Therefore finding a spot to pupate can mean under stones or rocks and this is the place where these chrysalises were found.As normal they use a strand of silk to attach themselves to their chosen stone where it will take up to three weeks to emerge as an imago.

Thursday 8 October 2015

A Small Copper in the Sun.

Today on a sunny bank along the cliff top at Compton Chine was a Small Copper.She was busily egg laying on a warm afternoon now that the wind of the last few days had abated.Not many butterflies to see however on the landslip apart from a single Large White and a couple of Clouded Yellows.

Monday 7 September 2015

Adonis on Bonchurch Down.

With the prospect of several days of settled sunny weather there was no better time to take a walk on Bonchurch Down to see the Adonis Blue.It seems numbers are less than other years so counts are in tens rather than hundreds. Nevertheless it was a joy to see this most brilliant butterfly on the wing feeding on downland flowers and flying strongly on the Downs' slopes.That is,of course the males as they display those sky blue wings.The females are altogether different with brown wings,although sometimes they show variable amounts of blue.

Friday 4 September 2015

Sky Blue Adonis Blue.

A long overdue visit to Wheelers Bay at Bonchurch yesterday discovered some late summer colour behind the revetment at the base of the cliffs.Several species of butterfly were feeding on the ample drifts of Red Valerian and other flowering plants. Among them, a single male Adonis Blue splendid in striking sky blue. August and September is the time of the Adonis Blue second emergence of the season on our downland,so this individual is some distance away from his usual habitat on Bonchurch Down.

Tuesday 1 September 2015

A Small White and a Small Yellow.

This Small White has fallen prey to a Crab Spider.There is just one species of this spider in the UK apparently belonging the genus Misumena. The spider has the ability to change colour from white,to pale green,and yellow.This allows the spider to match its background, as it sits motionless on a flower bloom awaiting a victim which it pounces on and grasps with its crab-like front legs.

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.