News from the Butterfly Conservation
County Butterfly Co-ordinator for Yorkshire Howard Frost

Howard Frost is Butterfly Conservation's Butterfly Recorder for Yorkshire. As a volunteer, he organises the butterfly recording effort for the whole county and with the help of an enthusiastic team of assistants, draws together the results in an annual report. He also works closely with those volunteers recording the moths, and has contacts with County Recorders in other parts of the country, as well as enthusiasts in Europe.

The 2009 Annual Reports are now out or being distributed. If, as a Butterfly Conservation member, you haven't received it yet, it is in the post.
The copies sent out to YNU members were sent directly from the printers on this occasion, so YNU members got them first. Of course, that cost quite a bit extra. BC Yorkshire chose to have the copies sent to Rosemary Roach, our membership secretary as usual, then they were mailed out by TNT which has enabled us to make a useful saving. This year I have less than 10 spare copies to sell at £12 each (128 pages in full colour) - available from me at 10 Chellsway, Withernsea, HU19 2EN, cheque payable to Butterfly Conservation.

Now, those of us involved in preparing 'Porritt's Lists' (see previous report) are working flat out to have everything completed for our first deadline which is coming up soon. We have produced a number of trial pages and are getting quite excited at the results. I can now confirm that we will be producing a full-colour book which will enable us to bring together the information in Porritt's 4 Lists with some of the more unusual specimens in his collection. There is still a lot to do before the project goes to the printers in the autumn, but at least the cooler weather recently has helped us not to be tempted to go out butterfly watching rather than working on the computer! Don't forget that your last chance to get your name in the book as a sponsor or to order at the £21 pre-publication price is July 15th. See full details below.

So far this year butterfly numbers appear to be rather lower than normal. Spring species like the Dingy Skipper and Orange-tip did well, but common species like Small White and Large White have been somewhat scarce in those areas I have visited. There has been a scatter of arriving Red Admirals and Painted Ladies, but very few in number. Continental weather has seen several plumes of warm air coming up from Africa towards our shores but these have lasted only hours rather than days. Last week's deluge across southern France, Spain and Portugal must have created a block to any notable movement with 14 inches of rain falling in some parts in just 24 hours.

Meanwhile, in Yorkshire we seem to have experienced near drought conditions, especially towards the east where there has been very little rain over the last three months. Exploring right to roam valleys on the Wolds a couple of weeks ago I found the grasslands parched and dry with very little growth of the plants needed to support our summer butterflies. Small Heath and Brown Argus were flying in some numbers but any eggs which hatch will produce caterpillars with less food than usual available unless some reasonable rainfall comes soon. The strong northerly winds have quickly dried out the few showers we have had. June is also turning out notably cold, especially at night. It could be that the ash from the Island Mountain Glacier volcano in Iceland has been cutting down the sunshine in the northern hemisphere sufficiently to affect our weather. On top of that the sun is behaving strangely. Not only is it lacking sunspots, but it is also shrinking! And no-one seems to know why! Some scientists think it could be leading up to a 'brief' cooling spell like we had in the middle ages. Brief? The so called Little Ice Age lasted from about 1350 to 1800 or later! We live in interesting times.

Records Broken: First my annual apology for the slow appearance of the first Frost Report of the year. If last year was busy, then this one is turning out even more so! We had a record number of both butterfly and moth reports to process from last year from some 500 people. That's great! But it does mean many hours of extra work for those who type up the reports onto our computer database.

Annual Report: Then it was the Annual Butterfly & Moth Report. Sorting out and analysing masses of information and turning into a readable booklet. Over 30 key contributors help to write it up. Then everything has to be checked and fitted onto pages. It's a full-time job for three months. Finally I signed off the proofs on April 20th and the Report should be in our hands for the end of May. It is due to be sent out in the first week of June. This edition will be bigger and better than anything previous with more pages and full colour throughout. Copies can be ordered from me: Howard M Frost (Lep Report), 10 Chellsway, Withernsea, HU19 2EN for £12 inclusive of postage, cheques payable to Butterfly Conservation. Sorry the price is up on last year, but that's entirely due to postage rises and a heavier booklet.

New Book: Parallel to all this a small group of us are working on a book to be published early next year to celebrate the 150th birthday of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union. Called 'Porritt's Lists' it reproduces the Yorkshire butterfly and moth records published by George Porritt between 1883 and 1922. There are enough of these to fill several hundred pages and they provide a fascinating insight into what species were around more than 100 years ago. In fact the reported records go back to the late 1700s. The problem with old records is that they often only used scientific names and many of those names have changed. So we have re-jigged all the records and added in both modern scientific names and English names where they exist. We hope to be able to use lots of pictures with full-colour throughout. That means it will cost quite a lot to produce and we need to raise the money up front. So we are dependent on selling lots of copies in advance. When published in January next it will be £30 per copy plus postage. Order now before July 15th at £21 inclusive of postage, or for £30 as a sponsor and get up to two sponsorship names printed in the book (available up to July 15th only). Order from me at the address above but write: Howard M Frost (Porritt offer). Cheques payable to Butterfly Conservation. More details about the publication can be found elsewhere on the website.

Winter and Spring: Winter was cold so there were few early butterflies. Even so there were the odd sightings of hibernated butterflies which had awoken in January and February, probably as a result of being disturbed. By March we expect to start seeing a few butterflies about, but the ongoing cool weather with northerly winds kept these to a minimum even though we had a lot of sunshine. You had to look in very sheltered places to find what was around. April has been a little better but with cold nights, often frosty nights, and a slow build-up of daytime temperatures butterflies have only had a short time each day in which to go through courtship rituals, mate and lay eggs. Even so there has been a reasonable show of the hibernated species, at least in the eastern half of the county where I live and have travelled around. One of the problems has been the low rainfall in East Yorkshire if not elsewhere. This means that the high chalk grasslands of the Yorkshire Wolds, for instance, have been dry and brown rather than showing the growth of the spring flowers needed for nectaring and egg-laying. At least by late April the dandelions were out and what a splendid display! They are an essential nectar source for the likes of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells. By the end of the April Small and Green-veined Whites were much in evidence along country lanes in my part of the world in SE Yorks.

Unexpected immigrants! However, I got a real shock on April 26th whilst working in my allotment. I just happened to stretch up from planting when a Painted Lady shot by just a few feet away. It was pure luck that I looked up at that instant! I often wonder how many butterflies we miss because we are looking the other way! However, this was a very early record for such an immigrant. Then on April 27th came the report of a Camberwell Beauty spotted in Forge Valley near Scarborough. Interestingly, both records corresponded with a short-lived plume of warm air which came in from the Atlantic through the Straits of Gibraltar, turned over the southern coast of Spain, curved northwards over eastern France, moved through Benelux and just touched the Yorkshire coast before being pushed back to the continent.

Volcanic effects? Now May has turned really cold. Last night temperatures in parts of the Scottish Highlands dropped to -5˚C. May has a history of swinging between summer and winter temperatures. But this year we have the complication of a volcano. I think that unpronounceable name translates into the Island Mountain Glacier Volcano. At least that's easier to remember! There are records of past Icelandic eruptions which have gone on for a year or more with the ash clouds and sulphurous aerosols reflecting enough of the sun's heat to cause dramatic cooling across Europe. However, it was interesting to experience the effects of no flying. For a short time we had some brilliant blue skies. That pushed up ground temperatures and could well have been good for some of our heat-loving species like the Pearl-bordered Fritillary, the caterpillars of which need that sort of heat at this time of the year to enable them to digest. But now we have ash blowing down the Atlantic and turning east through S Spain. It could be an interesting summer!

If pressure rises and the weather improves on the full moon, it is often a good sign, especially in early autumn. Up to two weeks of fine, high pressure weather can follow. Well, it was the full moon last night, and overnight the pressure has risen. In fact, a large high pressure is pushing up from France and meteorologists there are already forecasting a fine week to come but with cooler nights. Typical September weather! Unfortunately, it looks as though Yorkshire might be just on the northern edge of this high, leaving the possibility of further lows crossing Scotland and trailing variable amounts of cloud across the North of England. But I live in hope!

In spite of a cool night last night, a Painted Lady was flying around our garden about 8.15am.this morning. The temperature was only 10 degrees C. Usually butterflies don't fly till the air temperature reaches 13-14 degrees and the sun temperature on their bodies is much higher. However, some species choose to roost high up in trees on the east-facing side where they can utilise the morning sunshine as soon as it appears! Is that instinct or intelligence? Who knows? But it is intriguing that scientists are increasingly reporting that butterflies appear to have more 'brain power' than previously realised.

August continued to produce good numbers of most species with Common Blues having a record season along the Humber Bank and Small Tortoiseshells rising in numbers towards the end of the month, just as they did last year. Painted Lady numbers began to fall after the middle of August but they remain quite widespread though thin on the ground. They will have mated and laid eggs which could produce another brood flying in September and October, but only if the weather allows. A cold spell or heavy rain could easily disrupt this possibility and cause them to die off.

Red Admirals, on the other hand, try to survive and head back to the Mediterranean to breed again. This year their numbers have been very low, but offspring of the early summer arrival, will now head for the east coast and then south till they reach Kent where they usually cross the Channel into France. The result is that even though numbers have been low, accumulations will reach the Yorkshire coast where numbers will rise, often peaking in mid to late September and continuing to move through much of October and even into November. As always, it all depends on the weather. Occasionally, Red Admirals from Scandinavia will cross the North Sea and join the east coast movement southward. You can spot these movements anywhere along Yorkshire's coastline, with South Gare, Filey Brigg, Flamborough and Spurn particularly good places to observe these migrations. Ideal conditions for movement are nearly calm sunny days with a light SW wind, between about 10am and 2pm.

Commas are usually woodland edge butterflies which move into gardens in search of nectar in the autumn. They are preparing to hibernate so need a lot of food to build up reserves. We've already had two in the garden, but they didn't stay long. It is an attractive butterfly to look out for at this time of the year.

So remember, there should be lots of chances to see more butterflies before the season closes in late October or early November. And don't forget, our Vice-county Recorders are keen to receive your records, especially as this is the final year in the current national five-year cycle of recording. Their contact details are found elsewhere on this website. Do try to send in your records by the end of October so that they can be processed in time for inclusion in our next Annual Report. Thanks!!

Big Numbers!

A typical countryside walk in August might be expected to produce up to a dozen butterfly species, mostly in ones and twos and a few bigger counts of maybe 20 or 30. It all depends on the habitat. Some will be better than others. This year is different as the expected emergence of Painted Ladies around the beginning of the month saw site counts in multiple hundreds, anything from 200/300 to a 1000 or more. It looks as though the best counts have all been in the east of the county, with the biggest counts of all on the coast where the Painted Ladies first landed.

Then around the beginning of the month we had another arrival in the form of thousands of Large Whites. Not only were 7,700 noted near Filey passing inland to the NW in two hours (see the daily reports section), but others were heading south along the coastline at Spurn at the rate of 2000 per hour for at least three hours and at a lesser rate for much longer. Along the East Yorkshire coastline and the immediate inland area, the countryside was packed with Large Whites and by report many headed inland right across the county. At this time of the year Large Whites sometimes head into Yorkshire from the Baltic countries. It’s an unusual migration route with the butterflies heading SW out of that area. Most large-scale butterfly migration flows north-westward or south-eastward according to the season.

Most of our resident butterflies seem to have been doing very well, certainly in my home area of SE Yorkshire. We have had much drier weather than elsewhere so may have benefited from that. Along the Humber Bank I have been recording 200/300 Common Blues per kilometre. Small Skippers have been widespread, Holly Blues not so common but we have had a regular appearance of one or two in our garden. Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks seem to have done better than in recent years, but Red Admirals have been almost non-existent. Walls are just coming out and we have had a number of reasonable counts. The Wall is a puzzling species since it seems to be doing best along the edges of big fields of crops, precisely where most people wouldn’t think of looking for them!

Hot weather in France (35-42 degrees there!) looks like moving in our direction, at least for a short time over the next day or two, so we could yet get a further arrival of immigrants. Perhaps more Painted Ladies from those which bred on the continent, or a fresh arrival of Red Admirals or even Clouded Yellows. I’ve heard of just two Clouded Yellows so far, one at Spurn a few days ago and one at Rudston (nr Bridlington) a few weeks back.

Remember, this is the last year of the current five-year recording cycle and we want as many records sent in as possible. It is not too late to request record forms from our Vice-County Recorders. At the very least it would be valuable to be able to include any big numbers you have counted. Thanks!!

Apologies for the unavoidable break in reporting on the Yorkshire butterfly scene – due to being away visiting Cornwall, Republic of Ireland, NW Scotland and five places in Iceland, I can report first-hand that Painted Ladies have reached every corner of the British Isles and even as far north-west as the most north-westerly point in Iceland!

On our return to our home region east of Hull we have found many species flying in bigger numbers than we have seen for years. Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Small Skippers, Small Tortoiseshells and all the Whites are particularly abundant. As this is the fifth and final year of the current national recording cycle – a new five-year update report will be published next year – then we urge everyone interested in helping, to cover as many 1km OS squares as possible and report the results to their Vice-county Co-ordinator. Don't be put off by the weather. Whenever the sun shines between the showers, out come the butterflies in considerable numbers.

Yesterday, my wife and I were on our way to do our weekly shop in Hull and when the sun suddenly appeared we deviated to a car park with some adjacent rough ground in the hope of recording one or two extra species. It was just a couple of miles off our planned route. To our astonishment we recorded 122 butterflies of ten species in just ten minutes!

So do make the most of what is turning out to be a spectacular year! You don't have to travel far to see what is happening. The buddleias are now out in many gardens. Just walk around your neighbourhood and count what you see around you. We need neighbourhood reports like that from every town and village in the county. If you are new to recording, just contact your Vice-County Co-ordinator and they will send you or email you recording forms they can also be download them from the recorders page on the website. Thanks for your help!

The Painted Lady invasion is still going on although now down to a trickle. Most have now settled and in my own experience can be found in almost every 1km square in East Yorkshire. But this doesn't seem to be case all over the county. The northern edges may have missed out. Still, if these immigrants all breed we could see record numbers by August. As they lay eggs on thistles there is plenty of suitable habitat for them to occupy! The current immigration looks like being one of the largest on record and is notable for the length of time it has continued, already over three weeks! And there was an earlier wave came into the south coast of England in mid-April!

Red Admirals have been relatively scarce so far, but there seem to have been more coming in over the last few days as well as lots of migrant moths, particularly Silver Ys and Diamond-backs.

Spring butterflies have done particularly well this year, especially Orange-tips. In fact the latter are still flying in my home area in the far south-east of SE Yorkshire. I saw both a male and a female on 13/06, virtually overlapping with the first Meadow Browns - 3 on the Humber Bank on 14/06. That's quite early for this species, even for our area. But it might have something to do with the fact that we have had less than 2cm of rain since the third week of February and lots of sun!

Common Blues are doing exceptionally well in SE Yorkshire. I counted over 250 during a 1.5km walk along the Humber Bank on 15/06 which is the biggest number I have seen locally for many years. The first Large Skippers are showing well now and we have seen quite a few Walls, although thinly spread.

The 2008 Butterfly & Moth Report has been slightly delayed at the printers and is now due in early July. Copies ordered via myself should, hopefully, be mailed out in the second week of July. Copies can still be ordered via myself with cheques payable to Butterfly Conservation Yorkshire for £11.50 (inclusive of post & packing) and sent to me, Howard Frost, 10 Chellsway, Withernsea, HU19 2EN.