Bringing butterflies and moths back to Britain • www.westmidlands-butterflies.org.uk

Regional Magazine of West Midlands Butterfly Conservation

theCommaNo.98 Autumn 2017

Grafton Wood:Celebrates 20 years

Baggeridge:White-letter day

the Comma2 Autumn 2017 3

Chairman’s Address Chairman’s Address

Cover photograph by Peter Seal.Philip Dunne, MP for Ludlow, hasagreed to be Species Championfor the Wood White. Here he iswith Rhona Goddard, WoodWhite Project Officer, at WigmoreRolls. To find out more turn topage 15.

Another butterfly seasonalmost over, and it

has been good to heareveryone reporting muchimproved numbers – allexcept in my garden itseems, where I’ve not

found a Peacock all year and only oneSmall Tortoiseshell. And this is in spiteof having allotments with nettles just theother side of the fence. That said I am aware of a number

of signs for encouragement, with earlyemergence dates a common experience.On the Malverns Graylings did well, with Hairstreaks seen in many places. Afeature at Old Hills was the number ofWhite-letter and Purple Hairstreaksnectaring at an accessible height onbramble. Is this a new trend as severalpeople have reported it from around theregion? I first became aware of this onthe Prees Heath guided walk in early July– on seeing half a dozen PurpleHairstreaks feeding I thought Stephen

Lewis had probably bribed them! But is our optimism generated by the

fact that in comparison 2016 was sopoor? How can we judge? Well this tomy mind illustrates the value of thethousands of records collected eachseason, and when we look at transect orcasual records we shall have an objectiveway of assessing if 2017 has in fact beenabove average. And equally importantly,if not more so, these records provide uswith the means of deciding how werespond to changes in the abundanceand distribution of our rarer species.

PeacocksHowever, the concern I have heard mostfrequently this summer has focussed on thefortunes of some of our Vanessids,especially the Peacock. It is not just mygarden that is bereft. The picture is mixedwith some locations having plenty butothers lacking Peacocks, and indeedSmall Tortoiseshell. It is rather worrying,as like 2013 we had a spell of hotweather early on. Then we saw Peacocksand Tortoiseshells multiply several fold, butnot this year. Of course all theseassumptions can be tested once transectrecords are analysed.

Wood WhiteIn some cases extra measures have beentaken to monitor work to preserve keyspecies. I can say a little about the one Iam most familiar with, theWood White,acknowledging that across the regionthere are many similar initiatives year byyear to help Fritillaries, BrownHairstreaks, Grayling and Silver-studded Blues. I am often reminded that

Cover story

Please send articles and images to the editor at phwarden@sky.com. Photographs should be sent separately rather than embedded in a document,and of as high a resolution aspossible. The opinions expressed in this magazine arenot necessarily those of theWest Midlands Branch or of Butterfly Conservation.

The deadline for copy for the winter edition of The Commais 30th November 2017, but contributions are welcomed well in advance of that date.

Contributions

Copy deadline

BC West Midlands Butterflies and Moths Butterfly Conservation West Midlands

@WestMidlands_BC

the chief focus of this initiative is topreserve, strengthen and if possibleextend, existing populations of thisrapidly declining butterfly, as thepopulations found in south Shropshireand north Herefordshire remain verysignificant in the national context. Onpage 12 you will find Rhona’ssummary of the excellent progressmade this year for Wood Whites,with details on page 30 of relatedwinter work parties. It is time to beable to give some publicity to theWood White reintroduction atMonkwood. The butterfly had diedout in Worcestershire about ten years ago. As I share one of the twotransects being walked, theopportunity to witness and helpmonitor the Wood White inMonkwood has been the highlight ofmy summer.After adults were released in two

spots the butterfly enjoyed a strongsummer brood. This is a tribute toRhona Goddard, our BC ProjectOfficer, Dave Green, who did therelease in a consultant capacity forBC, and the many volunteers whohave engineered the right conditions. Monkwood now has a strong

volunteer group but there is alwaysroom for more at work parties on ourreserves. In addition to the weekendmeets advertised in the Dates for yourDiary section on page 30, I believethat now all five of our reserves planweekday work parties, with Ewyas

Harold starting a monthly Tuesdaysession as well as monthly Saturdays.If you live within reach I am sureIan Hart and Lucy Morton, BCReserves Officer, would greatlyappreciate your help, as do all ourreserve managers and wardens.

Suggestions I’ll round off with an update on the various projects on the go. Weplan that the new website will go live soon – John Tilt deservesa mention for amassing lots ofmaterial. Do you have informationabout good sites that we can featureon the website? – if so, please letme know.The Branch is looking at various

suggestions to spend the money setaside for butterfly and mothconservation. Please email me withany schemes which need support.“Butterflies of the West Midlands”continues to sell. If you are stuck for aChristmas present for a wildlife lover,our book retails at £18.95 and iscrammed full of useful informationabout the Region, walks and otherplaces where key species can befound, and photos of all four stages ofeach of the 41 butterflies featured. Goto www.naturebureau.co.uk for moredetails about how to order a copy.

Peter Seal, Branch Chair

Company limited by guarantee, registered in England (2206468)Registered office: Manor Yard, East Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset BH20 5QP.

Charity registered in England & Wales (254937) and in Scotland (SCO39268)

The Branch in Focus

3 Purple Hairstreaks on Rosebay Willowherb at Prees Heath (Lucy Lewis)

ON SALE NOW!

The 2018 West Midlands Butterfly

Conservation Calendar is now on sale and can be ordered at£7.50 per copy including postage(£14 for two copies) from Mike Williams, Annesbrook, 2 Dewberry Close, Stourport,Worcs DY13 8TB. Please makecheques payable to ButterflyConservation West MidlandsBranch. The calendars are individually film-wrapped andfeature a selection of butterfliesand moths found in the region, including Grayling, Silver-studded Blue, Brown Hairstreak and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary, which havebeen the subject of considerableconservation effort on the part of the Branch. Thanks go to Roger Littleover who co-ordinated theproduction of the calendar, and toall those people who contributedphotos. All proceeds from the saleof the calendar will support theconservation of butterflies andmoths in the West Midlands.

Peter Seal

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CONTINUED ON PAGE 6

Abig thank you to all the butterfly recorders who have contributed to the database this year. I have analysedthe data from 1st January to 31st July 2017. This includes the transect records which are submitted to the UK

Butterfly Monitoring Scheme, but does not include Big Butterfly Count records yet. Most of the records havebeen verified, with just a few records yet to go through this process.

Here are some facts and figures: • Number of recorders: 440.• Highest number of records by one recorder: 800. • Number of 10Km squares covered: 122. Only 2 squares had no records, SJ52 and SJ81.

2 squares had just one record, SJ42 and SJ62.• Total number of species recorded:39.• Highest number of species recorded in a 10Km square: 31 species in SO74 and SO77.

SO95 and SO97 had 29 species.• Most recorded species: Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Ringlet and Orange-tip.

Obtaining records by county has proved problematic thus far as Birmingham and the Black Country do notappear to be separately recognised on the system – we hope this can be remedied soon, meanwhileapologies to those of you recording in those areas. Records from the 4 counties, or rather the 4 vice-countiesas are used generally for biological recording, were as follows:

- The First Seven Months

The system appears to be working well overall, and many thanks are due to our verifiers who have verifiednearly 14,000 records. Do keep recording and, if you can, go out and about to some different areas to givea better cover of the West Midlands region. For those of you who have not yet taken the plunge, go towww.brc.ac.uk/irecord then register, click on the Record tab, then click on Acivities and then Browse allActivities, and enter WM Branch Butterfly Conservation, where you can enter all your casual records.

Article by John Tilt

County

Herefordshire VC36

Shropshire VC40

Staffordshire VC39

Worcestershire VC37

Percentage of total records submitted

12.25%

15.54%

13.93%

58.28%

% Records by County

HerefordshireShropshire Staffordshire Worcestershire

Most recorded species

Ringlet (Mel Mason)Speckled Wood (Mel Mason)Meadow Brown (Joy Stevens)Orange-tip (Joy Stevens)

Grand TotalGrand Total 1704 2161 1937 8108 13910

Grand Total Herefordshire Shropshire Staffordshire Worcestershire Grand Total

John Tilt tells us how we are faring using the new recording method.

the Comma6 Autumn 2017 7

and bramble bushes mid-afternoonin hot sunny weather.

LuresAs we continued our walk Largeand Green-veined Whites lit up the vegetation, the antennae of Small Skippers (orangeundersides) were checked to ruleout Essex (inky black tips). The latePhil Hopson used to use a dentist’smirror to check the undersides of

Skipper antennae – I often wonderhow he procured one of those ashe used to do voluntary work andpreviously was at West MidlandsTravel.Three of us brought along our

pheromone lures and placed themover Bird’s-foot Trefoil. Steve Gallis

the Head Ranger was the first to have at least three Six-beltedClearwing moths attracted to hislure. We caught a lovely specimenand examined its un-moth-likefeatures prior to release.It’s been a noticeably good year

for Commas, and we saw about a dozen on our walk (33 on myearlier recce!) together with adozen or so Gatekeepers andone Speckled Wood. There werealso two lovely Holly Blues – onefemale with her wings nearly fullyopened showing those delightfulblack margins to the uppersides,not often seen in the field, and to the delight of the photographerson the walk. Only two SmallTortoiseshells were noted butMeadow Browns and Ringletsdanced in fair numbers above thegrassland, and a couple ofCommon Blues sped by. Twosuperb Red Admirals posedbasking on thistles while the groupeagerly pressed their camerashutters.

Article by David Jackson

It’s always a great pleasure whenyoung families come along to abutterfly-watching event, and thiswas no exception with twelvepeople ranging in age betweenfour and sixty four – the youngesthelping me catch, pot up andrelease several butterflies and dayflying moths, after they had beenkeenly viewed in their pots. It wasgreat fun, especially when wefound the target species with ease.Despite its popularity as a

green oasis with all the pressurefrom a constant stream of visitors,Baggeridge Country Park nearWolverhampton is well managedby the Rangers, who are wildlifesavvy and maintain parts of the

park specifically for butterflies anddragonflies. The Park is known asone of the butterfly, moth anddragonfly hotspots in the WestMidlands, and it’s a great place forbirdwatchers too. It’s hard to imagine the park was

once a large colliery, at the bottomof the Earl of Dudley’s Himley Hallback garden, less than a quarter ofa mile away! The pit was the lastone winning coal in the BlackCountry before it closed in 1968,following which the area waslandscaped, and the country parkwas officially opened in 1983 byPrincess Anne.

White-lettersEven though slightly late into theflight period on the 22nd July, theweather had been kind to butterflies

in the preceding few days, andwithin a couple of minutes ofarriving at Jake’s Ladder at around11.30am I managed to locate twoWhite-letter Hairstreaks nectaringclose to the path. They were on the same patch of thistle tops where earlier in the week I foundfour on my recce, which wereeasily trumped by the Park Rangerswho counted seven a day later.The park has a fairly widespread

number of Wych Elms on which White-letters depend. Thesesometimes elusive little butterfliesare, it appears, best searched for mid–morning, from around10.30 a.m. until midday, whenthey descend to nectar on favouriteflowers. They usually ascend backinto the treetops around noon,reappearing on favoured plants

A White-letter Day

Baggeridge is featured as Walk 9 in ‘Butterflies of the West Midlands’. Not got your copy yet? Go to www.naturebureau.co.uk for details.

David Jackson leads a walkin South Staffordshire.

White-letter Hairstreak (David Williams)

Holly Blue female (Mike Williams)

Comma (Neil Avery) Gatekeeper (Stephen Lewis)

Six-belted Clearwing (Andy Purcell)

the Commathe Comma8

Butterfly Records for Herefordshire in 2017

March produced a number ofearly records of Brimstone,

Red Admiral, Comma and SmallTortoiseshell, but relatively fewPeacocks. Good weather in Aprilsaw plenty of Holly Blue recordsfrom all over the county, with JaneWise recording a maximum of 10from Breinton. Orange-tips toowere seen in good numbers with acount of 12 from Haugh Wood byHeather Walker.As a group, at least two of the

County Recorder Bob Hallsummarises what peoplehave been seeing this year.

Skippers are now hard to find inHerefordshire. Dingy Skipper wasonly recorded by Dilys Hart atEwyas Harold Common. GrizzledSkipper is restricted to White Rocksand Lords Wood Quarry on theDoward, where it was recorded byIan Draycott and Doug Lloyd,with a maximum count of 12. Laterin the summer Large Skippernumbers seemed reasonable, asdid numbers of Small and EssexSkippers.

The management work at EwyasHarold Common has clearly paidoff with an amazing count of 120Pearl-bordered Fritillary on 7th Mayby Ian Hart and Dean Fenton.Much smaller numbers were atHaugh Wood, where a count inmid-May produced just 4. Theseinsects are still found at CoppettHill, but not in great numbers.Silver-washed Fritillaries were foundin reasonable numbers on theDoward, and at Woolhope Dome.Jill Fountain recorded a Dark GreenFritillary in Haugh Wood on 2ndJuly, and they were also recordedat Ewyas Harold Common.White Admiral has only been

recorded twice, at Dymock Woodsand Lords Wood. Midsummerbrought out Comma and RedAdmiral in good numbers, butPeacock and Painted Lady wererelatively few.

The Whites have had a good year,

with plenty of records of Large,Small and Green-veined White.Wood White numbers in WigmoreRolls have been amazing. AndrewHurcomb recorded the first thereon 23rd April, Beryl Pettersreached 151 on 26th May, but thisnumber was exceeded by RobinHemming and Kate Wollen withan incredible 364 on 1st June.There were smaller numbers ofWood White in the Doward andHaugh Wood, with a maximumcount of 38 on 28th May by JenHarley. Siege Wood and severalsites in and around Checkley alsoturned up a number of WoodWhite. There were only 7 recordsof Brimstone in July.

The Browns were mostly plentiful.Maximum count of 75 + MeadowBrown in Haugh Wood by Martyn Davies. Plenty of Ringlet,Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood,but only a single record for Wallfrom Wigmore, and hardly anyrecords of Small Heath, with LizLloyd recording a maximum of 9 atBritish Camp on 28th June. There

was a single record of Small Heathfrom Croft Ambrey. These last twospecies are in marked decline.Marbled White was seen in good numbers at Ewyas HaroldCommon, with a high count of100+ from the Ewyas HaroldMeadows BC reserve. Smallercounts came from some of theWoolhope Dome and the DowardHWT reserves.

Finally the Blues. There were goodcounts of Common Blue from Joans Hill Meadow, Marises/ CethinsHWT reserves and Wigmore Rolls.Some second brood Holly Blue

have been on the wing, and eventhe elusive White-letter Hairstreakhas been found in 4 locations –Haugh Wood, Lords Wood, LuggMeadows and Mathon. A singleGreen Hairstreak was recordedby Wendy Tanner at Malvern Hillson 14th June, but few records werereceived of Purple Hairstreakor Brown Argus. Small Copperrecords remain low.

Article by Bob Hall,Herefordshire Recorder

Speckled Wood (Lucy Lewis)

Pearl-bordered Fritillary at Ewyas Harold Common (Eden Tanner)

Common Blue (Neil Avery)

Autumn 2017 9

Wood White (Eden Tanner)

Silver-washed Fritillary (Jill Fountain) Dark Green Fritillary (Jill Fountain)

the Comma10 Autumn 2017 11

Iam the Reserve Manager atWorcestershire Wildlife Trust’sFeckenham Wylde Moor reserve.These four photographs showingthe growth of a Brown Hairstreakcaterpillar were taken at the reservelast spring.

Extensive BlackthornmanagementFeckenham Wylde Moor is awetland reserve with reed bed and meadows. Around the reserve are hedgerows predominately ofHawthorn and Blackthorn. Over theyears we have carried out extensiveBlackthorn management to increasethe amount of suckers, and therebyto provide suitable habitat for theBrown Hairstreak butterfly.

Increasing year on yearThis work has been very successfuland resulted in good numbers ofBrown Hairstreak eggs being laidaround the reserve, increasing year on year. In 2015/16 wehad our highest numbers with over 100 eggs recorded. Unfortunately,

Paul Meers gets a unique insight into the life of a caterpillar at Feckenham Wylde Moor reserve.

The Early Life of a Brown Hairstreak

2016/17 has not been anywherenear this, with only approximately20 recorded.

Searching for caterpillarsHowever, this has not deterred usfrom searching for the caterpillars. Iwas fortunate to be on site at theright time on the right day, enablingme to photograph this first instarcaterpillar (approx.1mm long),which had only recently hatched.Some 14 days later I was againlucky to see and experience a firstinstar caterpillar moult into a second instar (approx.3mm long)and become the familiar anddistinctive Brown Hairstreak larva.Also shown are the third and finalinstars. This is not often seen in thewild, and so it is a real privilege andan excellent record for the reserve.Subsequent visits failed to find thecaterpillar, which meant that either ithad been predated (very likely), orit had moved to somewhere else onthe bush and I couldn’t spot it!

Article and photos by Paul Meers

Or should that be Heaven? Near the Worcester/Warwickshire border is a Grizzled Skipper site

that for some years has been monitored and workedon by the Branch. It is found along a 700-800 metrestretch of disused railway track owned by the charityRailway Paths Ltd. This location is not accessible tothe public but a right of way runs nearby.

Neighbouring siteApart from clearance done by work parties the site is not actively managed. Bramble and Hawthornencroachment is a constant threat as it spreads acrossthe clinkers, which when kept clear provide goodhabitat for this heat-loving insect. Creeping Cinquefoil,held to be the Grizzled Skipper’s main foodplant here, is widespread as is Bird's-foot Trefoil and BarrenStrawberry.It neighbours a Network Rail site that is covered in

gravel and concrete blocks and so is more resistant toscrub encroachment. Again this holds many interestingplants with extensive carpets of Trefoil. It is equallyimportant for the Grizzled Skipper, with Dingy Skipperbeing recorded here since 2015.Railway Paths have kindly agreed access for winter

work parties and a count in season. However, apartfrom a joint site visit to the Network Rail land last winter with two very interested ecologists, we have not thus far secured the same level of dialogue with

NR managers. Again there is no public access as a liverailway runs nearby. It is a good site for birds, especially warblers

and winter thrushes. A range of common butterfly and day-flying moth species are to be seen, includingBrimstone, Common Blue and Brown Argus.

NumbersAs it is one of only three Grizzled Skipper sites inWorcestershire, the Branch is grateful to Railway Paths for their support and co-operation. Whilst aswith many sites this butterfly is only ever seen in smallnumbers, twelve being the peak count on any one occasion at Honeybourne, this colony is wellestablished and, as others are to be found nearby in Warwickshire, is of great significance. In 2010 only one was seen, and six in 2011 so, whilstnumbers are not up to the levels of 20 years ago, wehope to have the opportunity to continue work on thiskey site to improve the butterfly's fortunes.

Article by Peter Seal

Peter Seal describes how the Branch is enabling an old railway track to providea sanctuary for wildlife.

'We are verypleased to be ableto support work that encourages biodiversityto flourish on our land. We are always looking foropportunities to encourage wildlife, both on theNational Cycle Network and our more secludedsites, allowing many more people to enjoy naturewhile out walking and cycling.'

Honeybourne Haven Grizzled Skipper (David Williams)

Huw Davies of Railway Paths Ltd and Sustrans

First Instar

Second Instar

Third Instar Final Instar

Honeybourne work party (Mike Williams)

the Comma12 Autumn 2017 13

Well, what a great year2017 has been for

butterflies! The season started well, with our first Wood Whiteemergence at Bury Ditches on the11th April, the earliest everrecorded at this site and almost amonth earlier than other sites across the West Midlands. A full woodland survey for

Wood Whites at Wigmore Rolls in early June (organised by RobinHemming and supported byothers, thank you to all) revealedthat, thanks to the ForestryCommission and BC volunteers,

the site now supports one of the largest colonies in the UK, with 364Wood White butterflies recorded in just one day! Astonishingly, thisis thought to be an underestimate for the site.I’m pleased to report that the

recent conservation work at BuryDitches, Wigmore Rolls and othersites across our region appears tobe having a positive impact. Thissummer Wood Whites have beenseen courting and egg-laying in anumber of woodland scallops thatwere only created using projectfunds in January 2017. A volunteer

Rhona Goddard writesabout an outstandingyear for the Wood

White project.

When the Woods turned White

even spotted a Wood Whitecaterpillar in one of the Bury Ditchesscallops! Breeding has also beenconfirmed at Radnor Wood (norecords in 2015 or 2016) andMortimer Forest, with individualsseen again at Purslow Wood on anumber of occasions. The project, supported by

National Lottery players through the

Heritage Lottery Fund, has a largeconservation element to it.However, to help reverse thespecies’ decline further, we’ve alsoreintroduced individuals to twosuitable, identified sites. Very littlehas been reported until now, as thesuccess or otherwise of thereintroductions was unknown untilthis summer.

Monkwood In May 2016 20 Wood Whiteadults (both male and female) weremoved from Haugh Wood, withpermission from the landowners the Forestry Commission (FC), andreintroduced to Monkwood, a jointlyowned BC and WorcestershireWildlife Trust (WWT) reserve inWorcestershire. These individualswere released in flower-rich areasand monitored by volunteers, staffand Dave Green, an expertbutterfly ecologist.On 9th May 2017, Dave and I

saw the first “home grown” WoodWhite at Monkwood for a numberof years, and in fact we saw a total of four males on that day. Thissuccess continued, with 20 adultsrecorded on the 22nd May and 20 eggs discovered during an egg-monitoring count in early June.Although we had good numbers ofWood White emerging, we wereseeing very few females. It wastherefore decided to top-up thepopulation with some markedindividuals to hopefully get a moreeven male/female ratio, which wedid. Things improved further as thesummer progressed especially withthe hot, sunny June and July weather,which created ideal conditions forthe butterfly. However, in July, somelarval food plants and nectar sourceswere starting to show signs ofdrought. Rain was definitely needed! On a hot, but very wet day in

early August, Dave and I met againat Monkwood for a day of egg-searching, and even in the rain wewere seeing second brood WoodWhite adults. To our amazement,we saw a total of 77 adults (a fewmay have been double counted)

CONTINUED ON PAGE 14

Wood Whites (Neil Avery)

Collecting females at Wigmore Rolls May 2016 (Rhona Goddard)

Volunteers and contractor releasing female Wood Whites atMonkwood June 2016 (Rhona Goddard)

Caterpillar in scallop atBury Ditches June 2017(Robert Tilt)

and found 109 eggs. Even better,the Wood White butterflies andeggs were found not only inMonkwood, but also in LittleMonkwood, another jointly ownedBC and WWT site.

Blakeridge WoodAlso in the spring of 2016 20individuals were moved from asecond donor site, Wigmore Rolls,again with permission from FC,and reintroduced to BlakeridgeWood, an FC site in SouthShropshire. These individuals werealso monitored and, althoughWood White females were seenegg-laying almost immediatelyfollowing the release at both sites,

only one second brood WoodWhite adult was seen, andunfortunately no second broodeggs were found at all. At thatstage it was impossible to know ifthe reintroduction had been asuccess, we just had to wait until2017.On the 10th May 2017, two

Wood Whites were seen atBlakeridge Wood. The peaknumber of adults recorded on onesingle day here was never morethan 13, even though the site wasvisited and monitored regularly – ifanyone wishes to help with thebutterfly transect at this site, please

do get in touch with me – mycontact details are on page 31.Again the reintroduced population

was topped-up with Wood Whiteadults during early June, but we still only found four eggs during the first brood egg-monitoringcount, although several additionaleggs were seen being laid. The

second brood egg monitoringcount in early August was just a little better with seven eggs being found,although Dave did manage to find another 14 eggs on the 17thAugust, plus a Wood Whitecaterpillar a few days later.Blakeridge is a much larger sitethan Monkwood, making finding

the Comma14 Autumn 2017 15

Thanks to National Lotteryplayers, we invest money tohelp people across the UK explore, enjoy and protect theheritage they care about -from the archaeology underour feet to the historic parksand buildings we love, fromprecious memories and collections to rare wildlife.www.hlf.org.uk. Follow us onTwitter, Facebook andInstagram and

use #HLFsupported.

About the Heritage Lottery Fund

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 13

adults and eggs a little moredifficult. The habitat is perfect forWood White with wide sunnyflower-rich rides supporting plenty

of nectar sources and larval food plants. However, perhaps thealtitude of a site has a greaterinfluence on the Wood Whitebutterfly than first thought.

ChallengeI was speechless, as I neverexpected both Blakeridge andMonkwood to support a WoodWhite population just 12 monthsafter the reintroductions. Ourchallenge now is to continue towork with landowners, managersand volunteers to maintain the sites,so that both Monkwood andBlakeridge continue to support athriving Wood White populationfor years to come.

Many, many thanks to all whohave assisted with this project andthe reintroductions. As well as theHeritage Lottery Fund, BC alsoreceived financial support for Year2 of this project from the Shrop-shire Hills AONB ConservationFund. Special thanks go to Jenny Joy, Dave Green, Kate Wollenand Alan Reid from the ForestryCommission, Worcestershire Wild-life Trust staff, especially HelenWoodman, James Hitchcock andDominique Cragg, and of coursenone of this would have beenpossible without the West MidlandsBranch volunteers.

Article by Rhona Goddard

MP Champions theWood WhiteThe Member of Parliament for Ludlow, Philip Dunne,

has become Species Champion for the Wood Whitebutterfly. So what is the role of a species champion?

The project was launched by various natureconservation charities last year to recruit at least 40 MPsto be champions for threatened species, be they plants,bees, birds, amphibians, crustaceans, moths, otherinsects or whatever. The idea is to raise awareness ofthe needs of these species in the public domain. Thereare three ways in which MPs can do this:

• They can publicise examples of good or bad practice in relation to their chosen species. • They can champion their species in parliamentary debates as they may be affected by policy

and legislation on a range of environmental concerns. • And Butterfly Conservation can use species champions to promote their work more widely.

Mr Dunne owns woodland in the area and has agreed for it to be surveyed for suitable habitat for the Wood White. The photograph was taken at Wigmore Rolls.

Marked female Wood White atMonkwood May 2017 (Mike Williams)

Peter Seal releasing Wood White female at Monkwood May 2017 (Mike Williams)

Peter Seal presenting Philip Dunne with a copy of'Butterflies of the West Midlands' (Rhona Goddard)

Female Wood White collected from Wigmore Rolls May 2016

the Comma16

declining species. We did have theopportunity to buy a farm whichwould have joined up a series ofwoods which were all part of theold Feckenham Forest. This howeverwas rejected, but myself and afriend were able to acquire LowerKites, a 22 acre wood close toGrafton. Over the last 5 years wehave been managing this as acoppice with the same monitoringprocedure as at Grafton.

MonitoringThe effect of all this management onthe wildlife has been spectacular.The Brown Hairstreak has moved

cleared, and the two areas wereleft to regenerate naturally. This hasbeen successful beyond our wildestdreams, as the regeneration hasbeen spectacular – the areas arenow full of flowers and insects amidthe regenerating scrub. Anothergreat event was the acquisition of Laight Rough, a 7 acre ofwoodland on the north edge of thewood. This has great coppicepotential and we have plans toallow a commercial coppicer towork part of this plot. The conventional wisdom regarding

wildlife is that landscape scalemanagement is the solution to our

from the wood edge into the wooditself – over 550 eggs were foundin the wood last winter. Butterflynumbers have increased by 250%,and the number of species hasincreased too. This is very gratifyingwhen nationally butterflies aredeclining. Mammals are monitored

Negotiations started in 1996for Butterfly Conservation and

Worcestershire Wildlife Trust to buyGrafton Wood from the CroomeEstate. By the 18th June1997 weofficially owned the wood, thanksto financial help from the HeritageLottery Fund. I was just coming upto retirement from a working life inindustry, and having lived next to Grafton Wood for 30 years Ioffered to be volunteer manager. Bythe 20th of October I was mademanager and the first work party

was on 12th December 1997.A management plan was drawn

up by Simon Barker, whichincluded 12ha of coppicing and a series of wide rides all to favour insect breeding,particularly butterflies. Thekey species was BrownHairstreak and the plan included Blackthornmanagement along thewestern edge of thewood. We had contractors to help for

the first few years after thepurchase, but we soon realised thatthe volunteer help we were getting

was sufficient to manage the woodas we wanted. It has always been my policy

that management work is pointlessunless you monitor its effects on

the wildlife. So right from thestart we set up a butterflytransect and birdsurvey. In addition acomputer diary was setup to record events andphotographic records of

the changes. Even beforepurchase a Brown Hairstreak

egg monitoring system was inplace. Deer damage has beenmonitored and a regular bat survey has been carried out after acolony of Bechstein’s Bats wasdiscovered. The key events anddiscoveries can be seen on theGrafton Wood Blog at: https://graftonwood.wordpress.com/

ConifersOne of the major events was theremoval of two areas of conifers.This was done by contractors andthe timber was sold to pay for theoperation. We were insistent thatthe brash left from the conifers was

John Tilt looks back at whathas been achieved.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 18

20 Years at Grafton Wood

Management work is pointless unless you monitor its effects on the wildlife

Brown Hairsteak

Grafton panorama

Species-rich grassland

White Admiral

Autumn 2017 17

A ride in autumn

Silver-washed Fritillary

the Comma18 Autumn 2017 19

with trail cameras and smallmammal trapping, and the effectsof deer browsing on the coppiceplots is also monitored. The birdpopulation in the coppice plots isoutstanding, and the scrub in theold conifer plots has allowed bothLesser and Common Whitethroat tomove in. The list of bird speciesusing the wood totals 150. One of our volunteers has use of

a digger so we were able to installtwo small ponds resulting in apopulation of frogs, toads andnewts. Dragonflies and damselflieshave arrived in numbers. The rareDowny Emerald appeared 2 years ago for the first time inWorcestershire. We are now ableto add dragonflies to our transectto allow us to monitor them. We don’t do regular moth

recording at Grafton. In the pastPatrick Clement has done a day amonth recording throughout the year,which was very useful. If anyonewould like to do regular mothrecording please contact me. So insummary all the monitoring showsthat the management at Grafton hasbeen successful. But we are notdoing anything clever, we are justcoppicing, which has been done inBritain’s woodlands for centuries,

and maintaining wide U-shapedrides. But, unlike commercial forestry,we do clear the brash to enable a good ground flora to flourish.

Work partiesI have, however, concerns for thefuture. At its peak we had over 40people at the work parties and didover 2000 volunteer man hours peryear. Last year for the first time westopped Sunday Work Parties dueto lack of attendance and now oursmall group is composed of peoplein their 60’s and 70’s. No youngerpeople are coming through – sothis is our next challenge, toencourage younger people to getinvolved.

The last 20 years has been a great experience for me, and Iwould like to thank the people from both organisations, ButterflyConservation and WorcestershireWildlife Trust, for their support.Most of all I would like to thank allthe volunteers for their help. Someof them have attended every weekfrom the start – Cyril Johnson,Mike Gee – and Trevor Bucknalland Mike Williams came whenthey could.

Article and photos by John Tilt

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 17

On Sunday 27th August the reserve’s first 20 yearswere celebrated in style. We were very pleased

to welcome Sir Peter Luff, who officially opened thereserve 20 years ago in his capacity as local MP. Sir Peter now chairs the Heritage Lottery Fund, whichhelped with the initial purchase and management costsof the reserve. After speeches of welcome, a specialcelebratory cake was cut (by billhook!) and we set off on a guided walk led by John Tilt, our ReserveManager. Peter Seal, Branch Chairman, presented SirPeter with a copy of our 'Butterflies of the West Midlands'book. There were plenty of butterflies around includingseveral Brimstones, although the elusive Brown Hairstreaklived up to its name. Most people managed at leastfleeting views before we returned to the village hall for alate lunch and a chance to peruse our sales table.

By Mike Williams

…and how it was celebrated

Species

Change in Butterfly Population

Cutting the cake with a billhook (Mike Williams)

Peter Seal presents Sir Peter Luff with the book (Mike Williams)

John Tilt on the left leading the guided walk (Mike Williams)

On the guided walk (John Tilt)Outside the village hall (Mike Williams)

Sir Peter Luff, Graham Martin of WWT & Peter Seal (Mike Williams)

Synergy with SGCT!

Many of you will be familiar withthe spectacular landscape of

Ironbridge Gorge World HeritageSite and with its pioneeringindustrial heritage. However, howmany of you have heard of theSevern Gorge Countryside Trust?Read on.

Crucial and active roleSGCT, as we call it locally, kindlyhosted our recent inaugural TelfordButterfly Recorders meeting in theirwonderful eco-friendly building.SGCT’s small team plays a crucialand very active role in helping toconserve and manage key wildlifesites in the Gorge as guardians ofthe local landscape. The charity,held in great affection by residents,also offers interesting wildlifeworkshops, walks, information andother fun activities to the communityand visitors. Many of its managed habitats

support butterfly and moth species. In fact some of our keybutterfly species afforded HighPriority Status – Small Heath,White-letter Hairstreak andWhite Admiral – live in SGCT’slandholdings. The aforementionedcan be found at Lloyds Coppice,Grid Ref SJ685033, which isa key component of the landscapeof Ironbridge Gorge, providing

a sweeping, heavily woodedbackdrop to its northern slopes.

Intense industrial activityLloyds Coppice went through aperiod of intense industrial activitywith the focus on ironstone miningand clay extraction. This activitywas so extensive that in the 18thcentury the wood was marked onmaps as being an area of wastewith a few scattered clumps of trees.However, the Coppice has nowbeen reclaimed by nature andconsists of ancient semi-naturalwoodland, a small but importantheath in a clearing of acidicgrassland and a pond, a rare

wetland habitat in a woodlandsetting. To date 23 species ofbutterflies have been recorded in a very small area of the Coppice,and we are still on the lookout for more!The clearing not only supports

the Small Heath but also largenumbers of grassland butterfliesincluding Small & Essex Skipper,Common Blue, Ringlet andMeadow Brown. It is home to a colony of Purple Hairstreakin the canopy of one of the ancient oak trees which surroundthe clearing. Christine Littlewoodand I sat beneath this oak one hotsummer’s afternoon, and saw aWhite-letter Hairstreak tumble tothe ground from the surroundingtreeline. We subsequently found animmature wych elm, the larval hostplant, somewhat overshadowed at the base of the established oaktree. On hearing our news, RussellRowley, SGCT Trust Manager,enthusiastically wanted to knowhow they could sensitively managethe habitat for this key species. As a result Cadi Price, SGCT

Community Development Officer,and her excellent volunteersmodified their management of theclearing to give space to the wychelm. This was a small start to asynergistic working relationshipbetween SGCT and BC.

Relative rookieFurther collaboration has followed.In July 2014 I thought I was seeingthings when the day after havingspent HOURS unsuccessfully tryingto see my first White Admiralbutterfly at Dudmaston Estate,Bridgnorth, one flew over the top ofme in Lloyds Coppice! Being onmy own, a relative rookie and with

no means of verification, I knew Iwas on some rather unconvincingground. However, Christine saw ittoo, a day or two later – phew! The butterfly was seen flying over bramble, a source of nectar,adjacent to the public pathway. Onreporting to SGCT, this time NathanMorris, Countryside Officer, andRussell came out to view the site tolearn how they could work with us todelay the cutting of overgrownbramble until after the adult stageof the White Admiral. This superbbutterfly species was seen again in 2015 and this time I gotphotographic evidence. SGCT inturn communicated this excitingnews via their website and this yearI was able to recount the good newsstory to attendees of the Recorders

Meeting, some of whom wereSGCT volunteers. We feel very lucky to have such

responsive and interested guardiansof our local landscape, and morecollaboration is planned. We lookforward to letting you know theoutcomes. Watch this space! Happyexploring and butterfly sightings!

Article by Liz Rogers

Liz Rogers shows the benefits of working in partnership.

Have a peep at SGCT’s websitewww.severngorge.org.uk whereyou can learn more about theirconservation work, habitats, organised activities and events,along with suggested walkingtrails around Ironbridge Gorge.

the Comma20 Autumn 2017 21

White-letter Hairstreak on Wych Elm (Stephen Lewis) Small Heath (Lucy Lewis)

SGCT staff team (Liz Rogers)

White Admiral (Liz Rogers)

SGCT Volunteers (Liz Rogers)

Following the discovery of a colony of spectacularScarlet Tiger moths along the bridle path running

from Roman Road – alongside the walls of StourbridgeCrematorium, to the edge of Norton Covert – a jointproject was set up between Dudley Council andButterfly Conservation West Midlands branch. Ourmain aims are increasing bio-diversity for the benefit ofwildlife, in particular lepidoptera, and raising publicawareness of the potential of this green corridor.As far as the Scarlet Tigers are concerned, they have

profited from the Dudley Council green care regime,and their progress is constantly being assessed. Therewere so many in 2016, in a relatively confined area,that there was concern that they may have been toosuccessful, with the Alkanet suffering at the end of thesummer, showing obvious signs of caterpillar damage.Fortunately Alkanet is a robust plant and it bouncedback in the spring. However, the same could not besaid about the caterpillars in 2017, with far feweraround in comparison to the previous year. Instead ofcounts in the hundreds as was the case during thespring of 2016, double figures were more the norm.

Tigers on the prowlThis is only our third year and we are learning all thetime. Summer sightings locally would seem to vindicatemy feelings that this moth is doing very well. Firstly, Iwas puzzled by their appearance in Stourbridge in anarea which did not comply with their preferred habitat.Their choice of food plant was also not listed, althoughI think Alkanet is in the same family as Comfrey. Theextraordinary numbers in 2016 seemed a rather freakoccurrence. 2017 has seen similar ‘explosions’ nearbyin Kidderminster and along the Severn Valley. It is notpossible to say for definite why their numbers droppedoff in Stourbridge this year, but I suspect that the ScarletTigers exploited favourable conditions in 2016, andsince then nature has found a balance as there seemedto be a high number of spiders lurking on the Alkanet –just one of the factors we need to consider in future.This year has not been as spectacular, but beautiful

nevertheless. People locally have got to know me andI get reports of tigers turning up all over the place, soawareness has definitely been raised. I also like tothink that many of ‘our’ adults dispersed to new

the Comma22 Autumn 2017 23

Joy Stevens provides an update on theScarlet Tiger project.

The Ups and Downs of a Community Initiative

locations last year.Early days and we still have a long way to

go, but this could be a success story to shout about. Every year we are reporting declines in ourlepidoptera, so isn’t it nice to think that there may besome species which are bucking the trend, adapting,surviving and thriving.

An old hedgeAs far as the rest of the project is concerned, we mostlyreceive many compliments from passers-by. However,we recently suffered a setback, upsetting a group ofresidents. Roman Road/Sandy Lane is a curious butcherished bridle path running through a residentialarea and connecting with the wider countryside. One

of the project aims was to regenerate theold, neglected hedgerow by planting native

hedgerow species, and also identifying areaswhich could be saved by laying a traditional stock

hedge. One such area along Romany Way wasselected and a professional hedge layer consulted.We agreed to prepare the section for his services byclearing the undergrowth at one of our work parties.Unfortunately when we did this it was clear that thetrees were in a worse state than we had thought.Nevertheless we felt we had done a good jobpreparing by clearing away dead wood, cutting backthe hawthorn and clearing the undergrowth. Theresults were rather startling and created an outcry from

CONTINUED ON PAGE 24

The extraordinarynumbers in 2016seemed a rather freak occurrence

A painting by Steve Williams of a Scarlet Tiger

Comma on hop Alkanet in July Ringlet

Skippers

the local residents. To their eyes, it looked like we had destroyed the

hedge. An impromptu work party was convened with the aim of addressing the concerns of theneighbours and considering alternative solutions.Although we had prepared a notice explaining ourwork, the main complaint from the residents was thatwe had not consulted them beforehand. Instead theyhad been confronted with a bare hedgerow, whichlooked terrible and presented a security worry.Contrary to expectations, they were not opposed inprinciple to the hedge laying. The main complaintwas the lack of consultation. Eventually, temperswere calmed and our plans were explained. Thehedge laying went ahead at the end of March andthe residents seemed happy with the outcome.Hopefully this is a lesson learned and we havegained support from another section of thecommunity. Unfortunately, and as we feared afterinitial clearance work, the hedge itself was in a verypoor condition with only one existing hawthornsurviving the hedge laying procedure.

WildflowersWe sowed the traffic island at the end of SouthRoad/High Park Avenue with wild flowers again thisyear. The effect has been nowhere near as dramatic asin 2016, partly due to the lack of rain and partly adifferent seed mix. However, the content and variety offlowers is much more interesting for anyone who caresabout insects, with Bird’s-foot Trefoil attracting theCommon Blue.The wild flower areas we are developing along the

lane are progressing well. Bracken control has beenhigh on the agenda and the Yellow Rattle is doing itsjob, keeping down the grasses and spreading well. Ithas also attracted its own speciality – admittedly it wasonly a single specimen, but a Grass Rivulet moth wasphotographed there this year. One of the most difficultmessages to communicate is appreciating the beautyof wild flowers. When the Alkanet dies back it looksbrown and tangled, giving the ‘tidy gardeners’ plentyof scope to complain. Looking ahead we are planning to continue our autumn

/winter work parties – the first on 22nd September and then every 3rd Friday of the month. Thanks to all the dedicated volunteers who come to turn back the tide of invasive plants, sow flowers and plant nativehedgerow saplings.

Article & photos by Joy Stevens

Autumn 2017 25the Comma24

The Red Admiral is one of our best known and mosteasily identified British butterflies, although it is also a

migrant. Most arrive in the UK in late spring alreadymated from the southern Continent and ready to layeggs. Two generations later, the grandchildren of these migrants fly back in autumn to southern Europe tomate, lay eggs and produce thenext generation to repeat thismigration cycle. However, someRed Admiral remain in the UK tooverwinter and are seen everymonth of the year in differentlocations, particularly in the south.In the past, it was generallybelieved that overwintering RedAdmiral went into diapause andemerged only on a few sunnydays in winter months, but couldnot survive to breed the followingspring. However, these ideas arenow being challenged by the growing evidence ofbreeding behaviour throughout the year that may belinked to climatic change and extreme weather events.

Local sightingsAt a local level, recent sightings of Red Admiral duringthe autumn and spring months have increased. Followingsightings on the hilltops of the northern Malverns on 1st

November 2015 when the temperature reached 20oCin good sunshine, I went looking again in similarconditions on 31st October 2016. On North Hill(397m), I saw at least four Red Admiral – two pairsspiralling above the top and then separating –presumably males competing for territory. Four

more were seen on Table Hill(373m), one on Sugar Loaf(368m), two on WorcestershireBeacon (425m) and one onSummer Hill (382m) – and nodoubt on every summit along the10 mile Malvern Ridge. Butwhere were the females? TheMalvern Ridge is thought to be amigration route for various speciesincluding Painted Lady and,occasionally, Clouded Yellow –even Snow Bunting regularly stayfor several days in late autumn

on their migration south. I had presumed that the migrant butterflies would fly south from the Hills, while afew individuals might stay in favourable conditions,although unlikely to survive to breed the following spring.There were no casual sightings during the winter

period, but this year I first saw two individuals on

The Red Admiral - Reluctant Hibernator, Hesitant Migrant or Winter Breeder?Mel Mason ponders the status of a familiar species.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 26

Red Admiral photographed on 18th April 2017 on North Hill, Malverns

Hedgelaying at Roman Road

The extraordinarynumbers in

2016 seemed a rather freak occurrence

Grass Rivulet (Roger Wasley)

Hedge laid

North Hill and Worcestershire Beacon photographed on 31st October 2016

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 23

the Comma26 Autumn 2017 27

9th March on a visit to the Forest of Dean, and at theend of March 2017 two of our regular casual recordersreported sightings in their Malvern gardens. Then, in thefirst three weeks of April, five of our local transectsreported 11 records, and casual sightings reached atotal of 22. Such numbers areunprecedented according tothe very detailed records fromthe past ten years and anyavailable historical records. Infact there has only been onetransect record and a total offour casual sightings of RedAdmiral in the previous fouryears during this same timeperiod. In terms of the longview, local numbers of RedAdmiral increased by 28% in2016, but they have beenfairly stable over the past sixyears (6% increase), althoughnational trends show a 40% decline (short term 2005-2014) and 257% increase (long term 1976-2014).

Research So what is happening? Jeremy Thomas (The Butterfliesof Britain & Ireland, revised 2014) states “It was oncethought that adult Red Admirals hibernated in thewarmer south, but this is another myth… although a fewRed Admirals may seem to hibernate in the British Islesduring mild winters, these generally settle in exposedplaces, such as on tree trunks or under branches, andusually perish.” And any sightings in January or February“…are believed to result from late caterpillars that wereable to develop in warm spots”. However, individuals

are seen in every calendar month in the south of Britainand Ireland, including the West Midlands. Other research in Eire (Frank Smyth and David W.

Nash – Overwintering of the Red Admiral butterfly onHowth Peninsular, County Dublin – The Irish Naturalist’sJournal Vol. 29, Part 2, December 2008) shows that during the exceptionally mild winter and spring

2006/07 some individualswere laying eggs as late asNovember, and resuming egglaying the following March.Some larvae emerged andsurvived to the final instarstage. A few pupae werefound in March and April andsingle female adults emergedduring April and May.Recent mild autumns appear

to have encouraged many RedAdmiral to occupy and defendterritory on our hilltops, althoughno courting or mating has beenobserved – so far. Is it possible

that the male’s instinct to defend a territory and wait fora female on warm sunny days in late autumnoverwhelms his instinct to migrate? Conversely, do thefemales have a greater instinct to migrate and look for a richer gene pool of males arriving from acrossnorthern Europe onto the sunny coasts of theMediterranean? Richard Fox, Butterfly Conservation, and Roger

Dennis, NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology,looked at the growing evidence of winter breedingactivity as far back as 2010 in a research paper forthe Entomologist’s Gazette (Winter survival of Vanessaatalanta: a new resident butterfly for Britain andIreland?). It is worth noting the salient points:

• In the twentieth century winter sightings of RedAdmiral were rare and noteworthy, whereas todaythey outstrip all others, including Small Tortoiseshell,Peacock, Brimstone, and Comma, often by alarge margin.

• Between 1995 and 2006 there was an increasein the ratio of winter records compared with springto autumn records, i.e. numbers overwinteringincreased and this trend is independent of numberspresent in the preceding spring to autumn.

• Breeding behaviour has been observed in somelocations throughout the year (territory, courting andmating, and laying eggs).

• In addition to overwintering of adult Red Admiral,observations of larval activity, survival anddevelopment during the winter months have beennoted with increasing frequency where the larvalhost-plants are not killed by frost.

• Winter sightings of adults and larvae in CentralEurope have also increased in recent years.

• Populations in southern Spain did not increase overthe same period (1995 – 2006), so migrationincrease seems an unlikely explanation.

• Winter survival shifts north and south depending onthe winters, but the survival zone has pushed furthernorth by hundreds of kilometres since 1997.

• These changes in behaviour maybe linked toclimate change and extreme weather events.

A recent publication (Blencowe & Hulme, The Butterfliesof Sussex 2017) suggests that Red Admiral now

regularly completes an extended life cycle through theBritish winter despite frosts and snow. David Harrisobserved adults emerging in May 2015 from eggs laidin December 2014. This is particularly interesting as, possibly for the first

time, none were seen on any of our local transects duringMay 2015, with obvious evidence of the first migrantsarriving as late as 17th June. However, is it possible thatthe apparent recent overwintering boom in the south isspreading further north during so-called extreme weatherevents in recent years and the very mild winters?Alternatively, are exceptional climate conditions causingextremely early migration from the Continent?

In conclusionThe many Red Admiral seen last autumn ‘hill-topping’on the Malvern Ridge were most likely exhibitingbreeding behaviour, but their movements and behaviourduring winter months are unknown through lack oftechniques to monitor their movement, or lack ofvolunteers to monitor any activity.The number of local Red Admiral sightings in spring

and autumn seem to be increasing and must be presentin much greater numbers than seen by a few enthusiasticrecorders - but it is difficult to know if our recent boom insightings is due to local breeding or early migration.Unfortunately, I do not have access to micro radioantennae or labelled isotopes to follow the movement ofany adults found on our hilltops during late autumn.However, perhaps we can start to look for evidence ofthis changing behaviour around the Malverns and theWest Midlands by organising planned searches ofpossible larval activity in more sheltered areas wherehost-plants still survive later in the year. I am hoping localrecorders will highlight any nettle patches where they seecaterpillars between May to October so that we canmonitor these over the winter months to find evidence ofany local breeding.Many thanks and good hunting.

Article & photos by Mel MasonWMBC Malvern Rep. & MBG Recorder

CONTINUED FROM PAGE 25

Red Admiral egg photographed on 26th June 2017 on Common Nettle. It was either laid by a female which overwintered or by a recently arrived migrant.

Please help in this local research by forwarding your comments and sightings to the Malvern Butterfly Group atmbg.records@btinternet.com. Alternatively, sightings can be entered online via iRecord.

Further afield, the Red Admiral Citizen Science Project – a European Research Group led by Marco Thoma –is collecting evidence from across Europe to determine the migratory routes and breeding patterns of the Red Admiral.

More information is available from https://insectmigration.wordpress.com/red-admiral-migration/

North Hill and Worcestershire Beacon landscape photographed on 31st October 2016

the Comma28 29the Comma Autumn 2017

Dates for your diaryTalks and Gardening for Butterflies at a Birmingham

School

In February 2017 the WestMidlands Branch Secretary, JoyStevens, was approached by a lady from The ConservationVolunteers, better known to many asBTCV, to see if there was anyoneable to help with the Polli:NationProject in a Birmingham school.After a flurry of emails, I put my

name forward and arranged tomeet Marie Wellings from TCV atthe University of BirminghamSchool (on the campus ofNewman College, the TeacherTraining College), to discussarrangements, content of thetalk etc.The set-up is that groups

of children from acrossBirmingham come into theUniversity School for seven-week blocks includingEnrichment, which is where thePolli:Nation Project fits in. After atalk by me at the start of theirsecond session, the pupils wouldwork with Marie to build and planta wildlife garden on the roof of theschool. Then the process beginsagain for the next cohort....I delivered my first talk to a

couple of dozen lively 12 year oldson 8th March at the UniversitySchool, and there was considerableinterest and lots of good questions

from the class, with both teachersand pupils saying they had enjoyedthe talkAt this point thanks must go to

Kate Merry from BC Head Office,who was one of the team of threepeople who ran the MunchingCaterpillars project in Dorsetschools recently. Kate sent me aPowerpoint talk from the project’sresources which I was able toamend for a slightly older targetaudience, and with a break in the

middle to allow for an activity –colouring in a caterpillar template.Thanks are also due to Diane

Garland on Reception at HeadOffice who sent me plenty of leafletson Gardening for Butterflies,Garden Moths, and Caterpillars. Tothis I added Nectar and FoodplantLists from the website for Marie touse in planning the planting. The Munching Caterpillarswebsite is an extremely usefulresource for upper Primary or lower Secondary levelpupils, and I recommend itstrongly as a starting point toanyone wanting to getinvolved in enthusing a newgeneration about butterfliesand moths – go towww.munchingcaterpillars.org The second talk took place

on 10 May and the third on 16June 2017, with varying results. I can now say that two out of the three talks went well, with good levels of attention, pertinentquestions and appropriateresponses to my questions. Theinference from the less successfultalk is whatever you do, don’tmention a three-letter wordbeginning with s and ending in x!

Article by Nick Williams

Long-standing Branch member Nick Williams goes back to school.

Munching Caterpillars website

Getting hands-on with a Hawkmoth

Butterfly Conservation AGM and Members’Day Saturday 11th November 2017The Jury’s Inn, Gloucester Road, Cheltenham, GL51 0TS.

Ewyas Harold Work PartiesSaturdays: 23rd September, 21st October, 18thNovember, 16th December, 20th January, 17thFebruary, 17th March, 14th April. Meet at10.00am at the northern Cwm Hill end of EwyasHarold Common adjacent to the top cattle grid (GR SO382302). Approach from Abbey Dore off theB4347 at GR SO384306. Some hand tools will beprovided but if you have your own do bring them.Contact Ian Hart on 01981 510259 or atyellowrattle4@aol.com Tuesdays: 17th October, 7th November, 5thDecember, 9th January, 6th February, 6th March.Meet as above. Contact Lucy Morton on 07503220191 or at lmorton@butterfly-conservation.org

Grafton Wood Brown Hairstreak Egg SearchesSaturday 25th November, Saturday 30thDecember (New Year mince pie & mulled winespecial) & Saturday 27th January. Meet at 10.00am at Grafton Flyford Church.Contact Simon Primrose on 07952 260153 or at simonjprimrose@aol.comWe will also be resuming our regular weekly BrownHairstreak egg searches on Thursdays, but have yetto fix a start date for these. They usually beginaround mid-October, so if you would like to join usplease contact me in October to hear further detailsof when we will start. Contact Simon Primrose on07952 260153 or at simonjprimrose@aol.com

Grafton Wood Work Parties Every Wednesday. Meet at 10.00am at GraftonFlyford Church. Contact John Tilt on 01386792458 or at john.tilt2@btopenworld.com

Haugh Wood Work Parties Saturday 4th November, Saturday 2nd December,Saturday 6th January, Saturday 3rd February,Saturday 3rd March. Meet at 10.00am at HaughWood FC car park Grid Ref SO597365 on the minorroad from Mordiford to Woolhope. Contact KateWollen on 07786 526280 or Robin Hemming on 01568 797351

Malvern Grayling Work PartiesMondays: 16th October, 13th November, 15th January, 12th February. Meet at 10.00amat North Hill Quarry Car Park (GR SO 7711846931and Post code WR14 4LT) Mid-morning refreshmentsand cakes available but bring your own lunch if youstay for the afternoon.Contact Mel Mason on 01684 565700 or atmalverngrayling@btinternet.com

Monkwood Fungi ForaySaturday 14th October at 10.30am. Meet in thereserve car park Grid Ref SO803603. BOOKING ESSENTIAL! Contact George Groves atgeorge_groves@btopenworld.com

West Midlands Branch AGM SaturdayNovember 18th 2017 Meet at 10.30am at Woolthorpe Village Hall,Martins Close, Woolhope, Hereford HR1 4QS Directions: From Hereford take B4224 toMordiford, take the left turn signpostedWoolhope. In approximately 2.5milesWoolhope Parish Hall is on the left by the tenniscourts. From Ledbury, Ross or Fownhope andfrom the centre of the village of Woolhopefollow signs for the Village Hall up a short hill,and the hall is on the right. Disabled parking, access and toilet. The hall hasample parking and is adjacent to the tenniscourt and cricket field. It is within sight ofWoolhope Church and The Crown Inn, on theright hand side of the Mordiford road headingfor Haugh Wood.Tea and coffee from 10.30am. Business (Annual Reports and Branchupdates) will start at 11.00am. Rolls on saleat lunchtime. Main Speaker: Simon Spencer on Recentwork by BC's European Interest Group onEurope's Rare Butterflies.

CONTINUED ON PAGE 30

the Comma30 Autumn 2017 31

Chairman Peter Seal peterseal3@btinternet.com 01905 426398

Vice Chairman & Conservation Officer Mike Southall michael_southall58@hotmail.co.uk 01299 251467

Treasurer Lucy Lewis lemiller@btinternet.com 07840 530270

Branch Secretary Joy Stevens joystevens@blueyonder.co.uk 01384 372397

Regional Officers Dr Jenny Joy (Senior Regional Officer) jjoy@butterfly-conservation.org 01952 249325Rhona Goddard (& Wood White Project Officer) rgoddard@butterfly-conservation.org 01746 762364

Records Branch Recording Co-ordinator – John Tilt john.tilt2@btopenworld.com 01386 792458– Birmingham & Black Country - Richard Southwell richard_southwell@hotmail.co.uk 01384 397066– Herefordshire – Bob Hall & Ian Draycott randphall@gmail.com 01432 850623– Shropshire – Tony Jacques ec-vc40@vc40tj.plus.com 01952 882096– Staffordshire – John Bryan johnpbryan15@aol.com – Worcestershire – Mike Williams & Mel Mason wmbutterflies@gmail.com 01299 824860

Transects John Tilt john.tilt2@btopenworld.com 01386 792458

Reserve ManagersEwyas Harold - Ian Hart yellowrattle4@aol.com 01981 510259Grafton Wood - John Tilt john.tilt2@btopenworld.com 01386 792458Monkwood - George Groves george_groves@btopenworld.com 01905 620721Prees Heath - Stephen Lewis phwarden@sky.com 07900 886809Trench Wood - John Holder johnholder@tiscali.co.uk 01905 794854

Conservation OfficersWorcestershire - Trevor Bucknall trevor.bucknall@tesco.net 01905 755757Herefordshire - Ian Hart yellowrattle4@aol.com 01981 510259

Moth OfficersBham & the Black Country - David Jackson jacksongrus@talktalk.net 01902 344716Herefordshire - Robin Hemming robinhemming@btinternet.com 01568 797351Worcestershire - Mike Southall michael_southall58@hotmail.com 01299 251467

County LeadersNorth Staffordshire - John Bryan johnpbryan15@aol.com 01782 541870Central Staffordshire - Robert Winstanley robandpatwin@btinternet.com 01889 576768South Staffordshire - David Jackson jacksongrus@talktalk.net 01902 344716Herefordshire - Dean Fenton fenton@littleburyfarm.co.uk 01568 611575Malvern Hills - Mel Mason meljmason@btinternet.com 01684 565700

Brown Hairstreak Champion Simon Primrose simonjprimrose@aol.com 07952 260153

Committee MembersSteven Williams s.williams@yescomputers.co.uk 07974 152081

Publicity and Marketing Officer Mike Williams wmbutterflies@gmail.com 01299 824860

Magazine Editor Stephen Lewis phwarden@sky.com 07900 886809

Magazine Design and Production Trish Connolly Morgan morgancreative@btinternet.com 01939 220776

Website coordinator David Green greend@ormail.co.uk 01922 452238

Wider Countryside Butterfly Count Co-ordinator Scott Martin scottm2512@gmail.com 01746 718419

Link Trustee Roger Dobbs

Committee Members and Officers

Monkwood Work PartiesFirst Sunday of the month from 1st October to4th March, and third Thursday of the monthfrom 21st September to 15th March. Meet at10.00am at the reserve car park Grid RefSO803603. Contact George Groves on 01905620721 or at george_groves@btopenworld.comfor Sunday work parties and Phil Adams on 01905 610830 or atpdadamsrainbow@gmail.com for Thursday work parties.

Prees Heath Common Work PartiesWednesday 20th September, Wednesday 25thOctober, Wednesday 15th November,Wednesday 13th December and Wednesday10th January. Meet at 10.30am on the accesstrack off the A49 opposite the Steel Heath turning Contact Stephen Lewis on 07900 886809 or at phwarden@sky.com

Scarlet Tiger Project, Roman Road,StourbridgeFriday 22nd September, then every third Fridayof the month. Meet at 10.00am at a location asstated on the notice board at the north end of RomanRoad. Contact Joy Stevens on 01384 372397 orat joystevens@blueyonder.co.uk

Trench Wood Work PartiesEvery Thursday at 9.30am and fourth Sunday ofthe month at 10.00am, apart from Sunday 24th December, September to March. Meet at thereserve car park Grid Ref SO930588. Contact JohnHolder on 01905 794854 or atjohnholder@tiscali.co.uk

Wyre Forest Work PartiesSecond Sunday of the month, apart fromOctober when it is on Sunday 15th October.Also Wednesday 22nd November andWednesday 17th January. Meet at 10.00am atEarnwood Copse car park on the B4194 Bewdley toKinlet road Grid Ref SO744784. Contact MikeWilliams on 01299 824860 or atwmbutterflies@gmail.com

Wood White Project Work Parties Please contact Rhona Goddard if you plan tocome to any of these work parties on01746 762364 or email rgoddard@butterfly-conservation.org

Thursday 23rd November, 10.30am - 3.30pm.Siege Wood, Herefordshire. Meet at Siege Wood car park (GR SO605343).

Sunday 19th November. 10.30am - 3.30pm.Wigmore Rolls, Herefordshire.Meet at the site entrance on the minor road leadingwest from Wigmore Village (GR SO397688).

Sunday 3rd December, 10 am - 3.30pm.Onny Meadows, Shropshire Hills DiscoveryCentre, Craven Arms.Meet at the Shropshire Hills Discovery Centre (GR SO435825).

Sunday 17th December 10.30am - 3.30pm.Blakeridge Wood, Shropshire.Meet at Blakeridge Wood car park.At the small cross roads in Colebatch village (nearBishop's Castle) take the minor road signposted forCefn Einion, continue past the first Blakeridge carpark to the second car park (GR SO295866).

Thursday 11th January 10.30am - 3.30pm.Siege Wood, Herefordshire.Meet at Siege Wood car park. (GR SO605343).

Sunday 21st January 10.30am - 3.30pm.Wigmore Rolls work party, Herefordshire.Meet at the site entrance on the minor road leadingwest from Wigmore Village (GR SO397688).

Tuesday 6th February, 10am - 3.30pm.Joint work party with Herefordshire Wildlife Trust.Venue to be confirmed.

Sunday 18th February 10.30am – 3.30pm.Bury Ditches, Shropshire.Meet at Bury Ditches car park (GR SO331837).Take the right-hand turning just opposite the Crown Inn pub (SY7 OHU) in Clunton village.Signposted as Bury Ditches Hill Fort.

Dates for your diary cont’d

the Comma32

Nicola lives in Upper Gornal,Dudley and took a photograph

of a Peppered Moth on a wall on 20th May 2017. Quiteunremarkable you may think, just a rather boring lookingmoth, but now look at theother photograph of aPeppered Moth – quitedifferent! The tale ofwhat is going on herehas been the subject ofmuch scientific endeavourand not a little controversyover many years, so read on….

Industrial revolutionThe black or melanic form is knownas carbonaria, whilst the usualspeckled form is called typica. Theblack form is a naturally occurringgenetic mutation, and both formscan normally be found in the UK,although typica is nowadays farmore common. With the onset ofthe industrial revolution, however,many more black ones were foundin our cities, and by 1895 98% ofPeppered Moths in Manchester

were carbonaria. The followingyear the entomologist JW Tutt putforward an explanation for this. Hepostulated that the normal formtypica would be well camouflagedby lichens when at rest on trees,

but that industrialisation anddomestic coal fires hadcaused soot to form ontrees making their barkblacker, and had alsoled to sulphur dioxide

polluting the air, therebykilling the lichens on the

trees. The carbonaria form wasnow better camouflaged and at lower risk of predation by birds, and was thusbetter fitted to itsenvironment – an exampleof evolution by naturalselection, or the survival ofthe fittest. A scientific experiment

by Bernard Kettlewell inthe 1950s in Birminghamand Dorset supported thistheory, but his findingswere criticised and

discounted by some writers, mainlynon-scientists. Subsequently, oversix summers from 2001 to 2007,Michael Majerus, a CambridgeUniversity Professor, conducted anexperiment in Cambridge involvinga total of 4,864 moths. Sadly hedied before writing up his findings,but others have done this and theresults, although finding flaws inKettlewell’s experiment, support thetheory of evolution by naturalselection, and this has now beenaccepted by many of Kettlewell’scritics.

ReversedCome the 1950s, the GreatLondon Smog of 1952 and thesubsequent passing of the CleanAir Act in 1956 to reduce airpollution, the situation wasreversed. Soot and sulphur dioxidepollution were reduced and thetypica form became prevalentagain in urban areas. Lichens wereable to grow again on the trees,and thus typica was bettercamouflaged and less vulnerable toattack by birds. The formphotographed by Nicola is nowbecoming much less common,although in fact numbers of bothforms are in decline.

Article by The Editor

The Intriguing Case of the Peppered MothNicola Buck has a notable encounter with a moth on a wall.

By 1895 98% ofPeppered Moths in Manchester were carbonaria

Peppered Moth, form carbonaria (Nicola Buck)

Peppered Moth, form typica (Lucy Lewis)

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