The 58, Episode 1

Sunday, 5 April

I should be writing about our first outing of this year's Joy of Wildlife Programme which would have been to The Ercall last Wednesday, on a cold but reasonable early spring day. It was not to be as we remain under the "stay at home" restrictions.

What, therefore, can I write about?

I suppose the first question is whether I should be writing at all. However, in the strange circumstances we find ourselves in, we need to keep some constants in our lives as we try and muddle our way through to what we hope will be a more normal life.

Back to the question - what can I write about?

Taking my lead from the TV companies who, having almost run out of "new" programmes, are turning to repeats to keep us entertained, I have decided to take a similar course. Not actual repeats, although they would be far quicker to produce, but to look back to last year and record the achievement by one of our group to observe all the butterflies resident on mainland Britain.

There are, to my knowledge, 59 butterflies on the British checklist. One of these, the Cryptic wood white is found only in Ireland, so the mainland count is 58. The clue was in the title of this!

58 does not sound many to see in a year, but, as most of you are aware, the numbers and range of many butterfly species have declined significantly in recent times, This means that some of the butterflies are very hard to find and require special effort to locate them. Add to that the short lifespan of the adults, the challenge of seeing them all in a year is immense.

What follows is an epic tale of detailed planning, hard work, epic journeys, disappointments, stress, wonderful sites and sights, companionship and ultimately triumph.

(I will illustrate the unfolding events with photographs of each butterfly species plus anything else of interest observed on the same outing. Some of the photographs are Jim's own of the actual butterflies he saw, but many are not.)

Like Dickens I will relate the story in instalments. The number will rather depend on how many weeks we remain in lockdown. 

Enough of this rambling! Are you sitting comfortably? Then, let us begin ...

Once upon a time (about three years ago) a person, who we shall call Jim, announced that he would like to see all fifty-eight butterflies that are resident in mainland Britain. This was a feat he had achieved in long, long ago but he was very keen to do it again. Unfortunately life's ups and downs got in the way and he was unable to realise his dream.

Then, last year (2019), he announced that "This will be the year!". And so it proved.

Although many butterfly species are rare and difficult to find there are a good number that can be seen when you are out and about locally. Of these quite a few are found early in the year as they emerge from hibernation. Our hero was able to get an early start on his labours with three species in February and one in March.

The first two, as it happened, were not found locally but whilst he was out and about around Bicester.

The first was a Brimstone:

Photograph: Bob Kemp

This was a chance encounter as one our hero's companions was able to capture a Brimstone with its wings open. A more common site is:

And here is a Brimstone's egg:

Photograph: David Williams

Number two for the year was a Small tortoiseshell, which he photographed:

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

The third butterfly, found in February, was a Comma, during an winter Joy of Wildlife outing to Loamhole Dingle.

The second photograph shows the pale "comma" mark on the underside of the wing.

There was now a long period of "no new butterflies" until nearly the end of March when number four, a Peacock, was spotted.

Here is a photograph of the body and underside of the wing.

Photograph: David Williams

And finally a larva.

Photograph: David Williams

Early in April numbers five and six were both found on a Joy of Wildlife outing to Corbet Wood.

5. Orange Tip:

Photograph: David Williams

The photograph below shows orange tip's egg, usually found attached to the stem of cuckoo flower. If you are lucky enough to find an egg you will normally only find one on a plant as the larvae are canabalistic!

Photograph: David Williams

6. Speckled Wood

If you recall my report on our visit to Corbet Wood "Herding cats" (April 2019) you may remember that we thought the stand of Scot's pine may support Callicera rufa, the hoverfly found in Caledonian pine forest which seems to have been attracted to Shropshire.

And so it proved.

The following month the county dipterist recorder visited and found the hoverfly. A few of us visited a few days later and found about half a dozen flies on several trunks.

Number seven, the Green hairstreak, was found the day after our visit to Corbet Wood. It required our hero to drive to the Glacial Boulder on Cannock Chase. Fortunately, this was not very onerous as he lives close by. The railway cutting which passes behind the boulder site is, where legend has it, a site where the butterfly is often found. And the legend turned into reality when one was seen and photographed.

Photograph: Jim Cresswell

A few months later we found a green hairstreak larva on an outing to Rigmoreoak.

Photograph: David Williams

Our next Joy of Wildlife outing was to the Shropshire Wildlife Reserve at Crickheath Meadows on 17 April 2019. After spending time in the meadow we made the short walk to another reserve - Blackbridge Quarry. Number eight, Green-veined white, was observed in the quarry.

Photograph: David Williams

The following week on our outing to Wollerton Wetlands, near Hodnet, number nine, a small copper, was spotted.

Number ten, and the last butterfly of this first instalment, was a Holly blue found very close to our hero's home.

Photograph: David Williams

OK, so far, so easy! No alarms, no dramas, no epic journeys. But stay with me, all that will change, starting with number eleven on a visit to the delightfully named Sharpenoe Clappers.

Until next time, keep safe.