Grizzled Skipper, Green Hairstreak, and others - earliest

[Nick Greatorex-Davies]

	         UK sightings

Dear all

After sending out the message to LEP-S yesterday re a Grizzled Skipper
(Pyrgus malvae) seen here at Monks Wood yesterday, I phoned Nick
Bowles of Butterfly Line for, among other things, some dates on the
earliest butterfly sightings that he had received. Grizzled Skipper was
apparently first seen on April 1st near Brighton and at other places in the
south on 4th April. Seven more were seen at one site on 7th and a
further 20 at the same site the following day! The earliest dates beat
Emmet & Heath's earliest date of April 7th.

Nick Bowles also mentioned that the Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi)
had been seen on 27th March (so yes Andrew they were out earlier -
just!), more were seen on 1st April. Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas)
was seen on 5th April and Duke of Burgandy (Hamearis lucina) on the
8th and 10th April. I did not get the localities from him.

Lots of moths are out at least a month early too (perhaps a list later). The
days have been warm and dry but the nights clear and quite cold with
frosts on some nights. Oh for some rain and a mild night - then we will
really see what moths are out early.

It's a crazy year!

Nick Greatorex-Davies
Institute of Terrestrial Ecology
Monks Wood
Abbots Ripton
HUNTINGDON
Cambridgeshire  PE17 2LS
UK

Email: n.greatorex-davies at ite.ac.uk, or: ngd at wpo.nerc.ac.uk