UK Butterflies

[Andrew Daw]

> 
> Just anecdotally, it does seem to have been a good year for Commas, though
> I would never find them particularly common - perhaps 3-6 at a single visit
> with luck.  A lot better than the past year or so.  I'll know more when the
> 1977 records start coming in.
> Michael Healy
> 

This autumn the Commas (Polygonia c-album) have been very numerous in the
locations I have visited.

For example on a visit to Bernwood Forest (Oxfordshire) on 6th September
I counted 88 Commas which eclipsed the total number of butterflies for the
other species I saw all added together.  Just to cap it all they were all
in pristine condition.  At one point I counted 8 adults all within about
a square yard. 

As for the Small Tortoiseshells, the Daily Telegraph reported last week
that the great influx was due to storms in the Bay of Biscay (France)
blowing them accross the English Channel.  Whether this is true, or when it
happened I do not know.  We all know that what you read in the Newspapers
has to be taken with a pinch of salt.


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