UK butterflies

Chris Raper triocomp at dial.pipex.com
Mon Sep 22 15:09:57 EDT 1997


On Sun, 21 Sep 1997 17:44:40 +0100, "D.P.Howson"
<D.P.Howson at BRADFORD.AC.UK> wrote:

>Our newspaper has reported many Small Tortoiseshells and Small Whites
>coming in from mainland Europe.

Mmm - dont' know. There are plenty of home-grown ST and plenty of
whites of all descriptions in the South Oxon area. Large Whites seem
to have made a real come-back after looking like they were on the way
out.

>More generally, has it been a poor year for migrants, and anyway have
>any unusual migrants been reported?

It has been very poor for migrants - especially when compared with
1996:
- Painted Lady - haven't seen any!
- Clouded Yellow - one seen about a month ago

On the moth-front:
- a Deaths Head Hawk colony turned up in the west-country - feeding on
potatoes
- Hummingbird Hawk - none
- Rush Veneer - none
- Plutella xylostella - none
- Silver-Y (A.gamma) - a handfull but nowhere near the numbers last
year when the whole area was infested with them.

>Turning back to this area, Commas seem much more numerous than
>in previous autumns,
Mmm - possibly. They are never _common_ round here but you get them
cropping up in ones and twos all over the place. This year hasn't been
bad.

Cheers
Chris R.



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