Further notes on the Small Tortoiseshell

[Chris Raper]

On 2 Jan 1998 17:21:52 GMT, jorricks at aol.com (Jorricks) wrote:

>We live in County Durham UK on the
>east side of the Pennines. We are at a height of 600 ft above sea level.
>Aglais unticae is certainly not scarce in this area but it is most unusual for
>us to see one at this time of year. We cannot think of what disturbed the
>hibernation.

Pretty impressive. I would guess that this one chose a 'bad' place to
hibernate (too exposed or too warm) and was woken up by a bird or
rough weather.

>Most butterflies in our garden appeared to be late this year. There were a
>number of Commas, Polygonia c-album, feeding on fallen plums in mid October.

1997 was a very 'bad-weather' year. Although many summer species did
well, many spring species had their lifecycles disrupted by a) the
early start, b) drought and c) the cold & wet that came after the
drought.

Cheers
Chris R.