Vanessa at night - no 3

[Grkovich, Alex]

A friend (and Lepidopterist colleague) of mine here in Massachusetts told me
awhile back that he collected a Compton Tortoiseshell (N. vau-album) at his
back porch light on an evening in November a few years ago. He initially
thought it was an Underwing Moth, only to realize what it actually was after
he had brought the specimen inside to his kitchen. 

Alex

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Nick Greatorex-Davies [SMTP:ngd at ceh.ac.uk]
> Sent:	Tuesday, January 29, 2002 9:46 AM
> To:	Leps-l at lists.yale.edu
> Subject:	Re: Vanessa at night - no 3
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> A third installment - yet more on butterflies flying at night. This time
> thanks to Ian Rippey of Northern Ireland who dug this out for me:
> 
> D.J. Sullivan (Jan 1946). Remarkable Migration of Butterflies at Night and
> During a gale in Co. Donegal, Irish Naturalists Journal, Volume 8, page
> 397.
> 
> "A remarkable feature of the night of 10th October [presumably Wednesday
> 10th October 1945 - Ian Rippey] was a migratory movement of Painted Lady
> and Red Admiral butterflies, in company with Snipe, Redshank, Curlew and
> Golden Plover. This in a gale of wind and rain - force 7. It had been wet
> all day with heavy showers from the S.W. At nightfall, the wind went N.W.
> to N.E. force 7, and the sky literally opened. This continued throughout
> the night. When I came on watch at 10 pm one could hear the birds calling
> as they flew around the lighthouse. None struck. We identified them by
> their cries. The other keeper (D. Cahill) told me that an odd moth was
> striking the lantern glass. I kept an eye out for them, hoping that they
> would be Silver Y moths, as we had observed one of these the previous day.
> I only saw one moth - a large straw coloured specimen which I was unable
> to identify. Then at 11 pm. the butterflies commenced to arrive. On such a
> terrible night, I could hardly believ!
> e my eyes. They came in ones and twos, Red Admirals being the more
> plentiful. The following day Red Admirals were everywhere, but no Painted
> Ladies. On opening the oil store door, I found seven of the former
> fluttering about the window. Returning later there were five more. To-day,
> Sunday 14th, Red Admirals continue to be numerous."
> 
> D.J. SULLIVAN (Principal Keeper), Arranmore Lighthouse, Burton Port, Co.
> Donegal. 14-10-1945.
> 
> 
> The following comments from Ian Rippey put the location in some
> geographical context and point out that 1945 was a good year for migrants:
> 
> "Aranmore lighthouse is or was probably around B6418 [Grid ref.] on
> Aranmore Island (20+ square kilometres, altitude c. 750 feet), West
> Donegal. I cannot find a lighthouse on the modern 1:50000 map but a place
> called "Lighthouse Lot" is shown near the western end at this Grid
> Reference. NE winds would be blowing to some extent from the mainland and
> hence could bring butterflies from the nearby coast over the island. The
> eastern end of the island is only about 2 miles from the mainland, though
> there are 3 substantial though much smaller islands in between; the area
> around "Lighthouse Lot" is about 4-5 miles west of the mainland.  However
> it is closest to the mainland due east, whereas in a NE direction the
> mainland is rather further away. A glance at Irish Ordnance Survey 1:50000
> Discovery Series Map No. 1 (Donegal) will show this better than I can
> describe."
> 
> "1945 was known to be a very good year for many migrants, including
> several normally very rare species such as Bath Whites (650), Pale Clouded
> Yellows (318) Queen of Spain Fritillary (37) and Long-tailed Blue (31),
> the latter having its best ever year along with Convolvulus Hawk (505) and
> Red Admiral (24,000) in the period from 1850-1955 in Britain (or British
> Isles) in C.B. Williams book on Butterfly Migration. 6224 Painted Ladies
> were recorded, a good total but less than the 30,000 in 1948."
> 
> I hope this continues to be of interest.
> 
> Kind regards
> Nick
> 
> *************************************************************
> Mr J Nick Greatorex-Davies
> (Butterfly Monitoring Scheme co-ordinator)
> NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology
> (Formerly the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology (ITE))
> Monks Wood
> Abbots Ripton
> Huntingdon
> Cambridgeshire PE28 2LS  UK
> 
> Tel: (+44) (0) 1487 773 381
> Fax: (+44) (0) 1487 773 467
> E-mail: ngd at ceh.ac.uk
> Web site: http://bms.ceh.ac.uk
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
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