500 Eggs!

Somehow, ive managed to get so behind on updating this blog. I think what im going to have to do is skip writing about the last few months and concentrate on the now. I will try and fill in the blanks as i go.

I never imagined that half of every week from September-March would be taken up with Brown Hairstreak egg searching. I mean, i must be mental. Literally. I am currently re-searching all of the blackthorn at Ryton Wood Meadows for eggs we missed the first time around and im also checking that the originally recorded eggs are still present. Im doing a study on the amount of egg predation so its quite important stuff. The good news is we have reached 500 eggs at RWM alone! Plus a further 80+ in the country park next door. Management ideas and monitoring events are moving forward this year so im quite happy :) I froze my ass off at RWM on Monday. It must’ve been about -2 degrees and a thick hoar frost was covering EVERYTHING when i arrived! Egg searching on hoar frost covered blackthorn is not recommended! In contrast to my previous trips, i had a bad day, mostly because the sun was so bright that i couldn’t see the eggs properly. Im going again tomorrow as its going to be cloudy. YAY! I hope that fox doesn’t start screeching its head off again. I kept thinking it was going to jump out of the bushes and pounce on me!

Ive also been spending some time at Shurnock near the new assembly tree that was discovered in 2011. We are almost up to 300 eggs which is incredible. There have been some interesting developments also that im hoping will favour the Brown Hairstreak so watch this space. Lots going on at the moment. Its a race against time now to get all of the egg searching finished before the leaves and the blossom come out. The mild winter so far has encouraged the buds so far along that some are literally ready to burst any day now! I NEED AT LEAST ANOTHER 2 MONTHS TO GET EVERYTHING DONE!!

I cant believe how much i’ve learned since September. I would like to study the adults this year if i can find a few to follow (unlike in 2011!). Its going to be an exciting year.

Regular updates on my Twitter account, by the way :)

Eggs Are Everywhere!

Ive been holding back on updating this blog in the hopes that i’d get round to including pictures with each post. However, ive just not had the time. Ive been all over the place looking for eggs – pretty much 3 times a week at least. I must be mad. I will span my recent adventures over a few different blogs:

03/09/2011: Following a tip from Mike Williams and Simon Primrose who found some Brown Hairstreak eggs close to the Worcs/Warks border (but annoyingly still in Worcestershire!), i visited straight away to record the data and have a look for myself. Its a huge help when you can see the different locations/habitat the eggs have been found in. You can then start to build up a picture of the type of habitat the Brown Hairstreak seem to prefer. This location was unfortunately right on the side of a small lane. You’d imagine a road like this to be quiet. Well, it wasn’t! I could feel the stares on my back as the cars passed. Everyone was clearly wondering what on earth Dad and I were doing crouching in the Blackthorn with a tape measure and clipboard. One couple actually stopped their car and asked us if we were looking for plums! After saying no, they then proceeded to ask if we’d LIKE any plums! Im not sure how i kept a straight face :) We found 20 eggs in a very small area full of young suckers but surprisingly, none elsewhere – despite there being plenty of good Blackthorn around. It was a few weeks later that Simon Primrose visited the area again and found a couple more eggs on a hedgerow even CLOSER to the Warwickshire border a bit further down the road. These females are certainly teasing us!

04/09/2011: This was the Warwickshire Butterfly Conservation Brown Hairstreak Blitz day at Ryton Wood Meadows. Over a 1 month period, Dad and I had been searching the entire area for eggs and this was day 6 out of 7. We met up with Phil Corley who had driven all the way down from Cheshire so i could show him the eggs :) We spent a fun morning/afternoon getting poked to death by Blackthorn and attempting to use a tape measure – which is much harder than it sounds! Led by Mike Slater, the group arrived at around 02:30ish and i had the pleasure of explaining what on earth i was doing. Thankfully, no one looked at me like i was strange. Just crazy! Unfortunately though, no adult Brown Hairstreak were seen that day. Blimmin’ elusive things! I later had some fun with Phil’s Canon MP-E lens setup and attempted to take some photos of the eggs. I’d always imagined his setup would be difficult to use (especially the weight) but i had no end of trouble! I couldn’t even see through the viewfinder!!! You have to get so close to the subject that there was practically no light at all. Basically, i couldnt see what i was taking a photo of, or if it was in focus or not. It probably didnt help that my other eye kept twitching and then refused to close at all. I got so ridiculously frustrated and disappointed that im surprised my mood didnt cause the clouds to roll over! Phil found it all hilarious so at least someone had a laugh :) Funnily enough, after looking at my shots when i got home, it turned out that i had a really excellent one (below) that would later create quite a bit of interest!

So, after much fun getting stabbed in the eye by Blackthorn numerous times, being ripped to shreds by bramble and dog rose and in Phil’s case, actually being attacked by the bramble and falling on his arse (so funny!), it was a very productive day! Thanks again to Phil for letting me use his lens setup, for putting up with me and for his help with the egg searching. The more volunteers, the better! Also, check out Phil’s portrait photo of me searching the Blackthorn!

07/09/2011: This was the final day of egg searching at RWM. We’d finally made it all the way along to Ryton Pools Country Park. Although there aren’t as many eggs at this end of the meadows, its exciting to find them in such close proximity to one of the potential “assembly” Ash trees. These trees will be monitored properly next year, along with other potential Ash trees in the area. We’d almost finished for the day so i decided to have a quick 10 minute look at the main Ash at around 5:30pm to see if there was any activity. No sooner had i started looking, a smallish butterfly flew over my head and towards the top of the Ash! It was the right size for a Hairstreak and had the same quick, jerky flight. There are no other Hairstreaks on the wing at this time of year so im 90% certain it was a Brown Hairstreak. I believe others have also reported adult sightings at the same tree. Before we left, we had a very quick look at some of the Blackthorn in the country park directly over the fence from the RWM boundary. Low and behold, we found 2 eggs on a sucker directly opposite! We went home that night in very good spirits :)

Stay tuned! More to come soon!

Very Exciting News!

Its been another eventful week! Two more trips to Ryton Wood Meadows and we’re now up to 325 eggs along the main stretch. This is really excellent news. I should get it finished over another 2 trips, i think. Then the southern edge of the wood, the country park, Pagets Pool and the surrounding area will need to be searched, not to mention a couple of good areas in the wood itself. The Ryton Wood Meadows Brown Hairstreak Blitz is happening this Sunday at 1pm so please come along if you can. All are welcome! The adults are most definitely still on the wing as i saw my first female egg laying the other day, and later resting on sallow when it came in cloudy. She also seemed to find some particularly high Blackthorn quite interesting, considering the meticulous way she was crawling up and down it as if giving it a thorough inspection. Unfortunately, i forgot the binoculars so i couldn’t tell if she was egg laying up there or not. They are the most elusive butterfly ive ever encountered!

From what i hear, Grafton Wood isn’t faring too well with adult sightings just recently either. I visited on Mon 25th August and didnt see a single one and neither did anyone else! I spoke to most people there and some of us even had a stakeout at the main orchard hedgerow where sightings are usually guarenteed every year but saw NOTHING! Recent reports have also had negative sightings. However, ive seen some nice photos that people have taken of the adults at Grafton and also at other sites in the area so this at least is promising.

On a much more pleasing note, the new assembley tree near Astwood Bank in Worcestershire is causing quite a stir! After Simon Primrose reported finding eggs along the Blackthorn hedgerow, i decided to take a look myself. I found 60 eggs, including 10 hatched ones from the 2010/2011 season. I didnt even get halfway along the hedgerow! And today, even more excellent news! Eggs have been recorded in 2 more 1km squares in the same area. The significance for me is that one of these squares is very close to the Warwickshire/Worcestershire border. Heres hoping the females have travelled a little further east into Warwickshire. Dad is going to check out some footpaths nearby tomorrow while im at work (BOOOO!) and then ill hopefully head over there on Monday to do some egg searching. This is really exciting news! Cant believe ive got to wait until Monday to get over there :(

Next egg search will be at Ryton Wood Meadows on Sunday. Im hoping to finish searching the majority of Blackthorn that day but i bet i dont! Im still placing bets on at least 400 eggs :)

A Busy 5 Months!

Since the butterfly season kicked off in April, everything has been mental! Ive been so busy with visiting different sites and (unfortunately) undertaking the usual “life” stuff like working (BOOO!). Apologies for not updating this blog on a regular basis like i said i would. I am working on a 2011 Butterfly Report to post on here with the juicy details of most of my trips this year. I may post each individually as the whole thing is going to be ridiculously long!

As of 2 weeks ago, i am back to Brown Hairstreak egg searching. All i will say at the moment is that Ryton Wood Meadows will be THE place in Warwickshire to watch for the Brown Hairstreak next year. Ive been doing extensive searching (9 hour days!) and with the help of Terry Southgate, have amassed a count of 205 eggs so far. There is still so much more Blackthorn to search. And then the surrounding areas, as well as the Warwickshire/Worcestershire border which is a completely different project. We are searching some areas early in a race against the inevitable Winter hedgerow flail. This way, we can get an idea of the actual distribution and just how far the females have travelled. Lots to do!

Purple Emperor monitoring at Oversley Wood went as well as it could’ve done, though numbers were down on last year. White Admiral has had an abysmal year pretty much all over the country. The Grizzled Skipper has done well in Warwickshire and my egg count along the drystone wall at Ryton Wood Meadows gave me a satisfying 65 eggs on Cinquefoil. The Silver-washed Fritillary have done well again this year and the unusual swarms of Orange Tips early in the season were stunning. I went to Collard Hill in Somerset for the Large Blue and, although i saw them, it was a very frustrating trip. More on that in my report! The Glanville Fritillary surpassed my expectations. The trip to the Isle of Wight was a great success despite me having food poisoning! I was really ill but managed to get out and about to photograph them. Not sure how i managed it! Would love to go back again next year.

First part of the report coming soon, including intermittent updates on the Brown Hairstreak egg searching.

Kings Coughton Search

On March 31st, Dad and I met up with Simon again in Kings Coughton near Alcester. After an adult Brown Hairstreak was sighted in the area last year, we thought it would be a good idea to search the Blackthorn for any eggs. We started off at Alcester Rugby Club where there was lots of excellent unflailed Blackthorn. Unfortunately though, no eggs. We also checked the neighbouring fields but found nothing except for 2 Blue-bordered Carpet moth eggs on Blackthorn. Typically, all of the Blackthorn along the road where the adult was seen last year has been heavily flailed. We drove on a bit further and searched another location not far from Coldcomfort Wood. Again: excellent Blackthorn but no eggs. From here, you could literally see the footpath from Cookhill where 2 eggs had been found previously this Winter so the area has definite potential. Also spotted 3 Small Tortoiseshells that were desperately trying to bask in the sun without being blown away by the gale force winds. The drama of the day occurred when we got back to our cars and after unlocking the boot and doors, Dad “lost” his car keys. We spent a good 30 minutes looking for them and i swear everyone driving past on the main road were probably laughing their heads off at us. He then realised they were still in the boot lid keyhole which was up. I cant take him anywhere, i swear!

So, sadly no luck on the egg front but it was definitely worth a search and we now know that there is some very suitable Blackthorn in the area. Perhaps we will search it again this coming Winter.

Best Day Yet!

Despite the beautiful sunshine and the fact that i had to walk around without a jumper because of the heat, Thursday was our most successful Brown Hairstreak egg hunt yet. Dad and I met up with fellow egg hunter, Simon Primrose, at Shrubs Lodge for a more thorough search of the adjoining fields. We searched the area back in February on the Warwickshire branch field trip but didnt spend very long there and only found 3 eggs, despite there being plenty of perfect Blackthorn around. It definitely warranted another search. A huge thank you to Alex who kindly gave us permission to access his land for the day. I wanted to record some additional information on the eggs we found back in February so after quickly locating the first, we were amazed to find another egg just 2 inches from the first on the same sucker! I cant believe we didnt spot it back in Feb. Excited at our success, we scoured the rest and soon, Dad was yelling that he found another which was practically buried by the surrounding Blackthorn. The female must have really crawled in there to lay that one. We didnt turn up anything else in the first field but after a bit of recon, Simon found another excellent field further south that we hadn’t looked at before. It wasn’t long before he shouted that he’d found two more. The Blackthorn in this field was more like the Grafton Wood stuff – more red/brown in appearance. However, the majority of young, suckering Blackthorn in the rest of the fields was mostly grey in appearance, some with very large spines/thorns. A hybrid or different species maybe? Nevertheless, the females seemed to be quite happy laying on it as i soon found 3 more eggs, 2 on the same sucker and another very low down. These were the only grey suckers around, completely surrounded by the redder stuff. We later moved on to the final field where we found the final 2 eggs recorded back in February. The one i found was easy to locate because it was marked but i only knew the rough location of the other. Do you think we could find it? Not a chance! I even had the 10 figure grid ref and the height of the egg and sucker and we still couldn’t locate it! We did, however, find 3 more eggs in that area and another right next to my marked sucker that was covered in such a thick layer of algae it was ridiculoudly camouflaged. I cant believe i even spotted it! By this time, it was getting pretty late so we finished off after a 10 minute search of overhanging Oak branches. 4 Purple Hairstreak eggs later, we really did leave :) We also saw 3 male Brimstones, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell throughout the day which was great.

What a day it was! 11 more eggs recorded which brings it up to 14 for the immediate area. I intend to visit the surrounding areas very soon for a more thorough searching. I think if Thursday proved anything, its that a site is always worth researching – and preferably a full day at it instead of just a couple of hours! Perhaps more thorough, diligent searching is the key!

The Purple Persuasion

The object of my visit to Oversley Wood on 13th March was to try and hunt down the Purple Emperor larvae again. After arriving and getting distracted (as usual!) by searching the Blackthorn along the eastern edge of the wood for Brown Hairstreak eggs, i stupidly decided to have a nose at the overhanging Oak branches for any sign of Purple Hairstreak eggs. I read a couple of months ago that they were very easy to find.

A Purple Hairstreak egg found at Oversley Wood.

“Pffff!”, i thought. So you can imagine my surprise when i found my first egg on the second cluster of Oak buds i looked at! I couldn’t believe my eyes! I quickly checked all of the other branches i could reach and found another 5. Some were very algae covered, a couple totally green. One was buried so deeply between 3 buds that it looked quite deformed. We got pretty carried away here for a couple of hours but were eventually able to pull ourselves away and head over to the Purple Emperor hotspot to search the now easy-to-find sallow.

A closer view of a Purple Hairstreak egg.

The fluffy catkins really do stand out rather nicely :) There were 2 or 3 overhanging sallows that we searched as much as we could but unfortunately, no larvae. There were other sallows in the area but they were way too tall to get to. Disappointed, i immersed myself in more Purple Hairstreak egg searching. I only looked at a couple of other trees in a different area and found 3 more, 2 of which had a tiny pin-sized hole in them so i assume they were parasitised.

Another trip is planned very soon to re-search the sallow for the PE larvae. I refuse to be beaten by the little blighters!

Egg Muncher?

On Monday 7th March, Dad and I decided to head back over to Ryton Wood to search other areas for Brown Hairstreak eggs. We started off at Pools Assart on the eastern side of the wood and continued on to Meadows Assart. Both had some very nice Blackthorn but unfortunately no eggs, despite them being found here in the past. We carried on to the southern edge of the wood and had a very brief look along the edge of a field that adjoins the second field at Shrubs Wood. Unfortunately, the very suitable hedgerow had been flailed but there were some very nice suckers set about a metre or so in front of the hedgerow. Still no eggs though. Before heading home, we visited the eggs at the edge of the meadows to record some additional information on aspects etc. After discovering that my pen had leaked out in my pocket and was now unusable, i was very thankful for the notepad on my iPhone :)

An empty Brown Hairstreak egg casing at Ryton Wood Meadows.

Whilst looking for the fifth egg that i was only briefly shown a month or so ago, i discovered an empty egg casing that had been previously unrecorded. The remains look fairly fresh so i doubt it was left over from last year. It has likely been predated relatively recently. Apologies for the crap photo. I didnt have my tripod with me and the light was terrible so there is some ghosting on the branches. I remain adament that there are more Brown Hairstreak eggs in the area that we havent found yet. It is impossible to search every single square metre thoroughly unless you have the manpower!

Also of note was my first two butterfly sightings of 2011! The first was either a Comma or Small Tortoiseshell (it flew past my nose so fast, the only thing i saw was a flash of orange), and the second was most definitely a Comma lazily gliding down the main ride where it was very warm indeed. I had to take off both my coats! I was boiling!

The Potty Club

I had an excellent trip to Grafton Wood on Thursday to see the famous cluster of 6 Brown Hairstreak eggs. A big thank you to Mike Williams for agreeing to show us around. It was also great to meet Simon Primrose: another potty Brown Hairstreak champion who is obsessed with finding eggs in Warwickshire (can we call ourselves The Potty Club? What about The Streakers?). Strangely enough, i think im starting to enjoy traversing ridiculously muddy sites and slipping and sliding everywhere. The walk to the wood and the actual wood itself was just as muddy as on the last visit. There are huge areas of Blackthorn all over the place. I wonder just how many eggs the Brown Hairstreak have actually laid over the entire site? Thousands would probably be a fairly accurate guess.

An unusual cluster of 6 Brown Hairstreak eggs at Grafton Wood.

I knew the cluster was going to be pretty amazing to see but it looked so much better when i magnified it on my camera LCD screen. I think the photo has turned out pretty well, considering the variable light and slight breeze. Luckily, it was in a decent position and i didnt have to stand on my head to take the shot :) The even more amazing thing was that there were 4 other eggs on the same branch, literally a couple of centimetres apart. 10 on a branch! That has to be a record, even if the cluster of 6 isnt (the South Wales branch of BC found a cluster of 7 a few years back). While i was in photographer mode, everyone else occupied themselves with some good ol’ egg searching of the area. I cant believe how easy they are to find in a good area! Even Dad, who has never found an egg of his own, was having a great time telling everyone when he found an egg (even though he didn’t have his right glasses on!) and i literally had to drag him away when it was time to leave. After saying goodbye to Mike, Simon, Dad and I headed back over to the Old Park Wood area to search a potential area of Blackthorn that had miraculously escaped the flail. There was some excellent stuff there but no blimmin’ eggs! Unfortunately, the Blackthorn will be flowering soon which will make egg hunting very difficult indeed. We probably have another two weeks at the most. I am planning another trip to Ryton Wood very soon to look for eggs on the southern side of the wood, and perhaps into Wappenbury Wood as well. We’ve found 8 eggs at the site already and the females are capable of laying between 100-200 eggs each so there must be some more somewhere. The southern side looks like an excellent location and a few eggs have been found there in previous years. Its needs a good searching!

Stay tuned for more Brown Hairstreak shenanigans!

Cookhill To Coldcomfort

I was well and truly christened on my walk from Cookhill to Coldcomfort Wood on Wednesday when i stabbed myself on a Blackthorn thorn. I knew the day was going to arrive sooner or later. It even left a splinter that i spent the next 15 minutes trying to prise out of my skin. I even tried using the barbed wire on a nearby fence to cut it out but that didnt work either. Luckily, the thing that stabbed me was also my saviour :) They say you learn something new everyday. Well, i learnt that a Blackthorn thorn is even better than a pin or tweezers at removing splinters. Seriously. Every household should own one! In 2 seconds flat, my blood pressure returned to normal levels (i got incredibly frustrated). Lets just say im never taking one of Dads shortcuts down a muddy slope again. I literally slid down the slope and stabbed myself in the hand. Brown Hairstreak egg hunting should be labelled a hazardous activity!

Extensive Blackthorn on the Warwickshire side of the border near Cookhill.

After easily locating the Worcestershire egg near the beginning of the footpath that helped to “get our eye in”, so to speak, we carried on over the border into Warwickshire and started the search. After having a look around the edge of one of the fields (typically, the main Blackthorn hedge had been flailed), we found a very promising area a little further down the main path. A bit of limbo under the barbed wire fence was required and after almost tripping up over a couple of huge ant hills, we spent an hour or so searching the area. The annoying thing was that most of the Blackthorn was reasonably tall and you could only get to the edge of the majority of it. There were some younger isolated suckers here and there but most had started growing into larger bushes. Still, there was plenty of young growth and the area wasn’t far from the location of the Worcestershire egg at the beginning of the walk. It was in a nice sheltered spot with plenty of bramble around, and there was a prominent Ash tree that towered over everything else in the vicinity. If there were ever a colony there, i think the Ash would be a potential master tree for the males.

A close up of the Blackthorn near Cookhill.

Still, we didnt find what we were looking for so we moved on a bit further. We soon found a very nice looking hedgerow right next to the public footpath that looked promising with lots of young growth but – yes, you guessed it – it had been flailed. Ridiculously short, i might add. Disappointed, we carried on until we had to walk across an open field to Coldcomfort Wood. However, i spied a nice unflailed Blackthorn hedge in another direction so we headed over there instead. An excellent hedgerow with lots of young growth and suckers – some at a nice height too! Unfortunately, by this time, the light was going so we had to call it a day. We never did make it all the way to the wood! Hopefully, at some point, we will be able to re-visit and give that hedgerow a more thorough searching.