The Suffolk Argus
Chalk Hill Blue Butterfly in
Suffolk
.. ..... .. ........ . . . byJean Garrod On Thursday August 8th, Will Brame a fellow birder and keen general naturalist had seen 14 Clouded Yellows including a var. helice at Peewit Hill, Felixstowe. The next day Ken and I were preparing to travel and see them for ourselves when the phone rang. It was Will again but this rime telling us that the site had now turned up a male Chalk Hill Blue and could we come down with a camera. We met up oq the rough ground behind 'Mcdonalds'on what had become a lovely summer's day with butterflies abounding everywhere. We soon foimd the male Chalk Hill Blue nectaring on common fleabane and Ken was able co capture it with our instamatic camera! We noted that it had a nick in the edge of its left forewing otherwise, it was in excellent condition and very active flying from the flowers ro nearby ; bramble and back again. We watched it for 20 minutes or more · keeping a careful watch whilst awaiting the arrival of other enthusiasts who Will had • contacted. U nfortunacely, before che first person had arrived the butterfly had • disappeared and despite a thorough search , we were unable to relocate it. We had no ' trouble seeing Common Blue, Small
February 1997
Copper, Painted Lady or Silver Y's not to mention the Clouded Yellows which flew back and forth! More people arrived and joined in the search but to no avail. On Bank Holiday Monday, August 26th, we heard from Will again. Incredibly, he had found yet another Chalk Hill Blue at the same site. le was not the same insect since it did not have a nick in it's left forewing and was in perfect condition. When Paul Gilson and I arrived there were already several keen individuals scouring the area in brilliant sunshine. Will had only seen this second butterfly for a short time before it flew towards and over a fairly high bank of rough grass bordering Peewic Hill Caravan Site. Although we all searched the area for quite some time the Chalk Hill Blue was not seen again. When Steve Piotrowski saw our photograph he kindly arranged to have a portion of it enlarged to show the butterfly feeding on the common fleabane. We are delighted with the result. Thank you very much Steve. We also owe our thanks as ever, to Will Brame for passing on the news of his ,,, sightings.
ChalkHill Blue
Mentbers Evening,
16th November,
1996 Our Chairman welcomed some 25 members to what promised to be an enjoyable evening. In his introduction he outlined the programme and gave a warm welcome to Michael Chinery who had joined us for the evening to judge the photographic competition. Richard Stewart gave an update on the second. year of recording for the Millennium Atlas. He highlighted the additional cecrads chat had been covered this year and the increase in records of some species. Richard suggested chat we should all sec ourselves a target of looking upwards far more often in 1997 to improve recording of Purple Hairstreak and Whice-leccer Hairstreak for that matter. He also expressed the need for greater effort to find Dingy Skipper sites which will be reflected in our 1997 Field Trips. On the subject of migrants, there was the inevitable mention of Painted Ladies and the Silver Y and even more exciting, the hopes for Queen of Spain Fritillary which seem keen on visiting Suffolk each year lately. Tony Prichard's talk on moths outlined the plans for moth recording in the coming years. He talked about the 23 moth
species found in Suffolk that are of national importance and their particular habitat requirements. Tony also outlined how these species feature in the Regional Action Plans. Moths almost always cake second place to butterflies and as a result are underrecorded. The Branch is making plans to increase considerably the recording, knowledge and interest in moths. Whilst we were all enjoying midevening refreshments, Michael Chinery continued with his judging of the photographs. Directly we were all re-seated he lee us into the secrets of what he looked for in a good picture and derailed the points that had led to his decision. The outcome was a total success for Tony Prichard our Conservation Officer (Moths) winning both Butterfly and Moth categories. Well done Tony. Our Chairman then went on to explain our work with the Regional Action Plan of which more can be read in a separate item in this newsletter. The evening drew to a close with a general discussion followed by thanks to the Butterfly Hotel who again were our sponsors for the occasion.
PaintedLady
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