16 minute read
Moths in recent literature
by Rob Parker
A book's title does not always disclose its content, and 2 recent novels with moth titles are essentially non-entomological, but may anyway catch the eye of the literate lepidopterist.
"Lobster Moth"by Niall Duthie. Fourth Estate. 1999. This book has been lying at my bedside for a long while. The author describes it as a pillow book, to be read in 10 minute slices at bedtime, and that is how I am tackling it. It tells the story of a Scottish lepidopterist in a convalescent home, recovering from injuries that made him almost a hero in the First World War. The technical endpapers and the quote from W. J. Kirby set up an entomological flavour, though this is but one of many interwoven strands in a potpourri of recollections. We meet Stauropus fagi as a larva in Chapter 3, and learn a few snippets, for example, that although this insect is named after a crustacean, the Lobster crustacean (locusta) is surprisingly named after an insect - the edible locust (locusta)! Equally intriguing aspects of Japanese culture, mythology, insomnia, childhood and war tumble out of the pages, partly through an extra dimension created through an actor, who goes to great lengths to properly portray our Scottish hero in a film version of his biography. "The Peppered Moth"by Margaret Drabble. Viking. 2000. Here is a story, which starts in post-industrial Yorkshire, and as the tide suggests, it is about natural selection, although it focuses on the mitochondrial DNA of a particular family, and on the mother-daughter relationships through several generations. The tale is well told, and insightful, but readers waiting for the bit about Biston betularia will have to be patient until page 268! In the text, reference is made to a Georgette Heyer novel called "The Black Moth" - this one I have not read. Both front covers bear charming illustrations of their chosen moth, and with the Lobster moth we also get a nice Puss moth larva. Neither book deserves a place on the entomologist's reference bookshelf, but both have merit as literature, and are worth getting from the library if you are ready to spend a few evenings away from the MVlamp.
Review of Jewels in the Air by Richard Stewart
Suffolk Butterfly Recorder
Since reviewing the two butterfly videos (Argus 21) I have had the opportuniry to look at the third, Jewels in the Air'. This is created by Roger Kemp, The Butterfly Recorder for Bucks. I was aware of it at the last BC AGM but didn't get one simply because there was no indication of running time anywhere. It lasted about an hour, making it comparable to the other two and I find this omission inexplicable. It is a package of book and video, though each can be purchased separately. Recommended by BC, it gives a very comprehensive survey of our butterflies, and includes both Large Copper and Large Blue. A brief summary of butterfly history and literature is followed
by a full account of all the species, the photography being mainly of the adult butterfly. There are also comments about behaviour, current status, distribution and conservation. The use of both common and lacin names for many species is a bonus and I found the commentary very accurate. My only reservations were stating that the Green Hairstreak 'never opens its wings in nature' and suggesting that the Large Copper still has a large colony extant. Both are rectified in the book text.
The book itself has a fine pedigree photos from Ken Willmott and the text reviewed by Martin Warren - but I found myself uneasy as to its purpose. If it was simply to complement the video, and much of the book text matches the video commentary, that is fine and it works well, especially as the book sequence of species is the same as in the video. The photos are mainly good, though some of the Skippers would not enable field identification. They are very small; in fact the book is just 7 x 4 inches. As such it would fit the pocket on field trips but is not durable, comprehensive or such good value for money as the Observer book or the excellent 'Butterflies of the British Isles' by Jeremy Thomas. The text was largely accurate though the page on Heath Fritillary needed to mention the Essex reintroductions and I would question statements such as the Purple Hairstreak 'virtually never comes to flowers' and the Painted Lady 'definitely does not survive the British winters'. Recent research and changing climate are tending to suggest otherwise.
The video is divided into species by habitat, which works well, except for some odd juxtapositions in the final series of habitats eg. Swallowtail next to Mountain Ringlet. Again I found the music off-putting, but not intrusive. I still wonder ifit is needed at all. My main criticism is chat the qualiry of the film does vary, from excellent extended footage to some chat is slightly out of focus (part of the Wood White sequence) or doesn't fully reflect the superb colours (some of the Blues). I assume this is the result of transference from 8 mm cine film or the fact chat some was filmed many years ago. There is also the need to underline commentary about close identification points, such as the Brown Argus and Silver-studded Blues, with much closer footage. This is nevertheless a unique package and for a beginner would be a very helpful introduction and grounding before field trips. Certainly the video commentary is the best of the three reviewed. I consider the book, at £11.49 separately, to be very expensive, though the complete package, of video and book at £22.99, reduces its cost. The video separately is a better proposition, and at £14.99 is comparable to the others reviewed. All quoted prices include postage and packing plus VAT. They can be obtained from:- RK Productions, Kemp's Farm, Chapel Road, Ford, Aylesbury, Bucks. HP17 8XG
Green hairstreak by Douglas Hammersley
Anne's Jardin Sauvage (wild garden)
by James Mann
During one of our early holidays in this area in 1996 we visited the old town of Arlessur-T ech. Looking in an Estate Agents window we saw advertised a piece of land with two caravans for 45,000 Francs.
On our many visits to St Ferreal Ermitage (see page 19th June 2000 Argus) we often talked of how great it would be to own a bit of land in that area. In October 1999 when visiting Arles-sur-Tech for a Vide Grenier we saw the caravan land still advertised for sale. We talked about it over Christmas and decided that although we could not afford it we would like to see it so we arranged a visit with M. Roca the Estate Agent and on 13th January he took us up into the hills across from Ceret and eventually along a track to Correch de Puig Redon, a hill on which the land is situated. Imagine our surprise when seeing, less than a kilometre away across the valley, yes the St Ferreal Ermitage. The land, an area of 41 acres 18 centiares (about an acre) slopes down from the track at the top to a ravine at the bottom at an average angle of 30 degrees. It consists of a tiny flat area at the top, on which the two caravans are sited, then about one third a Mimosa forest, a beautiful display of yellow flowers in January/February. The next third wild flowering plants of over 20 varieties, a great area for butterflies all spring and summer, and then the bottom third a more shaded area of Green and Cork Oaks, the shade being very welcome as the slope faces due south. We asked M. Roca where the exact boundaries were; he gave a Gallic shrug and a wave of the arms to possible boundaries and indicated that the French did not consider this very important. He explained that it was classed as agricultural land as it had originally been a vineyard. On careful inspection we could see that it had at one time been terraced by aid of dry stone walls long fallen into decay. We suspect that the last wine was produced here at about the time Napoleon was regretting leaving that sunny island off the coast of Italy to meet that chap Wellington at Waterloo and it gave the appearance of having been deserted and neglected since the phylloxera vine disease ravaged the vineyards at the end of the 19th century. Nevertheless we were informed chat it was subject to the rights of SAFER (Sociere d'Amenagement Foncier et d'Establissement Rural). This is a section of The Ministry of Agriculture who have the right, when a small piece of agricultural land comes up for sale and an offer has been made, to buy it at that offer price. The idea of this is to overcome the French problem ofland being split up into smaller and smaller plots by Division among the children on the parents' death. SAFER buys up land and when it owns a number of adjoining plots it reregisters them as one and are able to sell them to a person as a viable plot for production.
We were so pleased with the plot, particularly its location, char we smashed all our piggy banks, organised a loan and on 18thJanuary we offered 30,000 Francs and on 3rd February agreed to the price of 32500 Francs. According to the rules it was duly offered to SAFER. They came back on 27th April to say they did not wish to
exercise the right to buy and charged us 361 Francs 80 Centimes for the privilege. 19th May was the day arranged to visit the Notaires Office to sign up and to hand over our money. Having been told the horror stories of notaires labouring through every word of every paragraph of the agreement we set aside the whole morning. At 10 am we arrived at the notaires office and met M Roca, who was representing the sellers, he introduced us to the notaire and the procedures started. At 10-15 it was all over and we were the proud owners of Anne's Jardin Sauvage.
We have spent many happy hours working on walls, steps, tree cutting and relaxing including staying there for a couple of nights. It was wonderful to get away from the all night summer traffic through the town and to enjoy the tranquillity of the hills. Anne is in charge of the plants; she is cutting out the dead mimosa trees and clearing areas in which to spread wild flower seed and in the summer she will start to catalogue the existing plants. I am in charge of building, I am humping stones, making steps and paths and planning to reinstate a bit of the terracing. In between this I sneak off to watch and photograph butterflies. To date I have seen up to about 40 species notably including Cleopatra, Swallowtail, Scarce Swallowtail, Baton Blue, Chequered Blue (rare even here) Purple, Green and Ilex Hairstreaks, Wood White, Dingy and Grizzled Skipper, Marbled White, Great Banded Grayling and Clouded Yellow. No Two-tailed Pasha yet but as I have seen them at the Ermitage from May until October they may one day fly from that hill to ours.
Our caravans can't offer running water, drainage or electricity but they can offer solitude and beauty and we will certainly spend many hours working there to improve it for the wildlife and our relaxation.
Large Tortoiseshells and Sinall Eggars
by Rob Parker
Just a few days afi:er the "Landguard"Large
Tortoiseshell, I was called to investigate a
report of what was thought to be a nest of Large Tortoiseshell larvae on elm in
Wickhambrook. Naturally, I responded
promptly, but not before giving some thought to what else might look similar.
My Field Guide to Caterpillars (Carter & Hargreaves, 1986) listed 16 species feeding principally on elm, and illustrated 9 of these, including my quarry, Nymphalis polychloros. None of the others were remotely similar in appearance, so I set off with perhaps a 1 % hope that this might be for real. A couple of the larvae had been transferred to a shoebox the previous evening, and these were shown to me on arrival. About one and a quarter inches long, they did bear a similarity to the Large Tortoiseshell, and to be fair to anyone consulting a book illustrating the larvae of butterflies only, they would represent the closest match. However, instead of the spines of the Nymphalidae, they sported the fine hairs that identified them as caterpillars destined to turn into moths. But which species? From a distance, the web looked like "a dead fish sitting in the hedge", to use the finder's description. The web sat at
chest height in a mixed hedge of hawthorn with elm, but was lodged in elm, and a delicate tracery of silk led clearly co a defoliated area of elm 3 feet away. Being familiar with the habits of the Pine processionary moth, I at once thought of the family Lasiocampidae, and rook another look at my book. There amongst the hawthorn feeders, was a possible - the Small Eggar, and a close examination of its markings showed a good march. The Small Eggar, Eriogasrer lanesrris, feeds on blackthorn, hawthorn, birch, sallow, and on "other deciduous trees and shrubs", or to put ir in Rafe Eley's words "it will eat almost anything". I had been driving home with 2 of chem, when I realized that a visit to Rafe would be easy, and I was lucky enough to catch him in his garden. After quizzing me on the appearance of the web, he rook a look at the larvae, and confirmed that they were indeed Small Eggars. His own description of the web was "like a parachute in the bush" - nor so different from a dead fish! He gets one or two every year, in his trap, but ir is nor a common species in Suffolk, and it is nice to know that they are still breeding locally. "Of course, "said Rafe, "You've got to be a young man to breed 'em. " this being a reference to their unusual habit of spending more than one winter in the pupal stage - and 4 years wait would certainly be a trial of one's patience! He went on to cell me char the cocoons would look like a hard white bean, and char is exacrly what appeared at rhe borrom of the cage on 22 July, four weeks after they were found, half grown. Siering in rhe sun reminiscing about Tortoiseshells, Rafe cold me char he used to have a great elm with Large Tortoiseshells in the field behind him, and char he could remember one day seeing 3 sunning themselves on the end wall of his house! The Large Tortoiseshells all disappeared well before Durch elm disease of course, and now the Small Tortoiseshell had suddenly become quire scarce. For years, Rafe had had an arrangement with rhe adjacent estate, where he used co work, char when the nerrle parch was due for its annual cur, he would set our markers close to any larval nests char he wanted co remain unharmed. Bur last year, when he did his walk round inspection of this very large nerrle parch, there were no Small Tortoiseshell larvae to be found - the first rime ever! We shall have co wait for future seasons to see what nature has in store for what we have always regarded as one of our commonest burrerflies.
And, of course, remaining in the pupal stage for a variable number of years is one of nature's survival strategies. Rather than keep the Small Eggars for a long wait, I decided to return the cocoons co Wickhambrook, where they can pass their winters under the hedge they hatched in. What will be their chances of a reunion with the females of their own brood?
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Large Tortoiseshell by Beryl Johnson
Annual General Meeting
This was held at Thornham Field Centre following the enjoyable field meeting at Howard Nurseries, Wortham.
Our Chairman Rob Parker presented his report, giving a parricularly warm welcome to Douglas Hammersley who provides some of the excellent line drawings featured in the Argus.
The butterfly season, like the weather, was a stop-go sequence, good for some butterflies, poor for others. Richard Stewart and Tony Prichard have put in another year of dedicated recording effort. Alan Johnson organised another excellent programme of field visits, the Joint Editors of our Newsletter produced 3 more first-rate issues of the Suffolk Argus, and Graham Bull kept our accounts in good order. Beyond the routine, Butterfly Conservation has had a busy year at National level, moving to new HQ in Dorset, coping with Foot & Mouth Disease restrictions, and publishing the Millennium Butterfly Adas, which is certainly an achievement that the Society can be proud of. Meanwhile, our Branch has been involved with 3 sorts of activity. Firstly, we have been assisting the Suffolk County Council by drafting elements of the Biodiversity Action Plan. Secondly the Species Action Plan for the Dingy Skipper has been done, and awaits publication. In it, we are charged with monitoring the colonies, and liaising with the landowners to ensure that they incorporate the butterfly's needs into their Management Plans. In practice, this has meant giving advice to the Ministry of Defence, Forest Enterprise and Center Pares, as the colonies are located on their estates. Thirdly, we have involved ourselves in the Planning process. There have been 4 planning applications this year with an unwanted impact on wildlife, and we have sought to make helpful observations on each of these during the consultation stage. Ironically, one of these has already led us into troubled waters, as the proposal for a Thetford Southern Link Road routes it right across the Dingy Skipper colony at RAF Barnham! Our submission drew attention to this conflict, but it does not appear to have deflected Norfolk County Council from selecting that route as their favoured option There then followed reports by each Officer and these included the presentation and acceptance of the Annual Financial Statement (reproduced overleaf). The Chairman offered thanks to all for their valued, and continuing contributions. He went on to thank Paul Gilson for his outstanding work as Joint Editor of the Suffolk Argus, as Membership Secretary, and as a member who had set a fine example as a landowner, by creating butterfly habitat on his own meadow. Paul had given sufficient warning of his decision to stand down to allow us to find replacements. The Committee, as listed on the back cover, was then elected. After refreshments there followed an illustrated talk on 'the Butterflies of North Warren & Aldringham Walks'. The day concluded with a Moth night on the Thornham estate lead by Tony Prichard.
