Spring2004
The SuffolkArgus
Insect ·Recordsfrom Sum,m,er2003 by RichardStewart In our garden at Westerfield Road, Ipswich, we had a foretaste of what was to come when Azure Damselflies began emerging from our small pond on 24th May and from then to 12th July we witnessed many more such transformations and the engrossing sight of up to eight pairs of the same species egg laying. ' After returning from holiday we were able to make garden records on seventy of the days between 6rhJuly and 21st September, the day I am writing this. We recorded the Red Admiral on 58 days with a maximum of six on 30th August and the Painted Lady on 56 days, sometimes four or five chasing each other around the garden with a maximum of33 on 3lstJuly. It is debatable if these were migrants, home bred or a mixture of both but another migrant, the Humming-bird Hawk Moth is usually seen once a year. In 2003 we had fourteen recorded visits between 11th June and 15th September, nectaring on Valerian and Verbena bonariensis but mainly on Buddleia. It was even seen flying during a rare shower of rain on 10th September. Compared to that the six records for the migrant Silver Y were disappointing but we probably missed it after dark on the Buddleia. The garden also had first records for Small Skipper and Purple Hairstreak, bringing the total up to 25 species. This butterfly bonanza attracted nine visits from a Hornet between 13th August and 7th September. It chased some butterflies though we noted only one detached wing. It was also observed on several days landing delicately on the pondweed to sip water.
Although many nectar sources were used Buddleia was the main attractant. I am surprised when people comment mid-July that theirs has finished flowering since by regular deadheading the flowering period can be extended - we still have several florets in late September. In 2003 deadheading was done on 24th July, 3rd and 27th August and finally on 9th September. The aim is to remove the dead floret without cutting off adjacent new flowering shoots. This continuous flowering undoubtedly contributed to the numbers and varieties of insects we attracted to our garden during the very hot summer of 2003.
Silver-YMoth byMervyn Crawford
PaintedLady byBeryl]ohmon 22
Editorial by Jim Foster In the last Suffolk Argus I appealed for a copy of the May 1995 issue in order to complete a full set of the Argus for the Editor's files. Well, many thanks to member Mike Hall who sent me his copy, I am very grateful. Since writing the last editorial I have spent two months watching wildlife in Australia. One fact I soon realised is that butterflies in the UK and Europe are far easier to photograph and identify than in tropical Queensland. Although we saw many beautiful butterflies there, they rarely came to rest at eye level and even if they did they were invariably skittish thus making photographing them difficult. The nectar is principally sourced in the treetops, as there is linle ground flora. This and the high ambient temperature resulted in butterflies being seen on the wing, but frustratingiy, usually flying by at a high 'rate of knots'. Still I must not complain as we saw an abundance of wildlife including the platypus. Turning to the UK and Suffolk in particular you will note that the 2004 programme is enclosed with this newsletter. There are more meetings than in the past so there is a greater opportunity for members to attend! Please try to get to some of these meetings as the Committee try very hard to create an interesting series of field events. Two of the meetings are workshops to learn more about the Grizzled and Dingy Skippers. These are innovation~ ~nd deserve ~ •-<!-' .. support. L1kew1se the Moth ,.=""' ~"'"'·---:.:-; • Morning at Alder Carr could .·--·-·-····~:"' be useful to those who wish - -- ~ ••, to learn more about our moths. One result of the increased number of meetings is that the programme has had to be increased in size to accommodate the listing but this was preferable to reducing the font size.
Dingy Skipper Survey 2004 by Rob Parker Last year was a good one for the Dingy Skipper, and this challenges us to carefully survey potential overspill sitesJ mainly in the Kings Forest, and to re-check a number of historic sites that remain potentially suitable. The survey will take place during the likely flight period of 3-23 May 2004, and features two training events for the benefit of volunteers who are not familiar with the butterfly in its Suffolk habitat. Please put the dates in your diary now, and if there is any chance that you may be able to participate in any way on any date, phone Rob Parker (01284 705476) as soon as possible, so chat we can plan to get the best results from the available effort. It seems highly likely that some financial support will be available to cover travelling expenses for this survey. Those with a botanical bent will be particularly welcome, since we plan to map the larval foodplant patches - Birdsfoot Trefoil, as an integral part of the search.
DingySkipper by DouglasHammersley 3
