WCBS

the poison. This mimicry does seem a miracle of natural selection; as much a miracle as us spending a week with such ‘friendly ’ vagrant butterflies.

On our return we checked out our photographs to see if any of the Monarch species Danaus plexippus we saw were possible female Hypolimnas misippus by comparing them with all the various mimics of African Monarch Danaus chrysippus subspecies found in the world but none fitted. Resident, not vagrant, female misippus generally mimics whatever the local phenotype of chrysippus happens to be.

Hypolimnas misippus is one of the most widespread butterflies in the world having been recorded in most tropical countries. It is normally found in Tropical Africa, the West Indies, the USA, northern South America and various countries in South East Asia and parts of Australia. Notorious for fluctuating populations, wherever they turn up in the world, we can only hope that long standing colonies develop in Madeira and The Canaries instead of being rare occasional sightings as they have been up to now.

The Wider Countryside Butterfly Survey

An outline summary of the 2012 national survey shows that grass-feeding butterflies Meadow Brown, Ringlet and Grayling were recorded in greater numbers than in 2011. The results, published recently, suggest that the summer’s wet weather, which encouraged grass to grow in abundance, benefitted the Meadow Brown so that twice as many were recorded in 2012 than in the previous year. Overall though, the count of butterfly species was poor.

Average number of butterflies recorded per 1km square transect survey: 2012 44 butterflies 2011 47 butterflies 2009 80 butterflies Average number of species recorded per 1km square transect survey: 2012 4 species 2011 7 species 2009 8 species

In 2012 some species, such as Common Blue and Small Tortoiseshell, were down by 50% on the 2011 count.

If you would like to know more about volunteering to take part in the Suffolk WCBS, in which a survey will be held both in July and August, contact our local coordinator, Peter Dare peterxema@aol.com