The SuffolkArgus
The 'Late' Painted Lady byJean Garrod
March 1996
My husband Ken and I had heard that a Painted Lady (Cynthia cardui) had been seen at Landguard on 2nd, November last year and although we visited the site we did not see it as we were proccupied by six Little Auksand one or two Woodcock which were present. However, we returned the next day and on searching the 'Butts'area we came across a superb male Black Redstart which appeared to be chasing a pale lea£ On focusing our telescope on the bird to our joy the leaf was in fact a very worn Painted Lady. We both admired the bird and butterfly but then to our horror, the bird caught the insect and as we watched the entire creature was eaten, wings and all! We felt so sad to think that this butterfly had perhaps made it to the coast only to be devoured - it was a lovely bird though!
A fascinatingobservation.This woul.dappear to be the latestPainted Ladyof the year unless you know different!Ed.
PaintedLady (Cynthiacardui)
Small Skipper (Thymelic sylvestris)
Question Time
Thymelicus alludes to the dancers of Greek drama and their active movement and applies to both Small and Essex Skipper. Sylvestris means 'pertainingto wood'which reflects their liking of woodland rides and the edges of hedgerows as well as rough grassland. The term Skipper was applied to the whole family following Harris who, when speaking of the Large Skipper (Ochlodes venata) in 1766 said, 'when on the wing, they have a kind of skipping motion'.
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Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) 'lineola'is Latin for a 'smallline' which relates to the male scent scale line of this species. It is a useful identification feature being perceptibly shorter and less distinct than its cousin the Small Skipper. Essex Skipper was first described in 18th Germany. It was not recognised in Britain until 1888 when a Mr /'"' Hawes, a butterflf; collector from St. , Osyth, Essex, noted that 1 it was slightly different • in appearance from the Small Skipper. Richard South named it Essex Skipper in 1906.
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Sadly, with the absence of any response to our request for further questions for this new feature, it will have to be held over for a future issue. Please let us have your questions so that we may continue this promising series.
Branch Contacts If you compare the back cover of this magazine with the last one you will notice one or two changes. Steven Gosshas volunteered to develop the new position of Publicity Officer. Our Chairman fames Mann, has taken over the job of Conservation Officer from RichardStewart to allow Richard to focus on the Millennium Project. Note also that Richard has a new address and telephone number. The job of Branch Organiser generally falls to the Chairman in our branch so this title has disappeared from our Branch Contacts list and James's name will appear in the Summer issue of Butterfly Conservation News as our national contact.
Branch Conservation Officer (Moths) In our last Newsletter we advertised this post as understudy to RogerKendrickwho will be leaving us in July. We are pleased to announce that Tony Prichardhas accepted this position with a view to taking over completely in the summer. Butterfly Conservation is not just butterflies so we are delighted to be able to maintain this continuity.
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