Suffolk Natural History, Vol. 41
82
The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Rűhl in Suffolk, 2004. Rob Parker, the Suffolk Butterfly Recorder, has supplied me with a further seven records of this aberration, all noted in 2004. Details are: Date
Site
Grid
Recorder
30/5/2004 31/5/2004 28/6/2004 19/7/2004 03/8/2004 04/8/2004 04/9/2004
Purdis Heath Rushmere Heath Water Tower Meadow Purdis Heath Ilketshall St. Margaret Mildenhall Garden Outney Common, Bungay
TM213427 TM198447 TM206447 TM213427 TM350852 TL707757 TM3290
Stuart Gough Stuart Gough Stuart Gough Stuart Gough Leigh Davis Mervyn Crawford Leigh Davis
The two records from the same site, Purdis Heath, are separated by fifty one days, suggesting the second one was of a next generation butterfly. The Small Copper, in a good breeding year, can produce three and possibly four broods from May to late October (Thomas & Lewington, 1991). It would be a worthwhile study to record this species closely throughout an annual breeding cycle at a site where the aberration definitely occurs. The above records bring the total for this aberration in Suffolk, from 1997 onwards, (Stewart, 2001, 2004) to 34. This considerable recent increase suggests more recorders are now making a closer examination of this easily identified butterfly, to ascertain whether there are any blue interneural spots on the hindwings. References Stewart, R. G. (2001). The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Rűhl in Suffolk 1983–2000. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 37: 89–90 Stewart, R. G. (2004). The Small Copper ab. caeruleopunctata Rűhl in Suffolk 2003. Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 40: 110. Thomas, J & Lewington R. (1991). The butterflies of Britain and Ireland. Dorling Kindersley, London. Richard Stewart ‘Valezina’ 112, Westerfield Road Ipswich Suffolk IP4 2XW.
Trans. Suffolk Nat. Soc. 41 (2005)