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Butterflies and Day Flying Moths of the Malvern Hills

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Butterflies and Day Flying Moths of the Malvern Hills Butterflies and Day andDay Butterflies the Malvern Hills the Malvern Flying Moths of Mothsof Flying fl ying mothsoftheMalvern Hillstoencourage ‘A fullcolourguidetothebutterfl ‘A people toget outrecordingandtoidentify what theyfi nd.’ ies andday Photographs by David Armitage, Bridget Olesky, David Green and Alan Barnes Acknowledgements CONTENTS PAGE Compiled and edited by Susan Clarke and Jenny Joy, helped by many colleagues from Butterfl y Conservation, English Nature, Malvern Hills Introduction 3 AONB Offi ce, Malvern Hills Conservators as well as volunteers, landowners, Management of the Hills 4 The butterfl ies of the Malvern Hills 5 butterfl y and moth recorders, transect walkers and others who provided What are butterfl ies and moths? 5 material, information, advice and commented on the draft. Many thanks to: Why look for butterfl ies and day-fl ying moths? 5 David Armitage, Mike Bradley, Trevor Bucknall, Colin and Helen Dolding, Life cycle 6 Ian Duncan, David Green, Dr Gilbert Greenall, Cherry Greenway, Michael How to identify 7 Harper, Ian Hart, Rob Harvard, Peter Holmes, Chris Johnson, Richard When and where to look 7 Flight periods of butterfl ies and moths 9 Newton, Bridget Oleksy, John Tilt, Trevor Trueman, Gordon Whiting, Mike Sites to visit 10 Williams and Digby Wood. (map centre pages) Recording your sightings 11 Butterfl y research 12 Transect information 12 Species accounts 15 Small Skipper 15 Large Skipper 16 Brimstone 16 Large White, Small White & Green-veined White 16 Orange-tip 17 Green Hairstreak 17 White-letter Hairstreak 18 Small Copper 18 Common Blue 18 Holly Blue 19 Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock & Comma 19 High Brown Fritillary 20 Silver-washed Fritillary 21 Speckled Wood 21 Marbled White 21 Grayling 22 Small Heath 22 Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown & Ringlet 23 Six-spot Burnet 24 Drab Looper 24 Hummingbird Hawkmoth 24 Scarlet Tiger 25 Cinnabar moth 25 Burnet Companion 25 Important information. Useful addresses and web sites Back page Photographs of High Brown Fritillary – Alan Barnes, Six-spot Burnet and Gatekeeper– Photographs of High Brown Fritillary – Bridget Oleksy and Common Blue – Richard Newton 1 2 Introduction Management of the Hills The Malvern Hills are famous for their their own Acts of Parliament, with The Malvern Hills Conservators High Brown Fritillary caterpillars to beauty, complex geology and their conserving the wildlife as well as own and manage the vast majority feed on. natural mineral springs and wells. They keeping the Hills and Commons open of the Malvern Hills and Commons themselves, with the remainder owned Other conservation work is focused on run north to south for approximately for public enjoyment. and managed by other local landowners. bracken and scrub control. Rolling helps 13 km and yield amazing views over The management of the 3000 acres to weaken the bracken and gives wild Herefordshire, Worcestershire, of Hills and Commons is incredibly fl owers a chance in the grassland. The the Severn Vale and on towards varied and uses a wide range of tools scrub is cut on a cycle, always retaining the Cotswolds. The Malvern and strategies to improve the Hills for some for the butterfl ies and moths Hills form about a 10th of the wildlife and people. dependant on it. The scrub cutting and area offi cially designated as an fence moving is back breaking work Most of the work involves management and is carried out by the Malvern Hills Area of Outstanding Natural of grassland, bracken and scrub. All of Conservators staff along with some Beauty (AONB). The Malvern these habitats have a value to wildlife committed volunteers. These specially Hills AONB Partnership is and especially to butterfl ies and they managed wildlife areas are mapped charged with conserving and all require management to keep them using sophisticated techniques that enhancing the natural beauty of in the best condition. record this good management year on the wider area and it does this by year so that the Conservation Offi cer Photograph by Gordon Whiting working with many landowners within In order to improve and maintain at the Malvern Hills Conservators can the value of the grassland and the keep track of progress. the designation. The Hills themselves The geological diversity and varied bracken, sheep and cattle graze the topography of the Malverns hills and commons. Due to the poor Using these techniques, alongside the produces a richness of habitats economics of livestock farming grazing, helps to keep the Hills and within a fairly small area. This much of the grazing on the hills and Commons in a natural balance. Ideally supports different land uses commons had ceased and the wildlife the level of grazing should eventually such as quarrying (in the past), was beginning to suffer. The Malvern control the levels of bracken and scrub arable farming, stock grazing, Hills Conservators have encouraged on its own providing lots of good habitat forestry, as well as tourism. grazing back onto the Hills through for butterfl ies with less intervention support for local graziers and even from people. The area also includes enclosed by running their own fl ocks of sheep and open common land. It all and herds of cattle, moving electric combines to produce a mosaic fences around the Hills to keep them Rob Havard (Conservation Offi cer) Photograph by Bridget Oleksy of different vegetations, in good condition. The grazing helps Malvern Hills Conservators including rough grassland, bracken to increase the amount of wild fl owers are largely owned and managed by slopes, scrub, deciduous woodland and in the grassland to help butterfl ies like the Dingy Skipper and breaks up the the Malvern Hills Conservators and heath. It is this diversity that makes bracken layers to encourage violets for the Conservators are charged, under the Malvern Hills a haven for wildlife, 3 4 The butterfl ies of the Malvern Hills A large variety of butterfl ies and moths butterfl ies that live on the Malvern can be slipped into a pocket. A walk a butterfl y as it searches for places to can be found within the special habitats Hills, but includes the most common can be enhanced by looking out for lay eggs or to fi nd a mate can be most provided by the Malvern Hills and one and some of the rarities, special to this these colourful insects and perhaps interesting, and even casual observers of the rarest of these is the High Brown area. It also shows a few of the day- recording what you see. If you regularly often come up with totally new Fritillary. Until the 1950s this was a fl ying moths that often get mistaken for walk a site then it can be rewarding to information about a species. widespread butterfl y across much of butterfl ies. note the changing species throughout England and Wales, but it has since the summer. Children can get quite If you want to share your interest then declined rapidly. The Malvern Hills are What are butterfl ies and moths? absorbed trying to spot butterfl ies there are local groups which offer fi eld one of the few areas where this butterfl y and can become extremely good at trips, social events and talks where you can still be found, but its population Butterfl ies and moths comprise the order identifi cation surprisingly quickly. can learn more about Lepidoptera. has severely declined here as well. of insects called Lepidoptera (meaning The behaviour of butterfl ies and moths Conservation of this butterfl y has been scale wing). We think of moths as is fascinating and surprisingly there is of high importance to the Malvern Hills being very different to butterfl ies, but still much that is unknown. Watching AONB who have been working with they are actually extremely similar. the Malvern Hills Conservators and Butterfl ies fl y during the day but so do other local landowners coordinating many moths. Some moths will only fl y a project to reintroduce grazing to the during the day when disturbed from southern hills and thus conserve the resting in vegetation, but quite a few habitat for this most rare butterfl y. are truly day-fl ying. Both butterfl ies and moths have four life cycle stages Other butterfl ies of special interest are and different species spend differing the Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak, lengths of time in each of the stages. White-letter Hairstreak, Dark Green The adult stage is usually only a very Fritillary, Silver-washed Fritillary, short period in the total life span. Marbled White and Grayling. A notable new species in the area is the Essex Why look for butterfl ies and Skipper which was fi rst recorded on day-fl ying moths? Castlemorton Common in 2002. Butterfl ies and day-fl ying moths are With the exception of the Marbled easy to fi nd, easy to watch and not White, these species are not common too diffi cult to photograph. You don’t in this region. Marbled White are found need to sit for hours in a hide or carry in good numbers at certain sites, but is any equipment, although binoculars of particular interest as it is on the edge can be most useful. You don’t need to of its range here. be an expert in order to identify the common species and there are many Photographs by Susan Clarke, David Green and Bridget Oleksy This booklet cannot show all of the good, cheap identifi cation guides that 5 6 How to identify When and where to look Use the pictures and descriptions to Most butterfl ies and day-fl ying moths fi nd the species that match what you will avoid fl ying in cold, windy or have seen.
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