NORTH WALES BRANCH Newsletter 2018 2018 CONTENTS 4. EyartH Rocks 26. Do you want to join tHe GMS? News from our reserve Citizen science in action 5. Butterflies of RSPB Conwy 29. Memorable Moments from 2 Reserves More than just birds! Knowing your patch 9. Butterfly Hunt! 30. Transect Recording Man on a mission Turning a walk into data 12. MotH trapping tHrougH tHe year 32. FlintsHire Micro-motHs…Help Needed Sifting the data Can you help? 16. Mixed Fortunes of Nettle Butterflies 35. Blaenau Ffestiniog MotHs 2017 Nettles are necessary Moth Report 21. Butterfly and MotH Events 36. Tales from Poplar-grapHic Oceans Plan your summer! LP cover beauties 26. Currant Clearwings 37. Butterflies in Slovenia Fruit tree beauties Idyllic Illyria Cover photograph of mating Six-spot Burnet Moths at Newborough Warren by Ilija Vukomanovic Published by the North Wales Branch of Butterfly Conservation. Please note that the opinions expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the Society or the Branch Butterfly Conservation. Company limited by guarantee, registered in England (2206468) Registered Office: Manor Yard, East LulwortH, WareHam, Dorset, BH20 5QP. CHarity registered in England and Wales (254937) and in Scotland (SCO39268) VAT No GB 991 2771 89 GwarcHod Glöynnod Byw Cwmni a gyfyngir drwy warant, wedi’i gofrestru yn Lloegr (2206468). Swyddfa Gofrestredig: Manor Yard, East LulwortH, WareHam, Dorset, BH20 5QP. Elusen wedi’i chofrestru yng NgHymru a Lloegr (254937) ac yn Yr Alban (SCO39268). Rhif TAW GB 991 2771 89 2 2018 Letter from tHe Editor Welcome to your 2018 edition of the ‘North Wales Branch Newsletter’. This has become quite a bumper edition which is fitting for this celebratory year for Butterfly Conservation. This, of course, is down to all those contributors who have been generous with their time, sharing their experience and expertise, tapping on keyboards and sifting through photos. Many thanks, to all of them. The range of topics is broad, covering all of the lepidopteran ‘groups’- butterflies, moths (incl. day-flying) and micro-moths. I’m sure there is something for everybody. As the articles came in I fought to keep the size down using some judicial editing. But as more came in, I thought it best to add more pages, but still, keep a keen eye on the weight. I tested this on the local Post Office scales making sure it was still under 100g - for 2nd class postage! On reading Julie Williams’ address in the latest ‘Butterfly’, about BC’s milestone golden anniversary, it made me think about the history of our branch. Ray Sandiford, who continues to be active in the conservation of butterflies and has contributed an article here (see page 16), told me that he approached BC Head Office, 23 years ago, in 1995, about starting up a North Wales Branch. He did so, and May 1996 saw the publication of its first Newsletter. Ray, who lived in Betws- y-Coed at the time, worked alongside others to set up the branch over the next few years. By 2001 the branch had 70 members and was running several events as well as producing excellent newsletters. In May of that year, at the AGM, a new committee was formed, with Ilija Vukomanovic as Chair. He said that he and the committee would take the Branch forward, building on the excellent start. Ilija, with the help of many others, continues to do just that. We now have 443 members, an excellent events programme and well-supported Newsletters. For Butterfly Conservation’s 50th, we are having a special commemorative and celebratory event at Eyarth Rocks. This will be held on Saturday 19th May at 11am (see page 21 for details) - 16 years, almost to the day, since the opening of the reserve. As can be seen in the newsletter at the time (right), it was opened by our very own Iolo Williams, who was, apparently, known as ‘Birdman’ in those days! Managed by volunteers then, but now by Russel Hobson (Head of Conservation Wales), with the help of volunteers, the reserve continues to support a healthy colony of Pearl-bordered Fritillary (see page 4). Mark Sheridan 3 2018 EYARTH ROCKS by Russel Hobson The cool spring in 2017 meant that Pearl-bordered Fritillary were later emerging than in recent years. Butterfly Conservation staff undertook a timed count on the 24th May and numbers had picked up to 2015 levels after a dip in 2016. This means the on-going trend remains positive. A female was also followed by Martin Wain (BC Morecombe Bay) and observed egg-laying on a violet leaf in quite a grassy sward. This less than seemingly ideal location near Rob’s bench might indicate they are able to use less bracken areas for breeding on this limestone outcrop. Individuals were also seen on areas to the south of the reserve being successfully managed by the Nant Clwyd Estate. We are now negotiating a new Section 15 agreement with Natural Resources Wales to continue the habitat management work on the reserve. (Aberrant form of Pearl-bordered Fritillary pHotograpHed by Andrew Livemore in 2014 – Bolaria euphrosyne ab. palliDa) 4 2018 BUTTERFLIES OF RSPB CONWY by Julian Hughes, Ruth A. Morgan and Rob W. Morgan Conwy nature reserve is a 50-hectare site on the east bank of the Conwy estuary in Llandudno Junction, most of which lies within vice-county 50 (Denbighshire). The nature reserve was created in the early 1990s from three million tonnes of estuarine silt that had been removed from the bed of the estuary during the construction of the A55 road tunnel and dumped on the saltmarsh and mudflats. Around half of the reserve area is water, in the form of two freshwater lagoons and an inter-tidal frontage, but since the site has been managed by RSPB Cymru (1993), the terrestrial parts of the reserve have been managed as woodland, scrub and grassland. During the 22 years since the nature reserve opened to the Fig.1. Aerial view of RSPB Conwy nature reserve, public, ad hoc butterfly showing the route taken for the weekly invertebrate survey. © Crown Copyright. All rights records have been gathered by reserved. RSPB licence 100021787. RSPB Permit Number: visitors, volunteers and staff. 60271 Since 2015, two volunteers (RAM and RWM) have undertaken a weekly transect, walking 2,700 metres once each week between early April and the end of September, recording butterflies, dragonflies, bumblebees and a small number of day-flying moth species. The transect (shown as a yellow line in Fig.1) is undertaken in the best weather (dry, sunny, warm, calm) available during each week, subject to availability of the volunteers. Butterflies are observed and the species and number recorded, but not caught, as the species present regularly at Conwy cause little identification challenge. In 2016, JH produced a simple checklist of the butterflies recorded at the site (this, and a checklist of moths and other taxonomic groups, are downloadable from http://tinyurl.com/conwylists). This article expands on that checklist, and uses the first three years of transect surveys to make an initial assessment of the status of each species. From the limited data collected so far, several species had a much better 2017 than the previous two years, particularly Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, 5 2018 Red Admiral, Comma and Common Blue. 1000 Cinnabar and Six-spot Burnet Moths 800 were also more 600 numerous in 2017. Ringlet appears to be establishing itself as a regular presence 400 on the reserve, but Peacock and Small 200 Tortoiseshell were marginally scarcer. 0 2015 2016 2017 Fig.2 shows that butterflies recorded on Butterflies Moths the transect were over three times more abundant in 2017 than 2016. Fig.2. Lepidoptera registrations during RSPB Conwy nature reserve invertebrate survey, Butterfly records April to September. Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) Recorded just once, on 18 May 1998, even though the reserve lies only a few miles to the southwest of Bryn Pydew, a limestone ridge with a small population of Dingy Skippers. Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) Recorded on two dates in 2016 (17 and 25 July) during the weekly transect survey, the first records for the reserve. It is widespread but localised in this part of North Wales, with the Great Orme hosting the only established population nearby. Large Skipper (OchloDes Sylvanus) Aside from a single sighting in June 1996, there were no further records until three in July 2015 and one in August 2016 during transect surveys. The UK population has increased during the last decade, and with its caterpillar food plant (Cock’s foot, Dactylis glomerata) growing on the reserve, this may be another species likely to increase here. Orange-tip (Anthocharis carDamines) Small numbers: earliest 09/04/2017, latest 25/07/2009. Date range 20 Apr-13 May 2015 5 May-6 Jun 2016 9 Apr-31 May 2017 Total transect count 3 6 8 Large White (Pieris brassicae) Moderate numbers: earliest 21/04/2014, latest 19/09/2017. Date range 23 Jul-10 Sep 2015 12 May-2 Aug 2016 31 May-19 Sep 2017 Total transect count 33 20 23 Small White (Pieris rapae) Moderate numbers: earliest 25/03/2012, latest 23/09/2016. Date range 20 Apr-18 Sep 2015 12 May-23 Sep 2016 9 Apr-28 Aug 2017 Total transect count 18 13 18 Green-veined White (Pieris napi) Moderate numbers, occasionally numerous (2017): earliest 09/04/2014, latest 25/09/2015. Date range 4 Jun-25 Sep 2015 24 May-2 Aug 2016 10 May-28 Aug 2017 Total transect count 14 17 165 Clouded Yellow (Colias croceus) Occasional migrant, tending to occur in ‘big’ years.