Northants Butterflies 2017

Well in what is probably not a totally unexpected move I'm going to give the butterflies the same treatment as the dragonflies and give a brief account of my butterflying year. It was a very good year for these insects as far as I'm concerned as I amassed an eventual total of 34 species during my wanderings. Unlike in more recent years I made more specific trips to view them and often went out later than I would usually do on my birding jaunts meaning more records and greater numbers of individuals.

Peacock started the show on the 9th of March, Orange-tip followed in April.

The year began on the 9th of March with the sighting of a Peacock in my garden. From then a warm Spring meant that other species followed rather earlier than usual though a cooler Summer period led to things returning to more a normal footing by late June. Dingy and Grizzled Skippers were the stars of the early season with high counts of both species being noted at Priors Hall near Weldon. Dingies in particular seemed to enjoy a good year with sightings from five sites.

Dingy and Grizzled Skippers had a good year.

June marked the beginning of the main season and I was able to note all four species of the county's hairstreaks during the month. Fermyn Wood produced the usual records of Purple Emperor though I was also able to see this spectacular species at two other sites. Silver-washed Fritillaries were also noted at Fermyn at the same time and this species had a very good year. The colonisation of Corby's woodlands by this species continued with records from South Wood in addition to further observations in Brookfield Plantation.

Green, Black, White-lettered and Purple Hairstreaks.

Another species really on the up was Marbled White. The colony discovered at Willowbrook Industrial Estate in Corby was found to be bigger than I realised and the butterflies appeared at just about every suitable site around the town. It was such a pleasure to see this attractive butterfly doing so well locally. Small Heaths were found in many of the same locations and seemed to enjoy a good year.

Stars of Summer, Purple Emperor and Silver-washed Fritillary

2017 did not appear to be a good year for migrants and numbers of Painted Ladies remained low. August saw a small arrival of Clouded Yellows into the county and at least one individual was present at Priors Hall throughout the month. Red Admiral numbers seemed high but I got the impression that many of these were locally bred rather than migrants as their emergences seemed to coincide with that of other relatives such as Comma and Peacock.

Marbled White and Small Heath.

A personal highlight during the Summer was going to see Wood Whites in a wood near Sywell which were my first in the county for a good few years. Northamptonshire is one of the better counties for this species so it's good to catch up with them.

Migrant marvels, Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow.

Numbers of both species and individuals began to decline as the season progressed and a last sighting of a Red Admiral at Brookfield Plantation on the 5th of November brought matters to a close. Looking ahead to the coming year I would like to catch up with Chalkhill Blues somewhere in the county, it was sad that a new colony was destroyed almost as soon as it was discovered but that seems to happen too often nowadays. Another goal is to find a Dark Green Fritillary, they're present in decent numbers in neighbouring counties and such strong flying butterflies must surely wander... Exciting news for a little further ahead into the future with plans to attempt a Chequered Skipper reintroduction being considered, to see such a striking little insect flying once again in the county would be very fine indeed.

Red Admiral  and my favourite photo of the year a Small White.