Review of the Large Blue Butterfly in 2012 and prospects for 2013

None of us will forget the ‘Summer’ of 2012 which began with a Spring drought and hosepipe bans only to be followed by heavy rain, flooding and high winds. You might imagine that these were not the conditions under which you would expect Britain’s fussiest butterfly to prosper, but prosper it did!

Egg surveys carried out in early July showed that over 50,000 eggs had been laid on the site, an increase of over 26% on the 2011 total. This was the seventh consecutive year that the Large blue population has increased. Equally pleasing, were the 1000+ visitors who had embarked from destinations as far afield as Scotland, Tasmania, Holland and New Zealand to see Large blues flying on this beautiful site.

The 2012 Collard Large Blue Ranger, Lottie Faulkner, reported that the flight period of the butterfly set a new record for the site of 53 days. These are all very encouraging statistics but should not suggest that the 2012 season was easy for Lottie and the dedicated volunteers who helped visitors navigate the site, nor for the National Trust Site Managers Ian Clemmett and Hayley Dorrington.

Wet weather gear became the norm throughout the flight period when there was seldom a period of settled sunshine, however, on virtually every day the sun did appear for an hour or so allowing the butterflies to mate and lay eggs and rewarded determined photographers who captured their cherished images.

Heavy rainfall caused the grass to grow at an incredible rate and by the time that egglaying began many of the Wild Thyme plants were so swamped by the flowering grass spikes that the female butterflies could not get down to the tight-budded Thyme flowers. Posters were put around the site and Lottie and her helpers encouraged visitors to carefully reveal the flowers by picking the grass stems. When the egg surveys were carried out it became obvious that this had been enormously helpful at ensuring that eggs were well distributed across the site.

By early August, Pat Burrough and Martin Lawrence’s Dexter cows and ponies were back on the site with a monumental task of grazing down the tall sward that had developed throughout the flight period. At the time of writing this article, (17^th May 2013), the site is perfectly grazed and the prospects for the 2013 flight season are excellent.

Winter scrub management has ensured that the livestock and butterflies can move freely around the site and that the rich grassland flora is not shaded out. This work was carried out by National Trust staff and NT volunteers, with additional help from Somerset Wildlife Trust and Butterfly Conservation volunteers, led by Caroline Kelly (Butterfly Conservation). Collard is one of 14 sites in the local area which makes up the SITA funded project Expanding the Large Blue Landscape in the Polden Hills. This project is restoring habitats for Large blues by implementing scrub management, thyme planting and monitoring. The project is based on partnership working between Butterfly Conservation, J&F Clark Trust, National Trust and the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

It is always difficult to accurately predict when the first Large blue will appear on Collard, particularly as the season is a late one but I still expect that they will be flying here during the first week of June. I recommend that you check the NT Large blue blog for up to date information throughout the flight period which will be updated daily by the 2013 Collard Hill Large blue Ranger, Steve Clare, to whom I offer a warm welcome.

All the signs suggest that there will be a very good population of Large blues on Collard this year and I encourage you to visit this wonderful site to see one of nature’s rarest and most beautiful butterflies.

David Simcox

Large Blue Butterfly Project Manager.

David is a freelance ecologist who has worked on Large blues for 30 years for Butterfly Conservation, Oxford University and the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

The Large Blue Project is underpinned by science, carried out by Oxford University and CEH and implemented by a collaborative partnership between Butterfly Conservation, CEH, Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust, J&F Clark Trust, National Trust, Natural England, Network Rail, Oxford University and the Somerset Wildlife Trust.

See below to see information about this exciting post and feel free to contact us if you would like more information.

Work with Britain’s leading butterfly experts

Spend six weeks (27th May – 7th July 2011) this summer in rural Somerset, working with countryside managers and Britain’s foremost butterfly experts.

• Be the lead person in a team responsible for visitor management and biological recording at Britain’s only open access site for the rare Large Blue butterfly Maculinea arion: Collard Hill – a SSSI limestone grassland near Glastonbury.
• Travel and subsistence will be reimbursed. 
• Be part of the ranger team that manages the Somerset countryside for the National Trust.
• Must be an enthusiastic conservationist, an able communicator and physically fit. Extinction

For more information, please contact:

Hayley.Dorrington@nationaltrust.org.uk

Applications by Friday 8^th March.

Interviews on Thursday 14 March

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 12,000 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 20 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Thanks to all that visit the blog thoughout the flight season and through the year, it is great to see that such a small butterfly can make such a big impression.

Watch this space for the start of the new season, we will be recruiting for the new Large Blue Ranger very soon…

Hayley – Ranger for East Somerset

Just to let you know. There was a record day flight period this year of (at least) 52 days and an increase in numbers of Large Blue eggs laid from last year!

I hope you all had a chance to see them fly.

Lottie

I spoke to Sarah Meredith today and heard that the Large blues were still flying on Sunday. However, they were tatty individuals so the season is likely to be nearing an end. What a long season it has been though! Last year the flight period was until July 10th and here we are on July 17th.

I hope plenty of you have been able to see the Large blues this flight season. I will put an update once it has been clarified that the season is offically over.

Here is a great picture sent in by visitor Geoff  Hiscocks of a Large blue egg on Wild thyme spotted on Collard on 20th June. I also heard that there are plenty of caterpillars and eggs being found on the surveys being carried out. All good signs for the Large Blue butterfly population.

Large Blue egg on thyme bud. Taken by Geoff Hiscocks 2012

The people on site at Collard today could happily report better weather than earlier in the week which I hear was a complete washout!

This morning, 2 Large Blues were seen at the bottom of the steps and 4 were seen this morning. At about 1.30pm there was sunshine and the butterflies seen were a mix of pristine and tatty so they are likely to be flying for a little while yet.

I’ll put an update when the season has been deemed over.

The good weather seemed to bring alot of families to the hill today and we wen’t Large blue egg hunting. On our third try we managed to find a clump of Wild thyme with eggs on whilst wandering up the (dry for once) mud track from the Eastern Glade. Throughout the day though myself and visitors found eggs on alot the site, all good omens for this years’ butterfly season.

Eastern glade slope, quite a vista.

First thing this morning, I found myself sitting amongst the quaking grass and really looking at the amount of scrub and trees on Collard. The structure of the habitat on the hill is so varied and I feel that now I have learnt almost all the nooks and crannies but I am sure there are still more to find. The orchids seems to be past their best now but the large Wasp and Bee that have been there all the time I have been working at Collard, are still going strong despite being a tad dishevelled.

The Large blues were really out on show today. Many of us just had to stand at the bottom of the Eastern glade slope and we could watch them flying past as well as the fresh Ringlets and Large Skippers. I have learnt an awful lot about butterflies and the ecology of a restored calcaereous grassland during this role, that is for sure.

Like so many people, I will long to see the Large blue again and be hynotised by their flight which you can’t help but stop and watch as they fly past and the same goes for other butterflies seen at Collard.

A common blue (Taken by C Faulkner on 1st July)

I am afraid that is not all from me however. There will be other rangers and people at the hill monitoring the Large blue for the rest of the flight period. This is likely to continue for a few weeks yet, particularly as there have been so many freshly emerged ones this week. I shall be keeping in touch, finding out the news and posting updates on the blog until the end of the flight season- although not as regularly.

Thanks to everyone at the National Trust, Dave Simcox, Sarah Meredith and everyone involved for helping me learn my role as a Large Blue ranger and for making the Large blue not an extinct species but a successful member of the UK ecosystem. Here is a picture of just some of the people involved, taken on the training day I wen’t on during my 1st few days at Green Down.

Everyone at this years Large Blue training day at Green down, May 2012.

Watch this space for pictures taken this season and some more chit chat about whats happening at Collard.

All the best, Lottie LB ranger

Look in the centre of the flower to the left of the pencil tip and you can see a “pink tube” which is the Large Blue caterpillar found at Collard today by Sarah Meredith (Taken by C Faulkner 30th June 2012)

I then spent the rest of the day running up and down the hill with visitors in the search of Large blue adults.  The first visit to the sheltered areas between the gorse above the main track was successful and we saw adults flying but later in the day there were fewer there- perhaps hiding from the brief shower. Using the binoculars of one member of a visiting family, we checked out the eggs on the Wild thyme here by turning the binoculars upside down. After a month at Collard and with Sarah’s help I have learnt to identify the Large blue eggs between the Wild thyme buds.

Later on today, myself and a few determined ladies carried on from this sheltered area back towards the Eastern glade. We saw one Large blue above the track and then another at the base of the Eastern glade(the area beneath the blue rope). A few of the Large blues looked really fresh. Some seemed very flighty up on the higher slopes but at the bottom of the Eastern Glade (See map at the top of the this blog) they seemed very calm and confiding- perhaps as they were the lady blues. I have been told that the females are much dopier than the males- poor things.

Large Blue resting on (possibly Couch) grass (Taken by C.Faulkner 2012)

In other news at Collard, today and yesterday the first Ringlets were popping up and I am having to make sure I don’t confuse them with Meadow browns- which I will no doubt be seeing in my sleep as they have been so constant this season!  Also, this afternoon, we saw what I assume to be a Small skipper rather than an Essex at the bottom of the Eastern glade slope too.

Small skipper found in the Eastern glade this saturday (30th June) Taken by C Faulkner 2012

Yesterday too there were some more dragonflies about. Myself and some visitors watched a Common darter resting on a Hawthorn for some time and near the area where the orchids grow a 4-spot chaser was flying:

Not a great picture but good enough to ID as a 4-spot chaser correct me if I am wrong. Taken at Collard 29th June 2012 (C.Faulkner)

Also, here is the Greater yellow rattle from the side where the horses and cattle are now living (until the blues stop flying). This is a new record for the site and looks different from ordinary rattle as there is purple on the top lip of the flower which I looked up in Rose (2006).

Greater yellow rattle, Rhianthus angustifolius (Taken by C Faulkner June 2012)

So, I am sad to say I shall be finishing as the Large blue ranger at Collard tomorrow (as it has just been a short contract with the National Trust) but I shall be updating the blog for a week more at least so when the Large blue finishes flying the word can get out. There will be other volunteer rangers on duty most days in the next few weeks though to help you find the blues.

I am really sad to be leaving my post as I have really enjoyed leaping about the hill showing people as much of the site as possible- in fact I doubt I will manage to stay away for long!

For those that have sent pictures in, I will be doing another blog post this week with your pictures in. as soon as I can. However, I graduate on Wednesday from Reading uni so I can’t say when exactly. Thank you for sending them in and keep them coming to collard.hill@gmail.com

Lottie- LB ranger

Yesterday, after I returned from the National Trust office, I saw Large blues mainly along the Eastern Glade slope but also along the paths (leading from the Ivythorn gate entrance to the bench and blue rope). As it wasn’t too windy until late afternoon the butterflies seemed to be able to visit the Wild thyme on the higher slopes too and still a few are flying around the “Quarry area”. Here too, I noticed Hedge bindweed, Calystegia sepium is starting to flower.

Based on observation, the Marbled whites are increasing in number and the Meadow browns and Small heaths are still in high numbers. The 6-spot burnet moths are everywhere too. Although I didn’t have my camera on me, myself and some visitors spotted a caterpillar in the process of weaving a cocoon. I did get some pictures of a caterpillar and an adult later that day though.

6-spot burnet moth caterpillar- Taken by C.Faulkner 2012

6-spot Burnet moth adult on Field or Small scabious (plant leaves not noted at the time but both listed as growing on site). Taken by C.Faulkner 2012

The orchids are also doing well perhaps due to the rain. No doubt the Pyramidals especially will do very well this season with all the day flying moths and butterfly activity ensuring pollination (Harrap & Harrap 2005).

The main excitement for me in the last few days was that I realised that within the grassland on the other side of the fence, there is Greater yellow rattle, Rhianthus angustifolius  due to the purple tip on the top lip of the yellow flower (Rose 2006). I will get a picture today if I can. A visitor also pointed out to me the Restharrow, Ononis repens’ pink pea-like flowers that have recently come out. The wide diversity of flowers at Collard are yet another example of how the management for the Large blue benefits the wider ecosystem.