Big Butterfly Count 2020

One thing still possible amid all the restrictions imposed around the Covid-19 pandemic is to linger somewhere quiet for a quarter of an hour or so, and count butterflies. Despite the changeable weather for this year's butterfly count (17 July to 9 August), including several days which were a complete washout, I did several 'counts' in my garden and became quite obsessed with going out to see what I could find, noting my observations in my diary.

Here are the results, which include a couple of day-flying moths:

Species/Dates	19-Jul	28-Jul	29-Jul	30-Jul	06-Aug	07-Aug	08-Aug	09-Aug
Small White			1	1
Large White		1	1	2	2	1	1	2
Common Blue						1
Small Tortoiseshell			1	1			4	3
Red Admiral		2	2	2			1	1
Peacock		2	1	2	3	2	1	1
Comma				1
Meadow Brown			2
Ringlet	1
Six-Spot Burnet	1
Hummingbird Hawk Moth				1
Day total	2	5	8	10	5	4	7	7

11 species was quite good compared to other years, but even on the best day, I could count the day-flying lepidoptera on both hands, so I could have wished for more. There were days where I didn't really look and others where I was out in the garden for a quarter of an hour or more, but saw nothing, and then forgot to record that I saw nothing. Most of my observations were more than quarter of an hour, which probably increased the number of species observed, but the numbers are the maximum number observed at any one time, to avoid double-counting.

What no Painted Ladies, Orange Tip, Large Skipper, Speckled Wood, some sort of Fritillary perhaps? I would also have expected to see Silver Y moths on the Buddleias, if not in full sun, then at least in the evening, but I didn't see any. It might be that the adult butterflies aren't on the wing in the three weeks of the survey.

Buddleia davidii is a controversial plant. I even saw a post of Facebook claiming that the nectar is toxic to butterflies and bees. Of course, whoever posted it didn't give a source or link for reference and I have found nothing to support this (because, of course, I cannot resist searching online to do a bit of fact-checking). There's no denying it is an extremely invasive plant, which can grow in all sorts of conditions, from nooks and crannies with very little soil, light, dry soils, compacted and often wet clay, and given a nice depth of fertile soil can go from seedling to flower within one year, and become a spreading, towering shrub within two.

I have a love-hate relationship with it. I was lazy last year and didn't dead-head assiduously enough or even prune, and this year there have been seedlings everywhere, and new shrubs which escaped being weeded out last autumn (I think I thought they were Verbena bonariensis seedlings. No such luck). None of the shrubs I have are in quite the right place, a visual reminder of how much work I need to do in the garden. On the other hand, once they flower, they attract all sorts of invertebrates; not just butterflies and moths, but drone flies, hoverflies, various bumble bees and this year, lots of honey bees. Various spiders hang out in the leaves and branches, as do snails, which don't seem to do much damage to it. When I work in the garden, I get to see them all up close and get wafts of honeyed scent.

The problem with invasive species like this is that in the wild, and potentially even a garden, they can affect local biodiversity. They outcompete and replace native species of wildflowers, so reducing both species diversity and nutritional diversity of those native plant species. Although the bees, butterflies and other foraging species love the Buddleia, they need diversity as well as quantity and quality of nectar and pollen, to ensure a good nutritional content and balance, 

When I input my observations and checked my profile, I found they have leaderboards for the number of observation sessions (counts) and butterflies. I am waaaaaay down the boards;  at 3000+ for counts, at 7000+ for total butterflies seen. Not that it ever occurred to me that this was a competitive thing, but there are some very serious butterfly counters out there. I was feeling very pleased with myself to submit results from 8 counts, now I feel like I should do better next year.

Clockwise from top left:

female Common Blue; Comma, just hanging around; Busy bee; Humming-bird Hawk-moth

Spider observations, and a new species for me

The garden seems to be full of spiders. The compost heap and all the paving is alive with some type of wolf spiders, and possibly more than one specie of them. I tidied the garden cupboard and evicted many 'house' spiders and most of the plant pots and trays which were hanging around on the patio have had a spider or two in them. A walk through the garden disturbs nursery web spiders. The house is still full of Pholcus phalangioides. The Golden Girl Araneus diadematus on my living room window frame survived the winter, then one day, she had disappeared, hopefully out to find food.

Strenuously brushing off some moulded plastic plant trays ready for reuse yesterday evening, their undersides full of snails, I found I'd also brushed out an egg mass in a case, which had torn. Out of the case emerged a slightly agitated female spider, so large (18-20 mm) when she uncurled, she made me jump. She was quite shy, very attached to her eggs, so I gathered them up to have a closer look.

Could this be Steatoda nobilis, the Noble False Widow? (Yes, the same one the press get so hysterical about, with horror stories of infected and necrotic bites.) I asked in the British Spider Identification group and it was confirmed. After all this time, when I'd never seen one, and if the females are this big, I'm sure I would have noticed! Come to think of it, if she has eggs, there's probably a male around, unless she's eaten him (apparently they do, sometimes). They seem to be getting more common and widespread, and this wouldn't be the first Pembrokeshire record for the species.

So, a new spider for my list. Except I don't have a list, so now I want to start one. I haven't been taking much notice of the spiders in the garden, but it would be good to identify what's here. The spider ID group is full of photos of jumping and crab spiders, to the extent where I have spider envy, as I haven't seen any here. But then, I also haven't been looking.

Meanwhile, I'll have to find this big mama a new niche, as she can't go back under the plant tray. 

(W)Racking my brains

Nolton Haven is a more-or-less U-shaped inlet on the west coast, facing roughly south-south-west. Looking out past the cliffs which form the mouth of the haven, you can see the jagged humps of Stack Rocks, near Brandy Bay and Mill Haven, between Little Haven and St Brides. Beyond them, the curve of land ending in what appear to be hills and valleys is the north coast of the Marloes peninsula. You'd need a telescope to see the details of the spectacular old red sandstone cliffs, but binoculars will help you see that the lumpy 'hills'  are islands. Left to right, the peninsula ends with the steep cliffs of Wooltack Point, then there is Midland Isle and Skomer. Skokholm lies behind the end of the peninsular and Midland Isle, indistinguishable from the other land in the haze. Ships waiting for their place at the oil terminals near Milford Haven often anchor off the coast, looming out of the mist.

I probably only go there once or twice a year, as it always takes longer than I think it will; I get lost in the narrow, winding lanes and drive slowly, as there is a lot of traffic, both cars and farm vehicles, and potentially horses from the large riding stables in Nolton village.

(You should be able to click on the photos below to see a larger version.)

This was taken 4 August 2015, when it was chilly enough to wear a coat!

Last Sunday, a friend and I decided to take some sandwiches and blow away some cobwebs with a little walk on the beach. The sun was playing hide-and-seek, and it was even blowier than expected, adding extra sand to the sandwiches. The tide was out, enticing us to walk down the beach. There's a stream which flows under the road and  onto the beach spreading out over the sand so that it stays wet. On either side, there are rocks covered with barnacles and seaweed, and rockpools.

Take a tip from me and stay in the sandy centre of the haven if you go for a swim. Several years ago, I swam to a little sandy patch near the cliffs and the waves pushed me against some of the rocks. It was only when I got out that I felt the sting and realised when I saw blood dripping onto my feet that one of my shins had several deep scratches from the barnacles.

The rockpools don't generally have much in them. There are the usual beadlet anemones, a few crabs, but I've rarely seen any shrimp or small fish. There is a lot of weed. Every year, I remind myself that I should learn something about seaweed so that I can name what I'm looking at.

I don't know what the astonishingly purple weed is, but it really was that colour!

The most common weed covering the rocks is the brown one with greener blobs on the end and occasional bubbles in it. I thought it was Bladder Wrack Fucus vesiculosus, but was I right?

Back home, I had a cup of tea while I leafed through a couple of my nature guide books. I have quite a collection, but the two I took from the shelf were The Readers Digest Field Guide to the Water Life of Britain, and the Hamlyn Guide Seashores and Shallow Seas of Britain and Europe (Campbell and Nicholls).* I'm not sure either of these are still in print, but you can pick good second-hand copies up very cheaply from Amazon. (* These are affiliate links)

It turned out my memory was correct, and while I had my guide-book in hand, I looked at the details for the other types of wrack commonly found around the UK coastline - Toothed or Serrated Wrack Fucus serratus, Spiral Wrack Fucus spiralis, Knotted or Egg Wrack Ascophyllum nodosum, Channelled Wrack Pelvetia canaliculata, and decided that would be enough for the time being. The green prickly puffs on the end are fruiting bodies.

I love the patterns and textures of the weed-draped rocks. Now I want to see what other weeds I can identify ... or is that just an excuse for another trip to the beach?