Butterfly Report 2012 Over the winter and into spring much work was done in the continuing effort to improve the woodland environment for butterflies and other wildlife. In places the dogwood was cut back, opening up areas to encourage more varied woodland plants. Several wych elms, food plant of the white letter hairstreak and popular with comma butterflies, were planted. Hundreds of violets, cowslips, red campion, honeysuckle and other wildflowers that are good for insects have been planted throughout the wood, along with a strawberry tree, which is a late-season nectar source for butterflies and bees with clusters of lily-of-the-valley-like flowers. Later in the year, 32083 bluebell seeds † were spread in a small number of areas – all things being well these should flower in 5 years or so. It seems a distant memory, but early spring was unusually warm and the first butterflies were seen on March 11 th , a gloriously sunny day, which brought several male Brimstones out of hibernation. Peacock and Comma followed later in the month, and April 1 st , the beginning of the official butterfly recording season, saw the first Orange tip and Speckled Wood. All the talk was of a hot, dry summer, and there was the impending threat of water shortages as a wave of hosepipe bans began creeping towards us county-by-county from the south-east. In the event, things could not have turned out more different, as the South West turned wet and cold and there began “the wettest drought for 100 years”, as the tabloids were later to tell us. The impact on butterfly numbers was severe, to the extent that Green-veined White was the only other species recorded by the end of April. Despite the less than ideal weather during visits to the wood in April, both Peacock and Orange tip were seen regularly, although many sightings of the latter were of roosting individuals, sitting out the frequent showers on the flower heads of garlic mustard or cow parsley. Maybe because they were not on the wing as much as normal, or because the cold weather delayed emergence of some individuals, the flight period of the orange- tips was unusually long, and they continued to be seen through to the end of May. May also saw the first Large White, and Small White, but the impact of the poor weather on overall butterfly numbers was becoming only too clear, with smaller species in particular suffering locally. Just a single sighting of Holly Blue was made during the month, whilst Brown Argus, Common Blue and Small Copper were not recorded at all. Numbers of these species were also severely down elsewhere on the Weston hills, and across Bath in general, and will probably take time to recover to their normal levels. A Red Admiral was seen on the final visit in May but it was not until June that the first Large Skipper was seen – a month later than normal, and in numbers well down on recent years. Meadow Brown, on the other hand, appeared on schedule, and by the end of the month the first Ringlet had been seen. A lack of sightings of Marbled White was worrying, being a favourite species, but they turned up a couple of weeks late at the start of July, and all things considered put in a reasonable showing. Small Skipper appeared mid- July, again about 4 weeks later than normal, and, although only a handful of sightings of this species were made during the month, I was pleased to see and photograph amongst them a pair of the almost identical Essex Skippers. July saw the first second-brood Speckled Wood take to the wing – they continued to be seen Green-veined White on Dandelion Marbled White on knapweed † No, I didn’t count them! 275g of seed, and assuming 1.2g=140 seeds