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Post by colin12303 on May 13, 2013 5:04:03 GMT -8
Has anyone found any small tort larvae batches yet this year.
Been searching everywhere but to no avail.
Need them for a school project,that i was stupid enough to say i would help them with.
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Post by bobw on May 13, 2013 6:11:32 GMT -8
If you're in the south-east I'd forget it; I haven't seen one here for 20 years +. I believe they are still found in the north.
Bob
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Post by wollastoni on May 13, 2013 6:17:30 GMT -8
Same thing in Brittany in NW France, I see one or two only per year.
When I was a kid, 20 years ago, I saw hundreds of them per year.
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iroki
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Post by iroki on May 13, 2013 7:55:42 GMT -8
In S - E Poland a lot of them in the season, If You will be interested i can collect some ovas/pupas and send them to You. PM me.
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Post by nomihoudai on May 13, 2013 8:11:16 GMT -8
Has anyone of you witnessed that for some years Aglais urticae is common within one habitat and then afterwards Aglais io is common and after some years a change back ?
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Post by wollastoni on May 13, 2013 8:19:22 GMT -8
Not in Brittany (NW France).
20 years ago, both Aglais io and Aglais urticae were very common.
Now Aglais io is still very common, but Aglais urticae is very rare.
Don't know if there is a link, but Brittany is a place with a LOT of intensive agriculture...
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Post by nomad on May 13, 2013 8:45:55 GMT -8
There has been a substantial decline in Aglais urticae numbers in the U.K especially in Southern England. They used to swarm on my buddleia davidii but there has not been any in the past few years. For a interesting report on the decline of this lovely species see users.ox.ac.uk/~zool0376/Sturmia_bella_report_May09.pdf |
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Post by wollastoni on May 13, 2013 9:17:48 GMT -8
Peter, I know but as this paper concluded, the link between this parasit fly and the decline of Aglais urticae is not proven...
For sure, it won't help...
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2013 9:21:04 GMT -8
I have watched several females hovering over nettle patches this spring, hoping to rob the nest, alas to no avail, a urticae numbers are on the increase again up here in Yorkshire after a worrying decline. Funny how these things go, I have been collecting since the early 1970's and we has no anthocharis cardamines, very few inachis io and certainly no polygonia c album, wall butterflies Lasiommata megera were everywhere but no Pararge aegaeria, now we have few a urticae, no Lasiommata megera for 15 years, inachis io is everywhere and a cardamines is very common as is c album and p aegaeria and also Pyronia tithonus which we did not have either up to the early nineties is very common now, cant see the situation changing in a hurry but you never know.
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Post by colin12303 on May 13, 2013 10:36:55 GMT -8
I remember in the early 2000's small torts,peacocks,comma,and red admiral were still fairly easy livestock to obtain here in Kent,that is why i'm surprised the small torts seem to have vanished
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 13, 2013 11:21:55 GMT -8
the decline started around 2004 here, reaching its low point in 2007/8, we had really wet summers those years, since then it has steadily got better, 2012 was a good year and I have seen plenty already this year despite the appaling start to the spring.
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Post by johnnyboy on May 13, 2013 23:08:08 GMT -8
I haven't seen small tortoiseshells in S.E. Greater London for years. I've noticed they're still around in Kent, saw quite a few in Sandwich a couple of years ago.
Peacock butterflies also seem to have sharply declined in numbers. 30 years ago I released around 200 I bred from a local
colony, they increased the local population for the next two years.
I did see a rather tatty adult peacock last weekend, the first I've seen in S.E London for several years.
Johnny
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on May 14, 2013 5:41:03 GMT -8
the biggest concern up here must be Lasiommata megera, there seems no reason for its disappearance, the habitats where I used to find it in hundreds are the same as they were 40 years ago, it could be seen almost anywhere, I have not seen a single specimen for almost 20 years, it seems to have been replaced by Pararge aegaeria but they enjoy different habitats, very strange.
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Post by bobw on May 14, 2013 6:29:28 GMT -8
You're certainly right about L. megera; when I was a kid it was found nearly everywhere, although never in big numbers. It disappeared from here about 30 years ago; the only time I've seen it since is on the south coast, and from what other people have told me it does seem to have become almost entirely coastal. The other species to show the biggest declines here in Surrey are A. urticae and C. pamphilus; both used to be very common. Most other species are down in numbers but nothing like as much as these species.
Conversely, some species seem to have expanded their ranges or become more common. I'd never seen P. tithonus or M. galathea in this area when I was a kid but now they are common. Admittedly galathea is only on downland but tithonus is now the commonest species in my garden. Others have kept up or increased their numbers, e.g. G. rhamni, P. aegeria.
Bob
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Post by wollastoni on May 14, 2013 6:32:18 GMT -8
In NW France, I think only Aglais urticae and Papilio machaon really decreased significantly.
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