Summer Migrants
It's been, by UK standards, a hot, dry and sunny summer. With the favourable weather conditions it's also been an exceptional year for migrant moths and butterflies, heading over the Channel to feed, possibly breed, but ultimately pay the price of our cold damp winters. They may be commonplace in more southerly European climates but for us, they can be rarer and hence to be treasured.
It's been an exceptional year for Clouded Yellow butterflies, Colias croceus. There are always a few reported every year but this year has been exceptional. I last saw one over twenty five years ago. This year, even in South West Devon, there's been a multitude. I was able to get a few shots. They do love Buddleja.
Painted Lady butterflies, Vanessa cardui, are common enough to be seen every year but rarely in the numbers I've seen this year. So much so I could even capture pristine specimens in flight.
These are both obligate migrants. Movement out of their core Southern habitats is a dispersal mechanism. They feed, they breed, and at least some of the offspring head south again rather than perishing in our winters. Much the same can be siad for some of our migrant moths. I was pleased to trap a Convolvulus Hawk-math, Agrius convolvuli, yesterday...
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| Convolvulus Hawk-moth |
...and we've had loads of Humming Bird Hawk-moths, rather than the one or two that I see every year.
There are many other migrant moths. Here's another three I've photographed this year. It's always fun looking in the trap after a night outside.
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| Rhodometra sacraria, Vestal |
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| Udea ferrugalis, Rusty-dot Pearl |
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| Small Mottled Willow, Spodoptera exigua |
