The Lincolnshire Bird Club

As we have had only one or two Lincs. reports in the last two weeks, here is one from further afield.
Certainly of interest but outside the county - although not far by bicycle from the Mansfield - Retford area. Up to 17 (one hardly needs to add 'introduced') Large Copper butterflies have been on the wing at Carr Vale Nature Reserve, Bolsover (Derbyshire Wildlife Trust) this past week or so. They had dwindled to single figures by Fri 1 Sep and I and other searchers could only locate 2 females this morning (1030-1130) nectaring on thistle and knapweed.

Introduced, but judging by the steady stream of 'visitors' throughout the week (10 during my one hour stay), certainly of interest.
NB
Higgins and Riley (1970) give the Flight Period for the Dutch species nominate form (Lycaena dispar dispar) as
'June/July in a single brood'
and for the French, German, etc, subspecies (Lycaena dispar rutila) as
'May/June and August/September'.

Freddy

Is this an official introduction or has "the man on the bike" been at it again ?

Mark

Mark,
They are unofficial introductions.
The Derbyshire Butterfly Net is a sub-domain of Derbyshire Dragonflies (www.derbyshire-dragonflies.org.uk). The latest posting on the Butterfly News (29 Aug 06) is headed 'Carr Vale Large Coppers' - 27 August - Roy Frost reports:
Tony Irons 'phoned this afternoon with the news that he was watching 3 Large Coppers at Carr Vale NR. When I got there 30 mins later there were 4 and in a short stretch of 40m we found 9 more to make a total of 6m, 7f including a pair in cop. They were at the N end of the main lagoon, just beyond the seat and between the track and the water. All were pristine and this, plus their close proximity, suggests that they were liberated as adults rather than, say, as larvae on the adjacent Great Water Dock. This seems to be a new species for the phantom liberators of the Midlands. Others released locally include Wood and Marbled Whites, Niobe, Marsh and Heath Fritillaries, Large Tortoiseshell, White Admiral, Scotch Argus and Brown Hairstreak. (Roy Frost)
An additional footnote:
And after all these years we thought that there was only one Large Copper at Carr Vale NR. These butterflies, although no doubt captive bred, are stonkers and are giving a great deal of pleasure to many people. (RTT)

FJ Note: The 'locally released list' is of special interest when we consider recent introductions at Chambers Farm Wood, Bardney.

Regards,

Freddy