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Attenborough Nature Reserve |  |
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Attenborough Nature Reserve | |
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Introduction |
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England is relatively poor with regard to numbers of species of butterflies to be found when compared to other european countries, especially those with warmer climates. However, certain species now appear to be extending their range northwards with the recent warmer climatic conditions in this country. Examples are the Brown Argus and Essex Skipper, which have now been recorded at Attenborough. Another butterfly is the Speckled Wood which has become more abundant on the reserve in recent years. Click on the names in the following table for a brief description of all the species of butterflies which have been recorded on the reserve. |
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Large White (Pieris brassicae) Small White (Pieris rapae) Green Veined White (Pieris napi) Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) Clouded Yellow (Colias crocea) Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) Peacock Butterfly (Inachis io) Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta) Painted Lady (Vanessa cardui) Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) Comma Butterfly (Polygonia c-album) Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus) Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera) White Letter Hairstreak (Strymonidia w-album) Purple Hairstreak (Quercusia quercus) Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas) Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus) Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) Large Skipper (Ochlodes venatus) Small Skipper (Thymelicus sylvestris) Essex Skipper (Thymelicus lineola) Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) |
Introduction |
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The macro-moth checklist for Attenborough Nature Reserve was updated by John Ellis on behalf of The Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust. Recent recording has been mainly by A. O. Aitkin, S. Browne and J. Ellis. The vast majority of moth species fly at night and are recorded by attracting them to an ultra-violet light (mercury-vapour 125 watt lamp) where they are identified. Several rare or scarce species have been identified, one of which, the Brown-veined Wainscot was a new species for the county. Of these nine species, seven rely on willow/sallow or on marginal aquatic vegetation for their larval food indicating the significance of the reserve. These species are Bordered Beauty, White Satin Moth, Old Lady, Small Wainscot, Crescent, Brown-veined Wainscot and Gold Spot. The other two scarce species, Barred Rivulet and Dusky Thorn feed on Red Bartsia (Odonites) and Ash respectively, both of which are present on the reserve. A significant number of Sallow Kittens (28) were counted around the light at the butterfly patch on one occasion, which is a very high count for Nottinghamshire. Amongst the list are several day flying species caught by B. Wetton whilst sweep netting for hoverflies. Most important of these are records of Red-tipped Clearwing in two consecutive years at the same site near Barton Lane car park. The inclusion of the whole checklist would not have been possible without previous records collated and supplied by John Ellis and assistance in identification by Dr. Sheila Wright and Ian Viles. The following checklist is presented in the conventional order as in "An Indexed List of British Butterflies and Moths" by Bradley and Fletcher (1986): |
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Ghost Moth Common Swift 6-Spot Burnet Narrow Bordered Five Spot Burnet (D) Lunar Hornet Red-tipped Clearwing (D) The Drinker Oak Hook-tip Pebble Hook-tip Chinese Character Peach Blossom Buff Arches Figure of Eighty Common Emerald Little Emerald Blood Vein Small Fan-footed Wave Single Dotted Wave Riband Wave Flame Carpet Dark Barred Twin-spot Carpet Large Twin-spot Carpet Silver Ground Carpet Common Carpet Yellowshell Dark Spinach The Phoenix The Spinach Barred Straw Small Phoenix Dark Marbled/Common Marbled Carpet * Barred Yellow Green Carpet July Highflier Sharp-angled Carpet Rivulet Small Rivulet Barred Rivulet Mottled Pug Lime-speck Pug Common Pug White Spotted Pug Bordered Pug V-Pug Chimney Sweeper (D) Yellow-barred Brindle Magpie Clouded Border (D) Latticed Heath (D) Brimstone Bordered Beauty Canary Shouldered Thorn Dusky Thorn |
Early Thorn Lunar Thorn Swallow-tailed Moth Brindled Beauty Peppered Moth Waved Umber Willow Beauty Common White Wave Common Wave Clouded Silver Light Emerald Eyed Hawk Moth Poplar Hawk Moth Elephant Hawk Small Elephant Hawk Moth Small Hawk Sallow Kitten Iron Prominent Pebble Prominent Lesser Swallow Prominent Swallow Prominent Coxcomb Prominent Pale Prominent Vapourer Yellow Tail White Satin Moth Common Footman White Ermine Buff Ermine Ruby Tiger Cinnabar (D) Short-cloaked Moth Garden Dart Turnip Moth Heart and Dart Shuttle-shaped Dart Flame Flame shoulder Large Yellow Underwing Lesser Yellow Underwing Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing Lesser Broad Bordered Yellow Underwing Least Yellow Underwing Double Dart Ingrailed Clay Purple Clay Small Square-spot Setaceous Hebrew Character Double Square-spot Six-striped Rustic Square-spot Rustic The Gothic Nutmeg |
Grey Arches Dot Moth Pale-shouldered Brocade Bright-line Brown-eye The Campion Antler Moth Clouded Drab Clay Smoky Wainscot Common Wainscot Black Rustic Sallow Poplar Grey Sycamore Grey Dagger Knot Grass Marbled Beauty Copper Underwings * Mouse Moth Old Lady Straw Underwing Small Angle Shades Angle Shades Olive Dingy Shears Dunbar Dark Arches Light Arches Clouded-bordered Brindle Dusky Brocade Double-lobed Marbled Minor Middle Barred Minor Cloaked Minor Common/Lesser Common Rustic * Small Dotted Buff Small Wainscot Dusky Sallow Flounced Rustic Rosy Rustic The Crescent Bulrush Wainscot Brown-veined Wainscot Mottled Rustic Gold Spot Silver Y (D) Beautiful Golden Y Spectacle Red Underwing Herald Snout Small Fan-foot |
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(D) = Daytime Flying * = Impossible to separate in the field |
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A Colour Identification Guide to Moths of the British Isles; Bernard Skinner; Viking Press DES Journal - Annual Reports 1992 - 95; Ian Viles A Checklist of the Lepidoptera of Nottinghamshire; Ken Cooper and Sheila Wright |
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Please forward butterfly or moth records to the Reserve Recorder, Pete Sadler (see Contacts Page). Include numbers of individual sightings and location details where possible.
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