Ringlet

A Ringlet butterfly on silverweed, Gait Barrows National Nature Reserve, Lancashire.

The Millennium Atlas of Butterflies in Britain and Ireland published in 2001 shows a large gap in the distribution of the Ringlet butterfly in the West Midlands and North West England. The butterfly was almost entirely absent from Lancashire and south Cumbria, the nearest record to Gait Barrows was about 40 km away.

Now, ten years later, the Ringlet is flying in profusion in long grass meadows in Gait Barrows in North Lancashire. Here is an example of a butterfly whose range is expanding rapidly, at a time when many species are in decline. The previous gap in its distribution does not appear to be climate related, nor is it due to any shortage of caterpillar food plants since they feed on a number of common grass species. The thinking is that the Ringlet is sensitive to air pollution, and its expansion in recent decades into the former industrial heartlands of the Midlands and Northern England follows the improvement in air quality as polluting industry has declined. It's still a little odd, though that it was missing from the South Lakes area where air quality has surely always been reasonably good.

I was tempted to post another up close and personal portrait of an insect today, but in the end there is a more interesting story to tell about the Ringlet. The blue-tailed damselfly portrait is in my Blipfolio, indeed it is the only image so far in there.

This morning I did my last breeding bird survey of the year, the season is pretty much over and there were no waders to be seen in the wet meadows.

I harvested our first bag of potatoes today: 3 lbs of Anoe potatoes (I can't find them on the potato database), we had some at dinner and they were very tasty indeed.

In the afternoon I listened to the broadcast of Titus Groan on R4. I sat down to enjoy it in a reclining chair, and promptly fell asleep. Oh well, there's always IPlayer Listen Again.