October 2018 continues mild, gentle and pleasant, easing the transition from the scorching summer to whatever winter holds. Whatever this winter throws at us, October is producing really impressive moth numbers. Among the selection being trapped are the following autumn species. These are subtly coloured, reflecting the earthy tone of the season. Late butterflies continue to be seen, especially Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell and Speckled Wood but there might be a surprise species flying, so keep looking.
Feathered Thorn. This moth flies from mid-September to early December. The moth lays its eggs on a range of deciduous trees, including Pedunculate Oak (this tree has stalked acorns and short-stalked leaves; the Sessile Oak has these characters in reverse), Common Hawthorn, Common Blackthorn, Common Hazel and Downy and Silver Birch, as well as willows. This moth is sometimes seen in car headlights.Yellow-line Quaker. This also flies from September to December, uses many of the same plants for breeding as the Feathered Thorn and also comes to light traps. This species enjoys ivy nectar, so do not cut flowering ivy!Figure of Eight. This moth, named for the 8 marks in the central area of the forewing flies from late September to mid-November and uses blackthorn, hawthorn, wild roses and cultivated prunus species (plum, Bullace, pear) for breeding. Despite the ready availability of the larval host plants, this moth is seldom numerous in Ireland. It usually appears in my trap in single figures but in one year I had it in high numbers, but that is not usual.Grey Pine Carpet. This species has two generations of adults which fly from May-July and from September-November but in my area, I have seen only one generation, the autumn brood. It uses a range of native and non-native coniferous trees as the larval foodplant. It appears to have increased due to the planting of conifers on a large scale.November Moth. This autumn moth flies early October-November and can be numerous. It will be found on walls beneath outdoor lights and at windows. It feeds on the trees listed for Feathered Thorn. It is easily confused with the Pale November Moth, Autumnal Moth and Small Autumnal Moth, and examination of male genitalia is used to separate these moths.Merveille du Jour. This unmistakeable and beautifully coloured and patterned creature is a highlight of the moth enthusiast’s autumn. Seldom present in great numbers, it is a treat to obtain a very fresh example as the green colour fades rapidly. It is on the wing in October and September and favours broad-leaved woodland containing Pedunculate Oak, the larval hostplant. The moth likes ivy nectar and the juices of overripe berries.And now for a surprise! Occasionally Wall Browns are seen in October after a small number of second generation larvae develop quickly to pupate in September rather than passing the winter in the larval state. It is not known whether eggs laid in October result in larvae that reach the required weight to survive the winter. However, seeing Wall Browns in October is a refreshing experience and a keen reminder of summer.
A beautiful sunny day on Sunday 14th October encouraged butterflies to enjoy the heat. A calm day allowed heat to build, enticing over-wintering butterflies to venture out. A male Brimstone, some Small Tortoiseshells and a Peacock brightened this mid-autumn day. These were joined by two female Small Coppers, a Red Admiral and a brace of Speckled Woods. Ruddy Darters dragonflies were everywhere, grasshoppers chirruped and it felt like August!
Leaving to go home was hard but a bright orange neon glow on glossy ivy leaves high up on a hedge at Lullymore stopped the car. A lovely Comma! Will it breed in the area? There is an abundance of breeding habitat and overwintering sites in the area. It was still there today (Monday, October 15th) and seems to be making itself comfortable sipping ivy nectar. Welcome to west Kildare!
The Comma butterfly was first sighted in Ireland in the late 1990s but it was not until about the second decade of this century that regular sightings were being reported. Breeding was first confirmed in a wood in Carlow in May 2014. Since then the butterfly has been reported, usually as single individuals, in many areas in the south-east. Its spread is expected to continue, and it joins the 23 other butterfly species recorded in Lullymore/Lullybeg in 2018.
For many lovers of nature, especially for those of us who enjoy butterflies, autumn is unwelcome. We see the signs of decline everywhere and we fear the season to follow. This is not a recent feeling. Sonnet 73, written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1592 and 1598, opens with this quatrain:
That time of year thou may’st in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin’d choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
Shakespeare wrote about late autumn, which he associates with decay and imminent death. The trees with few or no leaves are now without birdsong. He may be referring to the by then ruined monastic settlements, the closure of which was ordered by Henry VIII following his decision to cut ties with the pope and confiscate church property (1536-1540). Seen in the light of this interpretation, the ruined choirs are the roofless remains of monasteries, the sweet birds the choirs of singing monks. Whichever interpretation is accepted, and both are valid, it is inescapable that the bard was referencing the inevitable march towards decay symbolised by autumn. The cold winds will soon rip whichever leaves cling to claw-like twigs and the landscape settles into a sullen palate, empty of vibrancy.
Yet poets do not always portray autumn negatively. Writing on September 19th 1819 William Wordsworth eulogised the season in Ode to Autumn. Wordsworth, a great nature lover, saw autumn as a time of plenty. The sun will continue to
set budding more, /And still more, later flowers for the bees/Until they think warm days will never cease/For summer has o’er-brimmed their clammy cells.
This wonderful feeling of neverending abundance and the idea of nature’s opulence has far greater appeal than Shakespeare’s bleak vision of loss and decay. Indeed, following one of the greatest summers in our lifetime, surely some optimism is justified. We continue to see Comma butterflies in Carlow and Kilkenny, Small Coppers in Meath and Large Whites, Red Admirals, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and Speckled Woods in Donegal. These sightings, albeit of just a few individuals, allow us to cling on to summer, just!
By contrast, good numbers of moths continue to appear in light traps, some even in spectacular numbers. On October 3rd I counted 177 moths of which 138 were Beaded Chestnuts. This count on a single night exceeds the totals I had for the species throughout its flight period for each of the three years 2015-2017. A count of over 3,000 moths in my garden for the 2018 recording season easily exceeds these previous years’ totals, strongly suggesting that the moths, like our butterflies, greatly benefited from the heat of the summer.
Prolonged heat allows butterflies and moths to move around the landscape to find food, mates and breeding sites. It also allows some species that have already laid their eggs but which can mature a second or even a third batch of eggs to do so. Warmth also helps the eggs, larvae and pupae to develop faster, lessening the time available for predators to eat them. Prolonged warmth will allow time for species that are capable of producing more than one set of adults in a flight season to produce more generations to fly within the same year. This may result in a succession of generations which may even overlap so that the species in on the wing for much longer than it will be in a cooler year. This overlapping of broods was observed in 2018 in the Small Copper. In addition to the heat during May, June and July, the low rainfall levels from May to September inclusive also helped, as wet conditions have been shown to cause damage to the early stages, including, expectedly, the pupal stage.
In many ways 2018 was exceptional. We had an unusually long winter, a bitterly cold, snowy March, a dull, very wet April (remember the fodder crisis?) followed by prolonged hot, dry weather over the following three months giving us the joint warmest summer on record. The dry conditions have persisted into October. Butterflies certainly flourished, and, as recent research indicates, (see https://butterflyconservation.ie/wp/2017/12/08/winter-cold-a-benefit-for-butterflies/ ) cold winters do not harm most butterfly species.
When the cold weather takes its grip, remember the glory of the summer of 2018 and bask in your memory of its splendour. As Wordsworth wrote in Tintern Abbey, these happy memories provide spiritual, emotional and psychological sustenance for the lean times ahead!
Late Small Copper feeding on autumn blackberry.This late emerging Small Tortoiseshell must feed up quickly before winter closes in.Good weather has allowed this Wall Brown to pupate before winter. The adult butterfly will emerge later in October as part of a small third brood.The Beaded Chestnut moth is enjoying a bumper season in my locality in 2018.
