Jennifer Jones Ecology

Chequered Skipper history  The UK's population of  Chequered Skipper butterfly  ( Carterocephalus palaemon ) has always been scarce. The only extant native populations are in ten core areas of West Scotland which seem to be stable. The English population, focussed around the East Midlands sadly declined until it went extinct in 1976. However, the Chequered Skipper conservation and reintroduction is another major success story in invertebrate conservation just like the Large Blue reintroduction . In May 2022, I was lucky enough to visit Fineshade Wood (Northamptonshire) to see the success of the Chequered Skipper reintroduction project. This is the only English population of Chequered Skippers after 40 years of being extinct.  Chequered Skipper male butterfly (Bob Eade) Ecology The Scottish Chequered Skipper has different ecological requirements, including different caterpillar host plants and habitat types. Scottish specimens are located on open damp grassland, domin...

Large Blue history  The UK's population of Large Blue butterfly ( Phengaris arion ) has always been rare, and sadly declined until it went extinct in 1979. However, it's conservation and reintroduction has been a major success story in invertebrate conservation. Large Blue butterflies mating at Daneway Banks (June 2023) In June 2023, I was lucky enough to join a joint field meeting of the Royal Entomological Society (RES) and the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (BSBI) to see the success of the Large Blue reintroduction project at Daneway Banks SSSI (Gloucestershire). This population is not only the largest UK population, but also the largest population globally (since 2019)!  BSBI and RES field meeting at Daneway (17th June 2023) The Large Blue relies on the red ant Myrmica sabuleti  to complete its lifecycle. The decline of these ants in the 60s-70s resulted in the 1979 Large Blue UK extinction. These ants cannot build mounds to reach suitable microclimates (he...

Confused? So was I when asked to help with December butterfly surveys. But, these weren't normal butterfly surveys. No, we were searching for butterfly eggs!  Although for most butterflies the most obvious way to search for them is in the spring and summer months as adults, for Brown Hairstreaks ( Thecla betulae ), egg searches are the most effective way to record this species and even to uncover a colony. The sites I surveyed have risen from 36 eggs to 186 eggs across only a year or two!  Winter hedge habitat for egg searches (Jen Jones) Butterfly lifecycles There are a few habitat specialists which are surveyed in a different way to standard butterfly transects (example recording forms  and methods  are on the UKBMS webpage). These include the Brown and White-letter Hairstreak egg counts, but also Duke of Burgundy , and Large Blue egg counts and Marsh and Glanville Fritillary larval web counts. Interestingly, the Green Hairstreak is the only UK Hairstreak speci...