I was on a boat last Thursday travelling down the R.Ore from Orford to Shingle St with reps from the NT, Natural England, Environment Agency and others to discuss landing sites on Orfordness in readiness for the Marine Coastal Bill (Coastal Access)

We encountered many Painted Lady's coming off the sea and knew then this is going to be another good year.

Although they had to pass through the continent, I wouldn't pay too much attention to claims from a person that 'his corespondents from Europe' were e-mailing him to tip him off that a large influx were heading his way. They certainly were not going to come from Iceland.

Neil.

yes at the same time saw a party of butterflies - 10 or more flitting round valerian flowers at Needham Market. Rob Parker of Butterfly Conservation is keeping butterfly recorders posted on their movements-also see the BC website. They are hoping for another wave on Friday/Saturday 29th 30th May and welcome reports - particularly of egg-laying.

Butterfly Conservation have just pushed out this follow-up to the Painted Lady Migration. It will help to monitor the flow of the PLs which arrived in Suffolk on 24th May as they move on towards Scotland. It may also catch further waves of immigration arriving from Northern France along the south coast. Who knows whether another wave may arrive along the East Coast in the better weather of Friday/Saturday?? If you missed the action last weekend, here is another opportunity to get involved. Let's keep reporting to the website below though.
Rob.

To all interested recorders:
Butterfly Conservation’s UK-wide count of Painted Lady’s - 30th May 2009

In the UK millions of Painted Lady butterflies have arrived in recent days and more are likely to arrive with sunny weather and favourable winds forecast over the coming weekend.

There is a unique opportunity to get better information on the nature and scale of this spectacular and unprecedented migration by taking part in a UK-wide count. Butterfly Conservation are inviting interested recorders to carry out a two hour sample count from 11:00 -13:00 (UK time) on Saturday 30th May. This will enable objective comparison with all other sites recorded in the same way.
The data can be entered online at Butterfly Conservation’s website.

http://www.butterfly-conservation.org/sightings/1097/painted_lady_butterfly.html

Simply record the total number that you see flying through your set search area over the full two hours of observation (including the 10% or more that are likely to stop briefly to feed before carrying on migrating). Your search area will either be your garden or over a 20 wide strip of countryside (10m either side of where you stand stationary for the two hours). Pick somewhere with a good view and do not record beyond 20m.
If you do not see any add a zero count - negative records are equally important.

In the notes box of the sightings form – add in this information, with a new line for each (1) confirm that you carried out a full sample count by adding in the time “11:00-13:00”. (2) add ‘OK’ to confirm that the weather was suitable for butterfly flight (3) add your count area – either as ‘My garden” or “20m wide strip” for all other counts in suitable open terrain and (4) add the direction of migration eg “NW” for flying north-west.

Please continue to enter all other counts separately on the same website, including any counts made from 11:00-13:00 if the weather was not suitable for butterfly migration (cold, very windy) and counts made over different time periods and recording bands.

A small number of sites are needed for more intensive recording. If you are interested in taking part over a longer time period (6 hours or more) please email info@butterfly-conservation.org with the subject header Painted Lady Count.

Good luck and fingers crossed that the weather is suitable for what should be a fascinating day!

Tom Brereton
Richard Fox
Butterfly Conservation