Very interesting Michael, but what I can't understand is how a female
Swallowtail can have emerged to lay fertile eggs in France, even in the south,
in late March! Just last week in the south of France first brood Swallowtails
were out in force near the Med, and just starting to emerge at higher altitude.
That egg must have been laid either in south Spain or Morocco(?!) or else both
parents emerged artificially early within a glasshouse (these things happen)
where the parsley plants were raised. Not only that they managed to avoid death
from insecticide, find one other to mate, and presumably find enough nectar to
keep them going long enough to start laying eggs. Curiouser and curiouser!
Ralph
----- Original Message -----
From: "Michael Blencowe" <michaelblenc...@sussexwt.org.uk>
To: "Adastra discussion group" <adastra@lists.sxbrc.org.uk>
Sent: Tuesday, 30 May, 2017 11:59:50 PM
Subject: [Adastra] Swallowtails in Sussex in 2017
Dear Adastrans,
First off a quick thank you to all of you who have purchased a copy of 'The
Butterflies of Sussex' - and for all the lovely comments Neil Hulme and I have
received. It seems like we got it right.
I'm interested in receiving any sightings of Swallowtail butterflies in the
county this year. Recent years have seen Continental Swallowtails migrating
across The Channel into Sussex and in 2013 some individuals were seen
egg-laying which subsequently led to Sussex-born adults emerging in 2014. There
were some sightings at the end of last year and I am interested to find out if
any of their offspring emerge in 2017.
At 06:30 this morning I received an interesting message from Mary Murphy in
Shoreham. Mary reported that she had a Swallowtail on her balcony. Last week’s
warm weather has resulted in a modest influx of Painted Ladies and migrant
moths into Sussex from the Continent and I wondered if this Swallowtail had
been part of the migration or had possibly even survived the winter here. I
called her straight away to get the full story and things were not as I
expected. Instead of flapping its way across The Channel this butterfly had
hitched a lift on a Parsley plant. About 8 weeks ago Mary had bought the potted
Parsley at Brighton’s Infinity Foods. The plant had been imported from France
and unknown to Mary contained a Swallowtail egg. The Swallowtail was destined
to be an unintentional ingredient in Mary’s caramelised onion polenta pie. The
Parsley plant was left on a windowsill and luckily (for all involved) Mary
spotted the small caterpillar before it (and the Parsley) headed for the pot.
With the caramelised onion polenta pie now on the metaphorical back burner Mary
had the consolation of watching a Swallowtail caterpillar develop, pupate and
emerge (an experience which she had to fuel by purchasing more Parsley plants).
The adult butterfly emerged on 29th May and understandably wanted to get as far
away from the oven as possible so Mary released it onto her sunny Shoreham
balcony and the missing ingredient from her pie flew off today. Not exactly the
sort of sighting I'm after but it does give us more information on how some of
our Swallowtails are entering Sussex.
Please send any sightings (whether in the wild or in a supermarket) to me at my
Sussex Wildlife Trust address michaelblenc...@sussexwt.org.uk
Michael Blencowe
(Henfield)
www.sussexwildlifetrust.org.uk
Sussex Wildlife Trust is a company limited by guarantee under the Companies
Act. Registered in England, Company No. 698851. Registered Charity No. 207005.
VAT Registration No. 191 305969. Registered Office: Woods Mill, Henfield, West
Sussex BN5 9SD. Telephone 01273 492630
