The British Isles is currently having the most spectacular immigration
of butterflies for decades, if not centuries. Painted Ladies are
arriving in their tens if not hundreds of millions.

Picture taken in my garden:

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/...aintedLady.jpg

Anyway, the weather aspect started over the winter when the Atlas
Mountains in North Africa had ideal growing conditions for the plants
that the butterfly caterpillars feed on – plenty of rain and adequate
sunshine. The butterflies moved to Spain and France and then bred.
We are now getting the offspring, ie the next-but-one generation from
the North African one.

Now an exactly parallel situation has occurred in North America where
huge number of Painted Lady butterflies has reached California from
wintering sites in Mexico. Presumably (parts of) Mexico also enjoyed
good winter rains.

I have to wonder if there is any correlation with El Nino or La Nina
events. Of course for we butterfly enthusiasts in Britain, this is
merely an exciting event. But, and this is the big question, could
population explosions of less benign insect such as locusts be
correlated with El Nino events? If it were possible to predict such
explosions based on weather data, then suitable eradication methods
might be possible in the source breeding grounds.
So can anyone point to recent weather data for the Atlas Mountains and
Mexico as compared to long term averages?

Jack

wrote in message
...
The British Isles is currently having the most spectacular
immigration
of butterflies for decades, if not centuries. Painted Ladies are
arriving in their tens if not hundreds of millions.
snip Anyway, the weather aspect started over the winter when the
Atlas
Mountains in North Africa had ideal growing conditions for the
plants
that the butterfly caterpillars feed on – plenty of rain and
adequate
snip
But, and this is the big question, could
population explosions of less benign insect such as locusts be
correlated with El Nino events? If it were possible to predict such
explosions based on weather data, then suitable eradication methods
might be possible in the source breeding grounds.



.... we've noted the 'swarm' (can't call it anything else really) of
Painted Lady here in Dorset over the past few days - peak was
Monday/Tuesday.

Your post reminded me of my time on Masirah island (off the mainland
coast of Oman) 1971/72, when we had to send special returns of
rainfall to the Anti-Locust Research Centre - David Pedgley was key in
collating the data then and a search has turned up this ....

http://biopesticide.ucr.edu/locust/locust.html

where, despite being retired, he is still 'active': this report shows
that control of locusts is very much in the minds of those concerned,
and I remember a briefing sheet being sent by David to us in the early
70s which explained that by collating rainfall data especially (other
parameters used), they could predict such 'explosions' of activity as
you describe. What the current state of the science is I couldn't say.

Martin.



--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

Painted Lady butterflies all over our allotment here in Warwick, commencing
27th May and present today 29th.

PeterJ

Peter J wrote:
Painted Lady butterflies all over our allotment here in Warwick,
commencing 27th May and present today 29th.

Haven't seen any more than the usual numbers here in Devon.

Lots of ladybirds though, which is good, all busy munching their way through
the aphids on my runners.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon
83 m amsl
http://www.ottervalley.co.uk

Martin. We must have just missed each other.

I was a regular to Masirah 1965-67 (Argosy) and then circa 1972-74
(Hercules). We captains used to love to wind up the young impressible
co-pilots with tales of the “Golden Slipper” in downtown Masirah.

You must have witnessed the arrival of the Turtles at certain seasons/
tides. One night, the very tipsy Station Commander managed to get his
Land Rover stuck at the tide line and had to be towed to safety by a
ten-ton truck. A couple of years later, that same John Stev*nson was
my boss at a flying training unit. I thought it tactful not to remind
him of the Land Rover episode at Masirah!

Jack

"Nick Gardner" wrote
Lots of ladybirds though, which is good, all busy munching their way
through the aphids on my runners.
________________
Nick.
Otter Valley, Devon

.... send some up to us here will you? Zilch - most worrying.

Martin.


--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

I was in the Czech Republic last week and was amazed at the amount of
butterflies, hundreds of thousands everywhere a real magical sight, they did
make a hell of a mess on the car though we were having to use the washers
about every 15 minutes to clean the screen.

The locals said the numbers of butterflies were the most for over 30 years.

Robbie

wrote in message
...
The British Isles is currently having the most spectacular immigration
of butterflies for decades, if not centuries. Painted Ladies are
arriving in their tens if not hundreds of millions.

Picture taken in my garden:

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/...aintedLady.jpg

Anyway, the weather aspect started over the winter when the Atlas
Mountains in North Africa had ideal growing conditions for the plants
that the butterfly caterpillars feed on – plenty of rain and adequate
sunshine. The butterflies moved to Spain and France and then bred.
We are now getting the offspring, ie the next-but-one generation from
the North African one.

Now an exactly parallel situation has occurred in North America where
huge number of Painted Lady butterflies has reached California from
wintering sites in Mexico. Presumably (parts of) Mexico also enjoyed
good winter rains.

I have to wonder if there is any correlation with El Nino or La Nina
events. Of course for we butterfly enthusiasts in Britain, this is
merely an exciting event. But, and this is the big question, could
population explosions of less benign insect such as locusts be
correlated with El Nino events? If it were possible to predict such
explosions based on weather data, then suitable eradication methods
might be possible in the source breeding grounds.
So can anyone point to recent weather data for the Atlas Mountains and
Mexico as compared to long term averages?

Jack

Jack ) wrote:

The British Isles is currently having the most spectacular immigration
of butterflies for decades, if not centuries. Painted Ladies are
arriving in their tens if not hundreds of millions.

Picture taken in my garden:

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/world-wild-
web/Butterflies-09/09-05-26-010-PaintedLady.jpg

Anyway, the weather aspect started over the winter when the Atlas
Mountains in North Africa had ideal growing conditions for the plants
that the butterfly caterpillars feed on ? plenty of rain and adequate
sunshine. The butterflies moved to Spain and France and then bred.
We are now getting the offspring, ie the next-but-one generation from
the North African one.

Now an exactly parallel situation has occurred in North America where
huge number of Painted Lady butterflies has reached California from
wintering sites in Mexico. Presumably (parts of) Mexico also enjoyed
good winter rains.

I have to wonder if there is any correlation with El Nino or La Nina
events. Of course for we butterfly enthusiasts in Britain, this is
merely an exciting event. But, and this is the big question, could
population explosions of less benign insect such as locusts be
correlated with El Nino events? If it were possible to predict such
explosions based on weather data, then suitable eradication methods
might be possible in the source breeding grounds.
So can anyone point to recent weather data for the Atlas Mountains and
Mexico as compared to long term averages?


The influx got a mention on Springwatch - or, more exactly, the 15 mins on
the red button after the show - where it was said they tend to move from
the continent just ahead of a warm front.

--
Graham P Davis, Bracknell, Berks., UK. E-mail: newsman not newsboy
"I wear the cheese. It does not wear me."

wrote
We must have just missed each other.

I was a regular to Masirah 1965-67 (Argosy) and then circa 1972-74
(Hercules). We captains used to love to wind up the young
impressible
co-pilots with tales of the “Golden Slipper” in downtown Masirah.

You must have witnessed the arrival of the Turtles at certain
seasons/
tides.

.... yes Jack, many *genuinely* happy memories of that rather bleak
place on the route to the Far East. I won't bore everyone here with
too many, but the turtles as you say were worth the tour alone - both
the "mums" clambering up the beach to lay, and the later hatching for
a return to the sea: we used to go down and try and help some reach
the water line and also discourage too much predation, though to be
honest, at that time the whole thing seemed quite sustainable without
too much help from us!

As a rather naive sort, I had several shocks on my initial flight out
to Masirah: first, I should have realised I suppose that if you're
told to report to RAF Lyneham, you ain't going to fly out on a VC10!
A C-130 is a wonderful aircraft, and if you've got something to do
with flying the thing at the front, or otherwise supporting the work,
the time probably goes alright. If you're a passenger for hour after
hour in a webbing seat up at the back, first to Cyprus (Akro) then via
the old CENTO route over Turkey, Iran and the Gulf, the novelty wears
off - quickly!

And then of course, this green-behind-the-ears type didn't fully
appreciate (and dear old Met O 10 down at Eastern Road didn't exactly
emphasise), that this was a war zone! The route was strictly
Akrotiri - Masirah, but a little diversion to Salalah (planned or not
I don't know), was 'interesting'. The aircraft taxied back into the
protection of the blast wall, the doors opened (hot, suffocating
desert air flowed in - fag-end of the NE monsoon season), and the ALM
said " run like hell for the shelter ", before a loud explosion was
heard - very close by! The rebels were lobbing mortars at anything
that moved - and we had recently been moving.

It wasn't until many years afterwards, when I read the autobiography
of Sir Peter De La Billiere (SAS before he was Gulf War commander),
that I fully realised just how chancy things were down that end of
Oman - needless to say, an 'interesting' time.

Martin.

--
Martin Rowley
West Moors, East Dorset (UK): 17m (56ft) amsl
Lat: 50.82N Long: 01.88W
NGR: SU 082 023

Jack ) wrote:

The British Isles is currently having the most spectacular immigration
of butterflies for decades, if not centuries. Painted Ladies are
arriving in their tens if not hundreds of millions.

Picture taken in my garden:

http://s214580749.websitehome.co.uk/...9/09-05-26-010
-PaintedLady.jpg

Anyway, the weather aspect started over the winter when the Atlas
Mountains in North Africa had ideal growing conditions for the plants
that the butterfly caterpillars feed on – plenty of rain and adequate
sunshine. The butterflies moved to Spain and France and then bred.
We are now getting the offspring, ie the next-but-one generation from
the North African one.

Now an exactly parallel situation has occurred in North America where
huge number of Painted Lady butterflies has reached California from
wintering sites in Mexico. Presumably (parts of) Mexico also enjoyed
good winter rains.

I have to wonder if there is any correlation with El Nino or La Nina
events. Of course for we butterfly enthusiasts in Britain, this is
merely an exciting event. But, and this is the big question, could
population explosions of less benign insect such as locusts be
correlated with El Nino events? If it were possible to predict such
explosions based on weather data, then suitable eradication methods
might be possible in the source breeding grounds.
So can anyone point to recent weather data for the Atlas Mountains and
Mexico as compared to long term averages?

Jack


They have arrived here within the past couple of days. I didn't see any over
the weekend but there were hundreds of them when I was out walking this
afternoon. The skylarks were in full song as well.


--
Norman Lynagh
Tideswell, Derbyshire
303m a.s.l.