Dr Marcus Rhodes
@marcusrhodes.bsky.social
Ecologist in pursuit of butterflies. Postdoc at the University of Exeter, Cornwall working on nature recovery and species' responses to climate change. Chair of Cornwall Butterfly Conservation. He/Him
Its been another record year for Silver-studded Blue at Studland NNR with total count of 2164, just beating 2024. That's nearly a 12 fold increase over 16 years. The huge rise with little management is a puzzle and is explored in our paper dispar.org/reference.ph.... @ukbms.bsky.social
I was delighted to meet this Small Tortoiseshell during my #BigButterflyCount in Camborne this afternoon. Increasingly, an uncommon sight these days.
Sometimes the butterfly gods smile down on you... A bilateral gynandromorph Common Blue at Grafton Wood, Worcs 1/8/26. @westmbms-99.bsky.social @worcswt.bsky.social @savebutterflies.bsky.social @ukbutterflies.bsky.social
I've been in Devon for a few days this week and was surprised to find several Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries at Aish Tor yesterday. I would guess that a second generation is fairly unusual at this moorland site and symptomatic of the recent heatwaves.
Ein Haufen Schmetterlinge. 😄 Wohl Argus-Bläulinge (Plebejus argus)
The second generation of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries on the wing at St Gothian Sands this evening.
Arrived home yesterday evening to find this Unarmed Stick Insect nymph whilst deadheading the roses. The first I've seen in seven years living in Cornwall!
A brilliant day out at Arne yesterday. Lots of Grayling and Dartford Warblers on the heaths, my first UK sighting of a Sand Lizard, and an Osprey fishing late afternoon to top it off.
Some avian highlights from Brownsea Island yesterday. I particularly liked the Oystercatcher that had brazenly decided to nest in the café courtyard.
Caught the ferry across to Brownsea Island today to see the Red Squirrels.
Along the coast from Durlston to Dancing Ledge yesterday: so many Lulworth Skippers zipping about, eight Clouded Yellows and lots fresh Painted Ladies, a few Marbled Whites still on the wing, and the second generation of Wall just starting.
Making my first acquaintances with the Lulworth Skipper - until today, the final butterfly species in Great Britain that I had yet to see. Amazed at how abundant they were along the coast path between Durlston and Dancing Ledge!
What has a greater effect on the number of butterfly records across Devon and Cornwall: habitat or public access? Our new paper, led by Mingrui Li, addresses this question dx.doi.org/10.1111/ddi.... @jonbennie.bsky.social @davidroybrc.bsky.social @richardfoxbc.bsky.social @uniexecec.bsky.social
Causal Analysis Reveals That Public Access to Land Can Shape Our View of Species' Geographic Distributions
Aim Citizen science data are widely used to study species' distributions. Using butterfly observations from South-West England, we sought to better understand what shapes the spatial footprint of re...
onlinelibrary.wiley.com
A few more photos of Chalkhill Blues from Martin Down yesterday, along with a rather cute Corn Bunting.
My first visit to the wonderful Martin Down this afternoon. The grasslands were alive with Chalkhill Blues, along with lots of Dark Green Fritillaries and nine Clouded Yellows. Completely by chance, I managed to find a couple of Marsh Fritillary larval webs too!
#BigButterflyCount is here! Between now and the 9th August: - spend 15 mins in a sunny spot - count the butterflies you see - submit your sightings Find out more at bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org Happy counting folks! 🦋🦋🦋
If anyone doubts the profound impact of climate crisis on butterflies, look at the peak flight week of the Silver-studded Blue at Studland NNR. On average it flies 4 weeks earlier than 50 yrs ago, but first few years vs last two, its 8 weeks! Its doing well but other sp aren't @ukbms.bsky.social
One more sleep until the #BigButterflyCount! Did you hear Cornwall Butterfly Conservation's Sue Allen talking about the count on BBC Radio Cornwall today? Catch-up at www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/... (interview starts at 10:43).
The #BigButterflyCount begins this Friday! Catch our very own Sue Allen on @chaosradio.bsky.social Breakfast Show at 8:15 tomorrow morning to hear all about taking part!
📣EUROPEAN RED LIST OF MOTHS PUBLISHED!📣 A m(amm)oth task - huge congratulations to the team! Spoiler: >3000 species assessed at the European level, 704 of them endemic. Ca. 25% are listed as Data Deficient & 11% threatened with extinction. op.europa.eu/en/publicati...
We're approaching the end of the Silver-studded Blue season in Cornwall, with numbers now rapidly tailing off. I counted just nine at Wheal Maid this morning.
An evening wander at Upton Towans yesterday. Silver-studded Blues were all tucked up for the night at 6pm, but the Dark Green Fritillaries were still active. I met with a couple of Dune Villa Beeflies too.
Very happy to have contributed to the study of the genomic differentiation of the British swallowtail butterfly (Papilio machaon britannicus). Despite the regular immigration of P. machaon from the nearby mainland, the British swallowtail butterfly remains genetically distinct. 1/..
RES Publications@respublications.bsky.social · last mo.New #OpenAccess research by @benoitevol.bsky.social et al. in #RESInsectConsDiv reports on the genomic distinctiveness and #conservation #genomics of the British #swallowtail butterfly (#Papilio machaon britannicus) doi.org/10.1111/icad.70102 #WholeGenomeSequencing
Silver-studded Blue just going past their peak on the two Studland NNR transects in Dorset today. Still a combined count of 286 isn't bad. Numbers look similar to the last 2 years, which suggests its rapid rise has plateaued @dorsetbutterflies.bsky.social @ukbms.bsky.social
Silver-studded Blues gathering to roost at Poldice in the evening sun.
Green Hairstreaks and Silver-studded Blues at Wheal Busy this afternoon. The latter has a fairly small population at this site, which has contracted in recent years, so I'm pleased that they are still persisting.
Mean number of butterflies per 1000m on Dutch Butterfly Monitoring transects per habitat last week. The high number on heathland comes from Silver-studded Blue (heideblauwtje, P argus), which can be very abundant. Overall Meadow Brown (bruin zandoogje, M jurtina) was the most abundant species.
My first Gatekeepers of the year at Binner Downs this afternoon. There are records of Silver-studded Blues from this former mining site, but sadly, they don't appear to still be present. I suspect the colony has fallen victim to unchecked succession.
