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During most years, a few members of the Ryedale Natural History Society furnish me with lists of insects they have observed in our local area. All contributions to the Ryedale N. H. S. records are welcome, and mostly those received are of butterflies, moths and dragonflies. 2005 was a blank year for contributions, but 2006 was a bumper year with records and observations being forwarded by Marian Tierney, Trish Atkinson, Gill Smith, Michael Thompson, Tom Denney, Bob Polley, Janet Bailey, Andrea Cooper and Don Smith. Some of the records received during 2006 were from previous years, and details of selected records and observations are given below.
Usually in Ryedale N. H. S. reports, I list butterflies by their scientific name with the vernacular name being given in parentheses; however, there is so much mention of butterflies in this current report, that it is logical to list the following species only by their vernacular names, as these are far more familiar to the general reader: Anthocharis cardamines (Orange Tip), Pieris brassicae (Large White), Pieris napi (Green-veined White), Pieris rapae (Small White), Gonepteryx rhamni (Brimstone), Aglais urticae (Small Tortoiseshell), Cynthia cardui (Painted Lady), Inachis io (Peacock), Nymphalis antiopa (Camberwell Beauty), Polygonia c-album (Comma), Vanessa atalanta (Red Admiral), Celastrina argiolus (Holly Blue), Lycaena phlaeas (Small Copper), Polyommatus icarus (Common Blue), Aphantopus hyperantus (Ringlet), Lasiommata megera (Wall Brown), Maniola jurtina (Meadow Brown), Pararge aegeria (Speckled Wood), Thymelicus flavus (Small Skipper).
On 23.8.2006, Bob Polley and Janet Bailey noticed a Camberwell Beauty in their garden at Manor Farm, East Street, Swinton, SE760733. Bob and Janet also observed the Camberwell Beauty in their garden on 24.8.2006, and 25.8.2006. It was seen in the same location on 24.8.2006 by Michael Thompson, who commented that the butterfly was feeding on ripening plums [see article in this issue]. Bob Polley photographed the Camberwell Beauty and commented that it was mainly observed at the top of an old plum tree, feeding on plums that had been attacked by wasps etc. Janet Bailey commented that she saw it on both apple and plum trees, and on one occasion it landed on her. About the same period of days that Bob, Janet and Michael saw a Camberwell Beauty in Swinton, the Yorkshire Evening Press reported sightings of a Camberwell Beauty at Castle Howard Arboretum. These observations could relate to the same insect, but Janet Bailey reports that the wind conditions of late August would make it more likely that different butterflies were observed at Swinton and Castle Howard Arboretum. Camberwell Beauty has been previously recorded at least once before in Swinton, for in 1988, I reported in The Bulletin of the Amateur Entomologists’ Society 47: 224, that Miss Fox told me she had seen one in her garden at The Old Post Office. My solitary observation of this infrequent migrant was at Strensall Common, SE6461, on 1.8.1995. The insect was flying several metres high backwards and forwards between trees by the side of a gravel road.
Marian Tierney observed the following butterflies out in mild Spring sunshine in Kirkdale Woods on 2.4.2005: Brimstone feeding on Primula vulgaris (Common Primrose), Peacock, Comma and Small Tortoiseshell.
Gill Smith reported seeing the following butterflies at the following localities during 2006: at Bulmer Hagg: Comma, Peacock and Orange Tip: at Gilling: at least four Speckled Woods seen flying around in woods on 16.9.2006, Comma, Peacock, Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell: at Whitwell: Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Red Admiral, Wall Brown, Painted Lady: at Welburn: two Speckled Woods in a thick hedge just east of Welburn School on 14.9.2006.
Michael Thompson reported seeing the following butterflies in the following localities during 2006: at Slingsby, SE6975, SE7075, SE7175: Peacock, Brimstone, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Small White, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Comma, Green-veined White, Small Skipper, Wall Brown, Small Copper and Holly Blue: at Aislaby, SE7885: Small Tortoiseshell, Ringlet and Large White: at Fryton, SE6875: Peacock, Painted Lady, Ringlet, Wall Brown, Comma and Large White: at Swinton: a single Camberwell Beauty feeding on ripening plums on 24.8.2006 [mentioned above].
Tom Denney noted the following butterflies on flowers of the following plants growing in his garden at Sykes House, Rudland: on Buddleia during 29.8.2006, Comma, Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Large White and Painted Lady; on Origanum vulgare (Marjoram), Small Copper on 29.8.2006, and Wall Brown during August 2006; on Thymus serpyllum (Thyme), Wall Brown during August 2006. Tom also recorded two Commas at Keld Head, Pickering, on 20.7.2006.
A Small Tortoiseshell was active at the back of the hall, during the Ryedale N. H. S. meeting at Church House, Kirkbymoorside, on 16.1.2007.
Michael Thompson reported a single Agrius convolvuli (Convolvulus Hawk-moth) from Railway Street, Slingsby, SE6975, on 5.10.2006, and the following moths from his garden in Railway Street, Slingsby, SE698754: Zygaena filipendulae (Six-spot Burnet) on 24.6.2006; Noctua janthe (Lesser Broad-bordered Yellow Underwing) on 26.7.2006, and caterpillars of Deilephila elpenor (Elephant Hawk-moth) on 14.8.2006 and 23.8.2006. Gill Smith saw caterpillars almost certainly of Eriogaster lanestris (Small eggar moth) in a hedge at Whitwell in June.
Macroglossum stellatarum (Humming-bird Hawk-moth) was reported by five Ryedale N. H. S. members during 2006. Trish Atkinson saw one on Buddleia in her garden at 12, Keld Head Orchard, Kirkbymoorside, during either September or October. It was also seen by Michael Thompson, along Railway Street, Slingsby, SE6975, on 14.7.2006; by Don Smith, during the late afternoon of 22.8.2006, in his garden at 4, Ash Grove, Kirkbymoorside; by Andrea Cooper, in her garden at 20, West Pasture, Kirkbymoorside; and by Tom Denney, on Buddleia in his garden at Sykes House, Rudland, on 26.8.2006.
Michael Thompson recorded the following in Slingsby: the click beetle Athous haemorrhoidalis, in garden of Burwood, SE698754, 9.8.2006; Melolontha melolontha (Cockchafer), a single in Railway Street, SE698754, 4.7.2006; Coccinella septempunctata (7-spot Ladybird), in garden of Burwood, SE698754, 6.11.2006. Tom Denney reported 13 Lampyris noctiluca (Glow-worm) at the old Rudland Chapel on 23.6.2006.
Don Smith reported plant-galls caused by the following two hymenopterans: Pontania proxima on Salix fragilis (Crack Willow), near Kirkbymoorside School in 1990: and Diplolepis rosae on Rosa (rose), Ellerburn Bank, Thornton Dale, in 1985. Michael Thompson reported a ? Uroceras gigas (Horn-tail) at Slingsby Hall, SE6975, on 7.9.2006, and noted the following in his garden at Burwood, Railway Street, Slingsby, SE698754: the bumblebees Bombus terrestris and Bombus lapidarius on 14.4.2006, Andrena fulva (Tawny Mining Bee) on 18.4.2006, Vespula vulgaris (Common Wasp) several queens around 8.5.2006, Nematus ribesii (Gooseberry Sawfly) profuse on Ribes grossularia (Gooseberry) and Polygonatum multiflorum (Solomon’s seal) on 4.7.2006.
Michael Thompson noted the bug Pentatoma rufipes in his garden at Burwood, Slingsby, SE698754, on 26.8.2006. Don Smith reported the jumping plant louse Trioza alacris on Laurus nobilis (Bay) in his former garden at Westland, Westfields, Kirkbymoorside, during Summer 2001.
Michael Thompson observed the following species around the pond in his garden at Burwood, Slingsby: Enallagma cyathigerum (Common Blue Damselfly), Aeshna cyanea (Southern Hawker), Aeshna juncea (Common Hawker).
Don Smith forwarded a list of Diptera recorded between 1998 and 2005 by various visitors to Manor Farm, Eddlethorpe, SE7766. Don also forwarded his records of some plant-galls caused by Diptera, viz. Hartigiola annulipes on Fagus sylvatica (Beech), in the garden of Westland, Westfields, Kirkbymoorside, during 2002, and at Manor Farm, Eddlethorpe, 23.7.2005; Dasineura urticae on Urtica dioica (Stinging Nettle), by A170 opposite Westland during 2000, and at Manor Farm, Eddlethorpe, 23.7.2005; Dasineura fraxinea on Fraxinus excelsior (Ash), at Manor Farm, Eddlethorpe, 23.7.2005.
My Yorkshire Naturalists’ Union colleague, Roy Crossley, forwarded a list of Diptera that were collected in our area from the 6th to 7th of August 2005 by Dr. Frank Menzel [FM] and Jane Smith [JES]. Included in this list were nine additions to the county fauna, and many more additions to the list for v.c. 62. Details of the county additions are given below. The locality names, National Grid references and basic habitat types as supplied by the recorders were: Deer Park, Site 1, SE5981, mixed woodland (beech, white cedar, common oak, spruce); Deer Park, Site 2, SE5882, mixed woodland (FM collected in area of white cedar, common oak, beech and birch; JES collected in area of larch and birch); Yearsley, SE5974, mixed woodland (larch, black alder, birch, spruce, beech and sycamore). We would best know the “Deer Park” localities under other woodland names; they lie to the south-west of Helmsley, Duncombe Park, and Rye Dale. “Yearsley” is apparently Martin’s Plantation, the southern part of the woodlands on Yearsley Moor.
Bradysia fungicola (Winnertz, 1867): Deer Park, Site 2, 7.8.2005 (4♂♂), FM
B. holsatica Heller, 2004: Yearsley, 6.8.2005 (♂), JES, det. FM
B. lobulifera Frey, 1948: Yearsley, 6.8.2005 (♂), FM
Corynoptera melanochaeta Mohrig & Menzel, 1992: Deer Park, Site 2, 7.8.2005 (♂♀), FM
C. subfurcifera Mohrig & Hövemeyer, 1992: Deer Park, Site 1, 7.8.2005 (♂), FM
C. tetrachaeta Tuomikoski, 1960: Deer Park, Site 2, 7.8.2005 (♂), FM
Epidapus (Epidapus) schillei (Börner, 1903): Deer Park, Site 1, 7.8.2005 (2♂♂), FM
Pseudolycoriella koreensis (Mohrig & Menzel, 1992): Deer Park, Site 2, 7.8.2005 (♂), FM
Scatopsciara (Scatopsciara) edwardsi Freeman, 1983: Deer Park, Site 2, 7.8.2005 (♂), JES, det. FM
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