Ringlet butterflies are not very easy to locate in Hadlow, but these slightly tricky to spot butterflies are a great pleasure to see when you do! The most likely area to find them is along the rides inDene Park.
Description
This delicate beauty is very difficult to pick out from the much commoner Meadow Brown initially, being a bit darker even than the male Meadow Browns. The darkest individuals are fresh males which might seem almost black, contrasting with the white wing edges. However sometimes the best way to spot them can be their behaviour. Dark brown butterflies jinking neatly a few inches over clumps of grass in a slow determined manner might well be the males, looking for females. I haven't seen Meadow Browns doing this in quite the same way. Ringlets will often rest on shrubs, brambles or other vegetation wood edges about a metre up, perhaps with other butterflies such as the Meadow Brown. Ringlets may also be seen competing for access to flowers, such as bramble, thistle and others, feeding off the nectar available.
Although quite early in the flight season, this one, found on its own on the southern edge of Monkdown Wood, Bredhurst, seems to have had a sizeable chunk taken off one of its fore-wings, presumably by a large bird.
Distribution
One of the really nice things about Ringlets is the challenge to find and accurately identify them! In Hadlow there is apparently at least one colony within Dene Park, in the small triangles of grass and herbs on the near and far side of the wood from the car park, and along the rides. I have found them there occasionally, in ones and twos in 2011, 2012 (photo below), 2013 and rather more in 2017, for example. I also think there might be some in the privately owned damp grass field to the north of Dene Park, which might be visible from the public access to the edge of the wood.
However, I am sure that I have missed others, and any mix of grass and nearby woodland, scrub and hedge might hold another colony. I would particularly like to check in more wooded edges, larger hedgerows and ditches on the Medway terraces to the South of the Parish. Who knows?
This photo (above) is light enough to be a female or a very worn male.
In the wider UK Ringlets may be found across most parts of the country, except some swathes of NW England and all of the Highlands of Scotland, again particularly in damper grass sheltered from drying out by woods, hedges and ditches. This species of butterfly can also be found across the middle latitudes of Europe and into Asia, with a number of different subspecies.
As a moisture and shade-loving species the Ringlet has increased significantly in distribution and abundance as woods have become denser, shadier and therefore moister over the past five decades. However apart from habitat changes, climate change is thought likely to have a tendency to reduce Ringlet numbers, as summers become on average drier and the chance of summer drought increases. In 1995 the very dry summer reduced numbers of Ringlets temporarily, but the species recovered again over the next few moister years, returning to its gradual upward trend. Could it be that the numbers of Ringlets might be even higher if climate change was not occurring?
Life cycle
The adult butterflies can be found flying from the end of June until the beginning of August, the males perhaps searching doggedly for the females in their characteristic manner. The average life expectancy of an individual male butterfly is in the region of 10 days.
The females invite the males initially, mate once, and then reject further male advances. In this species there are no nuptial gifts donated by the male during mating, and therefore there is no nutritional benefit to the female of mating more than once. Once mated the females squirt out or drop the somewhat triangular initially whitish eggs onto or near grass, possibly in response to chemicals released by fungi infecting the grass, and the caterpillars hunt out suitable infected plants of a particular species of grass to feed on.
The light brownish caterpillars live for about 10 months, hibernating between September and March while still small, until after starting feeding again, they form a little chrysalis in about May from which the adults then emerge. It may be that the adults retain some of the toxins that they absorbed from the fungi in the grass the caterpillars ate.
Oddities
The pattern of spots may be quite varied - it would be very interesting to hear of any odd patterns you might find!
This rather worn individual is showing good visibility of the eyes on its upperwings, but some possible damage to its thorax:
This individual though is only showing relatively small dots on its upperwings:
Predators and parasites
Lots of birds might have a go at these, despite the assumed content of toxins. Trombidiid mites may infest the butterflies from time to time, infestations lasting for 2-3 days on average. These external mites appear to have little impact on the butterflies abilities to fly and survive.
Description
This delicate beauty is very difficult to pick out from the much commoner Meadow Brown initially, being a bit darker even than the male Meadow Browns. The darkest individuals are fresh males which might seem almost black, contrasting with the white wing edges. However sometimes the best way to spot them can be their behaviour. Dark brown butterflies jinking neatly a few inches over clumps of grass in a slow determined manner might well be the males, looking for females. I haven't seen Meadow Browns doing this in quite the same way. Ringlets will often rest on shrubs, brambles or other vegetation wood edges about a metre up, perhaps with other butterflies such as the Meadow Brown. Ringlets may also be seen competing for access to flowers, such as bramble, thistle and others, feeding off the nectar available.
Although quite early in the flight season, this one, found on its own on the southern edge of Monkdown Wood, Bredhurst, seems to have had a sizeable chunk taken off one of its fore-wings, presumably by a large bird.
Distribution
One of the really nice things about Ringlets is the challenge to find and accurately identify them! In Hadlow there is apparently at least one colony within Dene Park, in the small triangles of grass and herbs on the near and far side of the wood from the car park, and along the rides. I have found them there occasionally, in ones and twos in 2011, 2012 (photo below), 2013 and rather more in 2017, for example. I also think there might be some in the privately owned damp grass field to the north of Dene Park, which might be visible from the public access to the edge of the wood.
However, I am sure that I have missed others, and any mix of grass and nearby woodland, scrub and hedge might hold another colony. I would particularly like to check in more wooded edges, larger hedgerows and ditches on the Medway terraces to the South of the Parish. Who knows?
This photo (above) is light enough to be a female or a very worn male.
In the wider UK Ringlets may be found across most parts of the country, except some swathes of NW England and all of the Highlands of Scotland, again particularly in damper grass sheltered from drying out by woods, hedges and ditches. This species of butterfly can also be found across the middle latitudes of Europe and into Asia, with a number of different subspecies.
As a moisture and shade-loving species the Ringlet has increased significantly in distribution and abundance as woods have become denser, shadier and therefore moister over the past five decades. However apart from habitat changes, climate change is thought likely to have a tendency to reduce Ringlet numbers, as summers become on average drier and the chance of summer drought increases. In 1995 the very dry summer reduced numbers of Ringlets temporarily, but the species recovered again over the next few moister years, returning to its gradual upward trend. Could it be that the numbers of Ringlets might be even higher if climate change was not occurring?
Life cycle
The adult butterflies can be found flying from the end of June until the beginning of August, the males perhaps searching doggedly for the females in their characteristic manner. The average life expectancy of an individual male butterfly is in the region of 10 days.
The females invite the males initially, mate once, and then reject further male advances. In this species there are no nuptial gifts donated by the male during mating, and therefore there is no nutritional benefit to the female of mating more than once. Once mated the females squirt out or drop the somewhat triangular initially whitish eggs onto or near grass, possibly in response to chemicals released by fungi infecting the grass, and the caterpillars hunt out suitable infected plants of a particular species of grass to feed on.
The light brownish caterpillars live for about 10 months, hibernating between September and March while still small, until after starting feeding again, they form a little chrysalis in about May from which the adults then emerge. It may be that the adults retain some of the toxins that they absorbed from the fungi in the grass the caterpillars ate.
Oddities
The pattern of spots may be quite varied - it would be very interesting to hear of any odd patterns you might find!
This rather worn individual is showing good visibility of the eyes on its upperwings, but some possible damage to its thorax:
Dene Park, 04-07-2017
This individual though is only showing relatively small dots on its upperwings:
Dene Park, 04-07-2017
Predators and parasites
Lots of birds might have a go at these, despite the assumed content of toxins. Trombidiid mites may infest the butterflies from time to time, infestations lasting for 2-3 days on average. These external mites appear to have little impact on the butterflies abilities to fly and survive.
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