A poor year for many species and the White Admiral was no exception. The poor weather meant that the surveying was patchy and therefore the conclusions that can be drawn from this year's data are inconclusive. It seems that the numbers of White Admiral are down (again?) and that this is related not only to poor weather but also continuing lack of management in many woodlands - leading to overgrown rides and increasingly small clearings.

White Admiral
Photo © Nick Bowles

On the bright side the presence of the species was confirmed in a new Berkshire site and it does not seem to be retracting its range, simply producing smaller broods than we hope to see.

Previous years have brought us the odd September and October sighting of a partial second brood but none has been reported in 2007. This is not necessarily a bad thing. No one knows if these autumn flying individuals produce viable offspring and it is likely that eggs laid in October will develop too slowly for the larvae to be ready to enter hibernation in time.

The 2006 records of White Admiral in the UTB area (from Levana).