Thursday 18th July. With a morning free and another warm sunny day forecast, I decided pop round to Blythe Valley Park over the other side of Solihull. I arrived just after 09.15 under clear blue skies and with the temperature already up around a warm feeling 19 degrees or so. Heading off on my usu...

Hi Mark. Just caught up with your Heath Fritillary ab.
I have seen a few abs of this species posted on social media this year but that is easily the most extreme. What a butterfly!

Cheers,

Neil

In life those Grayling were noticeably smaller and paler than the ones I'm used to seeing on the Surrey Heaths, much more like the ones I've seen on Arnside Knott, which also emerge at a similar time. I remember thinking the same when I saw the Graylings there and wondering if the ones at Arnside w...

Thanks Trevor. Small Tortoiseshell numbers were down here this spring compared with the previous few years although I did see saw a dozen or more on some days. I have yet to see a summer one this year which is a few days late compared to last year, fingers crossed they show up soon. Cheers Wurzel. T...

I think you should be ok for them at Durlston, it is a later site for them and I have seen them well into August there in the past and on one occasion there were still a few there in the first few days of September, although that was some years ago now. A few years back I found Silver-washed Fritill...

Cheers Wurzel. I have seen fresh female GVWs like that before but they soon fade to the more usual colour. Wednesday 17th July. In what is becoming a familar pattern here, the first couple of days of the week were pretty lousy with some heavy rain on Monday night and lasting on and off for most of T...

... A high of only 18 degrees and just three hours of sunshine - but the depressing-sounding conditions did little to reduce butterfly activity on my local patch... Therein lies the difference between my patch and yours Dave. 'Only 18 degrees' would be a reasonable temperature for many days around ...

... I've noticed this year that people see it on Facebook or other Social media, race over to have a look and then leave the site alone... That is something I have noticed myself on Facebook regarding most of the popular sites. There seem to be cliques of twitchers that just seem to follow each oth...

Thanks Goldie. I am hoping to catch up with some more this week...weather permitting. Cheers Wurzel. Yes, this season has been hard work, not helped by all the other 'stuff' that takes up my time these days. Saturday 13th July. Mostly dull cloud and especially cool for the time of year here for Thur...

Wednesday 10th July. After a couple of lousy days here, today (Wednesday) was forecast to be the best day of the week with a period of thinner cloud and even some sun from late morning into early afternoon so to make the most of this I decided to have a run down to Oversley Wood by Alcester. I left...

I am enjoying your reports from the Great Orme Paul, brings back memories of when we visited, I cannot believe it was 8 years ago https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=5424&start=1760 We stayed in a B&B by the west shore beach in Llandudno from where a path took me up to 'Inv...

In all my life I can't remember wearing long sleeves before at this time of year. Indeed. The almost constant dull cloud and cool weather has had me dressing more like early spring most of the time. Chances to go out without a jacket have been few and far between. Great Purple Emperor photos Trevor...

Not sure of the location but something to be aware of.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1113218 ... 3762808997

Cheers,

Neil.

"sunny spells and showers" this is possibly the most annoying forecast - so which is it? On Saturday it was definitly not showers, unless you count it as one really long one that lasted all morning and well into the afternoon :( Yesterday was better with mixed sun and cloud during the mor...

Hi Dave. An impressive tally but I am quite surprised to see no Ringlets amongst them, they have done better than Meadow Browns up here but that will no doubt change with the latter species longer flight period.

Cheers,

Neil.

Hmmm!. For the past few years I have been seeing many Small skippers being called as Essex Skippers based on some very dubious views of antennae, many of which do not clearly show the underside or show a vague graduation of colour. Small Skippers will often show this graduated look that can appear t...

Friday 5th July. Wednesday was horrible here with depressing 'mizzle' and light rain all morning and then dull grey overcast for the rest of the day. I had forgotten that I was taking Jane to one of her regular checkups at the doctors on Thursday afternoon so that only left me the morning free but ...

Cheers Wurzel. The early cloud and cool breeze helped with those Marbled Whites but even so I got quite a few shots of blurry half butterflies leaving the edge of the frame :lol: Tuesday 2nd July After a couple of dreary days with dull cloud and intermittent light rain and drizzle, this morning was ...

Naturally enough, stats for other locations around the country (and even in the SE) will be different - perhaps markedly. Indeed Dave. I often note how different your patch is compared to mine despite just being at the other end of the M40. The grass round here is still very long and lush, the long...

It looks like Ringlets are having a good year around my patch here in the midlands but I think that is in comparison to everything else here having a poor year. Also, the spring butterflies Green-veined White & Orange-tip benefited, maybe for the same reason, I don't know. Not too bad in Essex ...