Hi David & Guy, Thanks very much for your replies. Great that you could identify the knysna, thank you. Just to clarify, it was possibly the smallest butterfly that I've seen. No larger that C. minimus that I've rarely witnessed. Good luck David, with your expedition. I found it a beautiful coun...

Just returned from a week's coach tour of Morocco. Despite consistent afternoon temperatures in the mid to high twenties, I was surprised that I saw less than 20 butterflies all week. About a dozen whites, 2 Painted Ladies at the roman ruins near Meknes. A Moroccan Hairstreak here also and another n...

I visited a private nature reserve in North Essex today. They had a hut with photographs of 'common species seen at.....' the reserve, all taken by an elderly gentleman who passed away a few years ago. There was a Wall Brown, which would have been an old record, but also a photograph of a pinned spe...

I was lucky enough to be shown a continental Swallowtail pupae today in central Essex. The original observer had posted the larvae on FB and the ID has been confirmed

We've had a Large Tortoiseshell in central Essex on April 1st. I saw one in spring 2018 at another Essex site where a total of 4 individuals were photographed that spring.

Cream-spot Tiger for me too. Timing is right for them to be wandering off to pupate

Hi Peter, After I posted, I had a look on a European leps website and found some photos of Acleris species' pupae. They all seemed to be attached to a leaf, rather than the branch stem, which obviously casts doubt on my suggestion! I'll just broaden it to 'a micro-moth' and not dig any deeper. Happy...

Peterc,
I think your moth/pupa might be an Acleris species. Acleris ferrugana being a common oak species. Although it overwinters as an adult, Ukmoths suggests it emerges in the autumn, so I'm not sure
Rob

Last year, I found a Green Hairstreak on wasteground at Beckton, East London. This year proved it was no fluke as I found another four at the same site. In recent years, they have colonised Wanstead Flats and sites in Rainham (Essex) and Dagenham, so it's great to see them in the London Borough of N...

Are these male Common Blues 3rd or 4th brood of the year/season though?? I can only assume 3rd brood. I would think that the Small Copper is favourite to achieve a 4th generation in the UK. Your last male Common Blue photo has the look of female body shape and rejection behaviour, if we didn't know...

second brood Chalkhill Blue at Devil's Dyke near Newmarket today. There were a few about, and a female was seen. Other species - Red Admiral, Peacock, Brimstone, Common Blue, Brown Argus

A moth-er had 74 in and around their trap in West Essex/East London on Monday. Plenty of sightings in other parts of Essex this year

I saw 6 Meadow Browns on my Brentwood transect yesterday and at least 2 were males. As Neil has researched, Meadow Brown larvae develop slowly and the emergence is protracted.

I mainly see females at this time of year, often in egglaying mode in cut grassland. But there is still the odd male about. Some people talk as if this is a partial second brood, as they tend to only see fresh-looking individuals. But transect graphs show this is not the case and it is just the last...

Winterton Dunes very good. I've seen the first ones in previous years when the Dark-green Fritillaries are at their peak, which is probably about now from what I've heard. So the end of this month should be good for Grayling. The Norfolk branch website says their typical season is early July to mid-...

Thanks. But sadly, beyond my physical capabilities.

I found it really tough in the heat and there's no track. Could be my last year.

Jack: Which Glasdrum is that? Surely not the Chequered Skipper site near Benderloch / Appin? Hi Jack, yes that's the one, just 2 hours further up the mountain. I've climbed it with Vince (Cambs & Essex branch) twice before without success, but we got decent conditions this year, so third time l...

In West Scotland last week - saw a total of 42 Mountain Ringlets on Glasdrum on the Tuesday MR2.jpg then on Jura, Wednesday, 2 Grayling on coastal rocks Grayling Jura 75_resize.jpg Grayling Jura 5_resize.jpg Surprised to find Ringlets and Graylings sharing similar ground as some marshy coves abut dr...

Two of us undertook the Mountain Ringlet transect at Glasdrum NNR last Tuesday, 3rd July 2018. This consists of 2 sections, each about 1km in length and roughly follows the 500m contour at the top of the mountain. Conditions had been very warm on the climb up but it had clouded over by the time we d...

I read somewhere that they have a preference for overwintering in conifers but I have never seen activity around these trees. I have seen them go to roost in bramble thickets and their camouflage certainly imitates the underside of a bramble leaf. But this doesn't seem like the best overwintering op...