With the amazing numbers of small coppers around near Woodbridge, I must keep my eyes peeled for a schmidti - something I've never seen. On 1st April 2008 I posted a photo of a gynandrous orange tip (here: http://www.guypadfield.com/images2008/cardaminesgynandromorph4.jpg ) and was soon contacted b...

David M wrote: A hybrid, bellargus x coridon.

https://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/aberrat ... =bellargus

Ah, that is very exciting. I haven't seen either species, let alone a hybrid between them!

David M wrote:I've seen a polonus hybrid, which was exciting enough, but never a gynandromorph.

What is this David? I can't even find anything on Google!!

Crickey Nick - I'd love to see an ab.schmidtii - it's a stunning looking butterfly :D :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Have a goodun Wurzel Wurzel, it was stunning, because it was different from the norm, but I have to admit that it was a little dull! I thought to myself, "imagine if schmidtii was the norm...

After my two-year sabbatical from my Personal Diary, I thought I should fill in some highlights from that period. Last May, when I was walking my transect, I saw a male Orange Tip, which I thought had lost the tip of one of its wings. It was struggling slightly to fly and just looked odd. On my way ...

Thank you Guy for confirming my IDs. It is interesting how different species like subtly different habitats. I suppose that even at home I see Small Whites in Sections 1 and 2 of my transect and then Green-veined Whites along much of the rest of the route, closer to the river. I certainly want to re...

Great to hear that the Dukes are doing so well with you. You have taken some stunning photos.

On Monday 29th April I went on my planned trip to El Torcal de Antequera. This is an area of amazing limestone formations and the pictures I had seen of the Natural Park looked very promising, with valleys of wild flowers and weathered rock formations. I decided to leave early as the forecast promis...

Thank you Wurzel and David,
The advantage of the cloudy weather was that the butterflies regularly stopped. The Dappled White behaved much like an Orange Tip and would only fly when the sun was out.
Are you not going abroad soon Wurzel?

Since 2012 we have spent four summer holidays in a villa near Alora, 45 kilometres north west of Malaga. Each time we have been there it has been early July and very hot! The roads were lined with dried up wild flowers and grasses and everything was brown, other than the orange groves and a few priv...

It would be very interesting to see some temperature statistics for the last 50 years or so. Certainly, as I child I remember long frosty spells here in Southern Scotland and it always snowed in winter. When I moved to Haddington in the mid '80s, my apple trees used to regularly be hit by a hard May...

Good to see you back Suzie. Coincidentally, I am back after a couple of years' break from posting. I have still been chasing butterflies, but just haven't had the time to share what I have seen. I have a lot of catching up to do.

You have lovely dark Speckled Woods there. Your photographs really do them justice.

It is interesting to catch up on your summary of how each species did last year. I get the impression that 2018 wasn't that much better than 2017 for you. Here, we had a dreadful 2016 and 2017 with hardly a day of sunshine for two years. Last year the novelty of a blue sky didn't wear off and thankf...

Ah, all these exotic species! Dukes, Grizzled and Dingy Skippers - three butterflies I have never seen. It is amazing how different things are down south. We are still experiencing frosts after to false starts to the season!

I'm so glad you returned to posting on your diary, Nick, because that was a wonderful, informative read. The area where you keep records is one of the most interesting in the country, with the gradual northwards dispersion of several species due (it is supposed) to climate change. 2018 seemed to ha...

Here in the midlands it appears that Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks went into hibernation early because of the hot summer. Both species were scarce in the summer broods but have appeared in good numbers this spring. Cheers, Neil. That is interesting Neil. I hadn't really given it that much thoug...

Wurzel wrote:Interesting report Nick and echoes of some of the trends I saw and that were reported from my end of the country

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you Wurzel. It would be interesting to hear how butterflies have done up and down the country.

I thought I should resurrect my personal diary. It has been over two years since I posted anything and it has been a particularly busy two years. I thought I should start off by summarising how butterflies did in East Lothian in 2018. I collate the records from the Countryside Rangers and a number o...

I don't know if this will help, but here is part of Nick's photo rotated then stretched, to reconstruct a 90° view. This trick sometimes helps to get a feel of a butterfly's wingshape, though its accuracy depends on the original wing being in a flat plane, which they rarely are, of course: I, too, ...