Search found 147 matches
- Wed May 22, 2024 11:03 am
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
I've finally managed a few pictures of the Green Hairstreaks on a local disused airfield site. I'm convinced that they have not always been there but the habitat has apparently become ideal. They particularly favour the the edges of the scrub, where they fly quite low down in amongst mixed shrubs am...
- Sat May 18, 2024 5:15 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
After a rather dismal spring, it's such a pleasure to see butterflies in the garden, and several species at a time. Red Admirals made their presence known on the 16th of May, when four appeared together, and today there are at least six. Silver Ys have also arrived in significant numbers over the pa...
- Sat May 04, 2024 7:13 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Warmer weather and some butterflies at last, if not in spectacular numbers. A morning visit to the old airfield site saw several Small Whites, much attached to dandelions. 80031DB7-B688-44F4-8D7B-58D7FC377DFB.jpeg I worked steadily along the old roadway as this has produced Walls in the past - there...
- Fri May 03, 2024 12:55 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4406
- Views: 1143523
Re: Padfield
Lovely pictures of the Green Hairstreak - so far this year, all mine have been disappearing over hawthorn bushes. It's interesting that one can feel nostalgia for a place that has become one's home as well as for the place one grew up. I knew the word's etymology but looked it up anyway and was surp...
- Thu May 02, 2024 4:17 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Many thanks, Wurzel. It seems you are spot on - I managed brief views of 3 yesterday morning at the site between 10.30 and 11.00, in spells of intermittent sunshine. I've found them easily enough on gorse and broom in Norfolk, but this Cambs site has extensive areas of scrubby hawthorn and they seem...
- Tue Apr 30, 2024 7:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
A photo of the Speckled Wood which would not upload earlier:
- Tue Apr 30, 2024 6:47 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
A sunny day at last but still plenty of annoying winds. I'm still struggling to find any number of butterflies at all. In the garden a Small Tortoiseshell was very welcome, and Orange-tips and Green-veined Whites appear whenever the sun shines. I visited a site where Green Hairstreak has recently ap...
- Sun Apr 28, 2024 8:34 am
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4406
- Views: 1143523
Re: Padfield
Those are interesting thoughts about how altitude will affect the impact of unusual weather. I imagine that this will not apply in most of the UK! I'm in just about the flattest part of the country - my house is six feet above sea level. I can say that locally this has been a very poor spring for bu...
- Sun Apr 21, 2024 2:44 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
No need to comment much further on the season so far, at least not in my area. Some sunny spells this afternoon but just two butterflies appeared in the garden. One odd thing is that according to my fairly empty notebook, I've seen four times as many female Orange-tips as males, which must be, at th...
- Thu Apr 18, 2024 6:28 am
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
At last! Many thanks to Millerd and Bugboy for solving the mystery - this is surely the most likely explanation. I'm not aware of any site in Cambridgeshire which has the food plants to sustain even a small population. Releasing Marsh Fritillaries here would be a pointless exercise but the one I fou...
- Wed Apr 17, 2024 4:22 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4406
- Views: 1143523
Re: Padfield
Thanks for the wine information - I drink both!
As for the photos, it's almost like you're on another planet.
As for the photos, it's almost like you're on another planet.
- Wed Apr 17, 2024 3:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
It feels like a poor season here in Cambs. We've had only brief and infrequent spells of sunshine, during which a few butterflies appear, but the number of species is behind for the date. On the 13th of April, there was a longer spell of sunshine. I went to my local churchyard and managed six specie...
- Tue Apr 09, 2024 2:35 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
David - this is the strange story of my Marsh Fritillary, then. It was on the 26th of May, 2020, at 10.45 am. There was warm sunshine and, I recall, there had been a south-westerly airstream for a few days. I went out into the garden and saw a butterfly land on the lawn - not unusual but there was s...
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 9:26 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Trevor
- Replies: 5129
- Views: 978287
Re: Trevor
Fine pictures of the Orange-tip.
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 9:18 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Chris - thanks. I took five shots, the other four were rubbish, which is about par for my course! Wurzel - since moving in five years ago we've deliberately focused on acquiring plants that are good for butterflies and bees. And ours is often the only garden nearby that has any colour or nectar - w...
- Mon Apr 08, 2024 11:19 am
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Things are going absolutely crazy with a second new species for the year in the garden within three days. Weak sunshine in a shelter corner tempted a Holly Blue to feed on the perennial wallflower for a few minutes:
- Sun Apr 07, 2024 5:14 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Now the rain has stopped, we have gales and still very little sunshine. But this morning, in about a force six, the first Red Admiral of my season was blown through the garden. I like to think it might have been a migrant.
- Sun Apr 07, 2024 5:08 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Padfield
- Replies: 4406
- Views: 1143523
Re: Padfield
Wonderful photographs as ever. I think the Speckled Wood is particularly beautiful.
What types of wine are produced by those spectacular vineyards, if you don't mind me asking?
What types of wine are produced by those spectacular vineyards, if you don't mind me asking?
- Thu Apr 04, 2024 12:02 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Rob Partridge
- Replies: 49
- Views: 2743
Re: Rob Partridge
Katrina - this season so far I'm considering myself lucky to see any sort of butterfly! We get Orange-tips every spring, mostly wandering males, but the food plants are to be found locally. It is unusual for me to see a female so early, though.
- Tue Apr 02, 2024 4:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Diaries
- Topic: Katrina
- Replies: 1584
- Views: 148000
Re: Katrina
That's a stunning image of a Peacock.