Time to show up and annoy some Britons with Large Coppers after a year :D I made 4th transect in June 15, counting 76 butterflies - a decline compared to May. The "winner" was fairly interesting - Lesser Marbled Fritillary with more than 60% (followed by Large Skipper having less than 15%)...

Indeed, has the trend for earlier seasons been seen in other less-polluted parts of Europe. Your thoughts Guy from clean-air Switzerland? And from the Annoying Czech (not suggesting that your country is polluted) I do have the same feeling as you have. Good years makes an exceptional flight times, ...

One for the next photo competition, eh? :D Maybe, but not necessarily. (...) Last couple of days was about the same - using short periods of sunshine (I'm probably becoming heliophile). Under such circumstances, charming Lesser Marbled Fritillaries were dominant, as first activating butterflies. Th...

Today's crappy weather might be a good time for update: In my village, I slowly switched to my favourite summer place - a small fen with a several conserved meadows around, each one of unique look, probably unchanged for decades. Initially, I was about to see a Spring Large Coppers , which's often a...

Mama, I feel so underrated!

Dobrý večer! I feel I owe you some stories. I found my first Common Blue on May 11. Now they're EVERYWHERE. Found them mating a couple of days ago and made this very average photo... http://img403.imageshack.us/img403/2023/modrasekjehlicovy201205.th.jpg http://img225.imageshack.us/img225/8468/icaru...

I've continued in chasing our most beloved insect, trying to find something new (one of the funniest things about Central Europe are dispersions and fluctuations), but I failed for now. In this particular case I thought I see decoloratus instead of argiades , though: http://img28.imageshack.us/img28...

I must say the individual enclosed below wins my unofficial "First Chequered Skipper 2012" contest, patrolling over the same piece of land as his last year's ancestors (maybe even sitting on the same flowers). Since I've seen none in the morning, I think he might have emerged before the no...

Since the Summer is already on my doorstep, I improvized the first trip to Medlánecké Hill , Brno, South Moravia, seeing Swallowtail , Scarce Swallowtail and Festoon in solid abundances, just as I hoped to. I would simply describe the locality as two highly xerothermal, parkland hills right behind a...

Heeya :D I announced Central European Spring like 14 days ago, but after not seeing a single cloud for more than two days, and temperatures up to 30 C, I should probably announce Summer . (The picture under hyperling is unusually annoying, so beware if you have a serious heart problems. :P) The high...

Spring is here, Britons! My first seen butterfly today was Swallowtail , but I lost him among the shrubs. He was so small-sized :D Would I reach first Swallowtail season sighting if I were in UK? :D Also, first Maps and some Pierids are hatching out. Spring Maps are fairly problematic, very moving o...

You're truly working on your photo-skill, Kipper, in this case with very interesting date for this particular species.

The weather here is typically incalculable (but not disastrous), just as my free time. Today was very fine, hot & sunny. Still, these three photos represents my semi-weekly summary :D I didn't have a chance to shoot Camberwell Beauty so far, unlike commoner Large Tortoiseshell that I haven't see...

Haha, our church is similar

Regarding that Large Blue (Maculinea arion) mentioned in your mapping, do you have a dying colony in there or is the pasture so intense?

From time to time I (a bit morbidly) wonder which species is facing death more than every else. I'm not talking about specific islandish or mountain endemics as Corsican Swallowtail or Sudeten Ringlet . I mean species that feel (or felt) very "comfortable" in most of the Europe and disappe...

It's somehow getting harder to happen on a butterfly-friendly weather, mainly for two reasons. A) My Spring is probably not as excellent as yours, often incalculable and windy. B) General cussedness of things is that it is needed to manage something around the house reconstruction when most hot &...

I don't yet know whether your time machines finally works or Central European witners are so protracted, but I have to claim some diaries of yours are just suspiciously green. By now, I met only the hibernators, with strong suspicion the Camberwell Beauties are still sleeping. It's certainly not a g...

Hi Marek. I'm sorry for your loss. This is obviously a time of big changes and challenges for you and I wish you well. I also look forward to following your season in your new personal diary! Guy Since I'm closely watching your diary (along with Traplican), you're absolutely welcomed in mine :D Sor...

Since I slowly started to feel homy here, it might be a good time to set up a diary instead of overloading Overseas . In the meantime, many things happened. My granny died so I inherited a big old house (a manor built in 1860s) under a big old chestnut tree. Both loss and the heritage relations was ...

In the Czech Republic, overwintering Admirals are very scarce, although there are some very early sightings and I myself saw one in April 2010 ( :?: ) They're arriving en masse in early May, if the Spring weather is OK (which usually is). Since they're used to be totally common from May to Autumn (t...