Thanks Wurzel. It was lovely to see them. It was also nice to go somewhere warm for a change! Thanks David. West was definitely best in the first half of 2023! Despite the weather, the spring flowers were excellent. Here are some Essex bluebells. One of my favourite sights in all the world. 009B3115...

Spring. The most remarkable thing about spring 2023, to my mind at least, is that there was not a single spell of warm, sunny weather. Even at the end of May, I was still waiting for temperatures to reach 21C for the first time, something that goes unnoticed with statistics. Rain and snow in March w...

Thanks everyone. It was lovely to see the waxwings, especially after an absence of several years. We are now well into January, so it’s time to have a look back at last years weather, and it’s effect on butterflies, and wildlife in general. Winter. January saw near average temperatures and rainfall,...

Happy New Year, everyone! A great start! A flock of waxwings has been in Colchester for a few weeks now and, with improving weather, I at last got the chance to catch up with these brilliant, exotic birds on New Year’s Day. My first for some time, as this is the first invasion of waxwings for severa...

Congratulations, Guy. You’ve got a head start on the rest of us!

Though I did see my first buff-tailed bumblebee today.

Thank Wurzel. I’ve not seen the pied wheatear, so you’re one ahead of me there! Hi David, yes. Alquezar did remind me of Albarracin and, like that town, would probably get quite busy with tourists in summer. The only butterflies I saw in November this year were a few Red Admirals. Here is one on the...

And don’t get me started on birds.

The Arctic squa has become the Arctic jaeger, the great northern diver is now a loon...

Grrr.

Alquezar.

Hi David. We flew into Zaragoza, and then stayed in Gallocanta, and the picturesque small town of Alquezar. Both new locations for us, and good to see another area of this brilliant country!

The last three birds I photographed are these. Black redstarts were common in the villages in northern Spain. Their short song was familiar throughout the week. EDB60181-6508-49F8-81BC-664B5BEAC2B2.jpeg In contrast, black wheatears are quite a rarity. Numbers are declining in Spain, so it was a deli...

Thanks Wurzel. Our social get together was most enjoyable! It was amazing, David. I rival to the buzzards and kites at the Welsh feeding sites! Other birds were seen around the villages. Starling and Spotless starling. 9C7F206D-888B-461B-B7CF-9B27F89BA629.jpeg Cirl bunting at Alquezar 0EF87552-4679-...

We certainly did, David! Perhaps the highlight of this holiday was our morning with vulture man. Manu has been working with the vultures since he was a boy, and the support he provides is essential to keep the numbers of vultures increasing, when much of their natural food has been lost due to chang...

For me, in addition to the above, Large and, especially Small Skippers did very well, but the opposite was the case with Silver Spotted Skippers. Numbers were well down on the sites I visited.

Cranes are one of the targets of this holiday, as the area is on one of the migration routes in Spain. We saw some decent flocks of them, but they are very flighty when they first arrive. So we had to keep our distance, and no pictures were possible. But their wonderful, haunting calls were very evo...

What are the opinions of other people regarding this years winners and losers in the butterfly world? For me, the biggest winner was the Holly Blue. They were everywhere, common throughout in both generations. Peacocks did very well, too, with a fantastic emergence in July, Small Whites were abundan...

See you all there!

Despite seeing fresh adults at the end of October, I’ve seen nothing since. Just Red Admirals for me this November, which is normal.

So I’m a bit jealous of your Speckled Woods, David!

My last butterfly picture is of a Long Tailed Blue, seen at two locations. I also had a Lang’s, but didn’t manage a decent picture.

From what I know about the species, I would imagine any LTB that didn’t manage to migrate south by the end of October would have died by now, finished off by the rain and cold.