Its not good having to use a laptop without a mouse :evil: plus the French after work vino :lol: Anyway to continue.............I always have my camera at the ready so stopped working and made my way across. I could see that it was a Map butterfly sussing out the nettles. I followed her as she flew ...

Thanks, Pauline, i've seen those shots in the albums. It was great if unexpected to see the Large Tortoiseshells, especially the second one, which hung around for about ten minutes :shock: We will have to see what we can find this summer. Thanks, Dave, you would think that a few would be blown acros...

What a lovely Pearl, Trevor, and superb shots too

That OT's wing tips did appear to be quite dark, Wurzel, which drew my attention to it. OT's do have some variation, David, that one did stand out from the crowd. The female Holly Blue was probably the most obliging i've yet encountered. I certainly did, Trevor, yours was a real stunner too. The sec...

Hi Pauline, nice to see the mating Dukes :) what are their numbers like at Noar this year? Cathy is fine thanks, if a little bit exhausted from gardening duties :lol: but it keeps us fit :) Sounds like the ongoing nightmare regarding the management at Noar Hill continues. The use of herbicide sprays...

Glad you enjoyed a Small tort fest, Wurzel we've only seen a couple here so far

Hi Dave, I know a lot of water has flowed under the bridge but that's a lovely shot of the Green Hairstreak on blackthorn blossom a butterfly we've yet to find here.
Mike

Hi Pauline, good to see that you're out of hibernation Glad you got among the dukes at Noar Hill again, we miss that place, even if it is full of people. Lovely shots of the Orange-tip emergence too

Lovely shots of the female Holly Blue, Trevor she's really posing well for you.

Thanks, Wurzel, glad you liked the backlit Brimstone :) It was back to winter here too :( Up to this point we'd only seen the two male Orange-tips, David, so very similar to things in the UK. After seeing a couple of male Orange-tips in late March, at the beginning of April the weather turned. We ha...

That's an amazing Brimstone count for one day, David, we're only seeing a couple per day so far.

Thanks, Dave, for the extra mr green for the LT. I agree with you about the state of things so far, and the weather here, are definitely much the same as in the southern UK.
Thanks also for pointing out that should have said 'my first LARGE white of the year'

Mike.

Thanks, Wurzel and David. Some from the weekend, with a couple of firsts for the year. P1390582Resize.JPG P1390570Resize.JPG P1390631Resize.JPG P1390540Resize.JPG P1390605.jpgAResize.JPG Several Commas also seen. Although it was sunny butterflies spent much of their time immobile, due to the cold no...

Yes, Trevor, the first LT landed in a really awkward place, making shots difficult. This time there was no such problem and he posed for ten minutes :shock: Hope you find a more docile LT this year. Cheers, bugboy, not too shabby for sure, having them find you sure beats tramping around soggy North ...

Nice find in the female Small White, David. Yes, expecting Orange-tips any day now.

Nice to see that LT, Trevor, and in great condition too Are you still looking this year?

Mike.

It is brilliant to find Large Tortoiseshells flying with the other hibernators in our garden, Dave. I thought there was a possibility of this happening, but that it might have been a bit of a long shot, but it turned out that it wasn't as my next post will show :) The Camberwell Beauty might be a bi...

LT's certainly get the pulse racing, Trevor, as you know I'll gladly take a Comma or two

Camberwell Beauty please, Wurzel

Hi Guy,
My condolences on the passing of your father.
Mike.

Thanks Trevor, perhaps I can start now :) It's funny you should say that, Wurzel, almost a full house again yesterday :) On decent days things do begin to kick off, David, but they've been few and far between here so far. With grim things at the fore, it's more uplifting than ever seeing some active...