On a freezing, sunny morning at Knebworth Park the empty egg I found on 4 Dec is still intact. About 3 feet further back on the nettle patch were two plants with drooped leaves. Under one of them was a Red Admiral larva about 1 cm long (3rd instar?) and possibly another under a leaf on the left. Wil...

I paid another visit to Knebworth Park today to find out how the Red Admiral eggs are faring. They might have all hatched by now and I found one empty egg case (which perhaps suggests hatching took place in the last day or two. Can anyone tell? See photo) although there were other leaves which had t...

The eggs I found today in Knebworth Park where I discovered some earlier in the month are now turning yellow-green.

ATB

Peter

PS Vince, I am impressed with your count

Happy birthday from me too, Pete

ATB

Peter

Yes, great idea, Vince.

Yesterday, I checked on the nettle patch in Knebworth Park where I found an egg last Friday (3 Nov) and found two more on one leaf. Will keep an eye on this patch throughout the winter and let you know of any significant developments.

ATB

Peter

Yesterday in the pleasantly warm sunshine in Knebworth Park I didn't find any butterflies but found an egg very low down on freshly grown nettles in an open but sheltered situation. My hunch is that it is a Red Admiral egg as opposed to a Comma one. Anyone know for sure by looking at the image what...

Yesterday in the pleasantly warm sunshine in Knebworth Park I didn't find any butterflies but found an egg very low down on freshly grown nettles in an open but sheltered situation. My hunch is that it is a Red Admiral egg as opposed to a Comma one. Anyone know for sure by looking at the image what ...

Well done, Pete! Very interesting. We know that most, if not all, species are generally emerging earlier due to climate change so when we compare last year's data against the UKBMS data since 1976 one would think 2016 was an average year :) . But of course we know that last year was generally cool a...

I came across a slightly unusual form of the Comma on my local patch yesterday. Inside the band of orange lunules on the hind wings are a couple of orange and silver spots towards the apex. You can just see even smaller ones towards the tornus (body).

ATB

Peter

Very few Brimstones locally for the new brood so far so it was good to find one feeding on knapweed on 14 August at Norton Green Common.

ATB

Peter

On 4 August at Bookham Common, I found a male and a female feeding in the same spot.

ATB

Peter

A good year for this species for me but frustratingly it did not appear on one of my transects when I walked it. However, on a cloudy afternoon, I found a pair together on a grass stem on 4 September. I also saw a nice example on 1 August.

ATB

Peter

Found just two Small Coppers yesterday at the site where I found the eggs and the larvae but I also saw a moth larva on the ground which I can't positively identify. Perhaps a Ruby Tiger?

ATB

Peter

Visited Knebworth Park again today to find Small Copper eggs and larvae at the spot when I found an egg last week. I was joined by a chap who was having a lunch break and showed him the hatched out egg. Within a couple of minutes he looked under a leaf on the same plant and saw 5 eggs and 2 larvae :...

Does anyone know what the white area above the egg shell is? Hi Peter, After emerging from the egg, the larva will move to the underside of the leaf and feed on the epidermis. This leaves transparent "windows" in the leaf when viewed from above, and you may be seeing the start of that. Th...

After finding 2 or 3 female Small Coppers in a small area on my local patch last Thursday I decided to search for eggs at this spot today. I did look for them on Thursday without success. There is much low-growing Sheep's Sorrel around but I did't really know exactly where to look so I was struggli...

Thanks for your comments, Pete. All valid points and the first one relating to the overwintering state is what struck me first but as with most things to do with butterfly behaviour it is probably a combination of factors. What is interesting about transect 1 is that it is atypical in Hertfordshire ...

Two transects just 3 miles apart and similar altitude (about 100m) produced different peak flight times for the Speckled Wood over a 15-year period. In transect 1, very few adults emerge in April and May and numbers reach a sustained peak through June and July. A new higher peak (double the numbers)...

After finding 2 or 3 female Small Coppers in a small area on my local patch last Thursday I decided to search for eggs at this spot today. I did look for them on Thursday without success. There is much low-growing Sheep's Sorrel around but I did't really know exactly where to look so I was strugglin...

Hi all Just caught up with this thread. As others have said, Brown Hairstreak will readily use Bullace and there is indeed a preference over Blackthorn at Steyning. Other species/subspecies and varieties of Prunus are also used, including Victoria Plum. BWs, Neil Thanks, Neil. Are Bullace and the o...