IT seems the Glanville Fritillary has had a good breeding season, so far we have found 9 larval webs at Hutchinsons Bank, more than we have ever found, ive found 6 of those the last 2 days, still have most of the reserves to check, will be interesting to know larval web numbers elsewhere. I think we...

Its a 2nd Brood spb Frit The Strong Black Borders give it away. Can still be seen at the bottom edge of the forewing, ie more black than orange, where the PBF is more orange than black.

Like all the peacocks that were around a couple of weeks ago, which have seem to have now gone into hibernation, i expect the Large Tortoiseshells to do the same after a feed up. Other Nympalid migrants have been reported as coming in, so these will feed up for a couple of weeks then do the same.

There was also a record from a garden in Shortlands Bromley TQ 3968 a new Square, will have to update the map, its spreding fast.

female heliconid butterflies make a noise [buzzing] with their feet, when tasting the passiflora, to see if the correct chemicals are in the leaf, and will protect the larvae and adults later in their life cycle. it seems that the foodplant in the last instar is the key, if you need to change the la...

We get a similar one regularly [every 7 years or so] at Hutchinsons Bank, but in ours is more white, & females seem to be rarer but do occur

It Seems the Large Tortoiseshell is now a resident species, at least in Portland, and most probably elswhere.

Had 2 Clouded Yellows today at Hutchinsons Bank

I think Cynthias take 2 years to go from egg to adult. So they take some time to recover from low populations.

It will be interesting to see if there is a 2nd brood again this year, Hutch was the only place to do so in 2019, but it was only partial, but did breed and the larvae get to hibernation size before the end of October. The 1st egg batch 2020 is in a warmer more sheltered location, so will be interes...

Today at Hutchinsons Bank an egglaying female Glanville... Is this species always on the wing this early at that site, MrSp0ck? I'd always read that Glanville Fritillary is normally a late May species, although these last 5 years or so have somewhat thrown that text book out of the window! :? They ...

Today at Hutchinsons Bank an egglaying female Glanville, not the one seen pairing yesterday, and lots of Grizzled and Dingy Skippers.

Probably the first UK pairing of Glanvilles this year, at Hutchinsons Bank, they have been out there since 1st May,, and IOW 2nd May, numbers are building slowly with 13+ Glannies seen today, still plenty of larvae, some fully grown ones marching across paths. Grizzingy Skippers in good numbers too....

not mentioned that male Large Whites do not have the single upperside forewing spot, also the edge of the outer Forewing is straight, when it is slightly curved in Small and Green-Veined Whites.

With the Surrey Camberwell [Mar 25 Camberwell Beauty 1 Ash Mike Clifford] it seems the survivors from last August are appearing, although we have a gust of warmth from the south too at the moment may add to them. https://butterfly-conservation.org/sites/default/files/styles/srcset_medium_sa/public/2...

On Hutchinsons Bank they use an old fox hole for hibernation, you can see numbers emerge on hot days, and their path for the males sunning is next to this, so they dont go that distance, and are often challenging other STorts and Commas, along with other Peacock, this area does not have any stinging...

nobody has mentioned livestock, animals need to be fed and checked every day, so i think that will be a valid task during any shut down, and a good excuse for visiting and butterflying at the same time.

Hi Claire

I have good shots of quite a few on the list, especially Glanville Fritillary, Small Blue etc.

Say Hi to Neil from me Martin.

The Plant may not be named after the butterfly in the first place, as somebody who has named many cultivars/hybrids, if it meets all the conditions it will be registered for all time under that name. Having named Passiflora Snowflake, with Yellow flowers, because it flowered in January when snow was...

One must remember that Large Tortoiseshells in Europe feed on other species rather than Elm, eg Blackthorn, and the early report from Portland was that it was flying around Blackthorn on the edge, if i remember correctly, it also occured during the influxes that were elswhere along the South and Eas...

The year before we were finding eggs laid in weird positions on mature Blackthorn, in the shady north facing hedgerows and on Hawthorn. This winter every egg has been on the top join of a bud off the main stem of Blackthorn in a sunny location.