Not a sighting of “on the wing” butterflies, but I went up into the tower of my local church to do a bit of maintenance on the bells a couple of days back, where I noted 15 hibernating Peacocks and 9 Small Tortoiseshells - and these were the easily visible ones. The noise of the bells being rung is ...

I have Sweet Rocket, Cuckoo flower and Garlic Mustard growing in my garden, but the Orange Tips only ever seem to lay their eggs on the Garlic Mustard - or, at least, I’ve never found eggs on the sweet rocket or cuckoo flower! Unfortunately I have a pair of Robins in my garden who seem to have taken...

Not a butterfly of course, but there was a Hummingbird hawkmoth in my garden today. I’ve never seen one this early before, is that unusual?

Just a note - Re: Orange-tip I have noticed the 5th instar, prior to crawling-off to pupate, goes down and feeds on the leaves of the Garlic-mustard, rather than the seed-pods. I wondered if anyone else has noticed this behaviour? I usually raise a few every year, but have always kept them on stems...

I don't believe the buckthorn leaves had any fungus. I tried to choose the healthiest looking leaves and replaced the foodplant with fresh every few days and regularly cleaned out the frass. I had five large larvae on two buckthorn branches each about 1½ foot tall in a cage, I don't know if that co...

Did any of your buckthorn leaves have a whitish fungus on the back? I’ve found that to be associated with the symptoms you describe. From my own experience, larger brimstone larvae also do not appreciate crowding nor heat/direct sun.

Just a note - Re: Orange-tip I have noticed the 5th instar, prior to crawling-off to pupate, goes down and feeds on the leaves of the Garlic-mustard, rather than the seed-pods. I wondered if anyone else has noticed this behaviour? I usually raise a few every year, but have always kept them on stems...

The local peacocks and small torts use our church bell tower as a hibernaculum. I counted 19 and 11 respectively when doing a bit of bell maintenance back in January and I am sure there must have been many more tucked out of sight.

Just a note - Re: Orange-tip I have noticed the 5th instar, prior to crawling-off to pupate, goes down and feeds on the leaves of the Garlic-mustard, rather than the seed-pods. I wondered if anyone else has noticed this behaviour? I usually raise a few every year, but have always kept them on stems...

I find woody cuttings such as elm last much better in water if you peel off a few inches of bark at the bottom where you stand it in water, to expose the soft stem inside. It helps with the water take up. A scissor blade is a good scraper.

Apologies if you do that already...

I assume that Sturmia overwinters as the adult fly. All of the pupae that I gathered in mid-October produced adults.

Just wondered if the “success” of the Peacock in achieving regular viable second broods in the U.K. is having an adverse impact upon the Small Tortoiseshell. I had two late September second brood colonies of Peacocks on nettles in my garden last year. I took a few first instar larvae (around 20) und...

You can see Jen’s work on her webpage if you are interested. Jen normally works from photos but was the first time she had tried doing a butterfly. I will certainly be asking her to draw up some more of my insect photos in the near future.

https://www.jennysariart.co.uk/

A photo (which doesn't do it justice) of a recent drawing done for me at Christmas by my rather talented niece-in-law, Jenny Sari...
Jen did this in pencil. The detail and work she puts in is phenomenal.

From Kitchen Field, Ranscombe Reserve, Cuxton (North Kent), 25th June...

A couple of welcome visitors enjoying the last knockings of the Buddleia in my garden today... https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XwIgHYYaTu8/XcGPb-ZgGMI/AAAAAAAACIA/Z6C-kIRLtrUFcoJZozfsm-U5DGeSqcBgwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Painted%2BLady%2B05-11-19.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AvfBywDze-8/XcGPb3I159I/AAAAAAAACH8/...

A couple of Clouded Yellows still on the wing today at Longhoes, Ranscombe Reserve, Cuxton (North Kent)... https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-L8nkn8ze9ik/XbdWen9Cz5I/AAAAAAAACHQ/V7Y_w7ufxWEqeuAAiV6tkjNuoWxd3bWSQCEwYBhgL/s640/Clouded%2Byellow%2B1.jpg https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Rl9MGNwD7yI/XbdWenihyjI/AAAAAAA...

From May 2nd, Lower Bush, Cuxton... https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-2BvEj4GWtxc/XbdW3AjBFcI/AAAAAAAACHc/5b1lf98Xr0UcYgyZhpLKFu2pZ9bBxlwiwCNcBGAsYHQ/s640/Brimstones%2Beggs%2B02-05.jpg For some reason, these two females seemed to fixate on one particular sprig of Buckthorn rather than spreading their bount...

Hi Keith, All pupae are 100% Red Admiral. Vince Thanks Vince. In a way I'm quite pleased about that because I've only seen the one RA as a regular in my garden lately, so hopefully he or she will have some more company soon! Only reason I thought these may be PLs is that the RA pupae (and older lar...

It's unusual to find fresh. dead butterflies, except by the side of roads, where sadly they can be quite common. I think the specimen you have photographed, Keith, was probably struck by a car. I have seen even near misses wind butterflies so much that they cannot fly for quite a while. Further evi...