Neil I've just been going back through your past few weeks posts. I have to say although the pics you are taking with your new camera are wonderful they are just as good as the ones you have taken with the old one in my opinion. But to have a faster focus is a great thing when the subject is a butte...

Hoggers

I have only see one Small Copper so far this year and considered myself lucky when I did! And there you are with 43, a mating pair and a Radiata. Wow!

But of course thats a typical Coppering day for you I suppose.

Trevor

I've been going through your last few weeks posts and came across your mating Brimstones for the first time. Marvellous. I have never seen Brimstones in-cop and it always amazes me that I haven't given how many Brimstones I have seen.

19th April 2019, Magdalen Hill Bottom, 11-12noon, Full Sun, 20 degrees

3 OTip (2m, 1f), Brim (m+f) > 10, 1 H Blue, 1 Comma, 1 Peacock, 1 Grizzled Skip, 1 Burnet Companion.

Wurzel - Its right at the start of the Duke season at Noar Hill. They will be here for some weeks to come. David - It was a bumper crop of Dukes at Noar hill last year so maybe things will get even better this year after the few days of sun to come. Trevor - I have seen Small Torts nose-to-tail befo...

18th April 2019, Four Marks, 3-4 pm, Full Sun, 20 degrees 1 H Blue, 2 OTip (1m, 1f), 3 Sp Wd, 2 Sm Tort The two Small Tortoiseshells were a courting pair. P1050136.JPG The male (I guess) was behind the female. He would creep up to her and duck and bob his antennae up and down and then from side to s...

18th April 2019 - Noar Hill, 10.30-11.30 am, Hazy Sun, 14-15 degrees 5 OT (4m, 1f), 5 Brim (4m, 1f), 1 Peacock, 1 Sp Wd, 1 Duke P1050068.JPG P1050076.JPG P1050069.JPG P1050074.JPG Selborne Church Meadow (again), 11.30-12.30, Full Sun, 16-18 degrees Butterflies as of yesterday with additional H Blue ...

17th April 2019 - Selborne Church Meadow 10.30-11.30 am, 13 degrees 5 OTip (4m, 1f), 4 Brim (3m, 1f), 1 Peacock, 1 H Blue (m), 1 Small White (m) P1050016.JPG P1050013.JPG Another thing I have only just noticed about Peacocks is how their hindwings curve around their rear eyes. P1050045.JPG P1050042....

Wurzel, David, Andrew, Goldie - Glad you like my OTips. As someone on this website said last year. You can never have too many pics of them.

So - more to come!

This nice female O Tip dropped into my back garden this afternoon.
I looked a bit closer and saw something I had not noticed before. Is it me or is there a yellow chevron on the head and a red chevron on the thorax?

Wurzel, David - Its a great time of year when its cool in the morning but warms up in the afternoon (well a bit anyway). Plenty of opportunities to get close to sitting butterflies without them spooking too quickly. Although it was 12 degrees at 11 am at Kingsley today - the breeze saw to it that on...

13th April 2019, 11.15 to 12.15 8-9 degrees: Hartley Maudit The Specklies were still flying about at 8 degrees but three Orange Tips were also out and about at 9 degrees! Regarding the OTips - I think I may have discovered the pivotal temperature for them to become active. I followed one of the thre...

Dave, Wurzel - Those Specklies are hardy little fellows. I don't get out much in the early evenings so its nice to know they are still flying around. It seems they burn the candle at both ends. Wurzel - I think you may have hit the nail on the head with why they can be like this. They are used to be...

Kingsley - 12th April 2019, 11.15-12.15, 10 degrees, Mostly Sunny I continued my experiment to discover at what temperature different butterflies become active. It was 10 degrees during my visit to Kingsley today and all I saw were two Specklies again. I saw Specklies flying at 7 degrees recently. A...

David M Thanks for correcting me re the White. When I first saw it from a distance, it had its wings firmly closed and I thought it was a Green Veined White! Only as I got closer did I realise the wings were actually folded. I have seen a female Brimstone warn off an ardent male by opening its wings...

11th April 2019, 1.30-2.30 pm, 11 degrees, Full Sun: The Devils Jumps Gloria wanted to go the Frensham Garden Centre so I dropped her off and nipped round the corner to this amazing location of heath edged with grassy rides and woods. The area around the pond is very beautiful and the hills behind a...

11th Apr 2019, 10.30-11.30am, Kingsley - 7 degrees, mostly sunny I thought I'd try a little experiment. Because there were quite a few species flying here yesterday afternoon in 14 degree temperature I thought I would return to see what was flying at exactly the same spot but at half the temperature...

Wurzel - So now I have a new quest. Find a Peacock with a full circle rear eye. Of course that means finding and taking pics of hundreds of Peacock Butterflies!

10th April 2019: Kingsley Common. 3-4 pm, 14 degrees, full sun After yesterdays rains the butterflies were out in force (given it was only 14 degrees at max). 2 Brims, 1 Comma, 2 Peacock, 1 Specklie, 2 Orange Tips and 3 Holly Blues, the latter all in the same tree and holly hedge below. P1040695.JPG...

Wurzel, David

My drowsy squirrel was not quite so drowsy today. Spring had sprung and his was getting rather frisky with a female! Lots of mad dashing about in the trees.