Wow! Fantastic photos Neil. I have never seen a snake in the wild. I would really like to encounter one and think each year that I will undoubtedly see one given the amount of time I spend out in the wild in various places in England and Wales. Never happens. I wonder what the closest I ever was to ...

We should get quite a lot of sunshine on Saturday and Sunday according to the forecast Neil. I think that your Wagon Lane site will be like a butterfly reserve and I predict you will see a lot if you are able to get out. The 12 or so days after is forecast to be quite good for precipitation spotting...

...I hereby declare the Large Tortoiseshell a very rare UK species Agreed. For me, we have 61 species now, Long-Tailed Blue being the other addition. Fantastic Dave, we are on a roll. I value your butterfly knowledge and experience and if you think that these 2 butterflies are now resident species,...

That was an extremely grim read. I read the article when it was published but it felt considerably more grim reading it a second time. I really fear for the future of this remarkable butterfly. Unlike the tragic loss of the Large Blue where the race against time to get the knowledge to halt their de...

Thank you ever so much Dave. You have clearly invested a considerable amount of time in to your response - and much knowledge too. I am a bit embarrassed about a few on my list. 1) White Letter Hairstreak do live quite nearby but I have yet to see one. 2) I have been to sites where Small Pearl Borde...

If the weather was settled for a few days and a Large Tortoiseshell was loitering in an area for a while, I would be prepared to jump in my car and head out from South Derbyshire to see it. In my mind, bird enthusiasts have it a bit easier. I imagine that weather is not an issue if a rare bird lands...

With only a few days to go until it commences, what are your butterfly hopes for the season ahead? For me, I still need to see the species listed below. Any help in seeing those would be greatly appreciated. I would really like to see a rarity too, a Large Tortoiseshell or a Queen of Spain for examp...

Modern life is turning increasingly into a perpetual 'Room 101'. I won't be sorry to depart it. Yes, modern life is so incredibly disheartening and disappointing isn't it David. I find that heading in to the meadows and the woods and the solitude is the only way to escape the harsh realities of life.

Yes, great to see the Bee Fly Trevor and you got yourself an extremely good photo there. Well done. They never wait around for me to get myself ready to take a photo - or they are camera shy. I saw 2 on Sunday.

Hi Rob. Searching for ova is rewarding but not efficient, for lots of reasons. Not least of these is the fact that females often lay high in the tree - and as branches in winter, devoid of leaves, spring higher anyway, you have access to relatively few eggs. Back in 2019, I discovered that searchin...

Fantastic selection of photos Dave.

One year I might try and do a circuit round my local patch with one of those 'clickers' and try counting just one species so I don't lose count...but as you say that would mean something would present itself to distract me :roll: :lol: Cracking Comma shots, especially the one on the blossom 8) :mrg...

Welcome home and welcome back Maximus. Absolutely superb sharp, clear and colourful photos. I enjoyed looking at those.

Great photos Neil. I particularly like the Small Tortoiseshell one. Being 35 miles north of you, I can identify with your description of our weather offering.

Wonderful selection of photos Bugboy. Extremely impressed by folk who can identify species. I reckon with regards the hare, I would have thought it was a rabbit :roll: I would really like to go to sleep and wake up with extensive knowledge of birds and flowers. I was shown an app for identifying bir...

Love the photos of the Small Tortoiseshell perched on the snow Guy. A very incongruous scene.

The local decline (South Derbyshire) in the numbers of Small Tortoiseshell in the few years I have been collecting data on them is alarming. If I designed a graph to represent that data, it would look rather horrific. I would describe them as 'common' in 2019 and 'quite rare' in 2023. Hopefully you ...

I'm vicariously very excited by all these large tortoiseshell sightings. Spring is the time to look for adults. Those that do not disperse hibernate quite soon after emergence in summer, and vagrant summer individuals are very often in transit to somewhere else. But spring butterflies have hibernat...

I was surprised to see an early Speckled Wood in my Crawley garden between 11.45 and 12.00 today. IMG_2962-01G.JPG Swiftly moving on to Tilgate Park, there were 5 Red Admiral and 5 male Brimstone seen. IMG_2969-01G.JPG Back home our resident vixen was found enjoying the sunshine on the lawn. IMG_29...

Quite a bit of (slightly hazy) sunshine today, and temperatures rose to around 18 degrees local to me. During the two-hour period centred around midday, I managed to count 46 butterflies with six species represented. These included my first Small Tortoiseshell of 2024(which eluded the camera) and t...