21/07/2024 My garden management is paying off at my mother's garden here in Chelmsford with a healthy colony of 8 newly emerged Gatekeeper so far following on from the little colony of Meadow Brown that are down to around 3 or 4 now. I witnessed some males taking a keen look at a beautiful looking ...

It has been a year of capturing a variety of butterflies ovipositing. This started back in the spring with a Speckled Wood, followed closely by another. Then I have witnessed both a Small and then an Essex Skipper, and recently even a Small Copper. Today, was a meeting with a female Large White who ...

19/07/2024 Site visit - Hatfield Forest After some disappointing site visits, in terms of numbers seen this week, with a really quiet morning at Great Holland Pits yesterday followed by an even quieter afternoon at Friday Wood, I finally had a great day out at Hatfield Forest. As the temperature wa...

15/07/2024 BROWN HAIRSTREAK UPDATE I am at RSPB Rainham Marshes Visitor Centre where I have been told that the Brown Hairstreak was spotted nearby yesterday. At 11.00am I did indeed find one but only had a chance to confirm the sighting briefly before it flew off. No joy since with the sky becoming...

I will be going this week. We are delighted in Essex that they are reestablishing both at Rainham and at Claybury Park. I’ve been told to look around the blackthorn scrub close to the visitor centre.

Yesterday, 13/07/2024 I was pleased to actually get some butterfly activity in the garden. At last the Gatekeeper are starting to emerge with the second male in successive days appearing, along with a fresh female Meadow Brown. I was amazed to find she had the same or similar markings that I found i...

11/11/2024 Site visit: Friday Wood & Cherry Tree Lane Friday Wood, Cherry Tree Lane.jpg Friday Woods, part of the Roman River Site of Special Scientific Interest, is an ancient woodland, modified in places by plantations of conifers and sweet chestnut. It is part of the government's Defense Est...

11/07/2024 Site visit - Friday Wood, Cherry Tree Lane My first outing to Friday Wood & Cherry Tree Lane delivered despite the predominantly overcast conditions. During one of the brief sunny intervals all three of the premium woodlanders appeared and provided a show before disappearing, and the...

08/07/2024 Site visit Lingwood Common, Danbury Ridge Finally found a Purple Emperor on my local patch on the southern woodland edge of Lingwood Common viewed from the farmer's field: Lingwood Common.png 2024.07.08 Lingwood Common.jpg This is a woodland edge composed of both Goat Willow Salix caprea...

bugboy wrote: ↑Sat Jul 06, 2024 9:16 pm You know what I was saying yesterday about unless it's got a nice clean antennae with an obvious black tip, it's a Small? Yea scratch that, I was talking rubbish, Durlston Country Park today

That is my experience here in Essex

After the information provided by Pete I have changed my mind - Small Skipper hahahahaha

it is one of the skippers

For comparison, Dave, these are Essex Skipper in cop taken today at the local meadow:

I will go with Essex Skipper. The evidence is not quite visible for either the sex brand on the male in the background or the undersides of the antennae. Slight guess work - the sex brand, although quite deep/thick seems parallel with the edge of the wing. His antennae seem compatible with the ends ...

Whilst I was writing up my site visit to the south Essex Woods, the sun came out so I went to the local meadow to see what was happening. I am pleased to say there are now 3 Marbled White including one female, so the tiny, isolated colony has every chance of making it into 2025. And the female is an...

Site visit Hadleigh Great Wood + Pound Wood + Hockley Woods 04/07/2024 Yesterday, during a reasonably sunny day, I carried out my last visit to collect data for 2024 on the Heath Fritillary within the south Essex woods. Unsurprisingly I found the few remaining ones signalling the end of their fligh...

Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Thu Jul 04, 2024 9:08 pm do you have a closeup shot of the larvae? That would help!

Unfortunately not Pete - the larvae were too deep into the web for my iPhone to get a focused shot of them. I will be back there next week to take a look.

I created this tall forb grassland at the bottom of my parent's 3/4 acre garden. It is on nutrient-rich soil as it used to be my father's vegetable patch. It is about 4 to 5 years old and contains typical Essex flowering-plants, such as Ragwort Jacobaea vulgaris , Carrot Daucus carota , Knapweed Cen...

Low numbers of both GVW and Orange-tip around my patch this spring. Not seen a summer brood GVW yet. Sorry Neil, I wanted to cheer you up. The summer brood of Green-veined White emerged today here in Baddow Meads: 2024.07.01 Green-veined White Meadgate Fields.jpg .... and how they did with plenty o...

It looks like Ringlets are having a good year around my patch here in the midlands but I think that is in comparison to everything else here having a poor year. My comparison is with last year, Neil, when the numbers for Ringlet were down around my local patch. I think the warm, wet weather conditi...

Highlights included sightings (after the gap between broods) of all three common White butterflies, including new male and female GVW... Oh wow, Dave, stunning Green-veined White with such dark markings :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: Site visit Meadgate Fields Open Space 30/06/2024 I popped out for ...