I think we need Butterfly Conservation to have breeding programmes for all our species. It is no good saving Large Blue and Chequered Skipper if we have lost most of our common butterflies such as Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange Tip, Meadow Brown, Small Heath, Wall, Ringlet, Sm...

A breezy morning doing a Marsh Fritillary larval web survey. Numbers are down this year, but not by much, so at least one species seems to be faring ok in this dreadful year! Interestingly, the main colony uses Devil's-bit Scabious, but has managed to reach some chalk scrapes where it is using Small...

Do you have a photo, since the first two sets of photos appear to be of the same individual?

Cheers,

- Pete

How totally bizarre - given the condition of its wings it couldn’t have been old age!

Well done on finding the eggs - this species seems to have crashed at some sites this year

Cheers,

- Pete

Sunday 18th, Pembroke Coastal Path, nr. Little Haven: American Painted Lady 1 I bet that got the heart racing! Of course, as with all rarities, there's the usual comments regarding the origin, especially when the initial sighting suggested more than one adult in the area. And the usual plethora of ...

Great report (and reports!), Pete - thanks so much for sharing.

Cheers,

- Pete

It's that time of year again! Every year or so, it is necessary to prune the number of files on UKB to remain under a hard 300,000 file limit (this is an IT limit common among web hosting providers, which is a constraint imposed by the underlying operating system). Exceeding this number leads to the...

David M wrote: ↑Sat Aug 10, 2024 11:31 am I saw my first mating pair of Wood Whites this spring and there didn't seem to be any real preamble, although the male spotted the female in the air and they paired up soon after alighting.

Great stuff, Buggy! Whoever manages to capture the actual moment of copulation in Wood White deserves a medal. I genuinely wonder if all of the shenanigans with the tongue-flicking and head movements by the male is actually conducted during a mating! From what I've read, the female succumbs quite re...

Fantastic, Dave! I've been waiting for Holly Blue to show up in my garden ... lots of Ivy buds, but currently a "no show"

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Sylvie, That depends very much on the species, and understanding their life cycle and ecology. Taking White Admiral as an example, then if you know a wood where they fly, then revisiting at this time of year and looking for eggs and larvae on Honeysuckle growing in the right conditions isn't as d...

I've had an interesting week or so, with it coming up for surveys of various species, not least White Admiral based on larval searches. I'm now in my second decade of such a 'hobby' and, while this may sounds deadly dull, is surprisingly good fun, especially if you find what you're looking for in ne...

birdingprof wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 6:42 pm Saw this Small Copper today at Cavenham Heath, Suffolk. Is it a known aberration? Very blue underwing.

IMG_2702.jpeg

It looks perfectly normal to me! When you say "underwing" do you mean the hindwing, or the underside?

Cheers,

- Pete

What on earth is a "nudum"?

Cheers,

- Pete

Roger Gibbons wrote: ↑Wed Jul 31, 2024 11:14 pm Given that we had found it there, I could crack a joke in my primitive French – dispar n’a pas disparu. I guess you had to be there.

Cheers,

- Pete

Denbies seems to be particularly 'blessed' with aberrations of both Adonis and Chalk Hill Blues, year on year. I believe that most of these are temperature related, although I did find a 'mosaic' gynandromorph Chalk Hill once too (although is a one-off genetic aberration). I wonder if the slopes get...

What a great photo, Katrina, and tale of the camaraderie that we sometimes experience in the butterfly community!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks for these insightful posts, Roger. It's amazing how, on the continent, it seems possible to simply go off the beaten track (with a few known sites/areas thrown in) and simply find some very interesting species (with the help of records available online to target rich areas). It (almost) makes...

Thanks Allan - how on earth did I miss this? Anyway, list updated.

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Rich!

It was really interesting to watch a Brimstone fly 'into' a garden Acer this morning to get out of the sun, it would seem. On closer inspection, I found another two on the same bush! They all eventually flew off after their sojourn!
Cheers,

- Pete