Anyone who's observed Clouded Yellows coming in from the English Channel at places like Budleigh Salterton would find flaws in that account. Better still, if anyone has chased a resolutely migrating Clouded Yellow for a mile or so before giving up exhausted ~ as I did sometimes in my youth ... :)......

Well done! let us know what happens later this summer. RESULT. On a late afternoon fleeting visit to my field two days ago, a flash of bright yellow a few metres up in a sapling Oak caught my eye. A closer view revealed a freshly emerged male Brimstone. The butterfly was only a few metres away from...

Interesting responses folks. It is a very complex subject. I added my comments to try and maybe enlighten the hard core of "anti-net folks" that carrying one in the field it is not necessarily a bad thing. Unless one is really lucky, it would be difficult to net many female PEs. One or two...

. By all accounts trying to pair captive PE is a pretty gruesome affair which can involve mutilating the insects to get them to stay paired :evil: . Then you have been viewing the wrong accounts. Captive paired Apaturinae stay together for 1.75 to 2.5 hours before seperating. Seperation before that...

Following a disappointing visit to one of my favourite Gloucestershire woodlands, I called in at my own mini nature reserve on the way home. I saw a flash of bright yellow soon after arrival and getting closer, located a freshly emerged male Brimstone about four metres up in a young oak :~ http://im...

Yes all the Elms I planted out, including one or two stunted by being kept in pots for over ten years are doing very well. Sad to observe that despite being established there for several years, my Celtis species are not thriving in that part of west Gloucestershire where I've planted them. The exact...

Enjoyed seeing those Sparrow Hawk pictures. Thanks for putting them up. I occasionally get one in or through our garden and have seen them take Blackbirds now and again. Next day, there's another Blackbird in place of the lost one the previous day..... every time. Now retired for two years, I spend ...

Following a morning of incessant rain, bright sunshine appeared about 3.30 this afternoon with large gaps of blue in the clearing clouds. Took the opportunity to check my property and it was still sunny although a strong gusting wind when I arrived. Pleased to see a good number of Meadow Browns and ...

I have several species of Elm ( Ulmus ) and close relative Celtis in my mini Nature Reserve. A few acres of unused farmland I bought over twenty years ago. English Elms have probably always been present in the hedge there. Suckers come up every years and succumb when they approach maturity. Suckers ...

Something sadly now lacking in the former green and pleasant. A few years ago, I planted a small sapling Purging Buckthorn in a shady part of my own little nature reserve I've been maintaining for a couple of decades now. During springtime over the years, I would see the odd female Brimstone passing...

Although I have not bred this species for what, over forty years now, I have a small series of bred specimens from Broads Stock, Mainland Europe and the Japanese race hippocrates, the latter which on average is slightly larger than the others. So the two extremes of this specie's worldwide range are...

http://www.guypadfield.com/images2012/britannicusgorganus.jpg To my eyes, those two examples appear to be one of each sex, which in my experience of both those from the Broads and Mainland Europe will further confuse the issue. Worn or faded wild examples will further cloud things from the 'sub' sp...

Antennae deployment in flight. In one of those million to one chance observations, I was in a Gloucestershire Wood many moons ago when a White Admiral flew directly over my head in a slow flat winged glide less than 50cm above my eyes. I distinctly saw it drop its left antenna and immediately peel o...

Found this little Pug having a ten minute drink from a drop of water on the side of the hand basin in my bathroom :~ http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v465/MGJohn/Various30thMay2012004.jpg Looking closely, you can see the moth's proboscis in the drop of water. The superb continuous clear blue skies ...

I was in the Brecon Beacons today, walking up Craig Cerrig Gleisiad, hoping to see Ring Ouzels. Heard birds calling twice but couldn`t get a sighting. BUT I did see Green veined White, at least 2 male Orange Tips ( on Cuckoo flower ) and at least 5 sightings ( possibly the same individual ) of a la...

If your Pussy Willow ( Salix Species ) does not attract many Bees, Butterflies or Moths, maybe because they are female trees. The bright yellow Catkins are the male trees and it's they which have a greater attraction than the grey or silver female Catkins.

Freshly emerged Speckled Wood female in my garden this morning. On my garage wall wings still limp and yet to take its first flight. A week or so ago, one metre away from today's observation was another freshly emerged female. The males have been about in my garden for several weeks all sparring for...

You are so right Gibster. I briefly joined a Norfolk group but after seeing many posts along these lines: With the greatest respect: it's only a Black-throated Diver! You either saw it or you didn't: no-one else is really bothered either way! They were condescending in the extreme and only ever see...

Beautiful trees. One of my favourites. As a schoolboy in the 1950s I searched the lower branches of these fine trees and located several pupae of the Hairstreak. Those branches were the only ones I could reach. My friend and I located a good few pupae. There must have been many more out of reach hig...

I saw my first male Chalkhill Blue back in 1952 when I was only ten years old up on Painswick Beacon. A local beauty spot in Gloucestershire which as I write this, I can see from an upstairs bedroom window as it is only three miles away as the butterfly flies. To my eyes, the male in flight appears ...