After setting out hopefully, with a kite swooping majestically over my house... red kite.JPG ... there was just one butterfly today and no more than ten minutes of sunshine. It wasn't easy to spot either... OT3 270424.JPG ...till that minuscule bit of sun woke it up. OT2 270424.JPG Tomorrow looks to...

Thank you, aeshna5. For such a small insect it has quite a large Wikipedia entry! A worldwide bee, apparently, featuring in studies about how species may be colonial or solitary - or in this case, both. Fascinating.

Cheers,

Dave

What about this one? There were several on the garlic mustard when I was photographing a cloud-becalmed Orange Tip nearby. Cheers,

Dave

25th April - Holly Blues. There may only have been four of them, but they seem to magically appear on the brambles early on sunny mornings when ten minutes beforehand you could swear they weren't there. Chilly mornings are good, because at a certain point they decide they'll warm up better by openi...

I thought you'd like the dandelion clock photo, Wurzel - in fact I thought of you as soon as the butterfly settled on it! :) I suppose we're only two or three weeks away from mid-May now, and the sudden rush of species emerging - it's a bad day on the Hill if you see fewer than 20... :) I shall be i...

A :mrgreen: for the Small Copper, Paul... My local bunch haven't appeared yet. :) A lot of cloud this morning (26th) in my part of the world suddenly gave way to reasonable amounts of sunshine from one o'clock onwards. However, a few things were around under the cloud earlier on - there's plenty of ...

Some early sunshine on my local patch near Heathrow, and a few more butterflies appeared - 21 with 7 species present. Among them were Holly Blues of course... HB1 250424.JPG ...and a very small female Orange Tip barely bigger than the average-sized buttercup on which she was feeding. OT2 250424.JPG ...

Cheers, Wurzel - the Hollies seem to keep going when all else fails. :) Especially when Bugboy has gone and jinxed the weather... :wink: :) I optimistically went out on 23rd April under brightish cloudy skies, but low temperatures meant nothing was flying. I resorted to that usual bad weather staple...

Speaking as a connoisseur I'd say that is a top-notch female Holly Blue, Trevor! I may have dozens of Holly Blue images, but they rarely sit on flowers for me...

Cheers,

Dave

Just one butterfly today (23rd) during the briefest of bright moments on another cool and very cloudy day: a very new male Green-veined White.Dave

Sunday 21st April was a close repeat of Saturday, but most of the sunshine was early and late, and I was unable to get out as early as I would have liked. Butterfly numbers were markedly lower today, with only 15 seen: Holly Blue 6 Speckled Wood 5 GVW 1 Red Admiral 1 Small White 1 Orange Tip 1 I sa...

That is fascinating information, Ben. It accords with my own experience of Small Tortoiseshells locally, where sightings now are almost all confined to areas next to the River Colne where the nettles remain lush all year, even in the bouts of searing heat we have had almost every summer recently. Nu...

Saturday 20th April was forecast to be a sunny morning, with cloud quickly building from the northeast by lunchtime and then clearing again towards the evening. It was going to be another rather cool day despite the sunsh :( ine (and I see that despite 5 hours of sun, it didn't get above 11 degrees...

Thank you, Chris. :) To be honest, it's surprising how rarely you actually come across butterflies being predated. It probably happens far more often than we see. Cheers, Wurzel - I do hope my local patch continues to deliver things worth seeing, as the opportunities to go further afield have been v...

Continuing chilly weather with probably less sunshine today (21st) - but both Holly Blues and Speckled Woods seem very resilient and make the most of what there is.There was not a lot else today - even the Peacocks were hiding.

Dave

The rest of your day turned out pretty well, Paul. You did well to spot that caterpillar - I'd never have seen it! Some nice Orange Tips to finish with as well.

Cheers,

Dave

Who knows, Neil - there's certainly been no shortage of spring butterflies this year. :) Cheers, Wurzel - there seems to be steady stream of new Holly Blues popping up every day despite the recent cooler weather. A bit of sunshine and they appear. :) No Grizzlies yet, though... I had a look for them...

Whereas here near Heathrow, the Met Office prediction of a sunny start with cloud building from the east by lunchtime and into the afternoon, and then clearing as sunset approached turned out to be almost 100% accurate. They overestimated the temperatures a degree or two though - it was very chilly!...

That first Hairstreak is a lovely well-marked individual, worthy of the name!

Cheers,

Dave

Thank you Trevor - that was a particularly fresh Holly Blue, and very willing to pose as well. :) I'm not entirely sure why things have been so bountiful round this way, Chris. There has been at least an hour's sunshine every day since late March (except for a couple of days), and there are certain ...