My only audience with this delightful butterfly was at Pound Wood in Essex after seeing the WLH nearby at Hadleigh CP on 26th June. The sun was in most of the time, but each time it broke through, the clearing came alive with dancing orange and brown butterflies. Here are two of them, the first sitt...

One of the first I came across this year comes straight to mind. I was at Incombe Hole on the Chilterns on a sunny but chilly May morning and had spotted one or two Grizzlies darting around, but none stopped nearby. I was taking a break from gently wandering up and down the sheltered path along the ...

You remembered your password, Susie!

It was indeed a most enjoyable afternoon - excellent to see you all again.

Cheers,

Dave

Cheera, Wurzel - it's always nice to know the knack hasn't gone away! :) The conditions during these few October days must have suited the Holly Blues, David, as there were a few more to come. 21st October was much the same as the previous days - warm and mostly cloudy. Once again, I spotted a brief...

20th October was very similar to 19th - warm, but largely cloudy. However, I tried to time my walk with the brighter parts of the day, and once again found five species - though not the same ones, as the two whites had been replaced by Brown Argus and Common Blue. BA1 201023.JPG BA2 201023.JPG CB1 ...

19th October : despite the warmth, I could only find six butterflies of five species. One of these was notable for being the last Large White I saw in 2023, and it was difficult to record the event in the gloom. LW1 191023.JPG I managed to catch up with a familiar Small Copper - identifiable by a h...

Yes, at this end of the season, sunshine is by far the most important factor, David. I next went out on 17th October , when it was warmer (16 degrees) but not as sunny. I think what sunshine there was came at the wrong time of the day too, as I only found four species. Curiously, I saw four Brown Ar...

Looking locally... Definite winners mirror what has been mentioned already: Red Admirals in large numbers especially on their northward migration, but also significantly on their return (though this was more drawn out). Peacocks were in really good numbers too - treble figures reached on one day, wh...

I made two trips to Hutchinson's Bank this year, and both times found the Glanvilles being ignored by most folk because of other butterflies (Marsh Frits in May and BVW in June). It was good not to have to compete for space for a change. My favourite is probably this shot from the June visit. GF3 04...

I didn't end up seeing many of this species in 2023, but this one at Chobham Common in Surrey rates as one of my all-time favourite Grayling shots. Dave

Having seen a fair few of the species in various places around southern England, in the end I selected this individual from 14th May at Aston Rowant.When engrossed in nectaring like this (in common with other hairstreaks), they are really easy to approach closely.

Dave

I reckon it won't be long before we start to see UK-grown figs in the shops in the autumn. A single mature tree can produce a huge number of fruit (I'm calling them fruit, Wurzel, whatever they may technically be... :wink: :) ). They really are very tasty too, and you can eat the whole thing. I didn...

It sounds like the Silver-spots didn't do very well anywhere this year, Paul. Even double figures is pretty good going. :) Malling Down is somewhere I've driven past (and under!) many times and not visited - shame on me, particularly as it has always fascinated me as being the site of the UK's worst...

14th October was seven degrees cooler at 14 degrees, but there were six hours of sunshine (as well as the odd shower). It made quite a difference: 35 butterflies today, with seven species represented. The new-looking Common Blues of the previous day had been joined by a selection of far more ragged...

Cheers, Wurzel - the Red Admiral underside is a true work of art and always worth a photo or three. :) Thank you, Goldie. :) Not a bad day for October at all, David, especially as that total didn't include a single Holly Blue! Unsurprisingly, daily species counts then started to decline. The next da...

After another chilly, grey and damp day yesterday and more heavy overnight rain, things cleared to a warm, sunny (but very windy) one today (13th). Predictably I suppose, a couple of Red Admirals were enjoying the conditions. RA2 131123.JPG RA1 131123.JPG They really do seem to revel in warm windy w...

Though as usual the Essex Skippers outnumbered the Smalls on my local patch (and emerged and then finished a week later than them - both had a season lasting not much more than a month this year), and numbers weren't too bad either, my favourite butterflies came from Hadleigh Country Park in their E...

....the less confident I became that it was me doing the watching! Wurzel Yep, you're definitely the one under surveillance there, Wurzel! :) I had fewer than usual encounters with the Dukes than usual this year, missing out on some of my trips to Chiltern locations. However, I did manage an outing...

This species had a decent season on my local patch, with the typical meteoric rise from single figures to dozens at the start of July, a peak in late July when I could easily count a hundred or so - and then fizzling out completely by the end of August. I have to remember to seek them out early in t...

After such a bountiful spell, 11th and 12th October recorded no sunshine at all locally. Though it scraped up to 20 degrees on 11th, it only reached 16 on 12th: I did venture out on the first day, but it really wasn't worth it on the second one. There were a handful of butterflies under the brighter...