I put your “umming and ahhing” shot into the Greek AI identification tool and it came back at 89% Small White Dave and they reckon anything about 85% is pretty much a sure thing :? and interestingly Large White had a higher confidence than Southern Small :shock: :roll: Still I tried :wink: Have a g...

7th October continued... Right back at the start of my walk today I was greeted at the gate by a duo of butterflies. RA-PK 071023.JPG The Red Admiral soon departed, but the Comma remained and posed for its portrait. Comma1 071023.JPG Comma2 071023.JPG A little further on was another Comma, one whic...

Seems almost incongruous to have a spanking fresh Brown Argus so late in the season, Dave. Your suite of additional brooded species is an impressive one... I was great to keep seeing new butterflies so late in the year, David. It really didn't feel like the end of the season at all. In fact, 7th Oc...

In terms of numbers seen, Commas outnumbered Small Tortoiseshells almost exactly 10:1 on my local patch in 2023 (and there were well over twice as many Peacocks as Commas). I love the variety displayed by both the hutchinsoni brood in midsummer... Comma1 230623.JPG Comma6 280623.JPG ...and the hiber...

A good way to finish off the month, David - three migratory species making the most of a warm October. On that subject (for those interested), the October weather stats for my part of the world do demonstrate this. The average daily maximum temperature was just over 18 degrees (the 1991-2020 figure ...

...I expect Red Admirals to be around during any sunny spells... Well, I spotted a Red Admiral locally in sunshine mid-afternoon today, David - but didn't get a shot. I contented myself instead with a photo of this dragonfly, of which several were flying. dragon 011123.JPG However, I reasoned I mig...

It was a great day, Trevor. Crickey Dave your 'uming and ahhing' shots are getting closer and closer :shock: :D If that had been taken in Corfu I might have gone for that as SSW :wink: :D Great to see the fresh-ish looking Brown Argus 8) :D Wurzel I only post these shots of Small Whites to get you s...

The image below popped up on my ' facebook memories ' this morning. A reminder of a fabulous few days at Strumpshaw Fen. 6.2019. I seem to remember bumping into you up there, Trevor, and spending some while with a Swallowtail that you christened "Nicky". A very good day as I recall... :) ...

Well, October finished with a bit of a minor flourish today on my local patch. As on almost every day recently it was a question of grabbing the brief sunny spell by the throat and getting out there, hoping that any remaining butterflies had the same idea. I managed to find six, with five species re...

4th October was almost a repeat of the 3rd, though it was a bit warmer. Once again there were around 50 butterflies seen, but with ten species represented today. Here is the league table: Red Admiral 21 Common Blue 6 Speckled Wood 6 Small White 6 Brown Argus 3 Comma 3 Small Copper 2 Holly Blue 1 La...

Looks like the Scilly Isles is the place to be at the moment with 2 more very fresh American Painted Ladies in recent days. Personally I find it hard to believe a glut of very fresh vagrants turning up close together via a crossing so my moneys on either a release or a successful breeding from an e...

On the edge of a pool of sunshine this morning (30th) - it looked much sunnier a few miles to the north... :( However, it was bright and warm enough for a female Red Admiral to continue laying her load of eggs on the abundant young nettles on my local patch. In the first shot you can see her abdomen...

Interesting statistics, Dave. Certainly, September has become far warmer than it was in my youth (as have October & November). Surprising that July and August are actually cooler (or am I misreading things)? No, you're quite right, David. The Met Office say that as far as they can tell, this is...

You've found some very vibrant, late season, Small Coppers Dave. You mention Clouded Yellows. I was fortunate to see two at the Worthing ' Hot spot ', and that was it! none since. Look forward to your shots from Oct 8th at Lancing, what a day! Trevor. The Coppers continued to perform right through ...

I went even longer than you without a Clouded Yellow sighting, Wurzel, and was resigning myself to either the long drive down to Boscombe or to a tricky spot in Sussex with the real possibility that the weather would make either trip a washout. Then a miracle happened, and I was out yesterday on my ...

Cheating to have two goes at this perhaps, but I overlooked the fact that Aston Rowant was heaving with this species in July. Here's a couple from that Chiltern location seen on 19th of that month: BA2 190723.JPG BA1 190723.JPG The second one is ab. snelleni , with white around the forewing spots, a...

In the end, 1st October wasn't anything to write home about. It was warm enough (22 degrees isn't bad for the time of year) but lacked the important late season ingredient of sunshine. I only found a handful of butterflies of just four species today. The lack of Red Admirals after the previous days ...

Before moving into October (and the erroneous feeling that I'm catching up with things), here's a quick overview of September. As was widely highlighted in the news, September 2023 was exceptional weatherwise, especially in the south of the UK. It was the second warmest month after June, beating bot...

Another brief window of sunshine today (28th), this time between heavy showers. I took the opportunity to head out locally once again and was rewarded with something I'd waited all summer to see. To start off, the first Red Admiral I saw was newly emerged and still slightly floppy of wing. RA1 28102...

Cheers, Wurzel. Interesting info about the Coppers. :) 29th and 30th September were reasonably warm and largely sunny days - still more like summer than a month into autumn. On both days I found around 50 butterflies or so, but the large increase was attributable in no small part to a sudden upsurge...