April Butterflies

[Matsukaze]

Just four butterflies today on New Hill in the Poldens, but they included the first Orange-tip and Speckled Wood I have seen this year.

[Charles Nicol]

les tips sont arrivés

also the white which at first i thought was a female orange tip

charles

[Perseus]

Is it a Small White? I have this quite often with both Green-veined Whites and Small Whites landing on Garlic Mustard.

[Jack Harrison]

22 April, Cambridgeshire.
Temperature a mere 13 degrees, chilly wind, so the few butterflies seen were exploiting the microclimate near a hedge. About half a dozen Peacocks seen and they showed a marked liking for dead grass on which to keep warm but did occasionally perch, albeit briefly, on growing foliage.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Is it a Small White? I have this quite often with both Green-veined Whites and Small Whites landing on Garlic Mustard.

I'm pretty sure it's a Green-veined White. One of the clues is that the black border is running vertically down the forewing, whereas it's more horizontal in the Small White. I have to say, though, that this is a very pale individual!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Similar example of GV White photographed 10the April. I managed to get a view (but no photo) of underside to confirm the i/d.

Jack

[Charles Nicol]

Is it a Small White? I have this quite often with both Green-veined Whites and Small Whites landing on Garlic Mustard.

I'm pretty sure it's a Green-veined White. One of the clues is that the black border is running vertically down the forewing, whereas it's more horizontal in the Small White. I have to say, though, that this is a very pale individual!

Cheers,

- Pete

thanks guys for the id. at first i thought it was an orange tip... because it engaged in a prolonged mating-type flight with a male orange tip. i glimpsed the underside & it was just white without the elaborate orange tip patterning.

charles

[Perseus]

Hello,

22 April 2008
Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex
My first Holly Blue Butterfly of the year was seen in the twitten from Victoria Road to Ropetackle at the eastern end by the main road. Small Whites were frequent over the allotments and Large Whites were occasionally seen. A Peacock Butterfly fluttered over the eastern bank of the River Adur, at high tide, on the side opposite Shoreham Airport. Two male Orange-tip Butterflies fluttered over the verges of the Waterworks Road, settling very briefly (for between 1 and 5 seconds) on the small blue flowers of Green Alkanet.
Five species in Shoreham town and outskirts on passage

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2008.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2007.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2008
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2008.html

Adur Valley & Downs Gallery
http://www.flickr.com/groups/adur/pool/

[Perseus]

Identifed by the underside (photograph below) as a Small White



http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2008.html

[Padfield]

Just a quick addendum to the small white/green-veined white question. The way the apical black breaks into little triangles down the outer margin is absolutely characteristic and diagnostic for green-veined white, even if you don't get a glimpse of the underside. It never does this in small white (though may appear to do so in southern small white, which doesn't fly in the UK of course). Also, the dark never extends down the outer margin as far as s.4 in small white (again, that is a feature used further south to distinguish small white and southern small white).

The black triangles thing is very useful when you only get bad views of the upperside, perhaps from a distance.

Guy

[Perseus]

Now I have the pictures side by side, I have yours down as a GV White. At the beginning of the season, my eye is not in properly.

[ianc]

Hi! all,
Two wonderful things happened up here in Cumbria today, the first was sunshine and warmth 18deg, the second was my first butterflies of the season, 2 Peacock and 2 Small Tortoiseshell,
The temperatures have increased from 5deg to 18degs over the last 2 days, but will it continue?
Ian

[roundwood123]

Lovely weather in Essex today which produced 9 butterflies, Large Whites, Red Admiral, Peacock and my first Brimstone of the year.
None of them hung around for a picture though.

[FlyByWire]

Yay! Warm weather at last! 25 Peacocks, 2 Holly Blues, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Comma, 1 Suspected Female Brimstone (not 100%), and 1 Male Orange Tip at Horsenden Hill, TQ18. My first 'bonanza' of the year (considering the location is suburban).

Pics at http://piccies.flybywire.org.uk/Butterf ... index.html

I had no idea that Orange Tips liked Bluebells before today!

-Mike

[Dave McCormick]

Good weather: yesterday: 3 peacocks, 5 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 suspected wood white (looked like one, but was not close enought to see it properly)

[eccles]

After a couple of fits and starts a couple of weeks ago, speckled woods were out in force in Willsbridge, my local patch, this morning. Also seen were two brimstone females, brimstone male, orange tip male and lots of peacocks.
I visited Tucking Mill this afternoon with Denise, looking for grizzled skippers, and we found precisely none, so it's still a bit early for the western population. We did spot a weasel and a kestrel.
Here's one of the nice fresh specklies.

2008_04_23_speckled_wood.jpg (125.25 KiB) Viewed 903 times