Well the weather now is not so good in these parts, low cloud and a keen easterly, fairly typical for May I guess. Butterfly sightings are few and far between again. GVW numbers still increasing ! and the Small Torts are braving the flashes of late sunshine, to make ever so brief ariel sorties. The Orange Tip is probably the most obvious candidate to track down in this inclement spell.... so armed with the sight of an eagle, I have been trying to locate and count the OT,s in my immediate area. So far I have 22 male and 6 female. And this may be the lowest female count on record. As is usual the females allways emerge a little behind the males, 1 week or so. I saw the first male 29 April ,so I would guess there wont be to much of an increase on what is here now. Is this just local to us ,or is it a little more widespread?.
In past years males have outnumbered females...but not quite so markedly, there does seem to be plenty of eggs on the Garlic Mustard....possibly the females are moving on to new areas a little more quickly, as is custom. Still no Small Cops, growing impatient.....highly envious at some of the butterflys you guys are seeing
Cheers IAC
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