February 2017

[NickMorgan]

I had a report yesterday that 5 Peacocks had been seen on a path south of North Berwick Law. It is a sunny spot with a wall along-side the path. It was lovely and sunny yesterday with temperatures reaching 12 degrees, so I wasn't surprised to hear about a butterfly flying, but it was surprising to hear of five on a short stretch of path.

[Testudo Man]

The 1st butterfly sighting for me this year today

Whilst connecting with my 3rd location/sighting of Waxwings this Winter, i saw a Red Admiral in flight, around lunch time today.
The butterfly flew around me, then flew off into the distance. I was near a churchyard, on a path, next to apple orchards.
A lucky sighting for sure, because soon after this, the clouds rolled in, the temps dropped, an the wind increased some.
Unfortunately no photos of the butterfly, but plenty of long range shots of the flock of 30+ Waxwings, who were rather "flighty", but did descend down to feed on some over ripe apples.

Location - East Malling Research Station, Kent.

Cheers Paul.

[badgerbob]

More on my PD but Wall Brown larva numbers are looking good so far this year since my first sighting on 7/1/2017.

Wall Brown larva 4/2/2017.

[Scott Barron]

Single Small Tortoiseshell flying through a garden today at Longrock, nr Penzance, West Cornwall.

[aeshna5]

Red Admiral midday yesterday in the sunshine. It flew from the side of a building that was having the long ivy branches cut back from it, so was probably disturbed but also warmed by the sun +it flew strongly. Certainly the warmest day in a long time.

[Lee Hurrell]

My sister reports a Red Admiral at Woking Garden Centre today.

[millerd]

Six butterflies of three species seen today on my local patch near Heathrow.
/viewtopic.php?t=6157&start=1420#p116927

Dave

[Greenie]

After seeing a Peacock during the early days of January , managed a second species today , a male Brimstone just before noon

below Keston village , Kent .

[David M]

Some very welcome activity seems to be happening right now. I hope at least one person is living in the area where temperatures are expected to reach 17c on Monday!

[Allan.W.]

Had a couple of hours spare this afternoon, so decided on a trip to my local woods (Orlestone forest Kent ). Since my last visit
about 5 weeks ago,the gateways have been moved right out to the road edge,and new metal gateways installed, making parking a bit awkward ,but hopefully it may stop the half wits ! that think its fine to flytip a ton of rubbish in the gateway ! mind you that said,i noticed later on my way home that there was a huge pile of junk in the gateway opposite the stables up the road !! Anyway,back to the wood ! Was hopeful of perhaps a butterfly or two ,and wasn,t disappointed,after about 40 minutes ,I found a male Brimstone,sitting on some leaf litter ,quivering its wings
in the sunshine,it kept me company for about 10 minutes before getting up and dissappearing over the treetops, also of interest were 5 Buzzards calling loudly and displaying , quite a site ! Regards Allan.W

[David M]

My first butterfly of 2017, although it took some patience!

Recent mild February temperatures have generally seen cloud cover here in south Wales, but today the cloud evaporated just after 2pm and it hit 13c, which, combined with light winds, made it seem more like mid-April.

After an unproductive half hour at Limeslade Bay on the SE Gower coast, I made the trip to Dan-y-graig cemetery in Port Tennant, which is a sheltered, south facing spot at the base of Kilvey Hill.

The office building just inside the cemetery has an array of crocuses planted outside, and it was here that I saw a solitary Red Admiral just after 3pm:

Sadly, the butterfly was 'hovering' rather than nectaring, and promptly flew away above the roof of the office before I could get an image.

I walked around the vicinity for half an hour or so but never saw it come back, but given the conditions, I was not at all surprised that it was there.

The season has begun!!!

[maverick]

Well it's not a butterfly but a very large bumblebee visited my Warrington garden today ,it enjoyed nectering on the crocus and myself and daughter enjoyed watching it. The frogs are also very active not long now spring is just around the corner

[Philzoid]

A trip out to London Wildfowl Wetlands centre at Barnes with my daughter turned up more expected. We took up a seat behind the large central window of the Wader scrape hide expecting to see (more) Shoveler; Teal; Wigeon and Gadwall but instead got a very pleasant surprise: - a near pristine Red Admiral, my first butterfly sighting of 2017 . The butterfly was showing interest in the sprouts of nettle poking through the ground, perhaps assessing the patch for oviposition later. Unfortunately for it, the nettles will likely be strimmed back as their growth will interfere with the viewing of the lake.
After a walkabout in the nettles the butterfly spread its wings to face the sun and warm up, side on to me and therefore no further photos were to be had. Nevertheless it still attracted some attention from the birders in the hide. It was still in this position when we left 10 minutes later.

Phil

[Lee Hurrell]

Nice to see a few sightings reported after the warmth and sunshine!

I still haven't broken my February duck, but my sister had another Red Admiral on Sunday, in her Aldershot garden this time.

Lee

[Vince Massimo]

Spectacularly off the mark today despite a cloudy start. The sun popped out for an hour or so around midday while on a local walk in Tilgate Park, Crawley. The first sighting was of a male Brimstone which led my eye to a basking Red Admiral which then joined five others nectaring on a Daphne bush.

5 Red Admirals - Crawley, Sussex 20-Feb-2017

The butterflies were also nectaring on the under-planting of Sweet Box (Sarcococca confusa)

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 20-Feb-2017

Two further Red Admirals were later seen nearby making a grand total of 8.
In the sunshine the temperature reached around 17C.

Vince

[Greenie]

Before the blue skies returned to cloud in the afternoon , 4 male Brimstone .

2 up on Hayes Common ( and a Com.Lizard ) and the other 2 in our West Wickham , Kent back garden , some couple of miles away .

[David M]

Spectacularly off the mark today despite a cloudy start. The sun popped out for an hour or so around midday while on a local walk in Tilgate Park, Crawley. The first sighting was of a male Brimstone which led my eye to a basking Red Admiral which then joined five others nectaring on a Daphne bush.

Two further Red Admirals were later seen nearby making a grand total of 8.
In the sunshine the temperature reached around 17C.

You lucky so and so, Vince. I suspected at least one UKB member would get to experience the phenomenon of 17c in mid-February and that return of 5 Red Admirals within a narrow range of your camera lens is highly impressive (would be hard to achieve in August).

[Neil Freeman]

Some great sightings recently...Vince's group of Red Admirals has to take the prize so far

I have to say though, that sitting here in the midlands I am slightly bemused and more than a little envious of the assumption of the more southern based members that butterflies will be seen in February. Apart from the odd disturbed hibernator, which is very much the exception, I have never seen a butterfly earlier than mid March...with late March being usual for the season to start in these parts.

Whenever it starts, lets hope this season is better than last year.

Neil.

[Vince Massimo]

You lucky so and so, Vince. I suspected at least one UKB member would get to experience the phenomenon of 17c in mid-February and that return of 5 Red Admirals within a narrow range of your camera lens is highly impressive (would be hard to achieve in August).

David, it was certainly a fortunate chain of events that led me to find the Red Admirals, except that I had no camera at the time. Given the local forecast for the day and the state of the sky when I left the house at 10am, there should have been no need for one. So when the sky cleared around midday and I discovered the butterflies, I had to jog for a mile to home and hope that the sun was still out when I (sort of) jogged back. Fortunately my luck (and my knees) held.

Some great sightings recently...Vince's group of Red Admirals has to take the prize so far

I have to say though, that sitting here in the midlands I am slightly bemused and more than a little envious of the assumption of the more southern based members that butterflies will be seen in February. Apart from the odd disturbed hibernator, which is very much the exception, I have never seen a butterfly earlier than mid March...with late March being usual for the season to start in these parts.Neil.

Neil, it sometimes concerns me when I see early butterflies using up their precious energy reserves and I would happily wait until March for my first sighting. However on this occasion there was lots of nectar available and the spectacle will live long in my memory. I'm glad I managed to capture the moment.

Vince

[Steve W]

Red admiral yesterday in Nottinghamshire. Never seen one here this early before amongst the snowdrops and crocuses

Steve