Wurzel

[bugboy]

On two butterflies for the year - just seen my second Red Admiral flying over the roundabout. Better check out Five Rivers this afternoon!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Looks like today was the day of the Red Admiral, saw one too at work

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor Glad you're off the mark as I predicted
Cheers Bugboy Perhaps they're all using the same letting agent for hibernation suites and today they all got evicted?

The Whites

8 Wood White, 22-05-2016 Botany Bay

For the second successive year I managed to make it to Botany Bay for Wood Whites. However there is no real way that I can make any comparative statements about how well they did this year as I made the trip much earlier and so caught the first brood. This also negated any idea of whether they emerged earlier or later.

As Philzoid and I walked along the paths all was quiet. We rounded the corner and worked our way down the hill and towards the little bridge and from where there were none Wood Whites just appeared as if evaporating from the grass, eerily materialising like spectres. There were certainly more around this year compared to last though I seem to recall reading that the first brood is generally larger in number? However compared to my very first visit four years ago (also during the first brood) they did seem scarcer, the odd few here and there along the main track and in the triangle and not the rolling, fighting menage a trois’s previously encountered.

9 Brimstone, 11-03-2016 Work

Brimstones seemed to have a fairly unremarkable year in 2016. I saw my first about week earlier than in 2015 but despite that they seemed to be around in their usual density and at the usual sites. The danger is that as they are so common unless there is a drastic decrease they could end up in trouble before we pay attention…

10 Large White, 20-04-2016 Vera Jones

My first Large White of the year came 3 weeks earlier this year and I took it as a positive omen and it indeed seemed to be the case. Not only did I encounter them at many more sites and also across the usual range of sites but instead of one here and there they were in good numbers. Last year I think I saw only about 5 or 6 all year, this year at one site I saw that on one visit! A definite upturn in fortune and hopefully it will continue and they’ll get back to pre-crash numbers soon.

11 Small White, 12-04-2016 Work

This species didn’t follow the same pattern as its larger cousin. For a start there was about a fortnights difference between when I first saw it this year compared to last. Also my general feeling was that there weren’t quite as many as in recent years – although this is only a gut feeling, nothing more substantive.

12 Green-veined White, 29-04-2016 Vera Jones Mill

This species was also affected by the late showing put in by spring, again by about a fortnight. This tardy start to the season however seemed to be beneficial for this species as nationally it increased by 58% (Waitrose Weekend, 20-10-2016). A species after my own heart this – it likes and functions better after a bit of a lie-in! They did take a while to get going (again like me) but subsequent broods did better and better. Any qualms over the Small Whites were salved by the GVW which from personal experience had a very good year. I’m still slightly concerned though – is this bounce back temporary, will they get back to a similar population density as in by gone years?

13 Orange-tip, 19-04-2016 Pewsey

For me this was probably my best ever year for Orange-tips. I’d finally found a site with plentiful Cuckoo Flower and damp woodland rides that meant that seeing Orange-tips finally became easy. Previously I’d relied on my garden (since moved) or a little stretch of road with very steep banks on my way home (tricky for photography). Now however I have Fenland and boardwalks so the nectar sources are at knee height.
Nationally this species seemed a bit patchy. So on the UKB boards some people were worried others were seeing plenty, luckily my personal observations placed me in the latter camp. I was worried for a while as my first came 12 days later in 2016 plus others had been seeing them for a while before me. That was until I checked out my new site and it paid dividends.

14 Clouded Yellow, 17-08-2016 Martin Down

Unfortunately I have no comparative data for this species as last year I didn’t see one despite being in the what should have been the right places at the right times. I almost didn’t see them this year and thought that I spied a pattern in my yearly observations…In 2012 I saw Wood Whites but not a Cloudy, 2013 and 2014 Clouded Yellow but no Wood White, 2015 Wood White and no Clouded Yellow…and this year? Well I saw both, phew!
It wasn’t really a vintage year for Cloudies but I managed to get onto 3 in total, all from Martin Down, my first on one day and the other two on my penultimate trip out. My first at Martin Down was along Bokerley Ditch near my favourite hotspot. I’ve found a Cloudy in roughly the same place on three successive occasions. Whether this is due to the habitat being just right or some form of genetic memory I’m not sure. Either way I need to remember the frequency with which I’ve found the species here during my visits to Martin Down this season!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

The tale of 2017 so far…

I was lucky enough to break my duck on Tuesday 7th February. I was loading my box of marking into my car ready to head homewards when a dark ‘leaf’ made its way towards me, only as it grew closer I could see that it wasn’t a leaf but it was my first butterfly of the year, a Red Admiral. One of my final butterfly sightings (or was it the last one?) of 2016 was of a Red Admiral during the school Remembrance service which was only 8 steps away from where I was parked. What were the chances that my first butterfly were also my last from last season?

This spurred me on and on the first day of the half term with a sunny and warmish (almost into double figures) forecast actually panning out I took little L out for a trip to Five Rivers in between her various dancing exams. We didn’t see any butterflies although little L assures me that she did “you just missed it daddy, honest” but the signs were good with Celandine like flowers bursting from their buds and nettles poking their heads through the soil on the Banks.

Little L took this...

Following my second sighting on 16th Feb, another Red Admiral flew across my line of sight whilst I was waiting at traffic lights, I again headed out. This time the forecast was wrong and the sun only poked through the clouds very briefly and a cold breeze ran along the Banks. The nettles seemed noticeably taller after only a few days and I found interest in some unusual fungi on the walk back without seeing further butterflies.

Today was my Birthday and I had to go into work during my holiday so I felt that I was owed a butterfly. At lunch between finishing up the Chemistry and preparing for the Physics session I grabbed my camera and took my usual ‘early route’ at the back of the school along the tiny pathway. On the way there were the occasional riots of colour from Crocci and more subtle reminders that there are certainly nectar sources around like the small clumps of Snowdrops. I got to the end of the route with not a sightings and so started to make my way back. Something moved. I managed to follow it with my eyes…it was a butterfly and it had gone down on the path…I edged towards it as quickly as I could not wanting it to put it up again but not wanting to miss it if it decided to push off of its own accord. I was within luck as at the moment the cloud hide the sun, the temperature dropped so I could approach it relatively easily. It was my first Small Tortoiseshell (and the first for Wiltshire) of 2017 – a great B’Day pressie! I even got a few shots so my season has now properly started, although the wing trembling it was doing to keep itself warm meant that those shots were difficult to get into focus. Still can’t complain – as I’m on 2 for the year…

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Wow, what's this I see before my eye's, a Wurzel post from the same day it occured you feeling ok

Looks like you had a good birthday, can't be often you see a native butterfly on this day

[millerd]

Happy Birthday, Wurzel - great to celebrate with a Small Tortoiseshell!

Dave

[trevor]

Congrats. from me too. That Small Tortoiseshell is a great find.
I'm taking the Kiddies back to Great Cheverell tomorrow, so hopefully Wiltshire
will provide my first Butterfly shot of the year. I'm getting left behind !.

Thanks for the prompt report ( new years resolution ? ) .
Trevor.

[Goldie M]

Happy Birthday Wurzel, you could see even more Butterflies in the next few days if the weather men are right Goldie

[Pete Eeles]

Happy Birthday for yesterday, Wurzel!

Cheers,

- Pete

[MikeOxon]

Your Small Tort looks decidedly lop-sided in the photos, Wurzel. I was wondering if it might be a bilateral gynandromorph?

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

Belated Birthday wishes and great to see you got a pressie of a Small Tortoiseshell

Just catching up on your round-ups of last year...great comments and interesting to compare with my experiences, most broadly similar although for me there were definitely fewer Orange-tips around my patch.

Cheers,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Cheers Bugboy and Trevor It was kind of a resolution but mainly it was because I was on half-term break and as I'd spent a good three hours everyday of the holiday catching up with marking and planning and I'd gone in for a day as well I treated myself as a reward by NOT TAKING ANY WORK HOME FOR THE WEEKEND This was probably the only time I have ever done this and I found that I had so much more time It was actually a little scary
Cheers Dave Thanks for the heads up about the Wisley photo board - I've told everyone about it! I don't know how many will make the pilgramage to see it?
Cheers Goldie Unfortunately the weathermen did get it right but I'm too far West, so instead of warmth and sunshine I got mild and cloud Oh well it's still very, very early in the season
Cheers Pete Another year older, another year closer to retirement and plenty of time for butterflying
Cheers Mike I didn't know if it was just the angle that I took it at but like you I also noticed that one side did seem smaller than the other...I think I'll have to wait to see if anyone else picks up on it
Cheers Neil The OT's did seem to be a bit patchy last year, hopefully we'll have a reasonable April this year and so they'll be a bit more evenly distributed.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, I'd like to say THANK YOU, for all the Favourite Butterfly posts, I looked forward to putting at least one or two shots in every week, looking through the various photos and sorting out which to post, brought the memories back of the nice warm days and helped also to plan by reading other posts some of the places to go this year.
Nothing seen here yet all we've had so far is rain for the last four days and with Doris expected tomorrow it sounds like another day to stay home, at least the Daff's are nearly out, hope fully they'll still be there after tomorrow. Goldie

[millerd]

I'd like to second that thank you, Wurzel! It's the thread that gets me through the winter and has been almost perfectly timed this year with the new season kicking off as the series completed. Brilliant.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie and Dave It's all thanks to Celery for getting it started and Vince for carrying it on and then asking me to run it really, I just do my little bit and enjoy it to boot. Hopefully 2017 will be a great year, numbers will be up and we'll all have a really difficult time choosing our favourites

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

The “Aristocrats”

15 White Admiral, 02-07-2016 Bentley Wood

There is probably only one positive to the White Admiral story this year – and that is that this season I know that I need to invest much more time in finding and photographing this species. I saw my first three days earlier last year but it was a fleeting view as the butterfly cut through the air and disappeared into the canopy. I wasn’t too concerned and had high hopes but unfortunately this didn’t come to pass. True this year I was only in the correct habitat a few times and so my view may be slightly jaded but I reckon that they had an abysmal year. Even when I was in the right place at what should have been the right time they were there only as occasional fleeting views. They were so uncommon and hard to latch onto when you finally did encounter one that I didn’t get a single photo this year – not even a distant, badly cropped or slightly out of focus record shot. When one did put in an appearance it was usually high and fast and gone before you could even contemplate turning the lens on it. Terrible.

16 Purple Emperor, 17-07-2016 Bentley Wood

Another species that seemed to have a poor year. From Bentley they were about a week alter and despite checking all the usual haunts in reasonable weather I only saw two. The first came tantalisingly close to a decent grounding. Three times it landed, opened its wings and did the little walk come shuffle before finding a nice looking patch of something icky. Unfortunately each time it looked like settling the same jogger would out it up and the third time it was put up was the last I saw of it. So it seems that I’m back on the first year of the three year cycle…hopefully I’ll be able to break it this season and so I have another reason to get to Bentley much more in 2017.
I also got the impression that it wasn’t just Bentley where they were down as this year there didn’t seem to be quite as many amazing stories of buckets of butterflies from Fermyn Woods – or is that because most people have tried there and are now looking for somewhere else? There does seem to be a run on certain species; one year everyone went for Black Hairstreak, then White-letters so perhaps 2015 was the year of Pes from Fermyn Woods?

17 Red Admiral, 15-05-2016 Marshie Site

It took a while longer to see my first in 2016 than it did in 2015 but actually despite what seemed like a difficult start they actually seemed to have a reasonable year. They were present at all the usual sites that I would expect to see them and those present in July whilst searching for Purple Emperors certainly seemed slightly more numerous. They also seemed to disappear earlier and I only saw one in November, on Remembrance day when it flew by in its very appropriate livery. This is surely a good thing as in those years when they are still showing strong during a balmy November they are very difficult to find the next so hopefully their increase will continue.
My highlight for the species this year I have already detailed as the reason for the selection of two shots for the ‘Favourite Shot’ thread. It was my first ever sighting of an egg laying female and some of her ova.

18 Painted Lady, 03-05-2016 Vera Jones Mill

I saw my first Painted Lady on exactly the same day in 2016 as in 2015. However once I’d had my fleeting few of my first I had to wait a further 3 months for my next one and my first chance of a photo. After this there was another long wait of almost 6 weeks until the final of my ‘triad of Ladies’. So not a particularly good year for this species, it didn’t seem to get here in any numbers so we’ll have to wait and see if next year is the next ‘big one’ (was 2010 the last time – if so we’re about due?) Actually there didn’t seem to be much going on for any of the migratory/vagrant species; very few Long-tailed Blues, Clouded Yellows were about but were thin on the ground. Perhaps the all important spring hadn’t been conducive?

19 Small Tortoiseshell, 11-03-2016 Work

Only a few days later but worrying times ahead? With national reports of a decline of 48% almost sounding a death knoll I’m finding it difficult to consider the plight of the Small Tortoiseshell from my own perspective. Initially there seemed to be good numbers around, the small path at the back of work held mid to high teens on several early visits, they were present at middle Street and the Banks at Five Rivers and I found them at a range of sites throughout the year. Whilst this seems positive the national figures do seem indeed to ring true. The very same path last year had low to mid-twenties and at Five Rivers I couldn’t get into double figures whereas in other years this is easy an task. However they do seem down but nowhere near as bad as in other parts of the UK so hopefully this will be a blip in their stronghold – is it a natural rhythm, a slight fall as the level of their parasite increases?

20 Peacock, 21-03-2016 Work

I found my first Peacock on the same day as my first Comma this year, which is earlier than last year and also unusual. Normally the running order is Red Admiral or Small Tort then Brimstone or Comma and then Small White and Peacock. Yet this year they were flying on the same day as my first Comma. This turned out to be quite a good sign as like the Red Admiral they had a positive year. In fact they were the second most common Aristocrat that I saw over the course of the year. The Small Tort still holds onto its first place but the crown does appear to be slipping and the Peacock could be there to succeed.

21 Comma, 21-03-2016 Work

They were late this year, almost being beaten to the punch by their cousins the Peacock. They were also a bit up and down with good number of hibernators merging early in the season and good numbers of the next set of hibernators at the late end of the season. However the H.Comma seemed to be the blip in the middle of the year, although the later good showing suggests that perhaps they were busy getting on with the important stuff. One disappointment this year was not finding one at Comma corner. I did find a couple nearby but not at the area of Five Rivers that I specifically designated for Commas! Mind you those that I did find were towards the end of the brood and were quite worn so perhaps they have been inhabiting Comma Corner and had moved to the new area which is more like a retirement home for Commas; away from all the strife and hassle of seeing off other Commas and other species or trying to woo the opposite sex?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

March 2017

This could be the month when it all kicks off!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, I must have gone to Fermyn Woods at the right time, 17th July because I managed to see the PE, WA,PHS, SWF and lot's of other's on the same day and get some shots of all of them. needless to say I'll certainly be back this year as soon has I hear some ones seen them Can't wait! Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie I saw all those species I just could 't get any shots Hopefully this year...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

Hi Wurzel,

You'll have to come over to Chiddingfold forest, and I'll bring some of my special potion !.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor There's no need to rub it in...or is there? Is that how you got this one down with your special potion? I might try and get over that way this year...though if I do I'll feel like a traitor to Bentley Wood

Have a goodun

Wurzel