March 2017

[sonomoha]

Dear All,
Here are our March 2017 contributions:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=377jgJvt1CQ&t=6s -March 14th 2017, Chambers Farm Wood, Lincolnshire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0r5OSHXmpA -March 21st 2017, Southrey Wood, Lincolnshire.
https://youtu.be/8UhzvbmRsjU -March 23rd 2017, Cross O Cliff Orchard, Lincoln.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDga5ug3og8 - March 24th & 25th 2017, Old Wood, Skellingthorpe, Lincolnshire.

Please enjoy, critique or let us know which one you like best,

Kind Regards,

Melissa & Philip

nice and refreshing footage Melissa & Philip. I particularly enjoyed the Brimstones in slow motion. Cheers.

[Vince Massimo]

A walk around my local hot-spots in Crawley this afternoon produced the following sightings:
4 Brimstone, 3 Small White, 7 Peacock, 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 3 Comma, 3 Speckled Wood and a Holly Blue.

Speckled Wood - Crawley, Sussex 30-March-2017

I watched a female Small Tortoiseshell for 30 minutes as she fretted over an egg laying site. She would test each nettle leaf with her front legs and then the tip of her abdomen before moving to the next plant until she found the perfect location. When she finally settled down to lay, she took 40 minutes to complete the process.

Small Tortoiseshell eggs - Crawley, Sussex 30-March-2017

The temperature today got to about 19C with hazy sunshine and a light wind.

Vince

[PhilBJohnson]

30th March Cross O Cliff Orchard, Lincolnshire
Hi Vince,
Good sightings of new butterfly emergence & eggs in Crawley! When I travel South from Lincolnshire to Surrey in the Spring to see my parents, the landscape appears to be about a week more advanced in Surrey than in Lincolnshire. Looking at the Butterfly Conservation, Lincolnshire website we boast the first national Small White sighting on 4th March. I thought I was doing well to see a Comma on that day!
Anyway I saw my first newly emerged butterfly today in Lincoln. A Small White in an Orchard. Daffodils are past their best now but still going in Lincoln as these pictures show:

30th March, Lincoln. Fruit Tree Blossom

Hedges and trees have started to green up in Lincoln and one week at this time, makes a lot of difference.
No Orange Tips for me yet. The Small White appeared to try the Daffodil once but wasn't impressed enough to then try any more while I was watching preferring the small yellow Celandine instead. My first 5 species day.
All in all approximately:
7 Brimstone
12 Peacock
10 Small Tortoiseshell
2 Comma
1 Small White

Very warm in Lincoln today (approx. 17 or 18 degrees- (30th March) with a breeze from the south. The sun appeared consistently at about 1pm for a good butterfly showing. I know there are a some about but I've still not been lucky enough to see any Red Admirals yet this year. I guess storm Doris did not help the over wintering RA much as it was a very strong wind in Lincolnshire. I might have to wait for the migrants to arrive (there were lots last year).

Kind Regards

[David M]

A walk around my local hot-spots in Crawley this afternoon produced the following sightings:
4 Brimstone, 3 Small White, 7 Peacock, 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 3 Comma, 3 Speckled Wood and a Holly Blue.

I was so envious of you all in the south east when I watched the forecast at 6.45 this morning - maxima of 21c whilst we in Wales had rain and cloud till mid-afternoon.

I knew quite a few would have a productive day.

[Lee Hurrell]

I saw my second emerged species yesterday in warm sunshine at Barnet, north London; a male Small White.

[Tony Moore]

Spring has finally come to Stafford. A walk around the castle produced five Small Torts, two Peacocks, a very battered Red Admiral and a Green-veined White. I had hoped that this last was my first Orange Tip, but no such luck. There is the best showing of secondary flowering Elm that we have had for many a long year, so I 'm hopeful of some White-letters later on. Several Chiffchaffs were calling, but the jewel in the crown was a perfect Long-tailed Tit's nest deep in a hawthorn hedge. An impossible confection of lichens and feathers - Fabergé could not have made such an 'egg'.

Tony M.