April 2018

[David M]

Surely there has to be a warm spell soon? Looks like we might have to wait till the middle of the month for it as the next few days are more of the same.....

[Greenie]

Just before lunch , had a male Brimstone fly through the garden .
After lunch , and with the temperature still rising , I spent an hour walking around Hayes Common ,
finding another 5 male Brimstone , 5 Comma and 3 Peacock . No chance of a shot of the tostesterone charged
Brimstones , but the other two species obliged .

[David M]

Just a solitary Peacock flitting between the graves at Dan-y-Graig Cemetery in Swansea for me today. With the sunny conditions I thought there might be a few more butterflies about but the prolonged cold weather has clearly taken its toll.

[aeshna5]

After no butterflies in March (awful weather even in the south) I've followed up February's 2 Red Admiral sighting s with 2 male Brimstones in Barnes today along with my first Tree Bumblebee of the year.

[maverick]

Im off the mark in the sunny North west Sankey valley park Warrington, two reds in flight, at the back of my house a commer, three small torts and a peacock, spring is definitely here

[KeithS]

Finally, a decent day's sunshine. Saw my first Small Tortoiseshell of 2018 today in Cuxton, Rochester...



Dozens of Brimstones were on the wing as well. Lost count of the males, only saw two females but that seems about right for round here, Brimstone-wise...

[Lee Hurrell]

Spring finally sprung for me yesterday with 19 male and 2 female Brimstone, 5 Comma, 4 Peacock, 1 Red Admiral, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and several Chiff Chaff in Farnborough.

[Jack Harrison]

Successful Hibernation ended 7th April

A Small Tort came into the house about last August. I knew it was unlikely to survive the warmth of indoors so I rescued it and put in a plastic container (no need for any air holes) in a dark part of a shed. It settled down for the winter. (when -12C was recorded)

Today when the magic +12c was reached, I put the container in a sunny spot. Within about an hour, butterfly was awake and ready to fly. Took the lid off and away it went. There should be plenty of nectar sources.

Jack

[essexbuzzard]

A tale to warm the heart there, Jack!

[millerd]

I see from the UKB stats counter that the site had its 10 millionth visit sometime today. This is quite an achievement - hearty congratulations to Pete must be in order!

Dave

[David M]

I see from the UKB stats counter that the site had its 10 millionth visit sometime today. This is quite an achievement - hearty congratulations to Pete must be in order!

Hearty congratulations to Pete are a daily 'given' on here! Good to see UKB seeing so many hits....I'd like to hope that such interest generates more and more Butterfly Conservation subscribers.

Well done too, Jack. Your Small Tortoiseshell husbandry is laudable as ever!

[badgerbob]

After seeing around 25-30 butterflies yesterday, with 4 species. Most were Peacock, with 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Comma and several Brimstone. The Wall Brown larva have suddenly become harder to find. I guess that several have decided its safer now to feed at night, and some may have gone to pupate. Today I found around 15 as well as a very smart Speckled Wood larva.

Speckled Wood larva.

[David M]

It brightened up nicely this afternoon, so I took a trip down to Cwm Ivy on the north Gower coast where I saw 7 male Brimstones and solitary Peacock and Comma.

It was a far cry from 8th April 2017, where I racked up 50-odd each of Holly Blue & Speckled Wood, plus 9 other spring species, most of which were strongly attracted by this sheltered swathe of blossoming blackthorn:

By contrast, today, there wasn't a floret even unfurling yet:

Hopefully, things will change soon - I've already noticed 14 and 15c on the weather forecast for the coming week....not before time!

[essexbuzzard]

Good luck with that one, David! Spring in East Anglia hasn’t even started yet, and shows no signs of doing so. With heads held down in the rain, even the daffodils look miserable!

[Jack Harrison]

9th April
Findhorn, Moray Coast, two Peacocks - my first butterflies of the year other than that Tortie that I had hibernated in the shed.
(See my earlier post).

Jack

[Andrew555]

Lovely greens on that larva Bob.

Wow, quite a difference there David!

[Allan.W.]

Last May ,I rescued some Orange -Tip eggs from a building site ,close to home,all six seem to be doing nicely,and it looks like its
going to be 4-2 in favour of the boys !

This morning the first hatched ,a male ,and flew away strongly at around 11 am.

Regards Allan.W.

[David M]

Great work, Alan, and nice to see the first up and about.

I suspect we'll all be seeing this delightful species in the next week or so.

[John W]

At last! I saw my first butterflies of the year today, a couple of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshell, at Stanmer Park, Brighton. Last year I saw my first butterflies a whole month earlier, on March 11th!

Cheers
John W

[David M]

Only three butterflies seen in an hour spent at Cwm Ivy on the north Gower coast this afternoon. Two male Brimstones were fluttering round a patch of primroses but the other seen was a very welcome Speckled Wood: