PhilBWright

[David M]

Thanks for posting this, Phil. It's really interesting to see the butterflies in slow motion - it gives you a better sense of their behaviour in the air and, of course, what they're doing when on the ground!

[PhilBJohnson]

July 22nd 2018
The Lincolnshire Branch of Butterfly Conservation's AGM took place at Chambers Farm Wood, today.
A walk led by Chairman Peter Cawdell got better as the sunshine began to appear from behind the clouds.
The Big Butterfly, count.
I think I saw two or three, one female and this very old male, which looked like it had been in a few battles:

"On it's last leg or legs"'

My Wife was delighted at seeing her first Purple Emperor!
We sat for lunch at the picnic table and it just floated down out of an Oak Canopy, onto the grass in front of us and looked a little as if it might not be able to take off again, but it did.

'Marsh Fritillary Web, thought to be 3rd Instar

[David M]

Purple Emperor does seem to be extending its range, Phil.

How many reliable sites for it are there in Lincolnshire?

[CallumMac]

Purple Emperor does seem to be extending its range, Phil.

How many reliable sites for it are there in Lincolnshire?

I wouldn't take any butterfly's appearance at Chambers Farm Wood as a reliable sign of range expansion, David! For comparison, see my Marshies from earlier in the year...

[PhilBJohnson]

Thanks David,
The size of the Oak/Willow Scrub Woodland, I think is suitable at Chambers Farm Wood (CFW) for the Purple Emperor (PE). The Black & White Admiral there is also quite far north (but there was plenty of wild Honeysuckle).
I think that there had been sustained populations at CFW for several consecutive years now. In view of my limited knowledge of the Forestry Commission's management plans and their commitment to providing amenity for several different interest and conservation groups, my analysis was, that those butterflies are there to stay.
I didn’t have Purple Emperor in my back garden.

July/August 2018
Presentationally, introducing our Cabbage White Diaries:

https://youtu.be/ACp_imoypfs

[PhilBJohnson]

September 26th 2018
“Large White Caterpillars (approx. 2cm long on Brassica) were possibly from some of the last Large White eggs laid in our garden.
This was an important note to imagine an egg laying date that can see this species over-winter in a pupa ‘metamorphic’ State.
Large White Butterfly broods have been less numerous in a Spring than in a Summer.”

Large White Larva

[PhilBJohnson]

Thursday 4th October
No sign of any remaining Large Cabbage White Caterpillars
Outside. A Dawn Chorus this morning near the neighbours bird feeders.
Friday 5th September 2018
“Pip”
A Large Cabbage White Caterpillar that somehow found its way onto the nasturtium on our window ledge.

I wonder, who might see the last Cabbage White Butterfly in Lincolnshire in 2018?

‘Pip’

[PhilBJohnson]

Nice to see an unusual European destination, Phil. More images please!

https://youtu.be/HhD-F9LUdY8

More images on the above link, please enjoy.

[David M]

Nice piece of work, Phil...a fair eulogy to Scarce Copper!

[PhilBJohnson]

October 12th 2018 “Pip” on our window frame.

#LastCabbageWhite

[PhilBJohnson]

#LastCabbageWhite 20th October 2018 Lincolnshire

"20th October 2018 Cheeryfields, Cheery Willingham, Lincolnshire"

20th October 2018 "Pip on a window frame"

"Because of overlapping broods which favour a cabbage White's species succession, much was attributed to Brassica being grown under glass (at a different average temperature to normal outside conditions).
In Lincolnshire on 20th October 2018, it was still just about warm enough for a Cabbage White's short flight during the micro-climatic warmest periods of the day"
#ClimateChange

[PhilBJohnson]

Butterfly Conservation Members Day in Nottingham, recently.
I was very happy to meet some special members of Butterfly Conservation including people from our local Lincolnshire branch.

When I searched on Youtube recently for:
Fritillaries for The Future, I found a really good video presented by Neil Hulme which appeared to be over one year old, but had only 30 views (according to youtube).
What I know about that, is that some of those views probably had, very large audiences,

#Common Dog Violet
(relatively more common locally and generally in England, when it was first "common named")

[Neil Hulme]

Thanks so much for pointing this out, Philip. It's the first time I've ever seen it! I traveled down to the New Forest for the day in May 2017, to help make this promotional video for the sister project of my Sussex-based Fritillaries for the Future, as I'm always happy to go in front of a camera. I never heard any more, so I'm somewhat surprised that it's in the public domain ... if rather well hidden away. Sorry I didn't have time for a chat at the (excellent) AGM, but I was 'on a mission' when we passed.
BWs, Neil

[David M]

How did you unearth that gem, Phil? It's a great clip and makes me yearn for spring even more!

[CallumMac]

Glad to hear you enjoyed the BC AGM, Phil. I've just put two and two together, and I'm wondering whether you are the Phil from Lincolnshire who I met over breakfast on Saturday? If so, nice to finally meet a UKBer in person - and let me know if you're coming up to see some of the Yorkshire specialities at any point!

Cheers, Callum

[PhilBJohnson]

“Buddleia, Buddleja”, grown from summer outdoor cutting, flowering today.

“Not a butterfly in my sight”
#CaterpillarBush
#NativeCaterpillarBush
#NativePlantsForNativeSpecies

[David M]

Hardly surprising, Phil. It's been 12-14c all week here in Swansea. The daffs are going to be up by New Year at this rate!

[PhilBJohnson]

[quote="PhilBJohnson"]Gardening & The Large Cabbage White 14th August
And then I had more time to produce this one (15th November):
https://youtu.be/6BQmdSAoBr4
Regarding the male Brimstone, I have assumed that butter was originally more of a golden yellow colour, rather than paler, more healthy similar spreads found today (please see above video).
20th August Lincoln

"Butter-coloured Fly" or "Butter-fly"
"The first reference to butter in our written history was found on a 4,500-year-old limestone tablet illustrating how butter was made.
It is generally believed the word butter originates from the bou-tyron, Greek for “cow cheese”, however it may have come from the language of cattle-herding Scythians." 2018 Reference - https://www.dairygoodness.ca/butter/the ... -of-butter
Buttercup- Website historians (my search) appeared to be "shy" as to when the name first appeared in English Language. What was clear, was that this plant was often left behind by grazers (poisonous), that had more of a preference for some of our, now scarce (or extinct), wild flower species.

"The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge, butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient. A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growing". Referenced here on the date of this post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly ... literature

"At that time of English common naming (in The King or The Queen's English), Brimstone butterflies were probably common in much of the "United English Kingdom" and Europe. A very high percentaged, probable source of the name in English tongue and text, dated back to:
?"

[PhilBJohnson]

Gardening & The Large Cabbage White 14th August
And then I had more time to produce this one (15th November):
https://youtu.be/6BQmdSAoBr4
Regarding the male Brimstone, I have assumed that butter was originally more of a golden yellow colour, rather than paler, more healthy similar spreads found today (please see above video).
20th August Lincoln

"Butter-coloured Fly" or "Butter-fly"
"The first reference to butter in our written history was found on a 4,500-year-old limestone tablet illustrating how butter was made.
It is generally believed the word butter originates from the bou-tyron, Greek for “cow cheese”, however it may have come from the language of cattle-herding Scythians." 2018 Reference - https://www.dairygoodness.ca/butter/the ... -of-butter
Buttercup- Website historians (my search) appeared to be "shy" as to when the name first appeared in English Language. What was clear, was that this plant was often left behind by grazers (poisonous), that had more of a preference for some of our, now scarce (or extinct), wild flower species.

"The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge, butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient. A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growing". Referenced here on the date of this post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly ... literature

"At that time of English common naming (in The King or The Queen's English), Brimstone butterflies were probably common in much of the "United English Kingdom" and Europe. A very high percentaged, probable source of the name in English tongue and text, dated back to:
?"

"Although a welcome sight, these Brimstones are last year's butterflies, so have little to do with the concepts of rebirth, renewal and regeneration associated with Spring"
Reference: THE BUTTERFLIES OF SUSSEX 2017 Copyright by Michael Blencowe & Neil Hulme

"My thought was that the renewal and regeneration in our connected thoughts have a lot to do with our native Spring similar coloured flowers, such as Buttercups, Cowslips, Primroses and Celendine"
Flight Period
"My thought was, these early sightings need to be micro-climatic temperature related, rather than "hands up for seeing one" (which might have been disturbed in a neighbours garden, and flew ones way). It is on average, some degree or degrees celsius, cooler in Lincolnshire than in Sussex in early Spring, anyway.

This book generally has a wealth of information. I needed to rush to employment this morning so I apologise if I made my comments look bad, originally.

[PhilBJohnson]

Gardening & The Large Cabbage White 14th August
And then I had more time to produce this one (15th November):
https://youtu.be/6BQmdSAoBr4
Regarding the male Brimstone, I have assumed that butter was originally more of a golden yellow colour, rather than paler, more healthy similar spreads found today (please see above video).
20th August Lincoln

"Butter-coloured Fly" or "Butter-fly"
"The first reference to butter in our written history was found on a 4,500-year-old limestone tablet illustrating how butter was made.
It is generally believed the word butter originates from the bou-tyron, Greek for “cow cheese”, however it may have come from the language of cattle-herding Scythians." 2018 Reference - https://www.dairygoodness.ca/butter/the ... -of-butter
Buttercup- Website historians (my search) appeared to be "shy" as to when the name first appeared in English Language. What was clear, was that this plant was often left behind by grazers (poisonous), that had more of a preference for some of our, now scarce (or extinct), wild flower species.

"The Oxford English Dictionary derives the word straightforwardly from Old English butorflēoge, butter-fly; similar names in Old Dutch and Old High German show that the name is ancient. A possible source of the name is the bright yellow male of the brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni); another is that butterflies were on the wing in meadows during the spring and summer butter season while the grass was growing". Referenced here on the date of this post:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly ... literature

"At that time of English common naming (in The King or The Queen's English), Brimstone butterflies were probably common in much of the "United English Kingdom" and Europe. A very high percentaged, probable source of the name in English tongue and text, dated back to:
?"

"Although a welcome sight, these Brimstones are last year's butterflies, so have little to do with the concepts of rebirth, renewal and regeneration associated with Spring"
Reference: THE BUTTERFLIES OF SUSSEX 2017 Copyright by Michael Blencowe & Neil Hulme

"My thought was that the renewal and regeneration in our connected thoughts have a lot to do with our native Spring similar coloured flowers, such as Buttercups, Cowslips, Primroses and Celendine"
Flight Period
"My thought was, these early sightings need to be micro-climatic temperature related, rather than "hands up for seeing one" (which might have been disturbed in a neighbours garden, and flew ones way). It is on average, some degree or degrees celsius, cooler in Lincolnshire than in Sussex in early Spring, anyway.

This book generally has a wealth of information. I needed to rush towards employment this morning, so I apologise if I made my comments look bad, originally.