Thanks for the comments. It feels like I've had a very busy April, I've barely had time to get on here recently so I'm way behind everyones diaries... including my own
April 2019 part 2
18th April
Warm sunshine and a day off coincided perfectly this week and before the Easter weekend brought flocks of people to my local patches I thought I’d have a look round and see what was about, I still had a few spring species yet to tick off, most notably Speckled Wood. On
Walthamstow Marshes it was oddly quiet at first and it took about half an hour for the first butterfly to show up, the bright orange of a basking Comma looking very gaudy against the fresh green Hawthorn leaves. Flitting and nectaring nearby was a my first Specklie of the season (UK edition that is).
After this things did slowly start to liven up, but not as much as I was expecting or hoping for. A handful of Whites began their patrolling, Orange-tip’s obvious in their absence, and I didn’t see any Holly Blue. Nyphalids were also rather hard to come by with just the odd flyby here and there. Only a few Specklies were seen and given they were all in tip top condition I’d say they have only recently started to emerge here.
![IMG_0078.JPG (134.16 KiB) Viewed 2562 times IMG_0078.JPG](./files/thumb_13753_8d6ec284f75de5dfbffc23810becc86c)
![IMG_0037.JPG (198.58 KiB) Viewed 2562 times IMG_0037.JPG](./files/thumb_13753_78f02101669df63cc9d65f5221e21fb0)
An hour or so passed by before I encountered another decent wave of photographic opportunities. The Brimstones had awoken from their traditional lay in and were now racing up and down the hedgerows. Despite this being my local patch I’d yet to locate any Buckthorn over the many years of wandering it. I finally corrected this when I saw a female Brimstone paying particular attention to a small tree. It was in an overgrown corner of the site, surrounded on most sides by nettle and bramble but I managed to find a relatively pain free route to discover it was an Alder Buckthorn littered in eggs
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
.
Nearby, a few Nyphalids were somewhat less active than the majority I’d seen up to this point.
The final species to turn up were the Orange-tip, who like the Speckled Wood I think had only just started to emerge here.
Next it was off to
Tottenham Marshes. Here, as is usual, Small Tortoiseshell appeared in decent numbers. In the heat they were mostly keeping their wings firmly closed
After getting a few snaps of them I made a beeline for the narrow, sheltered strip of grass that never fails me, where I stumbled into a butterfly war zone
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
. Several Peacocks in an almost constant squabble over territory, although surprisingly just one Comma was present. Whites, Brimstone and Orange-tip also became victims of the Peacocks brutality, regularly getting sucked into the battles as they ‘innocently’ fluttered by. I was mostly a spectator here in the heat, which I suspect was several degrees above what my app was saying, so I wandered off to see what else I could find. A few speckled Wood loitered in the shadier patches, avoiding the sun where ever possible and a couple of male Brimstone were busy feeding on some Kingcup.
Elsewhere it was much the same collection of Whites and Nymphalids, some a little worse for wear...
an hour or so passed by and high cloud had turned the sun a bit hazy so I made my way back to the war zone, hoping things had calmed down a bit and would be more willing to sit still. If anything it was even busier, the single Comma had brought in reinforcements with half a dozen now present to do battle with at least seven Peacock (I was watching 3 beat up a Comma when another 4 practically clattered into my head).
The hazy sun did however create the occasional lull and plenty of photographic opportunities. I caught site of my first Holly Blue of the season (just a passer-by) and managed a record of my first Large White of the season. Some more very fresh Speckled Wood dropped in occasionally and I hung around hoping to see if any of the Orange-tip would slow down too, but that didn’t happen, only managing a few distant record shots
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
.
20th April
My weekend off had arrived and the fine weather had decided to hang around, so taking my cue from Millerds report of Green Hairstreaks out and about down
Denbies way I set off to find some for myself. I did intend to get there early enough to find them warming up but a mix up with the trains (totally my fault for once) meant I got stuck and ended up arriving a good 2 hours later than planned to find them full of beans. Nevertheless they threw a good range of poses for me, not least because it seemed too hot at times for them so there was a lot of fidgeting as they temperature regulated themselves. The walk from Westhumble was, as is usual at this time of year, filled with Speckled Wood (once again, mostly fresh) and Orange-tip, the former happy to pose, the latter not a hope in the heat
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
!
Although I spent most my time with the Hairstreaks I did take a wander along the hillside, seeing a handful of very active Grizzled Skippers plus two newbies for the season, a Small Heath and a couple of Dingy Skipper
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
.
Brimstones and Orange-tips were also present in decent numbers but as one would expect, neither were stopping for anyone.
The plan for the afternoon was to wander round the cooler woodland habitat of
Bookham but this was oddly barren of butterfly life. In the few hours I was there I saw a couple of Peacock, the odd White and a few Orange-tip. I very nearly left without taking a single picture when a female OT stopped near me to lay a few eggs as I was leaving.
21st April
The following day it was off to Essex and
Hadleigh Country Park, the main target here being Orange-tip… if I managed to get there early enough
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
. I remember coming here last year for OT during the unseasonably warm spring to find them racing around almost from the get-go and today was a similar situation. I had about a 20-minute window from seeing my first few basking to being a mere bystander, I’m happy with what I got though
Once they became impossible to pin down, I switched to the other species that were around which consisted of just three, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Green-veined White.
Mid-morning found me staking out a small, rather lonely patch of Bluebell. A Peacock was busy gorging itself and passing Orange-tips would occasionally stop off for a quick refill.
Just before leaving for a stroll around a new site, another season first dropped by, a female Small Copper
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
. She quickly found a dock leaf and laid a single egg before promptly flying off out of sight.
The new site was one of the woods where Heath Fritillary are found. I was after some larvae and after a bit of wandering I found what looked like a likely spot, a recently (but not too recently) coppiced area whose floor had copious amounts of Cow Wheat coming up. I didn’t find any of my targets though
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
. The very nature of the search meant it was a bit of a long shot, I was obviously only able to pick my way around the edge of the area, I certainly wasn’t going to risk partially destroying the colony just to find one. Elsewhere in the wood I just had a few flyby encounters with Brimstone and Orange-tip and the odd Speckled Wood.
I still had most the afternoon to play with so I wandered back to have a look around
two tree Island. Here lots more Peacock were staking out the paths whilst Whites and Orange-tip fluttered here and there. The odd Small Tortoiseshell flew by and also a single Red Admiral, the first one I’d seen since February showed up but was quickly seen off by one of the Peacocks. Before leaving I decided to have a quick look at the lagoon where the winter waders flock at high tide, hoping for some hatchling Avocet. I got a bit of a shock when I got to where the hide used to be, it was burnt to the ground, completely reduced to ashes
![Shocked :shock:](./images/smilies/icon_eek.gif)
! Still I was here now and I had a small gang of Small Tortoiseshell flying around the nettles here to keep me occupied. It seemed to be mostly females but one male had cottoned on to the fact if he hung around here, he’d guarantee himself some females. Unfortunately for him he’d not cottoned on to the fact the females where all here for a different reason and he was just being even more of a nuisance than your average male butterfly
...well that was a slightly longer post than I'd initially intended
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)