Bugboys mission

[trevor]

Now that Small Tortoiseshells are starting to appear in our diaries let's hope
they are in for a better year in 2020. And I agree that one of yours is very vibrant.

Yes, you would have a job working from home, a flat full of guano if you did!.

Keep well,
Trevor.

[Andrew555]

Beautiful stuff BB, love that Tort, great haul.
(like your bird shots as well!)

[Goldie M]

Great to see your Butterfly shots Bugboy, means Spring has definitely arrived, not here yet, the wind is really cold although we've got the Sun it's not encouraging too many Butterflies out just yet. Goldie

[David M]

Nice selection, Paul, especially the Small Tortoiseshell on the tree blossom - don't you just love it when they do that?

The Small White is a nice surprise. With sunny (but cool) weather to come over the next few days, I daresay there may be further sightings very soon.

[bugboy]

Once again, thanks for all the comments

March 2020
Saturday 21st. Back out for a wander around my local patch again and it was a day of Comma’s. They did seem to be everywhere but upon checking my images I only managed to get pictures of 3 individuals making a maximum total of 5 seen (along with a fleeting flyby with a single Peacock, busy in an aerial battle with one of the aforementioned Comma’s).

London, I fear, is rapidly spiraling towards lockdown so I think the only pictures I’ll be posting will be from work soon

[trevor]

Commas seem to have come through the Winter very well, with good numbers
being reported from all over the country. Peacocks too are appearing everywhere.
I expect the odd Speckled Wood will be seen next week.
I will keep going out until it's illegal, and keep a safe distance from other people,
not that i'm likely to meet anyone else where I go.

Keep well,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of Commas Bugboy I'm hoping that people might get the message and work from home and take all of the other precautions but I fear that some Muppets will ruin it for the rest of us If that comes to pass then here's hoping that your work produces plenty of interest Stay safe.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

A nice set of Commas Bugboy

I didn't see that many around here last year but there appears to be plenty coming out over the past few days.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

Lovely Commas, Paul. I think there are few things finer than these early season butterflies nectaring on the fresh blackthorn blossom.

It's yet to emerge properly here in Wales, but should do so over the course of the next week or so. I'll be eagerly anticipating similar scenes to those you have captured.

[Goldie M]

Love your Comma's on the Blossom , great shots Bugboy Goldie

[ernie f]

Great Butterfly pics as usual but I really liked the pic you got a little while back that I just found which you took looking up at a kestrel which was perched looking down.

[bugboy]

Thanks Trever, Peacock and Comma always do well on my local patches in the spring
Thanks Wurzel, The butterflies have only just started to appear at work but being central London (and only having my lunch break) numbers will be low so only a few snaps so far.
Thanks Neil It was all about to explode as the lockdown arrived. Ironically I'm now finding myself praying for rubbish weather on days off and good weather on work days now !
Thanks David, plenty more butterflies on Blackthorn below
Thanks Goldie they are the perfect antidote for a long dreary winter aren't they
Thanks Ernie, that Kestrel completely ignored me as I crept up on it, here's what it looked from the other side of it's perch, somewhat menacing I think:

March 2020
23rd March. What ended up as the last day of freedom for the foreseeable future was a day wandering my local patches where keeping my distance from other people proved relatively easy.

I’d left early, seeing very few people, and no butterflies until it had warmed up sufficiently. Around 10.30, whilst wandering the near-deserted Tottenham Marshes a Brimstone nonchalantly fluttered past and as I watching it disappear along the hedge, I noticed an orange splodge on the Blackthorn Blossom I’d just walked past. The Comma was well behaved and sat for me.

It was still going to be a slow start to the day since there was a chilly stiff breeze but I killed time doing a bit of birding, a Little Egret catching Breakfast, the spines on the Stickleback not being much help this time and a friendly Coot who was clearly used to being fed by people and was expecting something from me.

Things livened up properly by 12 at my regular hotspot here with Peacock and Comma numbers increasing by the minute and I eventually had about half a dozen bickering and/or flirting of each species in this narrow strip of sunlit sheltered habitat. A few Brimstone also wandered through occasionally and a Small White settled briefly. Unusually though not a single Small Tortoiseshell was seen here, it’s normally a guaranteed spot for them! One particularly fresh Peacock spent it’s time licking everything it landed on, mostly likely it had only just left hibernation and was trying to recover from dehydration.

I intended to go straight home but passing Walthamstow Marshes on the way, that was similarly deserted so I took a wander here too, finding more of the same but also a couple of Small Torts.

Near the end of my walk I found a pair of Peacock indulging in some courtship. No chance of any closeups though since it was all happening up a Blackthorn bush.

Stay safe people

[Wurzel]

"Ironically I'm now finding myself praying for rubbish weather on days off and good weather on work days now !" Me too! Also a period of poor weather will certainly help with FOMO Cracking set of butterflies Bugboy - I noticed something similar with the Small Torts last year at Five Rivers but they'd just moved to a more suitable spot Hope your work days are productive - stay safe.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

That last Comma looks slightly unusual with those paler yellow patches on the forewings - quite striking actually. They seem to have done well through the winter everywhere this year.

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

Lovely feast of colour, Paul. Has to be one of my favourite periods of the year when the blackthorn is blossoming, the adult hibernators are all over it and are being joined by Whites, Holly Blues & Orange Tips.

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, Looks like things are getting warmer this weekend so if the sun comes out too, might get some pics
You're right Dave, a minor ab perhaps? Yea Comma's always do well in my neck of the woods
Thanks David, sadly I'm not sure how much I'll be seeing of the next wave of emerging species. Work isn't the most productive site (my end of year transect totals are generally 300 to 400 hundred individual butterflies which I'm sure is a monthly total on some countryside sites) and it depends how easy it will be to get to my local patches in the coming weeks

Well I've been back to work (on slightly reduced hours and a drastically altered rota for the time being) since last Thursday. It's very weird down here in London, eerily quiet as it seems most people have started to take the lockdown seriously at last. We've started car pooling as much as possible too to try and stay away from public transport, luckily a colleague lives 5 minutes away.

As for butterflies I've been out for a lunchtime wander a couple of times but this chilly spell seems to have put everything to bed again and the only day I saw anything was my first day back. A Peacock escaped the camera as it flew up from under my feet but I found a Comma at the regular spot I invariably see them in the spring at work.

[millerd]

It does look like a decent weekend, and even into the following week as well, so hopefully you'll get some opportunities for a bit of sunshine and exercise to boost the old immune system - oh, and see some more butterflies as well...

That's another wonderfully fresh Comma, hardly looking touched by six months of hibernation. Not a mark on it!

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

That Comma is in great nick Bugboy, it looks like it's fresh out of the box I hope you can still make it out and about for some exercise Bugboy

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots of the Comma Bugboy, London's been hit bad with the Virus, stay safe. Goldie

[David M]

Paul, the only positive at this time of year is that all the species we're likely to find are the wide-ranging ones.

Speckled Wood, Orange Tip, Green-Veined and Large Whites can turn up anywhere. What's of more concern is that as we march through April, there will be habitat-restricted species emerging, such as Grizzled Skipper, Pearl Bordered Fritillary, Green Hairstreak & Duke of Burgundy.

We can just hope that the situation will have eased somewhat by then (though I doubt it, personally).