A look back at 2020
Spring cont….
Given the warm April, it was no surprise that Orange Tips had a superb season, and there were plenty of them about in May, including this bizarre aberration on the Swansea coast on 2nd:
On that same day, I spotted my first Small Blues of the year, although they were strangely less common than usual even though May itself was a good month weatherwise:
All three Whites fared well, with Large White numbers well up on the previous few years. Small Whites were very common but Green Veined had a fairly ordinary spring season:
On 6th, I encountered my first Brown Argus of 2020, and this species went on to appear in good numbers during both broods:
Three days later, the first Common Blues emerged, although their flight season was rather truncated due, I suppose, to the sunny, warm period that extended through much of the rest of May. They literally burned themselves out:
Mid-May is always a much anticipated time of year locally, as the populations of both Marsh and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries close to my home begin to emerge.
Small Pearls were out on 9th May and were around in average numbers:
I saw my first Marsh Fritillary the following day, and although they were slightly down on the last couple of years, I put that largely down to some of the prime breeding areas on my local common being torched during the back end of March:
On 15th May, I managed to get over the border into England and wasted no time visiting Ewyas Harold Common, in Herefordshire. The Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were coming towards the end of their flight period, but I managed to find one female who was still in good nick:
A short journey to Haugh Wood near Fownhope then followed. It was overcast but I was able to find a single, roosting Wood White, the first time I’d seen this species in the UK for 5 years:
The afternoon was spent at Rodborough Common, near Stroud, where a dozen or so Dukes of Burgundy were seen, including this mating pair:
Four Adonis Blues were also seen at the same spot, one of them being an aberrant:
Given that both April and May were generally rather warmer and sunnier than normal, I suppose it wasn’t a surprise that a few species which are normally early summer ones managed to squeeze themselves into the spring review. One of these was Meadow Brown, seen on 25th May:
Another was Large Skipper, on 28th:
And finally, and most surprisingly, Dark Green Fritillary, four of which were seen on 31st May, easily my earliest ever sightings of this species: