David M

[David M]

36 is definitely encouraging more than I have ever seen at one site

They seem to be having a good year, Katrina. Haven't seen them in such good numbers for quite a while.

Tuesday 4th September – A garden ‘first’…

A nice moment today when a Hedge Brown appeared on my patio, and spent some while nectaring on scabious.

This is the first I’ve ever seen visiting my garden, and also probably the latest I’ve ever seen this species (they are normally spent by the end of August):

[David M]

A lovely late summer mix David. Small tortoiseshell certainly seems to have done well everywhere with some spectacular social media videos emerging of butterfly filled buddleias from the Southwest to Cumbria and right up into the Cairngorms. We’ve even done pretty well in Sussex as Trevor will tell you! Now if someone could just explain exactly why all these very different places have boomed that’d be super……

Yes, a great late summer mix of butterflies, David Small Tortoiseshell numbers for September have been high here too, as have second brood Peacocks, not sure why

Yes, Ben/Mike, it's been an excellent year for Small Tortoiseshells. Maybe their parasitic predators have suffered a poor one?

Tuesday 7th September – Betulae egg count….

Today was a beautiful September day, with sunshine and highs of 22c which persuaded me to journey down to Pembrokeshire to see how many Brown Hairstreak eggs I could find:

In just over 2 hours, I managed to locate 42 ova, which is probably around average, but well short of the 130+ back in 2013.

The majority this year were located on the foreshore rather than in the field next to the car park.

Butterfly numbers were very poor given the conditions. I saw a handful of Whites, a few Speckled Woods, a couple of Red Admirals and a solitary Small Tortoiseshell.

[David M]

Tuesday 14th September – On the wane….

Spent an hour or so on the dunes at Port Eynon today. Other than Small Whites (with 20-30 seen), there wasn’t a huge amount of activity, although 9 Small Coppers was unexpectedly welcome:

Now that the schools have gone back, there aren’t too many on the beach and the site is a lot more peaceful:

There were half a dozen faded female Meadow Browns still flying, as well as 5 Common Blues (4 fem, 1 male). Other species seen were 3 Small Tortoiseshells, 2 Painted Ladies and singleton Red Admiral, Large White & Speckled Wood:

[millerd]

"...on the wane..." describes the middle of September rather well, David. Even when it stays warm and even summery as it has done this year, suddenly numbers of butterflies and variety of species drop off markedly and we are left with the Red Admirals and maybe a few Small Coppers. That's a nice couple of the latter to prove the point too!

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

"...on the wane..." describes the middle of September rather well, David. Even when it stays warm and even summery as it has done this year, suddenly numbers of butterflies and variety of species drop off markedly and we are left with the Red Admirals and maybe a few Small Coppers.

Thanks, Dave. It's an annual event round my way at least - the Whites drop in numbers and the Meadow Browns vanish. By mid October you're lucky to see a Speckled Wood and/or a Small Copper. By the end of the month, it's usually just Red Admirals left standing.

Wednesday 15th September – Close to home….

A second successive pleasant day saw me drive a few miles down the road to Nicholaston Burrows:

This dune system is reached via a woodland path and in a sheltered dip there is a section of ivy shrubs and these were proving very attractive, with well into double figures of Red Admirals and a couple of Small Tortoiseshells enjoying the feast:

There were several Speckled Woods about too:

On the dunes there weren’t too many butterflies about – half a dozen Common Blues and 5 Small Whites, but I did find 9 Small Coppers which was nice, as well as a couple of faded Brown Argus. This image was taken from the bottom of the site looking towards Three Cliffs Bay:

The best moment was finding my first Comma for a while, basking on a leaf a little nearer the beach:

Other species seen were Large & Green Veined White, plus a single Small Heath on my way back to the car park. 11 species was encouraging, but only Red Admirals reached double figures.

[Maximus]

Beautiful scenic and butterfly shots at Nicholaston Burrows, David. You're very lucky to live in that part of the UK

[bugboy]

Glad to see you're lagging behind in your reports too David. I seem to fall behind further each year. Still part of the reason is a good one, I'm out watching the butterflies more than I'm sat at home on my laptop. Sadly work gets in the way too

That's a very picturesque context shot, even without the butterflies it looks like a lovely place to reset ones batteries

[David M]

Beautiful scenic and butterfly shots at Nicholaston Burrows, David. You're very lucky to live in that part of the UK

Thanks, Mike. There are worse places to live than on the Gower. If only the weather was warmer and calmer though.

Glad to see you're lagging behind in your reports too David. I seem to fall behind further each year. Still part of the reason is a good one, I'm out watching the butterflies more than I'm sat at home on my laptop. Sadly work gets in the way too

That's a very picturesque context shot, even without the butterflies it looks like a lovely place to reset ones batteries

I try not to get more than 3 weeks behind, Paul. Trouble is, I’m taking so few images when I’m out that it’s not worth downloading my memory card onto my PC for single site visits lately.

[David M]

Wednesday 15th September – At home…

After returning from Nicholaston Burrows, I spotted a triangular shape on the sedum growing opposite a neighbour's house at the entrance to my estate. I was delighted to find it was a Comma in excellent condition:

I also had this female Small White for company for almost the entire afternoon on my verbena:

[David M]

Monday 20th September – Coast beckons….

Another opportunity to visit the coastal dunes at Port Eynon, and Small Whites were still around in good numbers with around two dozen seen.

There were better numbers of Red Admirals this time, with 9 seen, and there were also 5 Painted Ladies:

There were also 5 Small Tortoiseshells, 5 Common Blues (4 of them females) and 4 female Meadow Browns:

3 Large Whites and 3 Small Coppers made up the final totals.

I then drove to nearby Rhossili Head and although few butterflies were seen, the views were as spectacular as usual:

[Benjamin]

I do love Rhossili beach - what a stunning part of the world David! I know you’d like to be a bit closer to a few Sussex specialities, but with your own specialities and beaches like that there’s plenty of envy coming your way too!

[David M]

I do love Rhossili beach - what a stunning part of the world David! I know you’d like to be a bit closer to a few Sussex specialities, but with your own specialities and beaches like that there’s plenty of envy coming your way too!

Ideally, I'd like the Gower to have all those chalk downland specialists, Ben....but that's just being greedy!

Tuesday 21st September – Botanic Gardens….

My neighbour’s birthday falls in September, and for several years now I have taken her down to the National Botanic Gardens of Wales as a treat to celebrate.

The weather this year was excellent, barely a breath of wind and 19c temperatures. The whole place looked radiant:

Small Tortoiseshells have been doing well this year, but even so I wasn’t expecting to see approaching 100 here – they were everywhere:

Small Whites were ubiquitous too; certainly at least 40 seen:

Around 20-30 Red Admirals were about, often nectaring alongside the many Small Tortoiseshells and the 15-20 Commas seen too:

There were 6-10 Painted Ladies:

Others seen were 3 Speckled Woods and singleton Small Copper, Large & Green Veined White.

[Katrina]

Astonishing numbers of Small Tortoiseshells - good choice of trip from you too!

[Maximus]

Great that you encountered such large numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, Small Whites, Red Admirals, Commas and Painted Ladies, David The only absentees seem to be Peacocks, but perhaps they're already in hibernation in your part of the world.

[trevor]

Good to read of plentiful Small Tortoiseshells around your way David.
Here in East Sussex they've had a good summer compared to recent years.
Hopefully plenty of each sex will survive the Winter and will mate in the Spring.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[millerd]

What a great spot for autumn butterfly splendour, David. Those numbers are wonderful to see - reminiscent of autumns growing up in North London when the michaelmas daisies were covered in butterflies in September.

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

Astonishing numbers of Small Tortoiseshells - good choice of trip from you too!

Yes, Katrina, it was quite something to see so many. They're fairly common round my way, but to threaten 100+ at a single site is rare.

Great that you encountered such large numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, Small Whites, Red Admirals, Commas and Painted Ladies, David The only absentees seem to be Peacocks, but perhaps they're already in hibernation in your part of the world.

I think you’re right, Mike. Peacocks went missing prior to September but the Small Tortoiseshells have lasted longer than normal, which is a bonus.

Good to read of plentiful Small Tortoiseshells around your way David. Here in East Sussex they've had a good summer compared to recent years. Hopefully plenty of each sex will survive the Winter and will mate in the Spring.

Absolutely, Trevor. Let’s home the population doesn’t collapse again (particularly in more eastern areas of the country). Been as good a year for them as I can remember in recent times.

What a great spot for autumn butterfly splendour, David. Those numbers are wonderful to see - reminiscent of autumns growing up in North London when the michaelmas daisies were covered in butterflies in September.

Must be one of the best in Wales, Dave. The gardens are full of nectar-rich plants not to mention crops being grown, which explains the abundance of Small Whites.

[David M]

Wednesday 29th September – A brief break from the rain….

I hate this time of year, and particularly so when the UK gets caught up in Atlantic weather systems that do nothing except provide cloud, wind and rain for the west of the country.

A brief respite this morning tempted me out on to Castle Meadows in Abergavenny:

I got caught in a heavy shower right at the beginning of my walk, but things soon turned sunnier, although the only butterfly I ended up seeing was this male Large White:

Even Linda Vista Gardens turned up a blank, which is unusual. I was left with the secondary choice of admiring the scenery:

[Goldie M]

Hi! David, some lovely shots of the Small Torts, they did very well in my Garden before I left , I did catch a glimpse of one at Temple Ewell when I went there in July but I was only there a short time and we picked a day when it wasn't very bright and you know Tortoiseshells, they don't like cloudy skies Goldie

[David M]

Thanks, Goldie. Yes, Torties have had an exceptionally good year, and I hope this translates into a good showing next spring.

Sunday 10th October – Keeping on going….

After having felt obliged to spend time in southern Spain between 5th and 9th October due to the awful weather in the UK, I was surprised to return home and find this Small Tortoiseshell nectaring in my neighbour’s garden in balmy 15c temperatures:

A couple of hours later after returning from the shops, there was one in my garden too: