October 2022

[Stevieb]

Coppers still hanging on. Bewley Common, Wiltshire

Small Copper x 2
Speckled Wood X 4

16th October

16th October

16th October

16th October

16th October

16th October

16th October

[Jack Harrison]

The Year of the Admiral
These were active at 12 Celsius.
The photo taken through the Michaelmas Daisies was a real challenge to grab the focus. The result is a bit of a messy shot but at least the butterfly's wings are sharp enough. Don't forget to click on image to enlarge.

Jack - butterflying since 1945

[zigzag_wanderer]

I'm not seeing many butterflies at work now bar Speckled Wood, the odd Red Admiral and very rare white. Haven't seen a Small Copper or Wall Brown for a couple of weeks....and I'm very jealous of Allan's bugs !

We do have a Knot Grass caterpillar that has been on the same pot of ornamental grass for a long time now. He seems to be getting bigger every day. Interestingly, he's chosen to chew his way through a thistle type weed growing in the pot rather than the grass itself.

Also, after taking some crates off a pile, it was clear a pair of birds (robins I assume) had set up home in one earlier in the year. Interesting to see that they had incorporated all manner of plastic rubbish into the nest. We do tidy up plastic into their appropriate recycling and landfill bins, but unfortunately there are always escapee scraps around the houses. So good to know the birds had done their bit to tidy up some of it.

Walked with my son to Devil's Dyke last Sunday for a bit of late Victorian/early Edwardian archaeology hunting. You can still clearly see the route of the short-lived funicular railway that took people up the steep north escarpment of the Downs from Poynings to the various amusements and rides at the top. I find stuff from my great-grandparents' generation very interesting ... it's tantalisingly close to us in time but almost seems a world away.

https://fulking.net/the-steep-grade-railway-1897-1909/

There's also still some evidence for the aerial cableway that spanned the chasm itself (the deepest dry valley in the world apparently) during the same era.

[David M]

Sunday 9th - A hummingbird hawkmoth was a pleasant surprise on a cloudy and fairly blustery day on my neighbour's verbena in Parkmill, Gower:

[Stevieb]

A couple of Small Coppers still, plus 2 Speckled Wood. Bewley Common, Wiltshire

17th October

17th October

17th October

[millerd]

10 butterflies of 5 species local to me today in more warm sunshine after a lot of overnight rain: Four Red Admirals, two Holly Blues, two Peacocks, a Comma and a Speckled Wood. Annoyingly, both Peacocks were disturbed from the ground and neither settled low down again to be photographed.

The Red Admirals demonstrated extremes of wear:

100% immaculate...

...40% at best?

The Comma looked fresh...

...but the Speckled Wood had been in the wars a bit.

The Holly Blue I managed to get a shot of (a male) wasn't new either.

Dave

[David M]

Monday 10th, Nicholaston Burrows, Gower:

Small Copper 3
Clouded Yellow 1
Comma 1
Small White 1
Red Admiral 1

[Stevieb]

From this lunchtime. Bewley Common, Wiltshire

2 x Small Copper
4 x Red Admiral
5 x Speckled Wood

18th October

18th October

18th October

18th October

18th October

18th October

18th October

18th October

[zigzag_wanderer]

Lots of small insects flying about in the sun this lunchtime. Only butterfly amongst them though was a male Brimstone on a non-stop mission.

A large moth had decided to buck the trend and take it very easy with some sunbathing. I'm calling this a Grey Shoulder-knot.....please shout if I've got this wrong, ta.

[Allan.W.]

Agree Zig-Zag .................. Grey shoulder Knot ........Nice !
Ran the trap last night and had a few Autumn specia;ities inc Green Brindled Crescent (3) ,Red line Quaker , Red-Green Carpet (4) ,Common Marbled Carpet ,Black Rustic , Blairs Shoulder -Knot amongst others ,but the highlight was 3 of the Beautiful Merveille du Jour ,a pretty variable moth ,only generally catch 1 a season if i,m lucky .............So proper Red letter day !
Allan.W.

[millerd]

Just a couple of Red Admirals locally in today's very blustery sunshine, though I did spot a Small White in the middle of Staines this afternoon.

It appears that not all the Red Admirals are feeding up and heading south, as at least one female had been otherwise occupied.

It was just a very cursory look at the young nettles that produced this one, so there could be quite a few more - though the local council have just mowed the majority of the verges again ...

Dave

[zigzag_wanderer]

Agree Zig-Zag .................. Grey shoulder Knot ........Nice !
Ran the trap last night and had a few Autumn specia;ities inc Green Brindled Crescent (3) ,Red line Quaker , Red-Green Carpet (4) ,Common Marbled Carpet ,Black Rustic , Blairs Shoulder -Knot amongst others ,but the highlight was 3 of the Beautiful Merveille du Jour ,a pretty variable moth ,only generally catch 1 a season if i,m lucky .............So proper Red letter day !
Allan.W.
P1160735.JPGP1160715.JPG

Thanks for that Allan. I thought it had to be that one, but I've been confident (and wrong) before, so really appreciate the confirmation.

Those Merveille du Jour are beautiful. I've only seen them in photos so am suitably...errr....green with envy, even more so that 3 chose to visit your trap on one night !

Notwithstanding the fact there are many more moth than butterfly species in the UK, as a generalisation the variability range within the former seems very much wider than I see with the latter. Making IDs even more tricky !

Having said that, the most common moth I'm seeing in the nursery right now (by a country mile) is the Diamond-back, which seems pretty uniform (although it is very small). We have a bed of Bowles Mauve that has been down for a long time and there's a lot of Diamond-back on it, but you see them zig-zagging around on a number of other beds too.

On the butterfly front I saw a single Peacock and Speckled Wood today....both outside.

[David M]

...Those Merveille du Jour are beautiful. I've only seen them in photos so am suitably...errr....green with envy..

Agreed. One of the UK's most stunning moths.

[Stevieb]

I was, at best, hoping to find one Small Copper this afternoon. As it was, I found four. Bewley Common, Wiltshire

Small Copper x 4
Speckled Wood x 4
Red Admiral x 1

20th October

20th October

20th October

20th October

20th October

[David M]

Tuesday 11th, Port Eynon, Gower:

Small White 4
Speckled Wood 1
Red Admiral 1 (at Knelston on the way home)

[David M]

Sunday 16th, Park Wood, Gower:

Red Admiral 2
Speckled Wood 1

At least a dozen Silver Y moths too.

[aeshna5]

Yesterday Red Admiral, at least 2 Small Whites & Hummingbird Hawkmoth at RHS Hyde Hall gardens, Essex.

[Stevieb]

Bewley Common, Wiltshire

Small Copper x 1
Speckled Wood x 1
Red Admiral x 1

22nd October

[millerd]

On yet another warm day today (22nd) with a bit of midday sunshine on my local patch, I was greeted by a Holly Blue on the ivy (but no Red Admirals).

In another sheltered spot I found a couple of Peacocks flying around up in the willows. One stopped just within camera reach.

Their usual preference after hibernation would be to bask on bare ground, but at the moment there are too many leaves still on the trees shading the paths (which are also very wet from the overnight rain). Consequently, to take advantage of what sun there is, these butterflies choose to bask higher up.

Dave

[Allan.W.]

Today in mid- Kent the temperature hit 20 degrees ! exceptional for late October i think ! local butterflies have all but finished ,
I look hopefully on most warmish days on my neighbours huge Ivy ,covered bushes in the front garden ...........but nothing !
At Dymchurch this morning a single Small White skipped across the father in Laws back garden ,and later on the way home ,the traffic came to a halt at the lights in New Romney high street ,and almost opposite the Swan i noticed a Holly Blue jinking around a Yew which was covered in berries ............pleased with this one ,i,ve seen very few this season ,the last probably 2 months ago !
Allan.W.