Neil Freeman

[bugboy]

Good to see you off the mark at last, although in your neck of the woods this is about the normal time for you isn't it? Definitely a few for those Small Torts, still only seen one!

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Paul. Things are actually running a little late here if only by a few days. I would 'normally' expect to see the kind of numbers I saw yesterday (and again today) towards the end of March. I did have a couple of random sightings in February but I reckon these were probably individuals that had been disturbed and it was another month before I saw anything else.

Tuesday 4th April.

After returning from my visit to the opticians and despite my vision still being blurry from the eye drops I had been given, I decided to make the most of another nice sunny afternoon before the weather turns tomorrow.
So it was that I ended up back at my local spot by Wagon Lane in almost identical conditions to the previous day with my usual circuit producing pretty much the same numbers of Small Tortoiseshells and Commas, in fact I reckon most of them were the same individuals that I had seen the day before.

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023

After my brief flypast of a Peacock back in early February I had not yet seen another one since and was therefore chuffed to spot one today high up on some blackthorn blossom. I took a couple of long distance photos and then waited around hoping that it would come lower, which it eventually did, although rather than settling on some lower blossom it landed on the path. I managed to get some photos before it took off again and disappeared over the hedge line.

Peacock - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023. Cropped long distance shot.

Peacock - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023

A little later I saw another Peacock, a much more raggedy looking example that didn’t settle.

I also saw my first whites of the year with three or four fluttering along the hedgerows, one of which settled just long enough for a quick grab shot which although poor at least identified it as a Green-veined White. I didn't notice until afterwards that a Bee Fly had also sneaked in on the photo.

Green-veined White - Wagon Lane 04.04.2023

The current forecast now has it clouding up here tomorrow with a band of rain heading in, but this is different to what the forecast said yesterday and could well be different to what it says tomorrow – we’ll see.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[David M]

Lovely to see those butterflies on the blackthorn blossom, Neil. One of my favourite sights of any year.

Beautiful Peacock...well worth the near two month wait! Good to know Green Veined Whites are out by you as well. I'll have to have a search for them myself over this Easter weekend.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks David. A lot of that blossom got hit by the recent frosts here, luckily there are other stands just coming into flower now.

Friday 7th April – Good Friday.

After a couple of wet days we got the sun back today, in fact after a cold and clear night there was wall to wall blue sky to start with. We popped round to see my mom this morning and whilst there I had a short wander down to the park by her house although it was still quite nippy and hadn’t warmed up enough to get anything flying.

Back home later a few fluffy white clouds were drifting across the sky and it had warmed up nicely so I went for a walk down to my local spot by Wagon Lane. My usual circuit today produced a conservative count of 14 Small Tortoiseshells, a good count but still down on the numbers I have seen here in recent years. Most of these were actively chasing each other about in the warm sun meaning that photo opportunities were a bit limited.
Joining in with these on occasion were 6 Commas and 3 Peacocks.

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Peacock - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Just one white was seen today, my first confirmed Small White that settled briefly on some blossom making for a pleasing pose.

Small White - Wagon Lane 07.04.2023

Tomorrow looks to be another nice day with more clouds then building up again on Sunday and rain into Monday. I have seen the first Orange-tips reported from around the midlands today so fingers crossed it won’t be too long before they show up here…along with my Specklies of course.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Saturday 8th April.

I originally hadn’t intended going out today but after doing a bit of shopping this morning and looking at how it had turned into another nice day I decided to make the most of it while I could this afternoon and once again wandered down to my local spot by Wagon Lane.

There was more cloud about today but with just a light breeze it was feeling just as warm as yesterday and my usual circuit produced similar numbers of butterflies with perhaps a couple more Small Tortoiseshells flying today (maybe 16/17). There were definitely some new ones amongst these and I saw more courtship activity today with a couple of pairs landing close by enabling me to get some shots. As usual these ended with the female taking off rapidly with the male in pursuit until they disappeared into the distance.

Small Tortoiseshells - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshells - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Not sure which one is more confused.

Seven Commas were seen and going by their locations they were very likely to be mostly the same ones that I had previously seen here.

Comma - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Just two Peacocks were seen here today with one of them flying between a basking spot on a patch of bare ground and a builders tote bag that had been dumped alongside one of the paths by some scumbag. At least it gave a different background for a photo although I am not sure if I like it or not.

Peacock - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Peacock - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

The best butterfly of the day however was my first Orange-tip of the year meaning that spring has properly sprung here now. I watched it approach along a hedgerow and a quick glance at the sky showed that a cloud was just about to cover the sun. I kept my eye on it as this happened and noted where it settled and slowly approached to find it on some blackthorn that the recent frosts had browned off.

Orange-tip - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

After taking a few underside shots I hung around for ten minutes for the the sun to come out again to catch it opening his wings for a few seconds to warm up and carry on his way.

Orange-tip - Wagon Lane 08.04.2023

Apart from the above mentioned butterflies a single wandering white was spotted but this was too away to ID.

I definitely won’t be out tomorrow (Easter Sunday) as we are having both my mom and Jane’s mom over for the day so I will have my hands full.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[David M]

What a day, Neil!

More than a dozen Small Tortoiseshells, photogenic Commas & Peacocks and then that divine male Orange Tip.

You deserve your day off butterflying tomorrow!

[millerd]

Lovely to see the Orange Tip, Neil! No sign of them down my way yet - they normally coincide with the arrival of garlic mustard flowers, but there are none of these out yet.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Great to catch up on your posts Neil - and good to see things are getting going up your way Lovely looking OT shots there

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks David. Yes, That was a good day, nothing else seen since though with a couple of wet and windy days just past.

Hi Dave. That OT is the only one here so far. Now you mention it I have not seen any garlic mustard in flower here yet either.

Cheers Wurzel. Yes, things are getting going but still a bit slow overall.


Garden Moths.

Things are still slow to get going with the moths in my garden although I am not sure how much of this can be put down to last years draught(s) and how much is simply down to poor weather resulting in trapping on fewer occasions. Having said that, a lot of nights here are similar to what we had at this time last year, that is either clear and cold or milder but wet and/or windy.
I have run the trap three times so far this month, on the nights of April 1st, 4th and 9th. The first two occasions resulted in just 3 Common Quakers and singles of Hebrew Character and Light Brown Apple Moth (LBAM) on the 1st and just singles of Common Quaker and Hebrew Character on 4th.
The night of the 9th was better with a total of 26 moth s of 7 species although most of these were Common Quakers (16).
The remainder consisted of Hebrew Character (2), Double-striped Pug (3), Common Plume (2), Twenty-plume Moth, LBAM and my best moth of the night, a new species for the garden (NFG), a nice Frosted Green.

Frosted Green - Coverdale 09.04.2023

This is usually a moth of Oak woodlands and given that I don't have much oak close to my house is a good species for here. Apparently it is widespread in southern England, extending northward to Lincolnshire in the east and cumbria in the west although it becomes increasingly scarce and more local the further north it occurs.

It looks like the rest of this week is going to remain mostly cool, wet and windy with maybe a few sunny spells occasionally...we'll see.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Thursday 13th April.

Today (Thursday) was another cold, windy and mostly cloudy day although with fewer showers of rain and a little bit more sun than of late. I pottered about in the garden a bit this afternoon although I had to head back indoors a couple of times to avoid a brief rain shower.
Around 2.30pm, during one of the sunny spells I spotted my first Speckled Wood of the year flutter into the garden but before I could get my camera it was off again and that was the last I saw of it. Looking at my records for previous years this is an average date for first sightings of these here.
An hour or so later there was another nice sunny spell during which a male Orange-tip flew in. He hung around for a few minutes as the sun was covered and uncovered again by some broken cloud inducing him to flutter about and settle briefly in a couple of spots before the sun came out again properly and he was off for good.

Orange-tip - Coverdale 13.04.2023

I only managed one open wing shot as he briefly opened his wings, not too good as it was out of focus as he bobbed about in the wind but hey ho! an Orange-tip is an Orange-tip and he was only the second one I have seen here so far this year.

Orange-tip - Coverdale 13.04.2023

As I write this on Friday (14th) morning, we have had another wet night and there is currently a leaden grey overcast with what looks like a lot more rain forecast for later. The weekend is looking better albeit still a bit on the cool side with temperatures looking to be on the rise again late next week, fingers crossed.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Great to see the second OT Neil Hopefully the weather won't enter into that annoying cycle of nice during the week, deteriorating by the weekend Mind you some people don't have to worry about that

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Thursday 13th April.

..during one of the sunny spells I spotted my first Speckled Wood of the year flutter into the garden...

Always a good moment, Neil.

Your second Orange Tip is possibly even more welcome - they're showing a distinct reluctance to emerge round my way.

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel. At least it doesn't look like the weather will be any better at the weekends, around here it is equally grotty during the weeks.

Thanks David. Orange-tips are still thin on the ground here with just those two seen so far.


Tuesday 18th April.

Well, the weekend was a bit better but not much. Temperatures were up a bit (just a bit) but the dull grey overcast lasted all weekend and then nearly all day on Monday. Eventually, the clouds began to break up late in the day, just in time to make last night a clear and cold one. Consequently, it started off cold this morning and despite blue skies and plenty of sun a cold wind from the east meant it felt quite nippy until around mid-day.

Notwithstanding the blustery cold wind, it began to feel more pleasant this afternoon so I wandered down to my local spot by Wagon Lane. My usual circuit around the more sheltered spots soon turned up some butterflies with Small Tortoiseshells once again being easily the most numerous with a conservative 16 counted.

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Peacock numbers were up slightly from last week with 6 seen, but Commas were slightly down at 5.

Peacock - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Peacock - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

After briefly seeing my first Speckled Wood last week I was especially on the lookout for these so was chuffed to find a couple, including one that was lurking around one of the blackthorn stands and settled to give a pleasing pose.

Speckled Wood - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Speckled Wood - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

My first Holly Blues of the year also showed up with 4 seen, 3 in the air at the same time and then another one at the other end of the site. One of these, a male, was fluttering quite weakly around one of the hedgerows, quite possibly due to being recently emerged, and so I kept on eye on him as he settled a few times. Despite the full sun, I was hoping that the cold wind might tempt him to open his wings, which he eventually did.

Holly Blue - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Holly Blue - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

I also saw my first Brimstone of the year, a male that flew rapidly along one of the hedgerows and disappeared into the distance without showing any inclination to stop.

No Orange-tips, or any other whites for that matter today, I guess they don’t like the cold wind. Speaking of cold winds, it now looks like it will be present all week with peak temperatures not getting above 13 or 14 degrees here.
So much for all the talk a few days ago of temperatures reaching 20 odd degrees this week.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[bugboy]

So much for all the talk a few days ago of temperatures reaching 20 odd degrees this week.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Yes, I clearly remember Tuesday (yesterday, my day off) being touted as the best day off the week down here. Of the 3 days so far it was definitely the worst . I have the first two weeks of May booked off, there's a distinct feeling of trepidation surrounding this at the moment!

[Wurzel]

"So much for all the talk a few days ago of temperatures reaching 20 odd degrees this week."I hate it when things like this are said Neil as you just know that it's all going to go to pot. If I had my way I'd ban paper like The Mail from ever using the phrase 'Barbeque summer' which is always the death knell of a decent summer
Looks like it's been better up round your way than mine -today felt distinctly February in fashion

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Paul. I too am hoping things buck up a bit in May, we are heading down to visit our daughter in Emsworth for a few days in about three weeks time so fingers crossed.

Cheers Wurzel. Yes, we may have had some better days up here, still plenty of grotty ones as well though.

Saturday 22th April.

As I write this on Saturday morning we have just had a week of alternating weather days. Monday was awful then Tuesday was much better as decribed in my last report. Wednesday was another poor day and then Thursday was better again in a what was an almost identical re-run of Monday/Tuesday. As it happened, I couldn't take advantage of Thursday as I had to go out in the morning and by the time I was free in the afternoon I wanted to spend an hour or so catching up on some stuff in the garden before the rain forecast for Friday soaked everything again. During this time in the garden I spotted singles of Green-veined White, Orange-tip and Comma, all of which were blown through quickly in the blustery wind so no chance of a photo.
The forecast for Friday was accurate and we had a lot of rain during the morning and although it cleared up later with the sun coming out just before 4.00pm, it was too late to be of any use at that time, failing to make much impression against the cold wind.

This morning (Saturday) we are currently sitting under a layer of cloud with a forecast that indicates that we could see a bit of sun this afternoon although it looks to be staying cool with temperatures up to the low teens at most...we'll see.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Tuesday 25th April.

In the end we remained under a dull overcast for most of the weekend and well into Monday again. There were occasional glimpses of the sun but only short ones and nothing that did anything to alleviate the generally chilly feel to things. Later on Monday, around 4.00pm the clouds finally cleared to leave us with a cold night and a light frost first thing on Tuesday morning.

In the morning, we popped round to see my mom and whilst there I had a walk down the road to her local park. This was around 10.30am and there was still a noticeable chill in the air despite the blue skies and plenty of sun. Nevertheless, a quick check of the normal sheltered corners produced a couple of Speckled Wood.

Speckled Wood - Langley Hall 25.04.2023

Back home later, I was pottering about in the garden when a white flew in and fluttered about some dandelions, giving me just enough time to grab my camera and take a couple of quick shots and confirm it as a male Small White.

Small White - Coverdale 25.04.2023

A few minutes later I spotted a Comma fly in and some drifting cloud covered the sun inducing it to settle.

Comma - Coverdale 25.04.2023

By this time the cloud was building up although so far not as much as the forecast had indicated so I decided to have a walk down to my local spot by Wagon Lane. Once again, Small Tortoiseshells were the most numerous species with around a dozen seen. Many of these are now showing damage and signs of wear but there are still some nice looking ones in decent condition.

Small Tortoiseshells - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

Small Tortoiseshells - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

During the hour or so that I spent here, the clouds built up more and during the periods when they hid the sun it felt decidedly chilly. Most of the Small Tortoiseshells that I saw were spotted basking with their bright colours standing out against their backgrounds and in many cases they were ‘shivering’ their wings to warm up.

Apart from the ‘tough as old boots’ Small Torts, other butterflies were thin on the ground in what had now become borderline conditions at best. These included a couple of Speckled Wood and just one each of Comma, Peacock, Holly Blue and Small White.

Comma - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

Peacock - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

Speckled Wood - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

Small White - Wagon Lane 25.04.2023

Still, it turned out to be a better day than the forecast had originally indicated.

As I write this on Wednesday morning, the forecast looks similar to the original one for yesterday, so we will see how it turns out.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

You've had more luck with the Butterflies then here in the South Neil, I'm still waiting for a Comma ,Red Admiral , etc ,etc,

Your shots are lovely hope fully warmer weather will arrive, the wind here is freezing. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of shots as per usual Neil That first Small White in particular really stands out with the almost non-existent markings - what a corker
Is it about time to wish you many Happy Returns, I thought I saw something on Face-the-book? If so I hope you had great B'Day

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

I'm sure you will soon catch up and then overtake me Goldie. You have a good selection of species down there that I have to travel some distance to see.

Cheers Wurzel. Yes, it was indeed my B'day yesterday (Wednesday). Not a good day for butterflies unfortunatly although I did see a couple in the garden when we finally got a bit of sun later in the afternoon - singles of Comma and Speckled Wood that briefly settled before departing again.

Comma - Coverdale 26.04.2023

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 26.04.2023

There was also a male Orange-tip that flew through and I watched as it settled in a patch of long grass at the bottom of next doors garden where with a bit of leaning over the fence I took possibly my worst ever photo of this species. Still, with the scarcity of this species around here this spring an OT is an OT.
The image below is not cropped

Orange-tip in next doors garden.

Sods law meant that when it took off again it headed away from me and with a return of the clouds that was the last I saw of it.

Bye for now,

Neil.