millerd

[millerd]

Cheers, everyone! After that cracking start to proceedings, things have been a bit sluggish. Despite quite a bit more sunshine and some distinctly promising days, I haven't seen anything else until today. Still no Commas, nor Brimstones either.

I did an extended version of my local walk today (19th February) in warm and sunny conditions (though the sun was tempered by some passing higher cloud). Eventually I was buzzed by an active Red Admiral, which actually appeared during one of the less sunny spells. It was happily cruising around but finally decided to bask in a rather difficult spot deep in the brambles and wouldn't budge.

Dave

[bugboy]

Looks like very similar days either side of London!

[Wurzel]

I'll swap you a Peacock for a Brimstone Dave With the return of cooler weather things might slow down a little
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

MARCH 2023 - very disappointing.

Well, after that burst of activity in February, almost the whole of March was bereft of butterflies. I eventually found another Peacock on 25th of the month, two more on 27th along with my first two Brimstones, and finally one more on 30th - plus my first Comma of the year. Seven butterflies for the whole month, seen on only three days. Just a year ago, I finished March with sightings of ten species, including nine on one day when 49 individual butterflies were counted.

The weather (as always) must be at least partly responsible. It was very dull, with just half the average sunshine - plus well over double the normal rainfall. To balance that, temperatures were close to average both day and night overall, and there was actually only one night with an air frost. This makes for a very frustrating situation with regard to the butterflies, as warmer days lacked the sun to entice them out and rare sunny spells were generally too brief, too chilly or too windy - or a combination of all of these!

So, sparse though they are, here are some of March's butterflies.

It appears the Red Admiral caterpillars that kept me fascinated through the darkest part of the year, having amazingly survived ten December frosts and the some equally cold nights in January, failed to make it through to spring. They obviously can survive the cold when tucked up in their nettle shelters, but in the end the smaller nettles they end up using succumb to the weather depriving the caterpillars of their barrier against the elements. The lack of warmth during the short winter days makes the caterpillars too sluggish to relocate to better leaves (as they do at other times of the year) and sadly they perish.

On now into April, and hopefully everything will start to wake up a bit.

Dave

[trevor]

I was a little concerned by the lack of recent posts from you.
I was relieved when you had a similar March to me! One Red Admiral and that was it.
We became very used to a mild late Feb/March in recent years and maybe took it for granted,
so in 2023 we had a reality check. At least things have started to move ( bar any poor weather ).

Holly Blues soon ?
Trevor.

[millerd]

Holly Blues soon ?
Trevor.

I am pleased to report that Holly Blues have made an appearance, Trevor, so all is right with the world.

April has started much better than March finished. Eight days into the month, and I've seen butterflies every day since the 2nd. Three more species have appeared to join the five already out: Small White, Speckled Wood and the aforementioned Holly Blue. However, the latter has still to succumb to my wiles with the camera.

Though this all sounds encouraging, I'd say numbers of all species seen are lower than normal at this stage of the season, especially as the weather has improved markedly this last week. Fingers crossed that there are more hibernators to emerge and a good selection of Orange Tips, GVW and Holly Blues ready to spring into action.

A selection from the first days of April:

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

7th

8th

Dave

[millerd]

Easter Sunday 9th April.

One more fine day before the weather goes downhill again. It seems the Orange Tips will have to wait.

A repeat of the last two days with my local walk, and with once again similar, but not identical, results.

Small White 4
Red Admiral 3
Peacock 3
Comma 2
Brimstone 2

These two butterflies were almost constantly squabbling, and I was lucky to catch them between skirmishes along this bit of path (that just a week ago was largely under water overspilled from the adjacent River Colne).

This particular Red Admiral wasn't far away either, and posed so nicely I had to oblige.

Considering the age of all three of these butterflies, they're not doing badly - the Peacock in particular was in fine condition. It also sported the hindwing spots that make it an example of ab. ophthalmica. These spots often fade to obscurity by the end of hibernation, so it was good to see them so clearly.

Dave

[Wurzel]

"MARCH 2023 - very disappointing." - definitely a case of Miserable March Dave and I'm glad that that was the reason for your absence Hopefully April will be Awesome As the Holly Blues, OTs and Specklies are all out it certainly seems to be going in the right direction - fingers crossed this week to come is a blip

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - those Holly Blues are mighty reluctant to come out at the moment despite the encouraging weather.

Easter Monday 10th April.

The promised change in the weather occurred, and it started grey and damp, This briefly cleared before a sudden extremely heavy downpour temporarily put paid to any ideas of going out. However, magically the sun did then come out and it became quite warm - enough to wake up a few of the local butterflies anyway: five Peacocks, three Commas, a Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral.

The last of these was a fine new example and I speculated (given the relatively early date) that it was much more likely to be the offspring of local caterpillars than to be a recent immigrant. Of course, within twently-four hours I was to revise this opinion!

Tuesday 11th April.

Today's forecast promised some morning sunshine before a wholesale collapse to cloud, rain and strong winds later. I went out locally again between half nine and half ten and the sun did indeed shine. I had hoped there might be one or two emerging Holly Blues (it's a good time of day to find them), but having seen just a single Speckled Wood and with the cloud starting to build, I headed for home.

Specklie habitat. The first few of the year are always found in this spot.

However, before getting back, in the last bit of dandelion-studded grass, I spotted a pinky-orange butterfly whizzing about relatively close to the ground. With so many Large Tortoiseshell reports coming in that did immediately spring to mind, but the individual quickly came very close by and identified itself to be a Painted Lady. To be fair, that wasn't something I expected either, but it did show that it was entirely possible for butterflies to have already started to migrate here this year.

Dave

[Wurzel]

That's a cracking find Dave There have been one or two reported as well as a few Cloudies despite the bad weather , a great way to progress through the season

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

Seeing a ' pinky orange ' butterfly in the air at this time of year does raise expectations!
That exactly describes what I thought was a Painted Lady flyby, it then turned out to be an LT.

Great to see your early Painted Lady!
Trevor.

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel and Trevor - the Painted Lady almost made up for the lack of other butterflies. Unexpected, but great to come across it.

Nothing seen on a wet and very windy 12th but Thursday 13th April was much sunnier and calmer, though not warm out if the sun. The butterflies responded, and my local patch delivered five Commas...

four Peacocks...

two Speckled Woods...

two Red Admirals...

...and a Holly Blue.

The second of the Red Admirals above was a female egg-laying on the lush nettles by the river; the Holly Blue was found characteristically puddling - there were plenty to choose from! It was very restless, and the poor shot here caught it as it took to the air again. Still, my first Holly Blue photo of the year...

Dave

[Wurzel]

Great to see that you're off the mark with the Holly Blue whispering Dave Funnily enough I got my first UK ones and shots yesterday Things are moving on nicely we just need a little more consistency in the weather Soon be time for Pearls

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - yes, it does indeed seem to be Holly Blue time! Four today...

After another really rather unpleasant day on Friday 14th, Saturday 15th April started similarly but at around two o'clock everything changed. Off I went around my local patch, and I could tell something different was in the air - within a minute I'd seen my first Orange Tip of the year. I watched it scuffle with another butterfly, which turned out to be a Holly Blue, and this in turn led me to another one. What an uplifting start. The photos achieved were nothing special, with the Orange Tip just a blur caught in flight...

...and the second Holly Blue (a female) a bit distant in the thick of the brambles.

Unlike other recent days, butterflies appeared at regular intervals, including seven Brimstones seen altogether: I hadn't seen one since Sunday. In amongst seven Whites seen altogether, six were Small (including this male)...

...but one turned out to be a female GVW, another first for 2023.

Add to all this five assorted Peacocks, four Commas, two Red Admirals, two Speckled Woods, two more Holly Blues and a single Small Tortoiseshell and it all added up to a proper spring assortment.

Dave

[trevor]

That's more like it Dave, OT's , Holly Blues and intact Specklies .
What will next week bring? We gradually lost that icy air today, leading to a mild afternoon.

Great stuff!
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Great to see the range increasing in your reports Dave As we're generally about a week behind here it's a little like looking into a crystal ball Still just need the weather to improve slightly now

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Holly Blues, Green Veined Whites & Orange Tips....starting to look like a genuine mid-April round your way, Dave.

I can only hope the next few days deliver similar returns round here. At the moment, it still feels like late March but this can't continue indefinitely.

[millerd]

Cheers Trevor, David and Wurzel As you all say, things are slowly improving, though slowly is the word as the weather hiccups into more springlike conditions.

Saturday 16th April was bright - not properly sunny at any point, but calm and the air was warm. However, the Brimstones clearly thought it was worth a go, as I quickly counted eight during a midday local walk. Peacocks were happy with things too as I found nine: the highest total for a day so far this year. Everything else was much more reluctant, with just a couple of Small Whites, and singleton Holly Blue, Red Admiral and Speckled Wood.

As with the others of the species seen this year, the Holly Blue remained distant...

...but the rest of the roster cooperated well today, even a male Small White...

...and a female Brimstone. This latter butterfly was avidly nectaring, moving from one dandelion to another and quite undisturbable,

The Speckled Wood was equally sedentary in the weak sun, allowing a very close approach.

Peacocks were mostly more flighty...

...and the Red Admiral was just being a typical Red Admiral, happily zooming about regardless of the cloudiness and enjoying the same spot as yesterday.

Dave

[millerd]

Monday 17th April

Around half ten today, the cloud began to break up and I was treated to two or three hours of warm sunshine locally. Two species in particular responded to these ideal conditions and put on the sort of show that has been overdue around these parts so far this year: in a walk of 90 minutes or so, I managed to count 18 Brimstones (only two were females) and no fewer than 28 Peacocks.

There were also ten Whites, of which two were GVW and the remainder probably Small.

Orange Tips had finally begun to appear, with four seen today,...

...but I didn't see a Holly Blue, nor a Comma, but instead three Small Tortoiseshells were flying.

A single Red Admiral and a new female Speckled Wood made up the numbers.

With the wind vaguely in the east, there were plenty of other aerial distractions around, coming into land...

I've seen butterflies on 14 out of 17 days this month, but today was the first time numbers seemed respectable for any of the species.

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 18th April

Today, things started well with the sun just beginning to take the chill off the day around noon, when cloud built quickly from the east and turned the afternoon very grey and cold. However, I managed my usual walk during the morning, and counted just 19 butterflies with only five species represented.

Brimstones seem to know when the day is going to pan out badly in the end, and I saw none at all. Peacocks are not daunted in the same way, and eight were basking in various spots. This one had had at least one encounter with a bird, but was still flying...

...and these two sat unusually close together while sunbathing.

I found Commas today after yesterday's nil return, though only three. I had just got a shot of this one...

...when it reacted to another butterfly - an Orange Tip, which promptly settled nearby to recover from the tussle.

One bit of woodland by the river is nicely sheltered from chilly easterlies, and here were two (very similar) Speckled Woods.

Finally, half a dozen Small Whites were seen, though not flying very strongly in the cool sunshine, and these two were sluggish enough to allow close photos of what can be a very tricky species in warmer weather.

Dave