PhilBWright

[PhilBJohnson]

April 2nd 2024
My seasonally earliest ever note, of a male Orange-tip butterfly, in direct sunlit afternoon flight, near Lincoln.

April 11th 2024.

Allotment Cherry on April 11th 2024. Just that memorable, seasonal, very specific timing.

Male woodland butterflies surveyed by Melissa and I from April 14th 2024.
Lincolnshire male butterflies
The male forewings of the Spring generation of Green-veined white butterfly generally had much paler dark markings, than a faster life cycled summer generation.
Male Holly blue also seen, but not photographed.

April 14th Speckled wood (assumed to be male)

April 14th Male green-veined white, wings already damaged in clash.

April 14th Male Orange-tip butterfly

April 14th Male Green-veined white

April 14th Male Orange-tip, wings open in direct sunlight

Some female Orange-tip butterflies, clearly, had not emerged yet.

On Friday 19th 2024
A coldish breeze, external temperature reading in my car read 12ºC at about the same time as male Orange-tip butterflies took to the wing, in a sheltered location, with direct lunchtime sunlight, where a micro-climate might have made it slightly warmer.
This Spring, locally near Lincoln, I had not yet identified a female of any butterfly species, apart from one Brimstone and perhaps I was not looking hard enough at the Small Tortoiseshell (numbers appeared to be down, since 2015-2022) and Peacocks.
For early and late Spring butterflies, recommended place to look was north side of Lincoln gap (South facing bank of River Witham, cut through the Limestone geology. Places for n(ature and the view) included Lincoln's Liquorice Park.

[PhilBJohnson]

Nasturtiums & White Butterflies
Updated Content, that included growing Nasturtiums in the timing before last English Spring frost to display flowers in the "June gap" (a talked about month in recent history, where White butterflies were less numerous, between generations and before mass migration arrival).

https://youtu.be/eBZ__qr2XOI

Some interesting content:
"This was a Large white butterfly, that laid eggs in batches, in a same, or similar location.
In 2023, some seed packet varieties of Nasturtiums available, had smaller leaves and flowered more profusely, as some growers wanted to try and avoid this butterfly species attention."

The truth is out there,

Kind Regards

[PhilBJohnson]

Gardening For Butterflies-Cuckoo flower
We have had a wet year and it might have been good growing conditions for Cuckoo flower
"If you live in the South of England and had bought much grazed Cuckoo flower from an Authorised Wild Flower Retailer, you might of had some very long stems that had finished flowering. It was a recommended option, at the right seasonal time, when there was no observed Butterfly Life cycle there, to layer (a process called layering) part of the longest stems, below some developed seed pods, where new plants might grow.

In England, like watercress, it was thought, we did not have enough of Cuckoo flower, because of historic water meadow loss and Retailers that might have been caught retailing it, with a life cycle present, that someone else did not want, in their quarantine room.

[PhilBJohnson]

Brimstone relationship?
A species of spider that was seen living on English Buckthorn in May-July, when immature stages of a Brimstone Life cycle were there. Please can someone tell me more about this species and in what way does it (if it does) interact with the immature stages of Brimstone, even if it might be nocturnal?
I would guess (looking at the body) that it was at least distasteful to other species higher up a food chain, if not, poisonous.

May 18th 2024, Lincolnshire

[PhilBJohnson]

Spring 2024 Male Speckled wood butterfly diary, near Lincoln, Lincolnshire
First Speckled wood on the wing in 2024, I recorded on April 11th 2024

April 11th 2024 11:12am

Some of the first butterflies to emerge were seen in a window of opportunity, around a warmer lunchtime or early afternoon, when direct sunlight, less wind and temperatures allowed more flight activity.

Freshly emerged males were identified, on the seasonally sunny and warmest days, in combat with each other over territorial air space.
I once called this "Antennae jousting", but in fact, it was thought that the very sensitive antennae were used as instant response mechanisms, to help avoid high speed wing clashes, that were essentially individual mistakes, that decreased, on the wing, flight longevity.
Because first males of the year, emerged, after overwintering as pupa, then were followed soon after by males that had overwintered in larval form, sometimes, it was observed that a fresh male might displace one that was older and more wing damaged.

[PhilBJohnson]

Garden, Dragonfli wasp trap
I don't want Vespula vulgaris in my garden, even if "Chris" in the neighbourhood has left his growing wasp nest to get bigger to late summer.
Last year we had wasps from about the last week, before female Brimstones emerged from pupae.

I thought that my garden dragonfli wasp traps holes were big enough to squeeze through a Vespula vulgaris, but not a dragonfly, or a garden butterfly. Seriously, I wasn't sure about the size of something else.
I thought that the brand name "dragonfli", possibly should appear (or be embossed or something) on the product, not just on the leaflet the product came with, having bought it online.

#PickingFruit (without getting stung).

[Padfield]

I'm on the side of the wasps. They're quite likely to be among the chief pollinators of your fruit crops, so worth a sting or two if you're not allergic (though wasps are very unaggressive). If you are allergic, a wasp trap is unlikely to protect you. Wasps are the goodies!

Guy