September 2024

[David M]

Huge numbers of Red Admiral overnight at both Sandwich Bay and Dungeness bird obs ,with up to a hundred reported along the Dungeness power station wall

That's good to hear, Allan. Any Clouded Yellows amongst them?

[Trev Sawyer]

One had been blown in at Felixstowe (Landguard) this morning

[Allan.W.]

Those reports from Dungeness and Sandwich Bay ,quite took me by surprise David as the weather overnight here in Kent was pretty awful .Hopefully the weather may improve and it will be interesting to see whats reported from other areas .I'll be keeping an eye open for some interesting finds from the local Moth-ers .
Haven't heard of any Cloudies locally as yet (apart from 1 or2 on Grain at Cliffe ) but see that Trev has just posted a sighting ......so fingers crossed !
Allan.W.

[David Lazarus]

One had been blown in at Felixstowe (Landguard) this morning

That is great news Trev, hopefully I will come across one or two Clouded Yellow just south of you here in Essex too. 3 more Painted Lady but currently no signs of large numbers of Red Admiral or Clouded Yellow.

Painted Lady
Great Notley Country Park 06/09/2024

Also at Great Notley Country Park this afternoon were good numbers of the whites with 25 Large White, 16 Small White and still some activity from the male and female Green-veined White all of which were looking quite fresh.

Green-veined White female
Great Notley Country Park

And the Small Heath [19] are still having a good year:

Small Heath
Great Notley Country Park 06/09/2024

But the Common Blue [4 M & 1 F] are looking very worn and tatty:

Common Blue male
Great Notley Country Park 06/09/2024

All-in-all, not a bad day in North Essex considering the day started with mist and was overcast for much of the morning with 10 species and 89 butterflies seen.

[David Lazarus]

I went to Wallasea Island today to search for Clouded Yellow but I was unsuccessful. However, I did come across 5 fresh Wall Brown, including a pair in cop, and another Painted Lady. There were also good numbers of Red Admiral [18] flying in from the north-east, presumably from Scandinavia?

Wall Brown in cop
Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

Other highlights included a couple of fresh Small Copper, 5 Brown Argus, and good numbers of Common Blue [21] - some fresh, others worn - with all the females I found of the brown variety:

Common Blue female
Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

Common Blue male
Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

Small Copper female
Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

The most abundant continued to be Green-veined White [42] and Small Heath [34], with another 19 Small and 15 Large White.

Large White female
Wallasea Island 07/09/2024

There was also a couple of fresh Peacock, a Holly Blue and a single Meadow Brown. 13 Species with 166 butterflies seen.

[millerd]

Mostly cloudy, but warm, windless and bright (at least it wasn't raining...) at Aston Rowant this morning. There were probably three figures of Meadow Browns (some very fresh), but only small numbers of everything else. Notable were a few Adonis Blues...

...and a handful of Silver-spotted Skippers.

Dave

[David M]

One had been blown in at Felixstowe (Landguard) this morning.

Great to see, Trev.

After initially thinking winds may blow from the east early this month, they've turned round to the west, so I fear this species will be in relarively short supply in the UK this autumn.

[David Lazarus]

391 Red Admiral reported sighting on the North Essex coastline today at Holland-on-Sea nectaring on flowering Ivy along with more Painted Lady. Southerly winds. Posted on branch sighting page.

[millerd]

The wind only went round to the west today over here in SE England (the persistent rain and cloud we've been suffering for several days has all been coming with winds from the east/southeast and it certainly looks as though a few Painted Ladies and Red Admirals came along with it...).

Painted Ladies seen today both down at Denbies in the morning (one) and on my local patch this afternoon (two). Adonis and Chalkhill Blues are still soldiering on at Denbies, where 11 species were seen altogether.

I'd like to have seen this one when new...

...and this one too!

Back home later, the 14 species flying locally included a brand new Peacock (second brood?), a pristine Red Admiral and a fresh male Common Blue.

None of the Painted Ladies seen today stayed still long enough to be photographed.

Full reports in my PD before too long I hope.

Dave

[Allan.W.]

HUGE ! numbers of Red Admirals still being reported from coastal Kent with "thousands passing through at Sandwich bay" even more remarkable is a count of 30,000 !! from a bird migration site in the Netherlands .....for anyone interested ,take a look at the Sandwich Bay bird obs Twitter page . Allan.W.

[David Lazarus]

HUGE ! numbers of Red Admirals still being reported from coastal Kent with "thousands passing through at Sandwich bay" even more remarkable is a count of 30,000 !! from a bird migration site in the Netherlands .....for anyone interested ,take a look at the Sandwich Bay bird obs Twitter page . Allan.W.

wow!!! They seem to be coming into Essex too around Clacton-on-Sea & Walton-on-the-Naze, but at the moment in hundreds rather than thousands. Not sure the next three days, with rain and moderate north-westerly breeze forecast, will be conducive to going out to see for myself.

Hopefully now some Clouded Yellow will come over as well depending on how well they have done on the continent.

[David M]

HUGE ! numbers of Red Admirals still being reported from coastal Kent with "thousands passing through at Sandwich bay" even more remarkable is a count of 30,000 !! from a bird migration site in the Netherlands .....for anyone interested ,take a look at the Sandwich Bay bird obs Twitter page

Amazing stats! Let's hope there are a few other migrant species amongst them.

[bugboy]

HUGE ! numbers of Red Admirals still being reported from coastal Kent with "thousands passing through at Sandwich bay" even more remarkable is a count of 30,000 !! from a bird migration site in the Netherlands .....for anyone interested ,take a look at the Sandwich Bay bird obs Twitter page

Amazing stats! Let's hope there are a few other migrant species amongst them.

They could have brought the weather with them!

[Testudo Man]

Saturday morning an Sunday just gone, garden watching in between the rain showers!!! Im 45+ miles inland from the Kent coast, but ive noticed a few butterflies on my Buddleia! Maybe they are from the recent "big migrant movement"?? 2 Painted Lady, 2+ Red Admiral so far! Others to note were 3 Large White, 1 Comma, 1 Small White, 1 Holly Blue.
Spent some time Sunday getting in close with a Painted lady feeding on the Buddleia, an just as the sun came out past 5.00pm, i captured a nice shot of it basking...but i had to climb up onto the fence, an lean right over one handed, just to make the shot!!
No images are cropped, location - 6 miles West of Maidstone, Kent. Cheers Paul.

Last image of the same Painted lady, basking up high, over my garden fence!

[Jack Harrison]

The Shadow on the Wall.

Peacocks really numerous up here at the moment. Four- edit now eight - on a small Buddleia at one point. They like a rest from time to time.

Jack

[millerd]

Cooler, breezy, and mostly cloudy today on my local patch. However, the Painted Ladies have made it from the coast and after two flybys yesterday one settled in front of me and sat there for some time.

So settled was it that I could take close-up views from just a cm or two away.

Other highlights were a brand new Brown Argus...

...yet another Small Copper, this one sporting couple of blue badges and noticeable tails...

...and an unusually yellowy-cream female Small White.

In what were not exactly ideal conditions I found 13 species altogether - full details to follow in my PD.

Dave

[David M]

..Other highlights were a brand new Brown Argus...

That's a beautiful example, Dave.

[millerd]

Thanks, David - she was rather splendid.

A very similar sort of day today as yesterday, though the wind was getting up ahead of the much colder weather moving down from the north tonight. it wasn't cold (a high of 19C), there were a few bright or even sunny intervals and I counted over 80 butterflies of 12 species on my local patch near Heathrow. There was clear evidence of the mass migration of Red Admirals observed along the SE coastline having moved inland, with 22 of the species seen (plus two Painted Ladies). I'd only spotted 3 the previous day.

The fresh Large Whites may have been migrants as well of course.

A female Small Copper was an addition to their numbers locally - I've counted nine distinct individuals here this month so far.

More detail to come in my PD in due course.

Dave

[Vince Massimo]

During the sunny spells in the garden today there were 3 Small White and 1 Green-veined White, plus 3 Large White, one of which bordered on ab. striata.

Large White - Crawley, Sussex 11-Sept-2024

Then at 1.20 a female Brown Hairstreak made a fleeting visit, but was too quick for the camera.

Vince

[millerd]

Despite the large drop in temperature and the chilly northwesterly breeze, the good amounts of sunshine this morning seemed to invigorate the butterfly population on my local patch near Heathrow. As well as good numbers of the locals (9 Small Coppers for example), it appears to currently be a staging post for migrants - I counted 37 Red Admirals and 6 Painted Ladies today, plus one more butterfly that has been hard to find anywhere this year.

I was just in the process of muttering darkly at one of the Small Coppers for persistently chasing other butterflies when I realised what its latest target actually was - a male Clouded Yellow. In 2023, I saw my only example of the species all year here on my local patch (though I had to wait until the end of October for that one), and I had not seen another one since. This one was avidly nectaring, flying from flower to flower in rapid succession, but eventually I managed to catch up with it.

By a complete fluke I managed a reasonably clear open-wing photo too.

With 130+ butterflies and 14 different species today, there will be quite a chunky report to follow in my PD...

Dave