March 2009 Lepidoptera Sightings

[Deano]

Hi all.
Hope you don't mind me starting a new topic, but I've just seen my first Small Tortoiseshell of the year in our garden. It fluttered slowly past me at 11:55, but wouldn't settle, so as with my Brimstone a week or so ago, no photos to share! It was about 9 degrees celcius when I saw it, and it's a whopping 37 days earlier than my first sighting of this species last year!
Kind regards
Deano.

[sahikmet]

Hi all,

Today a red admiral in the back garden. First butterfly of the year for me.

Cheers

Sezar

[Charles Nicol]

It was nice & sunny this morning so i went out to look for our fluttery friends....

i saw a Peacock & a Brimstone. I think the Peacock was the same one i saw on Saturday.

I also saw these rather rude catkins & the shield bug

Charles

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[Susie]

There were three red admirals today at Wakefield Place, Sussex.

[Pete Eeles]

8 Purple Hairstreak eggs in Berkshire - does that count?

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

8 Purple Hairstreak eggs in Berkshire - does that count?

Well, I want to count my Orange Tip pupae in the fridge then.

Otherwise, on a lovely spring day outdoors with temperature circa 12°C - not a sausage.

Hoping for more success on my homemade moth trap tonight with a mild cloudy night in prospect. So far this spring, I have caught the same number of moths as I have seen butterflies - precisely nil. At least you people know that I don't exaggerate my sightings.

Jack

[thepostieles]

saw my first butterfly today a peacock flying close to stanney woods in ellesmere port

[Susie]

8 Purple Hairstreak eggs in Berkshire - does that count?

Cheers,

- Pete

I should think so!

[Shirley Roulston]

Things are looking up in the garden, I heard a Bee and then saw this lovely Ladybird, maybe next thing to see will be a Butterfly.

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Shirley

[Deano]

Hello everyone
I saw my second Small Tortoiseshell of 2009 in our garden today, and unlike the first I saw on 2nd March, this one stopped to refuel, enabling me to take some photos. The blossom it's feeding on looks like a sort of Viburnum shrub, but if anyone could confirm that for me I'd be grateful.
Many thanks and regards
Deano.

[Thithili]

I have not seen any butterflies yet this year
today its lovely and sunny but very windy however it is still getting very frosty at nights so i think they are best off staying where they are for now .

however i do have a collection on ladybirds living under some bark near my apple trees which has put a smile on my face today

[Dave McCormick]

Nothing here yet either, went for a walk earlier and saw only a few tiny flies. Not much flying here yet. But iut is cloudy and kinda windy.

[Vince Massimo]

Deano, the shrub looks like Vibernum bodnantense, which flowers from October to March. I have one in my garden. Check out the scent, it is fantastic.

[eccles]

After a breezy start with no cloud, the clouds rolled in this morning, then out again leaving a fine sunny afternoon. There's a sheltered spot in my local reserve that's often the first in the area to get regular commas appearing and sure enough this feisty little guy was defending his patch from any insect that trespassed. His wings were a bit threadbare but he was well up for it!
Three male brimstones also seen near the same spot.
Taken with Sony A700 + 70-210 F4 "beercan", hand held. EXIF intact.

[Jack Harrison]

His wings were a bit threadbare but he was well up for it!

Might it be a female? I just wonder in view of the shape of the abdomen. However, the behaviour described sounds much more typically male.

Jack

[eccles]

That's why I assumed it was a male. Several of the nymphalids that overwinter as adults seem to have a short fat abdomen whether they're male or female and I find it difficult to tell them apart. I know small tort males are usually smaller than females but even then it's difficult unless they're together.

[Deano]

Deano, the shrub looks like Vibernum bodnantense, which flowers from October to March. I have one in my garden. Check out the scent, it is fantastic.

Hi Vince
Many thanks for the shrub ident - and you're right, the scent is gorgeous isn't it!
Regards
Deano.

[Matsukaze]

Red Admiral today on the edge of Harridge Wood reserve in the eastern Mendips. No idea whether it was locally-bred or a migrant, but it appeared to have been in the wars with a particularly large chunk missing from its right forewing. This did not stop it fluttering around enthusiastically and eventually disappearing high over the tops of the trees at the edge of the wood.

[Denise]

Five sightings of at least three different male Brimstone, and at least seven Comma in my garden on this glorious sunny calm day today.
This one has taken a shine to my bush and is chasing everything else off.

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I saw five Comma in one tumble with this one returning time and time again.
Spring has sprung.

Denise

[Vince Massimo]

A 2 hour walk through the woods near Caterham, Surrey produced 14 Brimstone (all male), a Red Admiral and a Peacock. It was noticable that the Brimstone sightings were only in the parts of the woodland that had lots of ivy. Tomorrow promises to be an even better day.