April 2009 Lepidoptera Sightings

[Gwenhwyfar]

Went out for Dukes today, hard to say exact amount, but must have been in double figures.
This one landed on a Cow Slip, then it was a fight to get the best angle, Gary one side, Roger the other and me in the front.

Also bumped into Colin Baker (Forum Member), which was very nice.

[Perseus]

Hello,

5 April 2009

The first four confirmed Green-veined White Butterflies of the year were seen on the verges of Waterworks Road, Old Shoreham, with a Brimstone Butterfly, and a Peacock Butterfly sparring with a Comma Butterfly. Other butterflies seen in town were a few Small Whites and a few Peacocks, and on a round trip to Botolphs and back there a few Comma Butterflies, occasional Peacocks, and a few indeterminate Whites. There was a suspected Speckled Wood flying rapidly over the Coombes Road near the Rectory Cottage, Coombes.
Adur Butterflies: First Dates
Five confirmed species

Adur Butterflies
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterflies.htm

Adur Butterfly Flight Times
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterflies1X2007.htm


First Adur Butterfly Dates 2003 to 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ButterfliesFFT.htm

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[Perseus]

Hello,

6 April 2009
Two further butterflies put in their first appearances of the year: a single Speckled Wood in the copse on top of Mill Hill, and a male Orange-tip Butterfly over the verges of Waterworks Road. My first trek was to the lower slopes of Mill Hill where five Peacock Butterflies were seen, and one, possibly two Grizzled Skippers at the northern end. A Large White Butterfly flew over the Dovecote Estate, north Shoreham, and a few Small Whites were seen in town. In the early afternoon, I made a passage visit to the Waterworks Road, where a handful of Green-veined White Butterflies were seen immediately together with a Brimstone Butterfly and a Comma Butterfly as well as the already mentioned Orange-tip. Further Peacock Butterflies were seen during the day on the outskirts of Shoreham.
Adur Butterflies: First Dates
Nine species

First Adur Butterfly Dates 2003 to 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ButterfliesFFT.htm

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[Perseus]

Hello,

13 April 2009
In the late afternoon, my first Holly Blue Butterfly of the year was seen fluttering over a garden overlooking the Waterworks Road. Two or three male Orange-tip Butterflies were seen over the Waterworks Road with a few Speckled Woods and one yellow Brimstone Butterfly in the distance. Two Large White Butterflies were seen in Shoreham town and a Small White Butterfly and another Speckled Wood on the Pixie Path. A Red Admiral flew over the Red Lion public house and another one was seen at at the top of Chanctonbury Drive, Shoreham, near Mill Hill.
Seven species

First Adur Butterfly Dates 2003 to 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ButterfliesFFT.htm

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[Perseus]

Hello,

14 April 2009
Two small day-flying in moths put in their first appearance of the year on the lower slopes of Mill Hill (Old Shoreham): these were the pyralids, three Pyrausta despicata and two Pyrausta nigrata. Two Grizzled Skippers were recorded.
The first yellow Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, flowers appear on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, hosting small black pollen beetles, Meligethes erichsoni.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
Here in Sussex the Dukes are well behind the 'always early' Noar Hill mob, and are only just appearing in ones and twos (so far only on privately owned sites). Also snapped this Dingy Skipper this morning. A couple of days ago I re-visited the Purple Emperor caterpillar I'll be monitoring this year. More updates as he/she develops.
Neil

[Perseus]

Hello,

21 April 2009
A small and colourful pyralid micro-moth Pyrausta purpuralis amongst the Horseshoe Vetch, Hippocrepis comosa, leaves on the lower slopes of Mill Hill was a first of the year. All the smaller white butterflies that settled proved to be Small Whites rather than Green-veined Whites. The most prevalent butterflies on a trip to Mill Hill and Adur Levels were Brimstones with nine on the downs and Speckled Woods with a total of 17 mostly seen on the Coastal Link Cyclepath.

63 butterflies of ten species, the most species in a single day this year

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[geniculata]

today at stockbridge down and noarhill i was mostly finding......

grizzled skipper, dingy, dukes and green veined white.

gary.

[Matsukaze]

Hi Neil,

How do you go about looking for PE larvae - what sort of size trees, what aspect etc do they like? I spent part of yesterday looking around a wood with very high concentrations of sallow, and next time I visit it would be nice to narrow down the search a little!

[Perseus]

Hello,

23 April 2009



Green Hairstreak on Horseshoe Vetch



Green-veined White and Orange-tip

on page:
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html



My first ever confirmed Green Hairstreak Butterfly was discovered on Mill Hill in the central area of the lower slopes by the path. I had suspected sightings in the same area before and this butterfly had been reported by other visitors. My first Wall Brown Butterfly of 2009 was seen over the path approach to the copse from the north-west in an area this butterfly had been seen regularly in previous years. This was the first Wall Brown recorded in the month of April.
On a slightly duller day, the estimate for Grizzled Skippers and Dingy Skippers was about twenty each in the one acre transect. There was a Speckled Wood on the steps down to the lower slopes and other butterflies on Mill Hill included a Small White amongst the Hawthorn scrub, a handful of Speckled Woods under the copse at the top and more in the scrub in excess of a dozen altogether, a Peacock on the steps in the north-west, and a Large White amongst the scrub.
Over the verges of the Waterworks Road there was a further Large White, two male Orange-tips, a definite Green-veined White, with another Peacock on the steps in the nearby Butterfly Copse. There was a handful of Small Whites at Cuckoo's Corner, and on the verges near Ladywells just to the north a Comma Butterfly flew amongst the diseased Elms, and a Green-veined White waited on a flowering Garlic Mustard and attracted an amorous male Orange-tip. There was also a another Speckled Brown in Shoreham town in Adelaide Square next to Middle Road allotments.
Eleven species of butterfly, the most species seen in a single day this year, despite two expected species (Holly Blue & Brimstone) being absent because of the short observation period

Adur Butterfly Flight Times
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterflies1X2007.htm


First Adur Butterfly Dates 2003 to 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/ButterfliesFFT.htm

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Matsukaze,
Choose broad-leaved sallow (Salix caprea) with large, fine-grained leaves. Preferably large, mature, female (flowering) plants in sunny aspect. At this time of year most leaves are still fresh and generally complete (prior to being nibbled by various beasties), making the spotting of larval feeding damage quite easy. Look for nibbled edges either side of the leaf, nearer the tip end. From about this point onwards the caterpillars will retire to a 'resting leaf' (un-nibbled), so may be a short distance from where this feeding damage occurs. As the caterpillars get large, they will travel quite long distances away from the 'resting leaf' (even travelling most way back to trunk to get onto adjacent major branches), thereby further increasing their 'camouflage' from potential predators. Happy hunting.
Neil

[bugmadmark]

I was begining to feel a little left out when I saw all of these butterfly sightings. Another trip to Gransden and Waresley woods with the family yesterday (to see the Bluebells) presented me with my first Orange tip, Small White, Green Veined White and Speckled Woods of the year, plus a Peacock or two. There were only small numbers, but at least I began to get a warm glow like some excited school boy going to buy an ice cream! On the topic of food, we sat and had a picnic and watched the Speckled Wood patrolling its territory, returning to the same 2 leaves in the dappled sun. Lovely to watch - but impossible to photograph with the family nagging me to get a move on

[Susie]

The brown hairstreak larvae here are now between 2mm and 4mm long and seem to be doing well so far



There are also orange tip eggs on the garlic mustard and honesty in my front and back gardens. I haven't seen anything flying today though, it hasn't stopped raining.

A belated pic from last Thursday ...

[bugmadmark]

For what it's worth here is one of my first shots for the year using the Sigma 150mm macro that finally arrived last week. Cropped and sharpened in PS CS

[Matsukaze]

Thanks Neil

... As the caterpillars get large, they will travel quite long distances away from the 'resting leaf' (even travelling most way back to trunk to get onto adjacent major branches), thereby further increasing their 'camouflage' from potential predators...
Neil

Clever little things!

[Dave McCormick]

Great morning shooting! Loads of Orange-Tips and GV Whites at a river not far from my house. Saw a female OT and 4 males came all at once to mate her, then a GV white came and the males dispursed and the Male GV white tried to mate the female OT, then she flew away. Few shots from today, all Hibernica subspecies:

Male Orange-Tip feeding on Cuckoo Flower


Think this OT was the same as above male, or it was the second one that was chasing the above male, I did chase it up the river bank:


Sucked that the grss stem was in the way, but one Male OT trying to mate a Female that was quite willing:


Female OT (I stood in river to get this shot, then got very wet feet despite wearing boots:


However the GV Whites did not want to be photographed, they all stayed at other side of river, the opposite side I was on and when I went to other side, they moved to opposite side again!

No Eggs yet as I can see, might be a little early for OT eggs here, but the way the OT were trying to mate, it won't be too long. As I was returning home, the weather suddenly got dull and I saw something. I did not have my DSLR this time as I came home and went back out again, but I saw in a long line one right of the other, about 7+ GV Whites all resting side by side, mostly males. Would the clouds coming over making it dull do that? First I noticed it.

I won't be able to get out here again before weekend, but if weekend is nice, I'll go out and bring video camera and try and get a few videos of the Orange-Tips.

I also ran into two people who were documenting the plant life in the area, seemed nice enough, but one man looked nearly identical to our own Guy Padfield. He had the same camera as I have, Canon 400D.

Overall I saw 10+ Green Veined Whites, 3 Orange-Tip Females and about 4+ Orange-Tip males.

[IAC]

Hi all,
Dave,Its at about the same stage here...willl they wont they..Lots of males very few females. GVW and Small White in very good numbers, best numbers for several years.
Cheers IAC.

[Jack Harrison]

Dave wrote:

No Eggs yet as I can see, might be a little early for OT eggs here

See my post under "species":
http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB2/v ... 355#p21355

Jack (Cambridgeshire)

[eccles]

A lot of cloud and relatively low temperatures compared to recently kept most things around here grounded. However, Brown's Folly, near Bath, turned up a single GS, GVW and a couple of LW. This is the first time I've seen GS at this location although they've been logged there before.

[Matsukaze]

Hi Eccles

Good news on the Grizzled. I checked a ridiculously steep disused railway cutting for them today, where I have found Dingy Skipper before, but with no success - the absence of Grizzled foodplant probably being the main reason.

Some bird's foot trefoil is coming into flower now and the Dingy Skippers should not be too far behind.