October Sightings

[Wildmoreway]

Several Small Whites alongside the steps up the Rock Walk at Torquay this afternoon, also a battered Speckled Wood in Hollicombe Park near Paignton.

[Wildmoreway]

A Red Admiral and a Large White in Hollicombe Park near Paignton this afternoon.

[Trev Sawyer]

Yvonne and I saw 2 red admirals today... one in our garden and the other whilst drinking tea in the back garden of the late/great angler Dick Walker in Biggleswade. Talking to fellow anglers and butterfly watching at the same time...does it ever get better than that?... with the exception of a ukbutts get-together, obviously.

Trev

[marmari]

A Red Admiral today in my back garden,Freshwater,Isle of Wight,and another at Clamerkin NT pond also on the Island enjoying the sun.

[walpolec]

A Red Admiral in my back garden Saturday 30th Oct.

Chris

[Shirley]

Clive and I have just spent a lovely week in Dorset and with the hope of seeing a Clouded Yellow. Well, very pleased to say we were not disappointed and saw one on the coast path from Charmouth to Stonebarrow. Brief as it was and Clive only managed a couple of shots (still trying to persuade him to post) but really pleased to add it to our list for the year. On the same walk we also saw some Small Coppers and several Red Admirals, all in good condition.
During the week there were a few Small Whites flying around and further sightings of Red Admirals plus a Small Tortoiseshell, not bad for nearly November!!

[David M]

You lucky people - not been a sniff of a butterfly for over a fortnight here, though I'm still seeing bees quite regularly.

[Jack Harrison]

I had bred a few Small Whites in the summer but many larvae simply vanished. Two “escapees“ were very lucky. This afternoon I was about to fill a black flower pot with compost but in the nick of time I noticed two pupae. The flower pot had been some four or five metres from the breeding area and at the very back of the barn. How many more are lurking undetected I wonder?

These two pupae were dark (but looked perfectly healthy) and clearly matching their background - very nearly to their cost

Jack

[Matsukaze]

White-letter Hairstreak egg - unfortunately parasitised - found on wych elm in woodland on the southern fringes of Croydon on Saturday.

A somewhat more unusual sighting from the same area - I am used to seeing buzzards and the like mobbed by crows, but watching a kestrel being harassed by three green parakeets was a new one on me. It seems to have stayed in my mind, as my dreams last night were haunted by large flocks of green parrots flying round the tower blocks of the City of London.

[Lee Hurrell]

I've watched a squirrel chase off a crow and a magpie this week...

[EricY]

Last week at Holme NOA I watched a large brown Rat & a male Pheasant leaping at each other over the rights to the patch under the bird feeders. Eric

[Perseus]

Hello,

24 October 2010
After a spell of inclement weather I did not expect any butterflies in the brief interlude of sunshine, but there was at least one Speckled Wood on the Nettles over the Waterworks Road, Old Shoreham. On the lower slopes of Mill Hill, I saw a large butterfly amongst the Clematis in the distance but it disappeared before I could recognise the speices (it was probably a Red Admiral). A small female Common Blue flittered out of the Privet. It had distinct orange spots and could have been mistaken for a Brown Argus.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2010.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
Adur@glaucus.org.uk
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2010.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: November 2010
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Nov2010.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316