March 2012

[P.J.Underwood]

Your moth appears to be the rarer of the two Orange Underwings to judge by the slightly feathered antennae. So Light Orange Underwing Archiearis notha. I take it there is Aspen in those woods?

Misha

Thanks.Yes,plenty of Aspen.I am informed this is the only Surrey site for this moth.
P.J.U.

[Mikhail]

...saw a few Clouded Yellows just west of the Bistro on the Beach. This is one of the regular breeding sites, and I have little doubt that these are locally bred butterflies...
Misha

Goodness! With this and all the recent speculation about other species, will we soon be counting Clouded Yellow, Red Admiral and Large Tortoiseshell as UK residents instead of migrants?

Dave

I think there might have been clouded yellow cats reported a while ago in the south of Ireland (not sure where) so who knows, could be if this freaky weather keeps up.

Yes. A photo was posted on iSpot of a larva at Raven, County Wexford dated 17th March.

Misha

[Jack Harrison]

Dave commented

I think there might have been clouded yellow cats reported a while ago in the south of Ireland (not sure where) so who knows, could be if this freaky weather keeps up.

Thanks Dave. I'm going to look at every part of the coast from Wexford to Bantry and see if I can find them

Jack

[Gibster]

Mikhail wrote:Your moth appears to be the rarer of the two Orange Underwings to judge by the slightly feathered antennae. So Light Orange Underwing Archiearis notha. I take it there is Aspen in those woods?

Misha


Thanks.Yes,plenty of Aspen.I am informed this is the only Surrey site for this moth.

Sorry, but I was watching about 15 Light Orange Underwings swarming in the canopy of an aspen patch just yesterday afternoon on Epsom Common, Surrey. Grid Ref is approx TQ197602, patch of lichen encrusted aspens at the edge of Webbs Folly football field, close to the footpath to the railway bridge at Castle Road. Seen mid-afternoon which is when they are supposed to be less active!

Cheers,

Gibster.

[Gibster]

Just emailed the Surrey macro-moth recorder regards Light Orange Underwings in Surrey. Apparently they've been recorded at Bookham Commons and Wimbledon Common this year too. I have no idea why the moth has suddenly started to colonise new sites, but it has!

Also seen on Epsom Common yesterday were Brimstones, Small Whites, Orange-tips, Peacocks, Commas, Speckled Woods and unhatched Purple Hairstreak eggs. Sami had a Small Tortoiseshell up there the previous day too. Found the spider Gibbaranea gibbosa in oak buds whilst looking for the hairstreak eggs, freaky bumpy looking thing but quite a dazzling pair of lime green chevrons up the side of the abdomen. Nice pic of one (not mine!) at http://content63.eol.org/content/2011/1 ... 80_360.jpg

Cheers,

Gibster.

[NickB]

Nothing like CY to report from here; always interesting to hear of events that confound widely-held beliefs...

Here, unrelenting sunshine has given way to cloud now. Out & about in the last few days have seen my first GVW and OT of the season as well as the usual Brimstone, Peacock, ST and Comma; no Red Admiral. Though I have trolled the Green Hairstreak sites several times, I have yet to see any; likewise Holly Blue.

I expect both locally in the next week, but the high-temperatures and continued drought suggest larval food-plants for many species that manage to emerge will be very small and scarce, especially on the chalk-edges that rise out of the Fens around Cambridge, where the drought has hit hardest.

[marmari]

Two delicate Small Blues seen today at the Afton Down carpark on the Isle of Wight.

[Vince Massimo]

Two delicate Small Blues seen today at the Afton Down carpark on the Isle of Wight.

This is getting bonkers

I was out today at two of my local sites and recorded 11 species, including a solitary male Grizzled Skipper at Quarry Hangers Reserve on the North Downs at Chaldon. This is a full two weeks earlier than in previous years. Unfortunately I only managed a poor record shot, before it disappeared.

Grizzled Skipper Male - Quarry Hangers, Chaldon, Surrey 30-March-2012

Just for the record, the species listing for my two sites today is as follows;

Happy Valley, Coulsdon, Surrey:
*18 Peacock,
*6 Comma,
*6 Small Tortoiseshell,
*4 Brimstone (males),
*3 Holly Blue,
*1 Red Admiral (egglaying),
*1 Orange Tip (male),
*1 Small White (male),
*1 Green-veined White (male)

Quarry Hangers, Chaldon, Surrey:
5 Peacock,
1 Comma,
3 Small Tortoiseshell,
2 Red Admiral,
*2 Speckled Wood,
1 Small White (male),
1 Orange Tip (male),
*1 Grizzled Skipper (male)

I have seen dozens of Brimstones to date, but still not a single female.
Sightings should now start to drop of as the tempertures return to the average for the season.

Vince

[Wurzel]

Speckled Wood and 2 Small Torts in Pewsey. Once home a male Orange-tip (hooray at last!) and a female Holly Blue. My wife also had a female Orange-tip in the garden as well (I was at work then-typical )

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickB]

I have seen dozens of Brimstones to date, but still not a single female.
Vince

...saw my one, and only one, female earlier this week....
N

[Neil Freeman]

Much cloudier and cooler today by me in the midlands, it was struggling to reach 12 degrees by lunchtime.
The sun did start to break through the clouds this afternoon and by 3.00pm it had warmed up a bit but there was still a cool breeze.

My first Speckled Wood of the year appeared in my back garden this afternoon, thats a couple of days earlier than last year.
I also had my first small White and Holly Blue in the garden. The White stuck around for a while but the Holly Blue just passed through without settling.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Edwardt]

Holly Blue in Twickenham garden today. An extraordinary spring!

[Neil Hulme]

"but who cares when out of the blue a Large Tortoiseshell appeared"

"Two delicate Small Blues seen today at the Afton Down carpark on the Isle of Wight"

Tip for the 2012 season ..... stand next to Peter Hunt

Keep 'em coming!

Best Wishes, Neil

[Reverdin]

Green Hairstreak up in Swaledale today....

could it become a "Clouded Yellow Year" ??

[millerd]

I popped in at Denbies this afternoon - the sunshine was slightly hazy, but still 18 or 19 degrees at 1500. All there was to be seen on a walk across the hill and back were three Peacocks, three Orange Tips, an orange-coloured moth of some sort and a Burnet Moth caterpillar. Grizzled Skippers are always difficult to find here early in the season, and I wasn't too bothered not to see any, but I did hope for Green Hairstreaks bearing in mind reports from elsewhere. However, areas of scrub were dealt with here last year by use of a "selective" defoliant herbicide which though not dangerous to invertebrate life (we were assured by the NT) may conceivably have wiped out Green Hairstreak food plants and at worst the colony with them.

We shall see...

Dave

[EricY]

moth on Roydon common 27th, id anyone?

Found this moth on Roydon common Norfolk just before noon on tues 27th. Had a quick look through Collins insects (the only book with moths I have) & cannot see it. Can anyone give an id please. Still finding very few bf's in our part of Norfolk, guess it's that cool east wind. I did see 4 Brimstones in Lynford arboretum yesterday but that was all. Eric

[Padfield]

Hi Eric,

That's an orange underwing - a moth that frequently accompanies the first butterflies of spring.

Guy

[JohnR]

Just to demonstrate my skill with a camera can the experts tell me which of the Orange Underwings this might be Photographing this moth proves that auto focus on a Canon disturbs them, I could gain the focus automatically but as soon as I committed the exposure this moth was up and away and it happened about 10 times. I have long suspected that some insects are disturbed by AF but this is the first time that I have been able to prove it to myself.

IMG_4542.JPG (29.69 KiB) Viewed 1115 times

[MikeOxon]

Photographing this moth proves that auto focus on a Canon disturbs them

I am interested to see that you have also suffered this problem!

I found the same when using AF-S lenses on my Nikon; in particular, when trying to photograph Burnet Companion moths flying together with Dingy Skippers. I did several experiments, which convinced me that the moth flew as soon as I activated the AF (before the shutter fired) but could easily be photographed using manual focus. I considered that this might be due to the moth's anti-Bat defences reacting to sound emissions from the ultrasonic motor in the lens. (There was no similar problem with the Dingy Skippers)

I started a thread at viewtopic.php?f=7&t=5733 but others did not seem to have encountered the same problem.

It now seems that you have provided confirmation of what I think is an interesting phenomenon.

Mike

[marmari]

Thank you Neil,very funny!!
Today while at Walters Copse i met Mike Gibbons from Christchurch who came over to the Island on reading of the Large Tortoiseshell sighting.I should have stayed with him as i have just received this email from him.

Around 13.00 to 14.41 found a Large Tortoiseshell near to where you saw yours. Managed to get photos with wings open and closed. From the pictures I’ve taken I believe this is a different individual than the one you photographed. It was a female but the forewing edges were not as jagged as the one in your photos. I have sent a photo to the Hants branch of Butterfly Conservation, so you can compare it with yours. It was very confiding and stayed down for ages before eventually soaring off high over the trees. A very powerful flyer. Thanks for your information on where to look. I also saw Green-veined White earlier in the Wood. I see you saw Small Blues today, excellent very early record.

Regards
Mike Gibbons

UPDATE;received a couple of pics from MG and it certainly looks like a different individual.