February 2013

[David M]

I look forward to the 2013 season being properly started off during this thread!

[badgerbob]

Sorry David, No adult butterfly sightings today. However, with it being a bit cooler today I revisited High and Over to see if the wall larvae had gone back into hiding. I managed to relocate the 2 I found yesterday quite easily. I left them alone and moved about 30 metres to the spot where the pupa was last year and I found another larva here. Another sign of spring being near is on nearby arable land where hares have been congregating and today I saw a little bit of boxing. Only half hearted but they are thinking of spring!!! Here is a picture of one yesterday in its form.

[Trev Sawyer]

That reminds me... I saw a hare in June which looked as cheesed-off as any animal I've ever seen.
It was sitting on its own in the middle of a crop with it's ears drooping over it's head and its eyes looked so unbelievably sad.
I actually stopped the car and took the photo below:

Would it have been ill I wonder, or was it really as fed-up as it looked?

Trev

[Gibster]

Had a windswept Red Admiral fly across the road in front of me at Horsell, Surrey this morning. The weather was sunny but decidedly cool, I was quite surprised to see it considering the chill. Guess it had emerged from a 'suntrap microclimate' and was off in search of food, pity there's buggerall for it to feed on!

Cheers,

Gibster.

[badgerbob]

With it being so much cooler today I was interested to see if I could locate any Wall Brown larva. I only spent a few minutes looking but after locating a freshly chewed bit of grass I looked further down the grass and found a larva slightly curled up and probably sleeping out the cooler day at the base of the grass stem. I then left him in peace to see out the day.

[NickMorgan]

With it being so much cooler today I was interested to see if I could locate any Wall Brown larva. I only spent a few minutes looking but after locating a freshly chewed bit of grass I looked further down the grass and found a larva slightly curled up and probably sleeping out the cooler day at the base of the grass stem. I then left him in peace to see out the day.

I would never have imagined they would be easy to spot. Now that we have increasing numbers of Walls up here I must start having a look in likely spots.

[badgerbob]

Hi Nick. Good to know that the Wall is doing well in your area as well. With a frost overnight I failed to find any larva today. Once again it was a very brief look though as I don't want to disturb them especially in this cooler period. I reckon though that the one I've seen a few times in a small patch of grass had probably gone really deep in the roots to escape the cold!!

[badgerbob]

At last a Red Admiral seen. My first butterfly of the year, apart from the unidentified one seen in the sleet a few weeks ago. Out of the wind it was pretty warm today. In the wind it was freezing though!!

[Wildmoreway]

I was at Beer in Devon yesterday, it was raining but I saw a dronefly and my first Primroses of the year.

[Pete Eeles]

I was a Beer in Devon yesterday

I've been a teapot (short and stout - still am), but never a beer

Cheers,

- Pete

[Wildmoreway]

Typo corrected

[Glostopcat]

My first butterfly of the year, a red admiral sighted at Weston in Bath this morning enjoying the sunshine

[ChrisC]

still no butterflies but 5 waxwing dropped into the tree outside work today

[David M]

Not a butterfly sighting, sadly, but the first celandines have flowered behind my workplace and I fully expect to see the first daffodils before the middle of next week.

Not long to go!!

[marmari]

I am very reliably informed that a Painted Lady was seen yesterday morning (14th) in flight at Wheelers Bay,on the Isle of Wight.

[Matsukaze]

A Peacock briefly visited the garden today, stopping off to nectar on some snowdrops. Hopefully it will find somewhere suitable to go back into hibernation.

[badgerbob]

Blimey. I've been spoilt today with both a Small Tortoiseshell and a Red Admiral in the garden!!!

Late afternoon I called in at High and Over but the cool wind was blowing straight onto the scarp face so the Wall larvae were keeping their heads down and out of sight. I then looked at the field where the brown hares are and I was lucky to see 3 hares boxing, jumping over each other, a quick mating and generally chasing each other at top speed. Fabulous!! Then further on the walk a vixen ran out of cover about 150 yards away from me followed by a dog fox. These started to mock fight before the dog went back into cover. However, the vixen rolled up in full view and looked as if it was going to fall asleep. For the next 15 minutes I managed to creep up to around 50 yards away before she saw me. Quite a day.

[David M]

Blimey. I've been spoilt today with both a Small Tortoiseshell and a Red Admiral in the garden!!!

Late afternoon I called in at High and Over but the cool wind was blowing straight onto the scarp face so the Wall larvae were keeping their heads down and out of sight. I then looked at the field where the brown hares are and I was lucky to see 3 hares boxing, jumping over each other, a quick mating and generally chasing each other at top speed. Fabulous!! Then further on the walk a vixen ran out of cover about 150 yards away from me followed by a dog fox. These started to mock fight before the dog went back into cover. However, the vixen rolled up in full view and looked as if it was going to fall asleep. For the next 15 minutes I managed to creep up to around 50 yards away before she saw me. Quite a day.

That certainly qualifies as a highly productive February day, Bob.

I'm most envious.

[Wildmoreway]

Saw two Small Tortoiseshell sin Hollacombe Gardens at Preston near Paignton this afternoon, one declined to have its picture taken but the other one posed nicely.

[badgerbob]

My Orange-tip pupa in the garden was knocked by strong wind in the early autumn and the top support came away meaning the pupa is upside down. I'm not sure if this will have caused problems with the development, although I daresay it would sometimes happen quite often in the wild. This picture is how it looks today, for the experts out there does it look as though it is still ok? Any thoughts appreciated. Bob.