March 2013

[David M]

Gorgeous day here in Swansea. Light winds, clear blue skies and temperatures of 12c.

I spent an hour at lunch time walking around the wilder areas in the vicinity of my workplace and saw the following:

Brimstone 4 (all males)
Small Tortoiseshell 2
Comma 2

Male Brimstone flying about looking for a female:



Rare example of a male Brimstone resting in spring (sorry for the over-exposure - only had my cheap 'point and shoot' handy):



One of two Commas seen:

[Padfield]

It's all waking up then! Mike's tally of 5 species (and all photographed) on 5th March can't go unremarked - tremendous!

Guy

[David M]

It's all waking up then! Mike's tally of 5 species (and all photographed) on 5th March can't go unremarked - tremendous!

Guy

Absolutely. Hard to see how that could be bettered on 5th March.

It'd take a freak sighting of a Speckled Wood or Small White to top that.

I think because we had a decent day yesterday followed by a glorious one today that conditions have been ideal. There was a slight frost this morning but that seemingly hasn't affected those butterflies that were already on the wing.

Might be a while before we encounter such good fortune again, so for the moment, it's best just to reflect positively on what we've been fortunate enough to encounter so early in the year.

[EricY]

My first butterfly of the year today in a quite warm & sunny Norfolk. Brimstone flew along little Ouse @ Thetford while Otter watching. Should anyone want to see Otters, you will never get closer than those @ Thetford & right in middle of town so used to people, around 30 photographers there today + lots interested spectators. Eric

[MikeOxon]

Hard to see how that could be bettered on 5th March.

An Orange Tip was reported in Oxon on 27th Feb (http://upperthames-butterflies.org.uk/b ... tings.html) Still, I was extremely pleased with my day - thanks to all who commented.

Mike

[David M]

Fair enough, Mike, but it would take that isolated freakish sighting ALONG WITH all five British overwinterers for your tally to be bettered.

Not impossible, I admit, but all the same highly, highly unlikely.

[Matsukaze]

Or Large Tortoiseshell? (we can but dream)

Whilst driving today in the Trowbridge-Frome area my wife saw 2-3 male Brimstones on the wing.

[MikeOxon]

Yesterday I had my first butterfly of the year

I see that you are new to these forums, Aeshna, so welcome to the site and I hope that you see many more butterflies throughout the coming year

Mike

[RobS]

First of the year for me yesterday (tues).Solitary male Brimstone busily exploring Crowthorne Woods in Berkshire.Lets have some more sun please.
cheers
rob

[David M]

Lets have some more sun please.

That's likely to fall on deaf ears I'm afraid, Rob.

Back to more wintry conditions for the forthcoming week.

[Neil Hulme]

"That's likely to fall on deaf ears I'm afraid, Rob."
Yes, I'm afraid the 'Weather Gods' are no more than plebs.
BWs, Neil

[NickB]

It's all waking up then! Mike's tally of 5 species (and all photographed) on 5th March can't go unremarked - tremendous!

Guy

It sure is; how much snow have you still got over there, and when do you see your season starting?
(Jack up in Mull was on 5 species a month ago....)
N

[Padfield]

It's all waking up then! Mike's tally of 5 species (and all photographed) on 5th March can't go unremarked - tremendous!

Guy

It sure is; how much snow have you still got over there, and when do you see your season starting?
(Jack up in Mull was on 5 species a month ago....)
N

The Föhn started blowing yesterday, raising ambient temperatures by many degrees. That means butterflies hidden away from direct sun can now feel the spring and they should start moving. Sadly, it also means lots of cloud. But the next sunny day will certainly bring out the large tortoiseshells and maybe a few others, to add to the small tortoiseshells and Queens already flying. Other hibernators are generally later than in England.

Guy

[NickB]

Sounds good, Guy. I guess you will still get influenced by the Scandinavian high pressure area migrating north-east and get some of the cold blast that we get? (My old Victorian house doesn't like cold easterly winds). All those Brimstones will have to find somewhere safe again - snow forecast mid-week for the East of UK

[David M]

Yes, doesn't look promising from Sunday onwards but I'd rather have cold weather at this time of year than in May and June.

[Ian Pratt]

Crazy weather here on the Isle of Wight. 16C yesterday in Ventnor and the wall lizards were basking in the sun- no butterflies seen by me though, although they were probably about. Today 2C with snow squalls! Roll on the real Spring!

[essexbuzzard]

With warm weather last week for some,and bitterly cold weather now,at this time of year,we often think the weather has gone crazy! For example,last year,24C was reached near Aberdeen on 27 March,a record. Yet by 3 April,six inches of snow covered the ground! Such a flip in temperatures makes good headlines for the papers,but,in fact this is nothing unusural. Spring,in Britain, doesn't come by the temperature increasing by a degree or two each day. Instead it comes in surges. This is borne out by the fact in East Anglia,it is more likely to snow at Easter than at Christmas, but heatwaves also occur more often at Easter than Christmas.

[David M]

Crazy weather here on the Isle of Wight. 16C yesterday in Ventnor and the wall lizards were basking in the sun- no butterflies seen by me though, although they were probably about. Today 2C with snow squalls! Roll on the real Spring!

Quite!!

It was 11c on Saturday here in Swansea, but when I left work at 3.45pm today it was a mere 0.5c!!

Light snow flurries all day and a bitter wind to go with them.

Possibly the coldest I've felt outdoors all winter.

Still, I reassure myself that it'll be December at least before it's THIS cold again.

[MikeOxon]

Five species on the wing a fortnight ago, whereas this is my Oxon garden this morning

snow falling in Oxon - 17 March 2013

Mike

[David M]

Amazing contrast, Mike. I don't recall snowfall being forecast for your neck of the woods.