March 2013

[MikeOxon]

I don't recall snowfall being forecast for your neck of the woods.

It wasn't, and the Council are not amused. Quote: "Mr Rose said the council was likely to review its deal with the Met Office. He added: "The forecast that we pay quite a lot of money for... came through with no warnings overnight."

see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-ox ... e-21821820

Mike

[David M]

I see what you mean, Mike.

Trouble is, if they cancel the contract with the Met Office who will they replace them with?

I doubt if any weather organisation can guarantee 100% accuracy 100% of the time.

Thank God it wasn't a weekday, with all the associated commute chaos...

[Cotswold Cockney]

Knowing our interests in things Natural Industry, one of my sons' friends who is in the RAF frequently travels to warmer climates. On arrival back at Brise Norton recently, using his phone, took a picture of this non-paying fare passenger in one of the transport planes and sent it to my son via facebook.



It did not stay long and took off later. If anyone sights this lazy migrant fine Hawk Moth somewhere over the Gloucestershire county boundary in Oxfordshire, it may just be this one....

Whatever next, pigeons travelling on the tube in the capital ...

[Neil Hulme]

Hi CC,
Excellent. I can see he's earned his stripes!
BWs, Neil

[badgerbob]

Another trip to High and Over produced 2 Wall Brown larvae as well as a couple of moth larvae, possibly Striped Wainscott. At nearby Cradle Hill spring was in the air as 2 pairs of Bloody-nosed Beetles were enjoying the short lived sunshine!!!

[badgerbob]

In both 2011 and 2012 I saw my first Orange-tip on the 23rd March. Well, what a surprise, I didn't see one this year on that date!!!!

[NickB]

In both 2011 and 2012 I saw my first Orange-tip on the 23rd March. Well, what a surprise, I didn't see one this year on that date!!!!

Unfortunately, this is a more "normal" year
....back to the old books for the real emergence times, eh?

[essexbuzzard]

Perhaps this is why there is no such thing as an official first day of spring in Britain. The real start of spring varies greatly from year to year.
March is definately a winter month in 2013!

[A_T]

A foot and a half of snow here so, no, no sightings

[MikeOxon]

When I photographed Aston Rowant NNR under snow in early February, I hardly expected to be able to do a repeat in late March! This was the scene, taken from a coach on the M40 this morning:

Aston Rowant NNR - 26th March 2013
Lumix TZ25 in 'sport' mode (from moving vehicle)

I was travelling to London for the RHS Spring Show, where it was a delight to be able to see some Spring flowers In the absence of butterflies, these add a little colour to these pages:

RHS Spring Show - 26th March 2013
Lumix TZ25 in 'iA' mode (no flash)

Mike

[David M]

Quite a sobering image, Mike.

Let's not forget, it's 26th March!! You might occasionally expect an extreme weather event to strike for a day or two, but this one arrived last week and is due to last beyond Easter.

Hopefully there'll be some 'payback', and by that I don't mean a solitary hot week in mid April followed by 4 more weeks of tortuously cold and wet weather.

[Cotswold Cockney]

Quite a sobering image, Mike.

Let's not forget, it's 26th March!! You might occasionally expect an extreme weather event to strike for a day or two, but this one arrived last week and is due to last beyond Easter.

Hopefully there'll be some 'payback', and by that I don't mean a solitary hot week in mid April followed by 4 more weeks of tortuously cold and wet weather.

Bad news for Bugs this weather. Some were active a few weeks ago and now ....

[NickB]

Hopefully there'll be some 'payback'

Maybe all the parasites will be knocked-back; let us hope so.....
N

[badgerbob]

With all this cold weather I haven't bothered to check out the Wall Brown larvae until today when there was actually some sun hitting the scarp face!! The temperature was still very low with the breeze blowing accross the face so was not expecting to see any, however, a very brief look produced one healthy specimen and another which looks as though it had succumbed to the cold! The one that I had moulting was just laying amongst the grass not looking too good at all, just hope that it was dormant due to the cold. The healthy one was in a much taller and thicker clump so will hopefully be better protected from the extremes.

[RobS]

A brief spell of sunshine in Wokingham at around lunchtime, encouraged a rather faded Red Admiral to explore the garden for about 20 mins.Spoilt or what??
cheers
rob

[David M]

I think a few more will be tempted to appear once this wind abates. In the shelter of my back garden it felt quite mild in the sunshine this afternoon. I always think once it hits 7c, you have a good chance of seeing butterflies so long as it's sunny and calm.

[Mark Tutton]

Took a walk to one of my favourite Duke sites at Butser Hill today. The wind was bitter but the sun did come out briefly and on the sheltered south facing slopes it was actually quite warm - but the sun was all too brief. I thought there might be a chance of a brimstone but no such luck - Looking at my diary I saw orange tip, brimstone, comma, grizzled skipper and peacock at this time last year - the only bright note was a pristine male Ring Ouzel which approached quite close as I sat on the hill slopes. The forecast doesn't look much better for the rest of the holiday weekend

[essexbuzzard]

Haven't seen many butterfly sightings on this page...

[Paul Harfield]

At last.... First butterfly of the year for me today . One solitary Peacock in gorgeous sunshine at lunchtime along my local footpath in Hedge End. It did not stop though, so no photo.
The last few days have been unbroken sunshine in the morning and a pleasant touch of warmth, gradually giving way to full cloud cover in the afternoon. The next few days look to be the same so tomorrow hopefully a few more sightings.

[MikeOxon]

At last....

Congratulations!

It interests me to see how the collector's instinct has transferred to photographs. It's almost as though one hasn't 'seen' it unless there's a photo too! I'm sure, however, that you got a real buzz from this sighting

Mike