Nick Morgan

[NickMorgan]

At last it has warmed up a bit. On Saturday the frogs that first appeared in our pond over a month ago regrouped and were calling for reinforcements. My wife was sitting in the sun and she spotted a frog appear from under the fence and hop across the garden to join in the fun. We ended up with thirteen frogs in the pond and our first clump of frogspawn. That is over five weeks behind Susie's frogs!
There are now eight big lumps of spawn in there.
Still no more butterflies and the weather forecast doesn't look as though there will be any chance of seeing any until next weekend at the earliest.

[NickMorgan]

Not a lot happening up here butterfly-wise yet. Two Commas today, a Green-veined White last Friday, a few Small Tortoiseshells and even fewer Peacocks. The weather warmed up on Monday, so hopefully butterflies will start to show in greater numbers soon.

[NickMorgan]

At long last I have seen my first Orange Tips of the year. About three weeks later than normal, I had five of them on my transect yesterday. For me they symbolise the start of the butterfly season, so I hope that the year will now be a little more fruitful. It was great to see the Orange Tips, as the area where they normally lay their eggs was completely flooded last year and I feared that there would be very few of them flying this year. It will be interesting to see how many there are over the next few weeks.

[NickMorgan]

I was down at my Dad's today in the Scottish Borders. No chance of any butterflies, but I had another look at the Orange Tip chrysalis that I found last year, expecting just to find an empty shell. When I was there three weeks ago, I noticed that it had changed from green to darker shades. I imagined that a butterfly would emerge in the next few days. However, today it looked just the same. It doesn't look particularly unhealthy, but I am a bit worried about it being this colour for so long. Maybe it is something to do with the weather we are experiencing at the moment.

[NickMorgan]

It's only a week since I saw my first Orange Tips of the season, but I haven't seen a butterfly since, so it seems like ages!
Today I was in Dunbar talking to some German visitors to the Council and showing them part of our coastal path. There was a very strong westerly wind, but the sun was shining on and off. They then went off to have a networking lunch with some Councillors and I took the opportunity to visit John Muir Country Park to look for Speckled Woods. I walked down to the sheltered spot where I have seen Speckled Woods for the last three years. And there, in exactly the same spot as always was a beautiful fresh Speckled Wood. I managed one picture on my work phone and then it clouded over and the butterfly flew up into the trees. I continued my walk and returned about ten minutes later after the sun had come out again, but there was no sign of the butterfly. I thought to myself how lucky I had been to have arrived when I did. If I had been only a couple of minutes later I wouldn't have seen it.

[NickMorgan]

I don't know what is going on with the weather just now, and neither it seems do the forecasters. Thursday was supposed to be a great day, but it turned out to be overcast, with just the occasional sunny spell. I was out of the office all day on site visits and I expected to see a lot of butterflies, but all I saw were three Green-veined Whites.
Friday was meant to be cloudy all day, but turned out to be beautiful. I dashed out at lunchtime to do my transect and I saw a reasonable number of Orange Tips, some Green-veined Whites, Small Tortoiseshells, a Peacock and a Comma. I also saw my first Large White of the year and on my way back to the office I saw my first Small White of the year.
To make the most of the weather I then drove to Aberlady to look for the new colony of Speckled Woods. Eventually, I found one, but it didn't seem particularly happy. There was the smell of herbicide in the air and I noticed that the neighbouring golf course were spraying blue liquid on the grass. Hopefully the Speckled Woods will return once the smell has gone!
I have so far seen 8 species this year, and I saw them all again yesterday!

Today we have had strong easterly winds, 8 degrees and heavy rain all day. I hope the butterflies have found somewhere good to shelter!

[NickMorgan]

Despite the wind yesterday I had quite a good butterfly day. I managed six species on my transect - Green-veined White (8), Orange Tip (6), Small White (2), and one Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell and Comma. On my way back to the office I also saw a Large White and quite a few more Orange Tips and Green-veins.

Green-veined White

Small White

Orange Tip

Large White

Earlier in the day I popped in to Tyninghame and saw two Speckled Woods at the usual few square feet where they always are! A female was sunning herself on a nettle leaf, while a male was about ten feet above her on a sycamore leaf. After a few minutes he flew down and the two of them spiralled up in the air before she returned to a close-by nettle leaf and he landed a few feet away from her. It is so funny that this is the third year that I have found Speckled Woods in exactly the same spot. Assuming that there are two or three generations a year, that is six to nine generations in that place and apparently non only a few feet away. It does seem like a very sheltered spot that gets the sun, but there seem to be so many similar places nearby that they choose not to inhabit.

So that was another day of 8 species. Hopefully it won't be long before I see species no 9 for the year.

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Nick,

lovely photos, especially the male Orange-tip with it`s wings open, and the Large White, excellent.

All the best, Nick.

[NickMorgan]

Thank you Nick.
At last we have had a warm, sunny day.
I had various site visits to do this morning for my work, which gave me a good excuse to look for butterflies while I was out. Numbers are certainly down on what I would expect at this time of year, but with a bit of searching I managed to see a few. A kilometre section of the River Tyne Path yielded only six Orange Tips, four Green-veined Whites and a Small White.

Further along the path I watched a Peacock for a while, which was inspecting a patch of nettles. I hoped I would see it laying some eggs, but sadly I didn't have time to stay long, as I was meant to be working!

Later I was able to go down to the John Muir Way at Bilsdean where I was pleased to see that the Wall Browns had appeared.

At lunchtime I walked my transect, which just turned up a few Orange Tips and Green-veined Whites.

Other than that I saw a Large White and a Small Tortoiseshell while I was out on my travels. So, that brings me up to nine species so far this year. The forecast looks quite promising for next week, so I hope I will be able to add a couple more species then.

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots of Wall Nick - one I have to chance across to see in a year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

Thank you Wurzel.

On Saturday I visited my father in the Borders and I hoped to find that the chrysalis I had been keeping an eye on all winter would be an empty shell. Sadly someone who had been helping him in the garden had decided to clear the old dried up Garlic Mustard plant where the chrysalis had been. As I searched through the debris a male Orange Tip flew into the vegetation I was looking through and then landed on a Forget-me-not a few feet away. It was almost as though it was the butterfly from the chrysalis that was popping by to say hello! Sadly, I will never know.

[NickMorgan]

I went down to Burnmouth, on the coast in the Scottish Borders, this afternoon to look for Small Blues. There was a small colony rediscovered here a few years ago and it appears to be doing well and expanding. Today I think I saw about 60 Small Blues, but it was difficult to be sure as I kept stopping to take pictures. I think it was likely that there were many more than that on the site.

There were very few other butterflies around. I did see my first Small Heaths of the season - probably about ten in total. But other than that I only saw a Wall Brown, a Small White and a couple of Green-veined Whites. I think we are in that lull between the spring generations and summer generations of butterflies just now.
It was great to see a couple of new species for the year, bringing me up to eleven now.

[millerd]

The iridescence on that lovely new female is amazing. Makes a nonsense of the "dull brown" descriptions you see in books.

Dave

[David M]

Nice to see it's not just in Wales where Small Blues are thriving. They're certainly having an excellent year.

[NickMorgan]

Yes, I would say that Small Blues are anything but dull. Well worth travelling down to the Borders to see.

Today I saw my first Small Copper of the year. Actually, I saw three. I am always surprised at how bright they are when I see them for the first time each year.

So that is 12 UK species so far this year:
1. Small Tortoiseshell
2. Green-veined White
3. Peacock
4. Comma
5. Orange Tip
6. Speckled Wood
7. Large White
8. Small White
9. Wall Brown
10. Small Blue
11. Small Heath
12. Small Copper

[NickMorgan]

Hurrah, number 14! A nice fresh Common Blue.

1. Small Tortoiseshell
2. Green-veined White
3. Peacock
4. Comma
5. Orange Tip
6. Speckled Wood
7. Large White
8. Small White
9. Wall Brown
10. Small Blue
11. Small Heath
12. Small Copper
13. Red Admiral
14. Common Blue

[David M]

Curses, Nick!! It's almost July and I'm yet to see a Red Admiral.

[NickMorgan]

It was only a fleeting glance, but long enough to ID it.
I'm determined to hit 20 UK species this year. I should manage another three in East Lothian, but I will have to travel down to the Borders to be sure of another three. 21 species next year will be more of a challenge!

[NickMorgan]

Thank goodness for some rain this weekend. When I was looking for Common Blues last week, I felt as though I was walking through coastal grassland in Spain rather than Scotland. The vegetation was so dry and crispy! Hopefully there will be a chance for it to bulk up a bit and produce some flowers.
A lunchtime today we went for a walk with the dogs up a local track and my wife pointed out a little dark butterfly. It turned out to be my first Ringlet of the year. The ocelli were much reduced. Unfortunately, it didn't pose for a picture of the underside on this rather overcast day.

[David M]

Wow! Ringlets aren't out yet down here on the S. Wales coast!!