December 2014

[David M]

Doesn't feel quite right doing this....

...but here are a couple of Red Admirals I saw at Bracelet Bay, Mumbles Head, Swansea just after midday today:

[Vince Massimo]

At this time of year I prefer all over-wintering butterflies to be snugly tucked-up, but I ventured out to my local Red Admiral hot-spot at lunchtime today to see if there was any activity.

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 6-Dec-2014

This one was basking on a pub bench alongside the footpath. The air temperature could not have been more than 5C or 6C, but the sun was out and there was no breeze in this sheltered location. My latest ever sighting, but I hope that winter comes soon

Vince

[False Apollo]

Found this Red Admiral at the end of Hengistbury Head, Dorset at 14.00 this afternoon. Considering the temperature it was surprisingly active around the cliffs. This is as far as it could have travelled without leaving the coast, so it could have been a case of should I stay or should I go. It did fly out to sea, but I saw it or another 15 minutes later along the cliffs. This is a very exposed part of Hengistbury Head and not where I would have expected to see one in cold weather. My first December 2014 butterfly on a really sunny day.

Regards
Mike

[Paul Harfield]

I also got my first ever December sighting today Although it was very cool there was two, possibly three Red Admirals flying in this sheltered sunny spot near home today in Hedge End.

[badgerbob]

Downland Boy and myself were up on Ashdown Forest today in temperatures of around 7 degrees when a Red Admiral flew past!!

[IAC]

How many folks have seen Long Tailed Blue this winter? This from North East Branch, North Northumberland. Amazing stuff. https://www.facebook.com/BCNorthEastEngland

Iain.

[David M]

How many folks have seen Long Tailed Blue this winter? This from North East Branch, North Northumberland. Amazing stuff.

Stunning...though I suspect this is far from a natural arrival as the text suggests.

[millerd]

An amazing thing to find in your vegetables... However, I believe it can be a pest of cultivated peas in other parts of the world, and turns up in packs of mange-tout in particular from time to time. Globally, it's extremely widespread.

Dave

[IAC]

Not a natural arrival, and a pest... Sounds to me like UKIP mantra.....bring on the pests I say. and more unnatural arrivals, I dont care where they come from and care not a jot how they smuggle themselves in ..sadly...I may have to settle for an unlikely Small White in me Sprouts..


Iain.

[David M]

Not a natural arrival, and a pest... Sounds to me like UKIP mantra.....bring on the pests I say. and more unnatural arrivals....

Careful, Iain, or you risk 'moderation'.

[badgerbob]

On the slopes of High and Over today I had 2 sightings of Peacock today.

[Wurzel]

Got an early Xmas pressie today - Red Admiral flying around the shops in town. Got some iPod video footage just for proof just got to work out how to upload it now

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Good effort, Wurzel.

Butterflies are still about given the mild conditions.

I'm actually intent on taking my camera to Abergavenny this Christmas because I wouldn't be surprised to find a specimen or two in the prime locations.

[Ian Pratt]

Wishing a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year to all who have posted sightings in 2014. Thanks to all the photographers who have added much enjoyment to the reports. Ian

[Matsukaze]

Female Small White - apparently freshly emerged - in the garden this morning. It was close enough to the house to suggest it may have pupated indoors somehow; it would not be the first time that has happened (we found one indoors in January a few years back).

[David M]

I feel sorry for the poor thing. It'll most likely have a short and lonely life.

[Vince Massimo]

A walk around my local Red Admiral hot-spot at lunch time today produced one individual basking on a fence .

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 25-Dec-2014

Air temperature was 8C but the site was warmer because it was sheltered from the light wind. With such a sparkling, sunny Christmas Day across much of the country, I am anticipating more sightings to be reported.

Wishing everybody a Merry Christmas

Vince

[MikeOxon]

No butterfly sightings today but I did manage to snap the international Space Station during its pass over Southern England at 18:08 - 18:10. The path shows the amount of movement during a 2 second exposure as it passed from West to South East.

Abingdon, Oxon - 25th Dec 2014
Nikon D300s with 18-70 zoom (at 70mm) - 2sec@f/8 ISO800

Mike

[Scott Barron]

A Red Admiral flew through my garden in Hayle, Cornwall on 24th December. Other December species I have recorded this year are Small Tortoiseshell & The Peacock.

[Jack Harrison]

It is quite surprising how few people have knowingly seen satellites. I saw my first way back in 1957. I had to be up in the dark before dawn and caught a brief glimpse of the launch rocket for the first Sputnik. It was illuminated by sunlight against my dark sky and appeared as a moving moderately bright star. Sputnik 2 launched a few weeks later was much easier. In those days, there was little general light pollution, so in some ways satellites were more easily seen. But the ISS can be truly bright and easy enough even in today's well-lit urban environment. This is a good place for predictions:

http://www.heavens-above.com/

Iridium flares are well worth seeing.

I trained to be a flying instructor 48 years ago.. Here is a little note from my memoirs:

We had to learn to teach in front of a class: how to keep the lesson interesting. We could hardly have had a more critical audience than our fellow trainee instructors. One lesson had to be on a service related matter, another on a topic of our choice. My non-service talk was about the visibility of satellites just after sunset of before sunrise. I used a spotlight (the sun) to shine on the earth (globe) around which I had fixed a ring of wire (satellite orbit). I had one of my antipodean colleagues stand on his head to simulate visibility from Australia. Clippings from the day’s newspaper showed them what to expect to be able to see that night. Sadly it turned out to be cloudy.

Jack