Brimstone, Peacock, Red Admirals, Commas in January !

[Adrian Hoskins]

Hi all

Following my recent report of very early Brimstone and Red Admiral, I can now add Peacock and Comma to the list - and it's still January !

This morning, 26th January, at Stansted Forest in West Sussex I saw a Peacock basking on a rock, and 2 Commas - one basking on a tree trunk, the other found at roost on a low branch.

Photos, more sightings, and masses of information about butterflies from all over the world at http://www.learnaboutbutterflies.com !

Adrian Hoskins

[Padfield]

That's remarkable, Adrian. I would be very interested to know more details, like exact time of day, ambient temperature, weather, &c. When I lived in England (Suffolk) I never saw more than the very occasional small tortoiseshell in January, even in mild winters.

Here in CH we had a very cold December and a roughly normal January but even so small tortoiseshells have been flying in the mountains and I saw a Queen of Spain fritillary at lower altitude today, my first ever January record of this species (picture posted in the 'Overseas' forum). It wasn't even a warm day! Last year I saw 20 on 3rd Feb, so they must have been flying in January, but we had no winter that year.

Guy

[Adrian Hoskins]

Hi Guy

If you take a look at the Red Admiral and Butterfly Sightings ( 2006, 2007 ) pages on my website you'll find a lot more information about overwintering butterflies in Stansted Forest.

There was a Red Admiral flying today at Whiteley Pastures, weak hazy sunshine, slight breeze, about 1300hrs. Yesterday at Stansted Forest the Red Ads were quite active. Two were basking high up in trees, and each did a few sorties, after which they resettled on the same trees. Another was bombing along a ride at great speed, and seemed to be migrating. My guess is that those few Red Ads which survived the winter are now dispersing into the open countryside.

I never carry a thermometer, but it felt very mild on both days. I have however seen Red Ads flying in much colder conditions last winter.

The Brimstone ( a female ) was flying in early afternoon. The clouds were just rolling in, so I guess it had been active in the morning, and was flying in search of somewhere to roost.

The Peacock was seen also in early afternoon ( I didn't note the exact time ), but was very placid. It was basking on a big flint rock which was probably the warmest substrate in the vicinity, which was a sunlit and sheltered minor track. It allowed my to get very close, and didn't seem at all twitchy. Pic on my website shows it has survived a bird attack.

The 2 Commas were seen later in the day, about 1500hrs, in hazy sunshine. One was basking high on a tree trunk, and when I got within 5 metres of the tree it detected me and did a quick sortie, then resettled on another tree. The other Comma was found roosting under a low branch, but as you can see from the photo on my website, it's antennae were erect, which would indicate that it had recently been active and had probably only just gone to roost. It was still sunny at the time.

I haven't seen any Small Tortoiseshells yet, and don't expect to - they are positively scarce these days in my part of the country.

It felt more like April than January today, with primroses in bloom at Whiteley Pastures, and I reckon someone will report a Speckled Wood within a couple of weeks !

Adrian

[Padfield]

Thanks, Adrian - very interesting! I don't always carry a thermometer either, but here in Switzerland we're very conscious of the temperature at different altitudes and there are public thermometers all over the place. The maximum air temperature on my walk today was probably around 6º C and there was a slight breeze too, so I was very surprised to see anything at all. It sounds as though your weather is milder. Even so, I find your records quite amazing! I hope the butterflies' sortie into the winter sun serves some purpose for them rather than merely diminishing their resources for the real spring.

I'm saddened by the apparent scarcity of small tortoiseshells in parts of England these days.

Guy

PS - If you're interested in the progress of the season on the continent, my year list and commentary, together with links to previous years and those of a couple of friends in France and Switzerland, is at http://www.guypadfield.com/butterflyyear.html.

[Matsukaze]

A butterfly seen briefly in central Abingdon (Oxon) today - dark, so Peacock or Red Admiral. There was a winter-flowering evergreen shrub in the area, which had attracted honey-bees, so the butterfly appears to have had a food source.

Today was fine and warm, which makes a change from the wind and rain of recent weeks, but despite that the temperatures this winter so far has been extremely mild - I think two or three days of frost so far.

[eccles]

No butterflies here yet, but primroses, snowdrops and crocuses are in flower, and a tree down the road has pink blossom on it. I saw an orange tailed bumblebee yesterday in a neighbour's garden, and a dock leaf shieldbug yesterday and today in mine.

[Piers]

The Portland Bird Observatory reports a possible Large Tortoiseshell sighting on Portland at East Weare, Jan 27th.

With the flush of regular sightings in the southern counties over the past few years could this be a successful over-wintering?

Perhaps this species will once again become a transitory resident. The last confirmed breeding in this country was 1976 as far as I am aware...

Here's hoping!

Felix.

[Padfield]

I think there is indeed a good chance of the large tortoiseshell recovering in the UK but I don't think much weight should be placed on this sighting. Last year there were at least two large tortoiseshells at Portland Bill and so observers there are 'primed' to consider this species where otherwise they might not have done so. The record in question describes the butterfly as being 'a good candidate' for large tortoiseshell - this is not really sufficient for one of Britain's rarest butterflies!! That is not to doubt the observer - it's just not enough.

I have a lot of experience of large tortoiseshells. They are readily identifiable on the wing and cannot be confused with small tortoiseshells once they are mastered. Therefore, I conclude the observer was not very familiar with them and that this must remain a hopeful 'maybe'.

Guy

[Matsukaze]

From last summer:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_q ... _n19359939

[Denise]

Also see

http://www.portlandbirdobs.org.uk/latest_aug2007.htm

Scroll down to August 5th. Is this a large Large Tortoiseshell?

Denise

[Padfield]

Certainly is, Denise! It's one of the 'at least two' I referred to above.

The last three years have seen a steady increase in the numbers of this butterfly in Switzerland and France, and I think you will see it flourishing in England again before long!!

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Clearly I am missing something here. I am unable to see the exact date of a particular posting, merely for example: "Posted: 2008 Jan Sun"

What am I overlooking?

Jack

[Gruditch]

Jack can you not see this Posted: Sun Feb 03, 2008 10:22 am Post subject: , above you last post


is this what your on about

Gruditch

[Pete Eeles]

Clearly I am missing something here. I am unable to see the exact date of a particular posting, merely for example: "Posted: 2008 Jan Sun"

What am I overlooking?

Jack

Hi Jack,

In your user profile you had "Y M D" set as the date format. I've changed this to the default which is "D M d, Y g:i a". Let me know if all is now OK!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

I don't understand all that but is now showing the date in full which it didn't before. Clever stuff but beyond me.

I in fact always order my own files as YYYY-MM-DD so probably had set up my default format on ukbutterflies although I simply can't recall what I might hve done. Anyway, all OK now.

While posting (date will appear at the top!) I take the opportunity to say that I haven't see a single butterfly this year. Even the Peacock that had been hibernating in my garage has vanished.

Jack

[Gruditch]

Big fat 0 for me to, got excited when I saw the familar fluttering shadow the other day, but looked up and it was a leaf

Gruditch

[Dave McCormick]

0 for me, well a dead small tortoiseshell and some fluttering leaves, but thats it.

I even dreamed that I saw red admirals and speckled woods around my area and could finally take pics of them and I came on here to tell people as this was the only place that had butterflies at the moment and you guys were upset as I was able to take pics of butterflies and you were not yet.

[Gruditch]

Yeah got my first 08 sighting today, a lovely Red Admiral

Gruditch