May 2015

[David M]

The transition between spring and summer....

...let's hope for a good one.

[NickMorgan]

Currently feels like the transition between autumn and winter up here...

... let's hope for some warm weather!!

[Jack Harrison]

Isle of Mull. First Green-veined White of year (Glengorm just outside Tobermory).

Jack

[MrSp0ck]

We managed to see at least 10 Duke of Burgundy and a Dingy Skipper at Noar Hill today, when the sun came out for an hour.

[David M]

Currently feels like the transition between autumn and winter up here..

Same here, Nick.

Isn't it time we dispensed with this bank holiday and replaced it with another in mid-summer?

Practically every year it's 13c and wet.

[MikeOxon]

Isle of Mull. First Green-veined White of year (Glengorm just outside Tobermory).

I hope it has a waterproof duvet jacket

[Butterflymax]

My first post for a year or so. Apologies!
So far this year, in my back garden, I have seen about a dozen Holly Blues and one Small or Green-Veined White. This was in one afternoon. Other members of the family have seen one Peacock and a Brimstone, and also quite a few Holly Blues. I'm working too many hours to spend much time butterfly hunting these days, sadly. The amount of Holly Blues is astonishing, although I usually expect to see a few each year. There is a good size holly tree in the garden, and quite a lot of ivy near it too. Could it be that the Holly Blue has colonised my garden? I live less than ten minutes walk from Rugby town centre, but also only ten minutes walk from Ashlawn Cutting, where they are common. I always thought butterflies don't breed in gardens, especially in urban areas and with Rugby's population being over 70,000 I really would have thought my address was too urban. What do you good folk think?

[Matsukaze]

It depends what you do with your garden and what you plant there I suppose - obviously the cabbage whites will quite happily breed in gardens and so will Holly Blues if the holly and ivy are there. If you are happy to plant the foodplants, many of the common species will make their way to you - the nettle-feeding vanessids, Brimstone, Orange-tips. There are gardens in Oxford that support Brown Hairstreak, and Purple and White-letter should be do-able if you have space for the trees.

I have been in gardens that support colonies of Small Blue, Dingy Skipper, Green Hairstreak etc, though these are probably closer to private nature reserves than most people's idea of a garden.

[jasonbirder]

A few Pearl-Bordered Fritillary on the wing at Cwm Soden this morning. Nice to see the National Trust Managing the habitat carefully for them.
Away at the moment....photo's on my return!

[Jack Harrison]

My first garden sighting of the year today in Tobermory. GV White.

Jack

[andy brown]

Had a wander around Magdalen Hill this morning, there were plenty of Brimstones around still and a few peacocks also saw my first Small Heath and Brown Argus of the Year. Here are a few snaps! also some other critters which I will put in my diary.

Brimstone

BrownArgus

Small Heath

Holly Blue

Cheers

Andy

[Neil Freeman]

A couple of hours down at Bishops Hill in Warwickshire today produced four 'first of year' species for me, Dingy and Grizzled skippers, Green Hairstreak and Small Blue

Report will be in my diary as usual once I have sorted through the photos.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Allan.W.]

Hi all,
visited a few local sites today ,when we started out the weather was cracking ,and our first port of call, near Wye, Kent ,a small hidden piece of downland, the grassland was an absolute carpet of primroses and Cowslips ,which seem to be having an incredible year down in this neck of the woods ,we were rewarded with great views of several Green Hairstreak including several tussling males,a single Dingy Skipper ,very fresh ,good numbers of Orange Tip ,Brimstone ,Green veins ,and a single pristine Duke of Burgandy,and a Green Tiger beetle on the entrance footpath. On to Brookland ,on the Romney Marsh,after a quick bite in the "Woolpack" (thouroughly recommend),the weather went downhill
but cheered a little when we started our walk,hoping for Small Coppers ,sadly no joy here ,but we did see several Peacock and a few "Whites .". On to Dungeness ,parked by the bird obs, and around the moat saw about ten Small Copper,but the sun disappeared and they slowly disappeared as well.All in all a very enjoyable few hours.
Regards Allan .W.

[David M]

New species for 2015 for me over the BH weekend were:

At Ewyas Harold Common, Herefordshire, on Sunday - Pearl Bordered Fritillary & Grizzled Skipper:

At Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea, on Monday - Small Blue:

[Neil Hulme]

The butterfly enthusiast and the Duke of Burgundy were both plentiful on the slopes of Heyshott Escarpment today. The weather was only periodically good enough to induce much aerial activity, but a large hatch was clearly underway. I encountered one Duke struggling its way out of a carpet of moss, and plenty of others were very unsteady on their still-damp wings. A thorough search of all the pits just failed to reach a count of 40, but it’s early days yet and I suspect there will be a bumper crop by next weekend. A mating pair was found by Richard Roebuck, and the Cadeys found an egg-laying female, which appeared to at least attempt oviposition on dogwood (we lost track of which leaf to check – doh!). Other species were few and far between, with low numbers of Dingy and Grizzled Skipper, and a single Green Hairstreak. An early visit in warm sunshine is highly recommended.

[millerd]

Dukes out at Ivinghoe Beacon on the Chilterns today as well.

Dave

[Philzoid]

Sunday 3rd
An annual meet up of me and the girls and Wurzel with his daughter K at Bentley Wood's Cowley copse (eastern clearing) all went as planned. We met at 10:30 and bang on cue the gloomy weather began to lighten up and raise our spirits and the prospect of getting a Pearl-bordered Fritillary sighting or two .
I always get excited about visiting Bentley as for me this is when the buttefly season really gets underway. Before Bentley my forays are usually limited to around the local Canal and Horsell Common in Woking where I pick up the usual suspects of early spring species. This years forays though not bad in species number (7) hadn't yielded much in overall numbers. The main reason I think is the recent cold weather and it co-inciding with my opportunity to search (weekends).

The copse seen from the (improved) track near to the car park looked like it had undergone some serious clearance . Forturnatly when we actually got a proper look the devastation was far less than originally thought and mostly limited to a dense stand of birch nearest to the car park .

To improve our chances we split up and against the normal run of play it was me (actually my eldest ) who spotted the first Pearl. After that initial sighting it ran true to form with all other butterflies being spotted by Wurzel first .
The sun breaking through the clouds provided a noticeable warmth but at the same time it was still early in the morning and still on the cool side. The Pearl was flighty but would not move more than 10ft away before landing. This was just as well as anything beyond 10ft and my eyes are unable to track. Getting close enough to take photographs was cat and mouse work with Wurzel getting in most of the time and me finding it much harder to avoid spooking it . Afterwards we theorised that my 'warning colours' 'Dennis the Menace' sweater, was to blame .... but just to be on the safe side I switched my macro over for the 'trusty' Tamron and its 1+ metre reach.

My first Pearl of the year

After that there was a big lull in proceedings with lots of searching but no butterflies until Wurzel suddenly spotted a Painted Lady basking on some old bracken fronds . It wasn't in the best of conditions with wedges missing from its hind wings but for me this represented a great find and probably the earliest I've ever seen a Painted Lady (and in such an unusual setting too) .

After the Painted Lady things seemed to improve with more (very fresh) pearls turning ups, Brimstone and Small White putting in an appearance too.

The PBF; PL and a Small White took my species count up from 7 to 10 for the season. Wurzel then suggested we move on to his Duke site where I stood a chance of picking up even more season firsts. A 40 minute drive was hampered by a slow vehicle pulling a trailer and at the moment we arrived the weather took on a cloudier look. Despite this we immediately spotted a Grizzled Skipper, and over some period of time this was followed on by Small Copper, Green hairstreak and Dingy Skipper. A male Orange-tip also put in an appearance sauntering over a scrap between three Dingies .

Unfortunately we didn't get any Dukes, (presumably too early for the site) and the other species were not in ground-breaking numbers either, meaning when something moved that caught our eyes it could often be a false alarm. Mostly this was down to St. Mark's flies and a the large fly species pictured below.

Not a bluebottle. Any idea?

Despite this the place looks to have lots of potential with Chalk grassland; scrub; deciduous and mixed woodland habitats all part of the site.

Tiger snail in Jew's Ear fungus in beechwood stand

In addition to the GSk; GH; SC & DSk various moths were seen including Pseudopanthera maculais (Speckled Yellow); Pyrausta purpuralis; Pyrausta nigrata; Lomographa temerata (Clouded Silver) and Autographa gamma (Silver Y)

Pyrausta purpuralis

The four butterfly species + OT; PBF; PL; SWt & Br took my species total to 9 for the day and 14 for the season .

Grass-streak greenstreak

Phil

NB Large White seen Bank Holiday Monday at Walmer Castle, Deal in Kent (species total now 15).

[Wurzel]

Great report from a great day Philzoid. Small Pearls and Dukes next

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

Thanks Wurzel

Not sure I'll be able to fit in the Small Pearls before I go away unless they're out by the w/e 16-17th .

And then there's Wood Whites coming up soon (Botany Bay)

Phil

[adrian riley]

Thanks Wurzel

Not sure I'll be able to fit in the Small Pearls before I go away unless they're out by the w/e 16-17th .

And then there's Wood Whites coming up soon (Botany Bay)

Phil

Hello, Phil
Wood White already on the wing in Surrey at Chiddingfold.
See www.bugalert.net.
Adrian Riley