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Thanks for your post David, I'm into the Hot Chocolate already Goldie

Sunday 21st November – Took a gamble….

Another mild and sunny day which was sufficient to entice me to my default spring site at Cwm Ivy on the NW Gower coast.

The sun, even at just gone midday, was barely high enough to illuminate the woodland glade that is so productive in early spring, so I walked through onto the sheltered dunes and soon arrived at the microclimate at the northern end:
At this point, I decided to check the tree trunks that had been sitting in the sun for a couple of hours:
Sure enough, there was a Red Admiral soaking up what warmth there was on one of them:
I walked round the sun-facing side of the woodland and ended up seeing two more Red Admirals, although neither of them settled so no images were possible.

I cut back through the glade and the sun was disappearing behind the limestone crag even at 1.50pm:
Still another month until the winter solstice, and another four months before butterfly action is likely to get properly underway once more.

Monday 22nd November – Still very mild….

Another unseasonably benign day saw me take a 10 minute drive to Park Wood, near the Gower Heritage Centre.

This is not a place I usually visit for butterflies, although that’s mainly because access is via a single track road and the site is very popular with visitors in spring and summer.

Here’s a view from the entrance (the ‘rubble’ that can be seen in the distance is a neolithic burial chamber):
At this late stage of the year, the sun barely rises above the trees, but there was sufficient light and warmth for me to spook a Red Admiral on the track, which was immediately pursued by a nearby bird (thankfully it managed to escape).

On my way back, I spotted another which kindly basked on a bramble leaf, absorbing as much of the sunshine that was available:
I have now seen a total of 23 Red Admirals in November, which is easily a record for me.

Good to see your late Red Admiral sightings David, an impressive total.
An immaculate specimen was photographed in Brighton only a few days ago.
As we've said before they can be seen in every month of the year given a mild/warm day.

Stay well,
Trevor.

Thanks, Trevor. I suppose it shouldn't be too much of a surprise to shatter this record. After all, autumn has warmed considerably over the past few decades and these days mid-teen temperatures aren't unheard of in the first week or so of November.

Thursday 25th November – Chance encounter….

I had to travel to Worcester today for an EBG Committee meeting. It was a pleasant, sunny day and I thoroughly enjoyed catching up with some like-minded people I hadn’t seen in person for rather too long.

Prior to entering the building where the meeting was staged, I spent 20 minutes or so walking around the adjacent woodland looking for a chance encounter with a late Red Admiral, but it was something else I hadn’t seen for rather too long that actually turned up – a Comma!

It was fluttering in a south facing clearing in the trees and graciously came down on the dead leaf litter for a few seconds, meaning I was able to get this shot with my mobile phone:
Good job I managed to do this, as when I entered the canteen the other EBG members who had already arrived looked at me in disbelief until I showed them the image.

A record breaking November for me; 27 butterflies of 5 different species: Red Admiral (23) and singletons of Speckled Wood, Brimstone, Painted Lady & Comma, in spite of conditions being largely cloudy for most of the month.

PhilBJohnson wrote: ↑Wed Dec 08, 2021 5:54 am What was nice about those habitat cages (November 4th, regarding October 11th), was how they might have been folded to begin with, to fit through the post.
Possibly a nice Christmas present for someone.

They are very user friendly, Phil, although they won't last more than 2 years if left outside:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0932H6H38/ ... NrPXRydWU=

A look back at 2021

Not a particularly good butterfly year, although at least the season was rather more ‘normal’ than has been the case in several recent years, with no real early emergences brought about by freakishly warm spells in the earlier part of the year.

The low point was undoubtedly the dismal May weather we all seemed to suffer. The first Bank Holiday in that month saw me take sanctuary in the conservatory all day with the log fire blazing – it was just 9 or 10 degrees outside and lashing with rain!

This led to a few surprises with mid-spring species such as Dingy & Grizzled Skippers lasting far longer than they would normally, but the overall impact was a negative one, as summer didn’t really see any species in particularly good numbers and, sadly, some were conspicuous by their relative absence.

February

Towards the end of the month, the weather turned mild and calm which allowed me to record my first butterflies of the season. First up, on 25th Feb, was this Comma, occupying a streamside location near to my workplace:
Further along this stream, I also found my first Small Tortoiseshell:
On 27th and 28th, the mild weather continued. I saw my first Brimstone on 27th but didn’t photograph one until 28th, at Crymlyn Burrows on the coast:
In total, I saw 13 butterflies during February: 6 Brimstones, 5 Small Tortoiseshells and 2 Commas.

A look back at 2021

March

The early part of March was bizarre, with high pressure over the country but day after day of cloud round my way. By 18th, I’d only seen two butterflies, a Small Tortoiseshell and a Comma.

That changed on 21st, when I took advantage of a mere hour of sunshine to record my first Peacocks of the year at Pobbles Bay near Southgate:
Three days later, I saw 7 Commas, a Brimstone and my first Small White of 2021 at Cwm Ivy on the NW coast:
The warmest day of the month came on 30th, with temperatures of 18c. After having had my first Covid jab I crossed the road to Crymlyn Burrows and saw my first Speckled Wood of the year:
I then moved on to Dan-y-Graig cemetery where I found my first Large White:
This warm day clearly provided the wake up call as the following day I saw over 40 butterflies of 8 different species at Cwm Ivy. Amongst these were firsts for the year in the form of Holly Blue (males and a female) and Orange Tip:
On my way home, a Red Admiral flew across the road in front of my car but I was unable to stop safely and get an image.

A look back at 2021

April

Good Friday fell on 2nd April, meaning I had 4 days off work. It had gone cooler to around 12c, but a return visit to Cwm Ivy saw excellent numbers of Holly Blues (around 50 or so):
The reduced temperatures also meant that male Orange Tips were abnormally approachable:
The following day conditions were similar and I managed to catch up with my first Green Veined White of the year, with more to follow over the next few outings:
The big surprise was seeing two Small Coppers in Dan-y-Graig cemetery. 3rd April is the earliest I’ve ever seen this species:
There then followed an abnormally cool spell where we even saw some sleet, but temperatures rose again by mid month and on 14th April I tracked down my first female Large White of the year:
There was also the opportunity to get my first image of a Red Admiral in 2021:

A look back at 2021

April cont…

The second half of April was fairly cool but there were several sunny days and on 20th I drove to Merthyr Mawr to catch up with Grizzled Skippers:
The blackthorn blossom peaked around 23rd, and I spent a fabulous couple of hours at Cwm Ivy where there were plenty of butterflies nectaring on the flowers:
Two days later, another fine, sunny day attracted me back to the same location and I managed to find my first Brown Arguses of the year (this is a very early site for them):
This day also saw my first Dingy Skipper, a species that would have an abnormally prolonged flight season due to the weather:
On 29th, I finally tracked down my first Green Hairstreak after three or four previous attempts:
The last day of April was reserved for a visit to Ewyas Harold Common in Herefordshire. In spite of continued cool conditions, a few sunny spells led to decent numbers of Pearl Bordered Fritillaries taking flight:

A look back at 2021

May

May got off to a dismal start, with the early Bank Holiday seeing me taking shelter in the conservatory with the wood fire at full blast whilst the rain lashed down outside. It was blowing a gale and temperatures were just 9c!!!

Things improved, but not by a great deal, with most of the month cool and cloudy with the occasional sunny morning and/or afternoon.
I took advantage of one of these windows on 7th, finding my first Small Blues of the year at Crymlyn Burrows on the coast:
It was a week before I was able to get out again. On 14th, the cloud disappeared in the afternoon and I visited Whiteford Burrows on the NW of the Gower where, despite cool conditions, I saw my first Common Blues and Small Heaths:
Numbers during this visit were poor, with just 36 butterflies seen, but the range was good with 14 different species on show, including the first Wall Brown I have ever seen at this site. I wasn’t able to get a photograph of it, but I took the opportunity to get images of Green Veined Whites and a solitary Small Blue which took a liking to my trousers:

Thanks for a great read. I’m hoping to see as many species as I can this year and make the effort to tick off a few I haven’t seen before and being based in South Wales I’m sure I’ll be referring to this thread a lot. Good luck in 22

Thank you, Owen. PM me if you need any help finding good sites for species in south Wales.

Thank you, I’m sure I’ll take you up on that

OwenE wrote: ↑Thu Jan 20, 2022 5:33 pmThank you, I’m sure I’ll take you up on that.

No problem, Owen. I've spent 12 years studying the wider area so I'm sure I can track down just about anything!

A look back at 2021

May cont…

Mid to late May saw no improvement in the awful weather; each passing day seemed to be mainly cloudy with 10-12c temperatures. Butterflies were understandably thin on the ground, with this fresh Small Copper being one of the few I took an image of:
I spent several fruitless hours looking for Wall Browns that had probably not yet emerged, although I finally had success on 22nd at Kenfig Dunes, when I saw a handful of this normally early-May species:
Thankfully, things warmed up by the late May Bank Holiday weekend, and on 29th I travelled to Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire where it seemed like I had swapped planets – there were multi-dozens of butterflies about and it was finally T-shirt weather:
Amongst the dozen plus Dukes, I came across a single, beautifully fresh male Adonis Blue:
My first Painted Lady of the year also stopped for a few moments:
The following day was equally suitable for butterfly hunting, so I nipped out on my local Common to find several Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries:
The last day of May was a Bank Holiday, and I remained close to home and managed to photograph some of my local Marsh Fritillaries:
All in all, however, this was a month to largely forget.

A look back at 2021

June

June opened, thankfully, with a warm and humid spell, so I took the opportunity on 3rd to visit the Forest of Dean to catch up with Wood Whites:
To my surprise, there were plenty of fresh looking Dingy Skippers too, which had obviously remained in the pupal stage during the atrocious weather in late May:
The following day, following a tip-off from fellow UKB regular Stevie B, I travelled to Wiltshire to see an artificially sustained colony of Glanville Fritillaries:
Again, there were plenty of Dingies about, and even a Grizzled Skipper. Green Hairstreaks were active around the shrubs at the bottom of the slope.

On 8th, I visited Crymlyn Burrows and counted 58 Small Blues. I also saw my final Orange Tip of the year, as well as my first Large Skipper:

A look back at 2021

June cont…

Mid-June was an extremely busy time. The weather forecast for the weekend of 12th and 13th seemed good, so I got up at 2.30am on the Saturday and was up in the Lake District by 9 o’clock.

My target was Mountain Ringlet at Irton Fell, and I duly found 8 of them, in spite of fairly overcast conditions:
Heading back down to the motorway, I stopped off at Meathop Moss and saw around a dozen Large Heaths:
I stopped overnight in Carlisle and early the following morning drove through the Scottish borders, reaching St Abb’s Head at around 9am. Again, cloud interfered with proceedings but I managed to locate three Northern Brown Argus, artaxerxes form:
An 8 hour drive back to Swansea was necessary that afternoon as I had an appointment for my second Covid vaccination the following day. Once I’d had it, I crossed the road to Crymlyn Burrows and found my first Dark Green Fritillaries of the year:

A great selection of very fine specimens from last year David.
And a couple that would be lifers for me, so a for those.
Another for the wide open, fresh, male Holly Blue, further back. Great shot.

Stay well,
Trevor.

Thanks, Trevor. One of the few advantages derived from the pandemic restrictions was being able to devote more time to our UK species (although I hope to spend more time abroad in 2022).

I remember being in awe of that epic trip at the time David! What rewards with those three species within 24 hours though! Heading of at 2 30 to find rare mountain butterflies - it doesn’t get much better than that in my book.