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Chris Jackson wrote:..In the last 2 days temperatures in the south of France (and most of France in fact) have been hitting around 17°C, with some isolated reports of 23°C near Bordeaux.
I fear this may be short lived, I had nearly forgotten "the beast from the east" last year which wiped out most of March, even reaching the south of France.

That doesn't surprise me, Chris. I think a handful of places in the UK reached 17c on Friday.

There's no sign of a 'beast from the east' this year and let's hope that continues! Last year, when I visited Monsieur Gallon's Violet Copper site in late May the leaves on the trees hadn't unfurled and it felt more like early April! We did well to notch 70+ species but the previous year we got 99. Hopefully, a warmer late winter/early spring will see 2019 threaten three figures again.

2 species today at work got me off the mark. A saunter around on my lunch break gave me Comma and a little later a Red Admiral. (Better pictures will appear in my PD at some point when I get round to sorting through them, I got a bit snap happy with my season debuts )

Well done, BB. Nice to see a spring Comma finally grace these pages!

I went looking for them myself today, as they have quite a liking for Oystermouth Cemetery in Mumbles, Swansea.

Sadly, I didn't catch up with any, but there was compensation by way of this unexpected sighting of a Painted Lady:

David M wrote:Well done, BB. Nice to see a spring Comma finally grace these pages!

I went looking for them myself today, as they have quite a liking for Oystermouth Cemetery in Mumbles, Swansea.

Sadly, I didn't catch up with any, but there was compensation by way of this unexpected sighting of a Painted Lady:

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Thanks David, I have a small but thriving population at work so I wasn't in the least bit surprised for a Comma to start my season off.

Your painted lady looks mint, perfect fringe and still with that salmon pink flush, could it have survived somewhere local as a youngster?

went to the RSPB place at Sandy on Friday. a faded Red Admiral was nectaring in the garden

bugboy wrote:Your painted lady looks mint, perfect fringe and still with that salmon pink flush, could it have survived somewhere local as a youngster?

Far more likely that it has migrated over from the continent, BB. A couple of weeks ago we had snow and ice and I don't think any PL could have survived that!

A friend sent me this photo of a Red Admiral taken at the gardens of Killerton House, Devon.14-02-2019, the gardens are looking good with early spring flowers, a great place to visit. https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

Two Red Admirals in my garden at lunchtime today, attracted to Viburnum bodnatense.
Vince

My first butterfly of the year (and maybe first for Scotland but I doubt it), Small Tortoiseshell on cliff top Portknockie, Moray.

I didn't manage a photo of it as it was quite flighty and enjoying this view.Jack

Jack Harrison wrote:My first butterfly of the year (and maybe first for Scotland but I doubt it), Small Tortoiseshell on cliff top Portknockie, Moray

Nice, Jack. Your part of the UK has been amongst the warmest over the last few days, so it doesn't surprise me that butterflies have been tempted out.

Two Red Admirals and a Peacock seen on the NW Gower coast this afternoon, which with temperatures of around 15c was one of the most glorious February days I can remember:

First butterfly of the year. A male Brimstone flying alongside the M5 near Stroud.

Two male Brimstones on the wing today in central Lincolnshire whilst engaged in Brown Hairstreak egg hunting - lovely warm spring-like day! Forecast good for the next week or so. Could be an early one this year!

Jack Harrison wrote:My first butterfly of the year (and maybe first for Scotland but I doubt it), Small Tortoiseshell on cliff top Portknockie, Moray.

I didn't manage a photo of it as it was quite flighty and enjoying this view.19-02-21-296-BowFiddle.jpgJack

Sorry Jack, we had a Peacock here in East Lothian on 11th January and the first Small Tort was on 17th Feb. Quite a number of reports of Peacocks came in yesterday, including my first sighting of the year.

This morning I went to my local haunt, Hall-Lee-Brook, I walked all the way round the CP and just has I was heading back a Comma flew towards me and over the Brambles, no shots but my first Butterfly sighting of this season, also the earliest I've ever seen a Butterfly a round here, none in my Garden yet though Goldie

Best day of the year so far. A male Brimstone in the garden today and 2 ST in a local park.
My female Brimmie is still waiting - sensible girl!

Two Small Tortoiseshells and a Comma at a couple of local spots in Solihull this afternoon, my earliest butterflies ever.

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Cheers,

Neil.

In a wood South of Faversham (Kent) today, with a temperature of 14 degrees. 10 Brimstone, 2 Red Admirals and a Comma. Hopefully a sign of a good Year to come.

A day at Bookham (first for a few months) didn't disappoint, double figures of Brimstones. All males and mostly super charged in the ridiculously warm sun. Lots of other signs of an early spring including a pair of Long-tailed Tit well on the way to completing their nest

Holcombe, Somerset. 2 Red Admirals, 1 male Brimstone. The Brimstone was in search mode and did not stop, but at least one of the Red Admirals was very keen to nectar up on the winter-flowering heather.