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Lots of whites and a few Brimstone seen today whilst driving around in the vicinity of Winchester, Romsey and Sherfield English . All whites too far away for positive id of course

Hi
Suddenly a flurry of Large Whites here in North London on the last day of April.

Nice openwing shot of a male Large white rageepona. Something that doesn't often get posted in

Phil

At Doghouse Grove in Cambs, the first two Speckled Woods of my season, engaged in courtship. The only other butterfly seen was a distant Small Tortoiseshell. This site usually has plenty of Orange-tips and Green-veined Whites by now. Moving on to Brick Lane near Mepal, Peacocks into double figures, one Small T. and my first male Orange-tip of the year. In the Mepal garden, a Large White and a Green-veined. A glorious day of unbroken sunshine but relatively few butterflies as yet.

I wonder whether most lepidoptera numbers are simply low after last year. Yesterday, whilst beating blackthorn blossom for two hours at two local sites for larvae of the Sloe Pug, the only two caterpillars found were half-grown ones of the Winter Moth. Two is an unbelievably low number of this species - these are normally so abundant one does not count them, they are almost a 'nuisance species' when looking for others. I don't know what young Great Tits will be eating this year...

Rob

News from Norfolk
Hi, Gang. Below are the results from the transect at Pensthorpe, 3/5/2013
Brimstone 1; Small White 4; Green-veined White 3; Orange-tip 6; Small Tortoiseshell 2; Peacock 2.
Many Holly Blue around Fakenham and Syderstone.
Happy hunting,
Adrian Riley
Ps. Dukes now flying. Check out http://www.bugalert,net

http://www.bugalert,net

Little typo there Adrian. Should be http://www.bugalert.net with a dot, not a comma.

Jack