www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Good to see things up and flying in Wales, David.

Guy

Tuesday 17th March 2014 - Butterfly bereft.....

I had a friend staying with me between 15th and 17th March and promised to show her Rhossili Bay and Worm's Head on the Gower Peninsula whilst she was here.

Tuesday was glorious if still a bit chilly (11c max), however with light winds I felt it appropriate to give my beloved old 'banger' a bit of early spring exercise:
Conditions were abnormally calm on this exposed western edge of the Gower, but in spite of the benign weather not a single butterfly was seen.

There were compensations though....

..the view was wonderful:
....and even better was the presence of a fair number of Choughs along the cliff edges:

Great car, great crows.
BWs, Neil

Friday 20th March 2015 - Full House at last....

With the solar eclipse on the agenda this morning, my camera was safely stowed into my car prior to leaving for work.

Although my images of this event failed to merit anything remotely resembling a picture worthy of sharing, it did at least offer me the opportunity of taking time out at lunch to wander around the scrubby wild areas adjacent to my workplace in search of butterflies.

I only saw three - a female Brimstone fluttering tantalisingly on the far side of the stream that runs beside the main path through the walkway, a Small Tortoiseshell purposefully taking nectar from a selection of Celandines alongside the water's edge....and....finally...my first Comma of the year:
I always feel relaxed once I've seen all the adult overwinterers - it gives you a week or two to prepare for the next glorious phase of the annual butterfly calendar....Speckled Woods, Holly Blues, Large/Small/Green veined Whites, Small Coppers.....and, of course...Orange Tips!!

Only a fortnight to go!

Cheers, Wurzel. Yes, Commas always seem to sit 'just right'.

Saturday 21st March 2015 - Warming up....

I had to go into Swansea city centre today so I thought I'd first take a little detour to Danygraig Cemetery to see what was about.

Well, what was about was good - 3 Peacocks, 2 male Brimstones, 2 Small Tortoiseshells and a Comma.

This Brimstone settled momentarily on some flowers placed upon one of the graves:
One of the Peacocks seemed more interested in basking on the gravestone itself:
The solitary Comma seen was also basking, but on vegetation:
By contrast, the Small Tortoiseshell I got close to was buried in a flower:
A squirrel was busy foraging underneath one of the many mature trees:
With clear skies, temperatures hit 14c here today and the view towards Mumbles Head was reminiscent of a summer's day:

Great Photo's David, it's strange isn't it how cemeteries always seem to have loads of Butterflies, (due to the flowers placed there) I
wonder!
I love your view also your Comma, I've yet to see one, last year I saw a lot more than previous years so hope fully it won't be too long before I do Goldie

Great stuff David

Looks like you certainly had better weather than we did this weekend, yesterday was cold and cloudy and today had an underlying chill in the air despite the sun being out all afternoon.

Cheers,

Neil.

Sunday 5th April - First non-adult overwinterer....

Drove back from Liverpool to Abergavenny on Easter Sunday, and with the temperature seemingly stuck on 15c I thought I'd pop into Castle Meadows before returning to my friend's home.

It was mainly overcast and gone 4pm, but there were a handful of Small Tortoiseshells, Commas and Peacocks about. In addition, my first Small White of 2015 fluttered by and with it being cloudy, was far more approachable than is the norm:
This Peacock on a fallen tree was irresistible:

Wurzel wrote:Things are really buzzing over your way David....Hopefully the Orange-tips won't be far behind.

How strangely prescient, Wurzel, as you will see.....

Monday 6th April - Temperatures soar......

Well, I don't know who was responsible for the weather forecast for Easter Monday, but whoever it was grossly underestimated daytime maxima.

At 10pm on Sunday, it was predicted that 17c would be tops for Abergavenny, but in the event it reached a glorious 21c, and boy did the butterflies respond!

Small Tortoiseshells numbered almost 100, whilst Peacocks topped two dozen and even Commas were in double figures.

In Linda Vista Gardens, this Comma was in superb nick:
I also saw my first Large White of 2015, and he readily settled on the bergenia which was kind of him:
I was on the lookout for Orange Tips, and I headed straight for the spot on Castle Meadows where cuckoo flower always blooms earliest. No luck, sadly, although I did manage to get an interesting 'combo':
I then stumbled across a few fritillaries
I saw a couple of Small Whites flying near the hedgerows so I pressed on right to the eastern edge of the parkland whereupon I experienced that most uplifting annual event - first Orange Tip! He wasn't in the mood to sit still, but he did alight briefly on a celandine which allowed me this single long range image:
I saw another on my way back to the car and to be honest, I could have remained there all day such were the conditions and the butterfly activity. However, I needed to be back in Swansea so I set off at 2.30pm but stopped at the bottom of Kilvey Hill en route to check out my Speckled Wood 'hotspot'. This proved a good decision, as I saw three in total:
I jumped over the wall into Dan-y-graig cemetery which is something of a playground for butterflies. Here's a view of it from the pathway up Kilvey Hill:
I couldn't find any Holly Blues, but I watched for 15 minutes with interest as these two Peacocks engaged in courtship rituals:
Whilst gingerly tracking them ensuring I didn't step on any graves, a small, bright object caught my eye. It readily settled and I was delighted to greet my first Small Copper of the year:
So, a wonderful day given that it was less than a week into April. Nine species in a day is something I wouldn't expect until May normally. Let's hope things keep rolling along. It certainly looks to be a promising next few days weatherwise.

Fantastic stuff, David, looks like it's all kicking off big time, they were just waiting for 18 degrees C! Great to see the Large White and Speckled Woods.

HI David,
I am in awe of your Easter sightings, we had 18c yesterday,which produced lots of Peacocks
and a few Small Torts.
Lovely images too.
All the best,

TREVOR.

Nine species sounds good to me David, I can only just about scrape that myself down here , and I can only dream of Peacocks, let alone see a Comma and Peacock together
à bientôt le sud de la France
Chris

Fantastic photo's David, your doing well for Butterflies can you send that Orange Tip North please Goldie

Can I add my praise and admiration!

I'm Green with Envy!!

Best wishes,

Hoggers.

Hi David,

Impressive tally there, great stuff . Just 4 species for me so far but plenty of those the past couple of days. I have never yet seen an early Red Admiral around my way and still waiting on the Orange-tips, Specklies, etc to start emerging.

Cheers,

Neil

Thanks for the comments, folks.

Yes, this part of the country is usually pretty decent in early spring. The proximity to the coastline generally sees fairly early emergences.

That will change though as the season progresses and the south east enjoys temperatures several degrees above what we usually see here.

Still, there's plenty to look out for over the next couple of weeks - Holly Blue, Green Veined White, Wall Brown, Dingy Skipper, Small Blue and Green Hairstreak should all be on the wing within a fortnight.

Saturday 11th April 2015 - Change in conditions.....

After the summer-like conditions of the past few days, today we were back to early April - 12c temperatures and a fresh breeze blowing. This obviously suppressed butterfly activity and not a lot was flying.

I took another trip to Kilvey Hill & Danygraig Cemetery but apart from 3 Speckled Woods, a few Tortoiseshells and a Peacock, the only butterflies I saw were 2 Whites. One didn't come to rest but was either Small or Green Veined. The other DID come down during an overcast spell and I was able to record my first Green Veined White of the year for sure:

Just read your posting David, your lucky to to see the GVW no sign of them here yet, nice day forecast for tomorrow hope fully we could see some, things really slow here though so I'm not convinced, nice pic by the wayGoldie

Monday 20th April 2015 - Orange Tips....

In spite of seeing enough Orange Tips to sink a battleship in France last week, it was still lovely to observe roughly two dozen males cavorting around in the rather more austere surroundings of Linda Vista Gardens and Castle Meadows, Abergavenny on Monday.

Pierids have definitely gained the upperhand over Vanessids over the past two weeks. Although I saw a handful of Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and Commas, numbers were well down on those a fortnight ago in the same location.

Small Whites were well into double figures, whilst 3 definite Green Veined were also seen. Most pleasing of all however was the appearance of 4 male Large Whites, which hopefully signifies an increase in numbers on this species' annus horriblis in 2014.

2 male Holly Blues were also seen, although neither was in the mood to stay still for any length of time - the second one descended briefly to nectar on a Viburnum shrub, but it was soon off on its travels, no doubt in search of a female.

Sunday 26th April 2014 - awaiting next emergences.....

In spite of the cool conditions (13c at best), I nonetheless paid visits to both Danygraig Cemetery (to look for Holly Blues) followed by Crymlyn Burrows (to check if Dingies/Small Blues were about yet).

In the first location I managed to see at least 7 Holly Blues, although only one settled anywhere within pointing distance of my camera lens:
Not a huge amount was happening at the second location. Although the kidney vetch is out, there's no sign yet of any Small Blues. Equally conspicuous by their absence were Dingy Skippers, though I hardly saw any bird's foot trefoil in flower so maybe it's not surprising. I guess they'll both be around by next weekend.

Lots of Orange Tips again, including my first UK females of 2015:
Pleasingly, once again I saw a handful of Large Whites, including a female. This male basked just long enough to get into this diary before a Speckled Wood 'ushered' him away:
Other species seen were Small and Green Veined White, Brimstone, Peacock and Small Copper.