www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

A few days ago,before the weather broke,i went to Bedfords Park.

With its lake,woods,meadows, deer-enclosure,this is a great place to spend an afternoon. There is even an Essex Wildlife Trust visitor centre and cafe,where you can have a cup of tea with a view towards London.

Migrant and Southern Hawkers and Common and Ruddy Darters can be seen by the lake,and Commas feed on the blackberries. But for me,in mid autumn,i come to see the Small Coppers,which are common here. I saw several,mostly feeding on Devils-bit Scabious,in various stages of wear. This site is good for bumble bees,to,including several kinds of rare Carder bee,and a Red Admiral was seen as well. Here is one of the better Small Coppers;

Cracking Small Copper Essex, nice big blue marks I know what you mean about the weather turning it was practically over night here in Salisbury, sun and sleeves rolled up one day, raincoat and jumper the next

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely Small Copper Essex

Yep, weather has well land truly turned around here, constant rain for the past two days and dark and gloomy with it

Cheers,

Neil.

THURSDAY 17 OCTOBER

With the much shorter days now,i like to spend as little time as possible traveling,to maximise valuble daylight hours in the field. So today i got an early start,to hopefully beat the traffic. Wrong! With problems on both the M11 and M25,i was well and truely stuck! As the hours wore on,i could see the sun rising higher and higher,and i was stuck in the car! Very frustrating!

I was in two minds what to do today,the Sussex coast to look for Clouded Yellows,or back to Kent,to look for Long-tailed Blues. As there had been no recent LTB sightings,and recently a lot of cold wet weather,i chose Sussex,which i thought may be more reliable.

I eventually arrived at Birling Gap,and spent the rest of the day walking to Beachy Head and back,lingering in any areas sheltered from the strong wind. A worn Meadow Brown put in an appearance,and in the shelter,good numbers of Small Coppers,including a mating pair,were seen.

But still no Clouded Yellows.

Then i bumped into a lady and gentleman from the Sussex branch (forgotten your names,sorry!) who said they had seen a few futher up. Time was getting on by now,so i picked up the pace,and headed in that direction. Sure enough,i then disturbed one from the ground and suddenly 3 were in the air together-none all day then 3 at once! Which one do i follow? Alas i chose the wrong one! While trying to follow it,the wind took it and it was gone! I turned around,no sign of the other two.

Spent another half hour walking around the cliff tops,without success,before returning to the 'hotspot' to see if any had returned. Found one! But it had dead grass and all sorts in front of it,so i waited a while,then slowly picked at the grass,as the CY tried to warm in the weakining sun. Then fired off a few shots. A sigh of relief! At last. So success in the end!

To end the day,watched the sun set over the sea,as the moon rose over the cliffs. A relaxing end to a realy quite stressful day!

Hi EssexB, congratulations on finding a Clouded Yellow. I admire the rich colours of the one that you found.

I don't know if your experience mirrors my own but after the Summer invasion I just haven't seen much at all of any "Home Grown" Clouded Yellows.I'd rather got my hopes up that the fields would be full of them! But I don't suppose the weather has helped any.

Best Wishes

Hoggers

Great shots Essex That must be one of the few homegrown Cloudies. I don't think I saw any homegrown ones myself, just immigrants

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks for your comments,Hoggers and Wurzel,i agree with everything you say. Home grown Yellows have been notable by their absence. I think their breeding cycle is a bit slower than,say,the Long Tailed Blue,especially in cold weather,like we had in September.

But a few have been reported on the south coast. Perhaps this is the only place where it has been warm enough long enough for a few to make it. Elsewhere,they may have simply run out of time to fit the autumn generation in.

After the very long winter last time round,i am desperate to keep the butterfly season going as long as possible!

essexbuzzard wrote:After the very long winter last time round,i am desperate to keep the butterfly season going as long as possible!

Hi Essex

Just been catching up with your diary Your last comment echoes my own thoughts and probably many others

Hi Essex,

Great report and photos, really liking the Small Copper photo in the previous post as well

Cheers,

Neil.

Went for a walk in my local woods on 23 October. It was windy,but temperatures were above average for late October, and i was pleased to see a couple each of Comma and Red Amiral.

The following day,with warm sunshine promised,i headed down to Minnis Bay in Kent. This is one of the sites where Long Tailed Blues have been breeding this year. I didn't see any,in the event,and nor did the couple of other visitors. But we have had a great showing from them this year,with many people,myself included,getting their first ever sightings,so i can hardly complain if they have gone by the end of October. Several late Peacock were seen,plus a male Large White,Comma,Red Admiral and the lovely Small Tortoiseshell in the picture below. Also lots of Common Darter dragonflies,and a few Migrant Hawkers.

Well,we must have all heard about the storm that swept accross the south of England and East Anglia on Monday morning. Those of you living from the Midands northward must have wondered what all the fuss was about!

The strongest gust was recorded on the Isle of Wight,where winds gusted to 99mph on the very exposed,windswept Needles. Inland,though, winds gusted to 79mph at the weather station at Andrewsfield,Essex,and 76mph at Wattisham in Suffolk. There was plenty of damage,but this was not in the same league as the Great Storm of 16 October 1987,despite the claims by some of the media. The destruction that night was extraordinary,and i never want to see damage like that again.

However,by Wednesday,the sun had come out,and i was delighted to see 4 Red Admirals and a Comma feeding on ivy at work,and later a very late Peacock,regretably,i didn't have my camera with me.

essexbuzzard wrote:Well,we must have all heard about the storm that swept accross the south of England and East Anglia on Monday morning. Those of you living from the Midands northward must have wondered what all the fuss was about!

Yep, nothing much happened around here apart from some heavy rain overnight. Its been very blustery ever since though, especially today.

Cheers,

Neil.

On Sunday 3 November,the sun shone again and i remembered to take the camera to work.

Any November butterfly is always welcome...

Working on a Sunday Mind you if it meant finding a November butterfly I'd head in mysrlf Cracker that you gotta be happy with that Essex

Have a goodun

Wurzel

CATCHING UP

There have been several good,sunnuy November days in the last couple of weeks. Despite temps. of up to 9 or 10C,i havn't seen any butterflies,so i think thats it now for this year.

Another such day occured last Tuesday(19 November). So,after enjoying the glorious autumn colours in my local woods,i headed off to Epping Forest,where the autumn leaves have reached their peak.

In the lower parts of the forest,Hornbeam and English Oak are dominant,but on the higher ground,Beech takes over,with a few Sessile Oak. When old trees are blown over,clumps of Silver Birch grow up in the clearings. The forest is mostly unmanaged,away from the footpaths,and fallen trees are simply left where they fall. This is as close as we can get,in Britain,to the ancient Wildwood.

In the early afternoon,i sat under the Beech tree in the picture,and gazed up into it's wonderful canopy of golden leaves,with the deep blue November sky above. After a while,i noticed a flight lowering as it came in towards Stansted Airport. I have no idea where it had come from,but at that moment i thought to myself,do you know,there's nowhere on Earth i would rather be right now than right here in Epping Forest.

Looking at your shots Essex I wish I was there Stunning autumnal scenes

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks,Wurzel.

Pictures can only hint at the beauty of this stunning place at this time of year.

FRIDAY 20 DECEMBER

Last friday,with a lovely blue sunny day ahead,we decided to take a break from the Christmas build-up,and head out.

Although butterflies and wild flowers are probably my first love,i have quite a keen interest in birds too,and it is at this time of year that this interest is seen more often-how else would i get through the winter!

So imagine my delight when,while taking a walk looking for waders and plovers near Jaywick,we found a lovely flock of Snow Buntings! There must have been at least 50 there-probably the most i have seen together,and all right here in Essex! I have seen odd ones before in Norfolk in winter,and Ben Nevis and Svalbard in summer-i didn't have to go so far this time! Every now and then,the flock would take off in a blizzard of white wings,circling a few times and then landing again- a splendid sight!

A very nice day was rounded off with a cream tea in the excellent Tiptree Jam Cafe at Tiptree,near Colchester.

The day I retired - my 60th birthday in 1998 - I went to Holkham, North Norfolk. I have seen plenty of Snow Buntings since, but that day 15 years ago sticks in my memory.

Wonderful birds.

Jack

Great shot of the Snow Buntings, I've only seen those once before and that was only one so to see a whole flock would be fantastic

Hope you had a great Xmas

Have a goodun

Wurzel