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Hi! Neil, I'm sorry to say I didn't see any Moths to take shots of this year, before I left though my Neighbour across the road had loads of huge Caterpillar's on her tree, by the time I got to know about them they'd gone, no Idea what they were
I always enjoy your shots of them and wouldn't mind trying a moth trap when I get settled Goldie

David M wrote: ↑Wed Oct 27, 2021 8:58 am Surprising that you haven't seen a butterfly during October, Neil,...

Not that surprising to me David. My season here is always much shorter than for those living in more favourable locations and only ever runs into October when the weather is particularly good during the run into autumn.

Goldie M wrote: ↑Sun Oct 31, 2021 11:09 am Hi! Neil, I'm sorry to say I didn't see any Moths to take shots of this year, before I left though my Neighbour across the road had loads of huge Caterpillar's on her tree, by the time I got to know about them they'd gone, no Idea what they were
I always enjoy your shots of them and wouldn't mind trying a moth trap when I get settled Goldie

Thanks Goldie. You are certainly moving into a good part of the country for moths and would get some nice species down there, including some migrants that I never see up here.


After some biblical deluges of rain over the weekend, things cleared up here yesterday, although the sun didn't make much impression against a cold wind. With clear skies through the night the temperature dropped close to freezing and we had the first hint of a grass frost in the back garden this morning.

Winter is coming...

Bye for now and stay safe.

Neil.

Garden Moths - October and November.

As we progressed through Autumn, the weather deteriorated as is only to be expected at this time of year with most nights being either clear and cold or cloudier and milder but with a tendency to be windy. These conditions are reflected in the fact that I only put the moth trap out twice in each month.
Nevertheless, I managed to see most of the species that I would expect in my garden at this time of year with the only notable exception of any Epirrita species (November Moth group).

In October I ran the trap on the nights of 9th and 26th both of which produced a couple more of Red-line Quaker and Red-green Carpet plus a single example on each night of Blair’s Shoulder Knot (NFY on the 9th).
November saw the trap being put out on the night of 8th which produced NFYs of Feathered Thorn and a tired and faded Black Rustic that had obviously been around for a while.
The night of 18th November saw my first December Moths of the year with 3 examples being the only moths to turn up that night.
I have not had the trap out since and with the current cold conditions I cannot see it going out for a while yet. Over the winter months I will probably run it occasionally if the conditions are suitable enough but that will obviously depend on what kind of winter we have. There are still one or two species that may turn up such as Winter Moth or Mottled Umber and some species that overwinter as adults will sometimes fly on mild winter nights.

We had our first snow of the year here on Friday night and into Saturday morning which left a light covering for a couple of hours until it turned to (cold) rain later in the morning and washed it away. Another fall of snow later yesterday (Sunday) afternoon left another light covering which is still here this morning as I write this.
It is not unusual for us to have a bit of snow here before Christmas but it is a long time since we have had any before the beginning of December.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil

Cracking set of Moffs Neil The December Moth in particular is a lovely looking specimen - I love the dusting of frost/snow on the hind margins

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel. That example was the best marked out of the three with a particularly attractive 'frosting' on the margins

Now we are into December I will have to start looking at putting some thoughts together for a look back at the year.

Cheers,

Neil.

Looking back at 2021 Part 1 - Spring.

As always, my comments in the following posts will be based on my own observations and impressions of the season as seen around my local patch and various trips around the country.

My first sightings this year happened on a nice sunny day towards the end of February when I saw a couple of Small Tortoiseshells and a single Peacock at my local spot by Wagon Lane Park on the 26th. This was only the second time that I have seen butterflies in February around here with the second half of March being the more normal time for my patch which lies on cold midland clay.

This proved to be a false start however and after a couple of nice days the weather deteriorated again and we had a run of much cooler and cloudier weather so that it was March 24th before it improved enough to bring the butterflies back out again. This was far more in line with my usual season start and for the rest of March and into April, my regular walks down to Wagon Lane would produce good numbers of Small Tortoiseshells and a few Peacocks on each occasion. March 24th also produced the first Comma with one or two being seen thereafter on most occasions.
The first Small White turned up on 30th March but Orange-tips waited until 17th April and the first Green-veined White confirmed on the 23rd April. Out of these, the Small Whites definitely had the better spring with my impression being that Orange-tips were only having an average year with GVW being quite low in numbers.
My first Speckled Wood was seen on 13th April at Wagon Lane but the first in my garden (and only the 2nd of the year so far) didn’t show up until nearly a week later on 19th April, along with the first Holly Blue. Thereafter, both of these species were seen regularly but neither were particularly numerous this year.
The rest of April continued with some very cold nights which led to frosty mornings which would warm up nicely if the sun stayed out. That was a big if though, as we would often get cloud building through the morning to give us overcast afternoons, which would then clear again later to give another cold night.

My first trip out of Solihull took place on 20th April when I had a run up to Cannock Chase to see Green Hairstreaks. This was a site that I had not visited before and I found good numbers of GHS there on a morning which rapidly warmed up under clear blue skies. This Staffordshire site is apparently the earliest in the midlands and I didn’t see any reported from anywhere around Warwickshire for another couple of weeks.
Another trip on 10th May, this time to the Wyre Forest to see Pearl-bordered Fritillary produced half a dozen of this species which were obviously right at the beginning of their flight period showing that these were, like most species this year, running a bit late.
A few days on The Lizard in Cornwall from 17th to 22nd of May produced a number of first sightings for the year in somewhat challenging (very windy) conditions. These included Small Pearl-bordered and Marsh Fritillaries although these were both obviously running later than had been the case for the past few years, especially the Marsh Fritillaries with just one fresh example being found on 19th May at Predannack Cliffs.
First brood Wall Browns were also seen in small numbers at a number of spots. Some of these were worn and faded but others were still looking quite fresh.
The Lizard also produced my first Common Blues and Small Coppers with small numbers of both being seen in a number of spots.
Large White was another species that I first saw this year on The Lizard with a couple showing up down there.

A notable absence so far this year had been Brimstone, a species that is never seen in large numbers around Solihull even in the best years. My first one this year waited until the last day of May when a female came into my garden and hung around for the next few days laying a large number of eggs on my Alder Buckthorns.
That takes us up to the end of May which marks the end of meteorological spring, although this year we were far from seeing the end of actual spring conditions. After a false start, the season had turned out to be a slow one with many species emerging late or seeming to trickle out in lower numbers over a longer period.

The star butterfly around my patch so far had been Small Tortoiseshell with good numbers appearing out of hibernation. Everything else seemed to be in either average or below average numbers and some typical late spring species that usually appear before the end of May had not even appeared yet.

To be continued with looking back at summer...

Neil.

A nice retrospective, Neil, which gives us a foretaste of things to come in three to four months time.

Like you, I saw far fewer Green Veined Whites than usual and very healthy numbers of Small Tortoiseshells.

interesting reading and great sets of shots Neil. I totally concur about the Green-veined White, they did seem to pick up in later broods but were still very thin on the ground That Marsh Fritillary is particularly nicely marked Looking forward to the next report

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Thanks David. I always enjoy looking back through my notes and photos in order to put these retrospective reports together. They also start my thoughts turning as to what I would like to see next season.

Cheers Wurzel. I was chuffed with that Marsh Fritillary, particularly as it was the only one I saw this year.

Our daughter Sarah has come up for a couple of days and this morning has gone off Christmas shopping with Jane. I managed to get away with not going as long as I dropped them off so having done that I have managed to get this next look back report finished.

Looking back at 2021 Part 2 - Summer.

As we passed into June and the beginning of meteorological summer there was a bit of an improvement in the weather that began around the Whitsun Bank Holiday. This upturn in the weather lasted for a good couple of weeks, although some days would still see quite a bit of cloud bubble up into the afternoons and there was often a cool wind to keep temperatures down a bit.

The first week of June finally saw Common Blues and Small Heath show up at my local sites although numbers of both were low and I failed to find any first brood Small Coppers or Brown Argus at all locally.
I did find a single Brown Argus down at Bishops Hill when we went there on 3rd of June to look for Small Blues, of which we found good numbers of fresh examples flying.

Bishops Hill also produced my first Dingy Skippers of the year although numbers were well down on what I would usually expect to see here. I am not sure if this was down to the timing of our visit although we did go later than I normally would. A single Grizzled Skipper also provided one of only two sightings of this species this year, the second being at Harbury Spoilbank later in the month.
In a good (or what had become normal more recently) year I would have expected to have seen all the above species before the end of May but this year they were all definitely late emerging due to the cooler spring. In fact, the first week of June still felt very much like mid spring around here with Orange-tips still flying in reasonable numbers along with good numbers of winter hibernators still hanging around.

On 12th June we set off for Dorset for a family holiday and a stop off at Fontmell/Compton Down produced my first Adonis Blues and Painted Lady of the year along with Dingy Skippers, Brown Argus, Common Blues and Small Heaths.
This stop off also rewarded us with a Glanville Fritillary, a species that has apparently been unofficially released on a number of sites around in the south. I won’t comment here on the ethics of this release other than to say it somehow felt ‘wrong’ to see it here, but on the other hand it was nice to see a species that was not at all on my radar for this year.
The following week down in Dorset, during which we stayed in a caravan at Durdle Door, provided lots of Adonis Blues and Dingy Skippers on the grassy slopes above the famous rock arch and along the nearby downs. Lots of these were in good condition still, again indicating how late the season was running. Smaller numbers of Common Blues, Small Blues and Brown Argus were also flying here along with good numbers of Lulworth Skippers.
A few, mostly faded Wall Browns were still flying on these slopes and most days saw a few Red Admirals and Painted ladies also turn up.
The first Meadow Browns and Large Skippers appeared down here (on 12th June) with numbers of both slowly building through the week.
All of these species would also be seen at other sites around the area during the week but Durdle Door definitely had the highest numbers of most species, especially in the first day or two of our stay.

A visit to RSPB Arne on 14th June produced a single fresh male Silver-studded Blue with lots more of these flying at Higher Hyde Heath a couple days later.
After enjoying some good weather down in Dorset, the weather turned on us at the end of the holiday and it rained all the way home. The following week or so saw changeable conditions with some days being nice and sunny. One of these better days was 23rd June when we had a drive down to Harbury Spoilbank to see two species that had failed to show up for us in Dorset due to the late season.
These were Dark Green Fritillary and Marbled White, both of which we saw in fairly good numbers here and in lower numbers at Bishops Hill later the same day.
Summer brood Small Tortoiseshells were also now appearing with half a dozen seen at both sites.

Bishops Hill also produced my first Small Skipper and Ringlets of the year.

After this, conditions crashed into a run of cool and cloudy conditions which lasted for the rest of June and into early July before more mixed but generally cool conditions settled in for the first half of that month. During the brighter and warmer spells of weather, visits to my various local spots produced increasing numbers of the usual summer species but none of them seemed to be doing particularly well apart from Small Tortoiseshells which once again were having a good year around here.
A visit to Oversley Wood on 5th July produced my First Silver-washed Fritillaries which were flying in good numbers along with a few White Admirals.


This visit also produced one of just two Purple Emperors seen this year, the other being a surprise sighting at Snitterfield Bushes on 14th July.
My first Gatekeeper showed up on 12th July (at Bickenhill) but it was another week or so before numbers really started to build around here.
Later in July the weather once again switched from one extreme to the other with a run of warm sunny weather lasting for nearly week before it once again went back to dull cloudy conditions.

During this warm spell, Essex Skippers finally showed up with good numbers appearing at my local spots although, like both Large and Small Skippers, they seemed to have a short flight period this year with some horrible stormy weather at the end of the month probably seeing most of them off.
Summer Peacocks had started to appear towards the end of the month but we were into August before I started seeing good numbers, by which time most of the Small Tortoiseshells around here had disappeared into hibernation.
I am going to stop there for now with the next lookback report covering late summer into autumn.

Overall, it had been a strange summer so far with some wild swings in the weather, from periods of really dull and cool conditions to brief spells of quite hot weather. With one or two notable exceptions (Small Tortoiseshell) most species were down in number around my local spots although, as I have mentioned before, there could be a degree of observer bias here as there were quite a few days when I simply did not go looking when the weather was particularly dull and miserable.

To be Continued…

Neil.

A lovely selection from Summer Neil.
I know it seems strange to see mainland Glanvilles, but they do save a trip to the IOW,
which is difficult for a day visit as they are usually nicely warmed up unless you can arrive early.
And your Emperor displaying all wings purple deserves a mrgreen :

Stay well, and have a great 2022.
Trevor.

As Trevor says a lovely selection Neil I remember the Purple Emperor from the time - stunning The Glanvilles have been in that locale for a number of years now - in a way it would be interesting to know by how many or even if, they're 'topped' up each year

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Thanks Trevor. I really can't make my mind up about these mainland Glanvilles. I suppose if they become self sustaining then all well and good but I have heard stories about larval webs being taken from the IOW to top up some of these releases and that certainly should be a big no-no.
My mind is already turning towards plans for 2022. Hope you have a great season next year too

Cheers Wurzel. That PE was one of the highlights of my 2021 season .
Yes, it would be interesting to know if the the Glanvilles are topped up and how, ref. my comment to Trevor above.



Looking back at 2021 Part 3 – Late Summer and Autumn.

After the storms at the end of July, the first few days of August continued to be mostly dull, cloudy and quite cool for the time of year interspersed with the odd brighter day which would feel a bit warmer.

All three whites had been increasing in numbers over the past couple of weeks with either Green-veined or Small Whites being most numerous depending on location with Large Whites still not being seen in any appreciable numbers.
After the storms at the end of July, many butterflies were looking a bit worn and bedraggled. Gatekeepers were still around in fairly good numbers although most were now females and many of them were now looking well past their best. Meadow Browns were flying in reasonable numbers although nowhere near as many as I see around here in better years.
Going into the second week of the month, the weather perked up a bit although it was still on the cool side for the time of year with an almost constant northerly breeze. Summer Peacock numbers built up nicely around my local spots but Small Tortoiseshells had mostly disappeared into hibernation. Both Commas and Red Admirals would show up on most days but only one or two at a time.
Throughout the summer, Speckled Woods had been showing up at all my local spots, including my garden, although so far numbers been down a bit. Toward the end of August, numbers started to increase with these being the most numerous species seen locally on some days.
The Lycaenids around my patch had so far been having a bad year with the spring emergence being hit by poor weather. The summer broods also did badly with the storms at the end of July occurring just when these should have been emerging. Consequently, numbers of both Common Blue and Small Copper were well down here with the latter not being seen at all at a couple of their local spots, although as previously mentioned, this could be down to fewer visits because of poor weather. This probably also accounts for my failure to find a Brown Argus this year around my local patch although this species is very hit and miss around here and this year was definitely a miss.

Towards the end of August, we went south to visit our daughter and her family who had moved down to Emsworth near Portsmouth. This gave me the chance to visit a few sites that I had seen previously mentioned on UKB, especially with Pauline very kindly offering to show me around Noar Hill and Oxenbourne Down. I also visited Old Winchester Hill a couple of times and checked out Thorney Island and a few other random spots down there.
This visit really brought home to me how poor my local area is for butterflies compared to some of these southern spots. Despite some cool and cloudy weather, I saw plenty of Chalk Hill and Adonis Blues plus Silver-spotted Skippers and lots of the usual species.
Red Admirals were also around in good numbers with most days producing more than I had seen all year up until now. Small Whites were also appearing down there in very large numbers although both GVW and Large White were still thin on the ground.
Back home, early September was pretty dismal here with more incessant cloud. Watching the forecasts, it seemed that the midlands was stuck under a belt of cloud with clearer skies staying both further north and to the south. The third week of the month finally cleared up with a few days of nice warm sunny conditions which produced the last Red Admirals, Commas and speckled Woods around here.
I reckon the Red Admirals were fueling up before moving further south as one day I was seeing quite a few and the next they were all gone.

I saw my last butterflies here in the last days of September, these being a couple of raggedy Speckled Woods in my garden. I carried on looking at a couple of my local spots though October but nothing else turned up and then some really heavy rain at the end of the month and into the first days of November probably finished off any last stragglers that I may have missed. I was still seeing one or two late butterflies being reported from elsewhere around the midlands but to all intents and purposes the season was over up here.

A strange season, with flight timings more reminiscent of what things used to like around here back in the 1970s. Many species emerged late compared with more recent years with some appearing to come out in smaller numbers over a longer period. It will be interesting to see the results for Warwickshire (and everywhere else) when all the analysis has been done for this season.

My trips to Cornwall in May and Dorset in June were both re-arranged from 2020 due to covid and had been planned around what had been the usual flight times for my target species in recent years. This year’s generally late season worked both for and against me with me almost missing Marsh Fritillary on the Lizard, with Dark Green Fritillaries and Marbled Whites not yet out during our trip to Dorset. On the other hand, there were plenty of Fresh Adonis Blues still flying in Dorset and later in the year there were good numbers of very fresh Adonis at Old Winchester Hill in early September. There were also fresh Silver-spotted Skippers still to be seen at OWH in early September

I ended up seeing 42 species in 2021 including a few surprises such as the Glanville Fritillary in Dorset. There was also the Purple Emperor at Snitterfield Bushes which is not a well-known spot for them and a Silver-washed Fritillary at my local spot by Wagon Lane Park which is miles away from any known populations of these.

It will also be apparent that I missed some notable species (again) such as Brown Hairstreak that I have now missed for two years running. Oh well, that just means more to look forward to next year.

With the next few days looking to be a bit busy it is unlikely that I will be posting again until after Christmas so it just remains for me to wish everyone a;

Merry Christmas

and a

Happy New Year.

Neil.

Another great report Neil and I concur with your feelings about the timings as things were much later/more usual(?) this yea r.
I hope you and yours have a cracking Chrimble and a Brill New Year!

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Neil Freeman wrote: ↑Wed Dec 22, 2021 10:00 am...This visit really brought home to me how poor my local area is for butterflies compared to some of these southern spots...

It's a different world isn't it, Neil?

Spring is fine round my way but I envy the plethora of later season specialities such as Chalkhill & Adonis Blues, Clouded Yellows, Silver Spotted Skippers and third brooders that occur in the southernmost parts of England. Forty two species ain't bad though, and you've got some great images of them as usual.

Hope 2022 is equally if not more productive for you.

All the best.

Thanks Wurzel and David. Here's looking forward to the new season, let's hope it's a decent one.

Garden Moths - December.

For the final month of the year, I ran the moth trap in the garden just twice. A mild and cloudy night with just a light breeze on the 12th produced 3 Winter Moths, 2 December Moths and a single late Red-line Quaker.
Another similar night on the 15th turned out to be my last session for 2021 and resulted in just a single December Moth.

2021 Garden Moth Results.

My final tally for 2021 was 132 species of macro moth plus 91 species of micros for a total of 223 species.
These included 9 new macro species for the garden as follows,

Dark Chestnut
Orange Footman
Buff-tip
Drinker Moth
Maple Pug
Bordered Pug
Narrow-winged Pug
Small Yellow Wave
Ear Moth.
I also identified 6 new micro species for the garden.

White Plume
Recurvaria leucatella
Epiblema costipunctana
Dichrorampha alpinana
Lyonetia clerkella
Ringed China-mark
This was the first year that I kept count of the number of nights that I ran the trap as I went along and although I could work this out for previous years from the records that I submit to the Warwickshire CMR, I haven’t yet done that.
In 2021 I lit up on 59 nights, which works out at an average of just over once a week. The frequency was obviously higher in the summer months than in the winter but overall I reckon that the number of nights was slightly lower than in previous years, mostly due to a lot of unsuitable conditions this year with regular swings from clear and cold to wet and windy.

In comparison with previous years, the number of species was broadly similar. Total numbers of most individual species were down however, although not in all cases. I still need to look at the numbers in more detail but it appears that some spring species did quite well whereas some of those flying later in the summer were considerably down.
To use the common and widespread Large Yellow Underwing as an example, I had a total of 185 this year with the highest single night score of 42. This compares with 293 with a few single night scores of 80+ in 2020 and 527 in 2019 which produced 100+ on a couple of nights.
I am not sure how much of this was down to trapping a bit less often this year but even on the best nights this year I did not see the numbers that I have seen in most previous years. With a few exceptions, this held true for most species.

2022 has started off with some very mild weather although, around here at least, it has been mostly wet and windy so I have yet to start my trapping season for this year.

Here’s to wishing everyone a Happy New Season and fingers crossed that it turns out to be a good one.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil

Further to the above, I realised that I forgot to add the Clearwings to the total, probably because they all came to pheromone traps during the daytime and are on a separate list.
I saw 6 species with Red-tipped Clearwing being new in 2021. These bring my overall total up to 229 species.
The other 5 were Red-belted, Orange-tailed, Yellow-legged, Currant and Lunar Hornet, all of which I first had in 2020.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cracking set of Moffs Neil I'm sure my mum had some curtains from the 70's up in the loft with the same pattern as that Small Yellow Wave

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

As ever, some lovely specimens amongst your haul, Neil. The White Plume is very eye-catching, although my favourite must surely be the Small Yellow Wave, which possesses a pattern like some of the Metalmark butterflies. I also like the extra pair of 'ears' on Amphipoea oculea.

Cheers Wurzel. That makes me wonder why we don't have a group of Curtain Moths, after all, there is a group of Carpet Moths supposedly called that because they reminded our forebears of the patterns on ornamental carpets and rugs.

Thanks David. No moths so far this year, after the milder but windier start to the year, it has been too cold and frosty here for me to bother running the trap.

No butterflies for me yet which is no surprise. There have been a few sightings reported from some parts of the midlands, these consisting of the usual hibernators which have been disturbed or possibly awakened during the recent spell of bright sunny days.

The daylight is drawing out in the late afternoon now indicating that winter is passing by. It is not over yet though and statistically February is often the coldest month so fingers crossed for the next few weeks.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil

Still no butterflies yet for me. A few hibernators are being reported from around the midlands on the better days but no more than I would normally expect to see. Most of these sightings appear to be either by birders, many of whom have now also taken to twitching butterflies through the summer, or by volunteers on work parties at various nature reserves.

It has been a pretty nondescript winter so far around here. We have had some mild spells and nice sunny days but also some periods of cold weather with quite a few frosts, and lots of the usual murky grey days. Overall though, it has been neither particularly mild nor particularly cold. The recent storms didn't effect us much here in the middle of the country although we did have a couple of windy nights.

First moth of the year.

I only ended up putting the garden moth trap out once in January, on the night of 29th which was cloudy and reasonably mild but perhaps a bit too breezy. The result was a blank, so no moths for January this year.

Another cloudy and mild night on the first night of this month (February) tempted me to have another go although we ended up with quite a bit of rain in the early hours, something that was not in any of the forecasts I looked at. The result was my first moth of 2022, a Pale Brindled Beauty, a typical species for this time of year although I have only ever seen a couple here before.
After taking a couple of photos in the normal resting pose, I tried the trick of gently blowing on the wings to expose his hindwings.
It looks to be getting a bit colder again for a few days but next week looks to have a couple of nights that might be worth running the trap on, we'll see, it could all change by then and probably will.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil.