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There's a turn up, I saw more butterflies on my local patch than you saw on yours on Sunday, that doesn't happen very often!

Thank you, Trevor - the weather is rather frustrating currently! After cold days with wind and sunshine, we get warmer, calmer days with virtually no sun at all. The forecast promises more wind, more sun, but colder again: no really favourable stuff until mid-month, but that's a bit far ahead to have much confidence in it.

Yes, Paul - it was a struggle to find anything on Sunday.

After a warm but completely cloudy day on Monday 4th when I found nothing at all, on Tuesday 5th April more sun was promised. I set off hopefully round my usual circuit and immediately was blessed with a five minute sunny interval during which a Speckled Wood appeared.Twenty minutes or so later, there was another brief burst of sun, and I spotted a Brimstone warming up on the ground.And that was it. Cloud then persisted (it was cooler than Monday too) and I saw no more sun and no more butterflies. At least the two I'd seen were fresh-looking examples and had posed nicely for their portraits.

Dave

It has been a bit hit and miss recently - and it was all going so well Mind you the few butterflies that you saw were mighty fine specimens

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Wurzel. Yes, despite seeing just the two butterflies, I was pleased with being able to get those shots.

Wednesday 6th April started the same as the previous days, with lots of cloud and a bit of brightness from time to time. While out hopefully walking around my usual circuit, I noticed that out to the west there seemed to be some cloud breaks approaching. I then caught sight of a Red Admiral in the same place as the one I'd seen last week - however, it didn't hang around long enough to be identified as the same individual. Around two the sun actually appeared, and in the more sheltered spots it became reasonably pleasant. Suddenly, a series of white butterflies appeared. First came a Small White, looking noticeably larger than the butterfly that initially followed it, a male Orange Tip. I managed to keep tabs on the latter and followed it to where it decided to stop when a bit of cloud interrupted the sunshine.As the sun returned, it creaked its wings open and flew off.A bit further on, there was another Orange Tip and a GVW, and then in a completely different spot (where I'd seen yesterday's Brimstone), there was a third Orange Tip, a Brimstone and two squabbling Commas.Good to get some closer shots of the Orange Tips - hopefully there will be more soon.

Dave

Great to see your OT's, even better you had a weather window to get out!.
Nothing like that around here yesterday. Have another .

All the best,
Trevor.

Those OT shots are pretty envy inducing Dave especially as it's pretty cool and blustery over this way; the poor weather has arrived just in time for the holiday

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, both - it's hard work at the moment, but it was good to get close to that Orange Tip yesterday.

Thursday 7th April was sunnier, cooler and a lot windier. It seems that the weather can only get one out of three right at the moment... Consequently I was surprised to encounter a Speckled Wood almost as soon as I had set off at lunchtime, finding it bowling along in the wind and eventually hanging on tight to the ground.A bit further on, where there was a little shelter from the westerly gale, I spotted a male Holly Blue doing its best to warm up whenever the sun was out.Next to appear were two different male GVW, keeping as low as possible to avoid the wind. As this is not that different from their normal mode of travel, the wind may not be as much an issue as it is for some species.I was then subject very annoyingly to one of those "cloud streets" where lines of cloud form parallel to the wind direction, and if that happens to be where the sun is in the sky, you can face long spells of dullness where not far away to either side is constant sunshine. Eventually this passed, and the return of the sun brought forth some more butterflies. There was another Speckled Wood......plus a couple of Commas and two more GVW. However I was most pleased to see a succession of Orange Tips (three in all), and managed a variety of shots, mostly from a distance. Dave

Friday 8th April started cloudy as an area of low pressure scooted along further to the south of me. The wind had dropped (a plus), but it was chilly and the sun was very reluctant to appear (two minuses). During one longer spell of very hazy sunshine a single Orange Tip appeared, but that was all I saw all day. I first saw it basking up in a wild rose bush......and then it meandered down to the ground to warm up some more.As the sun disappeared again, it initially chose this wild buddleia as a temporary roost. The first shot shows the context - a sheltered path along which many of the recent sightings have been.A closer approach...After this, it decided on a more permanent spot to roost, high up in a hawthorn and well out of sight.

As I walked back home, I came across another typical spring sight - a mother duck with a brood of no fewer than thirteen (I think... ) tiny ducklings. They stuck to mum like glue.At this age there is a lot of variation in their colouring.

Dave

Cracking OT Dave - still to find one myself, fingers crossed for tomorrow Also great to see the Holly Blues are succumbing to your whispering ways

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You're having something of an OT fest over there Dave
Might appear over this way next week ( hopefully ).

Trevor.

Nice to see Orange Tips finally getting properly going round your way, Dave (not to mention the Holly Blues).

I think next week should see good numbers over a wide area. It's a precious time of year so we need to make the most of it.

Morning Dave

some nice shots recently but I just love the one of the mallard ducklings. I have reared a few of these in the past. I still have one who is now 15 years old (longer than they are supposed to live). He mated with one of my Khaki Campbells and his son now leads him around as he has cateracts and can hardly see. It is moving to watch.

Nice Orange-tip Dave . Still not seen one up here but I did see my first Holly Blue and Speckled Wood (not in my garden yet though) today (Sunday).

Cheers,

Neil.

Thank you everyone - it has been good to see a few more Orange Tips at last, though I'm hoping the Holly Blues will soon follow suit. Glad you liked the ducklings, Pauline - I had no idea they could live so long!

Saturday 9th April started frosty early on, and was a good deal sunnier than Friday. However, it ended up only slightly warmer (scraping 13 degrees here) though the wind had dropped somewhat. Subtle changes, but they translated into much bigger differences in the butterfly scene. On Friday, I found one butterfly; on Saturday it was over forty. The tally looked like this:

Green-veined White 14
Orange Tip 8
Peacock 8
Brimstone 6
Comma 5
Speckled Wood 3
Small Tortoiseshell 1

These were the first Peacocks seen since the end of March.These two both appeared to be in excellent condition. However, the sole Small Tortoiseshell was rather faded.As ever round here, Commas outnumbered them.The sightings ratio between the two species on this patch is about 9:1 (Comma:Small Tortoiseshell), quite unlike Neil Freeman's reports from the Midlands for example, just 100 miles to the northwest.

There are still only a small sprinkling of Specklies around, but numbers are never high here in the spring.The bright sunshine today kept the Brimstones airborne, but it didn't stop them interacting with other species. Here's one with an Orange Tip......and these two got entangled with a scrap between two male GVW Even with all that going on, it was the Orange Tips and GVW that dominated the day: I shall make that a separate entry in the diary.

Dave

Saturday 9th April continued...

With eight seen today (all males) Orange Tips have started to make things feel properly springlike. Despite lots of sunshine, the relatively cool air kept them less active and more prone to taking a breather - not something I was going to quarrel with! More spectacular really though was seeing 14 Green-veined Whites. I managed to get close enough to identify every one I saw, and each time I thought that this time it would be a Small White, it was just another GVW. They are the easier species of the two I find, keeping low and stopping far more frequently. One particular female posed nicely.However, the most interesting sighting came shortly afterwards. I had spotted another female grounded and basking, and was trying to approach through the network of bramble runners, when I was distracted by an Orange Tip. At this point, coming the other way was a white butterfly that I soon suspected was another male GVW, and it was headed towards the grounded female. Would he spot her? Oh yes - without a second of hesitation he pounced and within a few more they had paired.Curiously, I have encountered early spring GVW pairings several times in the past.

Dave

Very nice OT shots Dave , and mating GVW's.
The weather only just played ball over this way today.
Still it's supposed to warm up this week, with some rain.

Stay well ,
Trevor.

Thank you, Trevor. Things are set to improve, weatherwise, especially over Easter in the southeast.

Sunday 10th April looked quite promising, despite another very chilly start (down to only one degree for the second night running locally). I decided to have a change of scene and headed off down to Denbies, hoping that there might at least be one of the local spring species flying now.

I had nearly completed one circuit, and was just coming back up the steps when up ahead on a dandelion was a Green Hairstreak. Unfortunately, it soon departed, long before I was anywhere near, but at least this was confirmation that they were out here. I headed back over to the other hotspot for the species at the far western end of the hillside, and on the way disturbed something that looked a lot like a Grizzled Skipper as it whizzed past and disappeared. All very tantalising, but not much luck so far. Reaching the western Hairstreak Hotspot (it was in this same spot that I encountered Brown Hairstreaks last year as well), I soon caught sight of a Green Hairstreak dancing above the blackthorn, high and with the sun directly behind it. For a while, I thought this silhouette might be the only shot I would manage.However, I soon realised that there were at least two of them, and one flew over and nectared on the blackthorn on the other side of the path. The chosen bit of shrub was up the steep side of the path, and made close shots impossible. Nevertheless it was possible to see that this individual had an impressive row of white spots on its hindwing.Luck then started to smile on me a bit. After the heavily spotted butterfly had disappeared, suddenly two others flew across in tandem, and landed right next to me on the blackthorn: no stretching, zooming or cursing required. One of them had a faint series of spots, but nothing like the first one.This one didn't stay long, so I turned my attention to the other. This one, perhaps the best-looking of the three with just one prominent white spot, stayed for a good ten minutes and allowed me to take an extensive series of shots. After heavy sifting, some nice ones remained. Having had my fill of Hairstreaks for now, I headed down the slope and back eastwards. This western end of the hillside must have been particularly sheltered, as I quickly spotted three Peacocks, a couple of Brimstones, a Comma and an Orange Tip - more than I found across the whole of the rest of the site. In fact, I hadn't gone very far when I saw the grey blur of a Grizzled Skipper whizz past my feet. This time I managed to track it down, and achieved a couple of shots from a slight distance.Before leaving for home, I caught glimpses of at least one other Grizzly, but they are devils to keep track of in the air and I failed to take any more photos.

Here's a view of the hotspot where I spent a large part of the morning (looking westwards).Overall, a pretty good outing, with two species to add to the 2022 list, and a memorable Green Hairstreak encounter in particular.

Dave

Congrats, some superb shots of the Green one!.
There must have been quite an emergence of them in the last two days,
according to the number of posts on UK butterflies facebook page.

Great stuff!.
Trevor.

Fantastic stuff Dave The aerial display of Whites, close up OTs and now Greenstreaks and Grizzlies Hopefully we won't be too far behind you over this way and the warm weather comes in soon

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You're racking them up now Dave with the Grizzlies and Green Hairstreaks

millerd wrote: ↑Sun Apr 10, 2022 8:02 pm The sightings ratio between the two species on this patch is about 9:1 (Comma:Small Tortoiseshell), quite unlike Neil Freeman's reports from the Midlands for example, just 100 miles to the northwest.
Dave

For me it is has been averaging around 4:1 in favour of Small Tortoiseshells.

I think that the altitude and geology here have as much of an influence as the latitude with Solihull sitting on the southern edge of the Birmingham escarpment which is on cold midland clay (Mercia Mudstone).

Cheers,

Neil.