October 2020

[David M]

Thursday 8th - small numbers of butterflies at Castle Meadows and Linda Vista Gradens in Abergavenny, SE Wales:

Small White 4
Speckled Wood 3
Large White 2
Red Admiral 1
Comma 1

[bugboy]

I went down to Mill Hill near Shoreham-by-sea on Monday (19th) and found the usual suspects (Common Blue, Red Admiral, Wall etc) but also a Meadow Brown. Now I have seen Meadow Brown in October before but always tatty old ones barely clinging onto life, this one however was freshly emerged, wings not fully hardened. Could this possibly be a second brood individual? Do the larvae NEED to diapause to mature?

[zigzag_wanderer]

By way of contrast here's a meadow brown taken on the Downs directly above Mill Hill on September 21st last year.

[bugboy]

By way of contrast here's a meadow brown taken on the Downs directly above Mill Hill on September 21st last year.

Think that's a Small Heath Zigzag

[zigzag_wanderer]

Thanks Bugboy....I'm more than happy to be corrected !

It wasn't in the rudest health and it literally let me get right up next to it and it didn't care one iota about me being there.

It was fairly big as I remember it though, which is why I went Meadow Brown.

I don't think I've seen a butterfly quite so close to the end of its life before or since. Or one that just doesn't mind me being so close to it.

[PhilBJohnson]

October 20th 2020
My Wife and I were enjoying lunch at about 12:15pm in a Lincolnshire Garden, (temperature about 15ºC) when a Large brassicaceous white (Pieris Brassicae) flew over, stopping briefly. A quick thought almost had me reaching for an iPhone in pursuit, but it appeared to be on a mission to be elsewhere. A correct assessment was made not to lunge for the recording equipment before we watched it clear the hedge and Cherry Tree, into the neighbours garden.
From my previous experience and understanding, it might well have been the last "cabbage white" we see in flight this year.
Someone wanting to record a late butterfly flight in Lincoln, I would suggest Liquorice Park (easily found when "googled"), a sunny, south facing bank and some areas planted with late flowering Michaelmas-daisy, but it would be advisable to choose the warmest, less windy day around lunch time, for the best chance of being successful between now and beginning of November.

Liquorice Park on October 4th 2020

[Greenie]

After a sharp shower yesterday afternoon , a walk along the roadside verge heading towards Hutchinsons Bank , Croydon , produced both male and

female Brimstone , enjoying the ' barmy ' temperature .

Also found were two Small Copper , both well past their sell by date , a large female Slow Worm and a head skeleton of a young Roe Deer ,
complete with both small antlers .

[David M]

Wow! Both sexes of Brimstone in the run up to Hallowe'en! Nice find, Greenie.

[David M]

Sunday 11th, Port Eynon, Gower coast:

Small White 25
Red Admiral 9
Large White 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1

[Deborah]

Despite high winds and heavy showers whenever the sun came out today there were still a few stalwarts: a Red Admiral, 2 Speckled Woods still sparring! A single White and this lovely Peacock. Sadly ‘my’ Swallowtail Chrysalis has been eaten - pecked by a bird I think. Should’ve intervened sooner...

[David M]

..Sadly ‘my’ Swallowtail Chrysalis has been eaten - pecked by a bird I think. Should’ve intervened sooner..

Shame about that, Deborah. Would have been nice to see how it developed.

[David M]

Wednesday 14th - Limeslade Bay, Gower:

Small White 2
Red Admiral 2
Comma 2
Large White 1

[David M]

Wednesday 14th - Oystermouth Cemetery, Mumbles, Gower, 4 Speckled Woods and single Red Admiral:

[Deborah]

One solitary, but not too worn, Speckled Wood. Is this it for 2020?

[David M]

Interesting specimen, Deborah. Looks like a halfway house between aegeria and tircis.

Hopefully not your last; we have a decent period of calm, sunny weather to come next week.

[Deborah]

Thanks David. I’ve seen lots of Speckled Woods this year and wondered about the difference between tircis and aegeria as I thought I was seeing both(!)
I did a check on the site and found an interesting exchange between you and Padfield back in 2011, and that Brittany is a possible dividing line between the two. So, yes, perhaps a ‘hybrid’?!
Fingers crossed for November, better weather and more butterflies.

[David M]

Yes, the 'maginot' line is somewhere in the north of France, Deborah, so you could get both types there (and one presumes they can interbreed).

[Matsukaze]

Working from north to south here.

These are the orangest UK specimens I think I have photographed.

Little Wittenham, Oxon. April 2009.

Somerset, April 2007.

From the north Breton coast near St-Malo. May/June 2017. The only ones I photographed so presumably representative of the population.

These Speckled Woods are from the Morbihan coast in September 2019.

Further south in France they are more orange.

Dordogne, 2018

Gironde, 2012

Var, 2013

Spanish examples can easily be mistaken for fritillaries.

Malaga, 2015

Malaga, 2019

Here is one from the Atlas mountains in Morocco.

[David M]

Nice range, Chris.

Yes, the southern European ones are quite different; at first glance, they appear to look like Wall Browns. Here's one from the French Pyrenees:

[David M]

Saturday 17th - 3 Speckled Woods seen in Oystermouth Cemetery, Mumbles, Gower.