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Friday 3rd, Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea:

Small Blue 10
Common Blue 9
Small Heath 4
Small/Green Veined White 3
Orange Tip 1
Meadow Brown 1

Friday 3rd, Fairwood Common, Gower:

Marsh Fritillary 20
Common Blue 2
Speckled Wood 2
Green Hairstreak 1
Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 1

My first trip out to Green Lane Wood turned up my first White Admirals, Silver-washed Fritillaries and a single Purple Hairstreak. Also large numbers of Ringlets at Bewley Common this afternoon. Green Lane Wood, Wiltshire.

Glorious weather in the Sundon Chalk Workings today...

plenty of fresh Dark Green Fritillaries on the wing. the Small Blues are plentiful. Just one or two Dingy Skippers lingering. Also one Green Hairstreak.
And a Painted Lady.

Couple of Silver-washed Fritillary seen at Bookham this morning, my first of the year. This one was doing his best Purple Emperor impression!

bugboy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:26 pm Couple of Silver-washed Fritillary seen at Bookham this morning, my first of the year. This one was doing his best Purple Emperor impression!
IMG_0344.JPG

As was this new Comma at Chiddingfold this morning (and a Red Admiral along the track which was far more skittish than an Emperor would have been).However, it was otherwise very quiet, with no White Admirals or SWF in sight - just a couple of aged Wood Whites......plus my first Ringlet of the year.Hopefully within a fortnight or less, everything will change.

Dave

I have been contacted by Dave Harris who reports that the Clouded Yellow eggs laid in his garden in Newhaven, Sussex on 28th March started producing adults on 15th June, after a pupal stage of 14 days. The host plant was Crown Vetch.

Vince

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 10:04 pm

bugboy wrote: ↑Tue Jun 14, 2022 9:26 pm Couple of Silver-washed Fritillary seen at Bookham this morning, my first of the year. This one was doing his best Purple Emperor impression!
IMG_0344.JPG

As was this new Comma at Chiddingfold this morning (and a Red Admiral along the track which was far more skittish than an Emperor would have been).Comma1 140622.JPG
Dave

Continuing the theme, I almost tripped over this Dark Green Fritillary enjoying something noxious this afternoon down at Box Hill.It was one of many seen, but the only one indulging in this way.

Dave

First Ringlet and more Marbled Whites than I could count. Small Tortoiseshells doing very well too; more than eight in my garden.

SPBF on the wing out at Cambus o may on Deeside and common blue at Drum castle.

Back to Sundon Chalk today !
Apart from one dog walker i had the massive site to myself

i arrived quite early and was able to take a picture of a Marbled White... later on they just keep moving.

The Dark Green Fritillaries were also hyperactive, mainly keeping about 6" above the ground. They also seem to enjoy flying around thorn bushes, but without landing

Charles Nicol wrote: ↑Fri Jun 17, 2022 1:58 pm...arrived quite early and was able to take a picture of a Marbled White... later on they just keep moving.

Yes, they're tricky in warm, sunny weather, Charles. A cooler day with part cloud cover usually gets you close.

A late afternoon visit to my local woods was ,as I expected not brilliant ...................much too hot ! most butterflies keeping out of the heat as best that they could including the glorious freshly emerged White Admirals ,and was lucky enough to see around 15 . Stumbled across a moth that turns up from time to time in my trap ,the first i,ve seen during the day ................ A Clouded Silver . While i was in the wood ,I thought i,d try a couple of Pheremone lures out ,one for Sallow Clearwing and 1 for Hornet (moth )clearwing ,had several trys for the Sallow Clearwing ...............and i thought that this was probably the most likely of the two ,but having repositioned it half a dozen times
no joy ! So i gave the Hornet moth lure a go ,and after about 15 minutes ,i noticed what i thought was a Hornet ,bumbling about in the undergrowth
and after a couple of fly-byes it landed ...............my first Hornet moth ..............Well pleased !! As i,ve said in previous posts ,I do have a bit of a "thing " about Common Spotted Orchids and all their varieties ,I was particularly pleased with this beauty ! In all I saw 15 White Admiral ,10+ Meadow Brown ,2 Brimstone , 5 Large Skipper ,2 Small Skipper and a single fresh Comma . Allan.W.

A visit to wixhall moss and prees Heath today.

Hundreds of silver studded blue at prees Heath. Often multiples on the same stalks

A dozen or so bins views of large Heath but only one that stopped near me on a blustery day ( and with very marshy ground) A lifer for me.

Also first ringlets of the year,

Back home in penarth 6 totally fresh vivid red Red Admirals together. Blown away by the colour. Also scarlet tiger moth

On a really hot and sunny day like today, probably being out on the hill by eight was the only way to get a shot like this. Wings firmly shut was the order of the day yesterday, and was again by nine today. Collard Hill, Somerset. Dave

Seen my first ringlet of the season at local meadow and had a painted lady butterfly visit my aberdeen garden today

As if being mated before having time to expand her wings wasn’t enough of a trauma, this female also had to contend with the torment of two ants.

Few snaps of stuff I've seen at work (and a Rye shop front).

Butterfly wise I saw my first Marbled White and Small Copper of the year last week and Meadow Browns are with me en masse as I walk down a narrow mud track on the way home each afternoon. Can't believe it's taken me so long to see a Small Copper, but they may have been affected by the work to build a tunnel under the railway line in our local fields which is where I used to see them in good numbers.

Had a great time at Camber Sands last weekend. Thanks to Allan for kindly providing me with some info. Unfortunately, I didn't spot any tree sparrows but if you've not seen hobbies hunting dragonflies before, then there are loads putting on an aerial show at RSPB Dungeness right now, along with marsh harriers displaying really well on the drive in to the reserve.

I also saw my second ever Burnet Companion after Dave/Millerd had kindly helped me ID a fresh one I'd spotted a few weeks back. I do keep an eye out for anything new on my wanders, so I've either been blindly dismissing these as something else or they're not as common locally as they obviously are in hotspots elsewhere.

Good numbers of Small Skippers but no Essex yet on my local patch. All males so far, with one exception - and that lone female was very quickly set upon by two males. One prevailed, but the other remained quite persistent. Cheers,

Dave

Took trip to a NBA site on Speyside on Sunday and wasn't disappointed. Photos weren't easy with the high winds. Counted between 20 to 30 on the wing