Nick Morgan

[NickMorgan]

What a difference two weeks make. I walked along the new path we are building along the River Tyne yesterday where I had seen over 40 red admirals two weeks ago, but I only saw one. In fact in over two kilometres I only saw one other red admiral. The river had flooded on Monday, so some of them my have perished, but I hope that most of them have headed south.
It was interesting, though, when I returned to the village where I had parked I saw seven red admirals on an ivy-covered wall. I haven't seen any peacocks, small tortoiseshells or commas for ages and I haven't seen any painted ladies here this year.

[NickMorgan]

When I was looking for graylings at Blindwells in September I noticed that many of the plantain plants had small copper eggs on them. I know it is a bit naughty, but I dug up one plant with an egg on it and planted it in a pot in the garden. A week or so later I notice that the egg had hatched and a few days later I managed to find a caterpillar. It has slowly been growing over the last couple of months, and I suspect there may even be two caterpillars as some days it seems bigger than others! Its colour match to the food plant is amazing and it is very difficult to spot when it is on a green leaf. I'll be watching it with interest to see if it over-winters as a caterpillar or chrysalis.

[NickMorgan]

After a period of gloomy weather followed by the devastating storm on Tuesday my day was brightened up considerably when I spotted this chrysalis on the corner of my garage as I struggled to carry a generator to the house. Quite how I have not managed to see it before I don't understand as I walk past the garage every day. It is in a bit of a vulnerable position and could easily be brushed off by anyone walking past and it is right next to the bird feeder! It is only 15mm long and I assume from its size that it is a small white.

[Vince Massimo]

Nice find Nick. I am inclined towards Small white as well, but have never seen one as strongly marked as that and I cannot completely rule out Green-veined White. A full side-on photo may help to resolve the issue, otherwise you will have to wait until late March or early April to discover
which one it is

Vince

[NickMorgan]

Vince. This is the most sideways picture I can manage of the chrysalis. I hope this helps. What is the identifying feature I should look for? It certainly is very strongly patterned. There were a number of small white chrysalises on the house last year, but they were all beige/brown (which would have been a much more sensible colour for this one to choose!!).

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Nick,
That's a Green-veined White pupa. The almost downturned 'nose' and the smooth profile of the main 'hump' (keeled rather than spiny) differentiate it from Small White. The latter also appears more angular and spiky at about mid point. Colour and decoration can be highly variable in both, but that feature alone is more GVW than SW in yours.
Neil

[NickMorgan]

Neil,
Thanks very much. That is very exciting for me as I haven't seen a green-veined white pupa before. It is also interesting that there weren't any food plants growing in our garden anywhere near the garage. Maybe is has come from our neighbour's garden.

[Vince Massimo]

That's a Green-veined White pupa. The almost downturned 'nose' and the smooth profile of the main 'hump' (keeled rather than spiny) differentiate it from Small White. The latter also appears more angular and spiky at about mid point. Colour and decoration can be highly variable in both, but that feature alone is more GVW than SW in yours.

The Kipper has spoken
Yes, the side view is the one that helps the main diognostic features to stand out. Neil has mentioned a number of elements, but I just wanted a clearer look at the main hump which swings it towards Green-veined White for me.

Vince

[NickMorgan]

Thank you Vince.

I was cleaning the windows at the weekend and thought that it was about time I removed the failed small white chrysalises from last year. I noticed that they each had a neat little hole, so presumably those little black wasps that I saw taking an interest, shortly after the chrysalises had formed, managed to lay eggs in some of them. Oh well, at least about half of them emerged into butterflies.

[NickMorgan]

Still no butterflies for me, although I have received reports of a couple of red admirals, a small tortoiseshell and a peacock from around East Lothian.
The excitement for me was the arrival of several frogs in our pond on Friday. So that makes us about three weeks behind Suzie here! My wife brought home some frog spawn for our kids to watch develop about three or four years ago. Since then we have only seen the odd small frog in the pond. I wonder if they take this long to reach sexual maturity and they are now returning to the pond of their birth? We now have a few patches of frog spawn, so potentially more frogs for the future.

I planted my cuckoo flowers at the weekend and my wild flower seeds have arrived, so all set for a good summer!

[NickMorgan]

A beautiful day up here and at last I have seen my first butterfly. A comma in a field close to where I work. Almost at the same time a small tortoiseshell flew past me!

It is odd to think that commas have only become common up here over the last six years.
I checked my records and discovered that last year the first two butterflies I saw were a comma and a small tortoiseshell and it was also on the 21st March!

[NickMorgan]

I was very excited to see a small white today in Dunbar. They seem to be coming out quite early in SE Scotland with this unseasonably sunny weather. I hope this isn't our summer! Last year we had a fantastic April and then it all went downhill from there!

[David M]

I hope this isn't our summer! Last year we had a fantastic April and then it all went downhill from there!

Indeed. Watching the forecast for the next few days, it seems that with easterly winds the west of Scotland is going to enjoy the warmer temperatures and sunnier skies.

I'd prefer for this to take place in late May rather than late March as Chequered Skipper spotting would be rendered far more certain.

[NickMorgan]

I was delighted on Friday to discover, not only that the small copper caterpillar had survived the winter, but there are actually three caterpillars on the sorrel plants in a pot in the garden. Two of them are very fat and must be about 10mm long. The other is about half the size. I spent hours staring at the pot over the winter looking for them, so they must have been hidden in the crown of the plants.

At lunchtime today I walked the route of my transect and saw 12 small tortoise shells and six peacocks. The transect starts next week, so I wonder if I will see so much then. A couple of peacocks flew towards me in close formation and then spiralled up about 40 or 50 feet and disappeared over some trees. Some of the small tortoiseshells were also getting up close and personal.

[NickMorgan]

Another amazing day here with the temperature registering 20 degrees, full sun and only a slight breeze.
At lunchtime I took a walk along my new path down the River Tyne and saw several peacocks and small tortoiseshells. I walked as far as an area where I saw a lot of orange tips last year and searched again for chrysalises. No luck, though. As I turned around to return to my car I found myself feeling disappointed that I hadn't seen any white butterflies, but then I had to remind myself that it was still March. Just as I was thinking that I spied a white butterfly ahead that was ranging up and down the path. I followed at a safe distance and had to run to keep up with it at one point. Eventually it briefly stopped and I managed one photo on full zoom. It then flew right past me and I saw the distinctive markings of the underside wing pattern of an orange tip. Amazing to have seen one so early. Normally they appear about the middle of April.

[NickMorgan]

Yesterday when I arrived home I noticed that the green-veined white chrysalis had changed colour slightly. This morning it had changed further and was now a brown colour all over with the white wings showing through.

When I arrived home this afternoon the chrysalis was empty! I am glad that the butterfly chose a nice warm day to emerge and I hope it finds somewhere sheltered to get through the next few days. I'm also pleased that at last I can now paint the garage!!
There were still plenty of butterflies in the air today everywhere I went. I saw my first green-veined whites today near Haddington.

I had a look for speckled woods and holly blues at the two locations I found them last year, but I didn't see any. I was also told of a large white that was spotted near the coast, so that is eight species of butterflies recorded in East Lothian so far this year.
The two larger small copper caterpillars have vanished. I can't see any sign of them in the pot of sorrel, so I suspect they have gone for a wander and have formed chrysalises somewhere close by.
The frog spawn has hatched so the pond is full of tiny tadpoles and I saw my first swallow this morning.

[NickMorgan]

I notice that the last post I wrote was in March, so April was pretty much a write-off. The forecast for today was overcast and cool again, but by lunch time there were clear blue skies. So, I managed to do my transect. Remarkably, despite the lousy weather, I have managed to do a transect each week so far this season. There weren't as many butterflies around as I would have liked, but I was just so delighted to be out looking for them on a sunny day.
Still no new species since March, but a few green-veined whites, orange tips, small tortoiseshells and one peacock.

I just love orange tips!!

Looking a little faded, but still hanging on in there.
It is amazing how the good weather lifts your spirits. The forecast isn't very good for the next ten days, but I have a feeling that we have got to have a few sunny spells ahead of us soon. I am longing to check if the new colony of holly blues has made it through to a second season and if the speckled woods we discovered last year are still at John Muir Country Park. A lot to look forward to ...

[Wurzel]

Looking forward to hearing about them too! Nice to see that at least somewhere had some good weather today and we are definitely due some sunny spells

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

Hurray, at long last we had some sun shine this morning!! I had to spend the day doing various site visits, so I managed to time them so that I could be at John Muir Country Park at lunch time. I took the opportunity to walk down to the area where I had seen Speckled Woods for the first time last year. And sure enough, as soon as I arrived there I saw one within a couple of feet of the place I had seen them last year. This must be at least the third generation and it is amazing that they seem to occur in such a small area. Some more were seen for the first time last year in an equally small area by the countryside ranger on the other side of the estuary about a kilometre away.

This was the first real chance I have had to use my new camera and I am really impressed with the results.

The biggest advantage I have found with it is that, because I don't need to go any closer than one metre from the butterflies, I don't disturb them at all. So much so that two of the Speckled Woods spiralled up into the air, landed on a leaf together and mated. So, it looks as though there should continue to be Speckled Woods at this site.

Around about midday quite a number of butterflies appeared as I walked around the park. It was great to see them in such numbers again.

This was a lovely patch of forget-me-nots.

I presume this is one of last year's Peacocks that has survived the lousy weather it has suffered for most of its life.

I am really pleased with the results from the Lumix. Still a lot of practice needed, particularly on macro and trying to get better exposure on the white butterflies, but its ability to zoom right into a butterfly from a metre amazes me. Unfortunately, I will have to wait to use it again as we have rain forcast for the next two days solid!

[NickMorgan]

Today was a beautiful day - 18 degrees and full sun, so I did my transect at lunch time. Unfortunately, the number of butterflies was much lower than normal for this time of year. I only saw 21 butterflies, whereas I saw 68 this week last year. The warden at Aberlady Local Nature Reserve has reported similar results, so it seems that the poor weather earlier in the year has had an impact on butterfly numbers.
Yesterday I walked for three kilometres along the River Tyne and back to an area where there are usually a lot of orange tips and other white butterflies. I only saw two Orange Tips and a Small Tortoiseshell. I wonder if things will pick up now that the better weather is here?
This afternoon I went to Aberlady to look for the Holly Blues at the site where they appeared last year for the first time. Sadly I didn't find any. I remember last year that I was constantly distracted by Orange Tips flying past while I was looking for Holly Blues, but this year there were no Orange Tips either! I walked around the area to check further a field, and eventually I came across two Orange Tips mating, which gave me a chance to experiment with my new camera again.

The poor things kept being interrupted by one, and then two other males.

Is this called a menage-a-quatre?
I wonder if there is any chance that the Holly Blues have delayed emergence because of the weather. I'll keep visiting the site for a few weeks yet just to make sure. It would be a real shame if they haven't managed to survive.