www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks for the comments Hoggers, looking back though my photos is certainly helping to get through this miserable weather we are having lately.

Cheers Wurzel, I'll have to take your word on it being 'top shelf', never looked up there myself

Neil.

I don't need to say anything about the recent weather apart from being glad that at least we have not been flooded around here. My heart goes out to all those affected by the recent floods and I hope that everyone on UKB is all right.
Having said that today (Tuesday 11th Feb) was a particularly wet and blustery day that started off with heavy rain that turned to snow mid-morning which developed into a proper blizzard before clearing and the sun coming out this afternoon.

With the weather not being much good and with me not having much spare time lately, I have not been out anywhere and so have contented myself with watching the usual birds coming and going in the garden. The photos below were all taken over the past couple of weekends and through the back room window on some pretty murky days so are not particularly good but I quite like them nevertheless.

A nice Jay has been hanging around for the past couple of weeks and has now started picking food from the ground under the feeders...
The long-tailed Tits are regular visitors...
as is the female Blackcap...
The male Blackcap has finally come out of hiding in the shrubs and started coming to the feeders...
where he doesn't seem to like any other birds joining him for lunch...
Just seen the weather forecast and it looks like we could have more snow heading in overnight and then clearing and turning icy before the morning...and then more heavy rain

Bye for now,

Neil.

Excellent shots of the Blackcaps Neil, both male and female. Like the way he's telling the Long-tailed Tit that its his fatty block!

Mike

Cracking shots of the Blackcaps Neil The penultimate one is great and the in the last one it looks like he's even having a go at you

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Mike and Wurzel, he certainly seemed a feisty little fella

Neil

Speckledy Woods

This is probably going to be the last post that I do looking back at 2013 and is going to be one dedicated to a common enough species but one that is close to my heart, the good old Speckeldy Wood.
I have mentioned a number of times before that I have a small resident population of Speckled Wood in my garden and because of this probably take more photos of this species than any other. Last year was no exception and as well as a taking a good number of photos of them whilst out and about I also took loads in my garden.

The Speckled Wood season in my garden last year actually turned out to be a bit different to most years, no doubt due to the lingering cold weather with snow still lying on the back lawn in late March when the first Specklies usually appear, the first one seen in 2012 was on March 25th.
I was beginning to get a bit worried last year, especially when I started seeing Orange Tips, GV Whites and Holly Blues in the garden but still no sign of any Speckled Woods. To my immense relief they finally showed up on May 7th when not only did I see a fresh male but also a female, this in itself being a bit unusual with me usually seeing males for a good few days before any females.
After that they appeared regularly through the season with me identifying separate individuals by slight differences in markings and wear or damage to their wings.
Speckled Woods are unique amongst our native butterflies in that they can overwinter as either larvae or pupae and this usually gives them a protracted early appearance with the adults emerging from pupae being on the wing first with some of these still being about when the others that spent the winter as larvae emerge.
With the offspring of both sets of adults developing at different rates the following emergences are then spread out over a long period of time. In my garden this means that I usually have adults on the wing from late March or Early April right up until late October with usually a short gap of maybe a week or two in June. Last year there was no gap and I saw Specklies on almost every day that I looked from the first ones on May 7th right through until the last one that I saw on October 20th with there being two peaks during late May/early June and then later in August and into September during which I could have up to half a dozen individuals in the garden at any one time.

I also noticed that whereas Speckled Woods of the early emergences usually tend to have larger yellow markings than those of the later generations, last year this seemed to be less of the case with me seeing darker looking individuals right from the outset. This was most noticeable with the males as the females usually have slightly larger yellow markings anyway.
This situation in my garden seemed typical of the picture for Specklies locally. I cannot speak for how they fared elsewhere in the country although I did find them nearly everywhere that I went, with notable numbers at some spots in Dorset whilst I was there in early September.

Only a few weeks now before hopefully I will be looking out for them again.

Bye for now,

Neil.

I hadn't noticed the lack of colour difference between the broods last year, that is I'd seen it but until I read your report I hadn't realized what I was seeing Great photos Neil I've seen reports in county of Small Torts, Red Admirals, Comma, Brimstone, Peacocks and today a Speckled Wood - so you might not have to wait much longer

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel,

I think Specklies for me are like Hedge Browns are for you

It wasn't so much that there was no difference, just that there were darker ones amongst the early brood along with brighter individuals instead of what seems the usual way with early = brighter and later = darker, if that makes sense.

Looking at the photos in my post above, the males in the 3rd 4th and 5th pics down were all taken within a couple of days of each other in May and show a good variation in markings. The butterfly in pic 3 is what I would consider a typical early brood male with the individual in pic 4 looking a bit more like a later season example and pic 5 showing one with even more reduced yellow markings and 'dusky' looking hindwings.
I appreciate that there will always be some variability in markings in all broods and that I am generalising a bit. There will also be regional differences involved, I believe that Specklies from further south tend to be a bit brighter.

Over the past few years I have spent a lot of time watching the Specklies in my garden and am only putting down my observations from there. I would be interested if anyone else has similar observations from anywhere else or indeed any that differ from mine.

Cheers,

Neil.

What a way to end 2013 Neil! A lovely series of Speckie shots to finish on. I'm not even going to try and pick a favourite, they are all so good. The rich colour of fresh Speckies always remind me of chocolate and cream.

A fantastic report and lovely pictures, Neil. Good work!

Best wishes

Lee

Lovely photos of the Specklies Neil . I also noted some darker individuals in the first brood last year, here in the south.

Mike

Neil

Ah, Speckled Woods - now there is a butterfly I can relate to as it is probably the butterfly I see most of in a year. Outnumbered yes by Ringlets and Meadow Brown in season but I can rely on Speckled Wood over a longer period. Not as common as Whites certainly but Whites are not as exciting. Add the fact that Specklies can be little beauties, are quite photo-friendly and the splendour of seeing them in lovely sun-dappled areas in the best part of the summer; they do bring a lot of pleasure. On top of that they do actually occur locally quite widely, so I can rely on them at a number of sites

Phil

Alright Neil I was just checking back over posts and 'keeping on top of things' when I read this
"I think Specklies for me are like Hedge Browns are for you "...Defo if you mean an obsession:D

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks for all the comments guys, very much appreciated

Hi Rex, Ah yes! Chocolate and Cream, I like it

Thanks Lee, glad you liked it.

Cheers Mike, glad it wasn't just me.

Hi Phil, I moved into this house about 18 years ago and have had Specklies in the garden every year so for me they are my most reliable species

Cheers,

Neil.

Back to the present and a weekend that started off looking promising with a Saturday morning that was clear and sunny albeit a crisp one with a bit of frost lingering in the shade. The early promise was not to be realised however and by lunchtime a band of grey cloud had moved in along with a steadily increasing wind.

Between the usual domestic stuff around the house I spotted all the usual birds in the garden including Great, Blue, Coal and Log-tailed Tits, Blackcaps, Robins, Dunnocks, House Sparrows and Blackbirds, mostly in the morning with numbers decreasing as the wind picked up through the afternoon.

The Greater Spotted Woodpecker is still lurking about and regularly visiting the fat block on the feeder. I have noticed that there is usually a flurry of activity of smaller birds coming to the fat block after he has been at it, I am guessing that they take advantage of him opening up 'fresher' bits of the block with his beak.

The photo below was taken through the back room window as usual. I have tried taking a sneaky one from the garage door into the garden but usually manage to disturb him, need to practice my sneaky ninja skills a bit more...
With another weekend passing and me not getting out anywhere, I have started to give some thought to the coming season and been looking at flight times and making plans in my head. There are still some species on the British Butterfly list that I have never seen......hmmm, how to wangle a bit of time at the right place at the right time ???
Last year I struck lucky with a couple of family holidays and a couple of 3 day breaks away with Jane. Think I need to start thinking about a couple of well timed breaks again

Bye for now.

Neil.

Cracking shot Neil - Greater Spotted Woodpeckers always seem like they don't belong here - far too showy plumage Good luck with the planning the away days - I'm busy accruing the Brownie points ready - I think I'm up to three afternoon trips at the moment

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, they are certainly handsome looking birds and like you say, they seem a bit too exotic somehow to be on a garden feeder

Saturday 1st March

March is here at last and despite being heralded in by another frosty morning first thing there was some decent sunshine throughout the rest of the morning and it actually felt a bit like Spring. unfortunately, by the time I had a couple of hours spare later in the afternoon it had clouded over and although the sun still broke through a couple of times it wasn't enough to lift the temperature above single figures.

I had already made my mind up however that I was going to go out and have a bit of a look around, as much to blow the cobwebs off than in actual expectation of seeing any butterflies. There have been some sightings of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks not far from me and there have been some nice days during the week when I have been stuck in work so I was feeling the need to get out.

I decided to head round to one of my favourite local sites, Castle Hills near Solihull, and see what it looked like after all the rain we have had. Luckily we have not suffered much from flooding around here but everywhere is still wet and muddy and as soon as I started down the footpath to the site I was glad that I had put my wellies on as the path was literally a muddy running stream as the water drained from the fields to the side.
I followed the footpaths around the site for an hour or so during which time I spotted plenty of birds including loads of little gangs of Long-tailed Tits but didn't manage to get close enough to take any photos. I also spotted a couple of Green Woodpeckers which kept a good distance away from me. I often see these here in the summer when their distinctive call usually alerts me to their presence before I see them and it was good to see them here today.

No butterflies for me today but a very pleasant hour or so which made me think that it won't be long now

Bye for now,

Neil.

Sunday 9th March

Yesterday (Saturday) was a dry and pleasant day but with a high overcast that didn’t really start clearing until too late in the afternoon to really make the most of, so I spent most of the afternoon having a bit of a clear up in the garden.
Today (Sunday) was much better with clear blue sky and plenty of sun all day. I had the usual domestics to do this morning but nipped into the garden a couple of times and was pleased to have my first garden butterfly of the year , a male Brimstone that passed through without stopping.

Not long afterwards I had the second one, a Peacock that hung around for a while basking in the sun...
Anyone who read my diary last year may remember that I collected some Peacock larvae from my nettle patch and reared a dozen or so adults that I released back into the garden. I couldn’t help wondering if the Peacock today was one of those that I had released last year, an amazing thought if it was.
A little later another Brimstone, or possibly the same one as earlier, came passing through again.

I had visited Castle Hills near Solihull last weekend without any butterfly success so with a couple of hours spare this afternoon I just had to go back to see what the sun had brought out.
A slow circuit of the footpaths across the site during the next couple of hours produced at least 12 Small Tortoiseshells including a couple of pairs displaying courtship behaviour...
...at least 9 Peacocks…
...and half a dozen or so Commas,
There may well have been more of each of these but I am always wary of double counting, especially with these species that can patrol backwards and forwards along a stretch of hedgerow giving the impression that there are more individuals than there really are.
I didn’t see any more Brimstones after the one, or maybe two, in the garden in the morning and unfortunately no Red Admirals although I was not really expecting any of these considering that I did not see any around here late last year.

A great day which has got my season off to a fantastic start with four species seen in one day, a good four weeks earlier than I saw anything last year.

Bye for now,

Neil.

A great start Neil and some lovely photos, we too saw Small Torts displaying courtship behaviour, but didn't get shots like yours These butterflies are on the wing much earlier than last year, hope this is a good sign

Mike

A fantastic day and fantastic shots Neil I was at my Grandparents 65th Anniversary so didn't get out today but luckily I did yesterday, let's hope this it and the year has started proper

Have a goodun

Wurzel