Thanks Dave and Trevor. I think you might want to go to specsavers Trevor, can't see any white spot on the red band. As to numbers we might have been spoiled by the recent milder winters which allowed significant numbers to survive. They don't actually hibernate as such, just 'sleeping' through the worst of the weather, much in the same way as any butterfly does during the summer months. Hibernation is a specific physiological ability where all but essential body systems shut down or slow down to the bare minimum, something which, as far as I'm aware, Red Admirals can't do or at least to the extent of our four true hibernators.
21st March, a few local patches
At last some decent sun on my day off, just a shame an arctic breeze decided to join in! The plan was for a day exploring three local sites, Walthamstow Marshes, Abney Park and Tottenham Marshes, all good for early spring species with plenty of sheltered spots to hide from the wind. I left at 10 but it wasn’t until after 11 that I found a butterfly, a speck of orange in a nettle bed proving to be a female Comma, a little bit battered but a good sign that temperatures were creeping up.
5 minutes later I finally got my first sighting of a Small Tortoiseshell for the year and a few minutes after another turned up. Only record shots of both though since neither was particularly approachable and as soon as they flew they were whisked away by the breeze.
I made a slow return with another Comma doing a flyby when a white butterfly caught my attention. I followed it around, snapping away in the hope of being able to ID it if it didn’t settle. When it did settle it was down in the grass, but I was able to grab one shot, enough proof of a male Small White before it vanished over a hedge. Had it not been for the Brimstone at work last week this would have been my first Pierid of the year, indeed it is the first one I’ve seen here, I’ve still only seen the one Brimstone this year. Before deciding to leave for my next port of call I found my third Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock with the Tortoiseshell making sure I didn’t get any pictures of said Peacock, the stroppy g*t!
My wander over to Abney Park was further stalled by a couple more Commas, a male and female using the spot to soak up some rays.
And then another Small Tortoiseshell feeding on catkins. It was as I was taking his picture that another Small White fluttered by (I was some distance from the first sighting but by no means can I say it wasn’t the same animal). This time, after some careful stalking, I was able to get some better shots, though still with the eternal struggle with exposure.
Its not often you see season firsts of Small Tortoiseshell and Small White on the same day!
Due to increased cloud cover, both Abney Park and Tottenham Marshes ended up being butterfly fails, just a single brief Comma sighting at Abney and absolutely nothing over at Tottenham.
Some things were worthy of recording though, this humongous Fungus on a Horse Chestnut at Abney was well over a foot across, very impressive
- Humongous fungus!
And I spent some time with a male Pheasant at Tottenham. Rounding a corner I found myself face to face with him. Expecting him to flee rapidly I backed off and made sure my camera was set to sport mode to capture any action and then carefully crept forward expecting him to take flight. He didn’t, just scampered into some loose undergrowth and set about casually wandering along eating the odd shoot as I followed. He turned out to be bold as brass, although keeping an eye on me he wasn’t that bothered by my presence, only panicking slightly if I got closer than around six feet or if he wandered into a clearing. I ended up following him around for about half an hour. I’m pretty sure if I had a handful of mealworms he would have approached closer. To show how close I was I haven’t cropped any of these pictures which were taken on my 105mm macro lens.
To finish here’s some more birds I photographed on my way back home.
- Lesser Black-backed Gull
- A small charm of Goldfinch
- Blue Tit