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After the most amazing February, March has one hell of an act to follow...

Holcombe, Somerset. Red Admiral in the garden this morning, showing off its ability to fly and nectaring on the honey-tree.

Finally saw my first butterfly of March on Sunday (17th), a tatty Red Admiral flying round the woodland behind the Gower Inn in Parkmill.

Hard to believe how I was seeing double figure numbers three weeks prior in February! Let's hope things pick up very soon.

Yes, we are a bit short on sightings in March so far! But nothing like as bad as last year, when daytime temperatures stayed below freezing on both 17 and 18 March!

Small white in our Woodbridge garden on 20th March. My father thinks he saw a holly blue too.



It's been warm enough today too, but no sun at the same times I've been in butterfly places.

Guy

I am happy to report that at least one Small Copper larva survived the winter in the garden .

ATB

Peter

After a bit of a slow start to March we have had a number of records in over the last three days - Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Red Admirals and Commas, and yesterday another Speckled Wood!

Two Large Tortoisehell records ,mid-day today from two different areas at Dungeness . One photgraphed .
Regards Allan.W.

Allan.W. wrote:Two Large Tortoisehell records ,mid-day today from two different areas at Dungeness . One photgraphed .

That's great news, Allan. I shall look forward to hearing more if it is available.

Good to finally see a few butterflies after a dreadful first three weeks to March.

A near two hour visit to Cwm Ivy on the NW Gower coast saw around a dozen male Brimstones, five Red Admirals, three Peacocks and two Commas.
Best of all, however, was this unexpected sighting of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth:

I saw five species on the wing in and near Woodbridge, Suffolk today: Small tortoiseshell, peacock, brimstone, comma and red admiral. A single female brimstone passed through our Woodbridge garden. I photographed three different commas in the garden. None was an individual I had seen (photographed) in the late Feb warm spell.





Guy

A very satisfying day for me on my local patch (Fairlands Valley Park). An early afternoon walk produced 5 species: 11 Brimstones, 15 Peacocks (first of the year), 6 Commas, 2 Small Tortoiseshells and 2 Small Whites (another first).

Later in the garden I found another Small Copper caterpillar on the same sorrel plant as the one found a few days ago but this one is slightly larger (about 1 cm) with more purple markings. The first one has hardly grown at all

ATB

Peter

Had a walk along the River Avon at West Amesbury yesterday. Lots of activity - 36 Brimstones, 16 Peacocks, 14 Commas and a Red Admiral.

Monday 25th March:

Two new species for the year in quick succession at lunchtime on my local patch near Heathrow.

First, a Holly Blue......and immediately afterwards, an Orange Tip. I would say that spring is definitely here!

Dave

Yesterday, the 24th March I had my first Green-veined White of the year near Shoreham, Sussex.
There were also 4 Peacocks locally.

Vince

First orange-tip of the year, a male in Stratford Park, Stroud this lunchtime, also four small tortoiseshells, a peacock and two brimstones

25 March
At 11:15 today I spotted my first Clouded Yellow of the year taking nectar from a Dandelion on the Southbourne cliffs, Bournemouth. Subsequently I had several sightings of patrolling males over about a kilometre of cliff, all east of the Bistro on the Beach. However I could never see more than one at any time, so possibly all sightings were of a single hyperactive male??? Considering that today was only the second day this month with the possibility of seeing any butterflies, such an early sighting is noteworthy. No photo I'm afraid, so instead here is a snap of my first sighting in 2007, on 1st April.

M.

Mikhail wrote:25 March
At 11:15 today I spotted my first Clouded Yellow of the year taking nectar from a Dandelion on the Southbourne cliffs, Bournemouth...

Excellent, Mikhail. Not that much of a surprise because this winter has been pretty benign - we've even had one reported from Llanelli in south Wales so it's worth keeping an eye out for them anywhere near the south coasts.

Large Tort; reported again today at Dungeness ,about a 100 metres from the sighting (S) of a few days back ,in the trapping area . Allan.W.

As a further note to the above post ,I see that the Large Tort sighting now appears on the Dungeness Bird Obs website.
Allan.W.