Nostalgia.

[Jack Harrison]

You lucky people in the south.  Up here it's been wet and dull.

So some nostalgia reminds me that there used to be butterflies.

I go back to 1947 & 1948, then aged eight / nine.  I lived on the outskirts of Great Yarmouth, Norfolk on a road that house building had begun in the late 1930s but was suspended during World War 2.  There was a significant gap between houses and this became superb for butterflies.  It was most considerate of the German Luftwaffe to misplace a small bomb (aimed for the harbour) that landed in "The Gap".  It exposed subsoil, so it had different flora.

I would go, armed with net, about 50 yards along the road to The Gap almost every fine day.  My memories have of course faded but as best I recall, The Gap had from time to Small Skipper,  Large and Small Whites, Orange Tip,  Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Meadow Brown, Wall Brown, Small Heath, Small Copper, Common Blue and Brown Argus yes (I'm certain I knew the difference from female Common Blue.  I have a vague recollection of Small Blue but although habitat suitable, I suspect that's a false memory.

On the country road opposite The Gap I saw Brimstone, Green-veined White and once a tatty Purple Hairstreak on a hedge (which I caught).  Perhaps the most amazing was in early August 1947, a very worn Silver Washed Fritillary in the garden - again caught

A short distance into the countryside, Holly Blue, Grayling, Ringlet, Hedge Brown, very occasional Comma, a field of Clouded Yellows in 1947 and once (my only ever sighting) a Large Tortoiseshell.

So how about some of your nostalgic butterfly memories?

Jack

[Allan.W.]

An excellent look back Jack ! ...........I,d just mention one thing............. ,here at the other end of the Island (Kent ) The weather has also been pretty naff ,certainly the wettest(and dullest)winter/Spring for some years !.........So not that lucky "down South " ! Allan.W.

[David M]

You lucky people in the south.  Up here it's been wet and dull...

Au contraire, Jack. Round my way, it's been like living on Venus (only without the heat)!

[Chris L]

Great nostalgia Jack. Half of my family are from Blofield, so near to where your memories are described.

I think that my earliest memories of butterflies are sat on the lawn of the back garden as a young boy in the first sunny days of spring. It would be a weekend. Dad reading The Observer sat in a deckchair. Mum bringing out food for us to eat. Lovely white butterflies with orange bits on their wings fluttering by.