www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Reading about Jack and Zonda's successful hunt for Glanvilles at Sand Point yesterday, I decided to look and see just how much earlier they are compared to last year.
The results were proof, if proof needed, that this is indeed a very early year.
Below I list all the "emergent" species seen in Somerset this year - and the figure alongside is the amount of days earlier than last year.
(n.b. every butterfly is earlier so far)
(Data from the Somerset BC Website)

Dingy Skipper 4
Grizzled Skipper 8
Large White 5
Small white 19
Green-veined White 14
Orange Tip 14
Green Hairstreak 10
Small Copper 1
Small Blue 10
Brown Argus 9
Common Blue 13
Holly Blue 15
Duke of Burgundy 23
Small Pearl-Bordered Fritillary 18
Marsh Fritillary 28
Glanville Fritillary 17
Speckled Wood 14
Wall 6
Small Heath 13

With this in mind, I am off for Heath Frits tomorrow!

p.s.
Here are the same figures for the whole of the UK
(Data from the BC Website)

Lulworth Skipper 30
Dingy Skipper 6
Grizzled Skipper 4
Swallowtail 19
Wood White 6
Réal's Wood White 10
Clouded Yellow 23
Large White 3
Small White 9
Green-veined White -2
Orange-tip 12
Green Hairstreak 8
Small Copper 16
Small Blue -3
Brown Argus 13
Common Blue -1
Adonis Blue 17
Holly Blue 7
Duke of Burgundy 6
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 17
Pearl-bordered Fritillary -1
Marsh Fritillary 15
Glanville Fritillary 6
Speckled Wood 6
Wall Brown 16
Small Heath 9

Maybe I should make a calendar entry but you might have guessed that I have already scrubbed the idea of Sand Point at the end of May as I reckon that might be too late.

Jack

Jack
I had already come to that conclusion myself.

And over here we are just discussing what a great start it was to the year, but how the drought seems to have significantly hit numbers emerging now...? Where are all our Common Blues and Small Coppers...?

Nick asked:

Where are all our Common Blues and Small Coppers...?

Sand Point Somerset

Jack

Will there be a redress at some point if we hit a cooler cloudier period? I'm just puzzled that if this keeps going, will there be anything flying by late summer or will we have a very early end to the butterfly season?

Trust me to pick this year to go for a big push on several species! Take Swallowtail for example, at least three seen today at Strumpshaw, and some are saying go now, and yet others are still saying you will be okay at the more traditional date of mid June, more than a month away - nightmare!

Don't panic!! The flight seasons for these butterflies lasts weeks, not days. Only the Black Hairstreak would give cause for concern if you had to delay a trip by 7 days or so.

Swallowtails will still be around in June.

David M wrote: Swallowtails will still be around in June.

......Even though they start appearing now at the start of May; the first ones in Strumpshaw are generally seen in the first two weeks of May these days ...I am heading to the Broads for the weekend of 28th May to get my fix...
But I am also told that the second brood in August is often better, so if you miss it now....East Anglia in autumn is very nice too!
N

With the season kicking off so early, in contrast to the late start last year, I imagine we will get quite a few extra second and third broods to look forward to late in the season.

Susie:

I imagine we will get quite a few extra second and third brood

With luck that will be true but it needs to rain properly. We got a miserable 0.5 mms overnight (sorry, I should have said 1/50 of an inch ) which won't have done any good at all.

Jack

Susie wrote:With the season kicking off so early, in contrast to the late start last year, I imagine we will get quite a few extra second and third broods to look forward to late in the season.

Honestly, Susie, we are seriously worried for the first broods; and if they do make it, their larval food plants have just been dessicated and there is nowhere to lay eggs. My moffers last night said they are seeing all the species they would expect, but just in very small numbers; the same is true for most of our butterflies, in Cambridgeshire, at least

My local meadow usually has lush green grass at this time of year. Not so in May 2011.

Jack

What it is like in the Cemetery now... and before the council "cut the grass..."

You're having a much more rain bereft spell than we in south Wales are. The last few days have seen appreciable rain and temperatures are down to 15C with no let up in sight.