www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hopefully some drier weather with sunshine to tempt our winged friends to abandon their hibernation....

A walk around Tilgate Park, Crawley at lunchtime today produced 7 Red Admirals. Three of them were on the Daphne flowerbed (where I saw 6 on 20th February) and the other 4 were in the Heather garden. The temperature was approximately 12C but there was a cool westerly breeze.
Meanwhile a Red Admiral larva that I am rearing is now in its 4th instar.
Vince

Although there have been reports of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells flying in East Lothian in January and February, yesterday I saw my first butterfly - a Peacock flying in Haddington High Street, enjoying the sunshine.

NickMorgan wrote:Although there have been reports of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells flying in East Lothian in January and February, yesterday I saw my first butterfly - a Peacock flying in Haddington High Street, enjoying the sunshine.

A Peacock would be notable anywhere in the UK at this time of year. Excellent that they are active so far north in early March!!

Today (6/3/17) i had a late start to work!...Glad i did, just as i was leaving, i saw a Red Admiral fly around my back garden, then land on one of our garden chairs
Grabbed my camera, opened the back door, just managed the one shot, before the butterfly took off, then it flew over the roof.
Really happy to get a pic, but could of done with getting a bit closer to the subject.

Not the best set up for butterflies, because i had my 300mm lens attached to my Nikon V1 with FT1 adapter. ("Birding" setup really)
Image is not cropped.

Location - Kent (in my garden)...cheers Paul.

Sunshine in the early afternoon produced more sightings here in Crawley. There were 6 Red Admirals in Tilgate Park, on the Daphne and Heather borders. They were nectaring and basking, but there was also notably more territorial behaviour.
Later, on a south-facing bank alongside the A23 (opposite the football stadium) I found a Small Tortoiseshell.
The temperature reached approximately 12C in almost calm conditions.

Vince

Vince Massimo wrote:The temperature reached approximately 12C in almost calm conditions.

That's all it needs at this time of year. Looks like things might be warming up still further in a few days. I expect by late next week most of us will have observed scenes like yours.

Don't get excited, David. I think we are expecting mild misty drizzly conditions, rather than blazing sunshine...

Plenty of Butterfly activity today at Hutchinsons Bank.

Many male Brimstones, and a female. Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and Peacock. A fully grown Ruby Tiger moth caterpillar was seen wandering over a path.

We dont have a good Red Admiral population like at other places, so no sightings is usually the result until May.

Had Comma and Brimstone flying in the garden this morning noticed them when sorting last nights moths

Cheers

Andy

Can add Peacock as well now

Ta

Andy

All 5 overwintering species spotted today in the glorious sunshine here in Crawley, where the temperature reached approximately 18C. All at local sites, starting with Tilgate park where there were approximately 10 Red Admiral and a Peacock on the flowerbeds, plus 2 male Brimstones in flight. Here I also bumped into Sussex man and UKB member, Dave Cook with his dogs, who showed me two beautiful Long-tailed Tit nests.
We then proceeded to a south-facing roadside bank where we picked up a Small Tortoiseshell and a male Brimstone.
Then 2 more Peacocks and a male Brimstone along the edge of Broadfield Wood.
The final stop was Broadfield Pond where we saw 3 Comma and a Peacock.
I look forward to seeing Dave's final tally, as he then went on to other sites closer to his home.

Vince

First of the season seen here today in a sunny Northumberland, a rather raggy looking Red Admiral on gorse. No camera unfortunately

Brian

Comma and Peacock seen at work today in London, both 2017 firsts for me.

A quick look on Hayes Common late afternoon , rewarded me with my first Comma of the year .

Not quite sure what happened with the weather today. A partly sunny morning was forecast in Swansea with a high of 12c. In the event, the sun stayed out till gone 3pm and it was 14c when I drove back from Oystermouth Cemetery having spent a glorious few hours reacquainting myself with butterflies.

Four species seen, although unlike others on here who've seen decent numbers, only two of each: Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone, Peacock & Comma.
Both the male Brimstones were seen whilst I was driving, so obviously no images!

An "extended" lunch break from work today, saw me venture out into the "woods" for the 1st time in 2017!
Ive normally been "out and about" by mid-February, in search of both Butterflies and Reptiles...but just too busy with work commitments these days.
With plenty of sunshine/warm temps forecast for today, it was a perfect start to the year for me.
All 5 hibernating/overwintering species were seen/photographed, with both Comma and Brimstone coming out on top. Comma were even dueling with each other today, as well as the odd Peacock and Bees!!

Comma = 5+, Brimstone = 5+ (1 female). Red Admiral = 1, Peacock = 2, Small Tortoiseshell = 2.

2 Adders were seen basking, along with one Common Lizard (very poor/low numbers for this time of the year?!).

A Tawny Owl called several times.

Photos will follow soon enough.

Location - Kent...cheers Paul

Sounds like you had a memorable day, TM. We'll look forward to seeing the images.

9th was sunny here in Norfolk & a lunchtime garden inspection produced one Peacock & one Small Tort + a Small white female. Eric

EricY wrote:...a Small white female.

Wow! Wasn't expecting that. Tremendous find!