Cheers Wurzel. Yes, a lovely fresh looking example. ..."In my garden they often settle higher up out of reach of the camera." Ah that old Chestnut :roll: :lol:.. I've got Privet, Hawthorn, Hazel etc. but no Chestnut...sorry Wurzel :lol: Sunday 21st April. A better day than Saturday althoug...

Cheers Wurzel. Yes, Holly Blues can be awkward little s*ds sometimes. In my garden they often settle higher up out of reach of the camera. Saturday 20th April. Borderline conditons at best today with a persistant chilly breeze which kept the temprature well down, even when the sun occasionally appea...

Cracking Orange-tips and Green Hairstreaks in your last coupleof posts Trevor

Cheers,

Neil.

millerd wrote: ↑Fri Apr 19, 2024 8:30 pm ...I'm not entirely sure why things have been so bountiful round this way, Chris...

I reckon it is something to do with all those jet engines on the planes at Heathrow sucking the butterflies in from everwhere else

Cheers,

Neil.

Thank you for your contributions Dave and Jack. Today was a BBC classic. Patchy sunshine until 11am and then white cloud for the rest of the day was the forecast. The reality was that it was pretty much sunny all day :roll:. Looks like we had the other half of that equation here Chris. The forecast...

Thanks Chris. I was a bit surprised to see those two together, even if it was just for a few seconds. Male Speckled Wood are usually very intolerent of each other, especially so at this time of year. Later on in the season they may tolerate each other a bit more, especially if they are tucking into ...

Great to see that you had a good day at last (11th April) :D It's been one of those season so far with a definite East West divide :? Also good to see you back in amidst the Specklies of Coverdale 8) :D Have a goodun Wurzel Cheers Wurzel. Also a North South divide with the result that once again th...

...In conversation with Bugboy the other day, we found we had both come to the same conclusion that the species (at least down here in the south) was becoming more orange and less pale buff than it used to be. Any thoughts, anyone? Hi Dave. The first photo is showing a slightly faded female and the...

Thanks for the comments Trevor, Dave, Chris and Goldie. Very much appreciated :D Saturday 13th April. I don't know where the guy on the BBC weather this morning got his data from but he said that yesterday (Friday 12th) was the warmest day so far this year. Well, not here it wasn't. Thursday was war...

Cheers Wurzel. Given that I still see reasonable numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, the variation can be particularly noticeable. thanks David. I am lucky in that I still get reasonable numbers of Small Tortoiseshells although numbers have been down from what they were three or four years ago. Thursda...

...I think only a day-long cold cloudy wet day will stop the Peacocks at the moment! :) I have seen far too many of those already this year, the past couple of weeks here have been awful. You are seeing a nice selection down your way Dave :mrgreen: :D Given that I usually run a couple of weeks behi...

Cheers Wurzel. I don't know why I bother with the forecasts, a sucker for punishment I guess :wink: Like me, are you seeing a year on year decline in Small Tortoiseshell? Sorry Chris, I missed your question in my earlier reply. Small Tortoiseshell numbers had been good here for a few years peaking i...

Cheers Chris. Not quite as good today as the forecast from a couple of days back had indicated but I still managed to see a few. Saturday 30th March. After another mostly dull and quite cool week with quite a bit of rain, the forecast for today promised a bit more sunshine. Well, they were partly ri...

Hi Trevor.

No Bee flies for me yet and very few butterflies still.

That is a cracking Peacock image and well worth remembering

Cheers,

Neil.

Allan.W. wrote: ↑Fri Mar 29, 2024 10:57 am Not a Moth Ernie looks like a Caddis fly sp;...............or similar .
Allan.W.

Yep, a Caddis Fly. I get a lot of these in my moth trap but haven't got around to identifying any of them yet, the moths take enough time as it is.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Wurzel. Yes, it is certainly dragging on a bit this year. Another wet and dreary week and cold with it here.

Thanks Chris. The downside of living in the midlands. Just that one Small Tortoisehell still here so far which is slow going even for around here

Cheers,

Neil.

Hi Chris, Dave has covered just about everything in his comprehensive reply but I will just add; A few years back I saw Mountain Ringlet, SPBF, NBA and Large Heath on one day whilst we were staying up in Arnside for a few days in June, around the 11th if remember right. We did a round trip, first he...

Cheers Wurzel. No more butterflies to report up until today as per the next report. Sunday 24th March. Since my first butterfly of the year (a Comma) back on the 15th March, I hadn't seen any more due to either unsuitable weather or me just not having time on the few occasions that might have tempte...

Looks like things are well and truly started down your way Dave. Things are still lagging behind a bit around here as usual but I did see a few this afternoon.

Cheers,

Neil.

Thanks David. A mosty mild and very wet winter here, reminiscent of a run of similar winters I remember back in the mids 1980s. Despite the generally mild past couple months, the vegetation around here looks to be roughly at the stage I would expect it to be in a fairly 'normal' early spring. I susp...