A few bumblebee species have started to become continuously-brooded in recent years. Winter-flowering exotics, particularly Mahonia, appear to be essential for this. Could garden plants be an essential ingredient in allowing adult Red Admirals to overwinter here? http://www.bwars.com/Files%204%20do...

There certainly still nettle plants around in Torbay including regrowth from recently cut back plants. Back in Cheshire there were also some sheltered places where nettle plants survived the winter intact. Certainly the behaviour I was watching on Monday afternoon was of butterflies seeking to pair ...

Another Red Admiral this afternoon, this time in a small park near Torquay town centre.

Thinking about the one's I saw yesterday, I am wondering whether Red Admirals in the the mllder parts of the UK are actually breeding all the year round rather than truly hibernating?

At least two (possibly three) very active Red Admirals in Hollicombe Park near Paignton yesterday. There was much chasing going on amongst the branches of the trees in the sheltered corner of the park. The park is the site of an old gas works and the butterfly activity almost always seems to be conf...

Zonda wrote:I'll go with your timetable Lee, being retired it's easy for me to comply. Just let me know a fortnight in advance.

Just wondering how easy it will be for access by pushbike from Weston-super-Mare station, I'm retired railway staff so it looks like a good use of one of my free passes

A Red Admiral and a Large White in Hollicombe Park near Paignton this afternoon.

Several Small Whites alongside the steps up the Rock Walk at Torquay this afternoon, also a battered Speckled Wood in Hollicombe Park near Paignton.

Almost perfect Speckled Wood in Hollicocmbe Park near Paignton, looks like the same individual I saw earlier in the week.

A very nice fresh looking Speckled Wood at Hollicombe Park near Paignton this afternoon.

The Isle Wight does seem to be good place for elderly butterflies, back in the early 1980s I remember seeing good numbers of Chalkhill Blues on Boniface Down well into September,

Nice warm afternoon and my tally today along the coast path near Meadfoot at Torquay was one each of Speckled Wood, Red Admiral and Small Copper, also found a couple of colonies of Ivy Bees and a Carder Bumble Bee.

Too wet and windy for anything at Torquay today. Yesterday I visited Rodborough Common, nice views but no butterflies, I found myself pondering the return of the Adonis Blue, it would be nice to think of it as natural but seeing the cars set me thinking that human aid (perhaps not intentional) was t...

I would expect there to be Brown Argus there now, for the early brood May would be the best time to see them before SS Blues emerge. I also used to see Brown Arguses' alongside the main road by the Lttle Orme, one year (1979 I think) I saw them on 6th may.

Overcast, windy and some drizzle but I still managed to see a female Brown Hairstreak at Preston Down near Paignton in Devon this afternoo, Also saw two Wall Browns and a Meadow Brown

I saw a very battered Painted Lady alogside the Exeter Canal near Turf and also several fresh Small Torts yesterday.

Two Marbled Whites and several Meadow Browns on Wall Hill at Torquay this afternoon.

LS

One interesting location where I found them about 30 years ago was right by the bunkers where the trains discharged coal at Ironbridge Power Station in Shropshire, they were always low on the ground and I have actually seen them fly beneath the rails between the sleepers.. The main site I used see t...

I was pleased to see this Hummingbird Hawk Moth at Torquay Station this morning .

Visited Stover Park near Newton Abbot in Devon last Friday, saw a few Pearl Bordered Fritillaries and Common Blues along with a couple of Cinnabar Moths.

My only sighting for today was a Holly Blue on the cliffs above Meadfoot at Torquay.