Thanks Trevor, Wurzel, David and Andrew. Putting these 'looking back' reports together always helps to pass the dark nights at this time of year...especially on those evenings that Jane is glued to soaps on the tele all night
Looking back at 2017 part 2 – Summer.
At the end of May we went down to Cornwall for a short stay on The Lizard. This took us into the first couple of days of June and the weather had now settled into the typical early summer pattern of recent years with plenty of cool and cloudy days with the occasional bit of warm sun to brighten things up. My main targets on this trip were Marsh Fritillaries and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, both of which I found in good numbers.
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Lizard 31.05.2017
- Marsh Fritillary - Lizard 02.06.2017
My first Red Admirals of the season were also seen in Cornwall along with quite a few Painted Ladies, most of these looking a bit worse for wear, probably due to having flown some distance to our shores. A few Wall Browns were spotted along the coast paths along with good numbers of Common Blues.
- Red Admiral - Lizard 31.05.2017
- Wall Brown - Lizard 01.06.2017
A drive over to Upton Towans on the north coast also produced some nice fresh Silver-studded Blues. It is perfectly normal for these to be flying in late May on the dune systems of north Cornwall but from reports that I read this year it appears that they had already been on the wing at a number of sites in the south-east as well which does seem a bit early.
- Silver-studded Blue - Upton Towans 01.06.2017
Back home, Large Skippers were now on the wing in good numbers and were soon joined by loads of Ringlets at my local sites. Meadow Browns were appearing by mid June although numbers of these were well down from the hordes of a couple of years ago. On the other hand Marbled Whites again increased in numbers at my local spots after first appearing there a few years back.
- Ringlet - Langley Hall 30.06.2017
- Marbled White - Castle Hills 01.07.2017
A trip down to the Heddon Valley for a few days in late June produced High Brown and Dark Green Fritillaries plus a few early Silver washed Fritillaries, although apparently we had missed the best weather the week before and it was mostly dull and cloudy with a fair bit of rain when we were there. I has also managed to see a few Heath Fritillaries during a brief stop off at Haddon Hill on the way down.
- Heath Fritillary - Haddon Hill 26.06.2017
- Dark Green Fritillary - Heddon Valley 27.06.2017
- High Brown Fritillary - Heddon Valley 27.06.2017
- Silver-washed Fritillary - Heddon Valley 27.06.2017
The theme of cool cloudy weather continued into early July with a few better days including when we went to Snitterfield Bushes, just north of Stratford-upon-Avon, where we saw good numbers of SWFs and my first fresh Gatekeepers of the season. This visit also produced my only White Admirals this year with a couple seen flitting about amongst the trees. The first summer brood examples of a number of species were also seen at Snitterfield including Brimstone, Large & Small Whites, and Comma.
- Gatekeeper - Snitterfield Bushed 09.07.2017
- Brimstone - Snitterfield Bushes 09.07.2017
- Comma - Snitterfield Bushes 09.07.2017
I had been seeing Small Skippers locally from late May and Essex Skippers from around the second week of June but both of these seemed to be down in numbers from previous years, probably due to the early summer weather taking a turn for the worse.
- Small Skipper - Langley Hall 30.06.2017
- Essex Skipper - Bickenhill 23.07.2017
Red Admirals were appearing in good numbers locally, as were Commas, but both Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells seemed to be having another poor year around here.
- Peacock - Castle Hills 13.08.2017
We then had a trip up to Arnside at the end of July and into the first couple of days of August. Not only was it yet another few days of cloudy and cool weather but it was apparent that they had been having far more rain up there than we had seen in the midlands. I know that there tends to be a north-west / south-east split in our weather patterns but this seems to be becoming more pronounced in recent years with a run of poor summers in the north-west. My main target was Scotch Argus and these were seen in good numbers up on the Knott, but like last year they were not so numerous as I have seen here in the past.
- Scotch Argus - Arnside Knott 30.07.2017
All the other usual species were seen on and around Arnside Knott including loads of Gatekeepers and a few Graylings plus around half a dozen mostly faded High Brown Fritillaries were still flying.
- Grayling - Arnside Knott 01.08.2017
The third week of August saw us down in Cornwall again, this time for a family holiday but of course I managed to squeeze in some butterflying. Highlights of this visit included second brood Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries, Clouded Yellows and Painted Ladies, along with increasing numbers of Red Admirals and loads of Common Blues. I was also pleased to see good numbers of Small Tortoiseshells at last, having only seen a handful of summer brood so far this year.
- Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary (2nd brood) - Upton Towans 25.08.2017
- Clouded Yellow - Lizard 22.08.2017
- Painted Lady - Lizard 24.08.2017
- Small Tortoiseshell - Lizard 24.08.2017
Meadow Browns also seemed to be doing much better in Cornwall than they had been around my local patch. I have commented in my diary before that I have been finding increasing numbers of female Meadow Browns with large orange patches on their wings, including the hindwings, and I found a number like this at various sites again this year, especially in Cornwall.
- Meadow Brown - Lizard 21.08.2017
So then, on the whole the summer developed into another mostly cool and cloudy one. It wasn't particularly wet around my part of the midlands although when we did get rain it tended to be heavy. I also noted that it had been a lot wetter up around Arnside, particularly just prior to our visit. Some species seemed to have been hit by the deterioration in the weather in early summer with Small & Essex skippers, Meadow Browns, and Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells noticeably down in numbers around my local patch. There had also seemed to be a general shortage of Large and Small Whites during the summer although I saw plenty of Green-veined Whites locally. Common Blues seemed to do well this year at many sites, particularly in Cornwall where they were the most numerous butterfly seen during our week down there in August. Gatekeeper and Speckled Wood seemed to have a good year with both species showing up in good numbers at most places that I went to from early July onwards.
That takes me up to the end of August which is another convenient place to end before I look at what the tail end of my season was like.
Wishing everyone a Very Merry Christmas and hope that you have all been good and Santa brings you all that you asked for
Neil.
Nothing unusual here yet but if the cold snap continues, we'll probably see an invasion of Winter thrushes.
