January 2018

[David M]

May I extend fulsome New Year wishes to all UKB members (albeit 2 hours before Big Ben sounds its chimes) and one hopes that 2018 brings many delightful moments for everybody.

Meantime, good luck hunting in this most austere of months. Hopefully, in 6 weeks time we'll all be getting some early action.

[Vince Massimo]

No butterflies about at the moment, and none likely any time soon, but there are early stages to find and observe. Today, the nettle plants that I have been monitoring in the shelter of a south-facing cemetery wall in Crawley produced a Red Admiral larva emerging from its egg.

Red Admiral larva preparing to emerge - Crawley, Sussex 7-Jan-2018

Red Admiral larva emerging - Crawley, Sussex 7-Jan-2018

Red Admiral larva (newly emerged) - Crawley, Sussex 7-Jan-2018

There are also still scores of unhatched eggs.

The temperature today was 6C in sunny conditions, but with a cold wind.

Vince

A more detailed report is here: viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9581&p=127279#p127279

[adrian riley]

Hear, hear!
Adrian Riley and all at Bugalert.

[andy brown]

Red admiral on the wing yesterday at Romsey seen whilst looking for the Hawfinches.

[Allan.W.]

Red Admiral reported yesterday (16th) at Dungeness Bird Observatory ! Regards Allan.W.

[Vince Massimo]

Whilst monitoring Red Admiral eggs in Crawley today, a Red Admiral flew across my path at 12.20 but did not stop. At the time it was slightly cloudy and the temperature was 9C. I then completed my egg count and managed to find 20 unhatched eggs.

Red Admiral egg - Crawley, Sussex 25-Jan-2018

Vince

[David M]

Encouraging stuff given the time of year! It's been mild lately, and today I saw my first snowdrops and I'm sure within a week we'll have our first daffodils flowering. It was 11c today and in the sunshine it felt more like early March. I hope we can avoid extremes in the next few weeks as I fear spring is already about to burst forth, unseasonably early yet again.

[hamadryad61]

My son spotted his first butterfly of the year,sunning itself on the school wall.An overwintering Red Admiral,in Edgware London no less

[Nickkor]

Red Admiral

Red Admiral in Winter Gardens at Anglesey Abbey, Cambs today

Nick

[David M]

Great effort, Nick! A butterfly in January is a precious thing indeed!

We'd rather things developed a little more slowly, but given that spring is imminent, one hopes that there will be no late winter extremes to do damage to this early awakening.

[Vince Massimo]

A visit to the winter flowerbeds in Tilgate Park, Crawley today produced 3 different Red Admirals at 1pm.

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 30-Jan-2018

Red Admiral - Crawley, Sussex 30-Jan-2018

The sun had been shining all morning after a slight overnight frost and the temperature reached 9C (with a slight southerly wind) before the cloud rolled in. This is the same location where they were seen last winter.

Vince