I have seen 5 Painted Lady in the last few days in west Cornwall. I understand that high numbers have recently been seen in Madrid area. A lot of ifs, but maybe PLs UK will be more numerous this year. There's been a few reports from southern/central Europe recently concerning good numbers so things...

Bit of flirting going on this morning at Chiddingfold. Like Dave, I left before things got silly hot.

A few spare hours on Walthamstow Marshes this afternoon gave me a hattrick of Lycids, which were pretty much the only things that stopped moving long enough to photograph!

However, the butterfly that completely stole the show today was a female Large Skipper, very new so that her wings were still slightly limp. This may well be the earliest I have ever seen this species anywhere, and it was curious that it should be a female rather than a male.LS1 290425.JPGLS4 29042...

Thanks Wurzel . I have a few days off next week so as long as the weather holds… ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 2025 Thursday 17th cont. With so many pearls darting around it would have been easy to forget there were other species on the wing, albeit in much lower numbers. During the t...

Thanks Wurzel . Dukes in April is nothing new over this side of the country but Marshies and Glannies! Am I gonna have to move a trip to Wiltshire forward this year? Are the ones near Warminster out too? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 2025 Thursday 17th . A trip down south for my first...

195 butterflies in 3 hours - crazy - 40+ each of Peacock, Green-veined White, and Orange-tip [along a seawall :shock: :shock: :shock: ], and good numbers of Small White, which I was pleased about having seen very few in certain places. My total yesterday was 194! I too was a little surprised to see...

A selection of season debutants for me today in the Chiltons. Dukes obviously, but there were also plenty of Brown Argus, a couple of Common Blue and my first Holly Blue of the season did a flyby. Also got my first snaps of Small Heath. Plenty of all the other usual suspects enjoying the sun. IMG_04...

Thanks David . Think it’s earlier everywhere at the moment! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 2025 Sunday 13th . A selection of unhelpfully variable forecasts kept me close to home today. In the end it was a few hours of sunny spells in the morning before clouding over so it was a few hou...

Good day down along the sea wall near East Tilbury:

GVW 63
Peacock 49
Orange-tip 32
Small White 23
Wall 11
Large White 9
Speckled Wood 3
Green Hairstreak 2
Small Copper 1
Painted Lady 1

April 2025 Saturday 12th was a significant improvement on my last day out, the Rabbits on Denbies Hillside are very much still with us and munching away on the slope! The springtime trio, two Skippers and a Hairstreak, were todays target. The Skippers turned out to be quite easy to find. Dingies lo...

Zayed - those are strange-looking PBFs - is that a local form down there? I have no idea, as yesterday was the first time I’ve ever seen them! I did have someone else telling me one looked like an ab. May I ask what about them is unusual, is it the black markings? Those heavily marked individuals o...

Thanks Wurzel . It’s probably a fast-acting venom that subdues the prey before it has a chance to struggle free. I imagine it’s first job is to act on the nerves and/or muscles. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ April 2025 Tuesday 8th . Mill Hill near Shoreham-by-sea seems to have lost its mojo...

East was forecast to be best today so Tilbury & Mucking marshes to see if the Walls were out. They weren't but there was an abundance of GVW and Speckled Wood. Also a good few Orange-tip and I nearly trod on two Small Tortoiseshell and one Adder!

April 2025 Friday 4th . After a few days looking specifically for Small Tortoiseshells, todays destination was more of a punt than any real expectation, the Thames estuary near East Tilbury, home to last years third brood Wall explosion. As usual Peacock and Comma were about, this rather plump fema...

Initially I had planned to go for the Chiltons Dukes, but the weather forcast put me off so I headed east which seemed to escape the majority of the cloud for the longest amount of time. On Two Tree Island found a bonus 3 Small Tortoiseshells and over on Hadleigh Country Park I caught sight of my fi...

On Saturday 5th April , I was particularly pleased to find a Holly Blue - there are very few appearing this year, which is most uncharacteristic for the site Dave If I remember correctly your local third brood last year was also rather poor, maybe the parasitoid cycle is at its peak on your patch?

Thanks Dave , it is good to see them but you really have to know where to go to find them round here now. You might well still have some near you but if they're anything like the ones this side of London they're ridiculously localised as the maps below show. In all images the first shows the outline...

I'll be in Dublin in mid May. Does anyone have any tips on where to go for Marsh Fritillary and Cryptic Wood White within reasonable distance from the city? Ideally by public transport. Weather permitting I'll have a day. Thanks Edwards I'm sorry this doesn't help much, but you may be able to do so...

April 2025 Thursday 3rd . I went a few miles north today to the Lea Valley Country Park between Cheshunt and Broxbourne which straddles the Herts/Essex border. I’ve been here a few times in the past but not every year. Small Tortoiseshells are however always encountered so it was them I was after. ...