Thursday 16th May PM – Small Blues… By midday, it was as warm as it had been this year, so I decided to visit Oxwich Bay which is only a short detour on the way back from Rhossili. The dunes were carpeted in kidney vetch but I looked in vain for Small Blues, although this male Orange Tip chasing a ...

That lovely female Holly Blue must have been a wonderful way to start the day, David.

Silver Y's are abnormally plentiful for the time of year. There are even more on the continent so we may be inundated with them later in the year.

It's not often I feel sorry for you from a butterfly perspective, Guy, but this run of adverse weather you seem to be having must be hugely frustrating for you?

Still, you've managed to get some excellent species into your reports lately, and of course Minnie is ever-present which is a great joy.

What we need is a June like last year.....sunny & warm!!

bugboy wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2024 10:21 pm...My end of day total was around forty..

Nice to know they're thriving at that location, Paul. The Grizzlies are a welcome bonus.

Thursday 16th May – Hard work… With just 36 hours to my next European trip, I devoted this day to finding Wall Brown and Small Blue. Given the sunny and calm conditions, I ventured down to Rhossili Head on the exposed SW Gower coast as I had seen plenty of Wall Browns there in July 2023. After arri...

Thoroughly enjoyed reading that, Mike. Looks like your timing was perfect.

Lovely Fritillaries.

Nice specimen, David.

I look forward to seeing more of your reports on these PD pages.

Fantastic finds, Max, and many thanks for sharing them.

I wish you all the best regarding your attempts to reverse the loss of local elms.

Wednesday 15th May – No Small Blues… I had Small Blue as my main target today and since Crymlyn Burrows is the best place to see them locally, I headed down there on a mainly cloudy day but with sufficient sunny interludes to tempt butterflies into activity. One thing the predominantly cloudy condi...

Sunday 12th May cont… – Short drive… The beauty of knowing that Pearl Bordered Fritillaries can be found in Siccaridge Wood means that I no longer need to drive from Rodborough to Ewyas Harold Common in Herefordshire. Instead, I can now take a leisurely 20 minute drive from Sapperton onto the nearb...

Stevieb wrote: ↑Mon May 27, 2024 1:53 pm...Thank you David. According to the Butterflies of Croatia site Grizzled Skipper is absent from the Istria Peninsular and Southern only found on the Peninsular..

No worries, Steve. I haven't a clue where the Maginot line is in eastern Europe.

bugboy wrote: ↑Thu May 23, 2024 9:55 pm...The central ring path of the hillfort was home to Walls...all mostly quite fresh and with a bit of patience I managed to creep up on a few...

Well done for getting close approaches, Paul. This is becoming my bogey species (particularly in spring).

...Has anyone else noticed this, that the vegetation is running earlier this year, but the butterfly season is running a little late? Yes. Absolutely, Mark. Yesterday I went looking for Small Pearl Bordered Frits in a drier area of my local Common and had to virtually hack my way throught the brack...

I reckon that's malvae, Steve. No line of small, white submarginal spots that you see in Spialia.

Recently I have been visiting gardens, nature reserves and downland in Kent and Sussex. I have been upset by the lack of butterflies and dragonflies. Is it the same in other parts of the country? Perhaps the very wet March and April have not helped. Yes. It's been dire round my way too, Ian. A seco...

ernie f wrote: ↑Sat May 25, 2024 4:42 pm..Number of other butterflies are a bit on the low side...

That was my experience too, ernie.

When such good sites return poor numbers one can only conclude that butterflies are suffering another bad year so far.

Sunday 12th May – Early start… The fine spell of weather spilled over into today, making me get up early and go to Siccaridge Wood, opposite Daneway Banks, to see if I could find any Pearl Bordered Fritillaries following ernief’s sighting of a handful at the same location. Upon entering the wood, I...

Sunday 26th, Fairwood Common, Gower:

Marsh Fritillary 2
Green Hairstreak 2
Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 1

...I went to the wedding and it was perfect the weather made it, since then i've not been out much I've had an infected Sinus and was told to keep out of the Sun , wouldn't you know the weather would be perfect for a few days whilst I was indoors :( It felt like I was in prison... So pleased the we...