Neil Freeman

[essexbuzzard]

I too am enjoying your butterflies on the blackthorn blossom, and a bit of blue sky makes all the difference, doesn't it.

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots Neil Looking forward to your Specklies!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for all the comments Bugboy, David, Trevor, James, Mark and Wurzel

I always look forward to trying to get a few shots of butterflies on blossom at this time of year, one of the quintessential sights of spring

With the weather taking a turn for the worse this week I have not seen any more butterflies and it looks like I will have to wait a little longer for the Specklies to appear in the garden.

I ran the moth trap a couple of times earlier in the week but gave it a rest the past couple of nights when it has been rather blustery with heavy showers.
Along with the usual Common Quakers and Hebrew Characters I also caught a few more Clouded Drabs and a couple of Oak Beauties both of which were looking quite worn and tattered. I also had a Twin-spotted Quaker and An Early Grey, both of the latter two species being new ones to my trap.

Twin-spotted Quaker - Coverdale 04.04.2016

Early Grey - Coverdale 05.04.2016

Early Grey - Coverdale 05.04.2016

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

Saturday 9th April

Still not much happening around here with last weeks return to colder conditions making it feel like it was dragging the end of winter out again.

I am still waiting for a good night for the moth trap with the nights continuing to be either cold and frosty or wet and windy. I did run it on Friday night and had the usual mix of Common Quakers and Hebrew Characters plus an Early Thorn which was another new species for me.

Early Thorn - Coverdale 09.04.2016

After a sunny but cool Saturday morning it started raining later in the afternoon but as I was indoors at the Warwickshire BC Spring Meeting enjoying some interesting presentations (and cake ) I didn't mind so much.

Sunday 10th April

A nice bit of sun during the morning produced my only butterfly of the weekend, a male Brimstone that I spotted passing through the garden from the kitchen window. It clouded over and the wind picked up again in the afternoon so I carried on with a few little jobs around the house (more brownie points for later in the year )

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

Being at work during the decent spell of weather we have had this week means I still don't have anything to report with regard to butterflies. I have been checking the garden when I have got in from work but it has been very quite so far...my usual Specklies are late this year.

I have run the moth trap a few times this week and had a few more species new to me including a nice Pine Beauty which I was well chuffed with.

Early Grey - Coverdale 13.04.2016

Common Plume - Coverdale 13.04.2016

Pine Beauty - Coverdale 14.04.2016

The weather is not looking good for the weekend so it looks like I will probably have to wait a bit longer for my season to properly get going after the single decent day I have had so far a couple of weekends back. At least the moth trap has provided a most welcome diversion, indeed it is surprising how many moths will fly in the rain. It seems that it is just the clear, cold nights and the wind that they don't like.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

After a day and night of constant rain on Friday we woke up to snow on Saturday morning, although I must admit this had been forecast so it wasn't too much of a surprise. Although it is fairly unusual for us to get snow here in April it is not unknown and I can remember it happening a few times when I was younger, in fact it is apparently statistically more likely that we will see snow here at Easter than on Christmas Day.

Sunday 17th April

A very cold and frosty night led to clear blue skies this morning although it was late morning before the sun began to win out against the chill in the air. By the time I had some time free early in the afternoon a lot of cloud had built up and when this covered the sun a rather cold breeze would make itself felt.

Having a quick look around the garden I was pleased to see a splash of bright tawny orange of a Comma against the yellow of a dandelion, only the fourth butterfly I have seen in the garden so far this year and only my second one for April.

Comma - Coverdale 17.04.2016

I then decided to go out and have a look around my local spot at Castle Hills near Solihull to blow the cobwebs off. A couple of hours here during which it felt pleasantly warm when the sun came out but chilly when it went in, produced half a dozen or so each of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks. These were often basking down in the grass out of the breeze but I did see a couple nectaring on blackthorn blossom which is one of my favourite sights of spring.

Small Tortoiseshell - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Small Tortoiseshell - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Small Tortoiseshell - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Peacock - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Peacock - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Peacock - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

Peacock - Castle Hills 17.04.2016

With these being the only two species seen here this afternoon things are definitely running later than usual with timings so far being more in line with 2013 which was also when we had snow in late March.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots Neil, sounds like your having the same weather there as we have here. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots Neil - and that Pine Beauty is a real cracker of a Moff

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Goldie, yes it does sound like we are having similar weather, one step forward, two steps back it seems. it looks like this will be another week with the best weather being in the middle of the week whilst I am at work and conditions deteriorating for the weekend again .

Cheers Wurzel, I was quite chuffed with that Pine Beauty

Tuesday 19th April

My first butterfly this year that was not an adult hibernator...A Green-veined White that flew through the garden shortly after getting in from work today.

Neil.

[millerd]

I'm very envious of your Tortoiseshells, Neil. They are much commoner up in your neck of the woods than round here.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Dave, it is great to see the Tortoiseshells continue to do well around here . Lets hope the weather bucks up soon so we can see some more.

Winter refuses to let go

Since my last post I have seen the grand total of one more butterfly, my second Green-veined White that passed through the garden one afternoon last week, although with the recent cold northerly winds and wintery showers I have not bothered going out anywhere looking.

It has all been reminiscent of the late spring of 2013 which prompted me to look back at my notes and UKB diary entries from that year. What stands out straight away is that in 2013 I did not see an Orange-tip or Speckled Wood until the first week of May, the exact dates being 4th and 7th respectively. This year looks like being very similar.

Saturday 23rd April

The cold conditions are also affecting moths with low numbers being reported from many areas. This was very much a topic of conversation on Saturday night when my son Chris and myself joined some members of the Warwickshire Moth Group for a Moth Night at Ryton Pools Country Park near Coventry. There were a number of traps set up around the park and between a couple of breaks for hot drinks and cakes we toured around them to see what they had attracted.

How to spend a cold Saturday night...

The conditions were not really that good with a cold breeze but the clouds built up a bit later on to keep the temperature from dropping too much. Before we all departed just after 01.00 we had seen some good moths including half a dozen Frosted Greens, a species that had only been recorded in the country park once before.
One of the CP rangers who was with us returned later on Sunday morning to count up the moths which produced a final count of 88 moths as follows;
Common Quaker 14
Small Quaker 2
Powdered Quaker 7
Hebrew Character 29
Clouded Drab 10
Lead-coloured Drab 1
Early Grey 1
Brindled Pug 11
Shoulder Stripe 2
Streamer 3
Frosted Green 6
Water Carpet 1
Brindled Beauty 1

Garden Moths

Despite the cold conditions I have continued to run my moth trap occasionally in the garden without attracting anything of note, usually a few Hebrew Characters and Common Quakers with the odd Clouded Drab and Early Grey.

A couple of Hebrew Characters - 22.04.2016

Clouded Drab - Coverdale 25.04.2016

The best catches were around 10 days ago when I had the Pine Beauty and a Brindled Beauty among the other usual suspects so here are a couple of shots that I forgot to post back then.

Another shot of the Pine Beauty posted previously

Slight worn Brindled Beauty - Coverdale 16.04.2016

With the cold northerly winds set to last for the rest of the week at least it looks as if I won’t be seeing much else for a while yet.

Bye for now,

Neil

[essexbuzzard]

Hi Neil,I think we are all feeling the effects of the cold, cloudy weather this year. Round here,I have noticed much of the vegetation is about normal,with the bluebells out and the first hawthorn blossom starting to show as we enter May, yet the butterflies are what you would expect in March, only the hibernators out really.

[Wurzel]

You really have turned to the dark side Neil Some great looking Moffs there

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

You're just showing off now Neil Seriously, that Pine Beauty is gorgeous and that is a great shot of it. Can't tell you how envious I am

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Mark,
Things are certainly very slow for me this year...I am still on just 5 species of butterfly. The vegetation around here seems to be all over the place with some seeming to be about normal and other stuff being behind. I guess that increased daylight length acts as a growth trigger for some whereas colder temperatures also slows down the growth on others.

Don't worry Wurzel, I shall be embracing the light again...when the weather eventually gets its act together and I get a chance that is

Thanks Pauline, I was a bit lucky with that particular shot of the Pine Beauty. They don't usually rest with their wings like that, the usual resting position is with wings folded above them like a tent as in my previous photo. I had just put it onto the old fence post for a final couple of shots prior to release when it started vibrating its wings as they do to warm up the wing muscles ready to take off. I just had time for a couple of shots before it was away and luckily that one froze the vibration blur of the wings.

With the recent mixture of rain, sleet, hail and snow plus overnight temperatures dropping to 1 or 2 degrees, I haven't bothered running the trap at all this week.

Cheers,

Neil.

[essexbuzzard]

It was -2C here this morning. So no, probably not worth putting out that moth trap! Bit less cold by the weekend, so maybe then. Great pictures btw.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Mark, yes fingers crossed that things start to improve soon. At least losing that that cold northerly wind would be a start.

Friday 29th April

I finished work today at lunchtime like I usually do on a Friday and after stopping off to get a bit of shopping I arrived home and decided to do a bit in the garden. The weather was the same as it has been for the past couple of days, that is cold with a biting north wind and some brief showers. When the sun did come out occasionally it had a bit of warmth to it which brought the temperature struggling up to 10 or 11 degrees at most.

I really did not expect to see any butterflies today and was therefore pleased to see a Green-veined White feebly fluttering into the garden and settle a couple of times before taking off again and getting whisked away in the blustery wind.

Green-veined White - Coverdale 29.04.2016

Green-veined White - Coverdale 29.04.2016

This was followed a short time later by a male Large White that brought my tally so far this season up to a mighty six species. As with the GVW he was 'assisted' on his way by the wind as soon as he took off from his perch.

Large White - Coverdale 29.04.2016

After the past weeks weather, these two brief sightings lifted my spirits a great deal and have reminded me how tough our butterflies can be and how they will take advantage of every brief window of opportunity in the weather to go about their business.
Still no sign of any Specklies in the garden yet...mind you as I posted a few days ago, back in 2013 which was the last late spring we had, it was May 7th before they finally showed up so maybe next week.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Lovely GVW Neil It has been a trying start to the season so a tally of 6 is pretty good, I'm only on seven with hours of traipsing to no avail still gotta keep on putting the graft in!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Neil, glad your seeing a few more Butterflies, love the GVW photos, no Species here yet,if it brightens up this afternoon i'll go to HLB again. Persistence pays off some times.Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel...yep it has been a slow start this year but rather than putting my time and energy into looking for the few butterflies that have been around, I have been trying to keep on top of things at home a bit and hold onto the brownie points for later.

Thanks Goldie, still no more butterflies this weekend, although it has got a touch warmer here it has still been grey and cloudy with some blustery wind and heavy showers over the bank holiday. It did brighten up today (Monday) about 4.30pm...too late for me to go out anywhere. The weather looks to be improving during week so my money is on finally seeing my first Specklies and Orange-tips soon.

Monday 2nd May

With the cold northerly wind and frost last week I didn't bother running the moth trap until last night when I had another two more species new to me, a couple of Double -striped Pugs and a Shuttle-shaped Dart. The little Pugs are lively things and difficult to get a photo of but for me it is necessary in order to try and ID them. My thanks go to members of the Warwickshire Moth Group who have helped me with IDs on their facebook page. This brings me up to 17 species in my garden since I started using the trap in late March.

Double-striped Pug - Covedale 02.05.2016

Shuttle-shaped Dart - Coverdale 02.05.2016

Cheers,

Neil