May 2021

[David M]

We've had plenty of sunshine and lately we've had some rain....

....can we now have some warmth, please?

[petesmith]

We've had plenty of sunshine and lately we've had some rain....

....can we now have some warmth, please?

I'll second that David - here in Lincolnshire we seem to have been stuck in a predominantly north-easterly airstream for weeks. Cold nights in low single figures and days rarely reaching 10 degrees. The vegetation gives the impression of the end of March! Not good for early season species. But at last today we have rain..in buckets-full.

[Medard]

After a week of chilling temperatures this morning there were good numbers of migrating hirondelles passing across Tealham Moor,  plus a happy Sedge Warbler, warbling, Perhaps they know something we don't know.

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/p57 ... #h8f1b117d

[Matsukaze]

The house-martins returned here yesterday.

In Exmoor last weekend - the sun and drought had bleached the moor-grass almost white, making it look oddly like parts of Spain or Morocco.

[David M]

I'll second that David - here in Lincolnshire we seem to have been stuck in a predominantly north-easterly airstream for weeks. Cold nights in low single figures and days rarely reaching 10 degrees. The vegetation gives the impression of the end of March! Not good for early season species. But at last today we have rain..in buckets-full.

Yes, Pete. It's been extraordinary lately. I'm sat in the conservatory with the wood fire blazing away right now, yet at 2pm the strong sun made it feel like a sauna.

I'm quite glad for the rain, but it's high time we left these 9-11c temperatures behind where they belong....in late February!!

[Chris L]

It took the BBC a month of the season to stitch me up with one of their legendary woeful weather forecasts. The forecast all day was white fluffy clouds with sun peeking behind them periodically. My 100 mile round trip to try and see some Grizzled Skippers gave me:

- Black and grey clouds.
- Frequent showers.
- No butterflies.

Cheers BBC Weather.

[Stevieb]

Fresh Dukes out on the hill this lunchtime. Battlesbury Hill, Wiltshire

2nd May

2nd May

2nd May

2nd May

[David M]

..Fresh Dukes out on the hill this lunchtime. Battlesbury Hill, Wiltshire

Great news, Stevie. If they can get through tomorrow's atrocious Bank Holiday weather, they should have a fair run of milder and sunnier conditions ahead of them.

[Matsukaze]

It's quite likely that the strong winds today will bring down elm seeds and oak twigs with unfurling leaves, which may have hairstreak caterpillars on them - if so, it's worth trying to rear them and getting good views of the adults when they emerge. White-letter hairstreak caterpillars give away their presence by nibbling out the seed at the centre of the papery elm samara, but leaving the rest, although I'm not sure if they are the only elm-feeder that does this.

[Deborah]

Finally got a couple of pictures of a female Orange Tip after seeing nothing but males! So windy this afternoon that even though it was quite warm there was nothing else showing itself.

[Testudo Man]

My 1st post this season...its been a long Winter/hibernation for me!

This last Sunday(2/5/21) was the 1st time i had gone "butterflying" too!...Ive just struggled to find the motivation this season...but it was good to get out there, an capture some nice images.

Target species were Skippers, approx 6 Grizzlies were seen, an just the one Dingy! Location - Bluebell Hill Kent, afternoon session, after sitting in the car an waiting for the rain to stop(nearly went home) but glad i stuck it out.

No other species of butterfly were sighted on the day!! so a very poor showing for 2/5/21.

Anyway, some images of those Grizzlies, cheers Paul.

No images are cropped, just down sized. 2 camera set ups used.

[David M]

Great to see you back, TM. Those Grizzled Skipper images are first class.

[bugboy]

Made it to Abbots Wood today and avoided the showers. The swathes of Bluebells greeted me, a sight I missed out on completely last year

There were also some Fritillaries, minimum of 5 males and 1 female so early days here still.

Trevor was also there and pointed out a mating pair of Grizzlies to add to my in cop collection. I've come down with a mild case of Wurzel though so the full report will probably see the light of day sometime next week...

[Padfield]

I found a 3rd instar white-letter hairstreak larva today in the local meadow:



Last year, I found 3rd instars from the first half of April and by the beginning of May they were all 4th instar and zooming off to look for somewhere to pupate. This is the first caterpillar I've found since they left the elm flowers so I don't know what state most of them are in, but my impression is this is a very late year here in Suffolk.

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Great observations, Guy! I had to pick my youngest son up from Oxford today and travelled through rain, hailstones and heavy sleet to get home. This is a bonkers year weather-wise!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Chris L]

That is a great find Guy. My aspiration is to a) be able to find in the first place b) be able to identify. I think it will take me a good 15 years minimum to reach the same level of knowledge as everyone on here.

Is the weather for 2021 cheesing me off? Yes. It is spectacularly annoying. Everything seems a few weeks behind where it should be. My local landscape in South Derbyshire still looks bare and quite desolate in places.

Tonight between 4am and 6am we have a frost forecast. At 6am we have sleet forecast. The weather for 6th May. I think that is the last of the frost for this spring but I think I said that to myself a week ago.

[Padfield]

Thanks Pete. Admittedly, I've been inside quite a lot recently, with the IB exams starting tomorrow, but I've barely seen a butterfly a day in the last week or so. The odd orange tip floats around the garden like a lost ghost and every so often a peacock bursts out of the flower bed, but for the most part it's been a disaster.

Otep, caterpillars are all about getting the eye in. Once you've seen one white-letter hairstreak (or purple emperor, or orange tip, or whatever you're looking for) you start seeing them everywhere. I went back to the meadow this evening with my ultraviolet flashlight and found another - also third instar, and really quite small:



You can still see a little pink colouration near the rear end. I think that means it's not long out of 2nd instar (early instars sport pink because they feed in elm flowers but lose it when they move to the leaves).

The eggs started hatching in February. So that's over two months to reach third instar ... It's been cold!

Guy

[David M]

..The eggs started hatching in February. So that's over two months to reach third instar ... It's been cold!

That puts things perfectly into perspective, Guy.

[Roger Gibbons]

Not much happening in my neck of the woods, mainly thanks to the weather where we have had to reclassify 12C as “a scorcher”. But it did give an opportunity to focus on a species that doesn’t often create excitement, Green-veined White. Here is a male upperside, a female upper- and underside (the same butterfly - the underside missing a few of the cream scales) and a female Orange-tip, closed up and giving a clue to the weather of the past few days.

Roger

[petesmith]

Not much happening in my neck of the woods, mainly thanks to the weather where we have had to reclassify 12C as “a scorcher”.

I am going to redefine Roger's "scorcher" and recalibrate it for Lincolnshire - these days up here, a "scorcher" is anything above 9 degrees C!

And I also have been concentrating of late on the only available subject matter. G-V-White and Orange-tip.

In desperation, I am beginning to think I might do a study on the frequencies of the presence or absence of the post-discal spot in spring brood male G-V-Whites...