Rob Partridge

[robpartridge]

With so much work going on the garden, there was no chance of getting out into the countryside today - fortunately the butterflies came to me. I saw two whites arrive within seconds during some warm sunshine. I put down the spade, thinking they were likely to be Small Whites, having had one this year already. The butterflies had stopped to feed on honesty, and I was surprised to see that the first was a Green-veined White, which didn't stay for a photograph. Even more surprising, the second was a female Orange-tip, which did, luckily. Later on, a male Brimstone also called in. There were two worn Peacocks, making up the most butterflies I've seen this year. Still no red Admiral or Comma, though.

[Wurzel]

It's great when they come to you isn't it? That OT was a bit surprising as usually the females appear slightly later than the males

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

What a delightful surprise, having an early female Orange Tip visiting your garden, Rob.

[robpartridge]

Thanks to Wurzel and David. I was surprised to see the Orange-tip - the season isn't very old but already it feels like an odd one here!

[Katrina]

How lucky you are to have an OT in the garden

[robpartridge]

Katrina - this season so far I'm considering myself lucky to see any sort of butterfly! We get Orange-tips every spring, mostly wandering males, but the food plants are to be found locally. It is unusual for me to see a female so early, though.

[robpartridge]

Now the rain has stopped, we have gales and still very little sunshine. But this morning, in about a force six, the first Red Admiral of my season was blown through the garden. I like to think it might have been a migrant.

[robpartridge]

Things are going absolutely crazy with a second new species for the year in the garden within three days. Weak sunshine in a shelter corner tempted a Holly Blue to feed on the perennial wallflower for a few minutes:

[Chris L]

Things are going absolutely crazy with a second new species for the year in the garden within three days. Weak sunshine in a shelter corner tempted a Holly Blue to feed on the perennial wallflower for a few minutes:

P1020820.JPG

Jealous of the Holly Blue sighting Rob. What a fantastic photo too. My Holly Blue sightings have all been with either a dull or quite plain backdrop. Your blue with the vivid purple photo is a gem.

[Wurzel]

Cracking find that Holly Blue Rob I'm quite envious of your garden it certainly seems to be producing the goods - perhaps they should get you on G.Q.T.?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[robpartridge]

Chris - thanks. I took five shots, the other four were rubbish, which is about par for my course!

Wurzel - since moving in five years ago we've deliberately focused on acquiring plants that are good for butterflies and bees. And ours is often the only garden nearby that has any colour or nectar - we're surrounded by arable desert, so in its own small way the garden is a kind of oasis. The most extraordinary butterfly to appear was a Marsh Fritillary, but that's a whole other story.

[David M]

...The most extraordinary butterfly to appear was a Marsh Fritillary, but that's a whole other story.

That's something I'd like to know more about, Rob. We have this species in decent numbers (usually) on the commons near my house but I've never seen one on the estate, let alone in a garden.

[robpartridge]

David - this is the strange story of my Marsh Fritillary, then. It was on the 26th of May, 2020, at 10.45 am. There was warm sunshine and, I recall, there had been a south-westerly airstream for a few days. I went out into the garden and saw a butterfly land on the lawn - not unusual but there was something odd about this one, so I went to investigate. To my amazement it was a Marsh Fritillary - a species I had seen a few times in the wild but a very long way away from Cambridgeshire.

I dashed indoors, seized a camera which by great good fortune had the right lens attached, and got a few shots. Then I simply stared in disbelief for a couple more minutes before it lifted off and away. As the photo shows, it was a worn individual. I mentioned the record to a few people, one of whom said that's odd, there have been a few other unexpected sightings in East Anglia. I have no further details of those.

One can buy this species as ova or caterpillars from dealers, of course, but it seems an odd thing to have released in Cambs. Modern maps show no colonies east of Gloucestershire, and so it remains a mystery.

[Wurzel]

" The most extraordinary butterfly to appear was a Marsh Fritillary, but that's a whole other story." Interesting to hear that Rob - a bit out of place Whatever its providence it must have been a cracking sight and really got the adrenaline pumping

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Thanks for the background, Rob. Looks like this will forever remain unexplained given your distance from the nearest naturally occurring colonies.

[robpartridge]

It feels like a poor season here in Cambs. We've had only brief and infrequent spells of sunshine, during which a few butterflies appear, but the number of species is behind for the date. On the 13th of April, there was a longer spell of sunshine. I went to my local churchyard and managed six species, including my first Speckled Wood of the year.

The best find in the churchyard was a large brood of Scarlet Tiger caterpillars. I first found them in exactly the same spot two years ago, when they were the first breeding record for the vice-county in many years. They are now widespread - an amazingly speedy recovery!

No sun again today, but somehow the year's first Large Red Damselfly had made it to a Berberis in my garden.

[millerd]

...this is the strange story of my Marsh Fritillary...It was on the 26th of May, 2020...

Hi Rob,

May 2020 was during the COVID lockdown, and around this time (if memory serves me aright... ) someone was releasing Marsh Fritillaries all across South East England. The resultant introduced populations persist in some spots (Bugboy found a caterpillar on the Chilterns last weekend for example).

Your sighting may well have been from one of those releases.

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

...this is the strange story of my Marsh Fritillary...It was on the 26th of May, 2020...

Hi Rob,

May 2020 was during the COVID lockdown, and around this time (if memory serves me aright... ) someone was releasing Marsh Fritillaries all across South East England. The resultant introduced populations persist in some spots (Bugboy found a caterpillar on the Chilterns last weekend for example).

Your sighting may well have been from one of those releases.

Cheers,

Dave

Indeed I did. There is a small population of recently introduced Marsh Fritillary on one of the hills at Ivinghoe Beacon which I first stumbled across in 2021 that had apparently been there for a few years already, but several more very random sightings popped up all over the south east from persons unknown who became known as the 'Marshie Dumper'. There's also a small population currently surviving at Hutchinsons Bank near Croydon which also appeared around the same time frame.

[robpartridge]

At last! Many thanks to Millerd and Bugboy for solving the mystery - this is surely the most likely explanation. I'm not aware of any site in Cambridgeshire which has the food plants to sustain even a small population. Releasing Marsh Fritillaries here would be a pointless exercise but the one I found could have been blown a considerable distance up from the releases you describe.

I'm not keen on the name Marshie Dumper, though!

[robpartridge]

No need to comment much further on the season so far, at least not in my area. Some sunny spells this afternoon but just two butterflies appeared in the garden. One odd thing is that according to my fairly empty notebook, I've seen four times as many female Orange-tips as males, which must be, at the very least, the reverse of a typical spring here. This one was feeding on sweet rocket, which we first planted three years ago to attract pollinators. It's definitely one of the success stories in that gardening project.