April 2024

[David M]

Saturday 20th, Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea:

Brimstone 11
Small White 6
Orange Tip 5
Green Veined White 2
Speckled Wood 2

[Jack Harrison]

Finally on 21st April perhaps my latest every 'first sighting' of the year
Cawdor, GV White and small Tortoiseshell plus a possible distant fly-by Orange Tip.

Jack

[millerd]

Continuing chilly weather with probably less sunshine today (21st) - but both Holly Blues and Speckled Woods seem very resilient and make the most of what there is.

a female trying to get warm enough to lay her eggs

a pristine male responding to a bit of sunshine

There was not a lot else today - even the Peacocks were hiding.

Dave

[Allan.W.]

In my part of Kent the "Butterflying " has been VERY hit and miss with only a couple of days where the temperature has risen above 12 degrees C. Been trying to find a few O-Tips when the weather has allowed ..........as they,re soon gone .

Tried for a few close up pics of one of half a dozen retained O-Tip eggs .

Finally found a few Green Hairstreaks while the sun shone for about an hour ,and the temperature actually reached 14c !

And a few Speckled Wood .

And while the weathers been so up and down ,i,ve been concentrating on plants ................they don,t fly away !
Heres some local Early Purple Orchids.

Allan.W.

[millerd]

Just one butterfly today (23rd) during the briefest of bright moments on another cool and very cloudy day: a very new male Green-veined White.

Dave

[dlaz44]

From seeing 60 + butterflies per day and 20C temperatures, I have barely seen a butterfly during nearly a week of overcast conditions, rain, and cold northerly winds lowering the maximum temperature to 10C. A pair of Green-veined Whites in cop and a Peacock on the 19th; a Large White flying in the blustery winds, probably wishing it hadn't come out, on the 21st; then a surprise on the 22nd as a female Speckled Wood appeared at my feet allowing me to test my ability to tell the difference between a male and a female after much needed advice from bugboy and Padfield [and obviously Jack's experience "Easy. Males never need persuading. Females often do ". Hopefully, I have not disappointed my tutors:

Female Speckled Wood 22/04/2024 Meadgate park

Then nothing until yesterday when I fortuitously reached the large patches of Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata along the River Can just at the right time as the sun appeared through the clouds for half-an-hour during which time three male Orange-tip and a male Green-veined White appeared to search for females. Alas, still no sightings of a female Orange-tip here in Chelmsford. I could not reach the Orange-tip over the lush tall herbs running along the banks of the river - perfect Spring butterfly habitat, but this Green-veined White made up for it:

Green-veined White m 24/04/2024 River Can

Green-veined White m 24/04/2024 River Can

How I have been missing butterflying

Just about to go out to walk the weekly transect through Baddow Meads - full sun but a cold breeze - the temperatures have not reached 11C yet and probably won't as the clouds are coming.

[bugboy]

Only an hour or so of sun available today, and it ended before many butterflies had a chnace to wake up, but just before leaving my local patch I disturbed this little chap

Only the second I've come across here (the first during lockdown times which as far as I know, was the first authenticated record of one on this site). This was on the same patch of bramble so perhaps there is a small population existing here...

[David M]

Colder weather has spread south to Spain even. Had one day when it didn't get above 13c!

It surely has to warm up soon!!

[bugboy]

Colder weather has spread south to Spain even. Had one day when it didn't get above 13c!

It surely has to warm up soon!!

Wasn't it this time last year the place was on fire due to record highs?

[David M]

Yes, Paul. Last year was exceptionally warm and dry in much of Spain. April has also been abnormally warm and dry but suddenly there was a huge drop in temperature. There hasn't been much rain but it has been cool and cloudy, although the butterflies are soon flying when the sun comes out.

[dlaz44]

Although the weather conditions barely reached the minimum conditions for transects, if that, the sun shone strong enough on occasions for some butterfly activity today [25th] with 32 sightings of 9 species: 3 Small Tortoiseshell; 1 Comma; 9 Peacock; 1 Brimstone [female]; 5 Small White; 3 Large White; 5 Green-veined White; 4 Orange-tip [all males]; 1 Speckled Wood - apart from the whites, which all looked super-fresh, the others looked very tatty and weather-beaten.

For the first half-an-hour the sun disappeared behind the clouds and I was losing hope of even seeing one butterfly before thankfully the sun finally shone through the clouds again around midday and the butterflies responded starting with the whites:

Small White f 25/04/2024 Baddow Meads

The large patches of Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata we have here along the river banks are ideal for Green-veined White:

Green-veined White m 25/04/2025 River Chelmer

The sun kept disappearing which was fortuitous in a way as I spied a roosting Orange-tip on some cow parsley flowers Anthriscus sylvestris:

Orange-tip m 25/04/2024 River Chelmer

and patiently watched him as he gradually opened his wings:

Orange-tip m 25/04/2024 River Chelmer

Until he showed his true beauty:

Orange-tip m 25/04/2024 River Chelmer

The tender nettle patches Urtica dioica mean we have had good numbers of Peacocks this spring and not bad numbers of Small Tortoiseshell but they are all looking very worn with plenty of damage to their wings:

Peacock 25/04/2024 Baddow Meads

Small Tortoiseshell 25/04/2024 Baddow Meads

and on my way back through the park there was a bonus:

Orange-tip m 25/04/2024 Meadgate Park

Before finishing up in Meadgate Fields Open Space where a pair of Large Whites informed me it was time to go home - rain is coming

Large White 25/04/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

Let's hope the oak leaf-umbrellas help!

[millerd]

Some early sunshine on my local patch near Heathrow, and a few more butterflies appeared - 21 with 7 species present. Among them were Holly Blues of course...

...and a very small female Orange Tip barely bigger than the average-sized buttercup on which she was feeding.

More details in my PD shortly.

Dave

[Jack Harrison]

First Orange Tip of the year (Findhorn, Moray 26th April when temperature a mere 11C).  I was beginning to fear that I might not see one until May.

Jack

[bugboy]

My first Small Copper of the year on the local Marshes wasn't the most exciting event of the day for me! More details in my PD soon

[millerd]

A for the Small Copper, Paul... My local bunch haven't appeared yet.

A lot of cloud this morning (26th) in my part of the world suddenly gave way to reasonable amounts of sunshine from one o'clock onwards. However, a few things were around under the cloud earlier on - there's plenty of garlic mustard to go round this year, so why these two decided to share I will never know.

In the end, over 50 butterflies were flying during the afternoon, so not a bad day. A full report will follow before too long.

Dave

[dlaz44]

Another surprisingly good day for butterflying with plenty of sun and 11C plus temperatures from late morning onwards. What is noticeable is the numbers of over-wintering species are reducing with numbers of spring emergence, particularly the whites, now becoming the more prolific. Finally found a female Orange-tip in the wet meadow at Meadgate Fields:

Orange-tip f 26/04/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

Good numbers of Green-veined Whites among the lush growth of Garlic Mustard Alliaria petiolata and Cow Parsley Anthriscus sylvestris:

Green-veined White m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

And also Large and Small Whites. I had an almost moment - 2 species on a leaf:

Orange-tip f + Green-veined White m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

and then an incoming male Large White flew in to join the Orange-tip and Green-veined White - missed 3 species in a frame by a moment. Too much to ask, 3 species on a single leaf anybody?

Orange-tip f + Large White m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

Speckled Wood and Peacock also present.

There was a lovely female Green-veined White at the nearby Baddow Hall park:

Green-veined White f 26/04/2024 Baddow Hall Park

Meadgate Park saw some activity too with a male Orange-tip stake out producing the 'opening its wings sequence' on Hawthorn blossom Crataegus monogyna:

Orange-tip m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Park

Beautifully camouflaged male Orange-tip pretending it is not there as strange man with mobile waits patiently for the sun to appear from behind the cloud ....... and then - sun

Orange-tip m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Park

And a pair of Speckled Wood in lover's corner:

Speckled Wood m 26/04/2024 Meadgate Park

Speckled Wood f 26/04/2024 Meadgate Park

There was also a male Holly Blue who didn't want his photo taken. A little worried about the numbers of Holly Blue here in Chelmsford. After the bumper year last year I hope we are not going to get a trough - perhaps parasitic wasp Listrodomus nycthemerus is affecting numbers?

An enjoyable day with 32 butterfly sightings of 7 species.

[Allan.W.]

Thats a very unusual looking Female Orange-Tip you,ve posted David ............very pale ! Allan.W.

[David M]

Thats a very unusual looking Female Orange-Tip you,ve posted David ............very pale !

Agreed. Never seen one like that before.

[Allan.W.]

Looking through the Abs listings ,an AB;Decolorata seems best to fit the bill .........although yours does appear paler .......nice find !
Allan.W.

[millerd]

After setting out hopefully, with a kite swooping majestically over my house...

... there was just one butterfly today and no more than ten minutes of sunshine. It wasn't easy to spot either...

...till that minuscule bit of sun woke it up.

Tomorrow looks to be another dead loss weatherwise, but after that things are expected to improve at last.

Dave