May 2024

[Maximus]

Wall Brown ab. seen today in deepest Wiltshire. Details to follow shortly in my personal diary.

[bugboy]

Wall Brown ab. seen today in deepest Wiltshire. Details to follow shortly in my personal diary.


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WOW!

[millerd]

What an amazing butterfly.

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

Wall Brown ab. seen today in deepest Wiltshire. Details to follow shortly in my personal diary.

Oh, my Holy God!!

[Neil Hulme]

WTF!
I want one. Congratulations on a truly amazing find.
BWs, Neil

[petesmith]

Now that is pretty extreme! Fantastic beast - a severe ab.lugens maybe?

[Jack Harrison]

Stunning. Jealous.

Jack

[Bertl]

Loads of orange tips on a warm day in Aberdeen.
All seen along the riverside path near Bridge of Don.

[David Lazarus]

Not sure where the sun came from yesterday, 15th May, given the forecast for the day of rain and overcast conditions. Popped out as soon as it appeared and glad I did. I saw my second Painted Lady of the year, five and a half weeks after the first:

Painted Lady 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

And then on the same track I discovered a female Orange-tip and dashed over to see if it was another ab. decolorata. Finally, I discovered one in my local area that was not, although the black apical tip markings didn't seem quite right. Someone more experienced might be able to enlighten me. Anyway, that was not the most exciting thing. It was a little windy so I held the stalk of the Oil-seed Rape Brassica napus subsp. oleifera and clicked away for my 'female Orange-tip study'. When I took a look at the images, there was one of her nectaring:

Orange-tip f 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

And then I realised I had taken part in her ovipositing:

Orange-tip f 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

A little further on I came across the most beautiful Small White I have ever seen - certainly the most creamy fresh female

Small White f 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

There were also a couple of over-wintering species hanging on:

Small Tortoiseshell 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

Peacock 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

Silver Y were all over the flood plain and in Meadgate, including 12 nectaring on Centranthus ruber, Aquilegia vulgaris, and Geranium phaeum 'Alba' later on at dusk in my gardens. They have definitely arrived in Chelmsford:

Silver Y 15/05/2024 Baddow Meads

I started to see Holly Blue around and took a detour to Holly Blue Alley where finally they have emerged in number - 10 there - and also more in the park:

Holly Blue 15/05/2024 Meadgate Park

There were 20 in my local patch including the emergence of the little community in my gardens - 5 so far there dashing around

With the Holly Blue, the Speckled Wood were the first to respond to the sunny conditions, five fresh examples including one female in Meadgate Fields Open Space:

Speckled Wood m 15/05/2024 Meadgate Fields Open Space

A surprisingly good day with some exciting sightings

[Vince Massimo]

Roundup of Sussex news.

I was in Lancing last week and was surprised to see a Wall Brown on the beach, although I have had occasional sightings in the locality in recent years.

Wall Brown - Lancing, Sussex 9-May-2024

A nearby nettlebed was covered in Harlequin ladybirds showing off their variable forms.

Harlequin Ladybirds - Lancing, Sussex 9-May-2024

Harlequin Ladybirds - Lancing, Sussex 10-May-2024

I also made a quick visit to Mill Hill. The lower paths produced 11 Brimstone, 3 Whites (Small?), 6 Dingy Skipper, 3 Grizzled Skipper, 2 Peacock, 6 Small Heath, 1 Speckled Wood, 2 Wall, 1 Green Hairstreak and 1 Holly Blue.

Grizzled Skipper - Mill Hill, Sussex 9-May-2024

Back in my Crawley garden yesterday I had a Brimstone laying at least 46 eggs on my potted Alder Buckthorn.

Brimstone eggs - Crawley, Sussex 15-May-2024

Then later in the afternoon a Holly Blue was seen laying at least 3 eggs on my Cotoneaster.

Holly Blue eggs - Crawley, Sussex 15-May-2024

Holly Blue eggs - Crawley, Sussex 15-May-2024

The lower egg seems to have been laid earlier and had either hatched or been parasitised.

Also on the Cotoneaster are a few early-instar Gypsy moth larvae. I had adults in the garden last year and found quite a few eggs.

Gypsy moth larva (or could be Vapourer) - Crawley, Sussex 8-May-2024

Gypsy moth larva - Crawley, Sussex 15-May-2024

Fox News:

Our resident vixen introduced her new cubs into the garden on 14th May. So far we have counted four individuals, but they are difficult to photograph because they a constantly running about.

Fox and cubs - Crawley, Sussex 14-May-2024

Fox cubs - Crawley, Sussex 14-May-2024

The cage in the background is there to deter our resident Magpies from eating the Red Mason bees emerging from the bee-box. Females were mated as soon as they emerged...

Red Mason bees - Crawley, Sussex 7-May-2024

...but not sure what is going on here.

Red Mason bees - Crawley, Sussex 7-May-2024

Vince

[David M]

Wednesday 15th, Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea:

Orange Tip 7 (1 fem)
Small Copper 3
Small Heath 3
Green Veined White 2
Small White 1
Common Blue 1
Painted Lady 1
Speckled Wood 1

[Wolfson]

At last some sunshine and warmth in Cornwall and the butterflies are appearing, shame about the wind

[Bertl]

Took a trip to Deeside to look for PBF this morning.......but no joy.....maybe next week?

A few speckled wood butterfly on the wing.

.....and a slow worm moving slowly

[DaveO'B]

Some N. Yorkshire Dukes seen this afternoon, including a very pale ab. leucodes.

[David M]

Thursday 16th, Rhossili Head, Gower:

Small White 20-30
Large White 7
Peacock 5
Wall Brown 1
Red Admiral 1
Brimstone 1 (fem)

[David M]

Thursday 16th PM, Oxwich Bay Dunes, Gower:

Orange Tip 10 (5 fem)
Brimstone 7 (5 fem)
Large White 3
Small White 2
Small Heath 2
Dingy Skipper 2
Small Blue 2
Peacock 1
Common Blue 1
Brown Argus 1
Small Copper 1

[Jack Harrison]

I was in the exact spot I saw my first Scottish Comma three years ago.  In luck today, 17 May.

I got the camera out of it bag - flat battery.  Changed the battery and managed just this poor shot before it flew off out of sight.

I had been despairing that this new colonist hadn't 'taken'.  But all seems to be well.

I wish I could say the same about Cuckoos.  On Tuesday, I made a special trip out to the moorland (favoured habitat here) and just two short bursts of the song.

This might be a duplicate post as the first seems to have gone missing.

Jack

[David Lazarus]

Another Painted Lady seen today in Chelmsford and the largest number of Red Admirals sighted so far [14]. Along with the numerous Silver Y, the migrants are beginning to arrive in Essex:

Painted Lady 17/05/2024 Baddow Meads

Also, 11 Peacock; 1 female Brimstone; 7 Small White; 21 Green-veined White; 5 Orange-tip; 2 Speckled Wood; 1 Small Heath; and 14 Holly Blues

[millerd]

A handful of highlights from a trip to the Downs south of Croydon today.

Also seen were Brimstone, Peacock, Small Heath, Small Copper, Speckled Wood, Orange Tip and Green Hairstreak. A longer dissertation will follow in my PD (if a rainy day appears! ).

Dave

[zigzag_wanderer]

Few snaps from this week. The Speckled Wood was braving an overcast lunchtime at work, the rest were taken in our garden. The Psyche casta (Common Bagworm) larva was crawling up an old metal fencepost at quite a respectable speed, encased in its house of straw.