March 2025

[David Lazarus]

First sighting of a Speckled Wood in Essex recorded at Walthamstow Marshes yesterday. Also, more Brown Hairstreak ova were recorded at Hatch Plain, Epping Forest earlier in the week, further south than Whitehall Plain and even closer to Claybury Park. Something is happening in North London/vice-county of South Essex. I am not sure what I suspect that it is because there has been a more concerted effort to find them in Epping Forest and that they have been there for some time. Anyway - good news.

[Chris L]

Edit: I forgot to add that there were lots of Orange Underwings. Not many people took attention to them, but I have been told these rarely settle so I’m glad I was able to get a photo of one!

Thank you for adding that I have seen half a dozen of these in the last fortnight and, not knowing my moths, didn't have a clue what they were. I went chasing after 4 of them for a photo and yes, I can confirm they 'rarely settle'

[David M]

Thursday 20th, Cwm Ivy, Gower:

Brimstone 13
Comma 2
Red Admiral 2
Speckled Wood 1

[David Lazarus]

Speckled Wood 1

Nice David, they seem to be on the wing in a few places already.

And, it seems Orange Underwing also as Zayed, Chris, and I all saw at least one this week.

[Medard]

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/
20-03-2023,
A warm and sunny day here in Somerset bought two new visitors to the garden,
1no Comma, Polygonia c-album
1no Peacock,
1 no Brimstone
1 no Small Tortoiseshell

[petesmith]

Orange Underwing showing nicely in the Lincolnshire Limewoods yesterday.
I find it much, much easier to inadvertently kick this moth up off the ground and watch it ascend to the skies, than to actually photograph it - indeed I would estimate that 95% of my encounters with this species end up with a curse or expletive for precisely this reason - it has become a regular part of my springtime woodland wanderings to swear at these tricky customers!

[David M]

Speckled Wood 1

Nice David, they seem to be on the wing in a few places already.

Indeed, David. They're a week or so earlier than I'd normally expect them but we've had several fairly warm days this month so I guess it's not too surprising.

[David Lazarus]

As many of you may have experienced, today was very disappointing. Butterfly activity [which overstates the amount of butterfly movement] only existed from 09.50 to about 11.00 o'clock. And even then the cold easterly winds reduced the 12C temperatures to 6C. And then the cloud cover came and put an end to proceedings.....
So, during an hour of sun, but having to stay in a very sheltered part of the site, I managed to come across 8 Peacock hunkering in the undergrowth:

Peacock
Hawksbury Bush 21/03/2025

And a couple of Comma were pretending they were not there:

Comma
Hawksbury Wood 21/03/2025

So, after 11 o'clock I was left with checking out the habitats around Northlands Wood, One Tree Hill, Willow Park, & Marks Hill NR, photographing a few plants [without butterflies on them], and preparing my route around Northlands Wood for the summer search for White Admiral.

On a happier note - the Blackthorn Prunus spinosa is starting to break bud, the Wood Anemone Anemonoides nemorosa is beginning to carpet the woodland floor, and there are big patches of Primrose Primula vulgaris - very nice, despite lacking a Brimstone or two on them.

Blackthorn Prunus spinosa

Wood Anemone Anemonoides nemorosa

Primrose Primula vulgaris

Other plants beginning to come into flower included Greater Stitchwort Rabelera holostea and Red Campion Silene dioica along the hedgerows, and the woodland floor was covered in Bluebell foliage Hyacinthoides non-scripta. So, there are nectar sources out there, if only the weather would oblige.

Looking at the forecast for the rest of March into April, I think that could be the end of my sightings for this month

[essexbutterflyer]

As many of you may have experienced, today was very disappointing. Butterfly activity [which overstates the amount of butterfly movement] only existed from 09.50 to about 11.00 o'clock. And even then the cold easterly winds reduced the 12C temperatures to 6C. And then the cloud cover came and put an end to proceedings.....
So, during an hour of sun, but having to stay in a very sheltered part of the site, I managed to come across 8 Peacock hunkering in the undergrowth:

The cloud didn't lift here until 13:30, and even then it was only partial and short lived! So no Peacocks at all here :/ (let alone 8, yet to reach those numbers this year ).

But I did find one basking Comma, which promptly shut its wings and began shivering, as they do when it is just not warm enough, and then proceeded to vanish after a few short albeit fast swoops. I did see another dark butterfly in the distance, most likely a Comma, but it had disappeared by the time I went to check as well.

Harrow Lodge Park, East London

[millerd]

Temperatures up to around 18 degrees, but only hazy sunshine at best today on my local patch just to the west of an uncharacteristically silent Heathrow. However, not everything was grounded and joining the TV news helicopters taking endless footage of nothing happening were seven Commas, five Red Admirals and a Peacock.

I found one of the Red Admirals defending his territory from anything passing through, chasing after the frequent great tits flitting across his patch. When I stopped to watch and did my best tree impression, he alighted on my outstretched hand.

Using this as a base, he took off on several sorties before returning to the same spot. It was a little like being a falconer - with a very small hawk...

Red Admirals are such entertaining characters.

Dave

[aeshna5]

In my area of outer west London Peacocks seem surprisingly scarce so far. Most prominent over the last week have been Commas & male Brimstones. Not expecting any today, though I really hope we get some decent rain as March has been very dry so far with just the odd brief shower.

[essexbutterflyer]

In my area of outer west London Peacocks seem surprisingly scarce so far. Most prominent over the last week have been Commas & male Brimstones. Not expecting any today, though I really hope we get some decent rain as March has been very dry so far with just the odd brief shower.

Barely any Peacocks here in outer east London as well. Last year Peacocks were far more numerous, perhaps 4-5x times as much, this year it seems Commas are the more numerous although by not as much a gradient.

Still waiting for the majority of Blackthorn to flower.

[David M]

...Last year Peacocks were far more numerous, perhaps 4-5x times as much, this year it seems Commas are the more numerous although by not as much a gradient...

Same here too, Zayed. Commas leading Peacocks 16-4 at this stage!

[David Lazarus]

Here is a comparison of the recorded sightings of Peacock within the vice-counties of North & South Essex for 2024 and 2025 up to the 22nd of March of each year:

Recorded sightings of Peacock
Comparison of 2024 & 2025 up to the 22nd of March
Source: iRecord

I would imagine it is something similar for the rest of the UK - sorry I do not have access to all UK data. As you can see, recorded sightings up to this point of the year show that 2025 is down by about 50%. 2024 is regarded as being a very good year for recorded sightings of over-wintering adults seen in the spring. Sightings during 2024 began to increase at the end of the first week of March as it has done during 2025. There is a similar increase in numbers during the second part of the month with 6 good days of 10+ sightings during 2024 compared to only 2 in 2025 with a 10-day period with poor weather probably postponing greater numbers becoming active/being seen.

We could probably conclude from this that the cold winds coming from the north-east over the Essex coastline has set back the sightings, and the next week or so are not going to help improve things.

I should add that 41 of the 88 seen in 2025 have been my own recorded sightings which I would suggest skews the figures somewhat. By location, a quarter of all Peacock sightings in Essex during 2025 have been at Hatfield Forest. They are out there, but not seen by the 'casual' recorder.

At this time last year I had also seen 41 Peacocks but all within the River Chelmer floodplain. This year I have only seen 4 - perhaps this reflects how others have experienced the lack of Peacocks? I might add though that the 5 best butterflying days we have had this year, I did not walk around the floodplain unlike last year.

PS. it just shows you how difficult it is to compare data sets.

[millerd]

Peacocks have not been as numerous as usual round my way either, though spring 2024 was particularly good following very high numbers during the summer of 2023. My overall scores for the year so far here also show the resilience of the Red Admirals:

Brimstone 59 (seen on 9 days)
Comma 37 (seen on 10 days)
Peacock 32 (seen on 9 days)
Red Admiral 27 (seen on 14 days)
Small Tortoiseshell 1 (seen on 1 day)
TOTAL 156 butterflies (seen on 17 days)

The sunshine today (22nd) was even hazier than yesterday and pretty well disappeared in the afternoon as a thunderstorm passed not far to the northeast. However, it was warm again (up to 17 degrees), and a few butterflies appeared: two Peacocks, two Commas and two Red Admirals.

Dave

[David Lazarus]

An unexpected treat here in Chelmsford when the sun came out at 12.30 producing a lovely spring afternoon - not forecast at all. So I got up from my computer and dashed out to search for Small Tortoiseshell along the riverbanks of the River Chelmer. It became my first butterfly of an eventful 4 hours of butterflying.

Small Tortoiseshell
Sandford Mill 24/03/2025

For some reason there were no Peacock around which was a surprise to me considering how many had appeared this week at the other sites I have visited. But there were again a few Comma perched in their territories, although not in great numbers.

Comma
Sandford Mill 24/03/2025

After a couple of hours I thought that was it. I reached Barnes Mill and out popped my first Red Admiral of 2025. I thought none had survived around here but I would have thought it is more likely that this one survived our winter rather than it being the first immigrant to arrive in mid-Essex as we have had cold, northerly, and north-easterly winds for the past two weeks.

Red Admiral
Barnes Mill 24/03/2025

The Blackthorn Prunus spinosa has started to break bud locally and the Red Admiral became the first to nectar on the blossom. That made 5 species seen in 2025, not having seen a Small White, Speckled Wood, or Large Tortoiseshell here in Essex yet.

And then I reached a popular Small Tortoiseshell late afternoon basking area and one duly obliged by posing for my favourite annual shot of a Small Tortoiseshell basking on the basal leaves of Angelica Angelica sylvestris. I had to take great care though, as just like Paul recently there were impostors trying to get in on the act.

Target Species

Impostor

Comma turned out to be the most abundant of the 3 species I saw in the floodplain of the River Chelmer:

Comma
Baddow Meads 24/03/2025

Comma 8
Small Tortoiseshell 3 [which makes 8 individuals so far in the floodplain of the River Chelmer with one week of March left ]
Red Admiral 1

And I thought that it was it.....but I was in for a surprise


On my way back through the park I was keeping an eye out for Comma basking along the ivy wall when a small white butterfly appeared. I duly attempted to photograph what I thought was my first Small White of 2025 only to discover to my surprise that it was a male Green-veined White. It was fresh out and proceeded to dry its wings, beautifully open, but 4 metres up the ivy. I waited with a record shot only hoping it would come lower. After half-an-hour of watching him through my binoculars I left. I thought I would return on the off chance. At 4.35 he took off and went to roost on an open bramble bud, in reach of my iPhone - happy days:

Green-veined White male
Meadgate Park 24/03/2025

Not an open-winged shot but very grateful. This was the first recorded sighting in Essex, 4 days after the first UK sighting at Newquay. That makes 6 of the 34 species to be found in Essex. Sorry, 35 if you count the Large Tortoiseshell seen in Essex as recently as 2021 - and there has been a sighting in Berkshire this year, so you never know

[millerd]

The Met Office had forecast that the morning cloud and mistiness would recede southwards here around lunchtime, and they were spot on the money. However, the sunshine following was probably too late in the day for Brimstones, but instead I saw my first Small Whites of 2025.

The other usual suspects were up and about, and the afternoon's totals on my local patch were:

Peacock 6
Red Admiral 4
Comma 4
Small White 3

I shall now be on the look out for Speckled Woods and GVW, with Holly Blues and Orange Tips to follow...

Dave

[David M]

Saturday 22nd, Cwm Ivy, Gower:

Brimstone 6
Comma 4
Peacock 2
Speckled Wood 2
Red Admiral 1

[Andy02]

Doesn’t matter how many different species I may see this year , You can’t beat a peacock on spring blossom to lift the spirits

[Devon Dave]

Warm ,sunny start to the day in Devon yesterday, lots of Vanessids active by Lunch time, then a nice surprise a fresh Large White settled on a Forget me Not flower As I pointed my camera towards it, flew off before I could press the shutter.But heart lifting to see my first Large White of 2025, I will Forget it Not !