March 2012

[Edwardt]

Male orange tip on allotments at Dorchester-on-Thames, Oxfordshire March 25th, 1pm. My earliest ever.

[Neil Freeman]

Went out for a couple of hours this afternoon and did a circle around a couple of of local spots.

Apart from my first Small Tortoiseshell of the year it is Peacocks and Commas making up the numbers around here, I saw half a dozen of each.

I still have not seen my first Brimstone although I know that a few have been seen hereabouts.

Looks like the good weather is here for a few days atl least. I would not be surprised to see my resident Speckled Woods put in an appearance in my back garden this week, last year they showed up first week of April.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[millerd]

A walk around my local patch at Stanwell Moor near Heathrow on Friday 23rd produced seven Peacocks, five Brimstones, three Commas and a Small White. The Brimstone behaviour was interesting: I decided they must be freshly awakened, as instead of their customary patrolling of the hedgerows with hardly a pause for breath, they were all nectaring avidly on low-level flowers and barely taking to the air at all. The Peacock numbers reflect those seen in July, rather than September - supporting the early hibernation theory.

I spent the weekend in Dover and saw nothing - Saturday was fine, but Sunday was grey and the temperature struggled to top 7 degrees all day! The notorious East Kent microclimate...

Dave

[Nick Broomer]

Butterflies seen today. 15 Comma, 8 Peacock, 5 Red Admiral, 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 male Orange-Tip, and one Holly Blue.

Thats brings me up to nine species in March.

Nick.

[Wurzel]

Male and female Brimstone in my garden in Salisbury. Comma, 2 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 male and a female Brimstone and 3 Small Whites at Five Rivers.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Rebecca]

Saw my first butterflies of the year on Monday 19th, 3 male brimstones. Since then I have seen small tortoiseshells, peacocks, a speckled wood and some commas.

[dilettante]

Butterflies seen today. 15 Comma, 8 Peacock, 5 Red Admiral, 3 Small Tortoiseshell, 2 male Orange-Tip, and one Holly Blue.

Thats brings me up to nine species in March.

Nick.

Orange Tips already - excellent! An impressive total for March (and still a few days to go...)

[A_T]

Speckled Wood yesterday nearly 4 weeks earlier than last year.

Not sure I like all these really early sightings just seems all wrong somehow.

[RobS]

Decided to check out my (very)local patch for the first time since moving house.The Millennium Arboretum in Wokingham is less than a mile from where i live so i walked down there to see if i could find any early Orange Tips.No success on that front but i was greeted onto the site by a solitary Holly Blue.A peacock flew past on a mission as did a comma.The site does look promising for later in the year.Ill keep checking it out.
As im writing this, sat next to my open patio doors, a Brimstone has settled about 6 feet away from me.Its going to be a good season!!!

cheers
Rob

[Debbie]

Yesterday, I saw my first ever Brimstone. What a beautiful butterfly.

As I walked up my drive way it was flying past me and a couple of twirls as it then went over the hedge and off on its way. We also have seen fleeting sightings of a Red Admiral and Peacock.

All of them were flying very high, (?) should I wonder why ? (Is this a silly question )

[marmari]

No,DMS I am sure that is not a silly question.Hopefully someone will answer that for you.
Todays trip to Woodhouse Copse started a bit on the slow side for butterflies maybe due to a chilly breeze.However by 130 it had warmed up quite nicely.
Still no sign of the much hoped for Large T.If any were here this spring maybe they have dispersed.
Commas in numbers again,plus 5 Brimstone,including one female.Two Peacock and 2 Speckled Wood.
One Peacock was a bit different.but can't really call it a 'Black Peacock'

[adrian riley]

News from Norfolk

1 Large White at Hillborough and 1 Small White at Syderstone (+an excellent pint of cider). Despite envy-making report from Sussex, no sign of Grizzlies at Foulden Common.

Adrian Riley. http://www.bugalert.net.

[adrian riley]

Yesterday, I saw my first ever Brimstone. What a beautiful butterfly.

As I walked up my drive way it was flying past me and a couple of twirls as it then went over the hedge and off on its way. We also have seen fleeting sightings of a Red Admiral and Peacock.

All of them were flying very high, (?) should I wonder why ? (Is this a silly question )

This gladdens my heart. I am so pleased you enjoyed your first Brimstone. My partner and I are doing a sponsered bug-hunt for the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service this year and she saw her first Brimstone today. Lots of ohhhhhs!
Made me ohhhh, too!!!!

I have been an entomologist for 40 years. There is no such thing as an embarrassing question. Just a question. Keep 'em coming.

Adrian Riley

[Susie]

Denbies was a deep disappointment this morning as I didn't see a single butterfly. I tried my luck at a woodland site in Five Oaks and had better luck during a brief walk with three brimstones, a comma and my first orange tip of the year.

[Dave McCormick]

Denbies was a deep disappointment this morning as I didn't see a single butterfly. I tried my luck at a woodland site in Five Oaks and had better luck during a brief walk with three brimstones, a comma and my first orange tip of the year.

Similar here, I walked 4 miles and didn't see any either, just a few bumblebees. Was 21.1C max today, warmest here this year, maybe I was just in the wrong place again, might have better luck at the local wetland nature reserve, might go there someday this week if I am free.

[Gibster]

Added Small White to my butterfly yearlist today, a female prospecting the delights of a weedy flowerbed in 'delightful' Thornton Heath (which is even more built up than nearby Croydon, fair amazes me that butterflies can survive in these massively urbanised areas!) Also seen a short whoile later was a Small Tortoiseshell in Croydon itself. My truck's in-built thermometer read 20.5C mid-afternoon.

Cheers,

Gibster.

[Reddog]

I took my dog for a walk to Oglet shore (the back of Liverpool airport) today and saw lots of butterflies in the warm weather. I saw lots of Small Tortoiseshells (too many to count) about 20 Peacocks 2 Speckled Woods 1 Comma and 6 Small Whites. After much running about I managed to get one (not very good) photo of a Small White. All in all a top day out.

[MikeOxon]

Another hot sunny day in Oxfordshire but no butterflies in my garden by lunchtime. I went to the nearby Dry Sandford Pit reserve at Cothill, which is a real sun-trap in an old quarry, and again found only one Peacock, until about 3pm when more species started to appear. In the hour up to 4pm, I saw Brimstone, Comma, Peacock and just one, very mobile, Orange Tip.

Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 26 March 2012
Nikon D300s with 300f4 +1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/8 ISO 400

Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon - 26 March 2012
Nikon D300s with 300f4 +1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO 400

All these Spring butterflies were extremely flighty and I found my 300mm lens plus 1.4X teleconverter very useful, since a close approach was impossible!

Mike

[Willrow]

Incredible start to the 2012 Butterfly season, can not remember weather like this in March. It seems rather freakish to have temperatures of 2.5c at 7am this morning and to see quite heavy ground frost at Sennybridge in the Brecon Beacons, in fact many of the cars were covered in frost as I travelled through the village, by mid afternoon I was at Llyn Brianne in the southern Cambrian mountains and the temperature had soared to a maximum of 21.5c

I saw just two Peacocks enjoying the early Dandelions on the roadside and a solitary Small Tortoiseshell high on a Salix. As a matter of interest I also saw my first Cuckoo Flower on the way home, not too far from the meadows that were coated with frost earlier in the day, don't think our local Orange Tips should be too far behind them, but if they do happen to appear in March then I'll know our traditional seasons have really lost the plot

Bill

[Rebecca]

Very quiet this morning when I went out, 2 speckled woods and a small tortoiseshell. It hadn't really warmed up at that point though.
This afternoon was quite different. I went out for a bike ride and saw my first small whites and my first orange-tip of the year. Unfortunately my camera was at home.
Then late afternoon I took the dogs out and we headed across the field to the woods. At this time of day the sun is shining right onto the front of the woods. Lots of commas and peacocks in the air, really impressed by the numbers. Lots of scrapping going on, a mass brawl between 5 commas and then various commas would go for the peacocks.