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Torties have moved north

I live about halfway up Scotland, and we have suffered the same Tortoiseshell declines. These are my figures from monitoring a hibernaculum near Perth for example:

Another day looking for local Small Torts along the Lea valley between Cheshunt and Broxbourne. located 5, all in the same place I've seen them in previous years. Also saw my first Orange-tips, one of each sex but was too warm to get anything like a decent shot as evidence.

The day started by checking things in the garden, where I found that the first of the Brown Hairstreak eggs rescued from the front hedge had begun to hatch. This is my earliest ever record, but only 3 days earlier than last year.
Then to my local monitoring site to check the Red Admiral eggs laid on 8th March, which have now started to hatch after 26 days.
While taking photos of those eggs I glanced down and found another Comma egg and also, what I took to be a stray Speckled Wood egg laid on Cleavers (Galium aparine). However once I got home and put it under the hand lens, it did not look quite right for that species, so have concluded that it can only be a Humming-bird Hawk-moth egg. I will monitor it until it hatches in order to get confirmation (unless anyone has any other thoughts).
Back in the garden, our resident vixen is showing signs that she is about to have cubs.
Total sightings for the day were:
1 Small White, 1 Green-veined White plus 4 other Whites, 8 Brimstone, 2 Comma, 3 Peacock and 7 Speckled Wood.

Vince

Down to Brighton today and the butterflies weren't playing ball! Two mysterious butterflies (Red Admiral i'd guess), one flying over hills in Bevendean and the other just as I returned home (to tease me of course).

Unfortunately I haven't got a go-to park in Brighton for this time of year, so have to do some exploring.

I thought I'd stir myself from my local environs today and headed up to Incombe Hole on the Chilterns. The first thing that struck me was that the trees were behind those at home - maybe by a week or so - and for example the hawthorns were barely leafing yet. There were very few flowers aside from blackthorn and a few other prunus, plus a scattering of violets. Any hopes of some early spring specialities were dashed, but one or two of the usual suspects did appear: several Peacocks and Brimstones, a Comma or two, a Small White and a single Orange Tip.Back home, I saw more butterflies and more variety in the course of an hour than I had during the whole of the morning on the chalk downland - but that's often the case at this stage of the season.

Dave

The sun came out this lunchtime and so did the Green Hairstreaks. Battlesbury Hill, Wiltshire

Brimstone (12)
Orange-tip (6)
Green Hairstreak (4)
Peacock (4)
Comma (1)
Speckled Wood (3)

Stevieb wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 2:11 pmThe sun came out this lunchtime and so did the Green Hairstreaks...

That's great to know, Steve. Might be a few round my way by next week.

A stubborn patch of highish cloud rather tempered the sunshine this morning down at Denbies Hillside. No Green Hairstreaks appeared (though I was assured that they are definitely out here already), but I did manage to spot a couple of Grizzled Skippers.Apparently they have been seen here since the end of March...

In sub-optimal conditions, the other butterflies out today were Peacocks, Brimstones and a Comma or two. I also came across these rather attractive wild flowers, which I believe are called Pasque Flowers.In the woodland above the hillside, the bluebells are also nearly out alongside wood anemones and lots of violets.

Returning home, I saw nothing unusual but was taken by a Small White hiding up in some blackthorn blossom......and another immaculate Peacock failing to show its age. Dave

Finished work early today, so went looking for possible "earlyish" Grizzled Skipper an Green Hairstreak, at a local area here in Kent.
No GH to be found...but 4 Grizzled Skipper sighted, with some high flying dueling action between 2 of them.
Not many other species on the wing (maybe too hot for em!!!)...low numbers of Brimstone (both sexes)...a couple of Peacock...an a couple of Orange Tips. Other than that, not a lot of butterflies on the wing, so great that the Grizzlies put on a show of sorts.
No images cropped, cheers Paul.

Over the past two days I have been doing a little bit of reconnaissance. Firstly, on Wednesday I went to the South Essex Woods to see how they are looking for this summer's Heath Fritillary carnival. I was pleased to see that Essex Wildlife Trust have done some good pollarding in the conservation area at Pound Wood, and everything looks ready to build on last year's healthy colony. Apart from that, it was very quiet although I did see a female Brimstone. I do not know what is going on at Hadleigh Great Wood but it looks like it is going to be a tough year for the Heath Fritillary even if some make it to adulthood from the small numbers recorded there last year. It also had little butterfly activity apart from a few Peacock - too dark, even in Spring. Hockley Woods turned out to be very positive. Not only are the conservation areas looking good [although just like Pound Wood there are no signs of the baby plants of Common Cow-wheat Melampyrum pratense yet], there was some moderate butterfly activity already but mainly along the southern woodland edge.
Yesterday, Thursday, I made a rare trip to the north-east London area in the far south-west of the vice-county of South Essex to take a look at a few sites. I somehow managed to take a few steps over the boundary and donated 5 recorded sightings of Small White to Middlesex - no worries . It turned out to be only a fraction of the Small White I recorded - they must have all decided to emerge at the same time, and they were all very white with very little distinguishable apex markings. What was very odd, especially coming from the floodplain of the River Chelmer, there were no Green-veined White to be seen among them. Both Walthamstow Marshes Nature Reserve and Coppermill Fields were enjoyable to see for the first time with the highlights being a couple of Small Tortoiseshell and a handful of Speckled Wood to go with the good numbers of Small White and some Brimstone. Walthamstow Wetlands doesn't need visiting again - good for birds, not for butterflies.

Friday 04th April - Hatfield Forest

After a couple of days of warm weather but low numbers of butterflies, it was good to get back to some sort of normality today with my fourth visit to Hatfield Forest this year to check out the latest ride profile. After a slow start because of the clouds, even though I saw my first Peacock at 09.15 this morning, things picked up by midday when there was two hours of hyper-activity in the hottest weather I have experienced so far. I recorded the highest daily total for 2025 with 152 recorded sightings. It was the most butterfly activity I have seen this year. There were three new species to be seen for the first time at Hatfield Forest this year, one of which was my first sighting of 2025 - finally an Orange-tip, with the others being Green-veined White and Large White. Unlike the day before when they were all Small White, today there were no Small White with them all being Green-veined White. Still no Speckled Wood at Hatfield Forest which was a surprise.

The Ride Profile for the first week of April is now:

57% Peacock: 24% Brimstone: 10% Comma: 4% Green-veined White: 2.5% Large White: 1.5% Orange-tip: & 1% Red Admiral

Peacock numbers were amazing spread throughout the site with 87 being the highest daily total of a single species during 2025 so far. Comma were less conspicuous and were half as much as I saw last week - they seemed to have peaked. Brimstone were in good numbers but are showing their age & activity levels with a few tatty ones around [see below]. I finally saw a few females on the wing, and by the look of it they had already been fertilised and were looking for buckthorn while having a few pit stops on dandelions, primroses, and violets.

It was an excellent day, over 7 hours and 13 miles of walking, but it so nearly could have been a perfect day:

First Orange-tip of 2025 nectaring on Early Dog Violet Viola reichenbachiana, so close to getting a rare shot - 2 more steps, but left with a record shot only
And fine margins
both heavily cropped record shots only

A wander in the local forest yesterday ,found my first O-Tip(S) and Green Veins .noticed a male OT approaching from some distance,as he got closer he put up a "White".......a female OT .he kept very close to her ,and harried her relentlessly until she finally landed on a convenient plant stem .....mating occured immediately ! in another section of the forest ,rarely visited ,was lucky enough to find a very worn Large Tort .And finally a nearly full grown Common Blue larvae which I overwintered.

Excellent stuff, Allan. Amazingly, I've yet to see Orange Tips in cop. I'll be looking for them again tomorrow.

David Lazarus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 7:54 pm What was very odd, especially coming from the floodplain of the River Chelmer, there were no Green-veined White to be seen among them. Both Walthamstow Marshes Nature Reserve and Coppermill Fields were enjoyable to see for the first time with the highlights being a couple of Small Tortoiseshell and a handful of Speckled Wood to go with the good numbers of Small White and some Brimstone. Walthamstow Wetlands doesn't need visiting again - good for birds, not for butterflies.

Well David, you have saved me a trip to Walthamstow!

I am starting to get a bit impatient, having seen every other White except my "favourite", Green-veined White, so I've been looking for other places to visit.

Also still no cuckoo flower... in past years I've struggled to find any here

essexbutterflyer wrote: ↑Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:40 am

David Lazarus wrote: ↑Fri Apr 04, 2025 7:54 pm What was very odd, especially coming from the floodplain of the River Chelmer, there were no Green-veined White to be seen among them. Both Walthamstow Marshes Nature Reserve and Coppermill Fields were enjoyable to see for the first time with the highlights being a couple of Small Tortoiseshell and a handful of Speckled Wood to go with the good numbers of Small White and some Brimstone. Walthamstow Wetlands doesn't need visiting again - good for birds, not for butterflies.

Well David, you have saved me a trip to Walthamstow!

I am starting to get a bit impatient, having seen every other White except my "favourite", Green-veined White, so I've been looking for other places to visit.

Also still no cuckoo flower... in past years I've struggled to find any here

Tottenham Marshes is generally better for butterflies than Walthamstow Marshes numbers wise. Walthamstow Marshes is my local patch but I mostly ignore it once the adult hibernators have come and gone, although it does have a good population of Holly Blue that emerge later in the spring and use Goat's-rue as a primary first gen LHP. Walthamstow Wetlands might be worth checking for Green Hairstreak in a few weeks time, they're on the Marshes, I was photographing them on Hawthorn blossom last year.

Good Luck David (M) hope you manage to find a pair..............nice to see a few Green-Veins too.......but still just 1 Small Tort and no Holly Blues or Speckled Woods as yet.........amazed to see your early Grizzle.......thought it was an April Fools job....but since seen a few other early reports of grizzles......yours was about 5 weeks earlier (give or take!) than my earliest.......Great Find !

bugboy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 05, 2025 10:37 am Tottenham Marshes is generally better for butterflies than Walthamstow Marshes numbers wise. Walthamstow Marshes is my local patch but I mostly ignore it once the adult hibernators have come and gone, although it does have a good population of Holly Blue that emerge later in the spring and use Goat's-rue as a primary first gen LHP. Walthamstow Wetlands might be worth checking for Green Hairstreak in a few weeks time, they're on the Marshes, I was photographing them on Hawthorn blossom last year.

Thanks, Paul, for the local knowledge - much appreciated. I must admit I went mainly to find my first Holly Blue of the year as your temperatures are 2-3° warmer than the places I usually visit. The urban heat effect no doubt. But alas, struck out again. I liked Coppermill Field.

essexbutterflyer wrote: ↑Sat Apr 05, 2025 9:40 am

I am starting to get a bit impatient, having seen every other White except my "favourite", Green-veined White, so I've been looking for other places to visit.

Two Green-veined today at Harrow Lodge today, hilarious timing. First one I saw was female, and easy to ID in flight. The second I had assumed was Small White, until it stopped and I realised my Small/Green-veined in flight IDing skills need work (if it's even possible ). The Holly Blue made a very short appearance, and Large Whites too, but what was most notable were the considerable numbers of Specklies, they were all over the park.

Peacock and Comma also there but in fewer numbers, and a single male Brimstone too. No OT yet, still happy with 32 of 7 though.

bugboy wrote: ↑Sat Apr 05, 2025 10:37 am

Tottenham Marshes is generally better for butterflies than Walthamstow Marshes numbers wise. Walthamstow Marshes is my local patch but I mostly ignore it once the adult hibernators have come and gone, although it does have a good population of Holly Blue that emerge later in the spring and use Goat's-rue as a primary first gen LHP. Walthamstow Wetlands might be worth checking for Green Hairstreak in a few weeks time, they're on the Marshes, I was photographing them on Hawthorn blossom last year.

Thanks for the info bugboy.

5th April.
Bright sun, temperature a mere 11.5C and a brisk wind. Peacock flew through the garden and as Peacocks do, said: "No way"
(actually not quite that polite!) and disappeared into a pile of logs.

Jack

Had my first garden Holly Blue of the year yesterday afternoon. Melksham, Wiltshire