March 2024

[zigzag_wanderer]

In the sunny periods we had singles of Brimstone, what looked like a Large White, Comma and Red Admiral in the garden today (the latter two duking it out on the perennial geraniums). Also my first Holly Blue of the year, a very obliging male.

[David Lazarus]

The morning sun has brought the butterflies out and I saw my first Speckled Wood of the season. A total of 25 butterflies with Peacock and Brimstone in good numbers.

Speckled Wood 26/03/2024 Meadgate Park, Chelmsford

[Allan.W.]

Had a couple of hours in Orlestone (Kent ) this morning in fine but hazy sunshine .There were good numbers of Peacock on the wing and Commas ,and a reasonable number of Brimstone . Best find was two Small Tortoiseshells in the Longrope section a first for the year ......never that common in the forest .......but no Red Admirals .
Other bits of interest was a flushed Woodcock ,a low fly-over by a Raven and a local pair of vocal Common Buzzards. On the moth front ,dozens of Orange Underwings and also Dark edged Bee-flies.

Allan.W.

[David M]

Love that first Brimstone shot, Allan. Shame there can't be a dash of yellow in the sky right now!

[Allan.W.]

Thanks David !.................couldn't agree more ! Allan.W.

[Chris L]

The burst of sunshine this afternoon after a grey and drizzly morning brought out a couple of local Commas, but that was all today.Comma3 170324.JPG
Dave

That is a lovely photo Dave. I sometimes dwell on the fact that I always go for the standard 'fill the screen, get as close as possible' photo and yet a more distant shot with background can be very atmospheric.

As an aside, I would get more butterfly photos too if I did more distant shots. I often approach butterflies for a photo like I am wearing clown shoes and also obvious to the fact I have a shadow.

[Chris L]

In the sunny periods we had singles of Brimstone, what looked like a Large White, Comma and Red Admiral in the garden today (the latter two duking it out on the perennial geraniums). Also my first Holly Blue of the year, a very obliging male.

Wow! A Holly Blue in late March. That is fantastic. I would run around my local wood with my shirt over my head like I had scored an FA Cup final winner if I saw one that early and have it pose like it did for you ZZW.

[Chris L]

Quite a bit of (slightly hazy) sunshine today, and temperatures rose to around 18 degrees local to me. During the two-hour period centred around midday, I managed to count 46 butterflies with six species represented. These included my first Small Tortoiseshell of 2024(which eluded the camera) and the first Speckled Woods (one of which posed nicely).SpW1 200324.JPGThe overall tally:

Brimstone 19
Peacock 17
Comma 4
Speckled Wood 3
Red Admiral 2
Small Tortoiseshell 1

Cowslips are appearing...cowslip 200324.JPG...and there are flower buds on the garlic mustardgarlic mustard 200324.JPG - which means Orange Tips can't be far away.

Dave

Brilliant Speckled Wood photo Dave. I have never got a photo of this species as good as that. Or indeed any species now I think about it.

[Chris L]

I was surprised to see an early Speckled Wood in my Crawley garden between 11.45 and 12.00 today.

IMG_2962-01G.JPG

Swiftly moving on to Tilgate Park, there were 5 Red Admiral and 5 male Brimstone seen.

IMG_2969-01G.JPG

Back home our resident vixen was found enjoying the sunshine on the lawn.

IMG_2987-01G.JPG

It was a sunny 10C today, but there was a cold 16mph wind coming in from the north-east, so sightings were confined to sheltered areas.

Vince

Absolutely adorable photo of the relaxed, sunbathing fox Vince. It is like it is on the beach waiting for its round of drinks to arrive.

[Chris L]

I'm vicariously very excited by all these large tortoiseshell sightings. Spring is the time to look for adults. Those that do not disperse hibernate quite soon after emergence in summer, and vagrant summer individuals are very often in transit to somewhere else. But spring butterflies have hibernated in what they think are suitable breeding locations, whether they emerged there or arrived as migrants. In Switzerland, I see dozens to hundreds of spring large tortoiseshells en parade nuptiale but just single figures of summer butterflies.

Guy

I am also excited by these Large Tortoiseshell sightings. I always work on the basis that the numbers seen will be a miniscule percentage of those that are out there. A sighting requires the butterfly to appear in the presence of a person who could identify it in a given second of a day.

I think I posed the question last year as to when a butterfly could be considered a UK resident species. I think we kicked around the thought without reaching a conclusion. So, with the power invested in me, I hereby declare the Large Tortoiseshell a very rare UK species

[David M]

...I hereby declare the Large Tortoiseshell a very rare UK species

Agreed. For me, we have 61 species now, Long-Tailed Blue being the other addition.

[Chris L]

...I hereby declare the Large Tortoiseshell a very rare UK species

Agreed. For me, we have 61 species now, Long-Tailed Blue being the other addition.

Fantastic Dave, we are on a roll. I value your butterfly knowledge and experience and if you think that these 2 butterflies are now resident species, that will do for me. It means that I now have more species to see, but that's good.

[David M]

I think Long-Tailed Blue is a guarantee (at least near the south coast of England) every year now, rather like Clouded Yellow. I don't think LTB will ever be a resident in the UK, but it is without doubt an annual migrant.

Large Tortoiseshell seems to be appearing with greater frequency and over a wider area. I have little doubt it is slowly re-establishing itself here, especially since the discovery of early stages a couple of years ago.

[Chris L]

2 today for me, a Comma and a Small Tortoiseshell. That's 69 in total for 2024. On this day in 2023 I had seen 3 in total, but last year was a truly dreadful start. On this day in 2022 I had seen 327 in total.

The 69 have consisted of:

- 31 Comma
- 14 Brimstone
- 13 Small Tortoiseshell
- 9 Peacock
- 2 Small White

[millerd]

My first Orange Tip of the year today actually posed nicely for me...

The same cannot be said of my first Holly Blue, which barrelled past me as I stopped to open my front door.

Overall, eight species seen today on my local patch.

Dave

[David M]

Excelente, Senor Miller!

I saw the foodplant in flower quite extensively myself this morning, so I'm expecting them here very soon.

[bugboy]

Like Dave above, my spring also started today, unlike Dave above my one didn't stop for me! However today was my first proper butterfly day of the season, signified by the birds very much playing second fiddle (they did provide a lovely soundtrack to my wanderings though), with lots of season debuts. Tottenham Marshes was home to Peacocks 20 - 30, Comma 6+, Small Tortoiseshell 2, Small and Green-veined White (season debuts) 10+, Brimstones 6, Speckled Wood (season debuts) 3, Orange-tip (season debut) 1.

[Allan.W.]

A very late breakfast at "the end of the line "cafe at Dungeness earlier .Not too much about butterfly-wise but did manage 3 Peacock ,including one that looked as though it had just emerged ! and not overwintered. Lynne spotted a couple of Swallows ..........which i missed !
Driving back across Walland and Fairfield ,still a lot of water laying in the fields. Seems to suit the Black-Headed and Common Gulls ,also at least a couple of Adult Med-Gulls amongst the sheep.

Been overwintering a couple of Orange-Tip pupae that i rescued (as eggs ) from a local building site ,one of the pupae was a "Green" form ,which i haven,t seen before . This morning one of them emerged (the normal one ).

This afternoon i released it fairly close to where i found the eggs ,and after a short warming up session ........off it went .
In this little scrubby area i found around ten Peacocks ,2 Small Torts and two firsts for year .Speckled Wood (2) and a male Green-Veined White.

As i wandered back home i noticed spaced evenly along the field hedgerow these boxes ,about ten in all .I believe they are used to see if Dormice are present in the hedgeline . I think they are lightly baited at one end ,at the end of a soft plasticene walkway ,it captures the footprints i believe .
(As always ......happy to be corrected !)

Allan.W.

[aeshna5]

Had my first (male) Orange Tip yesterday in outer west London along with Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone & several Peacocks.

[David M]

Saturday 30th, Park Wood, Gower:

Brimstone 8 (6 males, 2 females)
Peacock 2
Comma 2