millerd

[millerd]

Cheers, Trevor - Hadleigh is a bit of a trek and subject to the whims of the M25, but WLH are almost guaranteed there at the right time of year. You are also right about the Emperor - it is indeed the one we had to ourselves that day. Apparently the following week ended up being less of a struggle for them! I have visited Fermyn (a few years ago now), and it's definitely worth a look (though not near enough for a daily commute like Chiddingfold is for me! ).

JULY - SEPTEMBER 2022: AWAY FROM HOME TERRITORY

I headed north in the second week of July, but (as recounted elsewhere) I succumbed to a series of ailments that effectively knocked my summer plans on the head. I managed to see Graylings at Arnside on the evening of 10th July (and several fritillaries), but the heat made them all very skittish and I had started to feel uncharacteristically unenergetic and lacked the impetus to chase anything. I came away with a photo of a female DGF and nothing else. There may have been HBF around as well, but I really couldn't say.

As well as my unwanted indisposition, the extreme heat of July and August would no doubt have made trips out difficult, but I was disappointed not to see any Brown Hairstreaks or Silver-spotted Skippers in 2022. By the time I felt able to stagger out onto the slopes at Denbies in mid-September, the latter had disappeared.

A bit of encouragement came when I found a few Clouded Yellows on my local patch (mentioned a few posts back), and then reports started coming in thick and fast that Long-tailed Blues had once again invaded the Sussex Coast (at Worthing this time), and that the Queen of Spain Fritillary had managed something a bit more modest down at Walmer in Kent. The weather played ball, and I returned properly to the fray with visits to both locations. Aside from anything, both days were very sociable and it was great to catch up with so many familiar faces, and put a few names to others.

Worthing came first, on 21st September, and the Long-tailed Blues.

Five days later (I still needed the intervening time to recover from the unaccustomed exertion!) I headed to east Kent for the Queens.

That really was quite a week on which to finish the summer, and considerable compensation for the weeks lost earlier on.

As chronicled earlier, I continued to see butterflies on my local patch through the unusually mild autumn months of October and November 2022 (September was more a continuation of summer than a start of autumn), but failed to see an adult butterfly in December - the first month since January 2021 that this has been the case. However, throughout December (and now into January of the new year) I have been following the progress of a selection of Red Admiral caterpillars (and a few eggs too) as they cope with the English winter. Despite a period with eleven consecutive frosty nights, a sprinkle of snow and some very chilly days, it has been mostly mild or very mild, and the various caterpillars have seemed able to survive everything nature has been conjuring up.

Onward into 2023!

Dave

[Wurzel]

Fantastic final flourish Dave Those Queens are a delight to see and definitely a bit of karmic payback for the trials and tribulations you had earlier . Here's hoping 2023 is a cracker!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Fantastic shots Dave of the Queen's I could weep at the Butterflies I missed last year Goldie

[David M]

...That really was quite a week on which to finish the summer, and considerable compensation for the weeks lost earlier on...

Wasn't it just!! A fabulous double whammy of Long Tailed Blue & Queen of Spain. Must have been better than any medication health professionals could give you.

22 consecutive months of seeing active adult butterflies in the UK is not to be sniffed at either. I doubt too many will ever have exceeded that!

[millerd]

A rather belated thank you to you all for the appreciation of those shots of the Queens - a great flourish to wind up what was rather an unusual year one way or another.

As mentioned, December was devoted to locating and following various early stages of Red Admirals, and January 2023 was much the same. The weather see-sawed between distinctly mild and downright chilly (mostly overnight), but the some of the caterpillars seemed to survive it all, tucked in their nettle-leaf shelters. On very rare occasions on mild days, I found one out in the open, and I think this one seen on 9th of the month was the most memorable. I reckon it was fully grown, and (fingers crossed) it found a suitable spot to pupate.

The weather stats locally for January make interesting reading. The highest day maximum was 14 degrees on 4th; on 17th at the start of the cold spell the daytime high was only just above freezing. There were ten consecutive frosty nights at this time, culminating in an astonishing overnight minimum of minus 8.4 degrees on the night of 23rd/24th. A few days later, at least one Red Admiral caterpillar was still alive in its shelter.

(I have chronicled the lives of these caterpillars more fully in the December and January sightings threads.)

However, averages for the month belie this topsy-turvy world. The average day maximum for the month here was close to 9 degrees, actually half a degree above the average (reference period 1991-2020), and the average minimum was at 2.5 degrees only a small fraction of a degree below the average of 2.7. It was about 10% wetter and 10% sunnier than average.

And now for February...

Dave

[millerd]

On 3rd February the sun shone, winds were relatively light and temperatures rose to near 14 degrees on my local patch.

I set off before midday on my usual walk, taking in the nettle patch where the Red Admiral caterpillars had been hanging on. Unfortunately, I found no sign of these, and the last shelter I had been watching was now completely dried up and unoccupied. I just have to hope its tenant had sensibly relocated somewhere nearby - I shall carry on looking.

Nevertheless, I was hopeful of seeing perhaps a sleepy Brimstone, woken from hibernation by the warmth and sunshine. However, despite taking in all the likely spots where I had made early sightings in the past, I drew a blank. All was not over, though. Along the path where the Large Tortoiseshell had magically appeared last May, I spotted a Peacock basking on the brambles. It was very amenable to photos as well.

Encouraged by this turn of events, I decided to walk down to Staines Moor as well. I saw nothing on the way down, but things may have warmed a bit more on the way back as I saw a series of three more quite different Peacocks. All were active and not posing (though one thought about settling on my shirt for a moment, and another decided to go to ground well on the other side of a vicious barbed wire fence). Four Peacocks and still no Brimstones - most curious.

I have never seen Peacocks as early in the year as this, and it is overall the second-earliest I have seen any butterfly (beaten only by a Red Admiral on 29th January 2022). It did feel genuinely springlike today, with lots of birdsong, flowers beginning to bloom, and the buds on the pussy willows starting to burst.

The season is underway...

Dave

[trevor]

Well done with the Peacock Dave.
I went over to Rowland Wood yesterday more in hope than expectation,
which was just as well, nothing was seen!

Great stuff,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cracking Peacock Dave It looks in great nick after hibernation Hopefully it'll be tucked up as the temperatures drop back again this coming week or even better that the weather people get it wrong, although they have an uncanny record of correct forecasts when it comes to poor butterfly weather

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thank you Trevor - it was great to see it, and rather surprising to see three others as well!

Cheers, Wurzel - all the ones I saw looked in decent fettle, so I'm sure they'll be fine. Most years there are further cold nights after the hibernators start appearing and they survive OK.

I didn't see any more Peacocks today (5th February), when the sunshine lured me out even though temperatures were rather lower than those of Friday. However, up on one of the bits of ivy that attracts the species regularly in October and November, I spotted a Red Admiral. It was also in reasonable condition and probably female given that it was a bialbata variation - I'm sure I read that these are usually females.

Two species already, and we've not even reached the second week of February...

Dave

[Wurzel]

You're going great guns Dave You must be catching up after last year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Fantastic find Dave You've encouraged me to take a trip to the woods, there should be a bit more shelter for the Brimstone there and the Peacock. Goldie

[millerd]

Cheers again, Wurzel - an unusually brisk start to the year, certainly. Looking back, things do seem to be kicking off earlier as time goes by. There have been a few years when I've had to wait to the first week of April for the first butterfly, though not since 2013. In the ten following years it's been March (five times), February (four times) and January (once).

Thank you Goldie - it certainly looks as if searching a few sheltered spots on any calm sunny days now may prove rewarding.

There have been frosts the last couple of nights, and though on Monday a very sunny and mild day followed today saw fog until lunchtime. Sunshine replaced it, but not for long enough to warm things up much. I didn't see any further butterflies on either day, and my searching of the nettle beds for Red Admiral caterpillars also drew a blank. However, the weather was glorious for walking, and the countryside continues to stir from its relative winter quiescence. The trees have that look about them that appears as their buds start to swell...

...and these two little chaps were singing their hearts out.

Dave

[Wurzel]

"Cheers again, Wurzel - an unusually brisk start to the year, certainly." Hopefully I'll be able to get off the mark soon - although this cold snap and a visit from the dreaded OfSTED have hampered my hopes of some lunchtime searching The Robins (or Eric's as my father in-law calls them) look all cute and stuff but they're right vicious little sods when it comes down to gaining the affections of a partner

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...the weather was glorious for walking, and the countryside continues to stir from its relative winter quiescence. The trees have that look about them that appears as their buds start to swell..

It certainly has, Dave. We've been quite spoiled for the time of year actually. Looks like we have a few more days too, so one hopes that a few butterflies might be around to entertain us along with the emerging flora and the singing birds.

[millerd]

The weather has continued relatively benign with lots of sunshine and no rain (though an overnight dip to minus 4 degrees on 8th/9th was a bit sharp). Despite the sun, there had been no further butterflies so I took a few shots of some of the local birdlife. The nearby lake has a few waterfowl, mostly Canada geese, herons, coots, mallards and the occasional cormorant, but these other ducks have been around (as they often are in the winter). They seem to spend a lot of time underwater!

I was also watching flocks of long-tailed tits work their way through the trees, including some of the local oaks where they were probably enjoying Purple Hairstreak eggs, and the odd Red Kite wheeled overhead while being harassed by crows. Getting photos of this interesting activity proved to be a thankless task! However, I was able to get the odd shot of the local parakeets, whose current behaviour has moved towards nesting, which they undertake earlier than a lot of species I believe. Certainly there was much less of their characteristic squawking while barrelling en masse through the woodland.

After a couple of duller days over the weekend, the Met Office forecast for Monday 13th February was for mild, calm and very sunny conditions - and proved 100% accurate. I spent about 90 minutes during the early afternoon looking round my local patch and hoping for further butterflies appearing from hibernation. I was not to be disappointed - I first encountered a Peacock, quite close to the spot where I'd seen the first of the year back on 3rd Feb. However, the photos showed it to be a different individual (though they were quite similar).It was basking on the ground, which was now starting to dry out and therefore to warm up (it hasn't rained here since 25th January).

On my return leg, not far from home, I came across my second butterfly and another first for the year: a Small Tortoiseshell. Bearing in mind that this species probably went straight into hibernation last July when confronted with the searing heat, this butterfly has likely been tucked away for seven months.

Three species seen before the middle of February is the earliest start to a season I have had since I started recording this sort of thing in 2010. However, 2023 still has some work to do to better 2019 when I'd seen six species before the end of the month (though they were all in the space of four days during the final week).

Dave

[bugboy]

Those other ducks are Tufted Ducks (2 drakes and a duck). From a group of ducks commonly known as diving ducks, feeding mainly on molluscs and other aquatic invertebrates.
Walking around work today I knew there'd be something on the wing in your neck of the woods!

[trevor]

Well found Dave, especially the Small Tort.
Nothing stationary for me yet!

[Wurzel]

Cracking find that Small Tort Dave I'm in West Wales at the mo and just itching to get back home to see if they've come out at my local patch Lovely Parakeet shots too - they've reached Southampton now - I don't know if that's a good thing or not?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...Three species seen before the middle of February is the earliest start to a season I have had since I started recording this sort of thing in 2010. However, 2023 still has some work to do to better 2019 when I'd seen six species before the end of the month (though they were all in the space of four days during the final week).

You've certainly had some good variety, Dave. My only sightings have been Red Admirals (albeit 5 of them, which is easily my best butterfly return prior to late February).

If things carry on as they are, I'm confident many of us will notch up all 5 regular adult hibernators before then end of this month.

[Goldie M]

Great sightings Dave and some lovely shots, I've had my head in the garden too long and seen nothing yet, even on my trip to the woods, hope fully some thing will decide to fly soon around here Goldie