David M

[David M]

Tuesday 7th November – Just Red Admirals.…

Another seven Red Admirals seen today, the first of which was flying across the road as I made my way to the recycling centre.

I saw two more in Oystermouth Cemetery on my way back:

Three more were nectaring from the hebe at nearby Limeslade Bay:

The final one was seen briefly by the honeysuckle on my estate when I returned.

[David M]

Friday 10th November – Best spots still productive.…

Sunny, but quite breezy today so I deemed it beneficial to avoid the exposed coast and instead head over to the sheltered areas within Oystermouth Cemetery.

The sunlit area at the top of the steep hill at the back of the cemetery is always the best spot:

Within a minute, I noticed a Red Admiral perched on a gravestone to the right of this large Celtic cross:

The insect seemed to be in very good condition:

As I walked around the site, I had a couple of fly-bys and then found another Red Admiral settled on some hebe that was adorning one of the newer graves:

When I arrived back home, I took a peek at the area on the car park where the Himalayan honeysuckle was growing. I was pleased to find a Red Admiral nectaring from it:

After a minute or two, it flew onto some wood to soak up a little warmth:

This really has been amazing first third of November.

[David M]

Wednesday 15th November – Perplexing.…

Mid-November is when things start to get tricky, so given the fair weather I thought I’d visit both Kilvey Hill as well as Limeslade & Bracelet Bay today.
I arrived on this track at the bottom of the hill which is sunlit for most of the day at around 10.40am:

A small, brown butterfly flew by me after 10 minutes or so. I was amazed to find it was a Speckled Wood:

I saw two more further along the track as well as a Red Admiral, and when I jumped over the wall into the adjacent cemetery I spotted another on these ivy flowers:

This is, by 10 whole days, the latest I’ve ever seen this species in the UK.

By contrast, there were no butterflies at all on the hebe at Limeslade Bay, although this huge cat caught my attention:

I walked round to Bracelet Bay, where the narrow path to the left of the red object is particularly sheltered:

Sure enough, there was a tatty Red Admiral taking advantage of this microclimate as well as the array of hebe flowers:

At the halfway point of November I have now seen 53 butterflies. It hasn’t even been especially mild (we have had several wet, windy and cloudy days). I think this trend is unlikely to reverse.

[David M]

Friday 17th November – Evasive.…

I paid another visit to Lower Kilvey Hill today and once again saw a Speckled Wood in this area below:

Irritatingly, the butterfly flew towards an inaccessible area out of camera range, as did the Red Admiral I disturbed when jumping over the cemetery wall:

Unfortunately, it clouded over a little shortly afterwards so I didn’t get to take a look at the hebe in Limeslade Bay. Hopefully there will be other opportunities before the month is out.

[David M]

Thursday 23rd November – Hanging on.…

I tried Lower Kilvey Hill again this morning to see if I could find any more Speckled Woods. Sadly, I was unable to in spite of the sunny conditions.

However, I did see a Red Admiral flying at the topmost part of Dan-y-Graig cemetery, although I wasn’t able to get an image as it didn’t settle.

I had better luck after heading over to Limeslade Bay. I found this Red Admiral nectaring from the hebe flowers at the lowest part of the site, which was unsurprising as the wind was a little blustery:

Shortly after, it decided to bask in the full glare of the sun on a Bergenia leaf:

At no point did it attempt to fly into the upper part of the shrubs, which is probably a sound strategy given the numbers of birds which use that area to survey for tasty insects:

[David M]

Tuesday 28th November – Real battlers.…

After doing some shopping this morning, conditions were sufficiently pleasant for me to stop off at Bracelet Bay on the way home.

As I approached the sheltered stretch of hebe near the shore I could see a Red Admiral nectaring from one of the flowers:

It had clearly escaped a few attempts on its life. It was half-shredded:

After watching it for 10 minutes or so, I walked to nearby Limeslade Bay where I soon picked up another Red Admiral:

This one also had a fair bit missing from its hindwings. No surprise really with birds like this Stonechat on constant patrol:

I actually had two more Red Admirals fly past me while I was driving back home; the first as I drove by the entrance to Oystermouth Cemetery and the second as I went through Manselfield.

That took my total to 61 butterflies this November, which is easily a record. How long will it be before butterfly hunting in some parts of the UK becomes a year-round pastime?

[David M]

Friday 1st December – Blue skies, frosty ground.…

After a cold start, it turned into a beautiful morning. I thought I’d pop into Oystermouth cemetery to see if anything was about, but my hopes were diminished when I saw the frost still lying on the ground in the shadows of the trees near the entrance:

Unsurprisingly, there were no butterflies to be found in the sunlit area at the top of the site, so I moved on to Bracelet Bay, where things looked a bit more benign:

I spent a while both here and at nearby Limeslade Bay, but although there were a few bumblebees, it was clearly a little too cool for any butterflies to be active:

It seems it is going to remain mild so I will keep dropping into these sites on the off chance a Red Admiral might still appear.

[David M]

Monday 11th December – Shredded but surviving.…

A run of mild days culminated in this one being relatively sunny, calm and with temperatures reaching a balmy 12c by early afternoon.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, I disturbed a Red Admiral nectaring from a low growing patch of hebe near the coastguard’s hut at Bracelet Bay:

Clearly, this one had experienced a few close shaves with predators:

I walked over to Limeslade Bay, and while I was on the phone another Red Admiral caught my eye:

This one didn’t look to be in much better condition when I got closer to it:

Mindful that it was likely to be the last butterfly I’d see this year, I stayed around for 20 minutes or so. It went missing for a while until I spotted it basking on the wooden frame at the rear of the hebe growth:

This is only the fifth time I have seen active butterflies in December, and it is the first time I have seen butterflies in every month of a given calendar year.

I believe this will become a more regular occurrence over the next few years.

[trevor]

Well found David. A December butterfly image is a real prize. I've yet to capture .
But on Boxing Day last year a Red Admiral flew over the roof of the house in Wiltshire at lunch time,
but I was unable to track it unfortunately.

Have a great Christmas,
Trevor.

[David M]

Eureka moment.…

A closer look at my images from 28th November and 11th December shows that both the Red Admirals I saw on 11 December were the same ones I’d seen thirteen days earlier.

This one was photographed at Bracelet Bay on 28/11:

Here it is again on 11/12:

Here’s the one seen at Limeslade on 28th Nov:

....and still there almost a fortnight later:

One presumes having found a reliable nectar source, both these insects have decided to stay put and have likely been roosting in the scrub/bushes which surround the hebe growth.

This late in the season, they have done extremely well to avoid the predatory birds which spend time on a daily basis looking for late season insects to pick off.

I’ll be absolutely delighted if I manage to find either again in the next week or two.

[Jack Harrison]

That is, in effect, mark and recapture David.  I did that in Rewell Wood about 50 years ago and caught and marked 50 PB Fritillaries in a morning.

I used nail varnish that came in a bottle with a brush.  I see that you can buy online 48 different colours for £26.  But I am sure some marker pens would work.

Red Admirals conveniently bask with wings open, so you would only need to capture once (to mark) and then simply observe.

Jack

[David M]

That is, in effect, mark and recapture David...

Indeed, Jack. The stonechats mark them and I recapture them.

[David M]

[David M]

A look back at 2023

A real mixed bag as far as weather conditions were concerned. January was relatively calm and mild. February was quite cool and then March was abysmal to the point where I decamped to the warmer, sunnier climes of Tenerife to escape the rain and gloom. April was then very ordinary as was the bulk of May.

Suddenly though, things improved markedly, with June being spectacularly good, only for July and August to be rather wet.

The first half of September was uniquely glorious, then the first half of October largely followed suit and remained decent right to the end. Early November remained mild for much of the month and only two air frosts were recorded where I live prior to the end of the year.

With travel largely back to pre-Covid normality, I spent much of the warmer months abroad, but I still managed to see 47 species in the UK, which is slightly above what I would normally achieve.

January & February

2023 was only the second time I’d seen a butterfly in January. In fact I saw three, the first two found in this sheltered area in Park Wood just down the road from where I live:

The first sighting was of a scruffy looking Red Admiral basking on the dead bracken. It flew within a few seconds of me seeing it and irritatingly I didn’t see exactly where it had settled and ended up disturbing it.

By coincidence though, as I walked to the hedgerow to see the display of snowdrops, there was another Red Admiral taking nectar from them – another first!

The following day I had another Red Admiral briefly fluttering around my cottage, making things seem very advanced for the time of year.
February started well, with another Red Admiral seen at Limeslade Bay on 5th:

The finest day weatherwise was undoubtedly 14th, when temperatures reached 12c which encouraged me to visit Lavernock Point near Cardiff. Disappointingly, in spite of these balmy conditions, only one Red Admiral was seen:

The rest of the month was cool and largely cloudy, although I did see my first Peacock of the year at Kenfig Dunes near the car park. Sadly, it was in a hurry and didn’t settle.

[David M]

Dates of first sightings 2024:

1. Red Admiral – 5 January, Limeslade Bay, Gower, Swansea
2. Brimstone - 26 February, Gower Inn Wood, Parkmill, Swansea
3. Comma - 6 March, Cwm Ivy, Gower, Swansea
4. Peacock - 6 March, Whiteford Burrows, Gower, Swansea
5. Small White - 18 March, Lower Kilvey Hill, Swansea
6. Small Tortoiseshell - 18 March, Swansea Vale
7. Speckled Wood - 1 April, Lower Kilvey Hill, Swansea
8. Holly Blue - 5 April, Cwm Ivy, nr. Llanmadoc, Gower
9. Green Veined White - 9 April, Park Wood, Parkmill, Gower
10. Orange Tip - 12 April, Lavernock Point, nr. Cardiff
11. Small Copper - 18 April, Nicholaston Burrows, Gower

[David M]

Friday 5th January – Scarcely believable…

I had arranged to meet an ex-work colleague in Verdi’s restaurant on the seafront at Mumbles Bay this morning. An extremely pleasant couple of hours were spent catching up on events prior to us leaving at 12.40pm.

Seeing that it was reasonably mild at 9c with sunny spells and little wind, I thought I’d drive to nearby Limeslade Bay afterwards, parking my car in the usual spot next to the hebe growth at the end of the road.

I scanned the flowerheads but there was nothing about; not even a bee!

I decided to walk the 400m or so to Bracelet Bay, walking down the steps on Limeslade Beach itself before walking up those on the far side:

Just prior to me reaching the top of the steps on the way up, something caught my eye – it was a weakly fluttering Red Admiral, which rather inconveniently settled behind this metal object:

I walked up to the roadside to look down on where I thought it had come down. Suddenly though, it flew across the road, whereupon I tried to take a couple of air shots:

Luckily, it came down in the scrub about 15 feet up the bank on the other side of the road. I had to carefully pick my way through this scrub to get near it:

It seemed very docile so I tried to get it on my finger:

This made it drop down a little so I simply put my hand through the woody stems and gently picked it up before offering it the opportunity to rest in the sunshine on this sapling:

It seemed quite happy there, because it was still in the same spot 20 minutes later after I returned from having done a circuit of Bracelet Bay:

I suppose this is a reminder of how we no longer seem to have ‘real’ winters anymore round these parts. When I first moved to Wales in 2008 there was snow at some point each year but we haven’t had any for several years now (even air frosts can usually be counted in single figures).

Even so, this record is going to be hard to beat in future, although I hope one year to see a butterfly on New Year’s Day. The way things are going I don’t think that’s impossible.

[David M]

A look back at 2023

March

The second day of this month was lovely, with lots of sunshine and 8c temperatures. I managed to find a solitary Red Admiral but didn’t see another butterfly until 12th, at least in the UK.

The constant rain and strong winds made me up sticks and spend 6 days in Tenerife, which was a smart move as things continued stormy here at home until later in the month.

It remained dry on 22nd, although still gusty, but I took a trip to Park Wood and saw my first male Brimstone of the year which, unsurprisingly, was in no mood to settle.

Shortly after, I got a little luckier with a female of the same species:

Three days later, it went milder but was still cloudy. Once again, I defied the weather and went out, this time to Cwm Ivy on the coast. Amazingly, in spite of a dreary month of March, I found my first Holly Blue of the year:

There were also two male Brimstones, one of which stayed around for a little while:

Finally, on 27th, that much awaited day when conditions are ripe for seeing quite a few butterflies arrived. My first stop was at Lower Kilvey Hill and the adjacent cemetery, where I found this Peacock in a sheltered corner:

There were two very welcome Small Tortoiseshells as well:

In the afternoon, I moved on to Cwm Ivy again, picking up my first Commas of the year in quick time:

There were a handful of Brimstones and a couple of Red Admirals, but the big surprise was this male Small White:

The remainder of the month was pretty awful again. Probably the worst month of March since I moved to Wales in 2008 in all honesty.

[David M]

A look back at 2023

April

April was an improvement on March in the sense that it was a lot drier, but it remained fairly cool throughout the month, meaning I had some difficulty in squeezing in those species that are usually about prior to leaving for Spain on 21st of the month.

Sightings got off to a sluggish start at Cwm Ivy on 3rd, although I did see my first Speckled Woods of the year:

Holly Blues had emerged in numbers by 8th, when I managed to stumble across this fresh female in the woodland glade at Cwm Ivy:

This Small Tortoiseshell was a nice find too – they only appear in small numbers at this site (if at all):

I was still awaiting Large & Green Veined Whites as well as Orange Tips, but Small Copper beat them all when this one turned up in Dan-y-Graig cemetery on 17th:

With just three days before I would be out of the UK, I was anxious to catch up with the outstanding Pierids on 18th at Park Wood, near my home. Luckily, it was a mild, sunny day and I notched up a handful of male Orange Tips around the cuckoo flower near the entrance:

Almost as pleasing was this lovely female Green Veined White:

This Peacock was a welcome find too:

That was it domestically for me in April. I went off to Spain and didn’t return until 9th May.

[David M]

A look back at 2023

May

I only had a short window back at home during May due to overseas commitments, so after returning from Spain on 9th, I made full use of the first opportunity that presented itself on 11th to visit my local commons to look for my first Green Hairstreaks.

I managed to find one within 3 minutes, and it was a smart individual with a well developed white ‘streak’:

The following day was cool but mainly sunny, so I ventured out to Kenfig Dunes where I caught up with Small Heaths:

Walking through the dunes I soon saw this Dingy Skipper:

Within moments, I added Common Blue to the list:

On my way back to the car, I made a diversion which proved productive – this solitary Small Blue was basking amongst some long grass:

The next day saw me visit Merthyr Mawr, near Porthcawl. This is the best site in south Wales for Grizzled Skippers and there were a handful about:

Alongside these were a couple of Brown Argus behaving in combative fashion:

Although the range of species was increasing, numbers were quite poor, no doubt down to the prolonged coolish weather and the atrociously wet month of March.

[David M]

A look back at 2023

May continued….

I only had three more days before I’d be out of the country for the rest of the month.

The weather continued cool but each day had its moments of sunshine, so on 13th I headed down to Dan-y-Graig cemetery to look for Wall Browns.

Sadly, there weren’t any; in fact, there were precious few butterflies at all, although I did manage to finally see my first UK Large White of the year:

The following day, I knew I had to take a risk by heading outside Wales for the first time as the flight period of Duke of Burgundy would be all but over when I returned from the continent.

In spite of a misty start, I eventually found a handful:

The commonest butterfly this day was Dingy Skipper. There were some really lovely ones about:

In the afternoon, I made my annual pilgrimage to Ewyas Harold Common in Herefordshire where the weather held fine and I saw over two dozen Pearl Bordered Fritillaries:

Not much else was about, which pretty much summed up the entire spring thus far.

I hoped for better things when I returned home at the beginning of June.