millerd

[millerd]

Monday 8th April (continued) - the afternoon.

Islands of sunshine appeared later in the day to break up the cloud, so I headed out again. First up, I found what may well have been the same female Orange Tip as I'd seen the day before - leastways it was on the rape flowers again.

Having seen none at all in the morning, I then found a total of five Red Admirals, thereby confirming my suspicions that there were more around than it appeared. The first two were constantly scrapping over a sheltered patch of sunlight near the lake, a spot that invariably attracts the species every year. One of the two managed to chase off his rival and claimed the clearing.

Of course, by daring to stand in the middle and take this photo, I disturbed the equilibrium and the butterfly set about circling me repeatedly and attempting to land on my head. I stood still and extended my arm - and the butterfly succumbed to the temptation to add this new "tree" to its territory and landed on my hand.

It actually became quite settled, and in the end proved quite difficult to dislodge.

In the end it took another butterfly entering its airspace to stir it into flight again.

After that encounter, somewhat reminiscent of my day with the Chiddingfold Emperors last June, I saw three more Red Admirals. One was just sitting by the river...

...and the next was one of another tussling pair of males, squabbling over another bit of sheltered path.

This one hardly stopped for breath as the dogfights were complicated by the presence of several Peacocks which were also up for a barney.

I wandered into a particularly favoured bit of path, which has the sun most of the day (when it's out!), and is sheltered from winds from every quarter.

Here there were more Peacocks, Whites and Orange Tips, plus a Comma.

One Peacock demonstrated that its dark maroon colouring actually blends well with last year's bramble leaves.

That left one more notable encounter - a Holly Blue puddling on one of the many patches of mud left by the overflow from the River Colne after the recent downpours.

One way and another, quite a memorable day - bookended by Holly Blues.

Dave

[Chris L]

Monday 8th April (continued) - the afternoon.

I stood still and extended my arm - and the butterfly succumbed to the temptation to add this new "tree" to its territory and landed on my hand.

I like that Dave, the thought that an arm might be a tree and become a bit of territory.

[Wurzel]

I see what you mean about the amenable nature of the Holly Blue Dave Also here are a few for the OTs especially that boldly marked female Still to find one over here where we seem to be stuck in what feels like November most of the time

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thanks, Chris - that was by no means the first time I've had that kind of interaction with territorial Red Admirals. Though it's no doubt mistaken to ascribe the concept of "personality" to butterflies, certain species do have behavioural characteristics that make them endearing!

Cheers, Wurzel - things do seem to be slow to get cracking down your way not even 100 miles west of here. I've seen butterflies locally every day since 29th March (except for 3rd April when I wasn't here), though catching the bursts of sunshine has been quite an art. Fingers crossed for the next few days...

Tuesday 9th April was a case in point. After some really wild weather overnight, it was late afternoon before the sun deigned to appear. I decided it was worth a short local excursion in case anything lepidopterous had also responded: I came up with a grand total of only seven butterflies.

Inevitably there were a couple of Peacocks - once out of hibernation, it doesn't take much to mobilise them.

Speckled Woods also seem to respond to the slightest bit of encouragement - there were two of these as well.

In the sheltered spot I highlighted yesterday, I found two different male GVW...

...and a Comma (probably one I've seen before).

It wasn't particularly warm, and still quite windy, so I called it a day at that point.

Dave

[Wurzel]

That's a great haul from a less than perfect 'butterfly-weather-day' Dave Hopefully things will suddenly burst when the weather finally sorts itself out but I have developed a nasty case of Metitis this year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thanks again, Wurzel - I think only a day-long cold cloudy wet day will stop the Peacocks at the moment!

The weather forecasts I've been relying on have been depressingly accurate, telling me in advance not to expect more than a sunny interval at best on most days. The various Met Office forecasts on YouTube seem to be the most reliable and realistic, and there is something called windy.com which is also very useful.

Armed with all this meteorological prognostication, I knew that this morning (Wednesday 10th April) would start cold and sunny and deteriorate into cloud by lunchtime and rain by teatime. Consequently I was out earlier than usual, but despite the chill, I soon found a Speckled Wood.

Two white butterflies appeared next, but both turned out to be female Orange Tips, one of which was the one I'd seen on previous days.

The other one was more typically marked in comparison.

The first Peacocks were awake too, with this one showing signs of wear.

I hoped that I might find a Holly Blue just emerging into the sunlight and basking to warm up, and I wasn't disappointed.

A few more Orange Tips appeared now, though these were all males...

...whilst two other potential females were actually a Small White and a male GVW.

For the majority of the rest of my walk, I saw just a succession of Peacocks as the sun became hazier and hazier. However, along the final stretch another couple of Specklies appeared.

To finish with? A Red Admiral and a final resplendent Peacock.

In the end, I had counted 17 of the latter species today, plus five Orange Tips, five Specklies, and one each of GVW, Red Admiral, Small White and Holly Blue.

Dave

[David M]

Lovely Holly Blue, Dave. They almost all seemed to be in the mood to pose well for you that day.

[Neil Freeman]

...I think only a day-long cold cloudy wet day will stop the Peacocks at the moment!

I have seen far too many of those already this year, the past couple of weeks here have been awful.

You are seeing a nice selection down your way Dave Given that I usually run a couple of weeks behind you, things should start picking up here soon
In fact today turned out much better.

Cheers,

Neil.

[millerd]

Thank you, David. The conditions have been just right for the Hollies to pose - a mix of sun and cloud, and not too warm so they need to bask to become active.

There has been a good variety down this way, Neil, and decent numbers too - except for the Small Tortoiseshells (which have largely disappeared).

Thursday 11th April turned out exactly as forecast - much warmer, but largely cloudy for most of the day. As expected, with a decent amount of UV coming through the cloud cover in the middle of the day, the butterflies were active. I counted nearly 70 of 10 species, which included my first Large Whites of the season:

Peacock 18
Orange Tip 14
Brimstone 9
GVW 9
Holly Blue 6
Speckled Wood 5
Red Admiral 3
Large White 2
Comma 2
Small White 1

Unfortunately, the only shot of a Large White came when it became involved with a male GVW for some while, and I snapped them in the air. It was enough when thoroughly enlarged to ID the butterfly.

The other one came much closer, but didn't stop.

A few other shots from the day...

That left the Orange Tips, which had their best showing of the year so far. There were several females, including the one that's been hanging around the rape flowers for the best part of a week now.

Interestingly, passing males completely ignored this butterfly, though one took a lot of interest in a different female.

Another female posed nicely on a cranesbill flower very close to the edge of the river.

Another day of variety in less than sunny weather - but sometimes that actually makes things easier...

Dave

[trevor]

Lovely female OT Dave. I always keep an eye on Herb Robert, a favourite
for OT's to pause on. Not seen a female yet.

[Goldie M]

WoW! Dave, your certainly finding the Butterflies lovely shots of the OT's Goldie

[bugboy]

Gonna have to stop looking at your PD, it's too painful , I've still only seen the one OT and not a sniff of a HB yet, and only two days so far when I've broken into double figures!

[Wurzel]

That final shot is a real corker Dave I think that I've caught up with you now Dave (PD ready in October ) as I've finally managed to find some OTs but no females yet...your more open wing shots from the previous post a slight look of a Koala about them

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Great effort to reach 10 species in early April, Dave. Your neck of the woods is almost like a foreign country - things way behind round my way, although there have been signs of life recently.

[millerd]

Thank you, everyone - the Orange Tips really do seem to have been playing ball this year. Maybe it's because there haven't been any really long spells of bright sunshine to keep them active: even yesterday and today have been hazy despite the warmth.

The species count has reached twelve now, David...

Friday 12th April was very warm, with quite a bit of hazy sunshine, rather as forecast right at the start of the week. I set out locally quite early in the day and extended my usual walk to its limits and took it slowly. This process certainly maximised the number of butterflies I saw - my tally at the end of the day came to 178, with 11 species contributing to the list. I expect some of the higher figures were not too exact, though I did do my best to keep up with the Peacocks!

Peacock 58
Brimstone 26
Orange Tip 25
GVW 19
Speckled Wood 16
Holly Blue 12
Comma 8
Small White 7
Red Admiral 4
Large White 2
Small Tortoiseshell 1

Of all those, the highlight for me was the one at the bottom. Small Tortoiseshells are so uncommon here now, it was great to actually get a few shots of one.

However, the sheer number of Peacocks was astonishing. As my walk involved the perimeter of a large acreage of grass and scrubby copses, I doubt I counted all there were flying by any means. Almost every clump of dandelions had one - or if not, there'd probably be a Brimstone!

There were more female Brimstones around today and a courtship dance passed right across my field of view.

Orange Tips were as numerous as the Brimstones, and again more females seem to have appeared.

There were still plenty of males as well.

Green-veined Whites appear to be having a good spring so far, and both males and females were around.

Conversely, Small Whites were much harder to find.

Holly Blue numbers are steadily rising now, with the females easier to approach today.

The Commas tended to get eclipsed by the Peacocks, with which they often tussled.

Finally, it appears that Speckled Woods are still emerging. Numbers are as high as I've ever seen them at this time of year.

With more of the same weather expected on Saturday, a similar day looked likely. However, there was to be a wholly unexpected bonus...

Dave

[millerd]

Saturday 13th April started cloudy, with the sun not getting going until after ten. Luckily, I'd made a late start after getting up later than intended and fitting in shopping and a few other bits. I had originally considered a first excursion away from my local patch, but had left it too late really, and set off on the same routine as has become the norm. However, what happened twenty minutes into the walk was far from routine.

I had just left the lake behind me and crossed the first bridge over the Colne. The path makes a sharp turn and the corner there is very sheltered and sunny - and a favourite spot for Specklies and Holly Blues. Lo and behold there was one of each, plus a Brimstone, plus an Orange Tip - and plus another smaller butterfly which persisted in chasing the Holly Blue. I had been hoping for a shot of the latter, as it had been posing wings half-open quite low down until first the Specklie and then this other mysterious butterfly disturbed it. Watching for it to return, I noticed this other butterfly come down from the top of the brambles first. It plonked itself down in front of me at around head height and I nearly couldn't believe it. It was a Green Hairstreak.

I have been walking this path for sixteen years (almost daily for half of each year), and in all that time I have never seen this species here - nor anywhere else on my patch for that matter. (The nearest colonies I know of are at Bedfont Lakes Country Park.) All in all an terrific unexpected bonus - fate had somehow kept me from heading off somewhere else!

There were lots more butterflies during the day - but none up to the excitement caused by that one.

I'll leave them for later...

Dave

[Katrina]

Congratulations on finding the GH

[millerd]

Thank you Katrina - it was one of those moments that will stick long in the memory!

The rest of my walk on Saturday 13th was made up of what has become standard fare lately, though I didn't cover the same amount of ground as on Friday and didn't see as many Peacocks. I saw twelve species altogether (including the Hairstreak) and over 150 butterflies all told.

Picking a few highlights first:
I saw several GVW, and came across a female intent on laying despite being blown around a bit by the wind.

Rather than laying just one egg and moving on, she stayed in place and laid a second.

There was also a rather nice male posing well later on.

There was also laying activity among the Holly Blues, though involving one of the least likely potential foodplants.

I found a few Small Tortoiseshells I'd not seen before, nectaring on dandelions in a little group. They looked distinctly worn.

The Peacocks are such a contrast, being far more numerous and some looking nearly as fresh as they did last summer.

A few of the rest...

Dave

[David M]

Super effort to see all those butterflies in such marginal weather lately, Dave.

You've been deservedly rewarded by some unnaturally becalmed species which have posed very amenably for you too.

[millerd]

Thank you, David - it's true to say that conditions seem to have made the more flighty species a bit more amenable this year. April often has days with periods of bright sunshine and cool easterly winds, which often keep the Brimstones and Orange Tips on the move.

This year, the sunshine we have had has only been in short spells, and often hazy too, even though temperatures have been higher than average. The mean daily maximum for the first half of the month local to me has been 16.5 degrees (the long-term average high for the whole of April here is 15 degrees - and the second half of the month would normally be noticeably warmer than the first half), but sunshine hours have been only 3.5 a day.

I would say that overall (going by numbers and variety), the weather has suited the butterflies. Bright overcast produces a fair amount of UV, now that we're past the equinox (as much now as it would in late August) and that seems to be a key factor in butterfly activity. The last few days have been particularly good as there have been high temperatures as well (19 on 11th, 21 on 12th, 21 on 13th, 15 on 14th).

None of this is any comfort to anyone further north and/or west where it has been duller, cooler and wetter...

Back to the butterflies themselves...

The forecast for Sunday 14th April was for more sunshine, but quite a drop in temperature. Having heard from Bugboy that the first Duke had been seen down at Noar Hill, along with a suggestion that they might also have appeared on the Chilterns, I decided to head for Incombe Hole, not far from Ivinghoe Beacon.

Immediately having parked at the NT car park at Pitstone Hill, who should I see coming along the hillside from Tring Station, but Bugboy himself. Good to see you again, Paul, after the long break since the convivial gathering on that afternoon in late November. There was indeed a bit of a keen breeze (it was still fairly early) but once the bottom of the "Hole" had been reached and the path that gently climbs along it, there was plenty of shelter and sunshine. We began looking for Green Hairstreaks, but for a while saw nothing but a Speckled Wood and a few Peacocks.

The sun went in...

There were also Brimstone eggs on a buckthorn (but no Brimstones!).

However, we bumped into a fellow enthusiast who had seen one or two Hairstreaks, and before long they started to appear. I think we counted close to double figures in the end.

The morning wore on, and one or two more butterfly folk appeared, all hopeful of a Duke of Burgundy sighting. Bugboy and I were wandering back down the path and suddenly a small bright orange-and-brown insect darted past our legs at low level. It could only be one thing... In the relatively cool air, the Duke quickly settled on the ground to soak up some sun, and was easily approached. It was a bright fresh new male.

Hopefully, this will be the first of many in this area over the next six weeks or so. We were hopeful that there might also be a Grizzled Skipper or two around, but we didn't spot any today.

I decided to leave around one o'clock, remembering that it was the last day of the school holidays and I had the M25 to tackle: the traffic was indeed building nicely as I thankfully left it behind at J14. This did mean that after a bit of lunch I could squeeze in an hour on my local patch again...

A very successful and sociable first excursion of 2024 away from home!

Dave