A migrant returns

18 Wednesday May 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly migration, Painted Lady, Painted Lady migration, Vanessa cardui

Today’s guest has travelled thousands of miles to be here with us today (and is, understandably, looking a little jaded after such a long flight). Distinguished guests, please give a warm welcome to the Painted Lady!

220518 painted lady

I’d seen a report from the Suffolk butterfly recorder on Twitter on 16 May that, a few days previously, Painted Ladies had been seen ‘in their thousands streaming through Spain from north Africa’, so I’ve been keeping an eye out for the first to reach us here in south Wales. It’s a migration miracle!

Glowing in the grass

12 Thursday May 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, Lycaena phlaeas, Small copper

They’re early, but I’m certainly not complaining. It was with huge surprise and supreme delight that I spotted my first two Small coppers for 2022, glowing in the grass at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park last Sunday afternoon.

220512 small copper (1) 220512 small copper (2)

Mating pair

06 Friday May 2022

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blue butterflies, British butterflies, butterfly, Common blue, Common blue butterfly, Common blue mating pair, mating Common blue butterflies, Polyommatus icarus

Tuesday’s sighting of a single Common blue butterfly (Polyommatus icarus) was the earliest in my five years of butterfly recording, which could be due to climate change (apparently, many moths are appearing early this year as well), though it could also be that I’ve got to know my local area more thoroughly and know better where to look. Yesterday, though the weather wasn’t brilliant, I found four more Common blues, including this gorgeous mating pair.

220506 common blue butterflies

Death in the meadow

30 Saturday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, wildflowers

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British butterflies, British spiders, butterfly, Crab spider, Crab spider kills Orange-tip, Cuckoo flower, Orange-tip, Orange-tip male, Orange-tip on Cuckoo flower

Sometimes I can be a bit slow. During today’s walk, I was ambling along the edge of a meadow when I spotted a male Orange-tip butterfly flitting from one small patch of Cuckoo flower to the next. Then it stopped at one spot longer than usual so I walked quickly over to get some photos. I could see its tongue was out so knew it was feeding but, still, I was amazed at how long it was staying put on the one flower. And then I saw why …

220430 orange tip and spider (1)

The poor butterfly had been grabbed by a lurking, very well camouflaged Crab spider.

220430 orange tip and spider (2)

50 shades of brown

28 Thursday Apr 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, Dingy Skipper, Erynnis tages, skipper butterflies, Skippers

The latest butterfly species in my locale to flit up and say ‘Look at me’ is the Dingy skipper and, for all its supposedly dingy appearance, it’s a little cracker, a subtle blending of 50 shades of brown. And it seems to me that all the skipper species have attitude; they punch above their weight in terms of stroppiness, defending their territory with a tenacity that belies their diminutive size. Welcome back, little skippers!

220428 dingy skipper

White-letter hairstreak larva

26 Tuesday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, trees

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British butterflies, butterfly larva, larva on Wych elm, White-letter hairstreak, White-letter hairstreak larva, Wych elm

In recent weeks I’ve been searching, unsuccessfully, for the eggs of Purple and White-letter hairstreak butterflies but … during Sunday’s woodland walk I did find this little beauty, my very first White-letter hairstreak larva. I was over the moon!

220426 white-letter hairstreak larva (1)

As you can see, its camouflage is excellent and I know I wouldn’t have spotted it if I hadn’t been looking so closely at the flower and leaf buds of this Wych elm. I couldn’t find any more larvae but I’ll return soon to this site for another look and, hopefully, will be able to re-find and observe this tiny creature as it grows.

220426 white-letter hairstreak larva (2)

Species Eight

16 Saturday Apr 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, female Orange-tip, Orange-tip

Our warm sunny Easter weekend weather is bringing out the butterflies again. During yesterday’s long walk I saw Speckled wood, Peacock, Holly Blue, Brimstone, Comma, Small white, and, my very first Orange-tips, my eighth species of the year, both males and this beautiful female.

220416 orange-tip

And a Speckled wood Sunday

12 Tuesday Apr 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, Speckled wood

S was for a sunny Sunday saunter and a superb surprise Slow-worm and this stunning Speckled wood,

220412 speckled wood

My first two Speckled woods of the year appeared during a walk on 23 March and then another three graced a local walk on 28 March but I hadn’t seen any more until this little beauty fluttered up from a bush on Sunday. After our week of glorious warm weather in March, it’s been mostly cold and wet and windy so the butterflies have disappeared again.

Off to a good start

09 Saturday Apr 2022

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British butterflies, butterfly, Small tortoiseshell

Much to my surprise, a Small tortoiseshell was the very first butterfly I saw this year, back on 27 February, and there have been 11 more that have blessed me with their presence so far. The February date was earlier than usual for me – I don’t normally see Small tortoiseshells until mid to late March. These particular butterflies have not fared well in Britain in recent decades so I’m hoping the good numbers I’ve seen so far augur well for the rest of the year, and for their population numbers in general.

220409 small tortoiseshell

First female

01 Friday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Brimstone, Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, female Brimstone, spring butterflies

This pale lime beauty was my sixteenth Brimstone of the year (I saw my first on 27 February) but she was the first female, and the first to stay still long enough for a few photos. Male Brimstones usually emerge first from their winter hibernation (as adults) and can be seen flying purposefully up and down hedgerows, footpath edges and woodland rides, searching for females, which emerge a little later than their male suitors.

220401 brimstone