12 Tuesday Apr 2022
Posted in insects
S was for a sunny Sunday saunter and a superb surprise Slow-worm and this stunning 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.
09 Saturday Apr 2022
Posted in insects
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.
28 Monday Mar 2022
I’ve skipped a few butterfly firsts but all the species I see will get their turn over time. Today, I am simply too excited at seeing my first Holly blue of the year to choose anything else, as there’s just something extraordinary about a butterfly this colour.
17 Thursday Mar 2022
Finally a butterfly that settled long enough for a photo. This Peacock was my fifth butterfly, third species for 2022.
08 Tuesday Feb 2022
Posted in insects
The screensaver on my laptop is a slideshow of my best butterfly photos, one per species, and every time it plays, my heart yearns for butterflies. I know some people have already seen the odd butterfly that’s emerged from hibernation on a particularly warm day but I’ve yet to see my first. Maybe I need to change my screensaver.
18 Saturday Dec 2021
Posted in insects
I was so very pleased when the Covid regulations were relaxed enough during the summer to allow me to visit Aberbargoed National Nature Reserve to see my beloved Marsh fritillaries, particularly as I hadn’t managed to see any in 2020. These are just such magical butterflies that I actually braved the train journey four times. Though I was too early on my first visit and only a few faded, jaded individuals remained when I visited for the final time in late June, I remember my mask hiding a beaming smile all the way home on those other train journeys.
13 Monday Dec 2021
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, hairstreak butterflies, hairstreaks, Purple hairstreak, White-letter hairstreak
Another day, another letter, more butterflies but this has been a great year for hairstreak butterflies. The first highlight was finding my first ever Purple hairstreak larva at the end of May. I spotted it on two subsequent visits before it disappeared, hopefully to pupate.
I only saw one Purple hairstreak butterfly in that woodland – in a different area so probably not the metamorphosed larva – but did see the butterflies at two other local sites.
And, though I was delighted with my Purple hairstreak sightings this year, I was even more thrilled by the many White-letter hairstreaks I saw. This comes partly from learning to recognise and remember where the Wych elms grow in my local area but also partly from luck – my best sighting of the year, my white-letter day, was simply a case of being in the right place at the right time.
12 Sunday Dec 2021
Posted in insects
Though I was delighted and encouraged by the number of Grayling butterflies I saw on a coal tip up the Welsh valleys back in July, my experience does not reflect the reality of the present situation for the Grayling in Britain. Butterfly Conservation has recently released its ‘New Red List of British butterflies’ and, unfortunately, the status of the Grayling has moved from vulnerable to endangered. What my sighting tells me, though, is how truly important the former coal spoil tips are. They are often dismissed as useless brownfield sites but, in fact, former industrial sites like these are often rich in biodiversity and need to be preserved.
07 Tuesday Dec 2021
Posted in insects
Tags
Brimstone, Brimstone butterfly, Brimstone caterpillars, Brimstone eggs, British butterflies, butterfly
Of course, my end-of-year countdown has to include butterflies. Today it’s the Brimstone – there may be others.
I was thrilled this year to discover more about the life cycle of this exquisite butterfly. In May, after watching a female laying on the leaves of Buckthorn saplings, I found my first Brimstone eggs and, after that, knowing what Buckthorn looked like, found many more and, of course, lots of lovely caterpillars in various stages of development. I’ve yet to find a chrysalis though – maybe next year.
18 Thursday Nov 2021
During yesterday’s meandering walk around north Cardiff, surveying for one particular leaf-mining moth, I almost stepped in front of an oncoming car, such was my delight at seeing this butterfly flutter up from the pavement in front of me and head across the road. Fortunately, it was a quiet no-exit road, the car driver was going very slowly, and kindly waved me across in front of him. Fortunately, too, the butterfly, this glorious Red admiral, had settled on the roadside hedge opposite so I was able to enjoy watching it enjoy the autumn sunshine.
earthstar 
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