122/366 Species 10

01 Friday May 2020

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British butterflies, butterfly, Grangemoor Park, Green-veined white, Pieris napi

With the current restrictions on movement, my butterflying has got off to a slower start than usual but today I spotted my first Green-veined white butterfly of 2020, my tenth species for the year, during my walk around Cardiff’s Grangemoor Park.

200501 Green-veined white (1)

This pristine male only appeared briefly, before disappearing amongst the leafy trees, but it was a joy to see him. These spring-brood Green-veined whites are often very pale – I can’t even see the small dark spots on his upper wings and he has only a hint of yellow colouring on his undersides. The summer brood, when they emerge in July and August, usually show darker markings – I’ll try and do a comparison post later in the year to show the differences.

200501 Green-veined white (2)

114/366 Little and large

23 Thursday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Adela reaumurella, British butterflies, British moths, butterfly, Green long-horn, Large white, Long-horn moth, moth, Pieris brassicae

During yesterday’s exercise meander around Penarth, I found two lovely Lepidoptera in one of the few local parks that’s still open.

200423 green long-horn moth

The first was this amazing day-flying moth, the Green long-horn (Adela reaumurella). It may have a wingspan of only 14-18mm, but just look at those antennae (hence, the name ‘long-horn’). This is a male; the females have shorter antennae, which are half black, half white.

Then, to my delight, soon after seeing that stunning little moth, I spotted my first Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) for 2020. And, compared to the moth, it really is large, with a wingspan between 63 and 70mm. This is also a male; the females have two grey-black spots on their upper wings.

109/366 Speckled Spring

18 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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British butterflies, butterfly, Pararge aegeria, Speckled wood, spring butterflies

We’ve had much-needed rain and low-cloud gloom for the past two days but, earlier in the week, when the sun was warm and glorious and my walk took me along the coastal path, it felt like proper Spring. The bird song was almost deafening and – what clinched the Spring-ness for me – I counted 12 Speckled wood butterflies along the path, either perched sun-basking or patrolling their patch of scrub or – the males – engaged in spiralling dogfights over territory. Springtime magic!

106/366 The ostentatious Orange-tip

15 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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Anthocharis cardamines, British butterflies, butterfly, Orange-tip, Orange-tip butterfly, spring butterflies

If there is one butterfly whose male makes a truly conspicuous effort to impress the female of the species, then it must surely be the Orange-tip (Anthocharis cardamines). Those vivid orange wing tips are hard to miss, even when the males are speeding past at a hundred miles an hour. Today, at last, I saw my first Orange-tip for 2020 – in fact, I spotted four of these handsome chaps and, after following a couple back and forth along their chosen territories, I finally managed a single photo of one as it was refuelling.

200415 orange-tip

102/366 Holly blue

11 Saturday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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British butterflies, butterfly, Holly blue, Holly blue butterfly

Another new butterfly species for the year, the Holly blue!

200411 holly blue (1)

This individual is actually the second one I’ve seen – the first was up and over the bushes and trees too quickly for me to grab a photo but this little lovely was flying slowly from spot to spot along a grassy slope so I was able to enjoy its beauty and get a couple of images. There’s just something very special about blue butterflies and the Holly blue is usually the first of the year to emerge.

200411 holly blue (2)

99/366 Small whites and Speckled woods

08 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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British butterflies, butterfly, Pararge aegeria, Pieris rapae, Small white butterfly, Speckled wood, spring butterflies

Actually, that title should really be three Small whites and a single Speckled wood but it’s a bit long-winded for a blog title. Suffice to say, my butterfly list for the year has grown by these two new species in the past two days.

200407 speckled wood

I think this Speckled wood (Pararge aegeria) is a female – their markings are, apparently, larger and more distinct – but I’m not entirely sure. Working out details like this is something I’m aiming to improve this year.

200407 small white (3)

The Small whites (Pieris rapae) here are two females and a male (below, right). The males only have one spot on their wings and, in this first brood of the year, the wing markings of both sexes are lighter than they will be in the later, summer broods.

I am dizzyingly delighted to be seeing more butterflies flying now. They bring me comfort and joy, something I’m sure we could all do with at the moment. I hope you are all managing to find small moments of comfort and joy in your daily lives as well.

92/366 The Devil’s butterfly?

01 Wednesday Apr 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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British butterflies, butterfly, Grangemoor Park, Nettle tortoiseshell, Small tortoiseshell, spring butterflies

Today’s fascinating information on the once common, now less so Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) is taken from Peter Eeles’s magnificent publication Life Cycles of British and Irish Butterflies (Pisces Publications, 2019). If you like butterflies and don’t have this book, you really should get it, as it’s jam-packed with amazing detail and fabulous photos.

200401 small tortoiseshell (1)

In the section on the Small tortoiseshell, Eeles reports on the variety of names it has had over the centuries: the Lesser Tortoise-shell Butterfly (James Petiver, Musei Petiveriani, 1699); Small Tortoiseshell (Benjamin Wilkes, Twelve New Designs of English Butterflies, 1742); and Nettle tortoiseshell (William Lewin, Twelve Papilios of Great Britain, 1795).

200401 small tortoiseshell (2)

Eeles also notes that, in Scotland, in the past, this lovely creature was called the Devil’s butterfly and the Witch’s butterfly, though he doesn’t explain how it got those unfortunate names.

200401 small tortoiseshell (3)

This particular Small tortoiseshell was the highlight of yesterday’s exercise walk around Grangemoor Park (luckily, Cardiff’s parks are still open, though this is the only one in walking distance for me). It was a joy to see, as we don’t get a lot of these butterflies in my local area, and I was delighted when it settled in a couple of places so I could get some photos.

200401 small tortoiseshell (4)

81/366 Number 3!

21 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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Tags

Aglais io, British butterflies, butterfly, Peacock, Peacock butterfly

Yesterday’s walk around Cardiff Bay didn’t only bring nice birds, it also produced my second butterfly species for the year, a Small tortoiseshell. Unfortunately, the wind blew it away so quickly, twice, that I didn’t manage a photo. But I did get a couple of shots of today’s third species, this lovely Peacock. And I also saw number four, my first Brimstone, a male that was so intent on flying back and forth along the footpath trying to find a female that I only got a blurry shot of it. In these troubled times, it makes my heart sing to see the butterflies emerging again.

200321 Peacock

71/366 A Spanish fritillary

11 Wednesday Mar 2020

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Argynnis pandora, butterfly, Cardinal fritillary, European butterfly, Mediterranean fritillary

I’ve never purposefully gone butterflying anywhere in Europe but I have taken photos if I’ve seen interesting butterflies – or any other critters – on my very occasional visits. And this is one such, taken in the botanical gardens in Madrid in June 2014. I believe this is a Cardinal fritillary (Argynnis pandora), and, given the prominent scent brands on its upper wings, I can confidently say it is a male.

200311 cardinal fritillary (2)

According to the UK Butterflies website, the Cardinal, which they call the Mediterranean fritillary, has twice been seen in Britain: near Tintagel in Cornwall in August 1911 and in Lulworth, Dorset in August 1969, though the website also notes ‘This species is considered a very rare immigrant that is, undoubtedly, mistaken for a Silver-washed Fritillary and is therefore under-recorded.’

200311 cardinal fritillary (1)

281/365 The golden marbled butterfly

08 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects, nature

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British butterflies, butterfly, Wall brown, Wall butterfly, WWT Steart Marshes

According to my recently acquired Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies (Peter Eeles, Pisces Publications, 2019 – if you like butterflies, this new book is a must!), the Wall was once known as ‘the golden marbled Butterfly, with black eyes’ – such a wonderfully descriptive name!

191008 wall (1)

Wall butterflies are not common in my part of south Wales (they’ve suffered severe declines throughout Britain in recent years) so I was absolutely delighted, during Sunday’s bird club trip to Steart Marshes, to see not one but three of these lovely creatures. The first was braving the blasting wind along the coastal path at the edge of Bridgwater Bay and there were two more enjoying the much more sheltered warmth of the car park near Steart village, flitting from dandelion to dandelion in their quest for nectar.

191008 wall (2)

Though the butterfly on the coastal path looked a little battered – understandably, given its exposed position, the two Walls in the car park looked very fresh so, although the Wall usually has only two generations a year, I assume these were part of a third generation that can sometimes appear in early September.

191008 wall (3)