28 Friday Jun 2024
Posted in insects
This was not my first Ringlet of the year but it was the first to stay still long enough for me to get a few photographs. It looks restful, reposed but looks can be deceptive. Within moments of me taking this image, it was off once again, patrolling the woodland edge, spreading its pheromones, looking for a female to mate with.
25 Tuesday Jun 2024
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, Large white butterfly, Large white caterpillars, Large white larvae
If you’re a gardener living in Britain, you’re probably familiar with today’s creatures, the caterpillars of the Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae), munching on your cauliflowers or broccoli, but I’d never seen them until last week. I think they’re rather attractive but I can certainly understand why the gardeners amongst you might not think so well of them.
20 Thursday Jun 2024
Posted in insects
Butterfly species 20 for 2024 took some finding. I usually see a few of these little beauties when I visit Aberbargoed Grasslands National Nature Reserve looking for fritillaries but, perhaps due to our exceedingly wet spring, butterflies everywhere have been thin on the ground this year. So, when my second visit to the grasslands failed to turn up any butterflies at all, I decided to try the adjacent coal spoil tip, thinking that the shingle and scree surface might be both drier and warmer. And so it proved. And there, in a small sheltered area, I found my first three Small heath butterflies of the year.
15 Saturday Jun 2024
Posted in insects
Time for an update on the butterfly front …
Usually I see Large skippers before I see Meadow browns but this year it was the other way around, with the local Meadow browns emerging slightly earlier than usual. Who knows why – maybe something to do with the crazy weather we’ve been experiencing – warm one minute, cool the next. My first Meadow browns were seen fluttering over the wildflowers in the meadows at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park on 3 June.
And, despite a keen breeze and large fluffy clouds frequently obscuring the sun, I spotted my first six Large skippers basking on Bramble and other shrubs along the leeward side of a coastal hedgerow two days later, on 5 June.
23 Thursday May 2024
Posted in insects
As I reported last year (The illegals, 30 May 2023), some person or persons unknown have illegally introduced Marsh fritillary butterflies to Lavernock Nature Reserve.
Judging by the number of butterflies that have emerged there over the past week, the illegal fiddling continues – the amount of Devil’s-bit scabious growing in their field could not have supported the larvae necessary to produce the number of butterflies now being seen so it seems likely that more larvae or pupae have been planted.
Regardless of their provenance, the butterflies themselves are as magical and magnificent as ever, and it’s an absolute joy to watch them.
11 Saturday May 2024
Posted in insects
While yesterday’s butterfly (a Dingy skipper) was late to arrive, today’s is about on time. I actually saw my first (the one pictured below) yesterday at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, and another during today’s walk through the meadows at Casehill Woods. These vibrant Small coppers are such a delight, and their fiery colours are the very embodiment of summer for me.
10 Friday May 2024
Posted in insects
They’re late this year compared to previous years, the Dingy skippers. I only saw my first on Wednesday 8 May whereas last year my first sighting was on 1 May; in 2022 it was 25 April; in 2021 23 April; in 2020 6 May and in 2019 my first Dingy was on 30 April. It just shows what a difference the climate makes: our cool wet spring weather seems to have had quite an impact on the emergence of many insects but this week has been warm and sunny, encouraging many mini-beasties to appear.
23 Tuesday Apr 2024
Posted in insects, wildflowers
This gorgeous female (the spring females are more heavily marked than the males) was my first Green-veined white (Pieris napi) of the year. It occurred to me later that I should’ve watched her for longer as I’ve not yet seen any of this species’ eggs or caterpillars. I might start checking the larval foodplants they use – Cuckooflower, Garlic mustard, Hedge mustard, Wild Cabbage and Wild radish, amongst others – to see what I can find. If I find anything, I’ll report back.
17 Wednesday Apr 2024
I was trudging slowly along a muddy path, trying not to slip (it’s happened before), so I wasn’t paying attention when my first Orange-tip butterfly (Anthocharis cardamines) of the year flitted up in front of me, disturbed from feeding on a flower of Herb Robert. Typically, it flew back along the way I had come, meaning I had to retrace my slippery steps while trying to keep an eye on where it landed once, twice, three times. By the time I got to the start of the path, the butterfly had disappeared and, though I lingered a while, it didn’t reappear.
On my way home, I was more lucky and spotted my second Orange-tip of the year. I could easily have missed it, so well camouflaged was it amongst the lush new growth of Cow parsley plants, but the breeze had picked up and it was having to flap its wings just a little to hold on to its perch. The flash of its orange tips gave its location away.
15 Monday Apr 2024
No, I haven’t been on a whirlwind trip to Scandinavia, more’s the pity. I’ve just read that the Holly blue (Celastrina argiolus) is not only native to Britain but can also be found throughout the Palearctic, and is the national butterfly of Finland. Well done the Finns for recognising the beauty of this gorgeous creature. And well done this particular Holly blue for sitting still for a few minutes yesterday so I could grab a few quick photos.
earthstar 
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