12 Friday Apr 2024
I’d just got home from walking a circuit of Cardiff Bay when a local birder and butterflier sent me a message to say there were some nice butterflies to be seen in a nearby park so out I went again for a look-see. He was right! Though I didn’t see the Green-veined white he had spotted, I did see the beauty shown below, my first Large white butterfly (Pieris brassicae) for the year, and my first two Holly blues, though neither paused long enough for a photo.
07 Sunday Apr 2024
Posted in flowers, insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, dandelion, dandelion flowers, insects on dandelions, Small white, Small white butterfly
I missed celebrating National Dandelion Day earlier this week so today’s wildflower post focuses on the wonder that is the Dandelion and the many insects that rely on its early source of nutrition. This little group of photos also includes my first Small white butterfly of the year, found on Friday.
03 Wednesday Apr 2024
Tags
Aglais urticae, British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly population decline, Small tortoiseshell
It’s a sad and depressing coincidence that on the very day I’m writing this blog about seeing my first Small tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) of the year, on 1 April, the Guardian newspaper has published an article reporting on a sharp decline in sightings of this species in 2023, and a population decline of 82% over the last 47 years. Commenting on the survey data of all the UK’s butterfly species, gleaned from over 3000 sites across the country, ‘Dr Richard Fox, the head of science at the charity Butterfly Conservation, said: “Butterfly numbers fluctuate naturally from year to year, largely due to the weather, but the long-term trends of UK butterflies are mainly driven by human activity, including habitat damage and destruction, pesticide use, pollution and climate change”.’ I feel privileged to have seen this beautiful Small tortoiseshell but also saddened by the possibility that future generations may not be so privileged.
01 Monday Apr 2024
On Saturday, in sheltered spots out of the cool wind, it was tshirt weather for the first time this year, and, as well as my pale arms, the butterflies were also out in the sunshine. My first two Speckled woods, butterfly species number five for 2024, were, typically, having a scrap over territory when I first spotted them. Luckily, they soon settled down on separate bushes so I was able to get a few decent photos of them.
29 Friday Mar 2024
The few Brimstones I’ve seen so far this year – just three before today – have been buttery yellow males and have raced past at the speed of light, spreading their pheromones and patrolling their chosen area in the hope of finding themselves a female. Though determining their colour can sometimes be tricky without the other gender for comparison, I think today’s Brimstone, with its paler, more greenish-lemon colour, was a female. She was certainly hungry, happy to linger and make the most of the lush Dandelions.
25 Monday Mar 2024
Various commitments last Friday meant I didn’t get out for my walk until the afternoon but, in retrospect, that was probably a good thing as the air had warmed and, in the gaps between the huge clouds rolling across the sky, the sun felt very spring-like.
The happy result was a seven-butterfly day, with four Commas, two Peacocks, and a single male Brimstone that was zipping around a local park at the speed of light, as they do when waiting for the first females to emerge. Fortunately, one of the Peacocks was more interested in feeding from the Three-cornered leeks, so I managed to get a few nice photos.
19 Tuesday Mar 2024
During Monday’s walk I finally saw my second butterfly in 2024, my first Comma, and this was my first photo of a butterfly this year – the first butterfly I saw was a Red admiral fluttering most unexpectedly outside my train window on a sunny day in January. My Comma is not the sharpest but I rather love the frothy pink of the ornamental Cherry blossom surrounding it.
23 Tuesday Jan 2024
Posted in nature
I was sitting in a train carriage heading home, paused just outside of Cardiff Queen Street Station because of a points failure, gazing idly out of the window when, to my utter amazement, there came a fluttering of black and red on the other side of the glass – a Red admiral! It was a cold day but, in sheltered spots, the sun was quite warm – warm enough, obviously, to have roused this brave creature from its winter slumbers. The Red admiral was the last butterfly I saw in 2023, on 20 November, and is now the first seen in 2024, on 18 January. I was too slow, and the train began to move forward, so I didn’t get a photo of this first sighting – the image below is from one my last sightings last year.
21 Thursday Dec 2023
Posted in nature
I saw my first Painted lady of 2023 on 15 May and my last on 3 October which, when I look back over the past five years of my records, is about the usual date range. This year, here in south Wales, they were most numerous during September but this was not a year of large numbers – the last major Painted lady influx, according to my numbers, was 2019, when I was astonished to see over 50 of these beauties in one field at a local nature reserve. I miss the butterflies – of all species – when they disappear during the colder months and can’t wait to start seeing them again in 2024.
13 Wednesday Dec 2023
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, Green hairstreak, hairstreak, hairstreak butterflies, Purple hairstreak
H is for hairstreaks, purple and green. For me, 2023 was a particularly good year for Purple hairstreaks. On 21 July, in Purple sheen, I blogged about those I had already seen at Lavernock Nature Reserve and at Casehill Woods, but I was lucky to see them in three more locations, at Ystrad Mynach on 25 July, in Dingle Park on 27 July, and finally one at Cosmeston on 1 August. The photos below are from my Ystrad Mynach encounter, where I almost stood on a Purple hairstreak that had been blown on to the pavement in front of me from its large Oak tree across the narrow busy road, probably by the many passing high-sided trucks. After taking a few photographs, I took the tiny creature back across the road and placed it as near to its tree as I could reach.
There are no local places to see Green hairstreaks so I was particularly delighted in June to see my first in four years (A streak of green), at Charlton Kings Common just outside Cheltenham.
I also enjoyed a lovely encounter with a White-letter hairstreak this year but thought I’d highlight in this blog the Purple (for those special in-the-hand moments) and the Green (for the first sighting in so long).
earthstar 
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