07 Thursday Dec 2023
Posted in insects
B is for Burgundy, Duke of Burgundy that is, a stunning little butterfly that I had the great pleasure of seeing for the first time, albeit fleetingly, during a short break in Gloucestershire in early June (Lifer: Duke of Burgundy, 10 June). I am already planning a return visit to hopefully see more of these in 2024.
15 Sunday Oct 2023
Posted in insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, Common knapweed, purple flower, Small white, Small white butterfly
I had something different planned for today but ‘the best laid plans’ and all that. So, here is the first scene that greeted when I arrived at the local country park this chilly autumn morning, a lovely little Small white butterfly sipping from a pretty purple Common knapweed flower.
27 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in nature
A bit of butterfly magic happened yesterday when I was birding on Cardiff Bay’s Barrage. I’d just managed to get quite close to one of three Wheatears feeding on insects in the grass and had headed back to the path that runs along the top of the Barrage when I noticed something small and very yellow-looking flying in from the sea side of the rocks, across the road and the path I was standing on, then down in to the grassy area I’d just left. I followed it down the slope as quickly as I could, watching to see where it landed. And there it was, sitting quietly as if resting, a Clouded yellow butterfly, only my second of the year and the first I’ve been able to get photographs of. Just brilliant!
20 Wednesday Sep 2023
Posted in insects
Just when I thought I would see no more, this year, of the bright beauties that are Small coppers up popped this gorgeous creature. I have never been more glad to be proved wrong.
17 Sunday Sep 2023
Posted in insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, butterflies on scabious, butterfly, Devil's-bit scabious, Painted Lady, Red Admiral
Monday’s blog featured the typical late summer/early autumn sight of a Meadow brown feasting on Devil’s-bit scabious. It’s one of the few plants that flower in abundance at this time of year at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park and, as you can see below, the east paddock is a sea of purple.
On Wednesday I noticed that the previous week’s heat had brought a small influx of Painted ladies, and counted four during my walk along one edge of the paddock. I’m sure there were, in fact, many more.
And, during Friday’s wander, the migrating Red admirals were pausing in the field to fuel their journey with slurps of scabious nectar. It’s such a valuable plant for the insects at this time of year.
11 Monday Sep 2023
Posted in autumn, insects, wildflowers
Tags
British butterflies, British wildflowers, butterfly, butterfly on scabious, Devil's-bit scabious, Meadow Brown
Nothing says late summer/early autumn to me more than a Meadow brown butterfly on Devil’s-bit scabious. This is a typical sight now at my local country park.
14 Monday Aug 2023
Posted in insects
I’d seen a second generation Dingy skipper; got close enough to a migrating Redstart for some reasonable photos; watched Whin- and Stonechats and a Tree pipit insect-catching in the tree plantation; spotted my first Migrant hawker of the year; and was just heading in to the woodland, hot and homeward bound, feeling very pleased with what the day’s walk had turned up, when this happened.
As if materialising from thin air, this Silver-washed fritillary floated along the path beside me, before settling on the ground almost at my feet. I was amazed! Singles of these butterflies have very occasionally been spotted in Cosmeston’s Cogan Wood but never before by me, despite my having walked every inch of the various paths that thread their way through the trees. It was the perfect end to a perfect day in Nature!
08 Tuesday Aug 2023
Posted in insects
Just a little celebration of some of the beautiful butterflies I’m enjoying seeing during my daily meanders. Though some butterfly species are suffering from this year’s weird weather, these three species seem to be doing very well.
A Gatekeeper in front, a Comma behind
A pair of Gatekeepers, the female on the left. The male butterfly has prominent sex brands (brown streaks) on its upper wings.
A Gatekeeper below, a Meadow brown above
A pair of Meadow browns, creating more Meadow browns. The female is on the left.
25 Tuesday Jul 2023
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, brush-footed butterflies, butterfly, four-footed butterflies, Nymphalidae, Red Admiral, vestigial forelegs
I learn something new every single day and this is something so blindingly obvious that I can’t believe it hasn’t occurred to me before now. I was reading the entry about the Nymphalidae family of butterflies in my copy of Peter Eeles’s Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies when I came across this
the forelegs in both sexes are vestigial and useless for walking, and this family is sometimes referred to as the four-footed butterflies. The brush-like appearance of the forelegs has also resulted in the other common name for this family – the brush-footed butterflies.
Of course, I’d noticed that many species of butterfly sit on four legs (the skippers, for example, as well as most of the browns and the fritillaries, and the Red admiral pictured below) but I hadn’t realised that their forelegs are essentially useless for locomotion. And, indeed, according to an entry I’ve just read on Ray Cannon’s Nature Notes website, in some species of butterfly those forelegs have, during their long evolution, been adapted to function as sensory organs. Butterflies continue to amaze me!
22 Saturday Jul 2023
Last Saturday’s weather was rather different to today’s constant rain – there was rain, but interspersed with warmer, sunny spells, and I managed to coincide my visit to local Dingle Park with one of those. This was my third time standing staring at the park’s Wych elms, and it was definitely a case of third time lucky.
Previously, the White-letter hairstreaks had stayed high in the tree but, this time, one little beauty came down lower, wandering slowly across the leaves, all the while with its tongue out, licking up the tasty honey dew.
Initially, it was quite distant but my patience paid off as it flitted from one cluster of leaves to another until it was really quite close. White-letter magic!
earthstar 
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