24 Sunday Mar 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, spring
I wondered if today’s sunshine might bring out the butterflies and it did, though this little Red admiral made me wait until I was almost home from my local amble before it appeared. And then it led me a merry dance, settling on a lamp post for just a second, fluttering off along the road as if it was departing, disappearing behind some trees, reappearing from the other direction, sidling up to the lamp post again, almost instantly flying off. Pretty flitty little thing!
28 Monday Jan 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, winter
The sun may have been shining but it was frosty and very chilly when I spotted this Red admiral on the Penarth to Lavernock coastal path this morning. This is actually my second Red admiral for the year – I also saw one at Cathays Cemetery in Cardiff last week, but only managed a photo of a blurry red splotch high in a tree. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for this morning’s little butterfly, partly because of the cold – and it’s forecast to get much colder in the coming week – but also because there were no flowers to be seen anywhere today. If it doesn’t freeze to death, this little Red admiral might well die of hunger.
08 Sunday Apr 2018
Tags
Abraxas grossulariata, Andrena flavipes, Magpie moth caterpillar, Red Admiral, Red velvet mite, Trombidiidae, Vanessa atalanta, Yellow-legged mining bee
I mentioned yesterday that I saw my first butterflies of 2018 this week. The first was a Peacock but my camera was in my backpack and, by the time I extracted it, the butterfly had flown off. I was still cursing that fact when another butterfly appeared, this lovely Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta). Snap!
On Wednesday’s walk, as well as the bee-flies I blogged about yesterday, I also saw several varieties of bee. I’m hopeless at identifying bees – I will focus on them one year to try to improve my skills, but that won’t be this year. Luckily, there’s a good Facebook group where the folks are very helpful, and they’ve IDed these as Yellow-legged mining bees (Andrena flavipes). They’re spring-flying solitary bees that make individual nests but often in large groups (the experts call them aggregations). This lot, of perhaps 20, were digging in to a sandy bank by the seaside. (Here’s a link to more information from BWARS.)
This next little critter was tiny, as you can see by comparison with my hand behind (and I have small hands). Once again, I needed help on the ID but the folks from my local Butterfly Conservation Facebook group are experts. This is a caterpillar of the Magpie moth (Abraxas grossulariata), a stunning-looking moth that I have not yet seen. Its caterpillar is quite lovely too, don’t you think?
Though only 3 to 5mm long, these little Red Velvet Mites are hard to miss, simply because of their unusual colour. This is one of the Trombidiidae family but I don’t know which one. It’s really an arachnid (note the eight legs) rather than an insect but I’m including it here anyway. It’s carnivorous but no need to worry – it only eats creatures smaller than itself!
And, finally, a bee that I haven’t tried to put a name to – I just liked it for the way it’s positively luxuriating in the pollen of this Lesser celandine flower.
24 Tuesday Oct 2017
Tags
British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Clouded yellow, Colias croceus, Colias croceus f. helice, Combefield Quarry, Comma, Peacock, Red Admiral
We went for a wander around Combefield Quarry in Portland looking for birds but found butterflies instead. And very nice butterflies they were too, especially considering we are now half way through autumn. There were two Peacocks, a Comma, Speckled woods and Red admirals …
And the icing on the cake was not one but two Clouded yellows (Colias croceus). But wait there’s more … I’ve been told that the paler of these Clouded yellows may well be the helice variety (Colias croceus f. helice), which is something of a rarity. So, we were privileged indeed with our Lepidoptera sightings that day.
21 Thursday Sep 2017
Tags
autumn migration, British butterflies, butterflies, butterflies on migration, butterfly, migrating butterflies, Red Admirable, Red Admiral
During my walk along the coastal path near Penarth earlier this week, I saw more than 20 Red admiral butterflies. Now, it may be that they had gathered in such large numbers in that particular location because the ivy flowers had recently opened and they fancied drinking deeply of their nectar (as did a huge number of bees and hoverflies) but it may also be that they were heading south on their autumn migration to southern Europe and north Africa.
The Red admiral (Vanessa atalanta) was once known as the Red admirable – a bit of a mouthful, which is probably why the name changed – and has a surprisingly ominous history. In Bugs Britannica Richard Mabey reviews the evidence, in various texts and old paintings, and concludes that the Red admiral was once thought to represent sin or temptation:
The flickering band of scarlet on the butterfly’s forewings, vivid against a dark, smoky background, suggests the flames of a smithy – hence its French name, le Vulcain, after Vulcan, the blacksmith of the Gods. But, to Christians, it also suggested the flames of Hell … This surprisingly hellish image of the Red admiral was gradually forgotten during the Enlightenment, when artists started to draw butterflies for their own sake. But perhaps the story of a ‘red butterfly’ said to have been hunted in the north of England and the Borders as a witch is an echo of a previous, more sinister characterisation.
How anyone could imagine something as beautiful as this harmless butterfly could be so malevolent is beyond me!
13 Sunday Aug 2017
Tags
Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, British moths, butterflies, Common blue, Large white, Lavernock Nature Reserve, moths, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Silver Y moth, Small copper
Now, I know I’ve been posting quite a few butterfly photos lately but I just adore them and, as summer will soon be over and they’ll disappear for another year, I can’t help but share their beauty while I can. So, as well as that gorgeous Jersey tiger I showed you yesterday, here are just a few of the 16 species of Lepidoptera from Lavernock Nature Reserve on Thursday: there were 4 Brimstone butterflies; large numbers of Common blues; this pair of Large whites mating; 5 Painted ladies; 2 stunning Peacocks; 4 Red admirals; 2 Silver Y moths that just wouldn’t keep still for a sharp photo; and only my second-ever Small copper that got scared off when someone came walking down the path towards me.
06 Sunday Aug 2017
Posted in insects, nature, nature photography
Tags
British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Common blue, Meadow Brown, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Vanessa cardui
The Painted lady (Vanessa cardui) is supposed to be quite a common butterfly but I’d only seen two this year until this morning’s butterfly fest at Cardiff Bay, in a tucked-away spot full of Buddleja, Ragwort, Hemp agrimony and other assorted wildflowers.
The nectar bonanza was being licked up by four Painted ladies, two Red admirals, one Small white, two Meadow browns, and two Common blues. What a riot of colour they made!
24 Monday Jul 2017
Tags
British butterflies, British dragonflies, Buddleia, Buddleja davidii, butterflies, Butterfly bush, Comma, dragonfly, Penarth Rail Trail, Red Admiral, Southern hawker
Buddleja davidii is not called the Butterfly bush for nothing.
Running through the town where I live there’s a rail trail – the path of a former railway line that was closed to rail traffic back in the 60s and is now a wonderful walking and cycling trail, lined with trees, shrubs and wildflowers. At one point along the trail, there’s a group of several Buddleja bushes that have now reached small tree height and are currently covered in their gorgeous lilacy purplish flowers. When I walked past today, they were alive with butterflies: I counted at least nine Red admirals, three Commas, two Speckled woods and a selection of Whites.
An added bonus was a Southern hawker dragonfly that was also patrolling the area. Just brilliant!
29 Thursday Sep 2016
Tags
Brimstone butterfly, British butterflies, butterfly, Gatekeeper, Gonepteryx rhamni, Pyronia tithonus, Red Admiral, Vanessa atalanta
Though I love many things about the coming of autumn, it is also a time when many other things I love disappear for the year. The butterflies are one of those things. Gone now are the gorgeous Gatekeepers (Pyronia tithonus) that kept me company during my frequent wanders around my local cemetery.
Gone too is the pale, subtle beauty of the Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni). Though I searched for more, I saw only one this year, at the Parc Slip Nature Reserve.
I have noticed, over the past couple of weeks, a little resurgence of Red Admirals (Vanessa atalanta), as they feast on the ivy flowers that are just beginning to bloom here in Cardiff and are providing a late season banquet for bees, hoverflies and butterflies. All too soon, these creatures will also fade away, hopefully to come again in the springtime when the temperatures begin to rise and the days to lengthen.
