24 Saturday Dec 2022
Posted in insects
Looking at the weather forecast for the next week, I think I can confidently say I’ve seen my final butterfly for 2022. It was on 6 December, a surprisingly warm day in the winter sunshine, when was this slightly battered-looking Red admiral emerged from its over-winter hiding place. I am SO looking forward to the return of the butterflies in 2023, and I’m planning to see a few more of the British species I’ve not yet seen, which will be exciting.
27 Thursday Oct 2022
Posted in insects
Shots like this usually go straight into the recycle bin but something stopped me deleting this one. Yes, it’s blurry, the ivy is out of focus, but I really like the sense of movement as the butterfly, a Red admiral, began to fly to another flower. What do you think? Save or delete?
13 Thursday Oct 2022
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly migration, ivy flowers, Red Admiral, Red admirals feeding on Ivy
It’s not only the birds that head south in the autumn. During a walk along the coastal path earlier this week, I noticed several Red admirals getting ready to migrate.
Ivy flowers are essential for them at this time of year when they need to take on as many nutrients as possible before they take the big plunge and fly off over the cliffs, a feat that never ceases to amaze.
18 Thursday Nov 2021
During yesterday’s meandering walk around north Cardiff, surveying for one particular leaf-mining moth, I almost stepped in front of an oncoming car, such was my delight at seeing this butterfly flutter up from the pavement in front of me and head across the road. Fortunately, it was a quiet no-exit road, the car driver was going very slowly, and kindly waved me across in front of him. Fortunately, too, the butterfly, this glorious Red admiral, had settled on the roadside hedge opposite so I was able to enjoy watching it enjoy the autumn sunshine.
31 Monday Aug 2020
Tags
aberrant Meadow brown, British butterflies, butterfly, Comma, Green-veined white, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Small copper, Small tortoiseshell
To celebrate – or, perhaps, to mourn – the last calendar day of summer, here’s a tribute to some of the beautiful butterflies I’ve seen in recent days, just because, when they’re gone, I’m really going to miss their magic.
A Comma doing what they do so well when their wings are closed – blending in.
Most of the white butterflies I’ve seen lately have been Small whites so this Green-veined white stood out from the crowd.
Here’s another that stood out – an aberrant Meadow brown. There always has to be one!
The heat wave a couple of weeks ago seems to have brought in a small influx of Painted ladies, though nothing like the numbers we had last year.
Have you ever noticed how much Red admirals like blackberries? And their colours blend in to this background rather well.
Small tortoiseshells have been having a good year locally, which has been a real treat. I even found two feeding on Red valerian right at the edge of one of the local beaches this morning.
A delightful surprise from Saturday’s walk at Cosmeston, a pristine Small copper.
19 Tuesday May 2020
Red admiral, that is. Last year, this was the first butterfly I saw, and it was early, in January. In fact, I saw two of them before January 2019 came to a close. This year it’s taken four and a half months but, finally, on Saturday, when I was enjoying a lovely wander along a local path, admiring the tall frothy loveliness of masses of Cow parsley, this little beauty floated towards me and settled, very obligingly, on a bramble bush right next to the path. Butterfly bliss!
19 Tuesday Nov 2019
Tags
autumn insects, bees, British insects, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, hoverflies, ivy flowers, moth larva, Red Admiral, wasp
It may be late autumn, with shortening days, chill winds and cooling nights but, when the sun comes out as it did yesterday, the insects also come out to warm themselves and feed. During my walk around Cosmeston I spotted a late Red admiral butterfly and then, further on, where ivy was still flowering, a host of flying mini-beasties: hoverflies, various bees and wasps. And, near them, tucked away further down on a bramble leaf, even a caterpillar, probably a moth larva though I’m not sure which species.
11 Wednesday Sep 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, autumn, insects, nature, plants
Tags
#365DaysWild, autumn fruit, blackberries, bramble, British butterflies, butterfly, Red Admiral, Red admiral on bramble
I think everyone would agree that blackberries, the fruit of the bramble bush, are delicious. I’m not one of those people who risks the almost obligatory scratches to go blackberrying at this time of year – I prefer to leave them to the birds and minibeasts. But, at Cosmeston yesterday, I’d been walking longer than I anticipated and my stomach was rumbling so I thought I’d grab a few to keep me going.
Well, if looks could kill, I would never have made it home because these Red admiral butterflies were absolutely certain the blackberries belonged to them. And they weren’t going to relent, letting me get my hand really close to them without moving a millimetre. One even flew out and ‘buzzed’ me before re-settling on its chosen fruit. I got the message and left them to their feast.
07 Wednesday Aug 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, flowers, insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
British wildflowers, Dingy footman, Gatekeeper, Hemp agrimony, Painted Lady, Red Admiral, Ringlet, Six-spot burnet, Speckled wood, Willow beauty moth
I’ve been spending a lot of time over the past couple of weeks staring at Hemp agrimony flowers. I’ve not yet found what I’ve been searching for – you’ll be the first to know when/if I do – but, in the meantime, here are just a few of the lovely creatures I’ve spotted nectaring on these pretty flowers: a Dingy footman moth, a Six-spot burnet moth and a Gatekeeper, a Painted lady, a Red admiral, a Ringlet, a Speckled wood and what might be a Willow beauty moth, but the jury’s still out on that one.
03 Saturday Aug 2019
Posted in 365DaysWildin2019, insects, nature, wildflowers
Tags
Alners Gorse, British butterflies, butterfly, butterflying, Comma, Essex skipper, Purple hairstgreak, Red Admiral, Small copper
Off we went again, our gallant gang of four, this time in search of the rare Brown hairstreak at Butterfly Conservation’s Alners Gorse reserve in Dorset.
This reserve is beautiful, the colourful swathes of wildflowers reminiscent of a painting by Monet or Van Gogh, the wide range of trees providing diverse habitats for local wildlife and welcome shade for butterfliers on yet another hot summer’s day.
Unfortunately, the Brown hairstreaks eluded us, and most of the other 20-odd people wandering around the reserve, staring intently, as we were, at bramble bushes, hedgerows and oak trees.
One person, on turning a corner in the path, had almost bumped into a Brown, but the butterfly immediately flew off and wasn’t seen again. A couple said they’d seen one high in a tree but much tree staring failed to produce another sighting.
Still, there were butterflies in abundance and my list for the day totalled a very respectable seventeen: Silver-washed fritillary, Purple hairstreak, Comma, Peacock, Red admiral, Painted lady, Essex skipper, Small skipper, Small white, Green-veined white, Common blue, Small copper, Brimstone, Meadow brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper and Speckled wood. My companions also saw Marbled white, bringing the group total to eighteen – I was obviously staring at a tree at that time!
Alners Gorse is a well known site for Marsh fritillaries – now finished for this year, and we saw large numbers of other insects – hoverflies, bees, flies, crickets and grasshoppers, and several species of dragonfly, so it’s well worth a visit at any time of the year.
earthstar 
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