Lingering

23 Thursday Oct 2025

Tags

autumn insects, British butterflies, British dragonflies, Common Darter, Odonata, Red Admiral, Speckled wood

Looking out the window now, as Storm Benjamin drenches us with heavy rain, it seems hard to believe there was some bright sunshine this morning. I happened to be at Lavernock Nature Reserve at exactly the right time to feel the warmth of that sun and I wasn’t the only one to enjoy the feeling. Although I haven’t seen any butterflies or dragonflies for at least a week, and thought I’d probably seen my last for the year, but it turns out they’re still lingering unseen, and out they popped to bask in the sun’s heat:

A Red admiral

A Common darter

And a Speckled wood.

Greedy for Garlic

20 Sunday Apr 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring, wildflowers

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Tags

Allium ursinum, British wildflowers, Dark-edged bee-fly, Honey bee, Ramsons, solitary bee, Speckled wood, spring flowers, Wild garlic

The first two days of the Easter break were very wet so I’m glad I took these images last Sunday. One of our local parks has the perfect environment for Wild garlic – Ramsons, if you prefer, Allium ursinum. A shallow ravine runs through the park, with a small stream meandering along its base, and, at this time of year, the steep sides of the gulley are carpeted with the lush green leaves and bright white umbels of garlic flowers. Elsewhere in the park, under tall old trees, the path is also lined with Wild garlic, so anywhere you walk, whenever you breathe, your nostrils are almost assaulted by garlic’s strong smell.

Though I know some people can’t tolerate this odour, it doesn’t seem to affect the insects, neither attracts nor repels them; a flower’s a flower, with the pollen and nectar that nurtures them. Last Sunday’s walk wasn’t particularly sunny but I still found a few creatures feeding greedily: a Speckled wood, a teeny solitary bee and a Honey bee, and a Dark-edged bee-fly.

Speckled woods on the wing

01 Tuesday Apr 2025

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, spring

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Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Speckled wood, spring butterflies, Spring colour, Wood argus

Sunday was a brilliant day for butterflies, with my first three Speckled woods of the year, each in a different location, all basking on hedgerows and flitting out to defend their territories as I passed by.

With its rich chocolately brown background colour mixed with small circular dollops of creamy yellow, it’s almost like a living crème egg … or is my imagination just being overly affected by the bombarding of pre-Easter advertisements?

My brilliant guide book, Life Cycles of British & Irish Butterflies, tells me that the Speckled wood was once called the Wood argus, the name Argus coming from the ‘many-eyed shepherd of Greek mythology’. That seems a very apt name for this beautiful creature.

The spider and the Speckled wood

13 Tuesday Aug 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, spiders

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, British spiders, Crab spider, crab spider kills Speckled wood, Speckled wood, White crab spider

Me: ‘What on earth is that Speckled wood doing?’

240813 crab spider and speckled wood (1)

Speckled wood: ‘ . . . ‘
Crab spider: ‘Yum! Lunch!’

240813 crab spider and speckled wood (2)

Butterfly species no. 5

01 Monday Apr 2024

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

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Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Speckled wood

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.

240401 penarth

The weather effect

06 Thursday Apr 2023

Posted by sconzani in insects, spring

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, effect of weather on butterflies, Speckled wood

The weather effect? By 1 April last year, I’d clocked 63 butterflies of 7 species. This year I’d only recorded 13 butterflies of 4 species. As well as our very wet and cool spring, it seems that last year’s hot dry summer is also having a prolonged effect on butterfly numbers. Butterfly Conservation has warned that

Drought impacts the offspring of the butterflies that are flying during the hot dry weather by causing the plants that caterpillars rely on for food to wither and die. Without sufficient food, many caterpillars will fail to survive, leading to lower numbers of butterflies in the next generation. For some of the UK species that have more than one generation in a year, the resulting major decline in numbers has already been seen. However, for others, the next generation isn’t on the wing until this summer, meaning there could be noticeably fewer butterflies around in 2023.

230406 speckled wood (1)

Imagine my delight then, when I finally spotted not one but my first two Speckled woods of 2023, a week later than last year. Let’s hope this year’s weather is a little more kind to our insect neighbours, though climate change is already affecting and will continue to affect them.

230406 speckled wood (2)

A side of Speckled wood

27 Wednesday Jul 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, patterns on butterfly wings, Speckled wood, unique patterns

Before I became completely enamoured with butterflies, I mistakenly believed they – that is to say, each species – looked the same. I hadn’t appreciated that the patterns on their wings are like fingerprints, each one different, each unique.

220727 speckled wood side

And a Speckled wood Sunday

12 Tuesday Apr 2022

Posted by sconzani in insects

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Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Speckled wood

S was for a sunny Sunday saunter and a superb surprise Slow-worm and this stunning Speckled wood,

220412 speckled wood

My first two Speckled woods of the year appeared during a walk on 23 March and then another three graced a local walk on 28 March but I hadn’t seen any more until this little beauty fluttered up from a bush on Sunday. After our week of glorious warm weather in March, it’s been mostly cold and wet and windy so the butterflies have disappeared again.

Where the warmth is

07 Tuesday Sep 2021

Posted by sconzani in autumn, insects

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, Speckled wood

Butterflies are smart!

210907 speckled wood (1)

The Speckled wood may be a woodland butterfly, able to cope without as much sunshine as most butterflies need, but it still needs some heat. And, when the sun’s not shining, the warmest places in this area of local woodland are where the rides were recently cut and the grass clippings are beginning to decompose. I found seven Speckled woods in one very small area, all taking advantage of the heat of the rotting process.

210907 speckled wood (2)

Getting up close

17 Tuesday Aug 2021

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature photography

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

British butterflies, butterfly, Common blue butterfly, macro photography, Meadow Brown, practising macro photography, Speckled wood

I mostly use my Olympus camera for macro photographs, and to get crisp shots I need to get within an inch or two of the subject. As you can imagine, a lot of little creatures are alarmed by a large animal looming over them with a camera so, from time to time, I use one of my daily walks to practise my stealth. After a couple of false starts yesterday, I was very pleased to get up close to these three butterflies – a Common blue, a Meadow brown and a Speckled wood – as the macro photos give such good detail of the anatomy of these beautiful butterflies.

210817 common blue 210817 meadow brown 210817 speckled wood