Butterfly Diary
- field notes by Adrian Hoskins
my earliest
sightings of each brood are highlighted in bold type
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Sightings
policy - details of certain sites where visitor pressure
or trampling may pose a threat to butterflies or alienate
landowners are excluded from these pages.
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2008
Jan
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Feb
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Mar
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Apr
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May
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Jun
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Jly
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Aug
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Sep
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Oct
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Nov
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Dec
March
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Sunday 30th March
After what seemed
like an eternity,
spring finally arrived in southern
England this morning. The winds dropped, the sun came out,
and butterflies took to the wing in excellent numbers. First
sighting was of 4 male Brimstones flying along the motorway
embankment near Eastleigh. Interestingly they were all
flying westward, against the prevailing breeze. I spent the
afternoon at Crab Wood, where I had at
least 25 further Brimstone
sightings, although with such a conspicuous and highly
mobile species you can never be sure if you have counted the
same insect twice. All except one
were males, actively searching for
females. At least one succeeded,
as seen in the photograph below. Other
species seen included 3 Peacocks, 2 Red Admirals and
at least 6 Commas. The latter all appeared to be males, each
having set up a territory which was defended against all
other intruding butterflies. |
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Monday 24th March
Easter
weekend proved to be generally cold and windy, with spells of
sleet or heavy rain and the odd short-lived sunny spell.
Butterflies unsurprisingly were reluctant to come out of
hibernation ! Amidst these wintery conditions it is
difficult to imagine that Orange tips, Speckled Woods and
Green-veined Whites will be emerging soon, and that spring
woodlands filled with flowers will soon come alive with Peacocks,
Commas and Brimstones, but theoretically we only have about 3
weeks to wait !
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Saturday 15th March
Sallow
catkins, wild strawberry, dog violet and the first bluebells of
the season were flowering today, brightening up a rainy afternoon
in Stansted Forest. Hawthorn, bramble, honeysuckle, larch and
hazel are all now producing fresh foliage. No butterflies to be
seen, but not long to wait until the first warm sunny days of
spring !
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Sunday 9th March
A 3
hour walk around Stansted Forest in mixed weather conditions -
everything from warm sunshine to sleet and hail - failed to
produce any butterfly sightings. The low numbers are probably
attributable to poor breeding success in summer 2007, rather than
to harsh winter conditions - compare the poor winter 2007-2008
counts to the spectacular numbers seen
during the previous winter - see
Red Admiral at Stansted Forest.
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Sunday 2nd March
I've
had no butterfly sightings since 9th February, but at Southleigh
Forest today there were plenty of signs that spring is not far
away, with primroses, celandines, snowdrops, daisies, dandelion,
hazel catkins, blackthorn, gorse and wild daffodils in flower.
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