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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2010
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
February
Saturday 27th February
Milder weather
this week has so far failed to produce any further butterfly
records, but I fully expect to hear of more sightings of
post-hibernation adults of Brimstones, Peacocks and Commas in
the next few days. Further sightings of Red Admirals are also
likely, and hopefully Small Tortoiseshells. The latter showed
good signs of recovery last year, and will almost certainly have
benefited from the harsh winter, which will have reduced adult
mortality caused by bird predation and pathogens. With luck we
should also have a few reports of freshly emerged Speckled Woods
and Small Whites during early-mid March.
The recent damp
cloudy nights have brought further records of Mottled Umber,
Pale Brindled Beauty, Spring Usher and Dotted Border, together
with the first Angle Shades of the year, reported
from West Sussex. I've also just received a late report of a
Pale Pinion, caught in a moth trap in Dorset on 16th
February.
Recent
amendments to the website include the creation of new galleries
for the butterflies of India & Nepal, Australia, Papua New
Guinea and New Zealand, so please submit any photographs that
you would like to be considered for publication.
Saturday 20th February
Despite heavy
overnight frosts there was enough sunshine to tempt one or two
butterflies to take to the wing today. A Peacock was seen
basking on a wall in Bucks, and at least 3 Red Admirals were
recorded in southern Hampshire.
Friday 19th February
The website of
the Sussex branch of Butterfly Conservation today reported a
very early record of a Speckled Wood, a species not
normally seen until late March. This is still a long way from
beating the earliest UK record - 16th January 2007, and it must
be borne in mind that often such very early sightings are the
result of insects that have emerged, unbeknown to the recorder,
in glasshouses or nurseries. Nevertheless it is worth keeping an
eye open the next time you visit a woodland glade on a sunny day
!
Saturday 6th February
Mild sunny
conditions yesterday produced several butterfly sightings in
southern England, including a Red Admiral at Mill Hill, and a
male Brimstone at Ashdown Forest, both reported on the website
of the Sussex branch of Butterfly Conservation. While checking
out other websites I also came across a record of a Peacock,
seen yesterday at Oxford.
Monday 1st February
There have been no reports of butterflies ( apart from
hibernating ones which have awoken inside houses ) since 24th
January when the first
Peacock
of the year was seen, at Lewes. Other species recorded in
January included a
Red Admiral seen on 22nd at Bevendean
Down in Sussex, a freshly emerged Small White seen on 21st in Gosport, Hampshire,
and a male Brimstone on 17th at Alresford. Moths recorded
so far this year include an
Early moth caught at Aylesbury on 20th,
and a Spring
Usher caught at Finemere Wood on 19th. The first major moth
night of the year was 2 days earlier on 17th, when
Chestnut, Satellite, Mottled Umber, Pale Brindled Beauty, December moth
and
Winter moth were recorded at various sites in central southern
England.
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