Blog Archives

First Common Blue

27/5/2021

We were hoping the forecast weather improvement would arrive for Tuesday's butterfly count. Most of our walk around was in cool shady conditions which only lifted as we were in the final two sections.

Our count was similar to last week's, as once again most of this day's tally was recorded in sections 2, 3 & 4 (11 Dingy Skippers, 1 Grizzled Skipper, 1 Small White and our first Common Blue of the season) plus 8 Brimstones (6 in section 8 and 2 in section 12).

Maybe we'll raise our score next week!

Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey by Brian Gardner, Graham H, Graham Kenward, Roger Vye and Duncan Jennings submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward.
Click on pics to enlarge.

Small White, Fames Rough

Male Common Blue, Fames Rough

More pics from the day

Crosswort & Germander Speedwell

Fly Orchid

Roman Snails mating

Pollen Beetles on Buttercup

Fames Rough for Ant & Vetch

0 Comments

Rain stopped play

18/5/2021

0 Comments

The transect team chose Monday morning to do this week's butterfly count and although the weather held fair for the first four sections, by the end of Section 8 the rain started at which point we decided to abandon the transect.

We saw all but one of the day's butterflies in the brief sunshine on Coneyboro Hill and Fames Rough (section 2, 3 & 4) . In these three consecutive sections we recorded 18 Dingy Skippers, 2 Brimstones, and 1 Grizzled Skipper, and ended the count with a single Speckled Wood (the first this year, so far) in the wooded footpath between Hill Wood Field and Barn Field.

For comparison, Week 7 of 2020 was our first transect following the first Covid 19 lockdown, and in obviously better weather than we encountered today we counted 42 Dingy Skippers, 21 Brimstones, 13 Common Blues, 7 Small Heaths, 2 Peacocks and 1 Small White and 1 Green-veined White.

Survey by Brian Gardner, Graham H and Graham Kenward submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report by Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward.
Click on pics to enlarge.

Dingy & Grizzled Skippers, both favouring Germander Speedwell.

0 Comments

Sightings down

11/5/2021

0 Comments

After a sunny and warm start to the morning, the weather had deteriorated by the time we started our walk around. Fortunately there was some residual warmth in the ground and shelter from the wind at Coneyboro Hill (section 2) and neighbouring Fames Rough (sections 3 & 4) and it was here that we saw the majority of the day's butterflies: most notably 14 Dingy Skippers. Although the cloud cover thinned towards the end of of our transect, sightings were few and far between, adding only 4 Brimstones to our day's tally.

Here's what we saw:
14 Dingy Skipper
7 Brimstone
4 Orange Tip
3 Peacock
2 Green Hairstreak
2 Grizzled Skipper
1 Small White
Click on butterfly names for more info.
Total count: 33 butterflies from 7 species.

Survey by Brian Gardner, Graham H and Graham Kenward submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Report Brian Gardner.
Pics by Graham Kenward.
Click on pics to enlarge.