Blog Archives

Record numbers!

28/6/2019

Summer has arrived. The warm, sunny but breezy weather brought out butterflies in hordes. We had huge numbers of Meadow Browns, Small Heaths and Marbled Whites, plus a handful of Common Blues and Fritillaries but, sadly, no Small Blues this time.

Details as follows:-

299 Meadow Brown
166 Small Heath
120 Marbled White
14 Common Blue
4 Small/Essex Skipper
4 Large Skipper
3 Brimstone
3 Dark Green Fritillary
2 Red Admiral
2 Large White
2 Speckled Wood
1 Silver-washed Fritillary
1 Small Copper

So that's 621 butterflies across 13 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

As we're now at the halfway point through the transect season there is a spreadsheet (viewable here) showing what we've recorded so far. Look at last year's count for the end of June for an interesting comparison.

Survey by Brian G, Graham K and Graham H,
submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info by Brian G.
Hover over pics for captions. Click on pics to enlarge.
All pics © Graham Kenward 2019.

Black-and-yellow Longhorn Beetle (Rutpela maculata)

Counting butterflies on Barn Field

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First Small Blues of the year

20/6/2019

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The sun disappeared soon after we began and the clouds rolled in, so that by the finish of our walk the rain was just getting started. Fortunately it stayed fairly warm during our walk around.
We were pleased to see that the cattle have been removed from Section 1 (Hither Field) and that our Kidney Vetch plantation is doing well. So well, that it has attracted our first Small Blues of the year. We believe they were a male and female pair (see pics), leading us to hope there will be eggs. The Meadow Browns were out in force around our circuit – we counted 81. Small Heaths were our next highest count – 24.

The details of today's transect are:
81 Meadow Brown
24 Small Heath
2 Common Blue
2 Small Blue
2 Large Skipper
1 Marbled White
1 Speckled Wood

Total: 113 Butterflies across 8 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

Survey by Brian G, Graham K and Graham H,
submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Info by Brian G.

Female Small Blue, Hither Field: Graham K.

Male Small Blue, Hither Field: Brian G.

Hover over pics for captions. Click on pics to enlarge.

Pics © Graham Kenward 2019

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The butterflies are back!

6/6/2019

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Tuesday's walk resulted in a complete absence of butterflies – the first time for us. We therefore decided to go for a second walk on Thursday as the weather forecast looked more positive. A large dark cloud was heading our way as we set out across Section 1 and we sheltered under the trees at the start of Section 2 until the 10-minute rain shower passed. We then had increasing amounts of sun as the morning passed but it took some time before the temperature started to rise.

Note: In Hither Field (Section 1) our barely established Kidney Vetch plants are under threat once again from the newly arrived cattle.

Survey by Brian G and Graham H,
submitted to Butterfly Conservation (UKBMS).
Post by Brian G.

Given the poor conditions at today's start, we felt that the day's count was quite reasonable. It comprised:

19 Common Blue
15 Small Heath
5 Dingy Skipper
3 Green Hairstreak
1 Brimstone
1 Speckled Wood
1 Small Copper
1 Holly Blue

46 Butterflies across 8 species.
Click on butterfly names for more info.

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The June gap widens

4/6/2019

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Last Friday's butterfly count was low; today's was zero in all sections of the transect. Not very surprising, since the weather was worse than forecast. We were almost desperate enough to record the couple of moths brave enough to flutter under the overcast sky and occasional droplets of rain. We stopped before the end to avoid further disappointment.

Sadly, the Butterfly Orchid we found last week didn't last long in its unfortunately prominent position. The jury is out on the cause of its sudden disappearance.
Or maybe it's true that Bigfoot is real ...