My first butterfly of 2024, a Comma (Polygonia c-album) catching some spring sunshine in the outdoor plant section of my local B&Q DIY centre at Evesham. Usually my first butterfly of the spring is a Small Tortoiseshell or a Brimstone, but adult Commas do hibernate, even if they normally first wake up in late March or April.
This chrysalis of a Large White (Pieris brassicae) butterfly appeared at the top of the door frame of the back door. The caterpillars search out a sheltered, dry place to pupate; quite often under window sills, etc. There are no cabbages in the back garden, but I expect the caterpillar must have crawled about 5 meters from the nearest Nasturtiums.
After a cool spring that was not good for butterflies, we have quite a butterfly bonanza going on at the moment. Red Admirals and Whites (Small and Large) are the predominant species, but in the last week we also had Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Speckled Wood and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth around the garden, with our lavender and neighbour’s buddleia being the centres of activity.
Despite the wind and frequent rain showers we finally have a few more butterflies around, mostly Large & Small White, Meadow Brown, Small Tortoiseshell, Holly Blue and Red Admirals. Relatively few Red Admirals over-winter in UK, most Spring arrivals coming from the continent, with the first generation of UK hatched butterflies appearing about now. This species will be around until late autumn. The caterpillars are found on nettles mostly, and the adults love buddleia.
It’s not that warm, but warm enough in the sun for these two signs of spring. A very early Red Admiral catching some rays on the fence today. It’s not normally a species I see early in the year. Usually Brimstone or Small Tortoiseshell are first to put in an appearance, towards the end of Marc; so I’m not sure what this one was doing out and about today. The Brown-spot Flatbody moth is also quite early, but a few do come out in the early spring with a larger second generation in the summer. This one was disturbed while I was doing some gardening yesterday. I also saw the first bumble bees of the year this week.
In terms of numbers and diversity of species it has been a good summer for butterflies in the garden, with ten different species last week and nine both of the previous two weeks. The flowering period seemed short for some insect-friendly flowers, especially the Golden Rod, but the Lavender and. more recently. Buddleia have been pulling them in. Large & Small White, Holly Blue, Meadow Brown and Red Admiral are around most days, with a smattering of Small Tortoiseshells, Green-veined Whites, Peacocks, Commas, Ringlets & Gatekeepers. Less usual drop-ins have included Small Skipper and Common Blue. The main species not present yet are Painted Lady and Speckled Wood, which some years have been fairly common, but not so (at least here) this year..
=176 Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)
This Small Tortoiseshell and a fly-past Red Admiral this week will probably be the last butterflies of the year, unless we get a really surprise hot Halloween. In exchange for insects there’s a changing of the guard with the bird life - the last of the chiffchaffs appears to have moved on this week, but I had my first Lesser Redpoll of the winter yesterday and there seem plenty of Redwings about as well as a regular Red Kite back over the village.
A large Buddleia next-door, plus some nice sunbathing surfaces have brought in quite a few butterflies the last few days. Plenty of Red Admirals, including this rather beaten up one, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells, Large & Small Whites, the odd Comma and Holly Blue and a single Brimstone. I didn’t add a new butterfly species for a couple of years, but while it would be nice to get something different you can’t help but enjoy watching (and snapping) these superb creatures. Shame the Sun (and most of the butterflies) have disappeared today.
It’s always great to see the first butterflies of Spring. This week we had Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, Brimstone and Orange Tip all in the garden - about typical timing for them to appear, based on my records for the last few years.
The warm sunshine over the weekend was to the liking of the butterflies, with Hoily Blue, Brimstone and Orange Tip butterflies joining the Peacocks around the garden. I was happy that this Holly Blue perched itself on an Ivy leaf and stayed still for a photo. This species has two broods per year present in the garden during April/May, and then again in smaller numbers and for a shorter time in August. The caterpillars feed on the flower buds of Holly and Ivy, both of which are plentiful in the gardens around my house.
#60 Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)
Rather “off-patch”, but here are some of many butterflies I saw during our August road-trip around France.
Fritillaries were very plentiful, especially Silver-washed Fritillaries, which were present in numbers right through the Auvergne. I took nice pictures of these Knapweed Fritillaries in the Gorges du Tarn in Southern France; also the Scotch Argus and Jersey Tiger Moths there in the riverside vegetation.
In the French Alps I was very happy to find this Apollo butterfly, seen above Courchevel in the Vanoise National Park. The flower-rich Alpine meadows were full of butterflies and moths, including also Mountain Fritillary.
Last summer I managed to go right through from June to the end of the year without seeing one, so it’s good that the Peacocks are back this year. After seeing one in the warm spell at the end of March, this week there have been a few about in the garden, including this one posing nicely on the garden fence.
Other butterflies right now include large, small and green-veined whites, red admiral and the odd ringlet,, On the other side of the balance sheet, speckled wood which I saw plenty of last year have been totally absent and I didn’t see a comma or a common blue yet either.
#437 Peacock Butterfly (Aglais io)
Having not seen any butterflies at all in the garden for the last 4 weeks - more or less the whole of June - there’s finally some warm summer weather and a few of them about again: Red Admiral, Ringlet and my first Painted Lady butterflies. Painted Ladies seemed scarce last year and I didn’t see any in the garden all summer, but apparently there is a bit of an influx this year. These migrants arrive from Africa in varying numbers each year, sometimes making it as far as the Arctic Circle. Making a 9000 mile round trip, they actually migrate twice as far as the more famous migratory Monarch butterflies in North America. The caterpillars feed on thistles, and then as it’s too cold for them to over-winter in Northern Europe, the new generation of butterflies make the return trip to Africa in the autumn, flying at an altitude of up to 3000 feet. This individual is pretty faded, so it’s probably one of the new arrivals.
#513 Painted Lady Butterfly
It's the anniversary of my starting the BTO Garden Birdwatch, logging all the birds in the garden over the course of a year. As well as birds I’ve recorded butterflies, mammals & amphibians. These graphics are off the BTO site, showing the frequency of the most common birds that actually use the garden (pure fly-overs are not counted).
Surprisingly out of the 47 bird species I recorded during the year, only four were seen absolutely every week: Woodpigeon, Blue Tit, Goldfinch & House Sparrow. The rest of the top 10 were Robin which only missed one week (reporting rate = 98%), Blackbird with reporting rate of 96%, Collared Dove, Jackdaw and Great Tit all on 92%, then quite a big drop to Wren at 75%. Most of these species disappeared during late Summer / early Autumn, when the species count was at it’s lowest.
At the other end of the scale six birds only showed once: Fieldfare during winter snows, Whitethroat, Siskin & Hawfinch during Spring migration and Grey Wagtail & Lesser Whitethroat also migrants during the late summer.
Back at Greystones today for a walk. Despite the windy day there were still some butterflies about in the sheltered spots. Several Commas around the brambles, Small Coppers and also some Speckled Wood butterflies. The meadows are growing back a bit after their July hay harvest haircut, allowing some flowering of Devils Bit Scabious, Silverweed and hawkbit. Four Little Egrets on the nearby gravel pit were a sign of the season.
Finally a nice picture of a Speckled Wood butterfly (#151) which perched up on our lovely bright yellow front door. As the flowers fade away in the late summer, maybe a passing butterfly has to be grateful for any patch of sunshine yellow it can find.
It's colder today and the lavender is coming to an end, but here's a few snaps of butterflies that have been in the garden over the last couple of weeks. One or two of Common Blue, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown butterflies have been through on a more or less daily basis during early August. Though there have been plenty of Large and Small Whites, often they've not stopped for the flowers, and I've had Comma and Red Admiral visiting a few times. Other species which I might have expected, like Small Tortoiseshell, which I remember as being so common when I was a kid, seem very scarce - only seen 2-3 times this year. And so far I didn't see a single Peacock or Painted Lady in the garden despite it seemingly being a good year for butterflies. It's thought the decline of some of these butterfly species might be due to a parasitic fly (Sturmia bella) that has spread from the Continent in recent years. We sent in some counts to Butterfly Conservation's Big Butterfly Count - be interested to see the outcome from their UK survey when it comes out.
Passionate about nature, based in Gloucestershire UK; this site is about creating a wildlife friendly family garden and exploring the diversity of animal & plant species that share it with us.
As a nature lover and wildlife gardener I started wondering about the biodiversity in my backyard and just how many species from plants to insects to birds to mammals might live in or visit it.
Much of the wildlife in my small, village garden has been present right under my nose for years without my really appreciating it, so on the way I am learning a lot about different species and how to make a wildlife-friendly environment for them; also getting engaged more in conservation activities around Gloucestershire, Worcestershire and the Cotswolds.
My garden species tally started from zero on June 1st 2018, the target is 1000 species - let's see where it goes.
I'm very interested in your comments & advice: whether it's about the blog, some help with identification or just how to make my own little Eden better for wildlife. So please leave a comment or drop me a line if you feel like it!
Graham Tompsett
microedenproject@gmail.com
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