Painted Ladies in Butterfly Conservation Count on the Horsefield

It had been a warm and sunny morning and I had completed a Butterfly Conservation count in the garden in the morning.  As the weather seemed set fair I decided to do one in the Horsefield and hoped for some painted ladies.  Typically, as I reached my count area, the sun went in.  Fortunately it came out again on and off until it finally gave up the fight with the cloud.  Despite this there were large numbers of butterflies on the wing including 3 painted ladies and I found 4 more on a buddleia with several peacocks by the crematorium on my way back.  We are lucky this year as there is a large influx of these migratory insects.

Garden Count:
Large White 4
Gatekeeper 2
Peacock 1
Holly Blue 2
Small Skipper 1

Horsefield Count:
Large White 13
Tortoiseshel 1
Gatekeeper (including a mating pair) 15
Ringlet 7
Green Veined White  1
Small Skipper 6
Meadow Brown 8
Small Copper 1
Painted Lady 3
Comma 1
Mother Shipton's Moth 2

As I spent some of the time doing the count I did not photograph as many as I would normally have done.

Large White

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Peacock

Peacock

Small Skipper

Butterflies in the Garden Just Get Better this Year.

Butterflies in the garden just get better this year.  Another gatekeeper and a holly blue today.  I'm still waiting for the painted ladies to arrive.  Although it is a wonderful year for butterflies, as was last year, we should remember that this is the effect of climate change.  Many butterflies seem to be winners, but there will be losers too.

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Holly Blue

Holly Blue

Holly Blue

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

A fantastic year for butterflies in the garden.

What a fantastic year we are having for butterflies in the garden.  Unfortunately the high temperatures are very worrying.  The latest scientific findings on climate change are that we have 18 months to do something about it before we reach a tipping point.  Sadly the chaotic politcal climate here, in Europe and America mean that it is low on the list of priorities, particularly in America where Donald Trump, despite all the evidence is a climate change denier.

Still on the slight brighter side, meanwhile our list of garden butterflies grows:

• Small tortoiseshell
• Red admiral
• Peacock
• Large White
• Green Veined White
• Small White
• Holly Blue
• Speckled Wood
• Comma
• Gatekeeper - new this year
• Meadow Brown - new this year
• Common Blue
• Ringlet - new this year
• Brimstone
• Small Copper
• Skipper sp - new this year

We have also had a Privet Hawk Moth which was a treat.

It would seem that there may be an influx of painted ladies this year so we may be able to add that to our records later.

Large White

Large White Pair Mating

Large White

Holly Blue

Comma

Comma (showing the white comma mark on the underwing)

Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Common Blue

Common Blue

Peacock

Red Admiral

Small Copper

Brimstone

Privet Hawkmoth

Agapanthus

A series of images of the agapanthus in our garden.

Dog Walking in Irby Dale and Woods

Needing to take Jet for a walk today, we headed to Irby to walk through the dale and woods.  It was again a beautiful day and we enjoyed our walk.  The countryside is beginning to change from the green monochrome of June and early July and take on golden hues as the cereal crops, especially barley begining to ripen.  In fact I have just seen my first field being harvested.
Again butterflies were numerous with ringlets, gate keeper, meadow brown and small and large skippers in evidence.  The thing that we enjoyed most today, however, were the thistles, especially the huge nodding bright purple heads of scotch thistle.  Yet another excellent walk.