The Lincolnshire Bird Club

Now that we are around the middle of April and now that the Speckled Wood has made an appearance, I feel I can go to print re my garden butterflies 2011. In past years, I have kept a record of my garden butterflies on the web and Max G, Colin P et al have also logged their records. In this way, we can see what is happening away from our home garden in Lincs and also exchange information re specific butterflies, nectar plants, etc.

So far this spring, including today (17 April), 8 species of butterfly have appeared in my Bracebridge Heath (BBH) garden :

March.... Small Tortoiseshell only

April........Peacock
Green-veined White
Holly Blue....the egg will have been laid last summer on an Ivy bud
.... typical first brood female with less black on the upperwing than the second brood
Small White
Brimstone (male)
Orange Tip (male)...incl. today, on Aubretia and Honesty
Speckled Wood....appeared today in the warm sunshine and in exactly the same area all Speckled Woods have appeared over the years (a semi-shaded spot by the Pergola).

I assume the Comma and the Large White will both appear soon.

Hi Freddy

We had 6 Commas in our Sleaford garden on 24th March!

We have only seen one since - at Covenham res on 10th April.

Regards,

Colin and Sheila

Colin and Sheila,
That is a super number of Commas as a garden count ( AND over 3 weeks ago)....the sort of number one might get wandering around Chambers all morning.

I normally get Comma in the garden around the time of the Augusta Masters Tournament but not this year.

What other garden species have you had so far this year ?

Freddy

Hi Freddy

So far this year our garden has been graced with:
Brimstone
Small White
Orange Tip
Comma
Holly Blue (5 today)
Peacock
Speckled Wood

One or two notable absentees, I'm sure you'll agree. Small Tort and Green-veined White for example which we have seen elsewhere.

Cheers,

Sheila and Colin

Update : 4 May

Since my report on 17 April, I have had 2 more species in the garden to bring the total so far this year to 10 :
Large White ( April ) - typical springtime adult with slightly grey rather than the black wingtips of the second brood.
Red Admiral - today, 4 May, sunning itself on a fence and then nectaring on Mexican Orange blossom.
Now that the cold NE winds have died down and that the wind is more southerly, some other welcome butterflies were seen again in the garden : spp Whites, Orange Tip (male) and Holly Blue (male) .....but still no garden Comma.

Has anyone had Small Copper or even Green Hairstreak in the garden yet ? Hopefully, the first Common Blue, Brown Argus and Painted Lady should appear later in the month in some of our gardens. Most importantly, will it be another Painted Lady summer ?

Freddy

Update : 3 July

What a miserable month May was for garden butterflies and the first half of June wasn't much better. After my 4 May update, for a week or two, a few butterflies endured the strong winds and the very few hours of sunshine :

Orange Tip males
Holly Blues
Speckled Wood
and the 3 Whites.

Things only began to look up in the garden towards the end of June with the eventual return of some prolonged sunshine :

2 x Meadow Browns....from 26 June
Ringlet....from 27 June
Small Skipper ( on Lavender )....from 2 July.

However, despite the fact that the Buddleia has now been in full bloom in the front and rear gardens for some days, I've only seen spp Whites visiting it.
Does anyone have better garden news ?

Freddy
PS....Good news at last...mid-afternoon Tue 5 July :

2 Red Admirals
1 Comma ( my first in the garden this year )
all 3 on Buddleia
and Ringlet on Ox-eye Daisies.

Freddy

Update : 15 July

After the miserable months of May and June, the first two weeks of July with some warm and sunny weather have produced a good variety of butterflies in my BBH garden. The flowering of Buddleia, Lavender, Ox-eye Daisy, Sunflower and Marjoram has certainly helped.

A total of 13 species have been seen so far in July, and with a 2011 garden total of 15 to date incl. Brimstone in April and Orange Tip in April/May.
July species to date ( some of them seen in earlier months, too ) :

Small Skipper
Ringlet
Meadow Brown
Red Admiral
Peacock
Small Tortoiseshell
Comma
Holly Blue
Speckled Wood
and Gatekeeper (from 14 July)...they just love Marjoram
plus the 3 Whites.

Freddy

Hi Freddy,
They are beginning to appear in my garden too at last. The buddleia is in flower, so too is knapweeb, lavendar and lots of marjoram. Red admirals, peacocks and small tortoiseshells are on the buddleias and ringlets, meadow browns and gatekeepers are on the marjoram, the three whites are about so too are small and large skipper and today i had my second essex skipper. Nothing like the numbers in previous years perhaps it may improve later.

Colin.

Update : 19 August

From mid-July until early August, the following species were frequent :

Peacock
Red Admiral
Speckled Wood
Comma
Gatekeeper
and the 3 Whites.

Since early August, there has been a change with

Holly Blue appearing regularly ( Ivy, Sunflower, Marjoram ) and, apart from the 3 Whites, only Gatekeeper ( Sunflower, Marjoram ) continuing up to date and now entering its 6th consecutive week.

Any further news, Colin ?

Freddy

Hi Freddy.
Since my last report i have had another essex skipper and several small skippers, red admirals, peacocks and gatekeepers are the commonest, a few meadow browns, a single comma and a single painted lady, only two this year, far cry from a couple of years ago, nearly forgot two common blues in the last week.

Colin.

Update : 22 September

UK butterfly numbers have fallen this year by 11% as a result of a cool and sunless midsummer.....with the coldest summer, in fact, for 18 years. This depressing news item of fewer butterflies this summer has certainly been the general case in my BBH garden.

However, there have been some welcome visitors to the garden since the last update on 19 August. Gatekeepers held on to the end of August, and in early September there was a new emergence of Small Tortoiseshells. Spp Whites have been regular up to now, Comma occasional and with up to 2 Speckled Woods until mid-September. A disturbed, would-be hibernating Peacock flew out of the garage on 9 September into bright sunshine.

Freddy

Update : 11 October

The unexpected but welcome arrival of warm, sunny weather during the last week of September and into October brought a bonus of butterflies into the garden.

Comma, Red Admiral and ssp White appeared daily and a Holly Blue visited on 29th September ( a rare third brood ? ).

The nectar sources were the last few Buddleia spikes, Ivy flowers and especially Sedum (Autumn Joy).

Freddy

While I was potting up my Winter Pansies and Violas today, a Comma was flitting around a sheltered part of the garden in the sun.

Freddy