The Lincolnshire Bird Club

The following 11 species were all observed today in flight and settled:

Red Admiral
Comma
Small Tortoiseshell
Gatekeeper
Small Skipper
Holly Blue
Meadow Brown
Ringlet
Large White
Green-veined White
Small White

The average-sized garden (20m x 15m) is bordered by open farmland and is well stocked with 'butterfly' shrubs and flowers.

Hello Freddy,
Nice to see that you have an interest in butterflies as well as birds !
Sounds like a good day. Your total number of species might be difficult to beat in a Lincs. garden at this time of year, but with a bit of luck, you might also have added Painted Lady & Speckled Wood.

Regards,
Roy.

Hi, Roy

My garden diary records tell me that I had:

Speckled Wood on 30 June and Painted Lady on 3 July
(plus Hummingbird Hawkmoth)
but NOT on 11 July.

Regards,

Freddy

PS. Regarding my Greetwell Hollow record of Marbled White on 29 June, both Brian Eke and I had a Marbled White there on 6 July - almost the first butterfly we saw on our visit together.

White - letter Hairstreak - no photo but no ID problem either.

The butterfly was nectaring on Buddleia Lochinch down to 1m. away.
Sideways on, a brown Hairstreak with a prominent white hairline stripe on the upperside and underside wing.
Nearest mature elms believed to be c 300m. away at Canwick Manor Farm.

Plus
Speckled Wood - early am. before the heat built up, then it disappeared.
Hummingbird Hawkmoth - several visits to Buddleia.
Silver y moths - 4/5 especially on Lavender and Buddleia.

When the sun came out this afternoon in my garden in suburbia I had the above plus Peacock,Brimstone & Speckled Wood. Can't recall ever seeing so many on one day before.

My Garden - Bracebridge Heath LINCOLN - 22/07

Further to my post of 11/07, which was before the recent hot weather brought out increased numbers of butterflies, I can now add the following species seen in the intervening few days:

Speckled Wood - 12 July
White-letter Hairstreak - 12 July
Large Skipper - 15 July
Essex Skipper - 16 July
Peacock - 17 July
Brimstone - 18 July
Painted Lady - 19 July
- a total of 18 species so far for the month of July.

Looking back through the garden records of the past 4 years since moving to BBH in 2002, and with only occasional garden watching, I can add:

Small Heath -03
Brown Argus -03
Common Blue - 04
Small Copper - 03/ 04/ 05
Wall - 02/ 03/ 04/ 05
Orange Tip - 03/ 04/ 05/ 06

This makes a total of 24 species having visited a garden of some 300 square metres in well under 5 years out of a total British breeding species list of 56 (Butterfly Conservation figure of July 2006)

The total area of "Britain" /UK is

England (130,368) sq/km
Scotland (78,772) sq/km
Wales (20,761) sq/km
N. Ireland (14,121) sq/km
= 244,022 sq/km

Statistics are statistics but it is mind-boggling to realise that, in the last 4 years or so, 43% of the total British breeding butterfly list of 56 species
have visited an average Lincolnshire garden of some 300 square metres out of a potential gross area of nearly a quarter of a million square kilometres.

'Natural World' (the Wildlife Trusts magazine) tells us in the Summer 2006 issue that there are '15million gardens scattered across the UK' and that 'domestic gardens are becoming increasingly important.' From the butterfly statistics of my small garden and from the gardens of Dave Rooke and Max, can we find some consolation and realise that not all is gloom and doom?

Added Small Copper & Brown Argus to my list today