The Lincolnshire Bird Club

I had my first butterfly of the year in the garden in Bracebridge Heath (BBH) early afternoon today (Thu) :

Brimstone - male (brimstone = sulphur yellow, of course)
with its lovely yellow colour showing to good advantage in the sunshine.
More garden butterfly reports will follow as the year progresses as per 2009.

Some claim (even the majority claim) that the butter-yellow of the Brimstone male was transferred namewise to all butterflies but my own personal conviction is that 'butterfly' is merely a verbal corruption of 'beauty-fly' via the tongues of good countryfolk. After all, not many British (or European for that matter) butterflies are yellow! (...and I don't believe that 'flutterby' connects with its etymology either.) Re the Continentals : ' butterfly' in
Italian - Farfalla
Spanish - Mariposa
German - Schmetterling
French - Papillon
and no mention of any butter there.

Regards,

Freddy

What?

I have not seen any yet Freddy, whats going on.
My garden looks dead at the moment, i reckon all the plants will be flowering later than usual, some of them may well have died because of the cold winter, i will have to keep my eyes on them. I am trying some different plants this year, globe thistle, red clover, knapweed and cornflower, all growing from seeds as i have got a lot of extra room after cutting down my conifers.

Colin.

Hi Colin,
Good to make web contact again at the beginning of another butterfly season.
My Brimstone didn't find anything to nectar on in the garden - it kept on investigating Ivy clumps and a non-flowering Mexican Orange bush, into which it eventually 'disappeared'.
On a positive note, let's look forward, eg even to August. I remember last August your garden was overflowing with some 10 species of butterfly including 100+ Peacocks, 40+ Painted Ladies, 10+ Gatekeepers,etc. - but without doubt lots of garden treats await us sooner......and I'm sure Max (after his Peacock on 16 March) is now regularly checking his garden ,too.

Regards,

Freddy

Update Thu 8 April.

Some welcome visitors to the garden in the bright sunshine this afternoon, vying for attention with the US Masters details on the Internet :

Peacock x 2
Comma
Small Tortoiseshell
(and a surprise)
Small White
(plus a male Brimstone on Canwick Avenue across from the copse at the bottom of the garden.
The main nectar attractions were Rosemary and Aubretia.

Regards,

Freddy

Update Sat 17 April.

Two recent arrivals in the garden :

16 April - Holly Blue
17 April - Speckled Wood

(plus Small Tortoiseshell
Peacock
sp White )

Regards,

Freddy

Update Friday 30 April.

Further April arrivals in the garden :

18 April - Orange Tip (male)
20 April - Green-veined White
23 April - Large White
plus
30 April - 3 Speckled Woods 'spiralling', bumping and clashing their wings in aerial skirmishes.

The Speckled Wood and the Holly Blue (a female with black on the upperwings), which were first seen on 16/17 April, are now 'resident' fixtures; an Orange Tip male and a Brimstone male visit most sunny days.

Regards,

Freddy.

PS. "Butterfly News - General" :
I recently received, direct from the publishers, my eagerly awaited updated (2010) autographed edition of the classic 1991
" The Butterflies of Britain and Ireland"
by Jeremy Thomas and Richard Lewington, with 288 pages and 900 exquisitely detailed coloured artworks (100 new). A book that will surely become essential for every serious butterfly watcher.

Regards,

Freddy

Hello Freddy and Colin,

As I was going down the drive spotted a Speckled Wood on a Dandelion and a Small White passing through.

Was In Wales [Snowdonia] last week and at the digs were loads of Orange Tip plus supporting cast.

Looking forward to good numbers again. The cuttings seem to have died but one of the pots has new shoots coming up. Pruned the main Buddleah much later than usual, and put in thirty cuttings two months ago.

Kind regards

Max

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Hi Max,
Pleased to read your post and to see as for Colin and me and as for 2009 and earlier years you are planning your garden as ever with butterflies in mind. What would we all do without Buddleia? .....it looks nice, it smells nice, there are so many varieties and of course it attracts butterflies.

The gardening world seems to be going mad lately over the new Buddleja/Buddleia Blue Chip - " the world's first truly dwarf patio Buddleia, blooming from summer to the first frosts." It looks more like a Hebe to me, growing wider than high and reaching 2 to 3 feet maximum, with a sweet honey fragrance,.....and we are told, it attracts butterflies. In fact, some of the web adverts show the bush covered in Monarchs and Swallowtails - chance would be a fine thing.

My latest garden news is that the female Holly Blue has been joined by a very active male (and you don't see many of those in my part of Bracebridge Heath.)

Regards,

Freddy

Not a lot in my garden, perhaps i should have planted some spring flowers, still its coming along nicely, i have planted so many plants this year, i am really looking forward to see them flower in the summer.
30 cuttings John, are you sure you have enough, how big is your garden.

Colin.

Colin and Freddy,

Thirty cuttings may sound alot but I expect some not to make it, yes there is plenty of room if all do succeed. I can always give some away.

At the moment the garden is a mass of colour with the Honesty, Periwinkle, Forget-me-Not, Tulip, Primula, Pansy, Wallflower, Magnolia, Lilac [white and blue], Lily of the Valley, Bluebells and not forgetting the Dandelions. Also got quite a few trees in blossom and others getting ready to show off.

Noticed yesterday that the Holly in front garden has for the first time got flowers forming. Just over a year ago I had scaffolding up and the workmen asked if they could lop the top off the Holly to enable the scaffolding to fit flush. I'll bet the shock has resulted in the Holly flowering.

The invitation is still open to have tea and biscuits

Kind regards

Max

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Max,

Good luck with your Buddleia cuttings - as you say, with 30 you will have a future show even if some of the cuttings die. This ongoing northerly wind has kept butterfly numbers down to a minimum lately, but I see it will be veering round to the south in the next day or so, bringing higher temperatures and hopefully some settled sunny weather, too.
I'll bear your invitation in mind when I next plan to head N to the Scunthorpe area (giving you due warning , of course).

Regards,

Freddy

Freddy,

My mate spotted a passing through blue today in garden but no ID, probably Holly, I'll keep an eye out tomorrow as I'll be in garden most of day.

Cheers

Max

_________________
GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Update Friday 11 June.

Sitting in the welcome sunshine in the garden this afternoon (Friday, .....I didn't watch the football ), I was pleased to find a Large Skipper on the Rockery, nectaring on Aubretia. (The first 'new' garden butterfly since April).
The only other butterfly to put in an appearance this afternoon was a Large White.

Regards,

Freddy

Been in garden last three days now I'm able but the place is devoid of butterflies except for a Large White. Granted not many flowers are out only the Periwinkle and Johnson's Blue Geranium, but I would have thought some would have flown over. All my Buddleah's will be later than usual as I trimmed them later. Yesterday checked the cuttings and about two thirds have taken.

Regards

Max

PS: only the best named Geraniums for me Freddy

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GETTING OLD HAS IT'S ADVANTAGES BUT I CAN'T REMEMBER WHAT THEY ARE lol

Max,
It's that time of the butterfly season in the garden where the main visitor is now the Large White (same for me) until the welcome Browns (used to be the Satyridae family but no longer, apparently) start appearing in the next week/couple of weeks or so .......Speckled Wood - second emergence, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper, (? perhaps Wall if one's really lucky); but for other Browns such as Marbled White and Small Heath, we have to go further afield....eg. Chambers Little Scrubbs Meadow (MW) and Greetwell Hollow (SH) for us in the Lincoln area.

Pleased to see that you've shown taste in your selection of Geraniums. (Thank heavens the "garden experts" haven't started calling them 'Gerania'!)

Regards,

Freddy