Only three days left ...

[french frank]

... for this year's butterfly (and moth) count. Anyone else taking part? This morning a small tortoiseshell and a comma were feeding off the same buddleia flower, with a painted lady just nearby. And I identified the mint moth from the internet pics:



(not my photo - mine was a bit blurred, on a snail nibbled pea plant, but still recognisable)

http://butterfly-conservation.org/4291/big-butterfly-count-2013.html

[umslopogaas]

No, I didnt know about it, but will investigate. This morning a butterfly I didnt recognise flew into my conservatory. I think it was a fritillary, which could have been interesting, but it flew out again without settling, so I'll never know ... unless it comes back.

No painted ladies (she's due to visit next month), but loads of peacocks.

Checked the mint, but no mint moths to be seen.

[amateur51]

All I get are small whites and ... a brown one that never settles for long enough close to me top facilitate an identification.

But then I am beside several railways tracks. I'm close to a mosque too.

[Padraig]

I was not aware of the count, ff, but this morning I noticed that the white flowers of a huge buddleia (thanks for the spelling) were covered with butterflies and bees. I did not count, but there were six to ten small tortoiseshells sitting and flitting in the morning sun.

[french frank]

No, I didnt know about it, but will investigate. This morning a butterfly I didnt recognise flew into my conservatory. I think it was a fritillary, which could have been interesting, but it flew out again without settling, so I'll never know ... unless it comes back.

No painted ladies (she's due to visit next month), but loads of peacocks.

Checked the mint, but no mint moths to be seen.

There have been a couple of peacocks over the past months, and more commas and painted ladies than I've seen in recent years. Surprisingly, no red admirals.

Yes, amsy, small whites here too. I put 6+ in the box for the number seen and was told by the software that wasn't a proper number. So I said 6.

I don't think I've ever seen a fritillary, in fact nothing very exotic at all. There use to be brimstones, marbled whites and white admirals in me young days, but not round here. I did spot a small blue one fluttering at the top of the buddleia but I couldn't identify which one. There's a box where you enter your sightings and where you can put, "I saw a little blue one" and leave the experts to decide what to do with that bit of information.

[french frank]

I was not aware of the count, ff, but this morning I noticed that the white flowers of a huge buddleia (thanks for the spelling) were covered with butterflies and bees. I did not count, but there were six to ten small tortoiseshells sitting and flitting in the morning sun.

Another glorious sight from my childhood - positive swarms of tortoiseshells on the brambles and ivy. (I think you can spell it with a j too - buddleja).

[Barbirollians]

Been to visit a friend today in Worcestershire and her buddleia was awash with peacocks - we counted 15 and a good deal of whites too .

[Anna]

I've been taking part since it started. Apart from masses of cabbage whites I've logged: Peacocks, Red Admirals, Commas, Ringlets, Gatekeepers, Tortoiseshells, Walls and Meadow Browns. No Painted Ladies here! Noticeably missing are Orange Tips and any sort of Blues. I do have a dark purple buddleia but they seem to congregate on my bramble patch (or, my Wildlife Garden as I like to call it!) but the common pale lilac buddleia in the hedgerow next to the bus stop is swarming with butterflies, It's been a very good year for them because of the hot sunny weather.

[Dave2002]

Several butterflies have chosen to fly in, and in some cases to die in the heat recently. Amongst them were Orange Tips, which I'd never been aware of before.

[Pikaia]

I have been a member of Butterfly Conservation for many years and take part in their Garden Butterfly Survey, which is a different thing. I have had lots of Peacocks on my white Buddleia that I grew from seed 30 years ago. Back then I never had Peacocks, but they are now the commonest species. Today I was surprised to see a White-Letter Hairstreak in my garden for the first time ever. This is doubly surprising as this species has been declining recently, largely due to the decline of Elm, its larval food plant, and it is not common here in Merseyside.

[french frank]

Today I was surprised to see a White-Letter Hairstreak in my garden for the first time ever.

That would have sent me to the internet images to identify! I've never seen any of the hairstreaks.

Dave - orange tip again reminds me of a childhood in the country. None here lately.

By the way, my nephew gave me a hugely enjoyable read a couple of years ago: Patrick Barkham's The Butterfly Isles in which he sets out to spot every single species that frequents the British Isles in one season, based on 'local information' in many cases. I suspect a slight stitching up (cynic, me!) but - can you believe? - it makes for an exciting read when some species are only found for a very short season in particular locations.

[umslopogaas]

#5 ff, no red admirals here (East Devon) either, but I'm expecting them to arrive soon. As far as I remember, they usually appear fairly late in the season.

[Anna]

Dave - orange tip again reminds me of a childhood in the country. None here lately

If a butterfly site I looked at on the Net is correct, orange tips are only to be seen in June. However, I remember not so many years ago lots of them appeared to be constantantly visiting here during the Summer together with some small blue butterflies. There was a SpringWatch special on butterflies and how loss of habitat was wiping out some rarer species, they were on the trail of a Duke of Burgandy as I recall. (Loss of habitat can't apply here, the only change has been the fields at the back no longer have grazing cattle but are cut for silage/hay) Has anyone seen the more 'exotic' ones such as a Monarch?
Offtopic a bit. Twice I've signed up for an Autumn Moth Watch in the cemetery, and twice it's been cancelled due to weather. I find moths fascinating and some of them are just as pretty as butterflies.

[Padraig]

An orchid for ff from Padraig.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23606652

[french frank]

An orchid for ff from Padraig.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-23606652

Oh, my goodness! (Did you remember my interest in orchids?) Epipactis. My CG-W Illustrated Flora just says it's common in the north to Perth; also found in the Inner Hebrides. Another thing that St P. banished from Ireland?