Tuesday, 14 Apr 2026
Butterfly numbers are increasing. Good variety today, too. Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) is still the dominant species, but several Peacock (Aglais io), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) and Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) were seen, as well as single Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines) and a first of the season Small White (Pieris rapae). Doing my […]
Thursday, 16 Apr 2026
A cloudy morning with intermittent showers, so I waited until after lunch to get onto the Downs. At least the sun was shining, but it was quite windy. Butterfly numbers well down on two days ago with just a few Brimstone and Speckled Wood about, and a single Peacock. Last year was a bumper year […]
Friday, 17 Apr 2026
Another heavily overcast morning, so I waited again until just after lunch to head out and managed to get in a good sunny walk before the clouds descended again. Much like yesterday there were not too many butterflies about, with the only addition to the three species of yesterday being a few Holly Blue. I […]
Saturday, 18 Apr 2026
A warm, sunny day with little wind. Yet still no great numbers of butterflies, and still the usual suspects, Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni), Peacock (Aglais io), Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) and Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus). The Green Longhorn moth (Adela reaumurella) seemed to be out in even bigger numbers today and swarming again too. The Common Spindle (Euonymus […]
Monday, 20 Apr 2026
A lovely sunny day, but a chilly wind keeping the temperature down a few degrees on the past week. Total butterfly count was a dismal 1, a single Speckled Wood. An adult Common Buzzard (Buteo buteo) of the rufous form was circling low over the northern part of the main grassland, surprisingly unbothered by the […]
Tuesday, 21 Apr 2026
Weather was similar to yesterday but gradually clouding over while I was out. Total butterfly count was 7, yet oddly there were 6 species seen. There were 2 Green-veined White (Pieris napi) and 1 each of Brimstone, Small White, Holly Blue, Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) and a first of the season Small Copper (Lycaena phlaeas). […]
Wednesday, 22 Apr 2026
Not a cloud in the sky but quite windy. Despite the wind a better day for butterflies with dozens of Brimstone on the wing. Surprisingly the next most abundant, I stopped counting at 10, was Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi), along with 5 or 6 Holly Blue, a pair of Speckled Wood and a solitary Painted […]
Friday, 24 Apr 2026
On another cloudless, warm day the wind continues to blow, keeping down the butterfly sightings. Brimstone is still present in good numbers, supported by a few Speckled Wood and Holly Blue, and just single Peacock, Painted Lady and Green Hairstreak. It is the third time this month that I have seen the lone Common Buzzard […]
Saturday, 25 Apr 2026
Another cloudless, very warm day, but just a light breeze, so butterfly sightings should have been better. Sadly, they were much like yesterday. Brimstone still dominates, with a few a few Speckled Wood, Holly Blue and Green Hairstreak, and just a single Orange Tip. The second moth on the wing of the season, after hundreds […]
Monday, 27 Apr 2026
The weather very much the same as my last walk on the Downs two days ago. Disappointingly still no increase in butterfly activity. Brimstone still dominate, with a supporting cast of Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria), Holly Blue and Green Hairstreak. I did get glimpses of what might have been one of the Skippers and an […]
Wednesday, 29 Apr 2026
Warm, mostly sunny, but a very strong wind. So, I wasn’t expecting too many butterflies on the wing. Total numbers were down on two days ago, and Brimstone still dominates, with the rest almost all Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus), but for single Green-veined White (Pieris napi), Small Heath (Coenonympha pamphilus) and Grizzled Skipper (no photo […]
Thursday, 30 Apr 2026
Weather very similar to yesterday, but the wind not quite as strong. Butterfly numbers still not responding to the warm weather. Brimstone still the most numerous, then Holly Blue, a few Green Hairstreak, a single Small Copper, and the first Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages) of the season. Oak trees yet again provided quite a number […]
Monday, 2 Mar 2026
Well spring starts officially at the Spring Equinox, which this year is on 20th March. ‘Meteorological Spring’ started yesterday. This is to make the use of data collected and grouped by calendar months easier to use for year-to-year comparisons. Whichever start date you prefer for spring the weather today and for the next few days […]
Tuesday, 3 Mar 2026
Today the Goat Willow (Salix caprea) catkins were attracting the attention of three different bees, Western Honey Bee (Apis mellifera), a few Buff-tailed Bumblebee (Bombus terrestris) queens and a single Early Bumblebee (Bombus pratorum) queen. Another Buff-tailed Bumblebee was seen searching in a grassy area for a nest site to establish a new colony, potentially […]
Wednesday, 4 Mar 2026
Another sunny day, but not much new to report. Still just the same few bee species around and not much else on the wing. After that first flush of Brimstone butterflies I have seen no more. Walking past two Cherry Plum (Prunus cerasifera) trees today I noticed that they looked somewhat different. One, the predominant […]
Thursday, 5 Mar 2026
The Brimstone butterflies are back and in much larger numbers this time. A single Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) was also spotted. A surprise was a small flock of Redpoll (Acanthis flammea cabaret), a bird I had not seen on the Downs before today. Best of all was that I did not miss out on a photo as […]
Monday, 9 Mar 2026
Many trees and shrubs are now starting to show leaf buds opening. Most advanced seem to be honeysuckle vines, wild privet shrubs, cherry plum and common hawthorn. The larger trees generally have only a small proportion of their leaf buds ready to leaf. Noticeable, though, is that while established sycamore trees are still only at […]
Wednesday, 11 Mar 2026
A nice, sunny but windy morning. Again, not too many insects on the wing, apart from queen Buff-tailed Bumblebees either collecting pollen from goat willow catkins or flying grass-top level over the open areas, occasionally hovering over a particular spot. The former have no doubt already found a suitable nest site to establish a new […]
Sunday, 15 Mar 2026
Another sunny yet windy morning – the ’March winds’ are definitely upon us. That didn’t stop me from finding something new. On the same sycamore sapling I found two new species on the undersides of adjacent leaves. The first was a leafhopper. Although there are several small similar-looking green planthoppers some can be ruled out […]
Monday, 16 Mar 2026
Today, a search of evergreen leaves turned up this tiny (+/-2mm) sub-adult female(?) Bleeding Heart Spider (Nigma puella) on an ivy leaf. Also found was a tiny cynipid gall wasp on a cherry laurel leaf, which I believe to be an Andricus sp. Species of this genus are responsible for Marble, Artichoke and Knopper galls, among […]