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 […]
Wednesday, 18 Mar 2026
A cloudless, warm morning, with weather forecasters predicting the hottest day of the year so far. The insect population of the Downs has responded. The first Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) butterfly appeared during the warm spell in the last week of February and for a few days the weather coaxed a few more out of hibernation, […]
Thursday, 19 Mar 2026
Yesterday’s warm weather and sunshine continued today, but while there were still a lot of Brimstone on the wing numbers were well down on yesterday. Like yesterday I added a single Comma, this one, though, in pristine condition, as well as 2 Peacock (Aglais io). That leaves only the Red Admiral of the overwintering butterflies […]
Friday, 20 Mar 2026
Today marks the Vernal (Spring) Equinox, the official start of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. Having spent 40 years south of the Equator I still have to remind myself of that. A cooler morning with hazy sunshine and a touch of light frost in sheltered areas of the Downs. After two days of butterflies flitting […]
Saturday, 21 Mar 2026
Another day of glorious sunshine, but the temperature yet another 1° cooler. While butterflies were all but absent again it was a good day for flies and bees. I had to look no further than the now fully developed catkins of the Goat Willow (Salix caprea). This was where I found the only butterfly of […]
Monday, 23 Mar 2026
Just like two days ago butterflies were all but absent today, with my total seen only 2. However, these were 1 Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) and 1 Orange Tip (Anthocharis cardamines), with the latter being the first butterfly of the season from those species that overwintered in the pupal form. The Orange Tip chrysalis from which […]