The light as helped me to get some sharp, bright shots which I hope you enjoy. It is now possible for butterfly and moth recording to resume for people who are not shielding or self-isolating. Please remember that Government restrictions on making journeys to see and record butterflies vary in different parts of the UK at present. Many of the other butterfly species are busily feeding on nectar or soaking up the warmth of the strong sunshine we’ve had recently. Sighting details. A recent study of a Mongolian Cuckoo in fact showed it had made an astonishing 26,000-mile journey to South Africa (one of the longest migrations of any known animal) across 16 countries fuelled almost entirely on caterpillars! The wild thyme is out in patches right across the hill. To get ourselves familiar with the botany of Collard Hill (and to contain our excitement in the days before the Large blues emerged!) We watched the Large Blues going for shelter and, instead of only targeting Thyme plants, searching for and perching in a range of other plants, like bramble and stinking iris to avoid the cold and rain. I have managed to photograph a lot of different stages of the season, including mating pairs, egg-laying females and the eggs themselves, In total I have seen 21 species of butterfly (I’m hoping I haven’t forgotten any!) Jun 7 2020: Rory Williams. 4th Ivor - 95 Points. Lulworth Skipper is a butterfly I have been hoping to see for a number of years, so when Large Tortoiseshell butterflies began to be reported in the same area I started to make arrangements for the journey. Species only appear in the results table if there has been at least one sighting in the selected year. Date, number and location of all butterfly stages reported. After a long absence of 14 years, it was back! Often, we’ve just confirmed our identifications with binoculars and moved on, knowing that they wouldn’t be settling for us to get a better look at them. I think they’re waiting for a food delivery!… now where have I seen similar behaviour recently? It certainly feels like the recent rains may be challenging for the butterflies, but the vegetation that many species depend on is certainly loving it. It is now possible for butterfly and moth recording to resume for people who are not shielding or self-isolating. Butterfly sightings from across the United States and Canada, from the North American Butterfly Association . Events Sites. As we punched the post code into the sat nav I knew there was another famous site en route for butterflies called … Another incredible invertebrate character we met on the path was this bloody-nosed beetle. In line with current government guidance all Butterfly Conservation events will be cancelled. The overall winner will be announced in the coming weeks. They lay their eggs in the nests of other bees, mostly Andrena species, and can often be seen hovering around their nests looking for an opportunity to get in and lay their eggs. It has been a great experience being able to spend so much time on Collard, it’s been a privilege to be able to observe and photograph the large blues, and I’ll definitely have to come back in future years to see these wonderful butterflies again. Because the weather has often been colder and they have still been so active, we have often wondered how they managed to burn so much energy staying on the wing for so long while rarely stopping to feed on energy-rich nectar. Holly Blue - Iain H Leach. Butterfly sightings from across the United States and Canada, from the North American Butterfly Association . Butterfly First Sightings 2020 * The table below lists the earliest sightings of resident and regular migrant butterfly species that occured in Warwickshire in 2020. So below are our personal favourites and highlights of all the amazing wildlife we saw in the past week, our first full week of walking the butterfly transects on Collard Hill. If you are confident that you've seen a butterfly species in the UK this year that has not yet been reported below, please contact @email. From the North American Butterfly Association. Please see our latest guidance. See also the complete gallery of photos for 2021. 2020 sightings. Mason Terrace, Melbourne, FL, 32935 Brevard County, FL. Lancashire Butterfly and Day-Flying Moth Sightings. 12th KW - 89 Points I also found this great looking micro moth Captoptria pinella which is an interesting species to find as it is usually found in boggy and marshy areas, so it must be a bit lost up on the exceedingly dry Collard Hill! Pepper and Salt Skipper. First Sightings 2021 . TIP: Click column headings to sort table data. We’ve seen a great many hoverflies (including Volucella sp, Helophilus pendulus and Scaeva pyrastri pictured) and a variety of honeybees and bumble bees (which I hope to detail more in further blogs) busily visiting flowers. I’m James, a furloughed Membership Manager for RSPB in Somerset & Dorset and I have a background in zoology and nature conservation. The plants flourishing like this has had a knock-on effect and the diversity of invertebrates we’ve seen has really increased. Patches of bramble and gorse on the lower slopes have flowered, and grasses have developed seed heads. Early 2020 sightings; 2019 sightings; 2018 sightings; 2017 sightings; 2016 sightings; Older sightings; Picture of the month ; Sussex species. Around the hill I noted several webbed patches on foliage, and so it’s obvious that moths and butterflies have been finding their chosen food-plants to deposit eggs. I had no large blues again today, suggesting their season is over and done with unfortunately; but their eggs are getting ready to hatch and caterpillars are munching away at the thyme preparing for next year when they’ll emerge and once more grace us with their presence! Recorders must, at all times, continue to observe social distancing guidelines. The Large Blues began emerging on 29 May. This year’s count recorded the highest number of butterfly sightings ever submitted, with a record number of participants, counts and overall butterflies seen, with 1.4m common species spotted. Most were in superb condition, with the odd one showing some wear and tear to its wing edges. VAT No. 8th DRC - 92 Points. We’ve been in awe of Large blues who have cleverly found hideaways in the scrub, and we’re finding ourselves talking to them, paying them compliments and standing a little longer to watch. 20 Dec Edward Perry IV. On that subject I’d like to showcase the rest of the wildlife we’ve seen across the hill in the past week. Large Blues on Collard Hill Large Blue Butterfly. Registered charity number 222212 The plants on the hillside are now looking healthy, although the ground is still cracked in places after that extreme dry spell in April/May. On a final note, the most notable bird experiences this week was watching a red kite entering Collard Hill’s airspace early one morning and swiftly being joined by a female sparrow hawk and a group of noisy herring gulls. January 1st, Bridgwater, ST30 37 Painted … Click map markers to see species recorded. They have been calmly waiting out the tough patches of weather in their own clever ways, perhaps learned and refined over the 20 years they’ve been resident on Collard Hill. The large blue is among the species Matthew Oates has spotted earlier than any season in almost 50 years. It’s exciting to know that we are now approaching their normal peak emergence time in late June. Discoveries from under floors and turf, stories of past lives, the ordinary and extraordinary, The views and photographs of Adrian Colston. We care very much about helping nature and the fact we have a species coming back from extinction in the UK right behind our little village is brilliant! A red ant worker almost certainly Myrmica sabuleti was foraging amongst a patch of wild thyme flowers. We hope you all have time to get out and enjoy nature somewhere near you on the longest day. There have been significant changes to the restrictions brought in to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Some posts are serious, some not. If you think you have seen a butterfly which could be a first sighting of that species for the current year (outside & active), please send your record with the species name, date seen & site name/location to the County Butterfly Recorder (Recorder@somersetbutterflies.org.uk) Click here to send email. To count as first sighting, butterflies must be seen outside and be active (i.e. To best view photos on this page, JavaScript should be enabled. It felt incredible, knowing that they were already getting on with reproducing within a day or two of emerging from the ant hills! A very energized group of Long-tailed tits still regularly chatter all around us under the pines as we walk through. Photo gallery. We do not post Hummingbird hawkmoth (or other moths) records on this sightings page. not in hibernation). You can also see these sightings on a map. FOLLOW US. 3rd Colin Knight - 95 Points. It’s helped me to remember that metamorphosis for a caterpillar certainly isn’t just a process of taking a rest and attaching some wings. I’ll really hope to spot the adult six burnett in the next few days. VAT No. And then..  there they were! American Copper. Chalkhill Blue: 2020-07-06 Clouded Yellow: 2020-04-19 Comma: 2020-01-19 Common Blue: 2020-04-26 Dark Green Fritillary: 2020-05-25 Dingy Skipper: 2020-04-14 Duke of Burgundy: 2020-05-02 Essex Skipper: 2020-06-14 Gatekeeper: 2020-06-09 Grayling This page shows live results from the Garden Butterfly Survey. No reader will have failed to notice the fact that this spring has been exceptional. As many of these severe weather events have, at some level, been linked to climate change, this year’s data could be very important indeed. It was another great summer’s day up on Collard Hill, although try as I might I couldn’t find any large blues! I’m not sure. The large blue is the biggest blue butterfly. Print view; Search Advanced search. [Posted by Alan Wingrove] 07 Nov 2020. Other butterflies are on the up however, gatekeepers have boomed in the past couple of days, the ringlets are still numerous and fresh second brood common blue and brown argus butterflies are everywhere. 2020 eButterfly Year in Review. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk › ... › features › reintroducing-the-large-blue An incredibly wet winter, followed by an incredibly dry spring growing season, has meant that the sward of Collard Hill is still very short, something that may prove beneficial for the ants, but may hinder the butterfly in its reproduction. There have been significant changes to the restrictions brought in to reduce the spread of coronavirus. Large Blue Butterfly Maculinea arion on Wild Thyme Thymus polytrichus – Collard Hill 30 May 2020 As Susie and I recently joined the team, we feel immensely privileged to be joining at this exciting point and we’re really enjoying being so thoroughly immersed in all the wildlife of … I’ve seen the Red Kite on two further occasions since and although it’s missing wing feathers help me to identify the same individual it obviously has had a tough time settling into the community. The best find of today however, goes to a member of the Diptera family. June 17th, Shapwick Heath, ST42 40 Red Admiral. It really is worth looking out for these tiny, almost alien looking creatures. Thursday August 13, 2020, 2:32 PM. 7th TL - 94 Points. After a long absence, a successful collaboration between the National Trust, Butterfly Conservation, the Limestone's Living Legacies Back from the Brink project, Natural England, Royal Entomological Society and the Minchinhampton and Rodborough Committees of Commoners has seen them reintroduced back onto the commons. Few from the top of the hill. Scotland (SC039268), Website design & development by Headscape. These butterflies haven’t been seen in Hertfordshire since 1959. The project marks the largest ever reintroduction of Large Blues in the UK with 1,100 larvae released on the 351 hectare (867 acre) site last August after five years of preparing the … The first fresh Sussex-born specimens were noted rather early, at the end of the first week of the month, with at least one flying alongside five more worn primary immigrants on 6th. The Large Blues have been stopping still to sun themselves more often this week and I have managed to get some nice photos. I did have a few finds today though, including a variety of as yet unidentified Nomada bees, which are cleptoparasites of other bee species and often mistaken for wasps. Both the male and female Common Blue Damselfly have drifted by us on the main paths on Collard hill. Sighting for December 20, 2020. Writing the blog has been good fun too, it will be great to look back on and remind myself in the future of the great time I had up on the hill. It is now possible for butterfly and moth recording to resume for people who are not shielding or self-isolating. Please see our latest guidance. GB 991 2771 89 Be part of this nationwide survey and help take the pulse of nature. However, Collard keeps me busy with other creatures to find; the hill is a surprisingly good place for dragonflies and damselflies considering how far it is from any significant water body. On Sunday (7June) we saw the highest of our counts so far. We really hope to help wildlife as much as we can, and who knows what we might see coming to explore the nectar-rich plants we’re planting in our garden! This is 23 days after I first observed them egg-laying on Collard Hill this summer, so the breeding season has been of a good length. which are: – large blue– dark-green fritillary– comma– marbled white– meadow brown – small heath – ringlet – small skipper – large skipper – essex skipper– peacock – red admiral – painted lady – gatekeeper – common blue – brown argus – large white – small white – green-veined white– speckled wood – small tortoiseshell, There has also been many new bees, beetles, moths and flies that I have seen as well, some of which are quite rare species which were really great to find, for example the moth Nemophora cupriacella and most excitingly the nationally rare Downland bee-fly, Villa cingulata. Additional information about each sighting is available by clicking on "Details." Every day we visit we see them the slopes have are occupied at regular intervals by their silky web homes, creating the appearance of a miniature arachnid village. I made a nice dragonfly discovery that day too and I was excited to see a female Scarce Chaser (not recently reported on Collard Hill) as well as a rather large late-instar Oak Eggar caterpillar. I know I’m not the only one happy to see such beautiful scavenging birds getting established again around the reserve as they do play a vital role in cycling nutrients back into the ecosystem and of course adding to the visitor wow factor alongside the Large Blue. Although, appearing superficially similar to the much more common meadow brown (also pictured) when in flight, on closer inspection the Ringlet has a really gorgeous set of clear rings across its upper and lower wings. In South America, these butterflies can be found in great diversity and numbers and species typically have iridescent, metallic colouring or patches on their upper wings. The arrival and subsequent impacts of coronavirus has meant that everyone, National Trust included, has been locked down and limited in our responses to developing situations. When the winds have calmed and the sun has found its way through the clouds, we’ve had some great sightings of our beautiful Large Blues, showing that they are indeed very resilient. Transects resources; Conservation work parties; Bevendean Down; Heyshott; Oaken Wood Butterfly Reserve; Rowland Wood and Park Corner Heath; Warnham Butterfly … It was first recorded from Brighton in East Sussex, and Christchurch in Hampshire, in August 1859. Actually, I think if I’d stayed watching that caterpillar a little longer, I might have actually seen it pupate. A little bit of nature in harmony! Report a sighting *Please note: The charts shown on this page are drawn only from casual sightings … Susie then also spotted this gorgeous Common Blue female who had quickly moved onto the path to warm up as the clouds parted. Butterflies of 2020 1 Comma 2 Peacock 3 Small Tortoiseshell 4 Brimstone 5 Painted Lady 6 Orange-tip 7 Holly Blue 8 Small White 9 Green-veined White 10 Large White 11 Speckled Wood 12 Common Blue 13 Brown Argus 14 Small Heath 15 Grizzled Skipper 16 Dingy Skipper 17 Pearl-bordered Fritillary 18 Green Hairstreak 19 Marsh Fritillary 20 Small Blue 21 Duke of Burgundy 22 Adonis Blue … Why you can trust Sky News . GB 991 2771 89 Registered Office: Manor Yard, East Lulworth, Wareham, Dorset, BH20 5QP Sussex moth group; Sussex sites. The first fresh Sussex-born specimens were noted rather early, at the end of the first week of the month, with at least one flying alongside five more worn primary immigrants on 6th. NABA Sightings. Susie is a plant enthusiast, very keen walker and explorer and still working through the Covid-19 lockdown as a Social Worker. Female Emperor Moth by Rowena Castillo Nicholls . Northern Cloudywing. Probably the clearest shot I got. Thanks for reading and take care. Records this year will be particularly pertinent, as we have had several severe weather events in the lead up to the flight season which it will be interesting to see the butterfly’s response to. From butterflies to moths, dragonflies, birds and flies, there’s plenty to see on Collard  Hill on a sunny day! Derbyshire Wildlife Trust. Scotch Argus, the final butterfly species of 2020 to be reported, is now on the wing. Garden sighting of Holly Blue. Large Tortoiseshell- Favourite Photo of 2020. Red-spotted Purple. 12th KW - 89 Points Latest Rarities. Several fledgling wrens filled the scrub near the top of the slope on Monday and across the whole hill the birdsong has been beautiful. Having the opportunity to find some clearwing moths was really great as well as they are a really unusual and interesting family. I’ll finish by showing you again just how beautiful our Large Blues, our little living pieces of summer sky have been this summer so far. The Photo Competition will help to produce a new edition of the Pocket Guide to Butterflies of Yorkshire, which has been so popular over the years. Common blue: This is the most widespread blue butterfly in Britain, according to Butterfly Conservation. We monitored animals and plants and notable highlights for us were several singing migrant birds. This patch is indeed now very enticing for the Large Blues and we have indeed been able to watch them laying eggs here. Tel: 01929 400 209Email: info@butterfly-conservation.orgCharity registered: England & Wales (254937). Site Near {s_date} {s_species} {s_number} {s_site} {s_town} Map view. It is thought that it takes the entire annual production of a nest of about 350 workers to rear just one caterpillar so that ability of Collard Hill to support these Myrmica ants is vital and is the main reason that the grazing on the site needs to happen right up until mid-May, keeping the grass short and helping the ant nests warm up in direct rays of the sun to the optimal temperature for those ants to thrive. View all sightings. We need your sightings. A red listed species in the UK due to recent population declines. Also found at the same time in the lower slope nettle patches was a very boldly coloured male Banded Demoiselle, Calopteryx splendens. Watching their tireless efforts and occasional battles with the elements has been a positive experience for us too. Collard Hill Large Butterfly Blog – 21 – 26 June 2020, Collard Hill Large Butterfly Blog – 13-20 June 2020, 20th generation of Large Blue butterflies arrive, No large blues but another interesting find, Follow The National Trust's Large Blue Blog on WordPress.com. The fragility of the site also means we are taking a different approach to the site this year. Included in this page as lists of the moths recorded at various events. August saw some sightings of Adonis Blue butterflies on Therfield Heath. This week though I was in luck and got these two pictures of what I believe to be an immature female. There was a very welcome shift away from burning hot weather on Wednesday 3 June, when we had some very welcome rain and temperatures dropped. In a large patch of nettles at the bottom of the hill we watched this male Large Skipper waiting for a passing female alongside this gorgeous Comma charging up on a little solar energy. Between 1940 and 1988 another 85 sightings were recorded. These are my views, I don't do any promotional stuff and these views are not being expressed for anyone who employs me. Early 2020 sightings; 2019 sightings; 2018 sightings; 2017 sightings; 2016 sightings; Older sightings; Picture of the month ; Sussex species. While I was still eagerly searching for that very first Large Blue, this quite worn looking male Common Blue did almost fool me for a moment on Lollover Hill on the 27May. I don’t know yet which species will emerge from this one, so we’ll return to it later. 7th TL - 94 Points. It was a reasonably cloudy day however, so any stragglers might have been hiding away waiting for some sun. Be part of this nationwide survey and help take the pulse of nature seen outside and be active (.. The most widespread blue butterfly in Britain, according to butterfly Conservation restrictions! 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