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Post by Fractal on Dec 18, 2023 21:47:13 GMT
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Post by Fractal on Dec 18, 2023 21:57:35 GMT
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Post by Fractal on Dec 18, 2023 22:02:16 GMT
For all of these perhaps less obvious butterflies, the Speckled Wood will always remain a favourite. Rare 20 years ago, it's now seen everywhere along the edges of woodland and in gardens with trees. Such a pretty thing.   |
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Post by SueA on Dec 18, 2023 22:11:30 GMT
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Post by Fractal on Dec 18, 2023 22:17:56 GMT
Last one today. The Wall or Wall Brown. This was at work on Rudbeckia. Such a misnomer as its more orange than brown! I have film of it too but not sure how to take from Facebook without some hoop jumping. I may get to it!   |
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Post by Fractal on Dec 18, 2023 22:20:47 GMT
Thanks Sue. My work colleague (Kate) has got us all in the plant area interested in getting as many on camera as possible. What has she started lol |
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Post by grindle on Dec 19, 2023 4:03:27 GMT
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Post by Fractal on Dec 19, 2023 23:13:16 GMT
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Post by seaburn on Dec 20, 2023 15:33:04 GMT
excellent photos Fractal. The Brown Argus is slowly recovering apparently.
In 2022 my daughter was the first to record Wall's at the Kiplingcoates Nature Reserve in E Yorks. She did fortnightly butterfly surveys for Butterfly Conservation.
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Post by balc2 on Dec 21, 2023 16:35:04 GMT
Lovely photos of the beautiful butterflies, Fractal . I think this year I have seen much less butterflies than I have ever seen! The most common by far was the Cabbage or Great White. But even they were much more scarce this year. I saw a few Peacocks & a few Tortoiseshells & one or 2 I can't identify. Even Bees & Hoverflies were scarce around here this year! Our county council left some areas unmown this year for the first time in an effort to encourage more insects. I didn't see many flying insects in these areas so I don't know if they will repeat the experiment next year.
However the county council has been sowing l - o -n - g beds with wildflower mixes for several years now & these have attracted lots of insects. They planted dozens of flowering trees in the autumn last year among the extremely long flowerbed, probably a mile long or more, (it's broken up into many long beds but the total distance is probably at least a mile, it takes at least 20 minutes to walk the length of them!), that has had wildflower mixes sown for at 4-5 years. I've taken photos of many flowers with bees & butterflies & hoverflies on them!
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Post by balc2 on Dec 21, 2023 17:31:39 GMT
These pictures are from 2 years ago. They all show the wildflower beds the county council created a couple of years before.
I've seen lots of insects on these plants & have taken photos of bees, butterflies & hoverflies on the flowers.
   
Sadly they didn't sow the beds again last year or this year. But some seeds managed to survive from the previous year & from those through to this year. So some flowers like Cornflowers, Poppies, Marigolds, Cosmos & Love-in-a-Mist have managed to self-sow & a few have come back the last 2 years though the council gardeners did no more than remove the dead vegetation at the end of the seasons.
I was very curious to know what would come back. Plenty of thistles grew in place of the mixtures sown the previous years. Other native wild flowers also grew a plenty! 
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Post by geumgrower on Feb 2, 2024 16:43:49 GMT
One confused butterfly. In the garden today.  |
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Post by grindle on Feb 3, 2024 3:22:58 GMT
crikey that's an early one
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Post by balc2 on Feb 3, 2024 21:27:46 GMT
That's very unusual to see a butterfly in early February! I hardly saw any butterflies during the summer last year!  |
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Post by seaburn on Feb 4, 2024 17:48:01 GMT
this species does hibernate here, I suspect it has been in a very sheltered spot that got warmed by the sun.
That's why Ivy flowers are so valuable at this time of year.
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