Butterfly and Moth Society
Covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Surrounding Areas
Butterfly and Moth Society
Covering Hampshire, the Isle of Wight and Surrounding Areas
Brimstone at Magdalen Hill Down. Today's work party at the old allotments section of Magdalen Hill Down was enlivened by a male Brimstone that popped out at lunchtime, flew around just long enough for all the group to see it and then disappeared. The butterfly season is officially declared open! [Posted by Sharron and Rupert Broadway]
Bloxworth Snout. Found this little beauty flying around indoors yesterday evening - Bloxworth Snout (Hyena obsitalis) quite a rarity by all accounts. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
Holly Blue on Bursledon Road, Southampton. A cold but sunny morning in Southampton. It was nice to spot a Red Admiral in a sheltered area along the Shoreburs Greenway. It was a big surprise was seeing a Holly Blue on Bursledon Road - that beats my latest recorded HB by 6 days (c 2023). [Posted by Nic Burns]
Brown Hairstreak ova on Portsdown. As in other parts of the country Brown Hairstreak is spreading far and wide in Hampshire. Until a few years ago the nearest to me was twenty miles away. A cursory check of a few blackthorn suckers on this mornings dog walk quickly turned up a couple of eggs in another new area near Fort Purbrook [Posted by Mark Tutton]
New generation migrants at Itchen Abbas. A walk around our local farm field this morning and as the sun came out two or three fresh Clouded Yellows appeared, followed by an equally fresh Painted Lady. [Posted by Rupert Broadway]
Wall on Portsdown. A walk along Portsdown Hill to check some areas for Long-tailed Blue turned up a pleasing twelve late season species but none of my target. However I did find a very fresh Wall (third brood?) which is arguably rarer than a Long-tailed Blue in this neck of the woods! A couple of Brown Hairstreak eggs, way away from where I have seen any before would seem to indicate that this once rare Hants butterfly is now fairly widespread in the area. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
Autumn butterflies in Home Wood. On a recent wander into Home Wood on my local patch, I came across four comma on one bramble bush, all within one metre of each other; but they had contrived to position themselves in such a way as to make it impossible to see them all in one photograph, which was a pity. Four speckled wood also seen in the same area. [Posted by Kevin Freeborn]
Farmland at Itchen Abbas. Our neighbouring farm field has been sown with a leguminous mix, including clover and birds-foot trefoil under an agri-environmental scheme, to the benefit of butterflies and other wildlife, such as the Clouded Yellow which I've seen there a number of times over the past month or so. I took a wander round this morning trying to relocate a Whinchat I photographed earlier in the week - no luck with that or with the Clouded Yellow, but I did come across an extraordinarily beautifully coloured female Common Blue. The only other species on the wing were Large, Small and Green-veined White - summer is receding rapidly! [Posted by Rupert Broadway]
Possible Southern Small White ova. Following the discovery of Southern Small White laying eggs in Sussex I thought I would check the perennial Candytuft growing in my garden. I planted this a couple of years ago in anticipation of this butterfly arriving in the UK as it has been spreading rapidly across Europe. Sure enough I found a couple of creamy white bottle shaped eggs. Small White has been known to lay on this plant, and although the eggs are similar the caterpillars of the two species are a bit more distinctive - time will tell. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
Old Winchester Hill. With thick cloud cover for most of the day, it probably wasn't the best day butterfly-wise for a walk from Exton to Old Winchester Hill and back but in the brief sunny interludes the flower covered grassland came alive, with Adonis Blue particularly prominent. Other species included Small White, Small Copper, Chalk Hill Blue, Common Blue, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood and Small Heath. No Silver-spotted Skipper, Wall or Clouded Yellow on this occasion. A handsome Wheatear on a juniper bush on the slope beneath the hill fort demonstrated that autumn bird migration is under way. [Posted by Rupert & Sharron Broadway]
Blues and Yellows at Broughton Down. I was hoping to see Silver-spotted Skipper at Broughton Down yesterday, but it was not to be. It was my first visit in eight years and the covering of dogwood and hawthorn scrub was more widespread than I remember, particularly on the eastern half of the reserve. Common Blue was doing very well, genuinely living up to its name. I didn’t see a Chalk Hill Blue until the tumuli near the western end of the site and, beyond that, there was a lovely chalk grassland meadow and earthwork ditches with many more Chalk Hills, a few Adonis Blue and Brown Argus, and plenty more Common Blue. A strong Brimstone emergence was underway and a couple of Clouded Yellows added to the colourful spectacle. Thirteen species counted in total. [Posted by Kevin Freeborn]
Adonis Blue, trees of green, in our Clouded Yellow submarine. Or, Clouded Yellow summer scene would be apt! At MHD this morning, walking along the sheep trod from end to end along the bottom of the down, I counted eight Clouded Yellows. The couple I saw early on were happy to pause, nectar and allow a photo, while later in the morning they were flighty and fast with it. There were really impressive numbers of Adonis and Chalk Hill blues, with both species considerably outnumbering Common Blue and Brown Argus. I saw two mating Adonis pairs and one egg-laying female, although I couldn’t then find the egg(s). Thirteen butterfly species at MHD this morning. [Posted by Kevin Freeborn]
Purple Butterflies at West Wood. A trip to West Wood to check on the Purple Emperor caterpillars turned up a very late Purple Hairstreak. One caterpillar was missing in action but a new one was found on a leaf with absolutely no feeding damage. The others exhibited classic feeding patterns. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
New Forest. A circular walk from High Corner around Ogden's Purlieu and Linwood today demonstrated that the butterfly season in the forest is well and truly past its peak, with the only sightings a few Small White, two or three Gatekeeper, a single Painted Lady and a few Grayling, the latter demonstrating their masterful camouflage skills. [Posted by Rupert & Sharron Broadway]
Toadflax Brocade. This species continues to thrive in my garden in VC12 on cultivated forms of Linaria pupurea (var 'Canon Went' and 'Springside White') as well as being seen on Linaria vulgaris today. Exceptionally this year I've had larvae evident at the same time as adult - a moth on the move. [Posted by Chris Piper]
Jersey Tiger Moths. Bedhampton Over the last few days, we have had single Jersey Tiger Moths in the garden. Today, I managed to record one on our patio door. Hope this information is of some use! Ray [Posted by Ray Chiverton]
Magdalen Hill Down. Our normal trips to Magdalen Hill Down are characterised by back-breaking struggles up steep slopes pushing wheelbarrows full of heavy tools, so it's a real pleasure to make the occasional visit during peak season. Wonderful to see so many Adonis Blue on the slopes and between one and three Clouded Yellow (difficult to tell, given their mobility) amongst the clouds of Chalk Hill Blue, Common Blue, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Large White and Small White. Other species noted were Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Peacock. We're looking forward to the restart of the autumn working parties now ! [Posted by Rupert & Sharron Broadway]
Chalk Hill Blues at Old Winchester Hill. It was a warm, overcast morning on Old Winchester Hill, with the sky seemingly on the verge of getting brighter at any moment but without the sun actually breaking through. There were several bleached Dark Green Fritillary, pale shadows of their peak-condition selves; a fresh Marbled White, which was a surprise as I thought the heat waves earlier in the month had done for them; and, best of all, a Wall, which was the first I’ve seen at OWH this century. Fifteen species were seen in total, with the morning belonging to the Chalk Hill Blue, seen in very good numbers around the reserve. [Posted by Kevin Freeborn]
Itchen Abbas farmland. Farmers often get a bad press, but most of our local farms do what they can to encourage biodiversity, particularly by leaving wide margins with plenty of wildflowers. The butterflies have really benefited this year with many of the common grassland and hedgerow species plus the odd gem, such as this Clouded Yellow which I've seen in pretty much the same spot over the last two days. [Posted by Rupert Broadway]
Duke of Burgundy. It sure is a crazy year for butterflies - looking for Brown Hairstreaks with my flutterby friends today and found instead a lovely fresh second brood Duke of Burgundy. [Posted by Sheila Anne Williams]
