Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Small Blue. Letchworth: Hillbrow. Late morning, the only butterflies seen were two or three Small Blues [Posted by Phil Barron]
Sightings at Trent Park & Monken Hadley Common. At Trent Park - 3 Chimney Sweeper at 'New Fields' - my first of the year [FOY], male Common Blue, 5 Small Heath & 2 Holly Blue near Oakwood entrance. At Monken Hadley Common - 1 Alabonia geoffrella at TQ258970, male Brimstone at TQ269969 & several Speckled Wood. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield, Oakwood Park & Southgate. At Oakwood Park [1245 to 1345 BST] - 3 male Common Blue E of 10 km line, 1 Holly Blue W of 10 km line, 1 Small Heath & 1 Burnet Companion - my first of the year [FOY]. At private sites near Trent Park - 2 Green-veined White mating, 2 Painted Lady [1 'faded' & another 'fresh'] - my first of the year [FOY], 1 Red Admiral, 1 Peacock, 1 Small White & 1 Mother Shipton. Male Poplar Hawkmoth at ASDA Southgate this evening - my first of the year [FOY]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Chorleywood Common transect. We spotted our first ever Green Hairstreak on our 17th May transect walk. To our knowledge, this species hasn't previously been recorded on Chorleywood Common. Other species spotted this week were Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Small Copper, Brown Argus, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock, Comma, Speckled Wood and Small Heath. 44 butterflies seen against 33 seen in the same week last year. [Posted by Chris Hankinson]
Merry Hill Bushey. I met up with Rick Vickers at Merry Hill who informed me of sightings of 2 Peacock and a Speckled and a few Small Heath before reaching me. Otherwise the butterfly count was as follows. Small Heath 21+, Brimstone 6+, Speckled Wood 3, Green-veined White 2, Small White 1, unidentified flying whites 3, Red Admiral 1, Small Copper 2, Holly Blue 1, Common Blue 5+ including a very blue female. Peacock 2 [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Over 100 butterflies again today on my local patch next to Heathrow, but a slightly different mix than the day before. Nearly three weeks since the unusually early sighting here of a female Large Skipper on 29th April, I finally came across a male today. Common Blue continued to live up to their name, with nearly 50 counted today. Small Coppers also continue to impress (on a much smaller scale!) with two more individuals I had not come across before. They seem to be widespread across the whole large area of the site, but at a low density. 13 species seen here today, and an impressive 17 over the course of the last week. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Butterfly walk at Shrubhill Common Nature Reserve, Hemel Hempstead. Shrubhill Common is looking very good this spring, with lots of Bird's foot Trefoil, especially on the south facing slope, and the number of butterflies we saw today, reflected this. Three people joined the walk while Malcolm and I led, and altogether we found 10 Dingy Skipper, 14 Common Blue, 19 Burnet Companion as well as 1 Small Heath, 1 Large White, 1 Brimstone, 2 Cinnabar moths, a Mother Shipton and a Common Carpet moth. [Posted by Christine Ridley]
Branch butterfly walk at Bovingdon Brickpits. 13 degrees and cloudy when I arrived at the site this morning. But the sun was soon peeping out and 16 of us set off looking for Dingy Skippers. Not much flying at 10.30 and we spent some time searching old knapweed seed heads for roosting Dingies. Birds-foot Trefoil was showing well and we began to see Common Blues, nearly all males. In total we saw 30 of this species, including one very blue and one mostly brown female. Other species included 3 Burnet Companion, 2 Small Heath, 1 Brimstone and 2 Peacock. Eventually we found a skipper …a Large Skipper, my first of this year. They aren’t usually on the wing until after Dingies have finished . So the timing of our visit to this site may have been too late in the season. [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings at Grovelands Park. 3 male Common Blue, 1 Holly Blue, 1 Small Copper, 4 Small Heath, 5 Speckled Wood & 1 Mother Shipton. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. The 100+ butterflies seen on my local walk today included the only Painted Lady I've seen here so far this year. There was also a very fresh and boldly marked female GVW that may possibly be a second brood individual, given the way this year is going. I found several nicely marked female Common Blues among the 30 or so seen - the species is doing well here this year after a slowish start.. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Holly Blue at Town Park, Enfield & Edmonton. 1 Holly Blue at Town Park, Enfield & another one at Starks Field Primary School, Church Street, Edmonton this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Adonis Blues on Church Hill, Therfield Heath. At least 8 Adonis Blues, including one female, were flying on the south bank of Church Hill this afternoon. Although there was a small spring generation here last year, I didn't see any of the second generation so this was a bit of a surprise. The mowing of the vegetation here in the late summer of 2024 has proved to be very beneficial for blue butterflies (15+ Common Blues and 10+ Brown Argus also active this afternoon), with lots of Horseshoe Vetch growing along the banks. Orange Tip butterflies were still active in the adjacent woodland. [Posted by Martin Johnson]
2 firsts of the year at Norton Green. A Common Blue, initially feeding on Wild Strawberry flowers, and a Large Skipper seen just outside the common. The date of the Large Skipper sighting equals the earliest ever known recorded in the TL22 square. Several Small Heath also but no 'whites'. [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Brown Hairstreak caterpillar at Willow Tree Open Space (Hillingdon). A lot of newish young blackthorn growth has appeared at Willow Tree Open Space so I took a look and shortly found a Brown Hairstreak caterpillar crawling along a low branch. Hopefully they are starting to do well in the area. [Posted by Claire Easter]
More Small Blues and a Painted Lady migrating. 2 Small Blues on the embankment at Redbourn Lane in Redbourn. Lots of Kidney Vetch, but all the plants were small dried out and and hardly flowering. In the adjoining field the KV in equally poor condition. Later on Batchworth Golf Course, a Painted Lady, flying rapidly north at around 25 mph. The fifth one I’ve seen this week, looks as though we have the start of a migration [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Brown Silver-line at Trent Park. 2 Brown Silver-line disturbed from Bracken SE edge of Rough Lot/Trent Park [TQ284975] this morning - my first of the year [FOY]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Over 100 butterflies of 15 species seen again on my local walk today. These included a mating pair of Small Heath, and yet another Green Hairstreak. This latter butterfly appeared in yet another new location along my route, making four separate spots for the species. Common Blues dominate the numbers at present, with 27 seen today altogether. Also seen: Large White, Small White, GVW, Orange Tip, Brimstone, Small Copper, Brown Argus, Holly Blue, Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock and Speckled Wood. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Harpenden Common. A good few Small Heath sunning and cavorting on Harpenden Common this afternoon. [Posted by David Hunt]
Three male Adonis Blues on Therfield Heath. Three male Adonis Blues were enjoying the evening sunshine on Therfield Heath (Old Rifle Range) today. [Posted by Martin Johnson]
Waterford Heath. South pit , at least 15 Common Blue, 1 Red Admiral , 1 Painted Lady North pit, 4 Common Blue, 1 Holly Blue, 2 Brown Argus, 4 Grizzled Skipper and 1 Small Heath [Posted by Laurence Drummond]