Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Peacock at Park Farm, Enfield. 1 Peacock at Park Farm near Duncan's Wd/Enfield Chase [TQ286984] - seen in flight & settled from 1157 to 1200 GMT - my first butterfly of the year. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Brown Hairstreak egg search South Oxhey. Following last years egg rescue at Prestwick Road Meadows, we (Pete Fewell and myself) went back yesterday to see what had been done and where we could return the eggs, there were plenty of viable places, and the ones we had left were still in place. Now we're just waiting for the go-ahead to put them back. After slopping through the mud there, we went to slop through some different mud at South Oxhey Playing Fields. After a while, as the light was getting worse Pete managed to find one egg at TQ10270 93844. Today we carried on, this time a look at Fishers Field, but we had no luck there. Next to it is a former Golf Course that has a good border of blackthorn, so we set to work searching. After a few moth eggs, I finally spotted one that we had missed last year, as It had a hole and had hatched. Then I came upon one that hadn't, after a couple of rubbish photos and looking through Petes extra magnifying lens, we concluded that it was actually a Brown hairstreak egg, though a little smoother than usual at TQ12654 97292. At least we found another at a new location, we carried on till we got fed up with the cold. Roll on Spring! [Posted by Rick vickers]
My moth journey - Liz Goodyear. Maybe a better description is 'My Moth Adventure' but our next free Zoom presentation is this Wednesday evening (5th) at 7.30 - Full details can be found here: https://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/winter-zoom.php. [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Merry Hill Brown Hairstreak survey. It was fantastic to have a good crew to join us for the Brown Hairstreak egg hunt. Our egg search today started with a mini egg rescue. It is unheard of for Rick and myself to arrive as early as we did but for once there were no traffic issues to pick Rick up. We took a look at stems of Blackthorn that were snipped out but laid near by the area where I photographed the last seen adult on 1st September 2024. A single egg was found on these snipped out stems which was returned by Rick to living blackthorn. A few more eggs were found in this area not far from the entrance and meeting point. We then had a quick check on the grazed blackthorn where I was fortunate to see a female egg laying last year. We came to the conclusion that without any eggs found there that any were far from fortunate. We then moved into the area where we had sighted the males last summer and looked for the double egg found and marked Saturday. From there we managed to find the majority of the eggs. Curiously this area of Merry Hill's hedge boundaries has an uncanny resemblance to Prestwick Meadows if viewed on google maps in shape and direction? In total 22 Brown Hairstreak eggs were found including those originally located on Saturday and 8 Blue-bordered Carpet moth eggs.
After the event finished Rick and myself searched the path from our starting point down to Oxhey Lane we had no success in the grazed area. Just outside the grazed area we found some promising looking blackthorn. However despite our efforts only 1 more egg was found on the bottom field nearest Oxhey Lane [Posted by Peter Fewell & Rick Vickers]
Grove Farm Nature Reserve - London Borough of Ealing. I met with Anna and Mike, Trustees of Grove Farm Nature Reserve today to have look at the site and see whether we could find any Brown Hairstreak eggs! An adult was seen there last summer and I wanted to follow this up with a site visit. The site is lovely, and well worth a visit (just a short walk from Sudbury Hill Underground (Piccadilly line). There is not a vast quantity of blackthorn/prunus but every bush had eggs on - in total 42 (corrected) eggs were found in less than an hour (three of us were looking although this was Mike's first time) There were multiple eggs on single stems and at least one double. We started off in rain, which was hard work but then the sun came out and it was even harder so a very satisfactory result! [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Brown Hairstreak. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at Leavesden Country Park. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
First Butterfly of the year for me.. Red Admiral through my High Wych garden lunchtime today. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Brown Hairstreak at Leavesden Country Park. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at The Horse Field Leavesden country park. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Brown Hairstreak. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at Warners Brothers studios Leavesden. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Brown Hairstreak egg hunt and training morning at Horsenden Hill. A brilliant recording effort this morning at Horsenden Hill despite the cold, dull weather! Weather conditions were however perfect for seeing eggs though! Ten people joined us and over a 2 hour period we found 74 eggs, with 3 eggs being found within a short distance of the carpark - a great start! The site is vast and there is plenty more blackthorn to be searched! [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Brown Hairstreak at Fryent country park. With permission granted, 64 Brown Hairstreak eggs rescued from areas due for cutting back at Fryent country park. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Red Admiral in Dorset. Seen on 2 January in Broadstone . Warming up a bit this week with some probable sunshine so maybe worthwhile searching for it [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Further observations from today's Brown Hairstreak egg survey. There were several double egg finds - see photos. Malcolm checked the hedge trimming around the field systems and they were all carried out following the agreed rotation with the land managers! [Posted by Chris Hankinson & Malcolm Hull]
Branch Winter Event at Stafford Road Open Space.. 10 of us assembled in sub zero frosty conditions, including 6 rookies for training in the delicate art of Brown Hairstreak egg hunting. The forecasted sun that we had banked on failed to appear but thankfully the temperature rose sufficiently to thaw the frosty foliage to make the task in hand possible with a total number of 28 eggs found with all the newcomers finding at least 1 egg so mission accomplished on that front. The event included a walk about the area highlighting the various 'hot spot' clearings and the location of master ash trees where adults roost and assemble enabling folk to return on their own come the flight season. It turned in to quite a social event as there were people from different local groups exchanging plenty of useful local butterfly and conservation chit chat. No one left early despite the gloomy cold weather and everyone said they had an enjoyable time. See you same place in August for the flight season walk. PS There will be another training/survey event next Sunday 19th at Horsenden Hill if you missed today [Posted by Nick Furtek]
Columbia...Home to 20% of the World's Butterfly Species by Ian Small. Did you miss our Zoom presentation last night? Well we recorded it so you can now watch it or watch it again to see the amazing photographs of Colombian butterflies - it will definitely brighten up your day ! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7cfzGco8GM. [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Brown Hairstreak eggs. Over the last couple of weeks Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Roxbourne Park (17). Moat mount open space (1). Arrandene open space (10). [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Beat the Winter blues!. With our programme of free Zoom talks. Starting this Wednesday 8th January with 'Colombia - home to 20% of the world's butterfly species' - Ian Small. Full details are here & note earlier start time: https://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/winter-zoom.php. Alternatively you can join us on one of our Brown Hairstreak survey mornings starting on Sunday 12th January . Anyone can come but please book (in case we have to postpone), remember to wrap up warm, wear wellies (everywhere is muddy!) & bring a hand lens. Full details are here: https://www.hertsmiddx-butterflies.org.uk/winter-events.php [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Happy New Year. Hopefully better weather in 2025 for more butterflies than last year. Changes forthcoming on website for year change [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Copthall Park South. Two Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Copthall park South. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Small White. Small White, adult, flying (and at rest) in house. Appears to be a fresh specimen. Based on the upper wing pattern, this identifies as a first brood male. If that is the case, I hesitate to consider it a 'late' or 'last' record for 2024; rather it appears to be an 'early' or 'first' record for the 2025 cohort? Though the chance of this adult surviving into the New Year and then to the spring is not high. [Posted by Leslie Williams]
