Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Oak Beauty at Upper Edmonton. 1 Oak Beauty near outside light at Silver Street Station, Edmonton this morning [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
First thrills. Thrilled to see my first butterflies of the year whilst on a yomp from Enfield Town to Edmonton Green: Brimstone (m) + 2 x Comma: Town Park, Enfield Peacock: Enfield Playing Fields 2 x Comma: Lee Road Open Space Peacock: Salmons Brook Park, Edmonton Green [Posted by Nicholas Barnett]
Fairlands Valley Park Stevenage. My first butterflies of the year with 7 Brimstone (all male) hugging the woodland edge and 2 Peacock in and around the Shackledell Grassland in the southern section of the park. [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. After a bit of fog had cleared mid-morning locally, the day became one long sunny period with temperatures up to 17 degrees. I ended up with an impressive butterfly count, finding 8 Peacocks, 7 Brimstones, 5 Commas and a single Red Admiral (it's less than ten weeks since I saw the last one). [Posted by Dave Miller]
Peacock in Cuffley. First butterfly of the year flying around Cuffley Car Park this afternoon [Posted by Sam fuller]
Double figures!. Full sun and 14? in our Harpenden garden brought out the first Brimstone (and first butterfly) of the year: an event we traditionally celebrate with a bottle of fizz. This pioneer was followed by no fewer than thirteen more Brimstone fly-throughs. These sightings were both welcome and unexpected, coming after a dreadful autumn for garden butterflies and the dullest of winter birding (no blackcaps, redpolls, siskins, redwings, fieldfares or bramblings in our garden). Plenty of bees and several ladybirds about today, too. [Posted by Alan Jackson]
Butterflies in Hertford and Ware. Two walks today, one in each town. The total was Brimstone 12, Peacock 9, Comma 7, most satisfyingly a Small Tortoiseshell in Ware Cemetery and surprisingly a definite Small White on Wadesmill Road, Ware [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Peacocks. 3 Peacocks in Broxbourne Woods west ride [Posted by steve kiln]
Brimstone in garden. Had a male Brimstone in my Harpenden garden today, first butterfly of the year! [Posted by Robin Pearson]
Brimstone & Peacock at Enfield. Male Brimstone seen in flight & settled, E edge of Shaws Wd/Trent Park at 1100 GMT. Male Brimstone & Peacock at Lakeside, EN2 at 1117 - 1118 GMT. My first butterflies of the year. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Habitat management for Duke of Burgundy. Volunteers from Herts joined Upper Thames Branch and the Chiltern Rangers to manage scrub for Dukes. We created small clearings about 5 meters in diameter within the scrub, providing the right niche for this most exacting of species. The work took place at Wadborough Field, a good breeding site for Dukes just a few hundred meters from the Herts border. We hope that the Dukes will continue to spread and one day breed in Herts again. Many thanks to Nick Bowles and Upper Thames branch for organising the volunteer work party of 25 people [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Brimming with joy. Today I saw nine Brimstones on the towpath beside the short stretch (15-minute walk) of the Grand Union Canal between Bulbourne and Marshcroft Lane (SP 937133). For the next 2 hours, I only saw one. The canal is very sheltered and it was quite windy after leaving the towpath. [Posted by Rikki Harrington]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Increasingly sunny today and temperatures up to 14 degrees - not unexpectedly the butterflies on my local patch near Heathrow responded. I found four Peacocks, two Brimstones and a Comma over the course of a longish walk. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Brimstone at Ashridge. Male Brimstone at Ashridge Golf Course SP 986 130 at 11:56 hours, flying around evergreen shrubs and possibly resettling within them [Posted by Colin Everett]
Red Admiral at Trent Park. 1 Red Admiral reported at Trent Park by Eugene Dillon-Hooper [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Another Brown Hairstreak egg.... When the sun appeared this afternoon, I squelched my way around my local patch near Heathrow hoping that one or two butterflies might have been tempted out of hibernation. I wasn't fortunate on that front, but I ended up having a close look at a wild plum tree that was just coming into flower just in case it harboured any Brown Hairstreak eggs. I managed to find just the one, but it is notable that this tree is some way away on the other side of the M25-T5 link road from the eggs found on the blackthorn hedge back in January. I appears that the butterfly is even more widespread in this area than previously thought. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Peacock in St Albans. 12 degrees and sunny this afternoon with a hint of Spring in the air. Enough to encourage a Peacock out of hibernation in Mount Pleasant. However it seemed to be regretting its choice as it was perched on the pavement in a shady position. Luckily I didn’t tread on it and relocated it to a more favourable position. I do hope it does OK! [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
BHS egg return Prestwick Road Meadows. The blackthorn had been cut, winter is nearly gone and it was time to return the Brown Hairstreak eggs that had been rescued last year and have been sitting at the bottom of my garden for the last few months. Since our (Pete Fewell and I) last returning at Merry Hill the other week, we seen to have got the hang of it and we went quite quickly this time attaching approx 25 BHS eggs on 23 twigs and a further 2 blue bordered carpet moth eggs in a couple of hours. Special thanks goes to Aneel Odhwani, who joined us, we were very grateful of the extra pair of hands! That gave us a bit of time to have a look about the site, and we found another 10 BHS eggs. Things are looking good for this location, and hopefully we will see then matured later in the year. [Posted by Rick Vickers]
Millhoppers Reserve hits the Headlines. Completion of the new bridge at our Millhoppers Reserve recently featured on BBC news. Click on this link to read more. Listen to Christine Ridley interviewed on Three Counties radio. Many thanks to Chris Hilling, Paula Reid, Christine Ridley and Peter Mellitus for all their hard work in getting the bridge completed [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Valentine's Peacock. I saw a Peacock at 12.20 today (14th February) on the Grand Union Canal towpath between Cow Roast and Dudswell SP962102. [Posted by Rikki Harrington]