Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Merry Hill Bushey. On a quick scout from my flat in Bushey to Merry Hill, first searching the area I found a female B Hairstreak on Friday. I wasn't successful in that zone only seeing 4 Small Heath, 2 Meadow Brown. I then backtracked towards the upper entrance of Merry Hill and explored the bit that is closest to my flat. There wasn't so much blackthorn to explore but found a suitable patch nice and sheltered. Clocked a butterfly over bramble which I expected to be a Meadow Brown, well it turned out to be Brown Hairstreak. Whether it was the same female I saw Friday is debatable as she was in similar condition. I couldn't get a focus on her egg laying but in this photo her left palp indicated the direction of travel, which happened to be in the out of bounds zone the other side of the hedge. She seemed to deposit an egg just over 2ft off the ground at TQ 1363, 9421. Other butterflies seen 1 Red Admiral, Whites 7 mostly Large with a further 6+ sighted along Merry Hill Road. I even managed to get a photo of a Large White not to far from the B. Hairstreak sighting. They don't often stay still enough for a photo! [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Enfield Town. 1 Painted Lady, 1 Red Admiral & 1 Small White at Town Park, Enfield this afternoon & 1 Red Admiral along New River at Enfield Town, 1 Snout near Parsonage Lane, Enfield Town. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Adonis Blues on Therfield Heath. Perfect morning on Therfield Heath today - warm, sunny, still. There were good numbers of Adonis Blue males about plus plenty of very tatty looking male and female Chalkhill Blues. Looks like the 2nd brood are faring better than the first! [Edited by Peter Clarke] [Posted by Paula Moore]
Merry Hill egg laying Brown Hairstreak TQ 1350, 9411. I managed to get out of work early enough to see how long it would take to reach the last sighting of a Brown Hairstreak on Monday. That went out of the window after entering Merry Hill from the entrance closest to my flat. After passing a good cluster of ash trees and clocking some good potential blackthorn I thought I'd better check that out first. I was just noting down the first Small Heath sighting and Meadow Brown. To my astonishment I found another Brown Hairstreak less than 15 minutes walk from my flat! An egg laying female and I observed her for a few minutes probing the blackthorn before losing sight. I'm not going to put her best side up in the photo's as this one shows a bit of expected scale loss, but otherwise you would assume a reasonably fresh specimen. After walking to the other points we had seen Brown Hairstreak no further sightings. I did see 1 Small Copper the first I'd seen at Merry Hill this season. Otherwise 6 whites seen on route with a further 6 at Merry Hill, 2 Large White noted on return in garden on return. Small Heath 12+, Meadow Brown 18+, Speckled Wood 2, Red Admiral 1. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Trent Park. Female Large White along bridle-path near Merryhills Brook/Trent Park, 2 Red Admiral near Shaws Wd/Trent Park [one settled & another in flight], 1 Comma near Water Grdn/Trent Park & 1 Small Heath at 'Old Golf Course' Trent Park. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Butterfly and Bug Festival in Greenwood Park. Join Chiswell Green Community Gardeners on Sunday 8th September at their butterfly and big festival. There will be advice sessions on how to attract more butterflies to your garden. The event takes place from 2-4pm. See their poster for info on other activities. The location is next to our chalk bank in Greenwood Park and is best accessed by the park entrance next to Midway Surgery, 93 Watford Rd, Chiswell Green, St Albans AL2 3JX [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Hibernation watch. A third Peacock now hibernating in my St Albans shed. I’ve seen none on the wing for the last ten days, so it’s likely they are now all in hibernation. So a good time to take stock of the season. 3 Peacocks compares to an average of 5 over the last decade. So below average, but there have been 4 years with lower totals, so not disastrous … unlike Small Tortoiseshell. Hibernating total for that species is still 0 compared to an annual average of 19 and a previous low of 5. I’ve seen one on the wing for over 6 weeks. The only positive spin I can put on this is that it is a vey variable species which continually surprises me! [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Red Admiral at Southgate. 1 Red Admiral at Southgate Chase Allotments this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Clouded Yellow - Alexandra Park. A return visit to my old local patch this morning, yielded a good but brief view of a Clouded Yellow at the top of Anthill Meadow in Alexandra Palace Park. [Posted by Gerry Rawcliffe]
Red Admiral at Southgate. 1 Red Admiral at Chase Side, N14 this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Brown Hairstreak in London Borough of Hackney. Allens Gardens, Hackney. Female seen on the ground at very close range (I could have easily have potted it if I had a pot on me). Unmistakeably a Hairstreak from the distinctive white lines on the underside, on an orange/brown background. The habitat is a small urban woodland with scrubby areas and borders a railway line (which greatly increases the chances of getting a migrant or other wanderer). There is a wide variety of mature trees with Ash predominating. [Posted by Chris Farthing]
Southern Country Park, Bishops Stortford. My first visit to this attractive flower rich chalk grassland site. Met with Bob Clift and Jim Hook to discuss suitable locations for a new butterfly bank. Common Blues doing well with at least 15 seen. Also Brown Argus, Small Heath, Painted Lady (Bob's first for the year), Red Admiral, Comma, Meadow Brown, Small and Green-veined Whites [Posted by MalcolmHull]
Comma at Trent Park. 1 Comma near Water Grdn/Trent Park this morning at 0940 BST. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Merry Hill. When the wind finally calmed down, out to Merry Hill again, rather quiet but it is that time of a quiet year, couple of whites, 8+ Speckled Woods, similar amount of Meadow Browns, 1 Small Heath and 1 Brown Hairstreak (spotted by Pete), but as I got the pic this week (not a dodgy video), I got to put the post up. [Posted by Rick Vickers]
Merry Hill Bushey. I took another look over at Merry Hill last Friday (23 August) afternoon. I had to enter from Carpenters Park side as there are road works blocking the entrance to Merry Hill Road. I would have walked if my lower back wasn't so bad as I live close. Although no sightings of Brown Hairstreak today I was looking for potential areas to look for eggs later in the year. There are a few spots with ash and blackthorn that I have noted as potential so far, but there are areas that are yet to be explored at this site and yet to be discovered! Rick also went to Merry Hill today but we didn't meet. No Brown Hairstreak sightings for Rick either but he came up with better numbers for my count on Small Heath and Speckled Wood than I did. My personal count was 25+ Meadow Brown, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Small Heath, 2 unidentified Whites. 5 Common Blue all males. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Red Admiral at Trent Park. 1 Red Admiral basking on E edge of Icehouse Wood/Trent Park & female Green-veined White & female Small White settled near Shaws Wd Cottages/Trent Park this morning. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Holly Blue at Enfield Town. 1 Holly Blue flying around ivy near Silver Street, Enfield Town this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Lots of Blues on Therfield Heath. Good numbers of Adonis Blues were on the wing on the eastern side of Therfield Heath this afternoon. I saw at least 15 males and there were probably plenty more. Most but not all of the activity was on Lankester Hill (Old Rifle Range). Most of the Chalkhill Blues look pretty ragged now, but there are still quite a few about and others saw females egg laying. Similar numbers of Brown Argus and Common Blue were seen - most of the Common Blue females were suffused with blue. A single Holly Blue was seen on my way to the heath. I also checked out Church Hill early evening: not a single blue could be seen on the south side, but some Chalkhills were roosting on the north side and in the chalk pit at the bottom (one female seen), so there is hope that they will re-establish themselves given the right conditions (and some ants). Several Common Blues and a Brown Argus were roosting at the bottom of the hill, some dangerously close to the web of a Wasp Spider! Small Heath butterflies have been on the wing here continuously since the end of April. With very warm weather forecast for the middle of next week, I recommend that this will be the optimum time if you want to see Adonises on the wing. [Posted by Martin Johnson]
Second Brood Adonis Blues At Therfield Health. I was already at Therfield Heath so thought I would have a quick look for second brood Adonis Blue. I saw about five stunners in about 20 minutes in sunny but very windy conditions. My daughter then decided finding some ice-cream was far more important. [Posted by Nathan Ellis]
Brown Hairstreak in South Harrow. Was very surprised to find the odd looking Gatekeeper on the buddleia in my garden in South Harrow this lunchtime turn out to be a female Brown Hairstreak. Had a good look at it through my binoculars. Also, had one Speckled Wood, one Small White and one Large White in the garden. [Posted by Michael Robinson]