Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Uxbridge Fields & Hillingdon House Farm. On a thorough check of Hillingdon House Farm and neighbouring fields, I saw 1 Speckled Wood, 2 Commas, at least 5 Small Skippers, 2 Meadow Browns, at least 6 Gatekeepers, 1 Holly Blue and 1 Green-veined White. [Posted by Matthew Milne]
Comma & Large White at Trent Park. 1 Comma at Water Grdn/Trent Park & 3 Large White near Icehouse Wd/Trent Park this morning. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Comma & Large Skipper at Trent Park. 1 Comma edge of Moat Wd/Trent Park & female Large Skipper near Shaws Wd/Trent Park this morning. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Latticed Heath & Six-spot Burnet at Trent Park. 2 Six-spot Burnet at 'Old Golf Course' Trent Park [TQ287977],1 Latticed Heath near Dew Pond/Trent Park [TQ294973], 1 Comma, 1 Large White & 1 Green-veined White near Water Grdn/Trent Park. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Double-striped Pug & Garden Carpet at Southgate. 1 Double-striped Pug & 1 Garden Carpet at bus-stop shelter at Chase Road/Charter Way, N14 [TQ295951]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Feast for an Emperor. We arrived along the Lime Avenue with fingers crossed that we would at least get a sighting. Rick set the table with a suitable waft of flavours soon emanating. The weather was sunny to start with but sadly after looking up until 12.30 no sightings were seen. There seemed little point in continuing so we packed down and took the decision to look for butterflies in Whippendell Woods instead. Red Admiral, 1 Comma, Large White, Ringlets and Meadow Brown seen along the Lime Avenue. Nicola who had joined us for the Emperor search needed to take her dog home but the other two did join us for a while in Whippendell Woods. With no sightings of White Admiral it looks like they have had a bad year in Whippendell Woods compared to the last 5 years. We did see 8 fresh looking Silver-Washed Fritillary between us, 4+ Comma, 3 Gatekeeper, 1 Large Skipper, 3+ Small Skipper, 6+ Red Admiral, 1 Green-veined White, Large White and several other Whites. Ringlets and Meadow Brown. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Big Butterfly Count has started. Please download the app and submit your sightings over the next three weeks https://bigbutterflycount.butterfly-conservation.org/. Todays weather in St Albans was much improved and I carried out my first count on my allotment. The first butterfly I saw was my first Brimstone of the summer - a male, sitting on one of my Alder Buckthorn trees where it had probably fed as a caterpillar. Gatekeeper was the species with the highest numbers with 6 crowding round the marjoram. Meadow Browns, Ringlets, Large and Small Whites, a Comma and female Brimstone also featured in the count. Please record as many Big Butterfly Counts as you can over the next few weeks [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Cloudy day at Broxbourne Wood. A cloudy day at Broxbourne Wood, very small numbers of Silver-washed Fritillary, loads of Ringlets and a couple of Commas . [Posted by James Somerville]
Goldingtons Wood. We went up to Goldington's Wood at Hertford Heath this morning. There was a White Admiral on bramble not far from the main ride, and another (or maybe the same one) swooped down to rest on woody nightshade growing through the irises around the pond. A Silver-washed Fritillary at the Haileybury end and a Patrolling Purple Emperor shortly after noon in the assembly area at Mount Pleasant. Also Purple Hairstreaks near the pond and at Mount Pleasant. Also saw Peacock, Comma, Red Admiral, Large and Green-veined White, Ringlet, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
First Painted Lady Highgate Cemetery. In the East Cemetery on my transect at noon I saw a fresh looking Painted Lady on the main avenue in the East Cemetery. This is a first at this site since I started my transects. [Posted by Dee Cullen]
Wildfest Cassiobury Park. We had an enjoyable day at the Wildfest despite the overcast conditions and we were pleased it didn't rain. We had a fair number of people come over to our stall and of course was plugging the Big Butterfly Count. We gave out leaflets with one of those bookmarks with the discover and learn website address. Hopefully some of the parents and their children will take part over the coming weeks. We did both at least get to put on a butterfly walk this year. I went out on the first walk with a small group of people. We didn't get to see a great number of butterflies unfortunately with several Ringlets seen and a few Meadow Brown. I was hoping to see lots of skippers at this time of year as it is usually about their peak time. We managed 1 Essex Skipper and it wasn't me who spotted it but did manage to get a photo, my first of the season! Rick went out on the second walk with quite a following at least double the attendees for my walk and if the late comers caught up with Rick almost triple. Ringlets, Meadow Brown, a couple of Skippers, 1 White and a Gatekeeper. Before and after the walk Red Admiral, 1 very brief glimpse of a White Admiral in Whippendell Woods with a confirmed sighting of a Small Skipper. Not the best of day's for butterflies but hopefully we found a few more people who will take part in future Butterfly Conservation projects. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Purple Emperor near Bricket Wood. Purple Emperor gliding through the oak canopy at Blackgreen Wood (between Bricket Wood and How Wood), just N of the M25 by Park Street Lane at grid ref TL 138 026 while I was surveying for breeding birds this afternoon. Also at least one Purple Hairstreak there and a dead male August Thorn moth along the lane. [Posted by Colin Everett]
Chorleywood Common transect. We recorded a 262 butterflies on the Chorleywood Common transect this week, a record for the year so far. The Small and Essex Skipper count was 42 in total, with some positively identified of both species. Other species recoded include Meadow Brown (108), Ringlet (30) Marbled White (27), Gatekeeper (19), Small White (10), Large White (8), Small Heath (7), Comma (3), Red Admiral (2), Purple Hairstreak (2). Nice to see the Whites appearing in greater numbers than of late. Purple Hairstreak numbers are still low. [Posted by Chris Hankinson]
Trip to Symonshyde Great Wood. 2 Silver-washed Fritillaries - less than 10% of the number at the same time last year. They may be late emerging, though UK Power Networks have removed all the vegetation from their favourite ride, leaving little for the butterflies to feed or perch on [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Purple Emperor in Heartwood Forest. Tempted out of the house by the sunny weather this morning, I arrived at Pudler's Wood a little later than I intended. Once again I just missed a grounded male - this time Liz and Anne (accompanied by their dog Dougal), who I had met on my last visit, enthusiastically welcomed me saying they had just photographed an individual which was flushed up from dog poop by a dog at around 9.15 (this was their first ever sighting, so they were cock-a-hoop!). A few minutes later a second male came down to dog poop, and we all had excellent views and photo opportunities on several occasions until just before 10.00. Both were found in the middle of the ride along the north-eastern edge of Pudler's Wood (TL 16064 11674). After a half hour lull, I was greeted by a third male which had grounded on damp earth some 75 metres to the north-west on the same ride (TL 16007 11717), at the intersection with the path leading to Round Wood. All three of these males were remarkably worn and battered and missing chunks of their wings, and none of them matched photos of my previous three males which were fresh and relatively intact on the 4th July. So we now have a minimum total tally of 6 males for this year, and they appear to be from two different hatchings given the markedly different conditions of their wings. I also searched the ride up to and around the Dog Pond at TL 15756 11341, but there was no sign of any other Purple Emperors, although it was nice to see 4 Red Admirals and at least 6 Commas coming down to the sprayed bait of diluted Belacan Shrimp Paste (see my 4th July report). I also checked unsuccessfully along the path through The Magical Wood, and along the often productive ride (TL 16053 11045) along the northern edge of Lady Wood. I left at 12.30, with no further sightings since 10.30. (It's very odd that I have not seen a single specimen perching or patrolling the canopy and subcanopy where they are usually much easier to spot). Also seen on my walk today (starting at the main car park) were 2 Large Skippers, 4 Large Whites, 1 Small White, 4 very fresh Gatekeepers, and dozens of Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, and Ringlets. [Posted by Andrew Neild]
Warm day at Broxbourne woods. A warm day at Broxbourne Wood today - a few Silver-washed Fritillaries on the wing, loads of Ringlets and Meadow Browns . A few Marbled Whites. [Edited by Peter Clarke] [Posted by James Somerville]
Trent Park. 2 Green-veined White, 1 Holly Blue near Oakwood entrance, 1 Red Admiral near Ride Wd & 1 Comma along Leeging Beech Gutter near 'Three Bridges'. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Purple Hairstreak at Hertford Heath. At 10 am on the sunny side of the oak grove between College road and the main road (London Road) near Haileybury college. Specifically the smaller oak with tree protection number 2115, about 20-30 Purple Hairstreaks (only males seen) but likely far more. They were very intent on licking the moisture around the developing acorns and occasionally basking. [Posted by Nathan Ellis]
White Admiral and Purple Emperor near St Albans. Potters Crouch Plantation near Bedmond - Purple Emperor flying along the canopy edge at the high point on the NW corner of the wood at 1.30 pm this afternoon. It took off at the first glimpse of sun and I had a good view of it in flight for 10 seconds. A first ever sighting for this species in this wood. I met with Chris Hocking and walked along the main ride and recorded a total of 6 White Admirals. Ringlets doing well plus Red Admiral, Comma, Meadow Brown, Speckled Wood, Gatekeeper and GV White. Sadly this wood is threatened by development proposals, which the Branch is objecting to [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Female Purple Emperor observation. I walked to Balls wood HMWT from Monks Green Farm this morning, the weather was cool with dark cloud cover but I needed the exercise. I wasn't surprised that I didn't see much about given the dull conditions until I briefly glimpsed a slightly tatty and damp looking female Purple Emperor on a fairly small willow tree, arms reach from the track. The camera phone picture I had hastily fired off confirmed what I thought I had seen in those few seconds, she was egg laying and after a few minutes of looking I was able to photograph the freshly laid egg. [Posted by Nathan Ellis]
