Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Trent Park. 1 Holly Blue, 1 Large Skipper, 9 Small Heath & 1 Ringlet [FOY] at Trent Park this morning near Triangular Wd & Church Wd. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Six Spot Burnet. Some shots of Six Spot Burnet moth larvae getting ready to pupate and pupating in a field near Watton at Stone yesterday. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Trip to Croxley Common Moor. 97 Small Heath, 10 Meadow Brown and 2 Brimstone. No luck in my search for leaf mines of the rare(possibly extinct) micro moth Aproaerema albipalpella or it’s host plant, Petty Whin [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Ringlet at Norton Green. First Ringlet of the year in field south of Norton Green Common - earliest since transect started in 2017 [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Rivers Orchard Sawbridgeworth. More sun than cloud today first time since the 2nd of the month, still no Marbled White, 9 Large Skipper, 4 Brimstone (2 male 2 female), 2 Holly Blue, 3 Speckled Wood, 36 Meadow Brown, 16 Small Heath. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Rivers Orchard Sawbridgeworth. The weather broke early afternoon and a quick walk down the fields from the house, very windy and only the "Browns" on the wing none of the hoped for Marbled White but my ffy 2 Ringlet along with 12 Meadow Brown. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Common Blue at Grovelands Park, Southgate. Male Common Blue at Grovelands Park late morning/early afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Large Skipper & Small Heath at Trent Park. Male Large Skipper edge of Icehouse Wd/Trent Park & 1 Small Heath near Shaws Wd/Trent Park. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Quiet day at Therfield Heath. Despite the cold dull weather at Therfield Heath today, there were 5 Adonis Blue keeping low to the grass, 5 Small Heath quite active and 4 Meadow Brown [Edited by Peter Clarke] [Posted by James Somerville]
2023 Annual Report. The branch 2023 Annual Report is now available online on the website [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Marbled Whites at Therfield. A quick visit to Church Hill to see the Bee Orchids also resulted in half a dozen each of Marbled Whites (ffy) and Meadow Browns, a couple of Small Heaths and a Common Blue (although no sign of any Adonis), despite the cool weather. [Posted by Annie Sutcliffe]
First Marbled White. One Marbled White disturbed in grassland near Stapleford this morning in cloudy cool conditions. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Larval hostplants. How much do you know about larval foodplants? Which butterfly caterpillars feed on them? Find out more here [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Transect Walker need for 2025 at Aldbury Nowers. Aldbury Nowers near Tring in the west of Hertfordshire is one of the best sites for butterflies in our area and has a long running regular transect walk recording and monitoring them. Our current recorder can only cover the route until the end of the 2024 season and we would love to hear from you if you would be interested in helping there. It is a regular weekly commitment for up to a couple of hours from April to September and some parts of the site are a steep walk so you need to be reasonably fit and also able to identify what you see Please contact Andrew Wood (details on the contacts page) if you would like to learn more or to have a visit to the site to see what the recording entails. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Ffy White Letter Hairstreaks. Minimum 5 at Cheshunt Park this morning around the Elms at the sheltered east end this morning before the cloud, also one nectaring on Hogweed. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Chimney Sweeper at Trent Park. I counted 10 Chimney Sweeper in the usual field at Trent Park [TQ287965] this afternoon [FOY]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Rivers Orchard Sawbridgeworth. Usual walk from the house lunchtime, 3 Large Skipper, 6 Brimstone (4 male 2 female), 4 Common Blue (3 male 1 female, the female was in a courtship chase with one of the males), 2 Holly Blue, 6 Meadow Brown and 22 Small Heath. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Butterflies near Royston. From a private site visited with permission near Royston a Small Blue (first for that 2Km square) and a Brown Argus [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Moth larvae in the Royston area. About 10 Brown-tail larvae on sallow on Therfield Heath, 8 Mullein larvae in central Royston and the larval case of Coleophora conspicuella at a private site near the town. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Hillbrow, Letchwoth. I spotted a minimum of 4 Small Blues today, 2 Brimstone and a Small Heath [Posted by Phil Barron]
