Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Sightings from Stanwell Moor and Staines Moor. With more sunshine and warmth, as well as a quick tour of my local patch I braved the mud and trekked down to Staines Moor. The weather of the last twelve months has made the path impassable without hefty wellies, but the recent sunshine has dried things up just enough to make it possible to get through with care in my walking boots.. I had hoped to see Small Tortoiseshells, but was out of luck and had to make do with just a couple of Brimstones. There were one or two on the way down as well, and I counted another five on my usual walk, along with two Commas. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Brimstone at Edmonton. Male Brimstone reported by Dobrina Dobreva at Cedars Court, Edmonton, N9 during the afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Brimstone at Forty Hall CP, Enfield. Helen Shore reports a sighting of a Brimstone at Forty Hall CP. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. A warmer day with no frost overnight: the Brimstones in particular responded, and I recorded nine today around my local patch, including an obliging female. Also seen: two Commas, two Peacocks and a Red Admiral. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Comma at Broomfield Park, Palmers Green, N13. 1 Comma flew around & settled on Conservatory roof at Broomfield Park, Palmers Green, N13 [TQ304927] this afternoon at 1446 GMT. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Balls Wood and Hertford. A Comma and Brimstone in Balls Wood and 2 male Brimstones clashing on Hartham Common, Hertford. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Brimstone & comma. Further to my previous report, the male brimstone in my Harpenden garden has now been joined by a very fresh-looking comma. [Posted by Robin Pearson]
Brimstone. Male brimstone in my garden today, first sighting of anything this year! [Posted by Robin Pearson]
Comma. There was a Comma this morning on the back wall of my South Mimms house. [Posted by Terence Wood]
Sighting from Stanwell Moor. Just one butterfly on my local patch today: a Red Admiral, the same individual as seen on 1st of the month in the same spot. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Butterflies in Hertford. A male Brimstone on Hartham Common, Hertford and a Peacock sitting on a sunny fence in our garden in Bengeo. My first butterflies bar one in Wiltshire last month. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Small Tortoiseshell. We had a Small Tortoiseshell yesterday (4/3/25) in our South Mimms back garden. [Posted by Terence Wood]
Woodberry Wetlands LWT - Brimstone. Pleasantly surprised to see my first Brimstone of the year. As well as 1 x Red Admiral. [Posted by Nicholas Barnett]
Batford Springs Nature Reserve, Harpenden. One Comma flying somewhat lethargically in the sunshine - my first sighting of 2025 [Posted by David Hunt]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. The sunshine continues! A Comma and a Red Admiral seen on my local patch today, the latter butterfly being a different individual from those seen so far this year as it had the white spots of the bialbata variation (therefore likely to be female I believe?). [Posted by Dave Miller]
Fairlands Valley Park, Stevenage. Early afternoon stroll in the park yielded my first butterflies of the year. Although only 10c there was brilliant sunshine and light winds prompting a male Brimstone to fly and a Comma to bask on the ground [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Brimstone braves the cold. Only 9? and the ice from the bird bath still frozen on the lawn: but the first male Brimstone of the year flew into our Harpenden garden this morning. Good numbers of honey and bumble bees - and a bee fly. [Posted by Alan Jackson]
Brimstone in my garden. Male Brimstone in my garden in St Albans at lunchtime for the second day running. On both occasions it carefully searched round the evergreen bushes near to the Purging Buckthorn, even flying into them, presumably searching for females. In contrast I walked 5 miles through countryside and didn't see any others. It would make sense for the overwintering sites to be fairly close to suitable foodplants. Also I have up loaded the video of last weeks hissing Peacock to the Herts & Middx BC YouTube channel [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Following what was possibly an even colder night, the temperature rose to close to 14 degrees by the afternoon on my local patch. I found four butterflies on my usual walk, including an immaculate Brimstone, a Red Admiral that may well have been the one seen two days earlier, plus two Commas - my first of the season. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Peacock and Red Admiral. Sightings from Wareside Sunday 2nd March 2025 Peacock - 1 Red Admiral - 1 Disturbed from hibernation in ivy whilst clearing up a fallen tree. [Posted by Philip MacMurdie]