Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Holly Blues. Late afternoon, 4 Holly Blues in my Ware garden - 2 taking moisture from a puddle and 2 chasing each other! Also Red Admiral and male and female Brimstone [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Small Blues. Further count of 9 Small Blues, male and female at Chiswell Green in late afternoon sunshine. [Posted by Clive Burrows]
Branch Walk: 7 Dingy Skippers in Hemel. Today's Branch Walk at Shrubhill Common in Hemel Hempstead attracted 10 people, who saw 7 Dingy Skippers. The site looked in good condition I spite of poor weather conditions we saw. 7 Dingy Skippers, 3 Mother Shipton (including a mating pair), Silver Y moth, 6 Small/Green-veined Whites, 5 Burnet Companion, 2 Small Yellow Underwing, 4 Brimstone, 1 Orange Tip and 1 Holly Blue egg laying on Dogwood. Earlier at Bovingdon Brickpits, the morning walk organised by the branch had less success. Conditions remained cloudy and 7 of us saw just 1 Common Blue, 1 Small Yellow Underwing, 1 Green-veined Whife, 1 Small White and 1 Green Longhorn Moth. We also met five old English goats who are now carrying out Conservation grazing at the site [Posted by Christine Ridley and Malcolm Hull]
Butterflies & Moths at Enfield, Southgate & Trent Park. 1 Angle Shades near outside light at ASDA Southgate this afternoon, 1 Common Carpet at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park, 5 Green-veined White [3 at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park & 2 at Trent Park], 2 Mother Shipton [1 at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park & 1 near Shaws Wd/Trent Park], 1 Snout at Hadley Rd, Enfield [FOY], 2 Speckled Wood [1 at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park & 1 at Rough Lot/Trent Park]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Small Blue. 2 Small Blues seen in the late afternoon on the outer perimeter fields of the old Butterfly World site in Chiswell Green. The butterfly was on the wing here earlier in the week. [Posted by Clive Burrows]
Hexton Chalk Pit. Good numbers of Dingy Skippers. Brimstone and Small Heath plus a couple of Green Hairstreak, a Brown Argus and a variety of moths - Pyrausta Nigrata, Small Purple-barred and Burnet Companion [Posted by Patricia Clegg & Nikki Williams]
Beane Valley Grizzled Skippers. A permission visit to another private site today. 13 Grizzled Skipper adults and 10 eggs, all on Agrimony (It is the easiest larval food plant to examine). One leaf had four eggs on it. We hope to visit it in the next few weeks to see if we can locate larval activity. [Posted by Andrew Wood & Liz Goodyear]
Painted Lady. This pristine Painted Lady visited the dwarf lilac in our front garden today. There are a few of them around. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Orange Beauty at Oakwood Park. 2 Orange Beauty [Commophila aeneana] at Oakwood Park this afternoon - one fresh & another faded [FOY]. Also at this site - 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Holly Blue, 4 Mother Shipton [FOY] & 7 Silver Y. At Houndsden Gutter, N21 - 2 Speckled Wood together. At Grovelands Park - 2 Holly Blue included a female settled, 1 Peacock, 1 Speckled Wood & 1 Silver Y. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Addition to walks programme. I am planning on a butterfly recording walk this coming Sunday (19th). I have advertised it on the Stortford Nature FB account. Meet at Tescos car park by Timpsons at 11am for a 4-5 mile walk taking in footpaths to Hadham Hall, Millennium Wood, Bury Green, Stocking Wood, East Wood and the adjoining footpaths. Weather forecast looks fine. Meet at CM23 4DD. [Posted by Jono Forgham]
Bug for missing photos on duplicate news items fixed. To prevent creating duplicates in the first place when asked to re-submit form please do not accept unless you need to, e.g. if you made a mistake and want to go back. Either click 'Cancel' on message prompt or do not refresh browser. [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Late afternoon sun. Decided to pop into Rickneys as some late sun. 4-15 -5 pm. The place was buzzing. 2 Treble Bar Moth, 3 Silver Y to start. Then 5 Brown Argus, 3 Grizzled Skippers, Small Heath, Large White, Peacock and 2 Common Blues my first of the year. Decided to pop to Waterford Heath. 5 Treble Bar, 4 Silver Y, 4 Burnet Companion. 1 Peacock, 1 Grizzled Skipper, Small Heath, Brimstone, Brown Argus. Worth going. [Edited by Peter Clarke] [Posted by steve kiln]
Grizzled Skipper at Waterford Heath south. An hour or so of warm sunshine saw me up at this site where I saw 7 Grizzled Skippers, including a mating pair. Also present were Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Small Heath, Small White, Peacock and for moths Treble Bar, Silver Y, Cinnabar, Burnet Companion, Celypha lacunana, and Pyrausta aurata and Pyrausta purpuralis. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Trackside Survey and garden butterflies. The annual track side survey north of Hertford went ahead today, in perfect roosting conditions (initially). Accompanied by Alan we found 3 Grizzled Skippers roosting on knapweed seed heads quite close together (they appeared to be all male). A further Grizzled Skipper was disturbed on the opposite track side when it had brightened up. Also seen were 6 Small Heath and 1 Burnet Companion. The highlight was repeat of yesterday when I selected a random agrimony leaf and found 4 Grizzled Skipper eggs underneath! Thanks to Network Rail for allowing this annual survey to continue. Meanwhile back in my Ware garden as the afternoon brightened up there was almost immediately a Holly Blue, female Brimstone, Green-veined White and a manic immaculate Red Admiral! [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Alabonia geoffrella, Brimstone, Green Carpet, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Orange-tip, Painted Lady, Peacock, Red Admiral, Silver Y, Small White & Speckled Wood at Enfield & Trent Park. 1 Alabonia geoffrella at Rough Lot/Trent Park [FOY], male Brimstone at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park, 3 Green Carpet at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park [FOY], 10 Green-veined White [7 at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park & 3 at Trent Park], 3 Holly Blue [1 at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park, 1 at Enfield Road, EN2 near Jolly Farmers PH & 1 at Oakwood Station], 2 male Orange-tip at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park, 1 Painted Lady at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park [FOY], 4 Peacock [3 at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park & 1 along Leeging Beech Gutter near Water Grdn/Trent Park, 1 Red Admiral at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park, 10 Silver Y at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park & 3 Speckled Wood [2 at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park & 1 at Rough Lot/Trent Park][Edited by Peter Clarke] [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Grizzled Skipper in the Beane Valley. We visited a private site today and found 3 adult Grizzled Skippers and Liz discovered three eggs on the same agrimony plant. The First one she looked at! [Posted by Andrew Wood & Liz Goodyear]
Painted Lady seen in White City. We spotted a Painted Lady in Hammersmith Park (W12) whilst walking the transect(not yet set up on the system). [Posted by Catharine Sowerby]
Green-veined White, Nettle-tap & Speckled Wood at Enfield. Female Green-veined White at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park, 1 Nettle-tap settled on nettles at a private site at Enfield near Trent Park [FOY] & 3 Speckled Wood [2 at private sites at Enfield near Trent Park & 1 at Enfield Road, EN2]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
HEXTON CHALK PIT: DINGY SKIPPERS, SMALL HEATHS & my first BROWN ARGUS of the year.. A quick lunchtime visit to Hexton Chalk Pit yielded half a dozen Dingy Skippers, 2 Small Heaths, 1 Large White and 1 Brown Argus. Not bad considering it was also breezy with intermittent sunny spells. [Posted by Julia Hawkins]
Silver Y & Speckled Wood at Enfield & Trent Park. 2 Silver Y [1 at a private site near Trent Park & 1 at Icehouse Wd/Trent Park], 1 Speckled Wood near Icehouse Wd/Trent Park [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]