Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
A sunny afternoon at Therfield Heath. After a rainy start at Therfield Heath it brightened up quite nicely . A few slightly tattered Adonis blues and lots of small Heath around . Also a very early marbled white first one of the year . [Posted by James Somerville]
Alabonia geoffrella at Trent Park. 1 Hedge Beauty [Alabonia geoffrella] at Nature Trail/ Trent Park this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Dark Green Fritillary. At least 21 Dark Green Fritillary "In the field edge which runs along the Walkern road approx 200 yards before the R hand turn down Ford Lane." TL 28295 23478 [Posted by Paul Lufkin]
Purple Hairstreak. I found this caterpillar in a Turkey Oak this morning in Hitchin, kindly identified by Malcolm Hull as a Purple Hairstreak [Posted by Phil Barron]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Every day when I visit my local patch there seems to be something new at the moment. Today I found my first Small Skipper of 2025, a newly emerged Painted Lady which was still a bit floppy and docile, and a group of new male Small Whites puddling on a rare patch of wet mud. There were another 12 species flying, including 5 Large Skippers, my highest total here this year so far. Meadow Browns were probably now up at the three-figure mark - and I only saw a couple of definite females. [Posted by Dave Miller]
FFY White Letter Hairstreaks. 5-6 around the Elms at Cheshunt park around 11.00, plenty of chasing and clashing , suspect they have been out here for at least a couple of days. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Rivers Orchard Sawbridgeworth. My first 3 Meadow Brown and 2 Large Skipper of the year, also 1 Holly Blue, 8 Common Blue and 5 Small Heath. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Under mostly cloudy skies this afternoon, I decided to attempt a count of Meadow Browns and Small Heaths on my local patch. I ended up with 87 of the former and 43 of the latter - and wondered what the totals might have been in full sunshine. Only 10 species seen altogether today though: Meadow Brown(87), Small Heath(43), Common Blue(11), Small Tortoiseshell(9), Comma(4), Small White(3), Red Admiral(2), Brimstone(1), Speckled Wood(1), Large White(1). Though numbers have dropped a lot in recent days, there are still one or two new Common Blues around. All the Commas were second brood individuals, looking as vibrant in brown and orange as any fritillary. The highest Small Tortoiseshell total of the year so far here included a pair that hadn't heard the rumour that their species may be becoming single-brooded... [Posted by Dave Miller]
Therfield Heath butterflies. BNA Herts had a wildlife walk at Therfield Heath. we went to church hill very windy but saw 2 Marbled whites, 4 Meadow Brown, a Common Blue, 2 Brown Argus. The highlight was a Dark Green Fritillary. on Church Hill my first of the year. We went to the Rifle Range after lunch and saw 4 Adonis blues, 2 Brimstones. The wild flowers were lovely too. [Posted by steve kiln]
Small Blue at Millhoppers. During today's work party I was delighted to see this fluttering around our chalk bank. This is the first ever record of Small Blue at the Millhoppers Reserve! Apologies for the 'record shot' pictures. [Posted by Chris Hilling]
