Where Are The Butterflies?

[BARRY]

seem to have an abundance of butterflies at the moment

[Methuselah]

Plenty of whites meadow browns, one of the coppers and the odd tortoiseshell while the weather was fair.

Can't find the appropriate thread -- but has anyone got wasps? Not one anywhere here this year, though I vaguely recall seeing a queen in spring. Usually we've quite a few nests and certainly by now I'd be wafting them off the loganberries.

But there's not going to be much fruit about for them if they do turn up. Poor apple and damson crop for instance . Hopefully blackberries will be better than last year. Then I picked 12, yes just 12, when normally I pick several buckets full.

Not a single wasp! Great innit!

[Rainy]

Not a single wasp! Great innit!

Yes it's a relief .....

Had a real plague of them last year.

But the experts say they are needed in the spring to eat the greenfly & co.

We can't win.

[Manchester_Sunset]

Not a single wasp! Great innit!

Too many here!

[mushymanrob]

ive no meadow brown but an occassional gatekeeper (or hedge brown) they are similar to meadow browns but smaller. plus holly blue, a bright blue butterfly quite common but no common blues.

had 3 peacocks and a red admiral, still no small tortoishells.

[Methuselah]

Too many here!

One's too many for me, SW...

[Manchester_Sunset]

One's too many for me, SW...

I can't have a decent afternoon in the garden without 4-5 wasps!

[laserguy]

Got a buddleia (sp?) right outside my front door and I've seen no butterflies whatsoever..... and not so much as a single wasp,either.

[Methuselah]

I can't have a decent afternoon in the garden without 4-5 wasps!

That sounds like a sting, to me...

[Evening thunder]

A couple of weeks ago and before there were hardly any here that I noticed, and I remember thinking of posting in this thread about that. There was the odd peacock sighting by me and my dad a few weeks ago, as well as the odd cabbage white, but that was probably it. Saw a few brown ones in a field of long grass a couple weeks ago too.

However since then in this warmer spell of weather they seem to have increased, particularly over the last several days until yesterday, where in the sun there were several fluttering around or on the Buddleia at any one time. Red Admirals, painted lady's, tortoiseshell's and from time to time a peacock. A nice return of the butterflies indeed! .

Looking out just now there are a couple fluttering around, though there's more cloud and a breeze that's buffeting them a bit today.

Edit: actually there's probably about 8 on the buddlia right now, including 5 tortoiseshell's on next to each other on 2 flowers!

Edited August 21, 2012 by Stormmad26

[Hairy Celt]

Most summers see lots of specky woods, gv whites, small whites, large whites, orange tips, vanessids, fritillaries, common blues, small heath and more all within walking distance of home. This summer so far has been the poorest I can remember - a few small tortoiseshells, a few whites early on and a couple of specky woods in the last week or so. Utter crap, the result of increasingly cloudy, wet, cool and windy summers since 2009 which was a good year.

[Beverley Lass]

Pleased to say, things have improved here in the last week.

I have had a few Cabbage, 6 fine Peacock's and one Red Admiral on my

Buddleia bushes.

B.

[Backtrack]

Still a load here!

Edited August 21, 2012 by Backtrack

[Methuselah]

Red Admirals, Tortoiseshells and a Comma so far today...

[AWD]

June & July saw virtually no butterflies, but in August there were suddenly loads coming out.

Everytime I was sat in my garden, there was a butterfly fluttering around somewhere near.

[blitzen]

Loads here too. Mostly cabbage whites and red admirals. Think the Buddleia bush helps.

[AWD]

Saw a very unusual looking butterfly earlier today, unfortunetly I didn't have my camera to hand to take a picture.

Looked a lot like this one though;

https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=butterfly&hl=en&client=safari&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=Bd19UPSeC5G20QXW6YCwBg&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAQ&biw=320&bih=416#i=16

[Crepuscular Ray]

Difficult to tell - the three species that appeared for nanoseconds before I got redirected to a download Googlechrome website all looked v. unlikely for the UK.

Edited October 16, 2012 by Crepuscular Ray

[knocker]

Well they seem to have found out where the painted lady goes.

Radar helps solve painted lady migration mystery

The mystery of an annual disappearance of a UK butterfly has been solved, scientists say after tracking the painted lady's migration on radar.

They found that the butterflies do not die in this country at the end of summer, as some believed, but make a high altitude escape south - one leg of a 9,000-mile migration.

The team analysed 60,000 sightings from British observers for the study.

The discoveries are "astonishing", says Richard Fox, a co-author on the paper.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/19991550

[Coast]

I'm not sure about butterflies, but I do know a whole load of Crocuses have just surfaced on a roundabout near my house, is that usual?

[gottolovethisweather]

I'm not sure about butterflies, but I do know a whole load of Crocuses have just surfaced on a roundabout near my house, is that usual?

That'll be Autumn Crocuses Coast, so I guess, not that unusual. They may have to battle through the early frosts though.

[Coast]

That'll be Autumn Crocuses Coast, so I guess, not that unusual. They may have to battle through the early frosts though.

I guess they are then I just can't remember them before?

Winter must be on the way, the tortoises are starting to bury themselves in the borders and need to be dug back out again PDQ and boxed up properly!

There were some bumble bees on the last remaining plants at B and Q yesterday, still seemed active.

Edited October 22, 2012 by Coast

[xxsnowflakexx]

We have had some lovely Red Admirals in the garden here in Brighton lately, Saw one today enjoying the sunshine

[beatpete]

None here now, but we had a very good year in this part of south wales, in fact i've never seen more Red Admirals in one place

[pottyprof]

It's been poor round here this year. Very few through the summer although I saw a Cabbage White and a Red Admiral over the weekend.