Red Admiral. Feeding in the garden today. Ward Avenue, Cowes, Isle of Wight. [Posted by Mick Sivell]
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| Red admiral Photo © Mick Sivell |
Hairstreaks at Chalton. One of three Brown Hairstreak eggs that I found on a Blackthorn rich hedge near Chalton south of Petersfield.
I have found eggs here before but the hedge has had some significant ‘pruning’ so I am sure a few will have been lost. I checked Chalton Down itself again, but despite it only being 3/4 mile from where I found these eggs, and having prodigious amounts of suitable Blackthorn, I couldn’t locate a single one in my half hour visit. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
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| Survived the flail Photo © Mark Tutton |
Brown Hairstreak eggs on Portsdown. I spent a couple of hours walking the dog along my unofficial Brown Hairstreak egg transect on Portsdown Hill this morning in cold but bright conditions and with a snowy Butser Hill on the horizon. The eggs showed well in the low sun and I found nine in total on the 1/2km route, including only my second ever double at this site.
This is a bit down on the last two years when I have found 20+ but I guess that is a reflection of the generally dire butterfly year that was 2024.
Adults were scarce having only seen a solitary female back in August and unusually most eggs were found on an east facing shady hedge in the general location where I had seen her. [Posted by Mark Tutton]
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| Single egg Photo © Mark Tutton | A double Photo © Mark Tutton | Single egg Photo © Mark Tutton |
First butterfly of the year!. I saw my first butterfly of the year this morning, unsurprisingly a Red Admiral, at Mayfield Park near the wall between the nursery and the gardens. [Posted by Nic Burns]