Holly Blue in February. An adult Holly Blue was found in my Fleet garden on 22nd February. It was at rest on a log, but readily came onto my finger and then into an ivy thicket. I had just moved some of the logs (stored as firewood), which had been undisturbed for several months. That morning there had been cold rain. The Holly Blue was seen about 3pm, when conditions were weak sun and 7C. This vicinity has several holly hedges and ivy thickets, therefore Holly Blues are present around the garden for weeks every year but the first are usually in April. Given the mild winter and the circumstances in which it was found, what chance this is a survivor from last autumn? [Posted by Chris Hall]
Red Admiral at Gosport Golf Course. At 11:00 a Red Admiral was basking and flying at Gosport & Stokes Bay Golf Course(north-east). [Posted by David Tinling]
Survivors of the Storms. I spent Sunday morning showing Matthew Oates the White Admiral larvae I've been monitoring, and it was still fairly breezy following Saturday's storms. At peak, I was monitoring 26 larvae. They are now down to 5 since 4 have been lost due to the works going on in the forest which, to be frank, is my own fault since I was told that there would be habitat management in my study area! Having said that, I know that this management is why Pamber is one of the best forests in the country for White Admiral! Anyway - I took the decision to return today to get photos of the remaining larvae. Despite a good search, by both myself and Matthew, no additional hibernacula (with one possible exception) have been found. In fact, the honeysuckle looks pretty barren when it comes to anything but new shoots; the vast majority of last year's leaves have been blown away. [Posted by Pete Eeles]
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| Photo © Pete Eeles | Photo © Pete Eeles | In silhouette Photo © Pete Eeles |
Brimstone. A brimstone flew through our Portsdown garden at midday on 4th Feb. [Posted by John Goodspeed]