Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Sighting from Stanwell Moor. No frost overnight locally, but a high of just 7 degrees in the sunshine before it clouded over this afternoon. One Red Admiral braved the conditions to bask for a while. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Lots of sunshine today locally after the rain cleared at 10 o'clock. Around the middle of the day it felt warm in spots sheltered from the breeze, and I found three different Red Admirals (all of which I'd encountered before recently). However, the surprise sighting today was a male Holly Blue on one of the last remaining bramble flowers. It wasn't fresh, so must likely have emerged before the recent frosty spell. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Prestwick Road Meadows. I conducted a relatively casual search of the blackthorn today in far too sunny conditions - over a two hour period I found 42 eggs scattered across the site from the roadside to the top end - several found in areas benefitting from last winter's work. (It was a lovely sunny albut cold day but bright sunshine makes egg searching much harder!) [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Sightings at Stanwell Moor. After several frosty nights and some wet snow flurries a couple of mornings ago, the sun shone today round my way and the temperature climbed from minus one just before dawn to plus seven by lunchtime. This was enough to tempt a couple of Red Admirals out into the sunshine. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Grand Union Canal - BH Egg. Visited Willow Tree Open Space by canal and searched a few Blackthorn clumps in wild meadow area. Only had an hour but rewarded with a Brown Hairstreak egg. Plenty more Blackthorn here to be searched, majority of which had not been flailed. [Posted by Paul Busby]
Painting Butterflies in Watercolour. Gillian Elsom from the Surrey and SW London branch gave a Zoom talk on YouTube on 18 November. Click here to view. [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Rewilding in Verulamium Park, St Albans. Two years ago the Abbey View Golf Course was closed, providing a great opportunity to enhance the space for wildlife. Working with St Albans DC and Friends of Verulamium Park, we have helped plan a planting scheme for wildflowers, shrubs and trees. This will support and enhance the habitat for butterflies and moths. Listen to my recent interview on local radio station MiX 92.6 to find out more click here [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
New butterfly mound in St Albans. Last winter St Albans District Council carried out alterations to Batchwood golf course. This revealed chalk bedrock, some of which was set aside to form a butterfly mound. Today I seeded it with Kidney Vetch and Birds-foot Trefoil. These plants should encourage both Common Blue and Small Blue. Both butterfly species are already present in the landscape. This site should provide a valuable stepping stone to help connect their existing sites [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Unexpected Sighting in St Albans. 2 degrees when I woke up this morning and I’ve seen no butterflies here for a month. So it was a surprise to find a Red Admiral out sunbathing before 10 am [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. A very sunny morning locally, but much colder (only 8 degrees at noon). However, on the sheltered brambles next to Hithermoor Lake I found firstly a fresh-looking Red Admiral, and then more surprisingly a rather worn male Small Copper. I don't find many of the latter species in this spot, so I'm pretty sure this is the one I saw here on 28th October (but curiously not since then...). Regardless of that, this is my latest ever Small Copper sighting. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Brown Hairstreak at Croxley Common Moor. 27 Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Croxley Common Moor. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Even warmer and sunnier than 12th, a slightly different set of butterflies were seen on my local walk today: Five Red Admirals, a Brimstone, the same Speckled Wood as yesterday (but on the other side of the A3113 dual carriageway!), and a female Holly Blue. The last of these was being pestered by a Red Admiral, so only poor photos. Likewise the Brimstone was only caught as it flew past. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Female Brimstone in garden. A female Brimstone was in my Harpenden garden around noon, on the wing and investigating ivy flowers. Couldn't get a photo as I was talking to someone at the time. [Posted by Robin Pearson]
Brimstone, Red Admiral & Small White at Enfield. 1 Red Admiral seen in flight at a private site near Trent Park at 0930 GMT, male Small White 'fresh' settled along 'London Loop' near Brooke Wd [TQ304984] at 1003 GMT - possibly my latest record for this species & male Brimstone at Gordon Hill Station at 1218 GMT - my latest record for this species. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Sunshine was added to the warmth today on my local patch and it felt almost springlike. It certainly brought out the Red Admirals, and altogether I counted seven of the species. One of them annoying disturbed a Peacock I was trying to photograph, but the surprise of the day was an elderly Speckled Wood, a species I hadn't seen since 15th October. I wonder where it had been hiding? [Posted by Dave Miller]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Some hazy sunshine after the early fog over my way this morning before cloud crept in from the west. I managed to spot a couple of Red Admirals, and then flying low across the very dewy grass I found a Small Heath. Surprisingly, this individual was one I'd last seen on 30th October, rather than the one encountered on 4th and 5th November in the same spot. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Brown Hairstreak eggs. Five Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Park Fields and Allum lane spinney. Also one egg found at Harper Lane footpath near Shenleybury TL 168 022. [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Trent Park. We visited the area of Trent Park referred to as the butterfly fields today, and spent 2 x 3 hrs searching the blackthorn extensively. The blackthorn in these fields has been regularly searched since 2018 and as recently as January 2025. 4 Brown Hairstreak eggs were found close together on what was the best looking blackthorn we found - a resounding success! [Posted by Liz Goodyear and Ian Watts]
BH eggs in river Pinn catchment. Three Brown Hairstreak eggs found good quality Blackthorn hedge near River Pinn and Cannon Brook confluence. Previous had a zero result along good quality but short Blackthorn hedge in Long Meadow, Eastcote. Certainly worth checking along Pinn catchment, as adult found by Pinn meadow transect walker earlier this year [Posted by Paul Busby]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Frustratingly, the very warm weather today contained just one decent sunny interval. However, I found two butterflies making the most of it - one of the Small Heaths I'd seen yesterday, and a female Small Copper I'd previously encountered in the same place on 26th and 30th October. She looked somewhat slimmer now, presumably after ten days of laying eggs on the many sorrel plants around this spot. [Posted by Dave Miller]
