Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Common Blue. I persuaded a Common Blue to perch on my finger today in cool breezy conditions at Hill End Chalk Pit reserve, near Hitchin [Posted by Phil Barron]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Small Heath, 2 Speckled Wood, 1 Green-veined White & 1 Red Admiral. At Trent Park - 1 Meadow Brown. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Adonis Blues Therfield. A bit late, but I went to Therfield heath on 26 August. I parked at sports ground and walked up towards the Rifle Range. On the left were several male Adonis Blues some recently hatched. I saw about 10 of them plus females and some bedraggled Chalk Hill Blues. Also Brown Argus, Common Blues, Small Heath and Meadow Brown. A bit late but I thought it worth recording. Should be some still there. [Posted by steve kiln]
Cassiobury Park and Whippendell Woods. Although windy this afternoon Rick and myself went to have a check on Cassiobury Park in part to see if any of our plants had survived the drought of the summer. Although not many species seen today it was a delight to see 10 Small Copper. One of which was taking nectar from one of the field scabious plants that did survive our original planting a few seasons back. Fortunately other than a few thistles the ragwort flowers were keeping a nectar source going. Some of our birds-foot trefoil plants had survived and we did see our first Common Blue of the day there too. We had a count of 3 Common Blue the other two were lower down the park towards the river where birds-foot trefoil has gone banana's this year in the park! Whippendell Woods wasn't too successful once we reached there only 2 Whites seen 1 Green-veined White confirmed the other wasn't large and two moths on ragwort. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Sightings at Oakwood Park & Town Park, Enfield. At Oakwood Park [0920 to 1000 BST] - 5 Speckled Wood, 4 Meadow Brown, 2 Small Heath & male Common Blue. At Town Park, Enfield [1240 to 1305 BST] - 4 Speckled Wood. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Autumn arrives in St Albans. An Autumnal feel to the butterflies on my allotment this morning. Small Whites out in profusion with rather less Large Whites. A Speckled Wood was enjoying the rotting fruit and the first new brood Comma feeding on Sedum. Two Common Blues and 2 Small Coppers fed avidly on the Fleabane and Innula. [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Small Heath, female Common Blue, 1 Speckled Wood, 1 Red Admiral & 1 Green-veined White. At Trent Park - 1 Small White & 1 Brown Argus at Nrth Lawn by lower lake. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At a private site near Trent Park - 2 male Common Blue & 1 Small White. At Trent Park - 1 Meadow Brown & 3 Speckled Wood. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Hibernating Peacocks in St Albans. What better activity for a rainy day than to check on the Peacocks hibernating in my shed. There has been a total of five in residence since mid July. Today the total has reduced to three. No evidence of any being attacked by predators and I think most likely that they have temporarily emerged from hibernation for a top up feed before winter. I have observed this happening in previous years when we get a late hot spell, it was over 30 degrees here over the bank holiday. In fact I saw a Peacock flying locally only yesterday, the first time I've seen one on the wing for 6 weeks. Sadly still no Small Tortoiseshells in hibernation here this year [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 3 female Meadow Brown, 1 Small Heath, 2 Green-veined White [pair mating], 1 Small White. At Trent Park - 1 Small Heath at North Lawn by lower lake, 1 Green-veined White nectaring on buddleia, edge of Water Grdn & 1 Speckled Wood edge of Water Grdn. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Trent Park. At Trent Park this morning - 4 Green-veined White [2 at North Lawn by lower lake & 2 edge of Icehouse Wd], 3 female Meadow Brown at North Lawn by lower lake & 3 Speckled Wood [1 edge of Icehouse Wd, 1 edge of Williams Wd & 1 near Shaws Wd]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield. At private sites near Trent Park - 2 Meadow Brown & 1 Green-veined White. At Bay Farm, along 'London Loop/Jubilee Path' - 1 Small Copper. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
South Oxhey Playing Fields and Croxley Moor. On this rather hot bank holiday Monday Rick and myself explored South Oxhey Playing fields before going onto Croxley Moor late afternoon. On arriving at our first destination a great deal of the grass area had been cut back leaving a dead and barren landscape. But the edges and a few spots were left long and we did get to see some butterflies. The first butterflies sighted were the Whites as to be expected Large and Green-veined identified among those seen. Meadow Brown numbers low but 5 seen. Common Blue 3 seen including another mating pair. Small Heath 2 overall. It was at TQ1047 9366 were I first sighted a Comma but the other butterfly first confirmed by Rick turned out to be a Brown Hairstreak. This is near where Rick found an egg and took video footage of an adult last year. That at least does confirm consistency in this location. Comma count 2, Small Copper 5, Purple Hairstreak 1, Red Admiral 1, Speckled Wood 3. We arrived at Croxley Moor around 3pm. Like a lot of places it was looking dry and sparse but there were flowers there in the damper spots. We counted 19+ Meadow Brown, Small Heath 12+, Common Blue 6+, Small Copper 4, Holly Blue 1, Speckled Wood 1 and of course a good number of Whites seen also. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Clouded Yellows nr Maple Cross TQ 03243 93484. Whilst having a walk and a cup of tea at Woodoaks Farm (SW Hertfordshire) I checked the two nearby Lucerne fields for Clouded Yellows. The crop is low at the moment but half a dozen seen just in the closest lower corner, doubtlessly more around. They were far too energetic for a photograph so will have to check back in on a cooler day. In related news, yesterday I saw a single male Clouded Yellow rapidly passing through my Brickendon front garden. Hoping for a bumper year. [Posted by Nathan Ellis]
Sightings at Enfield, Trent Park, Oakwood & Southgate. 1 Clouded Yellow at a private site near Trent Park. 1 Comma nectaring on buddleia, edge of Water Grdn, Trent Park. 1 Orange Swift at bus-stop shelter at Bramley Road, N14. 1 Light Emerald & 1 Straw Underwing at ASDA Southgate. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Clouded Yellows at Albury. Three Clouded Yellows in the lucerne field below Albury Church, as well as good numbers of Common Blues. No Clouded Yellows were seen in the other lucerne fields in the area. Otherwise very quiet, but a rather late Gatekeeper at Braughing allotments and one Small Copper at Braughing Friars. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Clouded Yellow in Greenwood Park. I was working on the Chalk Bank in Greenwood Park this afternoon, with Malcolm Hull and Nigel Floyd when we all saw a Clouded Yellow fly past an couple of times and land on some flowers in the nearby Community Garden. Other sightings in that area were 2 Small Copper, 1 Small Heath, 1 Meadow Brown, 2 Small White, 1 Large White and 1 Green-veined White. I have recorded these sightings on iRecord butterflies. [Posted by Mandy Floyd]
Brown Hairstreak. I saw a female Brown Hairstreak this morning at Shafford Road Open Space. [Posted by Michael Robinson]
Nomansland Common. Disappointing numbers of Small Coppers today, only 4 seen. 19 Small Heath, over 100 Meadow Browns and a few Common Blues and Brown Argus. Popped next door to Heartwood East and was able to repeat Andrew Steele’s sighting of a Clouded Yellow. Although most sightings of the species in Herts this year have been associated with Lucerne, this one was in a field rich in Birds-foot Trefoil [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Prestwick Road Meadows. After seeing a photo of a Brown Hairstreak from this site( informed by Caroline Craing) Rick and myself were itching to go and investigate Prestwick Road Meadows. I parked up on the corner of Ashridge Drive and Prestwick Road and the first butterfly we encountered was a Small Copper on the corner verge there. It turned out to be the only Small Copper seen and the afternoon became persistently overcast. We were seeing white butterflies, Large, Green-veined and probably small. Rick managed to spot the only Brown Hairstreak seen of the day which stayed put long enough for a photo before ascending over the blackthorn. Rick also found a mating pair of Common Blue with a total of 4 at Prestwick Road Meadows and another in the fields we explored towards Oxhey Woods. Speckled Wood 3, Small Heath 1 at P R Meadows a further 4 across the fields. It does look like the Brown Hairstreak will continue to thrive at this location! [Posted by Peter Fewell]
