Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
White-letter Hairstreak egg at Garston Park. I returned to Garston Park in Watford today to make sure I hadn't missed any blackthorn on my previous visit! Next to a nice stand of blackthorn I realised there was some nice flowering elm low down and after some searching I finally found a hatched White-letter Hairstreak egg – I had forgotten how small they look when hatched! [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Female Brimstone Nomansland Common. Working with conservation volunteers on Nomansland Common clearing Gorse, although the air temperature was low, if felt warm in the sun in front of the trees, and a female Brimstone flew past and settled on the Gorse about knee high. It then clouded over, cooled down, and the Brimstone stayed settled. I decided to photograph it when we finished work, but cold rain then started (I understand it fell as hail nearby in St Albans). I assume this was why the Brimstone stayed put despite me accidentally shaking the Gorse a few times when I caught on brambles, and pushing my compact camera to little more than an inch from it for maximum magnification. [Posted by Chris Newman]
A trip though the Pyrenees, the Cévennes and the Auvergne. Roger Gibbons' online Zoom talk on 21 February. YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jksHvZxWQ6Q [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Finding Black Hairstreak and other caterpillars using UV torchlight. Online Zoom talk by Gareth Tilley (Surrey & SW London branch on 20 February. YouTube link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7qaRJJnRV1I [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Brown Hairstreak egg near Holywell. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at King George’s fields near Holywell [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Small Tortoiseshell in Enfield. Eugene Dillon-Hooper reports a sighting of a Small Tortoiseshell in the Enfield area late morning [Posted by Robert Callf]
Brown Hairstreak eggs near Harrow. Following on from recent Brown Hairstreak egg finds in the Stanmore area I decided to revisit an area of blackthorn off Old Redding near the Harrow View point today first seen in January 2022. It is a public footpath with prunus along the hedge line – in total I found 8 Brown Hairstreak eggs but to my surprise I looked at two probable Cherry Plum bushes that were already flowering and found 2 eggs despite the flowers! Another blackthorn twig had 3 eggs very close to each other [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Brown Hairstreak eggs at Croxley Common Moor. Two Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Croxley Common Moor [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Brown Hairstreak egg at Hampstead Heath. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at Hampstead Heath [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Painted Lady at Sunbury-on-Thames. Painted Lady - fresh individual on plum flowers by Sivyer's Lake at end of Hazelwood Drive, Sunbury-on-Thames at 12.30 pm. Seen by three people [Posted by Phil Cribb]
Brown Hairstreak egg at Moat Mount Open Space. Brown Hairstreak egg at Moat Mount Open Space, near Barnet [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Egg finds in Totteridge area. Having visited Totteridge now four times, the last on Tuesday when it rained - I could only find 4 more Brown Hairstreak eggs but all in slightly different areas, I decided to go somewhere new! I started from Quinta Park in Barnet and followed the Dollis Brook Loop walk to Totteridge Fields. Over a 3½ hour period I found 3 Brown Hairstreak eggs which would be a new 2k so although only 3 its 3 more than had been found there!!! I was hopeful that Totteridge Fields LWT Reserve would come up trumps but the blackthorn is not the type of blackthorn I like and a lot had been cut so a wasted walk! However the fields between Totteridge Common and Barnet (Mays Lane) are lined with blackthorn and there must be more eggs to be found? Be warned the mud is dreadful in places! [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Brimstone at Hounslow. The butterfly year here began early with a male Brimstone on the heath near the railway. It was shortly followed, albeit in the next tetrad along, by what was probably a Comma and then much later a likely Peacock was seen to fly on the far side of Pevensey Road meadows. This could well have emerged from someone's garden shed in the back gardens and it certainly showed more interest in matters the other side of the fences there than in the wide open spaces of the meadows, thus making it impossible for me to confirm that guess either. Nothing else seen so just one definite so far but clearly likely that the hibernating species are around in small numbers for now. Still working on doing things differently. This was the normal walk of just over 12 miles modified to include extra time on the Marshalling Yard (which is now officially labelled as such and as a nature reserve - good news for sure even if I wasn't rewarded by the butterflies. [Posted by Peter Gore]
Brown Hairstreak eggs at Edgwarebury Park. Five Brown Hairstreak eggs found at Edgwarebury Park [Posted by Rohan Harris]
Brimstone in St Albans. I just had a Brimstone in my St Albans garden. I think that’s the earliest for me [Posted by Chris Hocking]
Brimstone in St Albans. Tricia Gibbons saw first Brimstone butterfly of 2024 in St Albans garden - so beautiful [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Brown Hairstreak eggs at Totteridge. I returned to Totteridge today - it was far too sunny to see eggs properly and terribly muddy! I ended up with a total of 10 Brown Hairstreak eggs, 6 in the same area as Wednesday's eggs finds near Folly Brook but also 3 in different areas of the scrub and a 4th close to where the very first egg in 2020 was found in the main area. [Posted by Liz Goodyear]
Red Admiral at Northaw. Red Admiral in garden [Posted by Sam Fuller]
Andrew Wood's online talk 'How the ground below our feet affects the butterflies and moths in the sky'. See the YouTube clip : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcgAwhhE6ms [Posted by Peter Clarke]
Brown Hairstreak eggs at Hampstead Heath. One Brown Hairstreak egg found at Hampstead Heath [Posted by Rohan Harris]
