Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
Adonis Blues on Therfield Heath. Slightly breezier and cloudier weather today. Large areas of the heath have been cut, probably to reduce fire risk but the uncut patches alongside the paths attracted several butterflies. We visited the southern part of the heath where Chalk Hill Blue was the most numerous (100+) with Meadow Brown close behind (80+). 50+ Adonis Blue (mostly males) also seen along with 10+ Gatekeeper, 20+ Small Heath, 5 Small White, 2 Common Blue and 1 (possibly 2) Clouded Yellow. [Posted by Peter Clarke & Bob Clift]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. I haven't submitted regular sightings throughout the height of the season as they have been too numerous! However today was a redletter day for me. I had initially set out on my local patch near Heathrow just to count the butterflies, but ended up being distracted by a Clouded Yellow, one of three seen today in the end. Shortly afterwards came the real highlight - a female Brown Hairstreak. I was able to confirm immediately with the Heathrow conservation people (who were onsite at the time) that this is the first record of the species from this site. [Posted by Dave Miller]
Clouded Yellow at Trent Park. 1 Clouded Yellow near Dew Pond, Trent Park this morning. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Jersey Tiger Moth sighting. I came across this beautiful moth on my patio doors in Letchworth 26/07/2025 16.24. I had to look it up as I have never seen one like this. A week later spotted another one in Royston on a shrub.. [Posted by Emma Cutmore]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At a private site near Trent Park - 2 Clouded Yellow & male Common Blue. At Trent Park - 2 Clouded Yellow [1 at 'Old Golf Course' & 1 near Dew Pond], 1 Holly Blue by lower lake near Icehouse Wd & 2 Jersey Tiger. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Clouded Yellow Therfield Heath. Several photographers trying to image Clouded Yellows on Therfield Heath this afternoon. Adonis Blue, Common Blue and Chalk Hill Blue and Small Heath also seen. [Posted by Nick Keep]
Sightings at Enfield. At a private site near Trent Park - 1 Red Admiral & 2 Common Blue [male & female]. At Bay Farm, Enfield along 'London Loop/Jubilee Path' - 1 Small Copper & 2 male Common Blue. At Rectory Farm - 1 Red Admiral. At Flash Lane, EN2 - 1 Jersey Tiger. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Hummingbird Hawk-moth. Saw my first Hummingbird Hawk-moth of the year in my garden in South Harrow this afternoon. [Posted by Michael Robinson]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Clouded Yellow, 1 Common Blue & 1 Jersey Tiger. At Trent Park - 1 Red Admiral near Water Grdn, 2 Green-veined White & 2 Small White edge of Icehouse Wd. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Clouded Yellow & 2 Jersey Tiger. At Trent Park - 2 Clouded Yellow. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Another Silver Washed Fritillary on Therfield Heath SSSI. I saw my first Silver-washed Fritillary for 3 years on the Therfield Heath SSSI in the non-common land woods just beyond the end of the Church Hill Transects. This was not as tatty as the one seen by Martin Johnson on 14th July judging by the photo on his blog. Whether this is two dispersing individuals or there is a small colony in Jubilee Wood is not clear. Just over 100 butterflies on the transects; similar selection to last week (30th July). No Adonis Blue seen but we were working on the other side of Church Hill mostly. [Posted by Nick Keep]
Stafford Road / Ickenham Marsh. I arrived noon in sunny breezy conditions at Stafford Road soon meeting up with 3 cheery photographers enjoying the presence of several Brown Hairstreaks on the plentiful bramble. Sadly the big fields are not in flower due I guess to little rain since the July cut. No small heath today. The tally of my 2 hour 4 mile route over to Ickenham was;- 5 Brown Argus, 7 Common Blue, 3 Small Copper, 2 Holly Blue, 1 Comma, 1 Red Admiral, 2 Peacock, 5 Speckled Wood, 2 male Brimstone, plenty of whites, Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper, 1 brown coloured hairstreak in an elm and 22 Brown Hairstreak mostly males in locations throughout with all but 4 low down mostly on bramble with some feasting on blackberries enabling plentiful photo opportunities even on my basic phone. 3 seen in the field corner south of Austins Lane where a good amount of eggs were found 18 months ago and a further 3 along the brookside path which are both a first in these locations for me. [Posted by Nick Furtek]
Sightings at Enfield & Oakwood. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Clouded Yellow, male Common Blue, 4 Comma nectaring on buddleia, 2 Red Admiral, 2 Large White & 2 Jersey Tiger. 1 Old Lady at bus-stop shelter at Bramley Road, N14 - my first of the year [FOY] & first one for many years. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Bishops Stortford. 14 Clouded Yellows around the Lucerne fields west of Bishops Stortford on the Hadham road, roughly TL456199 lunch time. [Posted by Laurence Drummond]
Sightings at Trent Park & Enfield. At Trent Park - 2 Red Admiral [1 nectaring on white buddleia at Water Grdn & 1 at Shaws Wd Cottages], female Clouded Yellow nectaring on willow herb, edge of Water Grdn & Icehouse Wd, 1 Purple Hairstreak settled edge of Icehousw Wd [worn & tatty]. At a private site near Trent Park - 1 Red Admiral. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield. At private sites near Trent Park - female Brown Argus & 2 Jersey Tiger. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Merry Hill Butterfly Walk Bushey. My apologies for my late arrival to those who came there was some confusion with what I saw on the eventbright site, I was seeing it put down to a 12pm start! Although prepared for 11am start I relaxed a bit and took more time. Anyway hope all is forgiven as we had a good walk once we got started and despite the cloudy weather we did get to see some butterflies. All those that arrived on time started without us. This included Janet who has volunteered for a long time with the RSPB. Small Copper 1. Thanks Janet! There were also a few Purple Hairstreak noted before we arrived as well as few other sightings of butterflies such as Gatekeeper. Once we finally got rolling we made our way to the field where we had our first sighting in 2024. At that spot a few more Purple Hairstreaks were seen and I just managed to get one photo of one. Overall the count for Purple Hairstreak about 6+. At this stage of the walk we hadn't sighted a Brown Hairstreak. We did start to see more butterflies in this area . The thistle patch we found a male on Saturday we found Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown. A little further down from there and bingo! A fresh female spotted by Chris Newman on a gone to seed thistle. It almost seemed to happen at the right moment when all of the group were close enough to see, I hope all who took a photo captured a good one! It was a lovely moment for our first butterfly walk at Merry Hill and I can't thank Chris enough for spotting in cloudy conditions and is likely to be the first those on the walk had seen in Hertfordshire. We tried to find a Small Heath to get the species count to 10. I thought I had cracked it but I was mistaken it turned out to be a lighter coloured Gatekeeper. Chris also thought we had a Small Heath but I think on closer inspection it was probable a stunted Meadow Brown. Butterfly list for the walk as follows Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper estimated at over 20, Small Copper 1, Purple Hairstreak 6+, Brown Hairstreak 2 as a male was sighted by afew members of the group on the return journey, Holly Blue 4, Speckled Wood 3, Common Blue 4-6 sighted, Large White 1 (may of missed some of the whites) and probable sightings of Jersey Tiger moth. As it hadn't actually rained Rick and myself had a brief look over at Prestwick Road Meadows after unfortunately no sightings of brown Hairstreak but we did see 2 Speckled Wood , Gatekeeper, Large and 1 Small White, 2 Comma, 1 Meadow Brown. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Stafford Road Open Space, Ruislip. Whilst visiting the in-laws an opportunity opened up for some impromptu butterflying. The weather was mostly dark clouds, very muggy with faint sunny spells but always the imminent threat of a downpour, fortunately this proved excellent weather for finding and photographing Brown Hairstreaks. I found a female egg laying within the first 30 seconds which is a great start to any session, I had 18 sightings in total between 13.00 and 15.30. Most of the sightings were seen feeding on overripe blackberries, the remainder were resting, leaf walking or basking and most of those were females. Also seen on the ripe blackberries were 2 Holly Blue and a single Purple Hairstreak. [Posted by Nathan Ellis]
Brown Hairstreaks Stafford Open Space. Mainly in one spot, 10 in total over the course of a three hour visit. The blackberries were the main draw which made them easy to observe. Saw more females than males. It was very overcast with the occasional glimmer of sun when they opened their wings. [Posted by Dee Cullen]
Return to Sutton’s Farm GP, Hatfield. Took my last chance to look for second brood Dingy Skippers. Overcast afternoon and no luck with that. I did spot a single Small Tortoiseshell, an even rarer species this year. Still dozens of Meadow Browns, also Common Blues (21), Small Heaths, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Latticed Heath and 6-spot Burnet flying. Off to look for butterflies further afield tomorrow [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
