Hertfordshire & Middlesex Branch
Saving butterflies, moths and our environment
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]
Holly Blue at Town Park, Enfield. 1 Holly Blue at Town Park, Enfield this afternoon. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At a private site near Trent Park - 2 Clouded Yellow, 2 Common Blue & 1 Brown Argus. At Trent Park - 5 Green-veined White [3 by lower lake, 1 near Water Grdn & 1 edge of Icehouse Wd]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Branch Walk On Therfield Heath. Fifteen people gathered for the walk on Therfield Heath today. We were blessed with a couple of hours of sunshine, which has been in short supply this week. Everybody got to see smart Adonis Blue, both males and females, maybe around 50 individuals in total. Meadow Brown and Small Heath were also present in good numbers (several tens). Common Blues, including some very fresh ones, were found, particularly at the bottom of the Rifle Butts bowl (above 20 individuals). In contrast, the Chalk Hill Blues had almost disappeared (compared to the hundreds in July). I saw barely a handful of males, often flying around fast, and I am not sure we managed to show them to everyone. A few more females were fairly confidently identified and a fair proportion of the 'too faded to be sure' 'blue' females were probably Chalk Hill Blues. A couple of Brown Argus were seen by some people. Small White, Green-veined White and Large White were present, but numbers were not tracked. My personal highlight was the two Small Coppers, which most people saw at least one of. I have only seen them on the Heath twice in the last 5 years and I am a very regular visitor. [Posted by Nick Keep]
Common Blues at Sutton’s Farm. Overcast all afternoon with no sign of sun. Despite this my trip to the old gravel pit in Hatfield was rewarding. Common Blue (33) were out in numbers. Small Heath (11), Brown Argus (4) and Small Copper (2) were also flying. Meadow Brown (91), Small White (34), Large White (12), Latticed Heath (1) and Purple Mint moth (1) also spotted [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Batch Wood St Albans. 12 Small Coppers at William Bird OS in my timed count for Wilder St Albans this afternoon. Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Large White and Small White all still flying. On the far side of the wood, Brown Argus were dominant in the fallow field with a total of 11. Holly Blue and Green-veined White also present Looks like being a good year for Small Copper. Half todays individuals were nectaring on Knapweed, one on Yarrow and the rest on Ragwort [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings from Stanwell Moor. Much of the day was cloudy, but was redeemed by sunshine after three o'clock. On my local patch near Heathrow the highlight today was a trio of Clouded Yellows - a rather worn female egg-laying and two males. The smarter of the two males discovered the female and spent quite a while trying to persuade her to mate but ultimately failed. This bit of behaviour produced some interesting photo opportunities. Overall, I counted 150 butterflies of 13 different species: Meadow Brown (30), Small Heath (30), Common Blue (25), Small White (20), Green-veined White (20), Brown Argus (8), Large White (5), Small Copper (4), Clouded Yellow (3), Speckled Wood (2), Holly Blue (1), Red Admiral (1), Peacock (1). [Posted by Dave Miller]
Sightings at Enfield & Southgate. At a private site near Trent Park - 1 Latticed Heath. At Southgate - 1 Small Blood-vein attracted to kitchen light last night. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Branch walk at Clothall Common. A grey start for a group of ten. We found a Lime-speck Pug larva on Mugwort at the group assembly point . A short time after the start of the walk a Meadow Brown appeared followed by a number of others and then Small Heath and Common Blue. There were a few Small Whites and Large Whites and particularly on the plateau area, in a short spell of sunshine, a good number of Chalk Hill Blues, about 90% female. The few males were still trying to court the females. The group also found two adult Lime-speck Pugs in this area to go with the larva. Other moths recorded were Turnip Moth, and the larvae of Cinnabar Moth and Brown-tail and some emerged 6 spot Burnet pupae. [Posted by Andrew Wood]
Sightings at Enfield. At private sites near Trent Park - 4 Common Blue & 1 Small Heath. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Ruislip Gardens/ Ickenham marsh. Had a brilliant walk with many sightings of Brown Hairstreak as in the earlier report. Many thanks to Nick and Peter for generously sharing their knowledge and for putting me on to these beauties, had the best day, great fun in great company. [Posted by Ashley Cox]
Branch Event - Ruislip Gardens and Ickenham Marsh. 12 of us assembled on a sunny breezy Sunday for a 3+ mile circuit around the thickets and fields of Ruislip Gardens and also the grazed Ickenham Marsh Reserve for those that chose the optional extended walk or chance to return home from Ickenham Station. 6 endured the full tour back to the start point. The days final tally: Brown Hairstreak 15 (all low down sightings), Small Copper 10, Speckled Wood 9, Gatekeeper 2, Holly Blue 7, Meadow Brown 17+, Small Heath 12, Common Blue 10, Brown Argus 7, Red Admiral 1 and numerous Whites plus another speckled wood or 2 and GV whites for those who joined us early at R-Gdns station for the pre walk along the Yeading Brook. It took about 15 minutes to locate the first settled Brown Hairstreak with the remainder seen at various points along the route, mostly females with all bar 4 resting for long periods mostly on bramble enabling everyone to get good views and photos especially of those occasional open wing moments. The clouded yellow seen by Duncan a few days earlier failed to show nor the resident purple hairstreaks but for the latter the lack of gatekeeper reveals how early the season is. A big thank you to all the attendees for their enthusiasm, input and appreciation which really made my day. A gold star to Pete Fewell for his attached photos, book keeping and trained eyes. [Posted by Nick Furtek]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. 2 Common Blue [male & female] & 1 Latticed Heath at private sites near Trent Park. At Trent Park - 1 Clouded Yellow in field near Dew Pond. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Sightings at Enfield. At a private site near Trent Park - 1 Common Blue & 1 Vestal. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Brimstone Moth at Southgate. 1 Brimstone Moth at ASDA Southgate this afternoon, above the ATM machines. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Lots of Common Blues near Albury. A walk from Albury Hall to Patience End along the footpath produced well over 50 Common Blues (males and females) feeding on the lovage crop and the blackberries. Also 10 Small Heath, 3 Clouded Yellow, 2 Meadow Brown and 2 Small White [Posted by Paula Moore]
Sightings at Trent Park & Enfield. At Trent Park - 1 Small Copper near Shaws Wd Cottages, 1 Clouded Yellow near Dew Pond, 1 Hummingbird Hawkmoth, edge of Icehouse Wd - my first of the year [FOY] & my first for several years, 1 Small Heath near Water Grdn & 1 Green-veined White nectaring on buddleia, edge of Water Grdn. At Plumridge Farm, Enfield - 1 female 'helice' Clouded Yellow along 'London Loop/Jubilee Path' & 1 Brown Argus. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Jersey Tiger, 1 Vestal - my first of the year [FOY], 1 Small Heath, 1 Comma & 1 Red Admiral nectaring on buddleia. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Good news at Butterfly World. Good news for the Small Blues at Butterfly World St Albans. Last month I reported the sad news that planning consent had been granted for stage facilities on the site of the best Small Blue colony in Herts. After spotting some procedural irregularities I took steps to have the decision overturned. With much help from local pressure group “Keep Chiswell Green” a case was prepared and submitted. The government has now accepted that they got it wrong and agreed to quash the consent granted. You can read the full story in the St Albans Times. This is unlikely to be the end of the matter, but if the application is presumed further, we will have a chance to have our say and speak up for the Small Blues [Posted by Malcolm Hull]
Sightings at Enfield & Trent Park. At private sites near Trent Park - 1 Clouded Yellow & 3 female Common Blue. At Trent Park - 1 Comma near Water Grdn & 2 Clouded Yellow together near Dew Pond. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
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]
Millhoppers’ butterfly walk August 2nd 2025. In spite of the rather overcast weather, we had an excellent butterfly walk today, enhanced by the enthusiasm and knowledge of the five adults and a child who joined the walk. The young boy, Edmund, who has eagle eyes and a keen interest in the natural world, spotted quite a few butterflies and moths for us, and altogether we saw 9 butterfly species and over 6 species of moths. The butterflies on Millhoppers reserve included: 2 Small Heath, 10 Gatekeeper, 5 Green-veined White, 2 Small White, 4 Common Blue, 4 Brown Argus, 1 Large Skipper, 5 Speckled Wood, 19 Meadow Brown and more than 30 Peacock butterfly caterpillars. Moth species seen were: Blood veined moth, Dingy Footman, Yellow shell, Mother of Pearl, Straw Dot, Common Plume, and the trails of various Leaf Mining moths on the Black Poplar leaves. [Posted by Christine Ridley]
Merry Hill Bushey. Rick and myself went to check out Merry Hill this afternoon as time and weather hadn't been on our side for more visits sooner for our butterfly walk tomorrow. Although cloudy when we arrived the sun did start to breakthrough after 2.30pm. We didn't see many butterflies to start with but the number of Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown numbers started to build and there were well over 20 of each species present. Just after 2.30pm we wee in the field that contained the most Brown Hairstreak eggs earlier in the year not far from our first male last year we did get to see our only confirmed B Hairstreak of the day. This male was the first we had seen there feeding on thistle flowers so far as all the sightings last year were not on flowers. This individual was still feeding on the same patch after surveying the fleabane and coming back on ourselves 20mins later. The photo of Common Blue was seen during the sweep we had a count of 8+ C Blue over all. Rick found the only confirmed Purple Hairstreak of the day feasting on ripe blackberry. Other butterflies seen Green-veined White 4, S White 1, L White 7+ with a couple of others unidentified. Small Heath 6, Comma 2, Speckled Wood 2+ and a few sightings of Jersey Tiger moth. [Posted by Peter Fewell]
Second Generation Dingy Skipper near Great Gaddesden. First time in ten years of transect walking that I've noticed a second generation - rather poor photo with iPhone. [Posted by Paul Cross]
Sightings at Enfield, Oakwood & Southgate. At a private site near Trent Park - 1 Red Admiral. 3 Jersey Tiger [1 at Bramley Road, N14, 1 at Chase Road, N14 & 1 at Southgate Chase Allotments]. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]
Brown Hairstreak on garden Plum tree. While picking some early ripening plums on the garden Plum tree, I disturbed a Brown Hairstreak. A first record for the garden here in Kenton. This is in the midst of suburban Harrow. In the photograph, the butterfly is actually on a Hazel leaf, but the Plum leaves and plums are all around. [Posted by Leslie Williams]
Sightings at Enfield. 2 male Common Blue along 'London Loop/Jubilee Path' at Bay Farm. 1 Red Admiral at Enfield Chase Station. [Posted by Robert Mark Callf]