First Butterflies of 2022 March and April

 A look back at the year so far gives a mixed picture dominated by the variations in the weather.

It was a good start with Buff-tailed Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) seen fairly early on, coinciding with the first flowing of Lesser Celandine here, which turned out to be magnificent and long-lasting, starting around 25th February 2022. This led us to expect the early appearance of butterflies - but then came the Saharan dust storm on 16th March- what effect would it have here? Only 2 days later on 18th March the first Brimstone butterfly was seen, a warm, clear, breezy, sunny day. On the same day, a surprise in the form of 5 Small Tortoiseshell butterflies two appeared out of a Hawthorn hedge and three more were seen in Brambles nearby. Another was seen basking on a stoney path not far away from the hedge which was providing shelter from the breeze.

A Small Tortoiseshell butterfly and its shadow on the stony path. It has chosen a flat, warm stone, just the right size to bask on. 18th March 2022.

The following day with similar conditions (high pressure and a NE breeze) the first Comma butterfly was seen on the verge of a path, then on 19th March the first Peacock butterfly was seen over brambles.

On 21st March in a grassy area a Peacock was seen chasing a Comma butterfly in quite fierce long chase when it managed to frighten the more fragile Comma to take cover. This was clearly Peacock territory.

A Peacock butterfly perched on a bramble leaf

21st March 2022

A Comma butterfly clinging on to a dry stalk in the wind,

March 2022

On 22nd March several Peacocks were seen basking on a path (same weather conditions prevailed)  with more Peacocks seen on 23rd March with the first female Orange-tip butterfly.More Peacocks were seen on 24th March but the weather then changed and became cooler with lower pressure bringing rain.

On 11th April a male Orange-Tip butterfly appeared and a male Brimstone was seen along the river bank. The good weather lasted with more Peacocks and more low-flying Orange-tips and Brimstones.

A speeding aggressive Peacock was this time seen chasing and Orange-tip. The powerful Peacock always wins!

The first Holly Blue butterflies were seen on 17th April and a Speckled Wood butterfly was

seen on 26th April.

The variety of Wild flowers has so far been excellent with far more appearing than in recent years, in more locations. Hopefully this will continue throughout the rest of the year.