Butterflies

 It's been a poor year for butterflies for me, though others seem to think it hasn't been too bad. Maybe because the decent warm sunny days in recent months have tended to occur while I am working has been a factor. Pottering in the garden after work has certainly boosted the numbers and variety seen.

I think the early warm spell in spring was a bit of a false promise. I was seeing good numbers of Orange Tips, Brimstones, Peacock and Tortoiseshells and a few Holly Blues back then, and of course Aprils freeze and Mays rain knocked everything back considerably. I really had to wait for June to get going before insects started to appear again, and it was mainly the white butterflies that I was encountering early on (unfortunately growing unprotected kale plants among my salad crops was not a good idea). Eventually by mid summer some Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Large Skippers started to arrive, along with large numbers of Peacocks and Red Admirals. A couple of walks around Aston End suggested that the summer grassland species were doing well, particularly Marbled Whites. What I wasn't seeing were any blues, Commas and Tortoiseshells. Even the few trips out and about failed to produce any. 

I had one local butterfly trip in early July. I had planned to visit Hertford Heath and search for dragonflies, but decided at the last minute to go to Danemead instead. The meadow was productive as expected with lots of browns, skippers and a few Silver Washed Fritillaries. Rather than leave and drive to Broxbourne Woods west car park I decided to remain in the Danemead area and explored a number of paths and forestry tracks eventually ending up on the path where the Parrot Crossbills were a few winters ago. On the way back a german couple, also butterflying stopped and retraced their steps. I thought they had found a White Admiral which had hoped to find, but it was something better-a Purple Emperor. This is the first i'd seen in any part of Broxbourne Woods for several years and was fantastic to see. It was rather approachable as they often are and some of my full frame photos were taken on the phone, but this one was with the Olympus 60mm macro.

As July merged into August, Gatekeepers arrived in force, and some Marbled Whites and Meadow Browns were still around in Aston End. After a long wait, one or two Commas finally appeared-the first was in the garden and my one and only Common Blue of the year turned up on my honeysuckle. Red Admirals and Peacocks remain frequent and a couple of Painted Ladies have also been seen. Still no late season Tortoiseshells locally-I'm wondering if the dreadful spring wiped out the eggs and caterpillars, but then again the others species managed to survive.