Butterfly Watch 2013

[fern Rob]

No butterfly's so far this year.

[Clive60]

Peacock, Brimstone, Orange Tip and Speckled Wood today but in different areas.

[tropicalwon]

First sighting of a 'Comma' today.....

[Javeo]

Lots of commas and small whites, a few blue ones, a red admiral and a peacock so far this year.

[tropicalwon]

Painted Lady, large white & another small white-ish one today

[DiCasS]

Not butterfly watching, but this thread has certainly educated me. I was watching 'Pointless' tonight, and a question came up about butterflies. Six real and one false. I recognised all and picked out the false one, even got a pointless answer which gained me a fictional £250, thanks to this thread Hubby was most impressed.

Di

[Tom2006]

None here so far. Going to get some caterpillars to grow on for my kids, did it last year and they loved it.

[Conifers]

Small White today (species #4 of the year)

[billdango]

I saw 2 large white butterflies[Artogeia brassicae]today.

And a few speckled woods as well. [pararge aegeria].

billdango

[Adam D]

We very rarely see butterflies up in Scotland

Seeing them would be a good thing as it would mean that we are enjoying decent weather

[billdango]

Quite a few holly blues spotted today in the brief sunny spells so just as a matter of interest I will give a list of the Butterflies[English names only] found in Southampton and the surrounding areas.

Large white.
Small white.
Green veined white.
Orange tip.
Brimstone.
Clouded yellow.
Pale clouded yellow [rare].
Pearl bordered fritillary.
Dark green fritillary.
Silver washed fritillary.
Red admiral.
Small tortishell[rare].
Peacock.
Comma.
Painted lady.
White admiral.
Common blue.
Chalkhill blue.
Holly blue.
Brown argus.
Purple hairstreak.
White w hairsteak
Green hairstreak.
Small copper.
Speckled wood.
Wall brown.
Meadow brown.
Gatekeeper.
Small heath.
Ringlet.
Grayling.
Marbled white.
Dingy skipper.
Large skipper.
Small skipper.
Grizzled skipper.
Essex skipper.

Thats all the species I have seen over about 5 years of watching.
A few others like the Purple emperor occur rarely in the region but I have not included these because they are seldom seen.
It would be extremely interesting to hear from other forum members about the species in their areas.

billdango.

[GoggleboxUK]

Saw this today, anyone know what it is?

[Yorkshire Kris]

You saw that in the wild GB? Looks like an albino Monarch which I don't think has ever been recorded in May in Britain??!!!!! Monarchs are usually seen in September to November after storms bring them across from the US

[Yorkshire Kris]

If it's not a wind up then you must repost it to Butterfly Conservation.

[billdango]

You won't find that one flying around outside in the UK.

Its a tropical Danaus species only found from India to possibly Java.

I am not sure which it is without seeing the upperside but it is related to Danaus juventa.

The one in the picture is commonly bred in butterfly houses and the one in the picture may be an escapee.

There are many very similer related species that can only be properly identified in a pinned collection.

billdango