The National Trust viewpoint carpark at Freshwater has certainly come up trumps today with three new spring butterfly species on show. Immediately on arrival I came across a pristine Green Hairstreak and that was closely followed by this Small Copper. The Grizzled Skipper of two days ago was not to be seen,however the Small Blue pictured below was a surprise. This is the earliest date that I have seen the latter since 2012 when two were recorded on the 30th March at the same location.
The National Trust viewpoint carpark at the foot of Afton Down close to Freshwater Bay has always been a prime location for spring butterflies. Yesterday the first species was seen just after noon when I observed a Grizzled Skipper nectaring on a dandelion flower. Unfortunately I was unable to relocate it as it sped off after I disturbed it.
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The excellent spring weather continues and today it was good to see a first of the year Speckled Wood in my garden. It spent some time enjoying a warm sunny spot and hopefully it will not be long before the Holly Blue is seen here too.
Our evergreen shrub Berberis or Barberry is in full bloom at the end of March.It is always popular with bees and other pollinating insects. Today this male Brimstone was observed nectaring on the shrubs prolific yellow- red flowers..
The Phlomis plant in our garden at Freshwater has always been popular with white butterflies and today it was host to my first Small White of the season. With the sun shining and despite a rather cold northerly wind this Small White spent some time on the leaves enjoying the sunny spot.
The almost summerlike weather continues and another spring butterfly was seen enjoying the warm sunshine in my garden today. A first sighting of this Comma which spent some considerable time basking in a particularly sunny spot.
The mild spell continued today and the butterflies were tempted out into the warm sunshine. First of all a male Brimstone was seen flying around my garden and later a Peacock also appeared.
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Following several days of settled.sunny and daytime mild temperatures,the new season now seems to be underway.Yestwerday I observed the first butterfly of the year in my garden.A Peacock basked in the sun on a paving slab and this morning after the fog had lifted this Red Admiral was seen on a bench also in my garden.
A return visit to Bouldnor Forest this morning was rewarded with the sight of six White Admiral.Several were seen nectaring on bramble flowers and one individual was observed spending some time on a bridleway extracting salts.
Today's visit to Bouldnor Forest near Yarmouth was rewarded with sight of a male Silver-washed Fritillary and a White Admiral. Both individuals were flying around very vigorously and quickly disappeared into the woodland. Another first of the season sighting was a tally of five Marbled White. All of them were also very active.
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Despite a bright and sunny afternoon the only butterflies to be seen in Bouldnor Forest today were several Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood. However the one exception was this Large Skipper that landed on a leaf right in front of me and seemed very happy to let me take its picture.
Following a couple of visits to the landslip near to Compton Chine over the last two weeks that drew a blank,today in warm,sunny,and breezy weather the Glanvilles were out in small numbers. Also to show were Common Blue,Dingy Skipper,and Small Heath. The National Trust carpark at the foot of Afton Down produced two more Glanville Fritillaries in addition to several Small Blue and two further Common Blue.
For the third day in a row I have been fortunate enough to encounter a Painted Lady. Today this individual pictured below visited the flowering pyracantha in my front garden. This species is particularly fond of the pyracantha flowers as it is not the first Painted Lady I have observed on these flowers over the years.
