Newbourne Springs, Suffolk Wildlife Trust Reserve

 

Not the best photograph of a Peacock butterfly, but what a surprise after the last few days of grey skies and chilly temperatures! This afternoon we saw:

• 1 female Brimstone, too quick to photograph
• 5 Peacock butterflies
• 11 Comma butterflies
• 2 Bee-flies 
• In excess of 15 7-spot Ladybirds, including one outside our house

We were not expecting Newbourne Springs to produce such riches in a couple of hours, if that; but how wonderful, at last, to feel that the insect seasons are underway. 

The photos below are a bit of a mixed bag, but I hope they give an impression of the seasonal sights we enjoyed.  

Wild Arum

We watched this bee climb into the undergrowth

Wonderful blossom

Butterbur

Seasonal first: Peacock butterfly

Lesser Celandine

Seasonal First: Comma butterfly

7-spot Ladybird (this top one outside our house)

Robin

Two more 7-spots

I love the feathery reflection!

Another Comma

And another 7-spot ...

... perhaps laying an egg?

Bee fly, one of two seen this afternoon

Peacock

Primroses above the stream

Primroses

Hard to resist a ripple over the sandy stream bed

?Greater Stitchwort

close-up

Wild strawberry flowers

The stream at Newbourne Springs

Back to the house, where our spring bulbs are adding a splash of colour.

Spring Signs at Home and at Snape Maltings

Snape: Aconites and Snowdrops

Snape: Aconites

This small clump of Cyclamen taking over the delapidated decking at home

Our first 2023 Iris, probably Iris Reticulata

Snape, looking from the reedbeds to the Maltings

Snape: wonderful to see so many Avocets, albeit at a distance.

Stonechats, male and female

Snape, looking to Iken Church and Iken Cliffs on the right

The female Stonechat

Wing beats: two Mute Swans overhead

Snape: Iken Church through the rampike

And finally, back at base, a quick peep at the toad house. I so hope a toad finds it in the weeks to come.

 

2022 A Pair of 'Garden Firsts'

 10th March was a good day for 'garden firsts' of the season:

* a Peacock butterfly (my first butterfly seen anywhere in 2022)

* a 7-spot Ladybird

#30DaysWild, Day 7, 7 June 2021 ... First Brown Argus of the Season

 

It was lunch time and I was about to go inside when something with a glossy sheen about it caught the corner of my eye. My first guess was a Hairstreak, but then I saw the wings open to the familiar chocolate-brown of the Brown Argus (or, on occasions, the female Common Blue). The not-particularly-prominent mark in the centre of the forewing makes me favour the Brown Argus, though I think it is dubious whether the diagnostic 4th spot on the outer wing is in fact present in the photo below. Despite the proximity of the Blackfly in the photo above, Brown Argus larva feed off vegetation such as Rock Rose and particular varieties of Cranesbill and Stoksbill.

We had these butterflies in our homepatch for the first time last year, so we are glad they have returned, now that the unmown grassland of a garden has gone without a mow for well over a year. 

It was only when I uploaded the photograph that I noticed the bonus insect, which could be a female Thick-legged Flower Beetle. 

And just a quick update on butterfly species seen in the garden to date in 2021:

1. Peacock
2. Brimstone
3. Holly Blue
4. Orange Tip
5. Small White
6. Large White
7. Green Hairstreak
8. Brown Argus.

#30DaysWild, 5 June ... a Butterfly at the Beach

 

There are some advantages in living close to the container port of Felixstowe ... and one of these must surely be the fact that it is possible at this time of year to see Painted Ladies as they fly into land after their long migrations. The photograph above was taken this evening at about 18.45 hrs. It was fairly sunny and mild. We saw four of these beautiful butterflies in total, a 300% increase on our total Painted Lady sightings for 2020.

2nd June 2021: #30DaysWild, Day 2

 

 

I have three garden sightings to report so far today (and a fourth, though I was not the one to see it).

[1] My first Small Copper of the year, which you see above.

[2] A bee flying in and out of one of our insect houses, despite the ant invasion. I failed to photograph the bee, though you can see the ants making their presence felt in the photo below, taken a few days ago. I hope the bee will prove to be a Leaf-cutter, which is what we had last year. 

[3] The blackbirds were making loud (?alarm) calls last night at dusk. We failed to see evidence of a magpie, jay or cat ... but this morning Star the female was perching in front of a rotund and fluffy semi-fledgling. No wonder Star has been such an active hunter-gatherer recently. 

... and ...

[4] from David, the first 2021 sighting of a Red Damselfly in the garden.  

 

Hard to tell if there are signs yet of leaf or bee!

 

Ant invasion!

I wonder what you have been doing or finding for Day 2 of #30DaysWild ...