2024 Garden Butterfly Sightings Up Until 1 August

 

This dainty Brown Argus is the most recent butterfly to appear in our garden this year. It represents the 15th species spotted within our boundary. The chart below shows my records for the Garden Butterfly Survey. Naturally, some days produce more sightings than others depending on factors such as time in the garden, weather and butterfly cycles. 

The garden had a large white Buddleia when we moved in over twelve years ago. It also had a range of trees and bushes. We have allowed the grass to grow long and have added a butterfly house, a large trough of Nasturtiums (I never know if these are primarily for the Large White caterpillars to eat or for us to enjoy!), Verbena bonariensis and some herbs. We also have three mini-ponds and a water bowl for the hedgehog, so water is always available.

The list will enlarge with a double-click. 

The first column is for the scientific species name, followed by the common English name. Next comes the family name, e.g. Pieridae refers to the white (and 'white-ish') butterflies. The number column gives the total of butterflies seen between the dates of the first 2024 sighting on the left (column 5) and the most recent on the right. If my calculations are correct, the chart shows a total of 195 butterfly records since the late start of the 2024 butterfly season.  

I would hope to see a Small Heath and a Common Blue by the end of the season. Watch this space!

 

 

Another Butterfly Species for the Garden List

 

Old photo from a 2006 sighting

 

We were having lunch in the garden one day last week when a Clouded Yellow butterfly flew into the garden. I have rarely encountered this species before. I have seen a couple here in Suffolk at RSPB Minsmere on the path that leads to the sea, but the only one I have ever been able to photograph (and even then only as a quick record shot) is the male in the photo above, which alighted on the footpath to the 12th century remains of Slebech Old Church in South Wales.

 

Slebech Old Church

 

I am continuing to record butterfly sightings from our wild suburban garden for the Garden Butterfly Survey run by Butterfly Conservation. The list of species I have counted this year in our garden alone (thus far and in alphabetical order) is as follows:

1. Brimstone
2. Brown Argus
3. Clouded Yellow
4. Comma
5. Common Blue
6. Gatekeeper
7. Grayling
8. Holly Blue
9. Large White
10. Meadow Brown
11. Orange Tip
12. Painted lady
13. Peacock
14. Red Admiral
15. Ringlet
16. Small Copper
    
17. Small Skipper
18. Small Heath
19. Small Tortoiseshell
20. Small White
21. Speckled Wood
    

On the day-flying moth front, we have had several Hummingbird Hawk-moths in the garden this summer, though Silver Ys, Cinnabars and Burnets have been noticeable by their (relative) absence.

 

Butterfly Counting

 

The photos above show my 2022 notebook for counting butterflies in our suburban Suffolk garden. Many people prefer to add their sightings straight on the mobile App. as they occur, but I prefer a pen. 

 

I list each butterfly at the front of my book (date, species, number seen, any special notes etc.) and add a tally-mark at the back. Every so often I upload my data on to the Garden Butterfly Survey run by Butterfly Conservation. The lists at the end of this post show my recordings for July 2022. 

 

It's good to be reminded that counting butterflies (or birds or stag beetles etc.) can make a difference. The current Butterfly Conservation eNews reminds us that ...

'The data you gather is vital in helping us understand the challenges 

facing our butterflies and moths and we are very grateful 

to all those citizen scientists who help us in this way'

 

and that ...

 

'much of what we know about the lives 

and requirements of these incredible insects 

has been discovered by amateur enthusiasts over the centuries.' 

The Grayling has been a new species in the garden, visiting twice so far this August. The photo below shows how well it blends in with our White Buddleia once the flowers are past their prime.

 

 

It seems to be a good year for this species in our wider area; we have  David has recorded over 100 in various locations (with my help). The collage below shows the Grayling up in the pine trees, perching on silver birch bark, resting in sandy tracks, pausing in the dry grass ... and alighting on our sleeves.

 

And here is my garden butterfly list for July 2022, starting with sightings seen most recently and working backwards ... We record each butterfly or cluster in our (wild) garden when we see them, but we often make a point of turning coffee and lunch times into counting sessions.

 

 

 

Sadly we haven't seen any Hairstreak butterflies in the garden this year (so far), despite the fact that we have seen several Green Hairstreaks elsewhere in the county.

Green Hairstreak and Other Sightings

Green Hairstreak, one of three seen at Aldeburgh, Suffolk, 14 May 2022

There is something intriguing about a green butterfly, probably because the Green Hairstreak is the only green (as opposed to green-veined) species of butterfly we are likely to encounter here in the UK. It was a thrill to see three of these beautiful iridescent insects last Saturday afternoon in Aldeburgh, Suffolk. You can read a bit about the nanoscale structures on the wings of a Green Hairstreak here. 

We also saw:

• Small White
• Peacock
• Common Blue
• Speckled Wood
• Orange Tip. 

We thought we might have seen a Brown Argus, but I'm not convinced as the outer wing markings of the blue butterflies I photographed seem to match those of the Common Blue. I often return to this website for guidance. 

I may not have been posting on this blog for a while, but I have been keeping my eyes and ears open for seasonal changes in the garden and on our walks. We heard our first Cuckoo on 1 May, the day we saw our first House Martins and Swallows. We saw our first damselflies of 2022 on Saturday (14th). 

My Butterfly Conservation 'Garden Butterfly Survey' list for 2022 currently includes the following sightings in no particular order:

• Small White
• Large White
• Holly Blue
• Speckled Wood
• Peacock
• Red Admiral (today)
• Comma
• Orange Tip
  

On our little excursions beyond the garden we have also seen Small Coppers, (and as mentioned above) Common Blues and Green Hairstreaks.  

 

* * * 

P.S. On the rather different subject of birds, you can click here to see my Redwing photograph on the cover of Neil Leadbeater's latest poetry collection, The Gloucester Fragments, a wonderful and inventive collection published by Littoral Press. 

Sparrows and a Dash of Spring Colour

 

 

We are thrilled to have Sparrows in the garden this year. A hedge was disturbed by some building work a few houses away, and I am guessing that the birds have moved up to a hedge a bit nearer our home. 

Easter in our part of Suffolk was pretty chilly this year. We had bits of sunshine (followed by a snowstorm two days ago), but the weather has been cold and blustery at times. Despite the fluctuating temperatures, we have been enjoying the spring bulbs and the bee-flies. I haven't seen a butterfly for days, but we have had some welcome colour in the garden ... such as these tulips. 

I think this is a Brown carder bee on the Dandelion.

Good to see (four) more 7-spot ladybirds

I couldn't resist showing a photo of this beautiful (and delicious) Easter gift in the form of a ginger biscuit sheep!

One of several Bee-flies

I wonder how long it will be before the next butterfly appears ... The chart below shows my sightings (or lack of them) for January, February and March 2021. The Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey charts show the highest number of butterflies seen at one time, rather than how many were seen in total.

 

First Butterfly Sighting and Other Insects in the Garden

 

At long last, the day finally arrived! I saw my first butterfly of the year, a smart male Brimstone, gracing our garden yesterday. 

But there were other sights to catch my attention as I took a careful look around this morning. One of these was the bee you see in the photo above and in the photo below. 

 

I watched as the bee squeezed herself in and out of the curled leaf. I know little about bees, but I am guessing she was a queen bumblebee, and that she had passed the winter hibernating in the patch of leaf litter. I spent several minutes watching her.

Something else 'bee-like' stopped me in my tracks. It was what I think may be a Red-mason bee, though, as ever, please correct me by leaving a comment. 

As you can see in the photo above, this little bee was soon joined by a much more ferocious-looking insect (is it a wasp or a wasp-mimic?). I waited to see what would happen next, and after just a few short seconds, the bee took off.

It seems to have been a good day for bees here. Look at the golden pollen in this Honeybee's 'saddlebags'! 

I have not been able to identify the fly in the  photo above yet, but wonder if it is a Soldier Fly. Update: it's hard to see what lies under the wings, but I'm wondering if this is more likely to be Meliscaeva auricollis.

Let's have a brief 'insect interlude' to make way for the cheering sight of this blossom. I love seeing the colourful flowers once again.

But, of course, it's not just the plants that bring colour. The photos below show the distinctive reds and oranges of our 7-spot Ladybirds. The one in the next photo has an unusual mark on its elytra. There are certainly two, and probably three, 7-spots in the second picture, along with a Pine Ladybird. 

I was delighted to discover more Violets in the garden this morning. And finally, what a joy it was to see the Brimstone, even if I was unable to take its photograph. I saw the one below in 2019. 

I see I have almost completed a year of the Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey. Having failed to spot any butterflies in January and February a year ago, I began to log my sightings at end of March 2020.

Garden Butterfly Survey - November 2020

 

Those following this blog will know that I have been taking part in the Butterfly Conservation Garden Butterfly Survey this year. There is one month to go and I am not really expecting to see any butterflies in it, but who knows what December may bring.

As you can see, the only butterfly I noted in November was a Peacock. Like the Holly Blue, the Large White and the Small White, this species showed up here in a total of six different months. For this survey, the number you record refers to the total number seen at a time, rather than the total number per se.
 

UPDATE, 16 January 2021

Not surprisingly, there were no butterfly sightings to report for December 2020.

Garden Butterfly Survey results for September 2020

 

20 September 2020, Peacock butterfly in our Suffolk garden

 

 

 

Regular readers of this blog will know that I have been taking part in the Garden Butterfly Survey this year, organised by Butterfly Conservation. Each month I post my sightings. For the purposes of this survey, these represent the highest number of a particular species seen at a time, rather than the total count of that species. 

 

Eight different species were seen, including the Brown Argus, a new butterfly species for the garden this year. Sadly though I failed to see a Small Tortoiseshell here all summer, and I read on the results of the Butterfly Conservation Big Butterfly Count 2020 that records for this beautiful species were down generally by a massive 41%. The weather is currently much cooler, and I wonder how many more 2020 garden sightings I will have...

Garden Butterflies in August and a Brown Argus to kickstart September

This post was due to record butterflies seen in August for my Garden Butterfly Survey for Butterfly Conservation, and indeed it will. But I couldn't resist starting with these photos of a Brown Argus who alighted on the long grass this afternoon and stayed in a small patch for quite a while.

We had seen a couple of this species earlier in the summer here in the garden for the first time, but that was a good many weeks ago. My photos are not brilliant, but you can probably make out the prominent dark spot in the centre of the forewings, one of the features that distinguishes this butterfly from the female Common Blue; the thin abdomen (indicative of a male) being another.

And now back to August. As usual in these monthly charts, the figure recorded represents the highest number of a species seen at one time, rather than the total number. 

Looking back over these charts, I am amazed at the Gatekeeper figures, but during the heatwave we sat out for good long spells and they just kept coming. Their season seems to be over now. Sadly we have had not seen any Small Tortoiseshells in the garden (perhaps as a result of our nettle patch which was failing to thrive). We rarely see Painted Ladies here, but thus far my count for this species is nil.

Readers of this blog will know that, with the exception of a single go at preparing a winding path for my lockdown exercise back in March, we have refrained from mowing this year. The photo below, taken three hours ago, shows part of the garden, including the grassy triangle in which we noticed the Brown Argus. 

I wonder what other butterflies will appear in September...