Butterflies in 2018

MrNoo

Member
Arable Farmer
Location
Cirencester
Spraying off the OSR and they're everywhere, lovely to see, swallows still building nests as they were in a large group taking away damp soil and bits of straw/grass/moss where I fill the sprayer up, clean water, so opened the tap up so it should last them a while.
Hedgehog in the garden is doing well, suspect there maybe more than one by the amount of food it's consuming every eve, water out for him too.
Only seen one brood of partridge, no pheasant and no English yet but hope we will see them once we start getting the crops off.
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
Plenty of six-spot burnet moths, some high octane commas ~ wouldn't've identified them had not one pitched on a leaf, tortoiseshells, red admirals, small skippers, more meadow browns ~ I always forget the females have browny-orange rims to their wings and think they're another species.

Yet to see a peacock at home. The buddleia is finally in flower, so they'll be around soon, and stay to use the ivy flowers.
Soon be time for marbled whites.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
136840BE-ACC5-4D75-8E2E-46182065951E.jpeg
Yet to see a peacock at home. The buddleia is finally in flower

Dozens here
 

The Agrarian

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Northern Ireland
Going by the list of butterflies @Princess Pooper speaks of, I must be walking about with my eyes shut. And I really regret that, as I love nature. It's the busy-ness disease.

The only ones I recognise as common here are red admirals and cabbage white. But my eye was drawn this week when doing a spot of fencing to a bunch of interesting caterpillars on ragwort. Google tells me it's the cinnibar moth. I don't recall having ever seen the pattern.
 

DaveB

Member
Location
Worcs
Always lots of cinnabar moths and their caterpillars here. At the end of April there were lots of these caterpillars about feeding on Comfrey. I didn't
recognise them, but a quick Google revealed that they are the larvae of the Scarlet Tiger moth. The moths should be around soon.

IMG_20180425_105141 (1309 x 982).jpg
 

Bald Rick

Moderator
Livestock Farmer
Location
Anglesey
Loads here, I am sure the collective noun for butterflies is not "loads" though! I vote for "flutterby" of butterfly! I left the bathroom light on and the window open yesterday and could hardly fight my way into the room for the whisper of moths!

Nope, don't have a kaleidoscope, swarm, rainbow or rabble of butterflies here. Neither numbers or variety.

Got a few flying ants in the house but I suspect they don't count
 

DaveB

Member
Location
Worcs
Many things have changed, I remember, growing up in an unheated house in the country in the 50s and 60s there were always butterflies hibernating in the house. Old fashioned beds, iron framed, were a certain place to find Small Tortoiseshell and others hanging upside down on the underside of the mattresses. These ideal, cool but dry environments have all but disappeared with modern life.
 

Kidds

Member
Horticulture
Many things have changed, I remember, growing up in an unheated house in the country in the 50s and 60s there were always butterflies hibernating in the house. Old fashioned beds, iron framed, were a certain place to find Small Tortoiseshell and others hanging upside down on the underside of the mattresses. These ideal, cool but dry environments have all but disappeared with modern life.
Erm.... they are still here. Maybe modern life hasn't caught up with me yet.
 
Location
East Mids
Many things have changed, I remember, growing up in an unheated house in the country in the 50s and 60s there were always butterflies hibernating in the house. Old fashioned beds, iron framed, were a certain place to find Small Tortoiseshell and others hanging upside down on the underside of the mattresses. These ideal, cool but dry environments have all but disappeared with modern life.
we still get plenty, cold largely unheated farmhouse with a not overly houseproud keeper! :rolleyes: We even have one iron framed bedstead!
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
we still get plenty, cold largely unheated farmhouse with a not overly houseproud keeper! :rolleyes: We even have one iron framed bedstead!

There's something to be said for being steward of an agrihovel ~ and it's reassuring to discover others.

Currently experiencing caterpillar confusion: there's a goodly flutter of six-spot burnet moths, and also their dangerous looking yellow and black striped caterpillars which are guzzling marsh ragwort as though there'll be no tomorrow.

Or so I thought ...
... before looking at photos of six-spot burnet moth caterpillars and realising the pattern on those aren't the same as the ones in field.

The yellow and black caterpillars in the field have stripes that run around the girth of the body ... which makes them caterpillars of cinnabar moths??

How likely is it that both species are present in the same field?
 
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DaveB

Member
Location
Worcs
There's something to be said for being steward of an agrihovel ~ and it's reassuring to discover others.

Currently experiencing caterpillar confusion: there's a goodly flutter of six-spot burnet moths, and also their dangerous looking yellow and black striped caterpillars which are guzzling marsh ragwort as though there'll be no tomorrow.

Or so I thought ...

... before looking at photos of six-spot burnet moth caterpillars and realising the pattern on those aren't the same as the ones in field.

The yellow and black caterpillars in the field have stripes that run around the girth of the body ... which makes them caterpillars of cinnabar moths??
How likely is it that both species are present in the same field?

The black and yellow banded caterpillars are definitely cinnabar moth, ragwort is their favorite food plant, but they may commonly found on Groundsel as well, the moths are similar to Burnets at a glance but easily distinguished side by side. Quite likely to find them in the same field.
 

primmiemoo

Member
Location
Devon
In the last week, there has been an emergence of holly blues, peacocks, and marbled whites.
All fresh and pristine ~ every colour vibrant, not a single scale out of place.

Brimstones seem more plentiful than last year. There are two that appear to maintain territories of about 40 yards each along a particular stretch of Devon hedge which I see every day, and I'm beginning to think that many of the hedges are similarly graced with others.
 

SFI - What % were you taking out of production?

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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