Some Butterflies at last

[JoulesH]

Like Jenny W we've had a great year here in Leics, the best that I can recall. Good holly blue, orange tip and brimstones in the spring, then the painted lady migration early on and lots of small coppers. Then the meadow browns, gatekeepers and ringlets in the hay meadows and plenty of skippers and whites. I've also seen more common blues than usual and my first brown argus on the farm. Masses of small tortoiseshells, commas, peacocks and speckled woods, red admirals, late painted ladies, brimstones again, but no late holly blues. I've never seen so many caterpillars in the nettles.

[ron1863]

A good year in Central Scotland for Whites, Ringlets, Peacocks and Painted Ladies. Very few Red Admirals and Small Tortoiseshells.

[aeshna5]

Originally Posted by JoulesH

Like Jenny W we've had a great year here in Leics, the best that I can recall. Good holly blue, orange tip and brimstones in the spring, then the painted lady migration early on and lots of small coppers. Then the meadow browns, gatekeepers and ringlets in the hay meadows and plenty of skippers and whites. I've also seen more common blues than usual and my first brown argus on the farm. Masses of small tortoiseshells, commas, peacocks and speckled woods, red admirals, late painted ladies, brimstones again, but no late holly blues. I've never seen so many caterpillars in the nettles.

Good year here too around London, but like you I've noticed a near total collapse in the second brood of Holly Blues after several strong seasons. I suspect this is due to it's parasitoid wasp, as Holly Blue numbers are known to have cyclic fluctuations with this wasp.

[Pete Collins]

I'm noticing large numbers of Speckled Woods at the moment.

Further to my previous post, Red Admirals have still been few and far between.

[harasseddad]

Here in Norfolk the most noticiable increase has been in the hairstreaks: new sites reported for green, purple and white-letter. Purple especially numerous this year. Until last week red admiral was scarce, but the most recent emergence has produced good numbers.
Small torts are slowly recovering from their crash two years ago, peacocks seem slightly down, commas are up. Ringlet seem down from last year, but since that was their best for decades ity's hardly surprising. White admiral continue to spread and now cover the whole of the north norfolk coast. Dark green fritillary are stable. Swallowtail numbers were down in first brood - reflecting the dismal summer last year, but the second brood was better, so I'm not anxious about next year (unless we have a major flooding incident of course).
All in all a good year.