First Butterflies 2022 (1 Viewer)

[honeym]

Now up to 6 species seen this year with the addition of Small Tortoiseshell and Holy Blue todat at the London Wetland Centre, Barnes.

 

[dantheman]

Had a bit of an odd one in the back garden today - a white but with an apparent pale-blueish cast.

Small Tortoiseshell in the garden too, and Comma and Red Admiral elsewhere.

 

[earthdragon64]

Finally saw my first butterfly of the year yesterday, a Peacock. Quite often it's into April up here before I see any.

 

[Owene]

My first Small Whites of the year today very flighty. as well as more tortoiseshell, brimstone, red admiral and comma.

 

[aeshna5]

My 8th species for the year this afternoon as I spotted a male Orange Tip close to my slowly moving train near Hounslow Heath.

 

[David_]

Saw my first orange-tip of the year on Tuesday, today another one. Surprisingly both females, can't remember ever seeing females before (probably misidentified as Small Whites before as I didn't pay a lot of attention to butterflies in the past).
After seeing a Large Tortoiseshell last weekend I'm at 6 species for the year (not counting the potential Small Tortoiseshell mentioned earlier in this thread).
Expect to see Speckled Wood and Holly Blue at the weekend as they are already reported in the area

 

[dantheman]

Now up to 6 species seen this year with the addition of Small Tortoiseshell and Holy Blue todat at the London Wetland Centre, Barnes.

Out and about, religiously recording all the butterflies you see ...

 

[dantheman]

Nothing new, but plenty of Commas and Small Tortoiseshells today, with 1 Red Admiral and 2 Peacock. No whites, blues or speckleds ...

 

[Owene]

Saw my first orange-tip of the year on Tuesday, today another one. Surprisingly both females, can't remember ever seeing females before (probably misidentified as Small Whites before as I didn't pay a lot of attention to butterflies in the past).
After seeing a Large Tortoiseshell last weekend I'm at 6 species for the year (not counting the potential Small Tortoiseshell mentioned earlier in this thread).
Expect to see Speckled Wood and Holly Blue at the weekend as they are already reported in the area

Yeah I was at a good orange tip site today. My 3 whites could well have been Orange tip if they’d stayed still enough to really check.

 

[David_]

Didn’t even need to go anywhere to see Holly Blue. I just saw 3 of them during my lunch break

 

[Xenospiza]

Didn’t even need to go anywhere to see Holly Blue. I just saw 3 of them during my lunch break

I also saw a Holly Blue, my earliest ever by five days.

(My earliest Orange Tip around here is on 5 April and Speckled Wood a week later – the chilly Münsterland versus the warm Rhine valley...)

 

[Xenospiza]

So I cycled to the Rhine and managed to see Orange Tip, Green-veined White and Speckled Wood!

 

[David_]

Had a long day at the Rieselfelder Münster. 2 Large Tortoiseshells, a couple of Peacocks and Brinstones. No new butterfly species for the year but my first odonata of the year: Common Winter Damselfly (which is also a lifer)

 

[Owene]

My first Holly Blue of the year this morning, also Small Tortoiseshell, peacock, Small White and Brimstone

 

[earthdragon64]

My first Small Tortoiseshell of the year in the garden today.

 

[David_]

Didn't manage to see Speckled Wood but what I initially thought to be my first Small White of the year turned out to be my first Wood White (or at least I think it is) when it finally landed.

 

[Xenospiza]

Didn't manage to see Speckled Wood but what I initially thought to be my first Small White of the year turned out to be my first Wood White (or at least I think it is) when it finally landed.

View attachment 1436548

I think it's a Green-veined White. They were out in full force yesterday.
Wood White never sits with its wings open; the wings are also too broad for Wood White. It is very restricted in NRW (mostly Eifel and Höxter: I have only seen it near Nettersheim and further south in RP/Hessen; they are most reliable near Maastricht).

Congrats on finding Common Winter Damselfly: a hard one to find although it is quite widespread!

 

[David_]

think it's a Green-veined White. They were out in full force yesterday.
Wood White never sits with its wings open; the wings are also too broad for Wood White. It is very restricted in NRW (mostly Eifel and Höxter: I have only seen it near Nettersheim and further south in RP/Hessen; they are most reliable near Maastricht).

Thanks for correcting my ID. The open wings was what made me skeptical of Wood White. But shouldn’t Green-veined White show at least some dark marks? Also it was a bit smaller than I remember Green- veined (don’t know if that would have made Wood White more likely). Also thanks for pointing me where to find Wood Whites.

Common Winter Damselfly

That was pure luck. I had just found the Spotted Crake (also a lifer) reported earlier that day and waited for it to come back out of the reeds when two mating Winter Damselfly’s landed right in the view of my bins. Two lifers in 5 Minutes 😀

 

[Xenospiza]

Thanks for correcting my ID. The open wings was what made me skeptical of Wood White. But shouldn’t Green-veined White show at least some dark marks? Also it was a bit smaller than I remember Green- veined (don’t know if that would have made Wood White more likely). Also thanks for pointing me where to find Wood Whites.

Any white should show some black, so it is more intriguing than I thought at first.
Unfortunately I already deleted my bad pictures from Saturday that might have been helpful to show that photographs can lie!

 

[David_]

Any white should show some black, so it is more intriguing than I thought at first.

The very few images of Wood Whites with open wings showed the least black so that‘s why I thought it could be Wood White. But I wasn’t aware of the limited distribution in wider area.

I saw it on my way nach from the unsuccessful attempt to see my first Sand Lizard of the year. As a compensation I just used some free time because of a canceled meeting to cycle to the botanical garden here in Düsseldorf to see my first Wall Lizards of the year. Wasn‘t aware how easy they are to spot here.