Rainy days and butterflies

A mixed tit flock has been visiting the garden this past couple of days, the first proper one of the Winter. The fat balls have enticed the long-tailed tits out of the sycamore trees and they've been spending the sunny spells asserting a monopoly on the feeder in the blackcurrant bushes. The great tits, blue tits and at least one coal tit have been splitting their time between the different feeding stations depending on how crowded with house sparrows and/or the squirrel they are. The dunnocks are showing themselves again and spend most of their time fussing about on the garden chair. The impulse to investigate is tempered by the concern that I might not want to find out. 

Then come the showers and all they disappear into cover. If it's a light shower the spadgers hop up into the higher reaches of the rambling rose for a quick bath. There haven't been a right lot of light showers today. The thunderstorms (plural) put me off going for a walk.

Butterflies

The weather reminded me of last year's Summer, which in turn reminded me that Butterfly Conservation had announced the results of The Big Butterfly Count for this year. Unsurprisingly the results are markedly better than last year, which was a shocker. I'm also not at all surprised that large whites had their best year in the survey, they've accounted for over 60% of my sightings this year, last year it was just over half and the years before that about 40%. Speckled woods are the butterflies I see next most often (not least because they're a fixture in my back garden from April to October) and this year has been no exception. It's also difficult to walk down any woodland path or ride without bumping into some of them. The holly blues are fixtures in the back garden, too, but a lot less conspicuous than the speckled woods as they don't have their combative nature. I don't see them nearly often enough elsewhere.

Large white, Wellacre Country Park 

I had a bad year for small tortoiseshells last year and this year was looking like a repeat performance up to mid-August when they started showing up in any sort of numbers. Commas and red admirals were slow burners, too, with red admirals exploding in numbers in August. Peacocks, on the other hand, were almost ubiquitous up to the end of July then dwindled. Its been a good year for painted ladies, too.

Painted lady, Grange-over-sands 

For me orange tips and brimstones are butterflies of Spring and meadow browns, ringlets and gatekeepers high Summer. The pattern's persisted this year though ringlets have been few and far between.

Back in the days when there was "waste" ground aplenty and the Trafford Centre was dairy pasture I used to see lots of small coppers and green-veined whites locally. I have to go further afield these days and don't see so many even then.

I don't know if it's been a bad year for skippers or if I've just not had my eyes open. Perhaps I just timed my walks through meadow lands badly this year.