The First Brimstone

Brimstone Gonepteryx ramni (21/09/2008)

Amazingly, only an hour or so after writing the previous post, in which I was looking forward, more in hope than expectation to the first butterfly of the year, I came across a beautiful male Brimstone in a little patch of sunlight at the edge of a forest clearing near Wendover. I was surprised to see a butterfly as the day did not feel that warm, in fact the temperature reading in my car on the way home only read 9 degrees Celsius. What an nice surprise!

Early Butterfies

Small Tortoiseshell Aglais urticae

I'm getting fed up with winter now and eagerly looking forward to Spring. The air smells different, the woods are full of birdsong, daffodils, crocuses and aconites are in bloom and surely it's only a matter of time before I see the first Brimstone.

To look forward you sometimes need to look back, so here are a few Butterfly photos taken over the last few years, although obviously not all in Spring. It is possible to see all these beauties in March if the weather is warm enough.

Brimstone Gonepterx rhamni

Orange-tip Anthocharis cardamines

Comma Polygonia c-album

Red Admiral Vanessa atalanta

Incombe Hole

September has flown by and summer is slipping into Autumn. A music festival in Dorset and then a holiday in Norfolk has left me little time to get out and about locally and of course the penalty for taking time off when you are self-employed is that there is always a mountain of work to catch up with. Things have calmed down now and on Saturday morning I decided to head for the hills and spend a couple of hours at Incombe Hole, a narrow, steep-sided valley just south of Ivinghoe Beacon. The trees and scrub at the bottom of the Hole are excellent for migrant passerines and I was spurred on by the news that a friend had found a Firecrest in the area earlier that morning. It was a windy morning but in the relative calm of the valley it was obvious that there was a lot of activity. Blackcaps gorged themselves on Elderberries and several Chiffchaffs flitted restlessly through the bushes, a large flock of Mistle Thrushes burst angriliy from the trees and a Raven kronked lazily overhead, but there was no sign of the Firecrest. Birding was curtailed for a while, when a noisy group of people climbed down the slope and milled about at the bottom for a while, before realising that they couldn't think of anything to do and then climbed noisily back up again. I occupied myself for a while with the late Summer butterflies that had been encouraged out by the warm weather. Speckled Woods danced in the morning sun, a very faded and ragged Common Blue basked on a patch of bare earth, a few Small Heaths flitted about and this beautiful fresh Brimstone Gonepteryx ramni perched for a while on a Clustered Bellflower Campanula glomerata.

Brimstone Gonepteryx ramni (24/09/2011)

Despite the warm weather the seasons are changing and the signs of Autumn are everywhere. The dry chalky slopes are still studded with Clustered Bellflower, Autumn Gentian and Devilsbit Scabious, but the flowers are slowly fading away. The Whitebeam Trees are laden with bright red berries, the Hawthorn bushes are turning brown and a multitude of Mushrooms are exploding through the soil. This pristine Dung-heaped Ink Cap Coprinelluss cinereus, growing from some Sheep droppings, caught my eye. This common mushroom, also known as Grey Shag has a conical white cap, covered in flaky white scales, that gradually turns a smoky grey as it expands.

Dung-heap Ink Cap Coprinelluss cinereus (24/09/2011)

Late Summer Butterflies

Adonis Blue Lysandra bellargus  (Radnage, 21/08/2011)

Silver-spotted Skipper  Hesperia comma (Aston Rowant, 14/08/2011)

Brown Hairstreak Thecla betulae (30/07/2011)

Chalkhill Blue Lysandra coridon (Radnage, 15/08/2011)

Brimstone

The weather was so mild and spring-like last week that I half expected to see my first Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni restlessly wandering the hedgerows. I was so excited to see my first butterfly of the year that I found myself almost willing one into existence, but in the end was disappointed and it was Indra, my wife, who spotted one fluttering along a roadside verge on the 24th of February, as she was driving home from Surrey. Meanwhile I spent the day loitering in a street in Chipping Norton trying to get a decent view of the hopelessly lost Oriental Turtle Dove that has settled in the town and caused such a sensation in the national press. Not my idea of a great birding day out but at least I saw the bird! I have been doing a bit of shameless twitching recently, having also spent a rainy day in picturesque Rainham in order to see the Slaty-backed Gull, a new bird for me. Birding really does take you to the most exotic locations!

Brimstones are always a welcome sight in the spring sunshine and seem to herald the start of the Butterfly season. Brimstones are one of the longest lived butterflies, living for up to thirteen months, although much of this time is spent in hibernation. Adults emerge on warm spring days and busily nectar on yellow flowers such as Cowslip, Primrose and Daffodils. Mating takes place in early spring, after which some individuals can live until July when the next generation appears. It is commonly believed that the Brimstone is the origin of the word "butterfly", a corruption of butter-coloured fly. Brimstones can be frustrating butterflies to photograph as they never sit with their wings open and are always on the move, rarely settling to nectar for long.

Sadly a nagging northeasterly wind has brought with it cold and wet weather, so I doubt I'll see a Brimstone for a while, although I won't stop hoping!

Male Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni, (21/09/2008)