Spring Butterflies.

This year lots of butterflies emerged weeks later than they normally do due to the spring having the coldest start for a half century, the month of March was the second coldest since records began, with snow on the ground in some areas into April.

 Grizzled Skipper Butterfly Conservation  

The typical delay for the emergence of rare spring butterflies was of two weeks, beyond the typical was the case of the Grizzled Skipper which emerged four weeks later than last year.

Duke of Burgundy Marc Heath  

This beautiful butterfly the Duke of Burgundy didn't emerge until late April, about three weeks later than last year, the Wood White which was first seen on 10 April in 2012 wasn't seen until almost a month later this year. But the late spring wasn't necessarily a bad thing for the butterflies as the host plants they rely upon will also have been delayed.

Last year was a complete washout for UK butterflies and the worst year on record for them, the majority of species having suffered declines. As I see it, and according to the forecast I just saw, things don't appear to be going to get any better, the weather needs to improve drastically, the butterflies need to be flying, mating, and laying eggs, a successful breeding season is needed to start to rebuild their populations.

Conder Green. Peter Guy. 

I found a good excuse to post this excellent photograph of the creeks at Conder Green, host to many a good bird in the past and I'm always on the lookout for the next one. The excuse being, the red building on the right is River Winds, often mentioned on Birds2blog usually referring to the House Martins which nest here every year, and which I mentioned in a recent post to record up to around ten birds having returned here once again. 

Temminck's Stint. Conder Pool. Copy Permitted.

And by the way....The Temminck's Stint turned up on Conder Pool again yesterday at 6.12pm but not seen since.

Thanks to Butterfly Conservation, Marc Heath, Peter Guy, and Copy Permitted for these excellent images. 

Please 'clik the pik' if you want to see them as they really should be seen.