Bug and butterfly shortage

[Malcolm_Stewart]

Earlier in the year, I bought a Sigma 150 f2.8 macro lens, and expected that by June there would be plenty of bugs and flies for me to photograph in the garden, or at the reserve. Apart from a few samples of the green shield bug, I've seen very little in my garden. I've also heard about a shortage of honey bees, and I'm wondering if there's a connection? There were plenty of damsel flies around about a week ago, and the odd dragon fly at the local reserve, but so far, very few butterflies and moths.

[TimF]

Likewise here (not that far from you at MK I think). The reported invasion of Peacock butterflies from Africa seems to have passed this area by. I'd have expected loads of butterflies along the track up to the ridge line, but very few indeed to be seen. It's to be hoped the situation corrects itself soon for sure.

[parisian]

There is very little action here in North Wales Malcolm. The weather has swung so wildly from boiling to very cold indeed that the little devils don't know what has hit them I fear.

[jchrisc]

Likewise here (not that far from you at MK I think). The reported invasion of Peacock butterflies from Africa seems to have passed this area by. I'd have expected loads of butterflies along the track up to the ridge line, but very few indeed to be seen. It's to be hoped the situation corrects itself soon for sure.

I sat in the back garden one day last week and watched a continuous stream of single butterflies, about one every twenty seconds, enter the garden from the south east corner, fly across the garden diagonally and lift over the hedge and away in the north west corner. I'm pretty sure they were Painted Ladies.

[swanseadave]

Likewise here (not that far from you at MK I think). The reported invasion of Peacock butterflies from Africa seems to have passed this area by. I'd have expected loads of butterflies along the track up to the ridge line, but very few indeed to be seen. It's to be hoped the situation corrects itself soon for sure.

I sat in the back garden one day last week and watched a continuous stream of single butterflies, about one every twenty seconds, enter the garden from the south east corner, fly across the garden diagonally and lift over the hedge and away in the north west corner. I'm pretty sure they were Painted Ladies.

According to Springwatch,the UK will be overrun with Painted Ladies this year.Something to do with their breeding here instead of Africa.
Cheers Dave

[Malcolm_Stewart]

It's not all bad news.
My most recent visit to the reserve (Hanson Env. Centre / Little Linford Lakes to the north of Milton Keynes) was rewarded with a feast of a variety of birds, mature and young, on the bund - a low lying water isolated area whose size depends inversely on recent rainfalls. No rare waders so the twitchers weren't interested, but in the mid teens of Little Egrets with Canada geese, terns, lapwings etc. There's also lagoon and wild planted areas at the reserve, and it's here that in previous years I've seen the dragon flies and varieties of damsel flies and bugs.

Of course, on this last visit I'd left my camera and long lenses at home. And today, after the heavy rain overnight, I expect the bund to have perhaps halved in area.

[AGW]

We are overrun by painted ladies up here...I saw hunderds at a cliff site just south of Ayr last week. They are all fairly tatty and obviously well travelled. They are all laying so we should have a hatch of fresh ones late summer. Everything else apart form the blues seems to as abundant as usual...large heaths have just hatched....

Graeme

[velocette]

We had a really great hatch of dragonflies (Chaser's) the last week in May from a small pond at the bottom of the garden but nothing from the 'big' pond yet. The Chasers's, around ten of them hatched over a one week period and for the first time in years, ever probably I managed to get some passable shots. So it could be a good year for wrigley's and those with macro lenses. Hopefully.

[Malcolm_Stewart]

They've got to start somewhere, but pity it wasn't a few years ago...

RSPB survey of other than birds

...and I do wonder about the significance of any survey of this nature. I find it difficult getting me, a trained scientist/engineer, to ensure that my observations are meaningful and repeatable.