OT: Where are this years butterflies?

In message <v6r2np$30aab$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me, The Natural Philosopher snipped-for-privacy@invalid.invalid writes

Few Cabbage Whites in the veg. garden here. Otherwise pretty quiet.

I have finally stopped picking Box Moth larvae off their favourite bush!

You've still got box? We gave up a few years ago, we only had two in pots by the back door, they are now yews.

The shortage of butterflies is being blamed on the wet spring. I did see a Large White yesterday, and there have been a few small blues around in the last month or so. Not many insects generally, though there has been little change in the local habitat for decades.

In message snipped-for-privacy@jrenewsid.jretrading.com>, Joe snipped-for-privacy@jretrading.com writes

The miniature Box hedge was blighted last year. Now gone. This is an isolated bush with larger leaves.

No honey bees now. Nothing showed the least interest in pollinating my strawberries but the earlies cropped ok. Later variety are badly shaped but edible.

My boxes are thriving!

I weed them and give them fish blood and bone twice a year. They cant take droughtm that's all

Strawbs? Even local ones seem to last only a day at home before developing skin blemishes. Don't recall that happening last year. Meanwhile a farm down the road is selling very tasty cherries at £3 for 500g.

Friends of mine on the Shropshire/welsh border have 3 hives in their garden. All thriving and the bees are very active. two of the hives have been populated this year from two swarms from the first hive.

This wasn't the case during the cool, wet spring months when bees had to be fed sugar syrup or fondant for a very much longer period than expected.

Here in Suffolk we seem to have a reasonable number of butterflies around though they're not really as abundant as they were last year. Just today while I was wandering around our fields (pulling ragwort) there seemed quite a few meadow browns and similar butterflies. Our Buddleias don't seem to be attracting many at the moment though.

My Grandfather kept bees. My job was to wind the extractor handle to gather the honey. Lot of effort for not a huge saleable reward. The family originated in Herefordshire and all seemed to have some connection with gardening. His brother was head gardener at Walton Hall, Warwickshire. If you want to see giant Redwoods outside California, look at the two Wellingtonias he planted either side of the main entrance.

They've got a couple of thousand years to go then :-)

Not only butterflies, although we did see a couple of cabbage whites & a cinnabar moth in the hot spell, but having to travel some 20 miles early one evening not a single splat on the windscreen. Used to be so bad that the wipers couldn't cope & you would have to stop & clean it manually.

Our bird bath attracted a few bees during the hot spell. In previous years, once they know where it is they will often chase after it when I move it to change the water.

Not seen any cinnabars last couple of years, but I don't seem to have much ragwort lately ...

I couldn't get any photos out of that site. Technology deficiency?

He very sensibly married the cook:-) He was buried in the garden there.

I have plenty. Free to considerate harvesters.

Scads of the stuff on the central reservations travelling round London recently. How come an agriculturally notifiable weed can be ignored by Highways?

Yes, there does seem to be a lot of ragwort this year.

I see he had the sense to put them far enough apart. When I first saw the pair on the A470 at Pont y Pant in the LLedr valley you could still see the remains of a gateway between them!

I've seen a few butterflies, but not as many as usual. They like hot sunny weather which has been in short supply.

I too recall cleaning windscreens years ago. Windscreens which were near as ***** vertical, and not at all designed to allow the air to flow smoothly over the vehicle - bugs and all.

It might be interesting to ask in a vintage car group.

Andy

Not heard a cuckoo for some years, but twice this year. Have to be careful with the identification because the wood pigeons do a passable imitation.

Despite living in the country most of my life I have only ever seen a spotted woodpecker once & that was one attracted to a bird table down by Ross-on-Wye & we spent a fascinating 5 minutes watching a pair of green woodpeckers grubbing in the grass, possibly feasting on ants, at Blue Anchor in Somerset.

our local Green Woodpecker seems to like our peanut feeder which is really there for the smaller birds.

I think I heard one or two.

Greens are fairly frequent garden visitors and greater spotted wander in from the woods nearby now and then, I have seen a lesser once or twice, but they are 'rara avis'...