6
SOME OBSERVATIONS
On the 10th January, whilst walking along the seawall near Bradwell Waterside, with a
cold northerly wind with a bit of sunshine, my dad and 1 were told by a lady that moments
before there was a Small tortoiseshell frequenting the seawall. I was quite surprised to
hear about this butterfly so early in the year, but then again about this time last year there
was a lot of ice on the Blackwater estuary and a couple of inches of snow on the seawall!
Before I was told about the butterfly my dad and I had seen 20+ Red-throated diver, 3 Gt.
Northern diver and 40 Eider, which gave more of a wintery feel to the day. The next
butterfly was a Small tortoiseshell seen by my dad at Boreham Pits on the 10th February.
It took me another 8 days before I got my first butterfly of the year, which was again a
Small tortoiseshell at Blake's Wood, Danbury.
On the 14th March my dad and I observed two male and one female Brimstone butterfly
along with three Small tortoiseshell all in the Chignal Smealy area. This was put into
context when an EWT warden told me he had seen 14 Brimstone butterflies at the
Backwarden on the 14th March. On the 22nd Chris Harris and I saw a quite early male
Holly Blue at Bradwell. Also in the area on the same day were three Small tortoiseshell
and one Peacock butterfly. By the 28th March at Bradwell the Small tortoiseshell
numbers had increased to 14 and there were now two Peacock butterflies around.
April started with good numbers of Brimstone, Peacock and Small tortoiseshell
butterflies. On the 3rd April the weather turned wet and cold with brief hail storms, but
during the afternoon the sun came out and so did my first Red admiral of the year at
Melbourne Wood. I observed five Red admirals at Bradwell on the 5th April, with quite a
few Small tortoiseshell butterflies, Peacock and Holly blue butterflies present. I saw over
four Small white butterflies frequenting the grassland at Admirals Park on the 7th April
together with a few Brimstone and Small tortoiseshell butterflies. The 8th April saw
mostly overcast skies with outbursts of rain and brief sunshine. All this rain didn't stop a
single Grren-veined white from taking advantage of the brief sunny spell in my garden.
The 10th April was witness to very variable weather, one minute it was raining, the next it
was sunny. At Bradwell in the brief sunny intervals, I observed a single Orange-tip
butterfly along with a few Small tortoiseshell, Holly blue, Peacock, Green-veined white
and Red admiral butterflies.
Essex Field Club Newsletter No. 26, August 1998