On 20 April I was near the Thames coast close to Coldharbour Point, Rainham, and saw loads of St Marks Flies, at one point so many I felt I was enveloped in them. I was surprised to find them en masse so close to the Thames/sea. Then on 22 April, today, I saw my first Bee Fly of the season in our garden in Upminster. In recent days there have been loads of butterflies, especially Peacock butterflies, and Queen wasps, and even a few Honey bees. They all seem to be bursting out (or hatching?) all at once. Has anyone else noticed this? Is it because of the sudden warmer weather?
Your Forum
This forum has now been more or less replaced by the Club's Facebook page at 
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more
The weblog below is for naturalists to use to report interesting sightings, ask questions, report on field meetings and generally post pictures and any information or questions generally relevant in some way to the wildlife and geology of Essex. You will need to register and be logged-on to post to the forum, and you need to upload pictures first, for use in posts. Find out more