I received a couple of late January 2022 sightings recently including a Small Tortoiseshell flying through the Melbourne garden of Richard Winspear on the 30th of the month together with a surprising Small White which appeared on the kitchen window of Anita Moore’s house in Calow, Chesterfield on the same day (see attached photo). This month has already produced a couple of butterfly sightings in the County with a pristine Comma seen on the 1st of February 2022 in the Aston garden of Marilyn Horner and a Red Admiral seen on the 3rd of February 2022 at a garden in Sawley (Roger Martin).
February can often be the coldest month of the year but better days are on the horizon as in recent years the middle of March usually stirs many butterflies out of hibernation and the humble dandelion becomes an important nectar plant for them as well as the first of the Spring butterflies that emerge from chrysalis form, such as those species that were photographed in past years and which were seen mainly on dandelions (see the attached photos).
Finally if you think that a visit to Scotland is a long trip to see and photograph the Chequered Skipper then hope is now available. A project to re-introduce the species into its former habitats in the Midlands was commenced by Butterfly Conservation and Forestry England back in 2018 and now Butterfly Conservation has revealed the location of the site in Northants – see the link below:-
