Mild winter butterflies

[gordon.ramel]

Friday was exceptional down here in Devon as well
" Red Admirals, 2 Commas and 1 Brimestone  as well as 12 Eristalis tenax (Drone
flies) 1 Episyrphus balteatus and numerous Bombus terrestris  temperatures only
reached 16 in the weather station but the Manor House Garden where the action
was is a sun trap and probably reached 20 in the sun.

 Yours Gratefully Gordon

        <G.J.L.Ramel at exeter.ac.uk or Gordon.Ramel at bbsrc.ac.uk>
        < http://www.ex.ac.uk/~gjlramel/welcome.html>
        < Phone work = +44 (0)1837 82558 ext. 173>
        < Fax work = +44 (0)1837 82139>
        < c/of I.G.E.R. North Wyke, Devon, England.  EX20 2SB.> 
                  
                  Children are the guardians of the future,  
     knowledge should neither be inflicted on, nor withheld from them.   

                 "felix qui potuit rerum cognoscere causas"  

Talking of mild winters, last Friday (Feb 13th) temperatures reached 18.9c at
Marshalls Heath, and up to 19.6c at other locations in southeast England. 
After
getting one or two phone calls and seeing 2 Brimstones at the window, I went
and
walked the Marshalls Heath transect to see what turned up.  The total was 7
Brimstones (Gonepteryx rhamni) and 1 Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) in 33
minutes.