December butterflies

Clouded Yellow. Photo: Andrew Cooper

It’s the last month of the year and Christmas is just a matter of weeks away and although December is usually a very uneventful affair when it comes to butterfly sightings, this year we’ve already been surprised!

In the first week (04/12/2016) we have already received a sighting of a Clouded Yellow butterfly from Southbourne Undercliff where it was seen flying briefly in the sunshine despite the cold temperatures and chilly easterly wind.

Mike Gibbons who recorded the superb sighting was also lucky enough to spot a Clouded Yellow just days before on the 30/11/2016 at the same location, leading us to believe both encounters were with the same butterfly.

Clouded Yellows haven’t been the only migrant butterfly to be seen this December with 3 Red Admiral sightings from South Dorset during the same spell of settled and sunny weather that we experienced during the early part of the month.

Red Admiral (Underside). Photo: Rob Blanken

Red Admiral (Underside). Photo: Rob Blanken

With some unseasonably mild weather forecasted this week we encourage you to keep an eye out for winter butterflies tempted out of hibernation and continue to send your sightings to us using our simple Online Recording Form

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