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Welcome to Daves Moth and Butterfly World -
Weekly Report - June 2009

Welcome to Dave McCormick's Moth and Butterfly World. Here is our weekly reports on what I have seen every week when I have been out and about. This report is for June 2009.

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June 2009

Weather Average for June 2009 in UK

Rainfall totals were widely between 40 to 60mm, with a maximum of 78.1mm in Cardiff. Surface flooding affected a number of areas.

On the 10th heavy, slow-moving thundery downpours affected parts of Wales, West Midlands and South Yorkshire. Flash flooding was reported from a number of locations.

There were also slow-moving storms across southern Scotland and Northern Ireland over the weekend of the 13 and 14th, with golf-ball-sized hailstones reported at Leuchars (Fife) on 13th.

These storms moved into England and Wales on the 15th. Surface flooding was reported from a number of locations across the country. Up to 30 mm of rain was reported to have fallen in 30 minutes in the St Helens area.

Heavy storms were also reported in north-west England, South Yorkshire, Norfolk, Devon and Cornwall.

Hot weather triggered some severe storms between the 25th and 30th. The main area affected was from just north of London, through the Midlands and into north-west England.

Although the storms were scattered, some were severe with 20-40mm of rain reported in some areas in just a few hours.

Some funnel clouds were reported on the 26th, and marble-sized hailstones in Essex on 27th.

Localised flash flooding was reported from a number of areas on all six days between 25th and 30th June and a number of people were treated for lightning strikes.

Towards the end of the month, weather watches for heat were issued for parts of England and Wales, as daytime temperatures were expected to exceed 30C and night-time temperatures were forecast to remain relatively high.

This was the first warning of its kind since 2006.

30C was exceeded in parts of south-east England on the 29th and 30th.

Report

Gallery of Photos Taken this Month

Common Blues
Commn Blue (Polyommatus icarus). This is a female common blue and a male that happened to fly past and land beside male. Taken using my tripod. After this, 4 more males came and they all flew away. Taken on 16/06/09
Strangford Lough
Strangford Lough looking towards forest at Mountstewart. Taken on 23/06/09
Strangford Lough
Strangford Lough, looking towards Scrabo Tower. Taken on 23/06/09
Strangford Lough
Another view of Strangford Lough. Taken on 23/06/09
Buff Ermine
Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) - I put my headset on to listen to music on computer and this flew off, must have came in through window behind me. Taken on 25/06/09
 
Here is a gallery of some photos I took this month.
(Click on thumbnail to see it full size. Be patient, might take a little while to load.)

I have not had much chance to update in a while, but June has been productive month so far.

Saw the first wave of Painted Ladies that people had been seeing in England. They arrived in  and would not stop. Saw 70 or more the next day in Mountstewart and more after that (Map reference: J556699).  Saw these on 9th

Saw loads in various places even an Industrial estate about 12 miles from my house on 9th as well as lots of small and large whites there too (images coming soon) and one Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria)

14th: I found a Mottled Beauty (see link) for information and image of moth on this date. On 15th I saw a Painted Lady flying pretty fast at the college I go to and coming home, two fighting male Speckled Wood (Pararge aegeria) on the Cossnamuckly Road near Carrowdore, Co Down, Northern Ireland. (Map Reference: J542735)

16th: I found the first common blue butterflies of the year in a meadow/field not far from my house. Saw about 10 or more and several Meadow Brown and Ringlet butterflies.

23rd: I went out to Strangford Lough in Co Down, Northern Ireland. Weather was sunny, around 22C (63 F). Went to Anne's Point and saw many micro moths, a few painted lady (Vanessa cardui) butterflies and many Small White (Pieris rapae) butterflies. Here is an image of where I was:

AnnesPointSign
Anne's Point - National Trust - A winter refuge for sea birds which includes Brent Geese, Curlew and Shelduck

25th:  I found a Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) on the wall inside my house. It must have flown in window, there is a lot of buff ermine in my garden at present (see image in gallery above)

28th: The window was open in one of the rooms in my house, overnight and I found 7 Mottled Beauty (Alcis repandata) moths and one Buff Ermine (Spilosoma luteum) in the house and one Male Drinker Moth (Euthrix potatoria) I have never seen before, or seen species in Mountstewart at all. See this page for images.

Page last edited: 12/09/2009 23:59

(c) David McCormick 2009