Come on a walk in the woods in search of a rare & beautiful butterfly

[@elliotlane3225]

Please keep these videoes coming. Great to see and to listen to your musings on whatever flies your way

[@muddyboots2531]

Thank you for your wonderful videos.

[@jessegee179]

I could sit here all day watching too 😁

[@cerridwencottagediary9194]

That is exactly what I'm trying to achieve on our land-create areas of mature trees and open glades

[@keithroberts42]

I love these little treks seeking out butterflies. Great video ty

[@gingervirus2988]

Thank you Dave. I’ve been laid up sick for a couple of weeks but your video was a nice way for me to end the day

[@wildlifegardener-tracey6206]

I'm a member Worcester butterfly conservation who have worked tirelessly to achieve these rides with good success.

[@Hagthorn]

Thanks for this, it's great, loved following your walk accompanied by your knowledge - will show it to my dad as he goes out each summer doing butterfly transects. He'll enjoy your channel 🦋💚

[@patrickboyle7067]

Absolutely beautiful butterfly. The lack of native woodland here in Ireland is depressing and the recent Ash dieback all over the country is devastating. Dead ash trees everywhere.

[@greenpaulineuk]

Fabulous, what a beautiful creature and love the knowledge imparted ‘abdomen up’ , so great to learn from you. 🐝💚 🦋 Your amazing footage really shows the importance of our native Ajuga replans / bugle and its ability to find pathways through dense vegetation. It’s no wonder it has the AGM - RHS award of garden merit for pollinators. 💚🤩🐝😍 It creeps through lawn grass easily and is perfect for smaller gardens and is so much quicker than yellow rattle parasitises grass. I don’t have better things to do other than get out from my cabin on Bumblebee currently in Holland looking at wildlife.🇳🇱👍 Thanks again for the video. Thank gawd for all of our UK Trusts. 🦋🐝

[@silvanamarceca170]

thank you for this video...sooo important...I believe that there is hope for saving all these lovely creatures....thank you

[@steve1264f]

Nature can be so beautiful yet so cruel as in that poor spider. Gorgeous butterfly though Dave

[@nickiramsay2421]

Beautiful butterfly, we get Silver-washed Frits near me and I once actually had one in my garden, I was so excited to see it but of course didn’t have my camera any where near me to get a photo at the time.

[@mywildwelshgarden-es3fr]

Great Video. Thank you.

[@suewright1299]

A brilliant video thanks Dave. I found it so very exciting mooching along with you wondering what we were in store for! So sad to hear that conifers had been let to take over allowing so much to be lost. Sad to not be able to see any Snakes, Lizards etc under corregated tin, but that's how it goes. Delightful watching the Brimstone Butterflies, such spring colours with the darker yellow than the females. Poor Spider paralysed but still alive awaiting it's doom! Then the joy of the Pearl Butterfly you had sought out, such beauties and I'm so pleased you were fortunate, as were we! I love to hear you memories and musings as you gently wander along, a delight. I wonder if you could answer a question for my husband and I, we have a lot of Red Mason Bees in one of our hotels, in another hotel we have solitary bees with beautiful yellow under its abdomen, is it another type of Red Mason? Difficult without a photo I know, but I'd be so grateful if you could recommend a really good book on them, I know Stephen Falk has a good one, but couldn't find it on Amazon? Very many thanks on another wonderful walk and the sights seem. Like others commenting, I'd be delighted to have more of your walks! Many thanks indeed Dave.

[@davegoulson6831]

Hi Sue, glad you enjoyed it. Steve Falk 's book is by far the best for bee ID, from memory it is called Field guide to the bees of great Britain & Ireland

[@MultimediaIreland]

It should be called a Crouching Tiger butterfly with that amazing pattern @ 13:22 as it sat down on the Bugle.

[@thebentzenable]

Dave , you need a camera with a little telephoto lens on it, so you can bring us even closer 🪻🪵🕸️🐝🐛🦋🦟🪰 😉

[@davegoulson6831]

Agreed!

[@thebentzenable]

@@davegoulson6831 with your many decades of animal-knowledge, maybe you can get the critters to sit still for a little photoshoot and video 🦋🙏🤗

[@thebentzenable]

What a wonderful walk to follow 🤗

[@julieblackstock8650]

Ahh they have these butterflies in Belfairs Woods in Leigh on Sea.

[@atticbrowser9698]

Your books and videos have been an inspiration. Thank you. I see my garden and the surrounding countryside completely differently thanks to your work.

[@davegoulson6831]

Thank you:)

[@gingervirus2988]

Hi Dave, I’ve seen PB Fritillaries on a couple of occasions in the hangers above Sutton in W Sussex if that’s of any interest

[@TheWoodlandOrchard]

First time I've come across the idea of basking spots. Will look into that in more detail. I love my standing dead wood, even if there seems to have been some spillover of critters into some of my wooden structures 🙄. Thank you for the video.

[@bearhustler]

Early morning when the sun's just warming up is a great time to check basking spots.

[@TheWoodlandOrchard]

@@bearhustler Thank you.

[@bearhustler]

Can anyone help me. Ive has solitary bees in a variety of nest boxes for about 15 years now, I've had as many as 7 species I could identify. About three weeks ago in a short spell of warm weather the red masons emerged, I has bees everywhere. However due to this years damp weather there were few flowers, we then had some damper weather again. As recently as a week ago there were bees. Today it's very sunny so I popped into the garden to see the bees...1 bee, otherwise my normally teeming boxes are still. I'm trying to work out what has occurred, do solitary bees sometimes just leave en masse (despite being solitary) ? Could they have starved? I'm reaching now, could all of the recent sun spot activity interfere with them somehow ? Help ! I'm really gutted by my vanishing bees.

[@bearhustler]

By the way there are no dead bees beneath the boxes.

[@phobosapiens]

I can't give you an answer but I have a similar experience. There was some warm weather early on and bees hatched but it didn't take very long before it got wet and cold again, I think there might even have been some frost. Haven't really seen any bees since then, I actually didn't see many bees during the earlier warmer weather either. Also haven't seen any ladybugs or parasitoid wasps yet which usually help out when my plants are under attack from aphids. I did spot a single hoverfly in the past couple of days but that's about it. Last year I already noticed that some lavender bushes in the neighbourhood that are usually buzzing with life (mostly bumblebees) where practically devoid of any insects. It is still very wet and relatively cold though so maybe they'll appear later but it's disturbing. it's world bee day 2024 today and there are no bees.

[@bearhustler]

@@phobosapiens Sorry to hear that. The last couple of years have been very poor for hoverflies but I have seen a few the last couple of days and some white-tails/early bees. Checking today the single red mason isn't about but a couple of blue mason are but otherwise just dead...it's really odd (as there is no evidence of dead bees). I have pics and video of the bees from a couple of weeks ago, they were behaving normally, mating, basking, visiting the few flowers that were open at the time.

[@davegoulson6831]

Sad to hear. They do have booms and busts so hopefully they'll be back next year.