April brings some of the earliest insects of our year
Our insects never quite quieten down for the winter. A few, like Comma and Peacock butterflies over-winter as adults and are amongst the first we see each year, a welcome reminder than Spring is just around the corner.
Butterflies
From the beginning of April each year the reserve contributes to the weekly counts that go to make up the UK Butterfly Monitoring Survey. Most of the butterfly sightings described in this blog were made during one of our three-mile survey walks early in April.
Brimstone Butterfly:
This one was carried past by a strong breeze so quickly that I barely had time to identify it, let alone take a photo, but the distinctive yellow/green colour was a give-away as we only see one other species that’s at all similar (that’s the Clouded yellow which appears much later in the year).
Large white butterfly
We see several species of “white” butterfly on the reserve (and, no, “Cabbage white” isn’t a species but a catch-all name for any white butterfly near your veg patch).
Green-veined white butterfly:
At first glance a perched Green-veined white drinking nectar through its long proboscis (its tubular “tongue”) looks similar to a Small white because the upper surface of its wings are all white apart from grey-ish spots and dark wing margins. But a close look at the underside of the wings shows that the veins are outlined by a pattern of small dark green speckling. You’ll have to look hard in this photo, but the green veins are just visible.
Image credit - Jeremy White
Orange tip butterfly:
This is one of our first butterfly species to emerge from its pupa and one of the most readily recognised white butterflies. The males have a bold bright orange tip to their forewing which stands out even many yards away. The females lack the orange wing tips but can be distinguished from similar sized white butterflies by the bard green patches on the undersides of their wings which can easily be seen at a distance.
Holly blue butterfly:
I had a fleeting glimpse of a pale blue butterfly as it rose from the grass I was walking through, flew up into the top of a hedge and out of sight. With a bit of careful positioning I found it again … the distinctive pale colour with fine black specks meant that I’d found a Holly blue and the dark edges of the forewings meant that this one was a female.
Small tortoiseshell butterfly:
Another lucky find, this individual was the only one seen on two successive survey walks and was resting in exactly the same place near to top of the zigzags. This is another species which is in serious decline – our records show 90 sightings in 2013 and 4 in 2024. UK-wide there has been a decline of 86% since 1976.
Speckled wood butterfly:
The speckled wood is one of our year-round butterflies and probably the most frequently seen. You’ll find it in wooded areas – either in the copse or in hedgerows with plenty of trees. The brown and gold colours in its wings are useful camouflage. Its favourite spots are patches of dappled sunlight which it will follow as the sun moves, and which males will defend against other butterflies chasing them away more aggressively than you’d imagine possible for a butterfly.
Other insects
Moth reveals - Cream spot tiger moth, Early Tooth-striped moth, Emperor moth, Hebrew character moth, Muslin Moth, Nut-tree Tussock moth, Bumblebees: Buff-tailed bumblebee
Pond species: skaters, boatmen, whirligig beetles, Three-spined sticklebacks
Other species - Common spotted and Southern marsh orchids:
April is the first month for the first signs of orchids emerging from their underground tuber. The first signs are leaf whorls of Southern marsh and Common spotted orchids which come out of the ground while the surrounding vegetation is short. Even at this early stage these are easy to distinguish – Common spotted orchids have dark purple-ish spots on their leaves and Southern marsh orchis have relatively plain leaves. The difficulties come because these species hybridise and produce leaves and flowers combining the traits of both. In fact a large proportion of our orchids are hybrids.
Cuckoo:
Our first confirmed Cuckoo sightings and songs were on 18 April which is roughly the average date (if you can have fractional dates, the average is 17.25th of April). Since then, we have recorded either two or three singing males on the Uskmouth part of reserve and others, possibly different individuals at the Goldcliff end. Since females have a quite different song that is much quieter, we haven’t been able to estimate their numbers.
Bittern:
Last year we had two male Bitterns, four females and at least eight juveniles. As far as we know, none migrate, but we have sometimes seen them well away from the Uskmouth reedbeds during the winter. As winter passes we see them in flight more and more. From late March, they can be heard building up their booming from low volume single booms to the really loud five boom sequences by late April. The number of sightings of Bitterns in flight increases, too.
Black-tailed godwits: A massive flock, estimated to be 1,300 birds strong, spent a week or two at Goldcliff Lagoons probably feeding well before flying north to spend the summer in Iceland
Image credit - Jeremy white / Kirsty Lindsay
Grasshopper warbler: heard reeling in the reedbeds
Great crested grebe: stayed with us for several weeks, first time for several years
Image credit - Ieuan Evans
Amphibian Common frog, Common toad
Bird Avocet, Barn owl, Bearded reedling, Bittern, Blackbird, Blackcap, Black-headed gull, Black-Tailed Godwit, Blue tit, Bullfinch, Buzzard, Canada goose, Carrion crow, Cetti's Warbler, Chaffinch, Chiffchaff, Collared dove, Common whitethroat, Coot, Cormorant, Crane, Cuckoo, Curlew, Dunlin, Dunnock, Gadwall, Garden warbler, Garganey, Goldcrest, Goldfinch, Goosander, Grasshopper warbler, Great crested grebe, Great Spotted Woodpecker, Great tit, Great White Egret, Green woodpecker, Greenfinch, Grey heron, Grey plover, Grey wagtail, Greylag goose, Hen harrier, Herring Gull, House martin, House sparrow, Jackdaw, Jay, Kestrel, Kingfisher, Knot, Lapwing, Lesser black-backed gull, Lesser whitethroat, Linnet, Little egret, Little Grebe, Little owl, Long-tailed tit, Magpie, Mallard, Marsh harrier, Meadow Pipit, Mistle thrush, Moorhen, Mute swan, Nuthatch, Osprey, Oystercatcher, Peregrine falcon, Pheasant, Pied Wagtail, Pink-footed goose, Pintail, Pochard, Raven, Red Kite, Redshank, Reed bunting, Reed warbler, Ringed plover, Robin, Ruff, Sand martin, Sedge warbler, Shelduck, Shoveler, Skylark, Snipe, Song thrush, Sparrowhawk, Spoonbill, Spotted Redshank, Stonechat, Swallow, Teal, Treecreeper, Tufted duck, Water Rail, Whimbrel, Whinchat, Wigeon, Willow warbler, Woodpigeon, Wren, Yellow wagtail
Fish Rudd, Three-spined stickleback
Insect Black and red froghopper, Caddis fly, Dark-edged bee-fly, May fly, Pond skater, Water boatman, Water louse
Insect - beetle Rove beetle, Whirligig beetle
Insect - bumblebee Buff/white-tailed bumblebee, Buff-tailed bumblebee, Common carder bumblebee, Early bumblebee, Shrill carder bee
Insect - butterfly Brimstone Butterfly, Comma butterfly, Green-veined white butterfly, Holly blue butterfly, Large white butterfly, Orange tip butterfly, Orange-tip butterfly, Peacock butterfly, Red admiral butterfly, Small tortoiseshell butterfly, Small white butterfly, Speckled wood butterfly
Insect - macro moth Chocolate tip moth, Cream spot tiger moth, Drinker moth, Early Tooth-striped moth, Emperor moth, Hebrew character moth, Muslin Moth, Nut-tree Tussock moth, Pebble prominent moth
Mammal Fox, Grey squirrel, Rabbit, Stoat, Weasel
Mollusc Ramshorn snail
Plant Bluebell (English), Bugle, Comfrey, Cuckoo flower, Daisy, Dandelion, Lesser celandine, Meadow Buttercup, Primrose, Red clover
Plant - orchid Common spotted orchid
Plant - tree Blackthorn, Elder, Goat willow, Hawthorn
Reptile Grass snake