On my day at Straits enclosure (Sat 02nd Jul) I met an enthusiast who was keen to show me picture on his camera of "Glanvilles he'd taken at Wrecclesham on the 16th of June". The thing was they were not Glanvilles but Heaths, or at least the majority were. So where are the Heaths coming fr...

Lee Hurrell wrote:I can't decide about these 2 and those weird pale marks don't help!

Hello Lee
Very similar but not quire Heath Fritillary? I've checked my Collins Field Guide to Butterflies of Britain and Europe and the nearest match is Knapweed Fritillary (Melitaea phoebe (occitanica))

Hope that helps.

Phil O

MikeOxon wrote:Sorry to hear about the ticks - I trust your daughter was unscathed and further trips will be permitted!!!
Mike

Thankfully she escaped the ticks. She attracted the flies (Martin Down) and wasps instead

Apologies for this being out of sync but I just wanted to post a couple of pics of the PE's I got to see at Straits enclosure last Saturday. Although I don't have an openwing shot apart from the camcorder still of a male, the first Emperor on the ground did not have any purple (I moved around to loo...

Made my trip out as planned and in retrospect should've listened to all your advice (as the day might've been better) Firstly I called into Stockbridge Down. It was only arounf 09:00 but it was already starting to get hot. DGF's were thin on the ground and those I did see were not settling. Small To...

Went to the Straits Enclosure of Alice Holt this morning and got great views of Purple Emperors on the ground. On one view I had Purple Emperor; Red Admiral and Comma all within a square foot of area. When the butterflies were occasionally spooked back into the trees they'd be spiralling back down a...

A one for Chris Packham perhaps?

Out of interest did anyone see the posting on the Purple Empire re change/increase of Purple colour intensity not related/dependent to angle of the light source?

Thanks very much for all your advice, will try to reply as best I can: Try Rake Bottom at Butser Hill or Old Winchester Hill for DGF these are not too far from you and pretty reliable - had a DGF at Botany Bay yesterday but apparrently this is a very rare event at this site. There's two sites I have...

The Weekend is fast approaching and the urge to get out for a butterfly foray is nothing short of an addiction. Fixing the shed roof and all those other 'little jobs' can wait another week or two, .... butterfly season is upon us! If i'm planning to go some distance I need to make it worthwhile (fro...

I'll try again to get this posted Hi Philzoid, was that the Sunday just gone? If so, count yourself doubly lucky. I was up at Bernwood Meadows / Bernwood Forest on Sunday and the weather was bleak after 10am and I didn't go to WGW because it just looked like nothing would be out in the grey weather....

User Control Panel -> Manage Drafts Thanks again Pete. Unfortunately the saved draft must have been a figurement of my imagination because there is nothing there (perhaps I hit the wrong button when posed with the question (something along the lines of) "do you want to continue, only text will...

Michael I replied to your posting and guess what? the same thing happened again (web page expired) after accidently opening one of the pictures I was uploading (you all must think I'm hopeless?!) I had saved a draft (after one of the uploads was taking a long time (<512kB I know)) but I don't know w...

Hi Philzoid I've found the page has expired if I preview with a photo on the page. Thanks Paul. That is exactly what happened. Hi Philzoid, In general, if I'm going to write something lengthy, I'll do it in a separate text editor first. Point taken. I don't always set out to write something lengthy...

Does anyone know how to prevent the web page expiring. I've lost an hours work, ***dy frustrating!!

My initial thought was a mottled beauty which is quite a large geometrid ... inch an a half wingspan in that pose?

There is an american bee hawkmoth called the Snowberry clearwing which cna be purchased from pupae suppliers. Could be a release? I would say that if it was "twice the size" of a Silver Y it wouldn't be a bee hawkmoth, which I would say are similar in size. The description of fast flying d...

Thanks David I suspected that spotting Black Hairstreak is not like turning up to Denbies in July hoping to see a Chalkhill Blue but one must try. I'll have my daughters in tow and am hoping that because it's father's day it won't be dad, "can we go now" after only half an hour. This looks...

Bloody global warming, eh? [/quote]

I blame it on that volcano

This weekend I'm planning to go to Whitecross Green Wood in the hope of seeing Black Hairstreak, both of which will be firsts for me. The weather forecast is for some sunny spells and max of 18C. Anyone out there like to rate my chances?

Hi Gibster Thanks for your offer. Please excuse my ignorance as to not knowing what "PM" means. There are two species on your list which I havn't yet seen which are a possibility. The Lulworth skipper and the Black Hairstreak. WRT the Heath Fritillary i went to East Blean last year under m...