Thanks for the kind comments folks. I am trying to cram as much in as possible before a 5-week venture to the rainforests of Costa Rica in the middle of July (some exciting butterfly species to see for sure!). With this in mind, I paid a visit to Kent for Heath Fritillaries, a new species for me and...

Once again it's been a rather unfortunate gap between posts. I now attend UEA, so am based up in Norwich where it must be said the Butterflies aren't great - but then I was rather spoilt living in Hants! I did return home for a week where a trip over to Chiddingfold yielded a number of Wood Whites (...

A trip up to Aston Rowant this morning was absolutely brilliant, with hundreds of Chalkhill Blues shimmering in the sunshine and no less than 30 Silver-spotted Skippers (almost certainly an underestimate). IMG_9319-Edit.jpg IMG_9602-Edit-2.jpg IMG_1050-Edit.jpg IMG_1375-Edit.jpg IMG_1197-Edit.jpg

Wow it's been a frighteningly long-time! Fear not, I have certainly been out enjoying the butterflies this year, just no time to write about them! I've been very lucky in that I've travelled around a bit and photographed a number of species. Rather than waffle on about each of them, I'll just share ...

It has been far too long since I posted on here! Butterflies have had to take a back seat the past few weeks as I have been focussing on a few bird-related projects (including visiting the Farne Islands the past week which was just amazing!). I did however take a trip to Botany Bay last weekend and ...

What a fantastic looking aberration and top shots as well!

It's hatched...so much for 2-3 weeks! Absolutely tiny!!!

What a great set of images, Pauline. Fascinating to see the sequence of emergence like that, something that would be almost impossible in the wild!

Alex

On Sunday (18th May) I searched numerous sites along the Downs near Storrington, both with public access and on private estates. The news for the Duke of Burgundy is good and my composite count easily beat my best C21st figures for the area, with an encouraging 119 seen. My running Sussex total for...

Thanks guys. Some G.Hairstreaks looking very fresh today including this lovely caecus (?) individual ... DSC01508.jpg Great shots and good to see you being so constructive with your revision breaks :wink: :D I hope the exams are going well. I tried a brief search into why a lot of butterflies have b...

Hi Alex, First off, the larvae are cannibalistic (the larger will always devour the smaller) so keep all larvae apart! Larvae will also devour newly-formed pupae. Green Hairstreak use quite a variety of plants and, of course, they do best on growing food plant, although I've recently discovered tha...

Still lots of G.Hairstreaks around - at least 7 today on a quick circuit including this one about 50m from the front door!

Lovely photos of the PBF I am very much looking forward to my first trip to Bentley this year!

All the best,

Alex

You have done so well with all these Hairstreaks Pauline, you must be so pleased with your efforts! That last one of the Black Hairstreak is fantastic...I must make a trip up to Oxon this year to try and find them.

All the best,

Alex

I'll avoid the long story (which can be found on my personal diary) but I have ended up with at least 1 (and quite possibly more over the coming days) Green Hairstreak eggs. It/they were laid this morning, an are now each on short sections of Broom. For the moment, until I know exactly how many I ha...

A small number of Green Hairstreaks are found each year on in my area and yesterday afternoon I decided to try and get a rough idea of population size. No less than 14 individuals were seen which was very encouraging including 5 in an area I had never found them previously. It was here I noticed and...

Well despite the fact I was meant to be revising all day I somehow accidentally ended up back at Noar Hill yesterday morning! Heavy showers were forecast but thankfully these failed to materialise and in the 2 hours I was there the weather was fantastic (apart from the strong winds). Amazingly not a...

My first proper outing of the season! After two full days of revision (exams start a week today which is frankly rather terrifying) I decided a few butterflies were in order, so my mum agreed to take me to Noar Hill. I'd never been before but I must say it is a fantastic site and definitely one to v...

Photos from recent trips can be found on my flickr page (apologies for shameless plug!)... Thank you for the 'shameless plug' - I really enjoyed your photos :) I liked the way you included the location in your Grey Phalarope pic - too many bird shots could be taken 'anywhere'. These birds occasiona...

Good news about the first Orange-tip :D I'm still searching for mine :mrgreen: If you can try to make a couple of visits to Bentley Wood, one for fresh Pearl Bordered, then a few weeks later for Small Pearls and finally in mid to late July for Purple Emperor (unless you have a better site that is a...