Yes she is an ab. The victoriana aurelians christened such beauties ab. albomaculata

I was there on Thursday and had about half a dozen. It was very warm and quite hard work as they were rather active. There were freshly emerged ones around and the Daneway ones do have an extended flight time compared to other sites with the later emergents switching to Marjoram as a LHP. I don't do...

Probably Sheildbug eggs.

millerd wrote: ↑Sat Jun 22, 2024 8:17 pm
You may well see me hanging hopefully around some woodland on the Surrey/Sussex border shortly, yes...

I was there all day today, probably a little too cloudy to start with but when the sun came out.....nothing!

Going back to that Marshie ab, been trying to pin down a name for it. The best fit I can find for the upperside seems to be virgata, whereas the underside looks most closely to melanoleuca.

Indeed Wurzel , but when you come across an eye catching Marshie ab the day before, it all becomes relative! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 2024 A quick overview of May 2024, overall bloody awful would be my glass half empty 'stuck at work when it was sunny' assessment! The what seemed t...

Try Mother of Pearl moth

...Has anyone else seen this strange phenomenon?... Only today I was following a Meadow Brown along a hedgerow when it dipped behind a bush and re-emerged a second later as a faded Comma. it happens a lot... :) Dave A not unusual phenomenon in August I find. Many a time a single Brown Hairstreak ha...

That Small Heath does bare a passing resemblance to the scotica version of the Large Heath

Lovely Silver-studs Katrina but I do highly recommend visiting Great Orme to see that particular subspecies, the females are quite stunning. You'll see many examples in my PD soon...ish. I would say that's a Broad Bordered Hawkmoth, for once the common name's is quite accurate and does actually help...

Thanks guys, he really was a beauty and certainly made the trip worthwhile That’s very interesting Guy . I guess it shows the close relatedness of the subspecies/species if they share a gene which can produce an identical aberration, I’m going with a genetic aberration as opposed to an environmental...

Certainly a lot better behaved than when I visited on the 4th! Interestingly I recognise that one with the small V nick out of her wing, she was the main one I did photograph then!

Went to reacquaint myself with Bookham today but it was a bit of a lacklustre affair, serious case of June gap with only Meadow Browns managed to creep into double figures in the three hours I was there: White Admiral 3 (none settled) Large Skipper 5 (these really are very late this year) Comma 1 Sp...

Whilst it's not the primary reason my reports are quite a few weeks behind, the reasons Maximus already lists are, this is an added bonus I've often considered, especially when I do come across an unusual ab.

May 2024 Saturday 25th part 3 . So, whilst photographing every Fritillary that settled in front of me, I did keep an eye out for anything that was a little beyond normal variation. Only one individual fitted that description, but he was special enough to distract me for half an hour and take around...

You’re welcome Katrina :) . ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 2024 Saturday 25th part 2 . The Fritillaries are obviously the main reason I travelled halfway across the country and whilst I’ve seen them in larger numbers here, they were still plentiful and active throughout my visit, dressed...

Definitely overdue a visit to both Box Hill and Bookham, I've not visited either since last September! Today I popped down to the WLH colony near leigh-on-sea station which I knew were out, a few pictures had appeared on social media last week from this particular colony. Today was slim pickings but...

Thanks Wurzel , I’m hoping August the 9th is a nice day, that’s my next appointment when hopefully I’ll see someone who can help me! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ May 2024 Saturday 25th part 1 . After misjudging the emergence of the Wiltshire Marsh Fritillaries two weeks previously, the wea...

...Just returned from a week in Llandudno to take in some local specialities... It looks like you found both the Welsh-speaking butterflies, Paul. :) :mrgreen: I'm very much looking forward to seeing some more of both subspecies, especially the female SSB... :) Cheers, Dave Oh don't worry, the post...

Just returned from a week in Llandudno to take in some local specialities. Given that I'm still posting from May's outings it's gonna be a while before these pictures make it to my PD (there's an awful lot to sift through) so here's a little taster SOC.