Site Visit: Noar Hill - 9th May 2018 Juniper99.jpg I am well chuffed. Why? I have just broken my record for the number of Dukes I’ve seen in any year at Noar Hill. On my visit on 7th May 2018 (2 days ago) I found 25. Today I made a point of going to other parts of the reserve I did not visit on the ...

Cheers Guys - its good of you to say you like my pics. I have seen other people's efforts on this site and they simply blow me away at times - some look very professional.

Dave

Fantastic shots. I particularly like the second shot of the Small Heath. I have yet to see one of these this year.

Thanks, Trevor.

Would you believe it I actually had a short-break at Alfriston a few years ago and didn't know they were there!

Oh, Wow - Wall Browns! Great shots. Where are they located? Which part of the country? I have to admit I only have one pic of a Wall Brown and that was the only time I ever saw one. It was when I was more into Birds than Butterflies many years ago. I nabbed it at Keyhaven when I lived in the New For...

Goldie

I particularly like your pic of the female O Tip with its wings very wide open.

Site Visit: Butser Hill/Rake Bottom – 8th May 2018 Opposite the Queen Elizabeth County Park near Petersfield is the open downland of Butser Hill. From the top there is a 360-degree view of the neighbouring countryside for many miles around. PICT1670.JPG Around the car park at the top of the hill in ...

Wurzel: Great you could get to Noar Hill, my local reserve. Sorry I missed you.
David: I think the vole was staying in the shade. He crossed the wooded entrance path to the reserve.

Cheers,

Love the Bearded Tit shots. Farlington Marsh is always a good location for birds and the saltwater plant life is interesting and sometimes unusual (in summer). I am green with envy over the Hawfinches at Chawton. I did not know they had arrived there this winter. You probably know I could walk to th...

Site Visit: Noar Hill - 7th May 2018 PICT5830.JPG I was only here yesterday and I did the same transect over 1/3 of the reserve as yesterday and the number of Dukes has suddenly blossomed from 14 to 25 in just those few hours! I spoke with Tony who is the official recorder for the butterflies at Noa...

David & Bugboy: Thanks for the moth ID. Some of these moths vary so much within their species it is often difficult to say what it is. Wurzel: Chicken-of-the-woods apparently tastes like chicken and has the texture of cooked chicken although some people get nausea from eating it. I would always ...

Fantastic shots of the Brimstone laying eggs. And the mating pair is great too. I do not have a shot of that yet. I am pleased that you are overturning the so-called rules of butterfly behaviours. I keep coming across books that give the accepted wisdom of all sorts of species only to observe in the...

Goldie, David, Wurzel Thanks all for your comments - it is appreciated. Site Visit: Sleaford - 6th May 2018 Across the road from Broxhead Heath is Sleaford. It has grassland, a stream and woods, mature high ancient hedgerows alongside the path and an active sand and gravel extraction works! There is...

I am amazed by your O Tip distance shot. If I tried to take a picture like that it would never focus properly on the butterfly. The auto-focus would decide for itself that a twig some way behind is what I really wanted to see. You have it bang on.

Cheers

Site Visit: St Catherine’s Hill & Water Meadows - 5th May 2018 Because of the combination of habitats here, this is the location where I have counted more flowering plant species on the same day than anywhere else in Britain and because of this, the butterfly community is varied too. The height ...

David M: Thanks. I was a bit breathless rushing around taking their pics. Its difficult to believe all those in the churchyard were within the space of about 30 minutes! I was very lucky the day I saw the Green Hairstreaks mating and I don't ever expect to witness it again. Wurzel: Aha! You have see...

I made an error.

I said the Green Hairstreaks do a wing-roll with their hindwings while the other species did it with their forewings. This is wrong. The other species wing-roll their hindwings.

Matsukaze

Yes, they do appear to enjoy it don't they?

Aha, so despite your worries you were after all able to get back out of Rakes Bottom!

Site Visit: Kingsley - 4th May 2018 Part I: Kingsley Common Two male Large Whites having a fight in flight. Two male Holly Blues arguing over the best position on a prime, mature, fruiting Holly. Two male and one female Orange Tip and one female Specked Wood. Speckled Wood at Kingsley - spring femal...