More fun with SS Skips at Oxenbourne. Last time I visited, only a couple of days ago, I could only, hand on heart, say I saw one SS Skip here. Today I return (about an hour later in the day than last time) and I counted at least 30! I did a fast-paced walk around the site because they can of course ...

Trevor - I am so glad you achieved you ambition of an open-wing male Brostreak.

I, too am "a poor old thing who had been around for a while" so I empathize with him a bit.

And I loved all your other pics of them as well, particularly the blackberry shot - that's a winner.

Noar Hill early yet again today. It was cloudy the entire time I was there, from 8-10 am but it was warm. Mostly I only saw butterflies if I disturbed them as I walked by. Usual stuff incl S&L White, Brim, S Heath, MB&G, C Blue, Small Tort, SW Frit but also DG Frit which I hadn’t seen here f...

Wurzel - amazing info about males copulating with "unborn" females. Incredible.

Glanvilles in Wilts? I look forward to reading in your next years diary that they are still there.

Oxenbourne – Part 2 There were many male Chalkhill Blue’s flitting about as the sun warmed them from about 7 am onwards. I ignored them to begin with as my target was the Silver-spotted Skipper. With the pictures of that under my belt I focussed my attention on the CHB’s. It was now about 45 minutes...

I was at Noar HIll today from 9.00-10.00 am and saw no Brostreaks and in fact little was flying about in the heat. Did see C&H Blues, S&L Whites, MB&G and Small Heath, but that was about it. But before that from 7.00-8.30 am I was at Oxenbourne Down for Silver-spotted Skipper and for Cha...

Kev - Hope you get to see a female soon. Wurzel - That's interesting. The ones on the Beech Tree at Noar Hill last year were there from 9.30 - 11.30 am, but once they start whizzing about in the warmth of the day - I hardly ever see them come down. The males that is. David - Well they certainly ALL ...

Kev - That's sneaky. You ask me to send you a Brown Hairstreak and now I find you have already seen them in your area and not only that - you got a backlit underside pic of a female. What?!? Nice Clouded Yellow by the way. I have so far only seen one in flight this year. Blink and its gone. Er - Cou...

Kev - I just sent Goldie a Brown Argus at her request and now I have people asking me to send them Brown Hairstreaks!!!
Soon I'll have no butterflies of my own to look at. But because it's you asking, I'll send one this time - just don't make a habit of it.

OK, so another morning at Noar Hill and more Brown Hairstreak news. Yesterday I was not sure where the males went when I could not find them on the Hazel hedge but did find some further down the path on the Oak and on lower shrubs and trees in front of the Oak. Were they the same ones or not? Well t...

Trevor, Bugboy - You are right. The Noar Hill numbers appear to be creeping ever upwards.

Ah, just seen your Walls, open wing, closed wing and ajar wing. Most envious since I have only ever seen and pictured a single individual in my entire life and that was so long ago I didn't even know what I was taking a picture of. Way before I had any interest in butterflies.

Lulworth is one of my favorite places - ever since I did a geology field-trip down there while at school in East London. What a contrast! But I haven't been down there since I started getting interested in butterflies. One day I shall need to rectify that to get the Lulworth Skipper.

Trevor - never seen a Large Copper myself. Very pretty.
Did it wing-roll for you???

Just catching up and saw your mating pair of DGF's. That's one I don't have in my collection and I don't suppose too many people do.

Love that Jersey Tiger Moth. Not a species I have yet encountered. And good to see you are getting started on the Brostreaks round your way and low down enough to be on a fern too. I always think its great when you get a pic of a butterfly from above when it is from a species you usually spend most ...

Noar Hill again for Brostreaks. Same place and same time as yesterday and the day before and guess what? None. Not a single male. I waited an hour (with Pauline for company) but no male Brostreaks for company. Then one hour later, around 9 am, a female landed just where the males had been the other ...

Thanks Janet - It's true at least one of the Brostreaks is pristine. Take a look though at my Aug 1st pics. In Brostreak pic 2 you can see a chunk is missing from the left forewing. In Brostreak pic 4 there is a white scratch mark on both the left forewing and left hindwing. I took a whole bunch of ...

Proving the Brostreak open-wing phenomenon early-morning is no fluke. I was at Noar Hill today for only 30 minutes at the Brostreak location that was so good to me yesterday and sure enough between 8 am and 8.15 am (a short window when it was both sunny and warm enough) they were up and about, baski...