Hi Chris, On Saturday I walked from Oare to Avebury, initially keeping along the hills that overlook the vale of Pewsey and which end up at Pewsey Down NNR - not sure what they are called [plenty of Adonis Blues around Pewsey white horse, by the way]. The whole line of them very much has the feel of...

Tidying the attic on Sunday I found some old copies of the News magazine of the British Butterfly Conservation Society, as it was known then, from the late 80s. Thought this section of an article going by the title Butterfly Photography Kept Simple on photographing butterflies might be of some inter...

Passed through Oldbury hillfort on Saturday. Decent numbers of Adonis blues concentrated in two separate locations, in the ditches of the hillfort and a couple of hundred metres away on the lower slopes. One missing outerwing spots tentatively identified as ab. krodeli - see below. http://www.bath.a...

Hi Matsukaze, Interesting link. I'd not seen the moth group site before. They've got some interesting software running for showing flight times and distributions - will certainly help me ID stuff in the garden. Thanks for bringing it to my attention. I've heard about Small Blues at Hazelbury, but ne...

There were a handful of Adonis Blues at Hazelbury last Sunday - not as many as I expected. Also saw a few Chalkhill Blues, Common Blues, and Holly Blues. It made me wonder if there are any sites where, in the course of a year, you might see 5, or even 6 different blues. I assume 7 is out of the ques...

Hi Denise, I like in Bath and I do all my butterfly spotting - mostly when out hiking through the countryside - using public transport. There are some great places south of Bristol (and probably north, but I haven't got round to exploring that area much), and I often get a train to Temple Meads to c...

In praise of the common species:



Simon

I did some googling and found this link to the Cumbrian Wildlife Trust web page for the reserve, where it mentions NBA. I can vouch for DGF and HBF. http://www.wildlifetrust.org.uk/cumbria/Reserves/Latterbarrow.htm The map reference is SD 439 828. From Chris's report, it seems there are indeed two p...

Well spotted Guy! And well done Dave, for guessing High Brown mating pair. The first photo below was taken immediately before the original one - I think you can just see the bug (could well be an ant) appearing on the right hand side of the bramble leaves. The second was taken after they had flow to...

Anyone want to hazard a guess as to what got spooked here by the bug?



I reckon this is a tough one, so probably someone will get it right immediately

Simon

Just back from the Lakes. Had a great time, remarkably only got really wet once in 10 days. Failed to snap a Mountain Ringlet, but saw lots to make up for it. Highlight was a linear walk from Row, across Whitbarrow Scar dropping down to Witherslack and popping in to Meathop Moss. Taxi from Kendal to...

Much obliged.

Simon

Very nice picture! Do you know your dragonflies, because if so perhaps you can help me out. I mentioned a few days ago I saw a White-Letter Hairstreak in Bushey Norwood field, and there were also lots of dragonflies around. One of them I can't recognise from any picture in Collin's guide to British ...

...so you should have heard of Schrödinger's skipper then. It's neither small nor Essex until you open the box, then it flies away. Nice one! And don't forget the impact of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, which states that if you have a butterfly postioned infront of your camera lens, it must b...

Thanks Guy. Very helpful as always. I'm gradually figuring out (from reading the posts here) what I need to look for. I've been hoping to find Essex skipper locally, but I think I need to go somewhere where they are definitely to be found, to get my eye in first. Like you (I think), Simon, I'm a tea...

Thanks for both these suggestions.

9th June seems an awful long time ago - any idea if they still likely to be on the wing? I understood they have quite a short season.

Paul, do you have a map reference for the best spot, or maybe there's a local feature nearby I can try to locate?

Thanks.

Simon

Hi eccles, I saw a WLH on the brambles on the edge of Bushey Norwood field today, on the hedgerow that separates it from Bath Golf Course. If you cut and paste this URL into your browser, you should be able to see where (doesn't seem to work as a url address in a forum posting): http://www.multimap....

Is the Guy Padfield skipper ID service still running? Or anyone else?



Assuming there's enough info in the photo for a positive ID, a commentary on how you reach any conclusion would much appreciated, for future application.

Thanks.

Simon

Uploaded (downloaded?) my photos from the day last night.



Also got a couple of other decent shots:

I think this one has been caught just as it is about to spin its cocoon.