Bugboys mission

[Pauline]

Love the detail and anecdotes Buggy that we can all relate to and makes for such an interesting read - some fine shots too .

[bugboy]

Thank you Pauline, always nice to know what I write is enjoyable

I've been doing a transect at work the past few months, a couple of miles from central London so I don't expect anything unusual to turn up. I did it for one season 8 or 9 years back and got 7 species for the entire season, this afternoon I managed to see 8 species in no more than 10 minutes! This was centered around a grassy area that was sown with wildflower seeds some years ago, including Yellow Rattle which has become very dominant in places and certainly keeps the grasses in check. Friday turned out the best and most convenient day to do this weeks one and I was extremely surprised to see something rather dark having a brief battle with a male Meadow Brown. It never settled but I was convinced it was a Ringlet, somthing I've only ever seen on the outskirts of London.

Yesterday, flying with some large Skippers was a smaller one, it never settled long enough to positively ID but I had my suspicions on it being an Essex so today I remembered to take my camera in to try and get some positive ID's.

Small White Male

Essex Skipper male

Gatekeeper male

Meadow Brown female

Large Skipper male

Ringlet

Gatekeeper male

and Balck Tailed Skimmers seem to be following me everywhere at the moment!

So I got a seasons first for Gatekeeper and confirmed sighting of both my suspicions . The other two species seen were singles of a Comma and Red Admiral which brings this seasons site tally to 15 species when I combine transect and casual records

[Wurzel]

That's a very nicely marked Rnglet Bugboy. Good news that the Hedge brownsa are out, time to start counting spots

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Bugboy, no Gate Keepers seen here yet or Small Skippers, every seems late here in the North Goldie

[bugboy]

They're only just starting down here Goldie, a few more males today but still a week or two off from the plagues I normally get here

Thanks Wurzel, I thought that too, a very handsome specimen

6th July, a White Letter day
Well after todays epic seven and half hour butterfly treck resulting in over 500 pics to sort through I can see me being as far behind as Wurzel by the end of my 10 day break from work!

I had planned to have a stay at home day due to the forcast being for rain but when I woke up to blue skys and the weatherlady saying it was going to be warm and sunny that plan was immediately shelved. Taking my queue from EssexBuzzards report of hordes of White-letter Hairstreaks over in Essex I hopped on the train to Hadleigh Country Park. The train journey started of pleasantly enough, I had the carriage almost to myself but halfway along a large school party, looked like an entire primary school, got on my carriage .

Anyway I got there around 10.30 and quickly worked out where to go having never been here before, basically head towards the ruined castle! Entering the park via a disused service road I immediately saw lots of Elms and lots of flowering Bramble which I eagerly scanned for any sign of things with white 'W' on them, no sign yet but it was still early and from what I could see there's a lots of Elm here. I did however get my first good Red Admiral action of the year

What a handsome devil

I moved on to a meadow and was immediately putting up tiny golden buzzy things with every foot step. On closer inspection Small and Essex Skippers were present in very good numbers

Essex Skipper

Small Skipper

It was nice the oppressive heat of recent days had gone but somewhat disappointing that the stiff breeze had returned, it would seem photography would be very difficult unless I was in a very sheltered place which was found in the form of a nice sunny path along the edge of the meadow. Here all whites were active in very good numbers, it's been a very long time since I've seen this many Large Whites.

Small White female

Green-veined White male

Large White male

The Skippers had reached uncountable numbers along with good numbers of Meadow Browns, Ringlets and a smattering of Marbled White

Both sides of the path were bordered with Elm sucker growth and plenty of brambles and I found myself scanning virtually every flower in the hope of seeing a Hairstreak, all in vain . some of the skippers were happy to pose though, from my casual observations Essex seemed to outnumber Small 2:1

Small

Essex

Commas were also putting on a pretty decent show, patroling and enjoying the heat and looking particularly gaudy in the sun

So although there was still not a hint of a hairstreak I did get to see some White letters, they were just the wrong letter, a 'C' not a 'W'

Some more exploring found much the same but I was enjoying it nontheless. It's not often I get to see butterflies at such high densities, even common species, It took me back to when I was a kid and even common species can throw up the odd surprise; the intensity of this Commas wings is quite frankly stunning, possibly one of the best looking Comma's I have ever seen!

Well that covers the first 2 hours, more later...

[Goldie M]

Hi! Bugboy, I saw a Comma a few days ago that was quite new and a lovely colour of Orange, glad you saw some Large Whites, there's not too many of them around at present Goldie

[bugboy]

Hi Goldie, I'm seeing a LOT of Commas at the moment and they all seem to be looking pretty spectacular, some really intense colours

6th July, a White Letter day part 2

So 2 hours in and still not a sniff of a White-letter Hairstreak. About halfway between my start point and the castle ruin Marbled Whites became more plentyful and Small Heaths started showing up. All the others were still putting on a good show

Essex

Small

Whilst admiring the sight of hundreds of butterflies flitting around, annoying each other and generally being very energetic a small white one fluttered past but way to small to be anything I've seen before. I took it for a small moth but followed it because I wanted to know what it was and it's flight pattern seemed familiar. When it landed I did a classic double take and started second guessing myself but it was in fact a Small Heath

I followed the little blighter around for half an hour trying to snag a fluky upperwing shot but I just ended up with a load of shots of grass with the occasional pale blur vanishing out of frame! I even took to poking it with a grass stem whilst focused on him, but all he did was clamber onto the stem in my hand....the one and only time I want a Small Heath to fly when I have it in shot and it does that, if thats not sods law I don't know what is!

Well I finally left him to get on with his life and wandered off to the ruins, they really are ruins, not much left at all

Nice views though

Lots more butterflies around the hedgerows, another Red Admiral, this one playing hide & seek and a rather attractive Small Tortoiseshell showed up, except it had had a rather eventful emergance

Despite it's bent wings it could fly fine

I also saw a few large Skippers, first of the day although they had seen better days

but like the Small Tort, it had no effect on his flight!

There were also a lot of Holly Blues around, all first generation and old looking but managing to hang on to life long after other sites I have visited, quite impressive!

The Commas were all over the place though, I was into double figures with these and the variation in indiviuals was as striking as the intensity of the colours

The standard version...

The pale version...

and my favourite, the heavily marked one!

I've never seen one that heavily marked before, surely my second ab of the day

I followed another Holly Blue as it got blown into a Bramble thicket and noticed she kept investigating the buds and avoiding the open flowers, the reason quickly becoming obvious

I wonder if this is why the first gen is so late here. Looking back I don't recall seeing any other suitable foodplants and with bramble buds being a bit later than other spring foodplants maybe they've altered their life cycle to fit in with the only choice?

Anyway the journey back still didn't turn up any White-letter 'W's, where were the bloody things? I bet there were thousands looking at me from the elms, waiting for me to leave

I watched a female Small white fending off a particularly amorous male,

and played peek-a-boo with some skippers on Tufted Vetch to pass the time

Small & Essex

Small

Essex

Definately Essex!

I spent the next couple of hours walking up and down the Elm riddled hedgerow, scanning every single bramble flower. A fresh large skipper showed up and another Holly Blue popped by to say hello

but as much as I was enjoying myself, It was 5pm now and I was knackered so I set off back to the train station to go home, sensing the White-letter Hairstreak was going to become my bogey species in my quest grrrrrr ! I had had a fantastic day nonetheless, the Commas alone worth the day out

[Wurzel]

A cracking read Bugboy, love the cheeky Essex and that Small Heath is a corker - is that just wear and tear or a named aberration?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Pretty sure it's an ab Wurzel, notice the vestidual eye spot as well as the pale colour. I've seen plenty of worn Small Heaths, that pale colour is definately what it emerged with

[Pauline]

Another great post Buggy (always my first read whilst having a coffee). Smashing shot of that Comma - it has to be an ab surely and interesting shot of Holly Blue

[Goldie M]

Great Photos Bugboy, as soon as I saw your SH I thought ab, love the the Hollies, thanks for your posting, I hope I see the PE has well if you don't go looking you'll never find ( seek and you shall find) Goldie

[bugboy]

You're very kind Pauline, glad I keep you entertained, here's some more

seek and you shall find

wise words Goldie. weather looks better over the next few days so fingers crossed I find some within range of my camera

6th July, a White Letter day part 3 (it was a long day!)

So there it was, over 6 hours of searching, looking at my very first White-letter Hairstreak, on a bank of bramble barely 5 minutes from the train station and where I started the day! I took a run of record shots in case he vanished and then watched as another came down and they spiralled up into the Elms. Moments later one came down again close to me but in the shade so just to make sure i ot something recognisable I used flash

As I got my eye in I soon started seeing more until I realised they were by far the most numerous butterfly here. Everytime I crept up on one, I disturbed another who was even closer . from 6 hours of nothing to almost too many in a matter of minutes. I very soon discovered what little buggers they are when having their picture taken, constantly moving and doing their best to sit in the most awkward position possible.
If they weren't sitting in the shade

it was sitting at the wrong angle

or hiding behind whatever was available

or perched high up

I spent nearly an hour taking watching and taking pictures. For the most part they ignored each other. Occasionally a couple would have a brief flurry into the air only to come back down to feed again. At one point, several that were feeding on one of the higher flower spikes all flew up in a mass flurry of wings only to quickly settle down again. It was lovely to see so much activity after searching so long for them. A couple of Commas where here, actively defending their territories against anything with wings and I couldn't resist snapping them as well

Back to the WLH I persivered and managed to get a some sunlit shots as they posed for me but just to make things interesting only in places where my bare legs got savaged by brambles and nettles

and a few shots where I didn't realise there was more than one, I was concentrating so hard on one I didn't notice the other until I got home!

I did see both these as I was taking the pictures though

I will be going back for another audience before the end of their season, like so many of my 2015 lifers they are full of character . A perfect end to a great day

[Maximus]

Great White-letter Hairstreaks bugboy a butterfly i've yet to see at close range

[Wurzel]

Great that you got your Whitters Bugboy What's next on the hitlist?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Congratulations on the WLHs Buggy, and in numbers too
A species that I usually only see when am out looking for something else and then high up. I did nearly tread on one a few years back though when it was taking minerals up from a path at Oversley Wood in Warwickshire

Cheers,

Neil

[millerd]

Now I know why I struggle to see WLH - not enough patience! Your persistence was well-rewarded, Buggy - great pictures. One in particular (1326) is an absolute stonker. And likewise the dark Comma from earlier - what a striking butterfly.

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Maximus, up until this point I'd never even seen them at a distance, but at this site they seem to come to you

Cheers Wurzel. Top of my hitlist at the moment is still The Purple One, need to stake out a freshly laid dog poo I think!

Thanks Neil, yes I couldn't believe how many there were, easily 20 or more !

Cheers Dave, If it wasn't for all the other butterflies around I would probably have left earlier and missed them, I suspect they come down late afternoon (and perhaps morning) to feed, probably spend the day up in the trees doing Hairstreaky things!

Bookham Common 7th July

Today’s weather was somewhat...well British for want of a better word. Even the forecast was confusing, the local one being somewhat different to the national one but I went out anyway, another wander round Bookham Common looking for The Purple One and perhaps the Little Purple One as well. Things seemed to be clearing up late morning and by 12 I was getting off the train. As I walked into one of the car parks a particularly dark cloud blackened the sky and it began to rain. Luckily it only lasted about 5 minutes, the blustery wind was blowing the clouds across the sky at a fair rate of knots. All in all though it didn’t seem too promising for what I was looking for.

Still you definitely don’t see it if you don’t look for it so as soon as the rain stopped I was off. When the sun came out the temperature soured and Small Skippers, Meadow Browns and Ringlets came out to play. A couple of Large Skippers were still active and I caught the occasional glimpse of a Silver Washed Frit and White Admiral searching for mates. I saw what was probably a Purple Hairstreak fluttering across a clearing from one Oak to another but couldn’t get a proper view to confirm .

Odonata were also out in force again, a female Darter (Common or Ruddy, I couldn’t tell which) flew by and settled high up.

Common and Azure Damselflies were still everywhere and I got close enough to get a few snaps of a male Black-tailed Skimmer this time, showing us how he got his name.

It was some time before I got a butterfly picture though, dodging showers, but I eventually found a couple of SWF feeding on brambles, they were very active in the sun and didn’t settle very close but managed some half decent distance shots

Settling a bit closer but under a bracken leaf the dappled light made for an interesting image

I also got another lifer , this time a Beautiful Demoiselle, living up to his name, sparkling beautifully in the sun!

After few more light showers and dark clouds the sun seemed to be coming out for longer periods, a few Blue-tailed Damselflies were out

and I managed to get a few shots of a feeding White Admiral. I would have been able to get closer ones as well had it not been for a Meadow Brown who is now regretting his interference, having been cursed for all eternity ! I watched helplessly as went gliding off.

A teneral (freshly emerged) damselfly landed near me, looking very gostly

too fresh to ID but could well have been one of these

Azure Damselflies

Sometime after this I had another SWF encounter

who only decided to settle near me when the sun went in, forcing me to fiddle with the camera and lose shutter speed and depth of field just when I needed it, oh well.

At another clearing at the side of a path two WA were soaring around and occasionally settling. Again I couldn’t get close but at least I’m getting a few more pictures of them now which is better than nothing.

That was unfortunately that as the sun decided to have an early night and clouds took over. Looks like I’ll have to make another trip to break my Purple duck, oh well, tough life lol!

[bugboy]

A quick updated tally of my season to date:

1 Brimstone
2 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Red Admiral
4 Peacock
5 Small White
6 Comma
7 Green-veined White
8 Speckled Wood
9 Orange-tip
10 Holly Blue
11 Large White
12 Green Hairstreak (lifer)
13 Grizzled Skipper (lifer)
14 Dingy Skipper (lifer)
15 Small Copper
16 Small Heath
17 Brown Argus
18 Painted Lady
19 Pearl-bordered Fritillary (lifer)
20 Duke of Burgundy (lifer)
21 Wall
22 Glanville Fritillary (lifer)
23 Common Blue
24 Small Blue (lifer)
25 Marsh Fritillary (lifer)
26 Adonis Blue
27 Large Skipper
28 Meadow Brown
29 Silver-studded Blue
30 Heath Fritillary (lifer)
31 Small skipper
32 Dark Green Fritillary
33 Ringlet
34 Marbled White
35 Essex Skipper
36 White Admiral (lifer)
37 Purple Emperor
38 Silver Washed Fritillary
39 Gatekeeper
40 White-letter Hairstreak (lifer)

+ 99% sure Purple Hairstreak

10 lifers in one season , that wont happen again in the UK! Think I'll have to spend a fortnight in Switzerland where I can get 50 species in a day

[MrSp0ck]

A quick updated tally of my season to date:

1 Brimstone
2 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Red Admiral
4 Peacock
5 Small White
6 Comma
7 Green-veined White
8 Speckled Wood
9 Orange-tip
10 Holly Blue
11 Large White
12 Green Hairstreak (lifer)
13 Grizzled Skipper (lifer)
14 Dingy Skipper (lifer)
15 Small Copper
16 Small Heath
17 Brown Argus
18 Painted Lady
19 Pearl-bordered Fritillary (lifer)
20 Duke of Burgundy (lifer)
21 Wall
22 Glanville Fritillary (lifer)
23 Common Blue
24 Small Blue (lifer)
25 Marsh Fritillary (lifer)
26 Adonis Blue
27 Large Skipper
28 Meadow Brown
29 Silver-studded Blue
30 Heath Fritillary (lifer)
31 Small skipper
32 Dark Green Fritillary
33 Ringlet
34 Marbled White
35 Essex Skipper
36 White Admiral (lifer)
37 Purple Emperor
38 Silver Washed Fritillary
39 Gatekeeper
40 White-letter Hairstreak (lifer)

+ 99% sure Purple Hairstreak

11 lifers in one season , that wont happen again in the UK! Think I'll have to spend a fortnight in Switzerland where I can get 50 species in a day

Not many more to come now,

Chalkhill Blue
Silver Spotted Skipper
Brown Hairstreak

and maybe Monarch, Long Tailed Blue, Small Pearl Bordered Frit, Wood White.

[bugboy]

A day of two half’s 9th July (part 1)

So today the tube strike forced my hand, somewhere local for the morning and since I’ve hardly been on my local patch this year, a couple of hours browsing Walthamstow Marshes to see how things are developing seemed in order.

What a difference a couple of weeks makes, when I was last here, Small & Essex Skippers were probably in equal numbers, today I was hard pushed to find a Small Skipper in amongst all the Essex skipping through the air and jostling for nectar on the Creeping Thistles.

The ones I did find looked distinctively more worn.

Meadow Browns were out and about as I would expect

with this male, looking ‘fresh out the box’ to use a Wurzelism, managing to catch the light just right to show his scent patches, something not often seen

Gatekeeper numbers are starting to build now, nearly all males still but I did find a couple of brave females flying amongst them. Another week or two and they will be the most numerous butterfly here. No extra spotting as yet but it’s still early days!

Flying around a bed of nettles I spotted two Red Admirals, both looking to lay but being extremely fussy about it. This one posed for me, showing off what may have been a near miss from a bird attack.

I left them to it, noticing lots of flower heads dotted with these little green shiny beetles, the males showing off their thighs like Sir Chris Hoy on steroids!

Oedemera femorata

A little more wandering and I came across this Small Skipper, taking a lot of interest in some Yorkshire Fog, and she happily settled and went about her business whilst I recorded the moment for posterity .

I spent a bit of time taking pictures of the often forgotten Meadow Brown, several being surprisingly accommodating for me today

Bloody Skippers everywhere!

Not many species but what there was were in very good numbers

I left to the sound of a male Blackbird nonchalantly ignoring me as I walked under him