Pauline

[bugboy]

Hi pauline, I think thats the thing with PE. You're either there on the right day or your not. At least you've got a picture of one which is more than I have!

Sorry about your (presumed) deceased cat. I think the new spikey visitor is a Kidney-spot Ladybird larvae Chilocorus renipustulatus
http://www.ladybird-survey.org/species_ ... 6455+58802

[Wurzel]

Sorry you didn't get your PEs Pauline, or at least the shots that you wanted I managed a few from Bentley but that's the first time in three years of trying since my last lot, (I reckon Bentley works on a three year cycle) so unless you're at Fermyn where they seem to spend more time on the ground than in the air it just comes down to luck Mind you your shots next season will be all the sweeter for the wait

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Willrow]

Moth trap Pauline now you've committed yourself to yet another world and lost what little time you had...its addictive be warned or perhaps your already beyond help

Superb images in all your recent reports...

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline,

I love the images of the Elephant Hawk Moth, a particular favourite species of mine, not least because they bring back memories of when I used to find the caterpillars when I was much younger and rear them through

I am seriously thinking of turning to the dark side and getting a moth trap for next year. Probably something to look into during the winter in readiness to start next season.

All the best,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Thank you for the ID Buggy - I initially thought ladybird but was a bit thrown as it was much rounder than previous ones I have seen. Much appreciated and useful link.

I haven't given up quite yet Wurzel but after Buggy's comment I realise I should be thankful for my sightings so I'll shut up and stop whingeing Well done on your sightings, looking forward to seeing them (about October? )

Aah Bill, I know!! What have I done??? I am already beyond help in so many other ways! Thank you for your compliment . I was also interested to see your shot of the final instar of the Emperor moth cat. More below.

Thank you so much Neil - a beautiful insect and quite a surprise. This is quite new to me (the moth trap is on loan) but I was very curious about what sort of moths I might get here. The answer is lots - many more than I have time to deal with properly.

Having shed their skins so many times I was convinced that my Emperor moth cats were in their last instar. Not so! The one with yellow spots shed his skin over Thursday night to become this fine specimen:

I would have liked to get some better shots (and still might) but not at the expense of disturbing them when they are feeding deep in the heather, superbly camouflaged despite their size and colour. The one with pink spots shed his skin early this morning but because they had both chosen the mesh on which to do this, photos this time were impossible. However, I was initially surprised to see that he had left his pink spots behind on the old skin:

However, after a short period of time the spots again started to change colour to pink but to date this is a much more subtle pink than that of the last instar:

On the butterfly front, I have been taking a few snaps to relieve the boredom as I watched and waited. A few of these below. Whilst I have seen Meadow Brown mating several times, the courtship of a lovely new female by a worn male attracted my attention. I was hoping for an open wing shot of her as she was stunning, but as I watched she flew up and landed on my shoulder. A second later the male joined her and before I knew it I had a mating pair on my shoulder. A first for me! I carefully tried to remove them but they initially flew down onto the track where I took this shot:

and these rather interesting 'things' - cricket? grasshopper? shield bug? No idea!

[Allan.W.]

Hi,Pauline,
I think your grasshopper is a woodland grasshopper(omocestus rufipes),but I,m not certain,but I,m 99% sure the cricket is a Roesals Bush cricket,a nice find!
Regards Allan.W.

[Pauline]

Thank you Allan.W. - there were 2 of them so I shall have to pay more attention in future. In fact, I was looking at them all quite closely today when I spotted a Chalkhill which seemed to have some odd markings and a slightly damaged wing. I was rushing to catch Tesco before it shut and the wind was dreadful so I quickly took a few shots before I left:

[Pauline]

The opposite side of the same butterfly which I originally thought was a female:

Several male SSS were showing some signs of wear but no females visible yet:

Still huge numbers of Small Skippers to confuse the issue, both male and female:

It was nice to see several fresh Silver Y moths, including one in the garden:

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, love the Silver SS, I hope to see some in Kent, I hope their still in good nick Goldie

[Pauline]

Thank you Goldie. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you

I know my observation skills are not as strong as they should be and I WAS curious about the colour of that Chalkhill Blue. I decided to return to the site to have a better look at him and hopefully get some better shots as, for once, there was no wind. I assumed he would be easy to find, not having flown far since yesterday evening given the cool temperatures. How wrong can you be! As I drove past Butser Hill I could see it was shrouded in mist and although it wasn’t raining I needed to put the windscreen wipers on to clear the droplets of moisture collecting on them.

By the time I got to Oxenbourne, a mere 10 mins drive away, the mist had become drizzle and the wind had whipped up from no-where! Great!! Shorts and trainers were not really up to the job so I started off by treading carefully. It was prudent to do this in any event as dozens of butterflies were hunkered down in the grass for some small protection against the weather, including the Chalkhills, which I had expected to find easily, roosting on stems of grass. I realised it might be a little more difficult than I’d anticipated.

One of the first butterflies I encountered was a worn, female, Marbled White, covered in raindrops followed by a Small Skipper tucked away as safely as he could be......

....... but I was on a mission, and proceeded to carefully check every Chalkhill I could find, scrutinising them for minor differences. Many of the male Chalkhills were very pale but I searched hard for specimens that had a dark colouration, similar to the butterfly from yesterday. The darkest ones I could find were these:

However, none were the same shade or tone of brown as the one from yesterday and their dark colouring did not extend all the way down the hind wing, tending to fade out to be replaced with blue. I found a couple of females and their colouring, although a bit deeper, was very similar to that on the hind wing of yesterdays butterfly.

I continued to search for him but couldn’t resist a few snaps as I did so including this rather attractive moth:

Suddenly, there he was on the grass in front of me – there was no mistaking him because of the damaged wing:

Frustratingly, the wind was now even stronger than yesterday but at least today I had a little more time. The shots are not great but they will do for illustrative purposes. The weather was deterring butterflies from flying so to enable an easier comparison between yesterdays butterfly and one of the darker specimens from today, I carefully placed the 2 of them on the same stem:

I appreciate that aberrations in Chalkhills are very common and variations even more so but I was happy to have confirmed to myself that it wasn’t just the spots that were different but also the colouration to quite an extent, although the degree of difference doesn’t show up as much in the photos as I would have liked .

On returning home and looking at my photos of my specimen from yesterday I noticed this (what was that about my lack of observation skills? ) Does anyone have any idea what is going on here? I assumed this was meconium but this butterfly was flying round yesterday and I thought that was something that was emitted shortly after emergence? I’m definitely not going back again to check!!!!

[Wurzel]

Lovely sets of Chalkhills and Silver Spots Pauline , I better get out there this week or they'll be all gone Is the substance coming from the abdomen frass (if that's what Butterfly pee/poo is called)? Also that is an interesting ab - almost female on the underwings and male on top

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Interesting observations Pauline, your shots considering the weather are good I think, I'm not too well up on Chalkhill abs, I thought I had a photo of one last year it's in my diary some where but I got no feed back on it so I'm not sure.Goldie

[Maximus]

Hi Pauline, just catching up on your diary. The destruction of the verges at the straits is an unforgivable act. When we when looking for SWF a while back the verges were full of butterflies and we also noted that Sallows were begining to regrow along the verges, I bet they've all been cut down another lovely site being ruined!

Lovely photos of the Chalkhill Blues and that's a really 'brown' male Chalkhill ab

Mike

[Pauline]

Thank you Wurzel. I thought it was an interesting ab not least because of the colour. It doesn't come out as well in the photos but it really looked like a female with wings closed. They say the camera never lies but ....... I was not sure that butterflies produced any sort of 'waste product' but you live and learn

Thank you Goldie - the weather was pretty abysmal and it was testimony to my poor observation that I had to go back a 2nd time to be sure it was really that brown!!!

Don't even bother to visit the Straits Mike as you will be sorely disappointed! Having said that Roy and Richard S plus Colin B had a PE down on the ground so perhaps not all bad

A visit to a vet near Chiddingfold today gave me the opportunity to pop into Chiddingfold Forest. The Botany Bay entrance was completely blocked with cars so I drove round to Oaken Wood and parked there. The short version is there were no PE seen today - not by me or any of the enthusiasts I spoke to. The good news is the second brood Wood White is out in double figures. Getting a good shot was impossible in the time I had but I witnessed what I believe to be courtship behaviour and egg-laying?

Doesn't match up (for me) to shots of them I have taken previously including:

The highlight for me however, was a fresh Holly Blue that just wouldn't leave me alone. 3 times I tried to put him down and each time he flew back to me. (I had just had a bath before I came out - honest!) I just wish he had opened his wings as he was the most gorgeous shade of blue. In the harsh sun it was very difficult to get the exposure right and I tried carrying him into shade and different backgrounds so that might account for the different colours:

[bugboy]

Looks like courtship to me with that tongue out and if that other one isn't laying an egg then my nephew is a very hairy primate! Great shots Pauline, Wood Whites are still on my 'yet to see' list.

[Neil Freeman]

Silver-spotted Skippers!!...this season is flying past far too quickly

Great report and photos Pauline, I especially like the backlit Wood white

Have you been taking lessons in 'Holly Blue whispering' from Dave(Millerd)?

All the best,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Thank you Buggy - they are a lovely butterfly, small and very delicate looking so I hope you get to see them soon.

Thank you too Neil. Yes, the season seems to be galloping on, far too fast and will be over far too soon

With a fairly strong breeze today, overcast skies and the local weather forecasting heavy showers later in the day, I decided it was more of a ‘larva’ day than a ‘butterfly’ day. Having seen all the egg-laying activity and large numbers of eggs I had promised myself I would return later in the year to MHD to see the larva of the Small Blue. Surprisingly (and unusually for me), the skies had brightened by the time I arrived although the temperature was quite cool and I felt a jumper would have been more appropriate than the skimpy t-shirt I was wearing – especially as a group of walkers I encountered were wearing thick coats and carried umbrellas!!!

Undeterred I made my way along the track and was delighted to see a fairly fresh Painted Lady – this is my 5th of the season.

I reached the site of the egg-laying and started my search. Why do I always assume these searches will be easy??!! In the first 15 mins I found several of these bugs along with many predators (spiders, snails, slugs) but no cats :

I was beginning to think I was too late and they had all crawled away to hibernate and then at last I spotted a cat – but definitely not a Small Blue .

There were a lot of grasshoppers around and now I’m starting to take a bit more notice I was surprised at the different colours and sizes:

At last I spotted what I was looking for, and once I’d found one , it wasn’t long before I found several others. I found 4 in an hour which was more than enough for me, and as I won’t be doing this again I took quite a few shots. As with most cats they were quite well camouflaged:

I looked up from my camera to see I was being watched by a fresh second brood male. Further along the path there were a few more including females.

As I meandered along I saw a Golden Bloomed Grey Longhorn beetle and this other gorgeous creature:

As I took my last shot of this moth the weather took a turn for the worse and the heavy rain which had been promised actually materialised – they had got it right for once!!! It looked like there was a bit of brightness in the distance but I decided enough was enough and I made my way back to the car, collecting a few everlasting pea seeds on the way (well, you never know! ).

Despite the doom and gloom, the wind and the rain, I was surprised to realise I had recorded 12 species of butterfly in the couple of hours I was there.

[David M]

Your eye is as good as anybody's on this site, Pauline. Those images are superb, as is your ability to find the larvae in the first place.

[William]

Superb Small Blue larvae, Pauline - it takes real skill to find older lycaenid larvae in the wild, and photograph them that well - brilliant

BWs,

William

[Wurzel]

Fantastic news about the Wood WHite 2nd gen and lovely shots - hopefully the weather will be okay next week so I can bite the bullet and make a visit for them.

Have a goodun

Wurzel