Wurzel

[trevor]

HI Wurzel,

Go and find some Holly Blues soon, there's some lovely fresh males around at the moment.
Like HIM. the new males seem to search the ground for their prefered delicacies for a few days,
then head for the trees. I've seen lots lately, but no females yet.

All the best,
TREVOR.

PS. That's one gorgeous White Admiral,and some superb images .

[millerd]

Splendid White Admiral, Wurzel - great to see one that hasn't ripped itself to bits on the brambles.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor I did find a Holly Blue but it was too far into an Ivy bush to try out the technique
Cheers Dave I was lucky with this one as most White Admirals it seems just want to mess themselves up the minute they're out of the chrysalis

Week Beginning 06-07-2015 Larkhill

06-07

AM
I didn’t really take a count this morning as once again I just walked as clouds of butterflies magically appeared from my feet. It seems that old guard are heading off as what was once a mixture of small blues and greys have now been replaced with larger browns and little golden bullets. This morning I spent some time (4 out of my 5 minutes) checking out antennae tips on as many golden skippers as I could approach. It was tricky work, not so much the checking more the approaching as even this early in the morning they were very active, all charged up and ready to go! Of those that I did the majority were Small but the number of Essex are increasing and possibly by the end of the week there could be a 50:50 ratio of Small:Essex. One Essex was particularly well marked with the black antennae appearing almost green in colour.

I did see a few Small Heaths in amongst the multitudes of skippers, Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites which seem to be reaching their peak now.

07-07

AM
What happened? This morning everything was wet underfoot – I even ended up driving to work with the blowers on full – something I’ve not had to do for a couple of months now! It showed in the morning count – with only 3 Meadow Browns, 7 Marbled Whites (all of which were communally roosting), 6 Ringlets and 11 Smessex Skippers.

PM
I wandered the Northbound path today for a change and also as the wind was blowing and the line of scrub sheltered this path whereas the Eastbound it would have whipped down it. I had to walk a far bit up the path to get beyond the line of grazing and I’m not convinced that this first part of the path will return to its former glory but as the graze started to lengthen I started to see butterflies. First up a couple of Ringlets, then Marbled Whites and it was only when I got really into the grass that I started seeing golden skippers. Once I’d seen one they seemed to be everywhere and I would stop and count them, well try and count them. I’d get to 27 or so and then one of the little bu$$ers would set the whole lot off and they would whiz here there and everywhere looking a little like someone had knocked a beehive over! It made counting almost impossible so after noting the one offs – Small Tort, Hedge Brown and a Common Blue I just enjoyed the show once more!

08-07

PM
Just walking from my front door to the car was enough to soak me to the skin so I decided not to even bother stopping off for a morning visit. The afternoon was only marginally better, cooler and greyer than of late with a wicked gusty wind. I’d have lined a shot up of something on a Knapweed and the shots would be blurred as the wind ripped along the Eastbound path. The butterflies would grimly hold on like a toddler on one of those play ground spring horses. Not happy I beat a hasty retreat without making a proper count.

09-07

AM
This morning was much better and as I was going to have to get home pronto in order to see K playing the part of Eliza Doolitte in Olivia I tarried a little longer than usual. After the grimness of the Eastbound path yesterday I decided to head oop North instead and I was glad that I did as there was a cracking sight to see. Meadow Browns seem to be coming into their prime with Marbled Whites still holding their own and the Ringlets fading with each passing day. Some are a shadow of their former selves not so much chocolate more old chocolate that’s starting to go white.
However the real stars at the moment are the golden Skippers as I lost count at a maximum of 40 although I’d only managed to count about half of what I could see! One would blunder into another patch and they would all go up and so I would be back to square one, in fact I was in danger of dropping off such was the amount of counting that I was doing!

10-07

No count as I was ill again Off to the Quacks in the holiday methinks

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

Have just been catching up on your epic diary Wurzel. So many good things to comment on I don't know where to start. The first picture of mating pair of Small Skippers is a beautiful capture . Also liked the female Dark green fritillaries and the near mirror image Marbled White .

The Privet Hawk (the UK's largest resident) was a great find ...have yet to get one in my garden light trap . It's also a tad more impressive than my Bradley Fletcher birthdate moth the Clouded Silver .

Your description of the dawdling driver at the lights .... I fully understand where you're coming from
.
Finally, you may have said it in jest but I wonder if sun-cream does attract the butterflies . In my post (part 3) on Tenerife from last year I hinted that it was the Nivea factor 50 pulling in the Canary Blues, so much so we were beating them off in the end.

[Pauline]

Some great shots there Wurzel (how did I miss them?). Love the mating Small Skippers and the recent Essex shots. Agree with Phil, DGF splendid also Do try to catch up tho'

[Willrow]

Really like your skipper shots Wurz, sometimes the critters can frustrate the pic-taker, but they pose nicely for you on the above images

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[bugboy]

Great couple of recent reports Wurzel, thats a lovely White Admiral that graced you with it's presence

[Wurzel]

Cheers Philzoid Very lucky that Privet Hawk moth was If there is anything in the suncream as attractant then I'll be sure to slap on loads when I'm in Czech As for the 'driver' I'm glad someone else gets it
Cheers Pauline I'm trying to catch up - but I keep going out just as I start to make head way on the backlog
Cheers Willrow The trick was getting there early enough
Cheers Bugboy That White Admiral was amost as regal as his Nibbs

Laverstock 06-07-2015

So we entered the penultimate week of K’s official tutoring and my opportunity of getting out for a quick butterfly fix . Hopefully the weather will play ball during the holidays and I can get up here when K has her Summer classes .

After finally photographing a DGF in Grovely Wood at the weekend I thought that I should really try to find one here at Laverstock and so I reasoned that I had best take the farm track as that would mean getting onto the Down proper without the distractions of the path on the way. It worked well and I arrived at the bottom of the reserve and then I worked my way along the path at the bottom of the hill checking out every Knapweed and Hawthorn scrub on the way. However I was still drawing a blank for the DGFs although the there were plenty of butterflies around with all manner of whites and browns plus the seemingly ubiquitous Smessex Skippers.

At one of the little stands of Hawthorn I was busy watching an almost lemon Small White when a small grey butterfly buzzed in. From the speed and the nature of its flight as well as the territorial behaviour I was convinced it was a Greenstreak – but in July? I didn’t think that they had this long a flight period but as I leant in with my camera that’s what it turned out to be.

I carried on checking each bush on the way and it was a joy to see the bushes alive with butterflies. By far the most numerous were Meadow Browns but the numbers of Hedge Browns seemed to be building although I didn’t see any excessa. There were still many Marbled Whites flying but they seem tatty and grubby compared to the bright and fresh Whites of four species.

Eventually the path opened up and I’d reached the ‘flower meadow’ at the bottom of the Down and the Marbled Whites took over as the most numerous species. As I was enjoying the spectacle a ginger beastie shot by and then landed on some Knapweed. It spent the whole time it was nectaring partly obscured by the long grasses and I didn’t want to move the grasses like pulling back a curtain as I was sure that it would flush it. Instead I did my best to find a hole amongst the grasses and focus thought them.

Chuffed I strolled back to collect K. It didn’t matter that the DGF was torn with holes in its wings, all that mattered was that I’d set out hoping t see all the butterflies listed from this site and now I was only one, possibly, two species away.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

A July Green Hairstreak, Wurzel? Your bogey species from a year or two back? Pretty unusual, though - it must have been getting on a bit. Well done on getting close to that target - those little achievements are very satisfying.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cheers Dave I have since met my target, well that is if I don't include a Brostreak as they're not mentioned in any of the literature

Bentley Wood 11-07-2015

Somehow I managed yet another wangle out of the Saturday chores – I’m getting good at this – if only I could work out how? I arrived in the car park early and there were still spaces to park and it was quiet with no butterflies flying over so I headed off down the switchback towards the cross roads. As in previous solitary PE visits I didn’t stay solitary for very long and when we got about 100m along butterflies started landing on the deck. First a Red Admiral and then an H.Comma both fluttering down to take salts. It was great as I haven’t had much luck with Red Admirals this year. A few little grey blobs fluttered out from the tops of the trees and crossed from one side to the other – my first Purple Hairstreaks of 2015. It was fun watching their exploits through my bins but that wasn’t why we were here.

Luckily we weren’t kept waiting long by His Nibbs and a monster butterfly came roaring down, did a fly-by circling the group and me in particular a couple of times and then landed on the deck – get in! I clicked away from a distance but it wasn’t to be as one over eager chap rushed in too quickly. Honestly I think guidance leaflets should be printed and distributed from the car park to prevent this type of thing happening!

Never mind a second one came back down (different markings) but it was struggling to find minerals on the dry stony ground despite at least 2 contributions from the group. I was a little put out as I’d spent the previous day eating lots of salt and vinegar crisps and drinking Badger beer especially! As it was trying unsuccessfully to find something to probe it kept walking around and going in and out of the shade so the double purple shot wasn’t on the cards. In fact by the time it did settle and the purple did show it was pretty distant and we were loathe to approach it after the first had been flushed. Eventually He decided that He’d had enough and flew up to sit in the treetops waiting for a scrap.

It was tempting to wait here to see if he’d come down again but I decided to head off and try Donkey Copse. It’s surprising the effect that His Nibbs has on you as I spent all of the walk almost oblivious to the other species all around me. I ignored the Ringlets, Hedge and Meadow Browns, Large and Smessex Skippers, Silver Washed Frits and White Admirals. Instead I kept scanning the path ahead for shark fins whilst at the same time watching the treetops! I gave up in the end and started noticing other things around me including; a few more Purple Hairstreaks that flew up from the Bracken into the Oak just before I reached them and the fact that the verges on the way to Donkey Copse had been hacked back.

I then retraced my steps and upon reaching the crossroads crossed over to see if the Whitters were about. The walk there was kinda frustrating as everything by now was in full-on flight mode apart from the occasional salt taking Red Admiral. Once there it was a case of pouring a coffee and standing with my neck at 90° to my spine. Occasionally a few little brown squares would flip across from one branch to another or two would detach themselves and spiral briefly locked in combat. So Whitters seen but not a chance of them coming down and to rub it in even more His Nibbs did a fly-by! As my neck was now in serious need of some chiropractic maintenance I headed back to the car park stopping on the way for a brief encounter with a Dark Green Fritillary.

In the car park it was decision time...check out the Eastern Clearing or move onto the Forest for Graylings at Godshill? I plumped for the EC and so set off. There didn’t seem to be too much around in the main part (the bit which is good for Pearls/Small Pearls) and so I ended up at the bottom in the tussocky grass and where there is a large collection of Bramble. I spent a good 45 minutes here picking up White Admiral, Silver Washed, 4 species of whites and a Peacock as well as the usual Browns. The star of the show however was an H.Comma, the usual comma mark was completely joined to make an ‘o’ – is this a named aberrant?

Please with my haul – three species for the tally, a Bentley DGF, possible aberrant Comma and an audience with His Nibbs I headed home early, a few extra Brownie points earned.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

HI Wurzel,
Very well done with his knibbs . When there is a crowd waiting for an audience patience is essential.
Charging in ruins any chances of a photo for everyone . Though i did accidentally spook one this year
But hey !, i found it, and called out to the other photographers who did at least get some shots.

Great reports as usual,
TREVOR.

[Maximus]

Great report and shots of the Purple Emperor it's always difficult when a group of keen people want to get a photo of HIM! As Trevor says, patience is a virtue, if that's possible
BTW Lovely Comma ab o-album

Mike

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

I'm playing catch up again, some great reports with cracking photos in your last few posts
With regards to your late Green Hairstreak, I saw a remarkably good condition one in the Heddon Valley this year at the end of June and a couple of years back, in the same spot, there were was one in the first week of July.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Nice PE shots Wurzel, I have seen a few very late Green Hairstreaks in the past. One of them was so old and worn that practically every last bit of green was gone!

ATB

James

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor As I said in my post there should be a gudiance leaflet given out to everyone trying for His Nibbs
Cheers Mike for the coments and also the ID 'ab o-album'
Cheers Neil and Rex Climate change is doing funny things with butterfly lifecycles

August 2015

What already! Where has the summer gone, and more to the point have we actually had one?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Larkhill WB 13-07-2015

13-07

Horrible weather meant that I didn’t stop either in the morning or on the way home, in fact it was so bad I didn’t even get out while K was at tutoring!

14-07 PM

The weather was still wet in the morning and so I ended up driving to work with the blower on full, my trousers soaked through from the knees down and no butterflies to show for my efforts. By the afternoon it was still cloudy but at least it was dry. I wandered up the Northbound path not seeing an awful lot until I got to the large patch of Brambles about 100 metres in. It felt like all the butterflies of Larkhill were crowded into this one area and in one view I could see Marbled Whites, Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Smessex Skippers all over the place as well as a couple of Hedge Browns. It was fantastic to see so many butterflies all jam packed into this one little area. The stroll back down to the car was strangely quiet until I got buzzed by a possible H.Comma. It was flying really fast and seemed far too ginger to be DGF?

15-07 PM

More moist weather again this morning so I didn’t bother stopping and instead I waited until things had cheered up on the return journey. Checked out the West bound path and mooched around the Golden Rod to start with accompanied by Meadow Browns, Smessex and the odd Marbled White. Ringlets seem to have really dropped off in the last day or so and the only definite one I saw was very faded, no longer the delicious chocolate velvet but looking a bit flaky and pale. It was difficult to count most things as they were all pretty active and would take off from around your feet sometimes flying forward down the path directly and others swinging out wide to suddenly drop down on the path, again in front of me.
I checked out the Golden Route on my return and spied plenty of Smessex Skippers, the golden blobs showing against the grass belying their presence. As I scanned across them one looked much bigger than the others and n closer examination it turned out to be a pair in cop, and even better than that they were my first ever Essex pairing.

16-07

After the joy of finding my first Essex Skippers in cop yesterday I headed back to the stands of Golden Rods and there again was an Essex, then a second and when I peered closer a third, fourth, fifth, sixth and a seventh! I decided to check the other side of the Golden Rod and there a Hedge Brown tried to lead me on a merry dance. From here I strolled briefly down the Eastbound path and noted the butterflies. I find it a good habit to count both ways and then I use the larger of the two numbers. Generally the second trip produces the larger number and so it was today with the final numbers reaching 1 Hedge Brown, 8 Essex Skippers, 3 Small Skippers and 12 Smessex, 6 Marbled Whites, 9 Meadow Browns and 2 Ringlets.

As I was driving to work I realised that I had a visitor when a Small Skipper landed on my dashboard and seemed to be enjoying the view through the windscreen. So I had to pull over and try and shoo it out, but it didn’t want to leave first resting on the window, then back on the dash and back on the window a second time. Finally it fluttered off to pastures new, literally!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Katrina]

I love the first skipper and reflection shot. I wonder if he could see himself.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Katrina I's like to think so but probably not

Godshill and The Devenish 18-07-2015

I was already in the holiday mood and so when I’d done my Saturday jobs and I looked out the window and it was stills sunny I jumped at the chance of a pre-holiday butterfly trip. There was only one place on my mind and that was Godshill. If I drove without any interruptions and could get there and have a good hour on site as it were. As luck would have it I made it in great time and was soon walking off the cricket pitch and down the path threading my way through the gorse and I didn’t even get to the bottom of the hill before I found what I was looking for. There sitting in the middle of the path was a Grayling. Normally it takes a while to remember how to approach them so as not to spook them but this year I got it right first time and was able to get right in close, actually lying down on the path and resting on my elbows so that I was on the same level as the butterfly. A local horse rider approached and so I elbow crawled backwards and then gradually got up still not flushing it and moved to the side of the path while they moved on. The butterfly however didn’t appreciate the vibrations made as the horse went by and it skittered off with an arcing flight which was interspersed with a few glides. Landing further down the path and raising its eye to scare the horse away.

I carried on down and made my way to the triangle of paths that is my preferred spot. After walking around and seeing Graylings on the Adjacent and not the Hypotenuse as in previous years I concentrated my efforts mainly here. There were other butterflies around with plenty of Meadow and Hedge Browns, some Small Heath as well as a couple of battered Silver-studded Blues and the odd Smessex Skipper but I focused mainly on the Grayling. They really are a value for money butterfly as they offer not only the hidden beauty of the orange of the top of the wing, fantastic cryptic patterning, loads of variation, interesting behaviour but also offer a really entertaining chase. Their flight pattern seems erratic and very flappy with gliding thrown in for good measure and they just seem to melt into the background as soon as they land. This species is probably in my top three!

All too soon I had to make my way home as I had to drop my younger daughter off at a Birthday Party so I made my way back up the hill, stopping every now and again for another errant Grayling that caught my eye and wanted to play!

I managed to get back in time to pick my little girl up – she was dressed as a Black Cat – and drop here off at the party. I then had about an hour and a half to kill before I needed to pick her up which wouldn’t be enough time to get back to Godshill but would be enough to pop over and check out The Devenish so that’s what I did. It was nice to park up and not have to run up the side of the Down but rather take my time and just noodle around. I started at the Tree Stump in the lower Meadow/Paddock. There were a couple of different Bee species, all very small and I managed a record shot of the smallest which was metallic green. Getting anything better was really tricky as it was so small and didn’t stay still. I then strolled round the Meadow and was delighted at how many Hedge Browns there were and I then cut through the Orchid field to get up to the side of the Down. There were a couple of Specklies here as well as a lovely fresh Brown Argus.

Once up on the Down I didn’t see a single Blue and certainly not any of the ghostly pale variety that I was hoping for (Chalkhills). However the flowers at the base of the Down at the margin with the wood were crawling with butterflies. It was a fantastic sight to behold with 10 species visible at once. I checked the numerous Hedge Browns and found a mating pair as well as a possible ab which had an extra ‘eye’ on the underside of the forewing. To be honest it was mesmerising and in the end I just sat down and watched and enjoyed.

I then took another stroll around the Paddock and as I was buzzed by an H.Comma a couple of times I thought that I should get my own back and get some shots. Eventually I managed to track it down to the far side of the field where it was roosting up in amongst some of the fallen/felled trees. Here again were huge numbers of Hedge Browns, but try as I might I didn’t dins any excessa, I might have to wait until the annual trip to Aberaeron for some Hedge Brown abs.

I needed to get back but I was almost late as a tiny iridescence caught my eye on the stump. I approached at almost a snail’s pace as every time I’ve approached this stump to get shots the bees will be gone. My caution worked and there was a beautiful Jewel Wasp! The colours so stunning it looked artificial.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Some lovely shots of Gatekeepers there Wurzel - and I have never seen a wasp like that before, stunning! I must check to see how widespread they are and likely environment. Good find with mating Essex too How come I can find 2 pairs of SSS on a site where there is only about a dozen but where there are hundreds of Smessex I never see a mating pair?

[Wurzel]

Cheers Pauline I think that they're pretty widespread as I've seen them in both my old garden and at work before now. The Smeesex I've found recently have either been 'at it' early in the morning or deep in the vegetation so that could be why

The family Wurzel are off to the Czech Republic tomorrow (well Saturday really but we're staying at the airport tomorrow night) so to keep appetites whetted here are a selection of images from the posts that will be available upon my return...

Botany Bay

Broughton Down

Studland and Durlston

Shipton Bellinger

See you when we get back!

Have a goodun

Wurzel