Bugboys mission

[Goldie M]

Arnside Knot is great Buggy for Scotch Argus, their so near the car park just through the gate and up the slopes a bit , also there's a great Fish and Chip shop in Arnside if your stuck for lunch Goldie

[bugboy]

Cripes, page 20 on PD already, not even a year old yet!

Arnside Knot is great Buggy for Scotch Argus, their so near the car park just through the gate and up the slopes a bit , also there's a great Fish and Chip shop in Arnside if your stuck for lunch Goldie

Can you recommend a good place to stay (and cheap)? It's gonna have to be more than just a day trip coming all the way up from London! Dread to think what prices will be at this time of year though


Aldbury Nowers Nature Reserve, 21st July

A half day with the sun shining was way too much for me to resist so I hopped on the train after work for the short trip up to Tring and a couple of hours in the Chilterns. The wind was rather blustery and it was one of those days where the sun can’t decide whether to come out or not so I spent half the time changing settings on my camera but there was plenty about. Skippers were bounding around, mainly Small and Essex, with the Essex looking distinctly fresher than the Smalls.

There were still a few tatty looking Marbled Whites lazing around but Gatekeepers have replaced Ringlets as the dominant Satyrids alongside the Meadow Brown, not a single Ringlet today.

I was also very happy to see my third Small Copper of the year, I’ve never known a year so bereft of them. It’s never a species I go out specifically looking for but one or two always turn up in most of my haunts. He’d been around for a few days and didn’t open his wings for me but he still looked good

There was also a rather handsome second gen Brown Argus flying near the Copper.

All the Whites were out in force, this female Large White settled at my feet to avoid the attentions of a male who proceeded to flutter off poking his nose at other white objects!

The nature reserve is two open areas (one of chalk meadows and one of chalk scrapes) separated by a stretch of open mixed woodland. In the sunny glades the patches of bramble are coming to the end of their flowering season and the flowers were being fought over by various species. Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Whites, Skippers as well as some new Peacocks, Commas and several Silver Washed Fritillaries which I wasn’t expecting!

There was even a Common Blue having a light afternoon snack.

On the other side of the woodland where the chalk Scrapes are I was hoping to find some Silver-spotted Skippers. I had noticed on previous visits large swathes of Sheeps Fescue but careful searching proved fruitless for this species. There were a few fresh Large Skippers who had obviously just emerged late with the sole intention to pretend to be Silver-spotted but if the real thing is there, it eluded or has yet to emerge.

I did however see a Small Blue. He didn’t settle despite me following him around for a couple of minutes before he vanished but even in flight it was obviously a fresh male so it seems a second brood is happening on the site.

A couple of Dark Green Fritillaries were about as well but the only one I managed to capture on camera was this illusive female who refused to allow me anything more than a few distant shot. Nevertheless they are still the best shots I have of a female.

I was also hoping for Chalkhill Blues here today since there is also plenty of Horseshoe Vetch around. I only saw 2 males though but then this is the first year I have visited this site so I have no idea what to expect as to density. It’s quite a small site so I would expect numbers to be relatively low. This male allowed a few close-ups and was in pretty good nick .

A Chalkhill on a chalk hill :)

There were also quite a few fresh Brimstones fattening up for winter as were several second gen Commas.

Not sure about others but in my experience Commas have had a phenomenal summer, I can’t remember a year when I’ve seen so many and the variety in markings has been wonderful to see!

A rather good range of species for for a two and half hour strole

[David M]

Agreed. Commas seem to be enjoying a particularly good July. I'm not quite sure why this is, as the other Vanessids don't seem to be having such a 'spike' in numbers.

[peterc]

Agreed. Commas seem to be enjoying a particularly good July. I'm not quite sure why this is, as the other Vanessids don't seem to be having such a 'spike' in numbers.

I agree and after a poor start to the season as well (at least in Herts)

ATB

Peter

[bugboy]

22nd July

Today I had two targets, two of the late summer flyers. The plan was Chobham Common in the morning for Grayling and then nipping over to Box hill for Silver-spotted Skipper in the afternoon.

The morning turned out quite nice, mostly light wind and plenty of sunny spells and when I arrived at Chobham I was welcomed by numerous butterflies having breakfast on a patch of Creeping Thistle.

This female Ringlet didn’t put up much of a fight to the faded males attentions. I guess it was a case of this late in the season you just have to take whatever’s left on the shelves!

There were lots of skippers around, Small, Large and Essex but I was surprised to see that Large Skippers were by far the most numerous; indeed as it turned out they were probably the most numerous butterfly all morning!

For a single brooded butterfly they really do have a long flight period!

The other dominant butterfly was the Gatekeeper, nothing with extra spots though (I did look Wurzel, honest!)

It was an hour before I saw my first Grayling, well it saw my foot close to it then I saw it fly off over the Heather. I returned to the same spot 10 minutes later and he was sitting there. After a few record shots I managed to creep up and lie on my belly to get a closeup before it was all too much for him and he flew off again.

Moving on I came across a couple of aged but still attractive Silver Studded Blues

And a lovely Speckled Wood.

It was obviously very early in the Grayling flight period for the site, last year I was tripping over them but looking back in my records that was on the 30th July. I did however finally find a mini hotspot for them with five or six flying around in a small area, all males and all looking very fresh. I managed lots of very similar shots, typical Grayling poses. But with the sun vanishing behind clouds quite a bit now I was able to get quite close to them. I tried to get some shots showing a bit of eye but you have to be bloody quick, only managed one rubbish shot of one feeding.

Such a variety of poses.......

Also flying with them, and being harassed by them on occasion, was at the time an unidentified Dragonfly. Looking through my guides I strongly suspect it’s a female Keeled Skimmer, a lifer for me I’m sure Bill (Willrow) will be able to confirm or correct me. The flight period and habitat certainly match up.

Time to leave but one more butterfly was waiting for me, a lovely male Common Blue

and the clouds parted right on queue.

Two and half hours, and two trains later I was at Box Hill and things had deteriorated drastically. Thick dark clouds now blanketed the sky and a rather strong wind had developed. A few brave Gatekeepers were about but even they vanished as the clouds got even darker.

This Gatekeeper had two extra spots on each forewing but could I get a shot to prove it...... Sorry Wurzel, you’ll just have to take my word for it!

I carried on regardless, hoping in vain the clouds would thin but no such luck. At the Silver-spotted Skipper bank I saw exactly zero butterflies. I took to egg hunting, having found them relatively easy to find last year, on the basis that if there’s eggs then there’s adults. I didn’t find any. Still, it is very early for them.

I moved up to the higher bank and was very surprised to see a Chalkhill Blue flying and even trying to bask in the nonexistent sun. He looked very fresh so maybe he emerged that morning when it was sunny. If he had hands I’m sure it would have been holding his head in them and wishing he was back in his pupae.

Wandering the hillside I flushed up a couple of Meadow Browns and a female Dark Green Fritillary. The fritillary got whipped up in a strong gust and was unceremoniously plopped down somewhere further up the slope next to the hedge line. I walked up not expecting se see any sign of her but remarkably saw her almost straight away, hunkered down and vibrating her wings for a quick getaway. I managed a few record shots through the grass stems before she was off again.

With the weather showing no signs of improving I decided to make my way back.....and then it started to rain. After a quick visit to the visitor centre to make use of the conveniences the rain had stopped, the clouds had thinned and the strong wind had practically vanished, all in the space of 5 minutes. Sometimes British weather is something to behold! I toyed with the idea of going back for the skippers but time was getting on now so after a brief stop to say goodbye to the Gatekeepers I set off home.

I’ll be back though, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday off work next week.

To end a little game of the annual 'spot the Grayling', an easy one this time

[Wurzel]

Found the Grayling! Great shots Bugboy, but as for the 'excessa' Hedge Brown I'll believe you, thousands wouldn't

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Willrow]

Certainly looks as if your dragonfly is a Keeled Skimmer, this particular female is into the final stages of maturity, hard to believe she was a beautiful golden ochre colour just a while back nice capture Buggy, especially if captured with your 20:20 vision using your phone...the one that you have to hold at arms length

Great couple of recent reports, much enjoyed

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[bugboy]

Thanks Bill, I was 99% sure I had the Dragonfly ID right. She did look old, can't really see in the photos but one of her hind wings was pretty much shredded! And no it wasn't captured on my phone its not that good a phone!!! Canon DSLR all the way with me although I have recently felt the need to fiddle with the dioptric adjustment knob.......

[millerd]

Nice Grayling shots, Buggy - I must get down to Chobham which is probably my nearest site for them. Last year I noticed how late the Large Skippers were here - I found a lovely fresh male on 13th July, plus several others. Strange how sites differ like this.

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Dave, It's a good site for Grayling

Walthamstow Marshes, 28th July

A somewhat blustery day spent roaming my local patch. I heard on a weather forecast the other day that 2015 is one of the windiest years on record.....I could have told them that !

The sun did make a few brief appearances but it was mostly cloudy and all in all not the best day for butterflying, nevertheless out I went.
Most of the butterflies were being sensible and taking shelter from the wind either low down in the grass or in a few very sheltered areas. I started off at the ‘Common Blue Meadow’ which at this time of year should be alive with browns, blues, whites, some coppers and a few skipper hangers on. Today there were just a few Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, Whites and a single Blue, most of which were disturbed as I walked along.

A sheltered patch further on gave me a few more Gatekeepers and a tiny male Common Blue, no bigger than an average sized Small Blue. This was the same patch I’d found a similar sized female Common Blue a month or two ago.

Still not too much going on elsewhere but I did check out a patch of ground that had been worked over by builders a couple of years previously and now has several Buddleias growing. In years gone by I would have expected it to be covered in Vassenids and whites but these days, certainly in London, that seems to be a distant memory. Today I found a single Peacock and a Red Admiral both clinging on for dear life whilst stuffing their faces with Buddleia nectar. They were both in good nick though and sat well for photos in the brief interludes between gusts.

I had been hoping for some nice Holly Blues today but they were probably all being very sensible and hiding from the wind like most other butterfly life. The wind wasn’t all bad though, I came across a pair of Swallows swooping around and flying just a couple of cm’s from the ground. They weren’t at all bothered by my presence, well except I was perhaps in their way and had to swerve to avoid me several times. It’s amazing to watch their effortless grace in the air at such close quarters. I decided to use the same principle as ‘give a group of Chimpanzee’s an infinite amount of time with typewriters and they’ll come up with the complete works of Shakespeare’ and put my camera on auto and sport settings, took aim and clicked as the whooshed past me. After 10 minutes I went through my results, lots and lots of blurred shots of nothing, some barely recognisable shots of dark blurs and then remarkably this shot !

Not prize winning but a million times better than anything I was expecting. Maybe those chimps will come up with the goods after all

10 minutes later I found a couple of Holly Blues, both flitting around a patch of late flowering bramble . I could see in flight it was a male and female but both refused to open their wings for some time, too busy feeding. It was interesting that when they encountered each other the male didn’t show much interest, maybe he was too fresh and not sexually mature?

Eventually they both settled to bask and opened their wings so I was able to try and get the shots I was after, battling against the sun as it went behind a cloud every couple of seconds!

Nothing much else for half an hour when I saw something small and orange darting around along a sunny hedgerow, it settled and there was a male Small Copper, only my 4th of there year and first on my local patch!

He spent most of his time doing coppery things, darting out and chasing anything that came into his airspace which today was mainly Gatekeepers! Speaking of which here’s a 5 spotted female for those who are into that kind of thing....you know who you are

In the same area I also saw my first (and last) Skipper of the day. A Large Skipper of all things. I didn’t manage a picture of her but did see her lay so I have my first Large Skipper egg

Another male Common Blue

and a couple more Holly blues a bit further prevented any withdrawal symptoms setting in.

I’ve seen Jersey Tiger Moths here for quite a few years now but never been able to grab a snap of one so when one fluttered past me and settled virtually at my feet I grabbed the chance . Spectacular looking things, like some kind of gaudy stealth bomber at rest.

I find the underside of moths like these a bit of an enigma though. Why all the colour somewhere that’s virtually never seen?
I should probably point out that no virtually pressure is needed to restrain moths like these. They don't struggle and rely on being distasteful so play dead until released .

Anyway it was still early afternoon so I made my way over to Abney Park for an hour. The weather wasn’t in the mood to change but at least it was mostly sheltered from the wind. Nothing unusual was seen here, some uncooperative Holly Blues, a few whites

Some Gatekeepers

And quite a few Red Admirals in varying conditions

I've had better days on my patch but still worthwhile

[David M]

That heavily marked female Holly Blue made your visit worthwhile all on its own, Bugboy.

[Wurzel]

Lovely Holly Blue Bugboy and a great 2 and 5 spot Hedge Brown - see once you start counting those spots you can't stop

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

She was a beauty David, just wish the breeze had died back long enough for her to open her wings better

Yes thanks for that Wurzel, another obsession to....obsess about!

29th July (Part 1), Box Hill

Another trip into the depths of Surrey in search of Silver-spotted Skippers. I woke to a clear blue sky and arrived in Box Hill a few hours later under a blanket of cloud, bloody weather! Still there were enough chinks in the clouds to allow the occasional ray through and it was relatively warm and not as windy as my last visit so maybe a bit of luck would shine on me today.

I was welcomed to the hillside by several Gatekeepers, a couple of Meadow Browns and a very pretty little female Common Blue.

I lingered further up the hill around a couple of patches of Wild Marjoram checking out some Gatekeepers and found a couple of spotty ones.

By mid morning there were some decent gaps in the clouds so I made my way over to the Silver-spotted Skipper bank to see what I could find. There were quite a few Gatekeepers in the flowery meadow leading up to the bank, a few Common Blues flitting around, an extremely tatty male Dark Green Fritillary and, unexpected, a relatively fresh female Small Blue. The sun had vanished again by now so she sat for quite some time, absorbing what heat she could and probably wishing she left emerging until next spring!

I slowly walked along the bank and saw nothing but the odd meadow Brown and another female Common Blue

until right near the far end, where it turns up towards the upper meadow. A small bronzed ginger blur landed on the path in front of me just as the sun reappeared. My first Silver-spotted Skipper of the year sat long enough for 3 shots before he vanished as fast as the sun did!

Unfortunately that was the last I saw of the Skipper but I did stumble across this pretty little moth whilst trying to re-locate him.

Pyrausta nigrata

Moving up to the next meadow I was greeted by at least 4 male Chalkhills, a tatty female Dark Green frit (probably the same one from my last visit) and yet another lovely female Common Blue.

I decided to head for the second Silver-spotted Skipper site I know of at Box Hill, Juniper Top. A few Marbled Whites were flopping around lazily and a Holly Blue landed in front of me, struggling to bask as the breeze blew him around. I managed one shot before he gave up and buggered off over the trees.

The breeze picked up and the clouds closed ranks as I climbed up the hill to Juniper top so by the time I got to the top it was very much not Skipper weather! Undaunted I set to looking for roosting skippers and quickly found one, just not the silver-spotted variety.

Such pretty eyelashes :)

10 minutes of searching threw up very little but just when I was about to head back another skipper shot past me and landed a few feet away. Somehow he was managing to stay active enough for me to get only a few more shots before he darted off into the distance.

So with only 2 fresh looking males it would seem the main emergence is still a week or two away.

Wandering back down a few fresh Six-spot Burnets were around and I found a roosting male Common Blue peppered with mites.

Due to the 'Law of Sod', by the time I had reached the bottom of Box Hill the cloud had thinned dramatically and I spent half an hour wandering around Burford Meadow in the sun surrounded by butterflies, half of me wishing I had timed the search for Silver-spotted Skippers a bit better. All in all there were around 50+ Gatekeeper, 30+ Meadow Brown, a couple of Brown Argus, several Common Blue, a few whites of all species, singletons of Ringlet, Marbled white and Peacock and 20+ each of Essex and Small Skippers as well as a fair few Banded Demoiselles and a few other bits and bobs.

Great Pied Hoverfly (Volucella pellucens)

With still nearly half the day left I toyed with the idea of trundling over to Denbies for an hour or two. But with the wind now picking up and the sunny spell all but over from the look of the sky I decided to nip over to Bookham Common to try my hand at finding 1st instar White admiral larvae, rumour has it they are quite easy to find when you get your eye in!

[David M]

Wow! Surprised you had time to draw breath on that visit, Bugboy.

[bugboy]

Wow! Surprised you had time to draw breath on that visit, Bugboy.

haha, that was just between 9am and 1.30! still got the rest of the afternoon to get through yet . I do love a good long day out in the countryside

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Bugboy, looking forward to the afternoon showing I found a few worn looking male Silver Spots at Broughton last weekend as well as some fresh females so they might be peaking sooner than expected.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

'ere you go then Wurzel!

29th July (Part 2), Bookham Common

So an hour after leaving Box Hill I arrived at Bookham Common. I like this site, it very conveniently backs onto the train station and even has an access point directly from one of the platforms . The cloud was well and truly dominating the sky now but at least I was sheltered from the wind and the air temperature was warm enough to keep a few butterflies active, the first who presented themselves to me was this lovely female Speckled wood.

I carried on searching for this afternoons quarry, looking for what I thought would be suitable Honeysuckle, trying to think like a female White Admiral 'now where would I lay an egg?'. As it turned out the most difficult thing seemed to be finding suitable Honeysuckle that was accessible. There is a lot there but most of it seemed to be halfway up trees or involved wading through thickets of Bramble and when it was within reach it was in full sun (well it would have been had the sun been out). A few other butterflies kept me company, some female Silver Washed Fritillaries, forced to feed from Ragwort now the bramble has pretty much all gone to fruit and a Large Skipper.

Given the condition of her, this skipper stands every chance of making it into August as long as she doesn’t get predated.

About half an hour after arriving I finally found some Honeysuckle that I could reach that was also nicely shaded. Scanning the leaves I looked for anything that looked like the images I’ve seen on this site in recent weeks.....nothing.
Then I looked round the back in the darkest, gloomiest area and there, plain as day, sticking out like a sore thumb was my very first encounter with a 1st instar White Admiral larvae. The rumours were true, they really are very easy to find. With the light levels being what they were I resorted to flash to get anything useful, I’d probably need a 5 hour exposure without it!

I didn’t find any others on this patch but you see all sorts of other curious beasties when you start looking closely in the undergrowth, a Lacewing Larvae having an afternoon snack, sucking out the contents of an aphid, yummy!

And a young harvestman Dicranopalpus ramosus.

Five minutes later I found another patch and I didn’t need to spend anytime searching, I saw 3 as I walked towards it (there was a fourth a few feet away).

Just hanging around!

Further wandering turned up more critters, this Spear Thistle was rather popular and getting well and truly pollinated!

And nearby a late male Silver washed Fritillary was feeding on Burdock.

Another half hour passed and I found another shaded patch of Honeysuckle with several more Larvae. Some of them were quite high up but still easy to locate.

This one got the munchies as I was watching them :)

Another Silver Washed Frit sat for me patiently obsorbing what heat she could from the air.

It was approaching 4pm now and time to make a move to try and miss the London rush hour. Striding along, my eye now well and truly in, I saw another Larvae without even looking for it, how do any survive the hungry gaze of a small bird! If I was a hungry Tit (children please), I’d be feasting on these!

This last one took my tally into double figures for the afternoon, not bad at all for my first effort!

One last butterfly showed off to me just before I left, a very beautiful Red Admiral.

So another very good day comes to an end with both targets seen and photographed 2015 is turning into a very good year indeed for me !

[bugboy]

Monday 3rd August (part 1)

Nearly all my annual leave this year was booked to coincide with various flight periods so when I booked the first week of August off way back in January, I thought it would be perfect for Grayling, Silver Spotted Skipper, Brown Hairstreak etc. I’d even recently toyed with the idea of a couple of days up at Arnside Knot for Scotch Argus and perhaps a late High Brown Frit or N. Brown Argus so you can imagine my disappointment watching the weekly forecast on Countryfile Sunday night! A nice low weather system smearing its inclement weather across most of the country. With the south east escaping the worst it looks like a stay at home week and hoping for a bit of sun.

Mondays forecast seemed ok locally so I dually left early to visit a few of my favourite Surrey sites. Chobham Common was first for some more Grayling action, hoping to stumble across some courtship and grab some illusive upperside shots. The sun took its time to turn up and whilst I wandered under drab skies I was chided by the local Stonechat population as I often am when visiting this site.

At one point a Dartford Warbler turned up to see what all the fuss was about.

Despite the cloud it was warm enough for Gatekeepers to be about and this lovely marked male posed for me as the sun made its first brief appearance.

Along a ridge getting slightly battered in the blustery wind a blue fluttered low over the heather, too silvery and large to be a Silver Studded and when it landed it was obviously a Holly Blue, a male though so I wasn’t going to witness any egg laying on heather. Only the one record shot before he was unceromoniously whisked away by the wind!

I made my over to the Grayling hotspot I found on my previous visit and was instantly greeted by a Grayling flyby. I searched around hoping to find some mating pairs but no luck so I had to settle for the usual Grayling pose. I did manage a few flashing their eyes at me though

Whilst searching I came across this little digger wasp busy.... digging

And I nicely patterned Harvestman

I made the most of the Grayling pose and played with composition

I was surprised to see some of the large Skippers relatively fresh that look like they may even make it into September!

As I was leaving to head of to my next port of call I noticed I was being followed! I thought it was a large dog when I caught a glimpse out the corner of my eye. I was inspecting some Gatekeepers for extra spots, but it was a Roe Deer casually wandering along the path behind me

Anyway, spot the Grayling time

[millerd]

Got 'em!! (But it took a while... )

Nice Graylings - another spot to pop down to from here - only 20 minutes or so.

Dave

[bugboy]

Well done Dave , yes its well worth a visit if the weather is good. I find the Graylings seem to congretate on the hills.

Monday 3rd August (part 2)

At the next site, Box Hill for Silver-spotted Skippers, the weather had decided to get worse, no sun and a thick blanket of foreboding dark clouds welcomed me. The clouds lived up to their foreboding nature and it started to rain a short while later, that fine rain that mums will tell you ‘soaks you to the bone’. I took shelter under a Yew tree and munched on a sandwich .

Sometime later it slowed to a point where I ventured out to wander over half heartedly to where the Skippers hang out. There wasn’t a hint of the weather improving (apart from it being slightly less rainy) so my chances of finding my target were somewhere between slim and nonexistent. Nevertheless I was determined not to go home with nothing. I found a couple of roosting Butterflies:

and a Chalk Carpet moth lead me a merry dance but refused to play nice. Another moth flew past and in the absence of anything else I followed it. I’m glad I did, it was a Straw Belle, one of Britain’s rarest moths. I’d spoke to a guy last year about them when I was getting my lifer experience of Silver Spotted Skippers. He was from BC and was doing a survey for this moth. I never saw any last year but this one proved much more willing to sit and pose than the Chalk Carpet.

Peek-a-boo

amazing antennae

I stayed with him for a while (getting rather damp lying on the grass in the process but well worth it) before wandering up to the higher meadow. A Chalkhill Blue was trying to bask despite the rain starting up again.

The return of the rain was my signal to make it a day, just stopping briefly to pry into the private life of a couple of Six-spot Burnets

Moral of the day: Persistance pays off