millerd

[Wurzel]

Lovely BA shots Dave, the penultimate one is a real corker

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots Dave I Like all your Photos, their so clear and sharp, Graylings are usually very hard I find to capture, at Gaits Barrow they blend in too well with their surroundings, your photos pick them out good Goldie

[millerd]

Thanks, Pauline - the Wood Whites were lovely and this is the first time I've really had time with the second brood. They are subtly different - softer, somehow.

Thank you, Wurzel - brand new Brown Argus are little gems if you catch them just right...

Thank you too, Goldie, for your kind comment. I've seen Graylings up at Arnside and they just disappear against the scree there, and all my photos were awful. Your reports from the Dover area are bringing back memories too!

6th August: Nothing new or noteworthy to report from my local patch around 5.30 today. There were a lot of Common Blues about, but with the wind blowing them around and grasshoppers in swarms scattering at every footstep and disturbing them, I was limited to a few photos only today.

One individual had very pale marginal spots underneath - yellow instead of orange: compare the one above.

Other species spotted: Essex Skipper, Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Holly Blue, Small Heath, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Comma.

Dave

[Pauline]

That does seem rather unusual Dave. It will be interesting to see what others make of it. Well spotted.

[MikeOxon]

According to my 'South's British Butterflies' T.G Howarth, 1973: "Occasionally the orange spots are replaced by yellow ones (ab. flavescens Tutt)" My guess is that this applies to your specimen.

In Tutt 'British Butterflies Vol. IV' edited by George Wheeler, it states on p.133 (referring to the underside markings) : "The usual fulvous lunules vary in tint, sometimes, in their richest forms, being bright vermilion in colour (ab. rufescens), orange-red (ab. aurescens), orange-yellow (ab. latescens), pale yellow (ab. flavescens), or grey (suffescens),differing only, in intensity, from those of the upperside."

[Goldie M]

Great shots Dave, there doesn't seem to be many Common Blue Females truly Blue here ,nearly all Brown Goldie

[millerd]

Thank you for the detailed info, Mike. It would seem to be an ab., then.

I didn't really notice in the field, Pauline, so it was sort of spotted after the event...

There definitely seem to be more brown female Common Blues in the second brood than in the first, Goldie.

7th August: I finished work a bit early today, and headed up to Aston Rowant, reaching the hillside around five. Despite sun all around, within ten minutes a large cloud settled itself right over the hill and persisted until I left at seven. In some ways this was an advantage, as it didn't really stop the butterflies from flying, it just slowed them down a bit. However, during the latter part of the visit, the light levels dropped, making good photos harder to come by.

What was flying? There were lots of Chalkhills out, with quite a few females in there as well, though they are hard to spot and follow compared to the males.

Common Blues were also around, though fewer in number than the Chalkhills, and surprisingly I saw just one Brown Argus.

There were also Gatekeepers, Small Skippers, the odd Small Heath and good numbers of quite fresh Meadow Browns (another flush in their protracted emergence).

The stars of course were the Silver-spotted Skippers. This is always a reliable site, and there were lots of them today in every part of the hillside.

Finally, today's bonus was disturbing a female Clouded Yellow from somewhere on the ground. With the sun feeble at best, it didn't take long to settle again.

A first for the year, species no. 45 for 2015.

Dave

[bugboy]

Good stuff Dave, and lucky with that Clouded yellow. I've been keeping an eye out for them this year but not a sniff. I've got 44 species so far

[millerd]

Plenty of time for a Cloudie, Buggy - they are one of the things that can turn up as late as October.

8th August: A rather warm day, but I only had opportunities for a couple of quick walks locally. In the middle of the day, Common Blues were predominant, with a few Brown Argus turning up in a wide variety of places.

Another brown female CB

They seem to have spread out considerably. As ever, there were plenty of Holly Blues as well, and I did see a few females flying in and out of the ivy, settling on buds and apparently laying. The males prefer just to nectar.

Lots of Whites and a few Brimstones and Commas were also seen, plus very worn Gatekeepers, fresh Meadow Browns and Small Heaths, and one decrepit Essex Skipper.

Speckled Woods are also on the increase again.

I went out again later, after six, to see if I could find a way of looking across at the Purple Hairstreaks, if not actually down on them. I found that it is possible, but the butterflies themselves did not appear until after seven, coinciding with the arrival of a cloud. In the interim, many Holly Blues ambled past at mid-tree height or higher. When a Hairstreak finally put in an appearance, it was clearly a larger butterfly, and it flew entirely differently. One individual appeared, and then promptly flew across a wide gap between trees, passing very close to me in the process. The result of all this effort was yet more very distant blurry photos.

Spot the butterfly! I'll try again...

Dave

[Goldie M]

Great Photo's Dave,lovely Holly Blue, they're usually still after Landing when I've shot them.
I got my first Clouded Yellow today , What a prize But no luck with the SSSkippers, or Adonis, Goldie

[David M]

I empathise with you, Dave. Just when you think you're in position for a decent Purple Hairstreak shot the bloody thing twists round so it's facing you directly!!

[millerd]

Yet more Holly Blues today, Goldie - there really are lots round my way.

Yes, David, I've rarely got anywhere close to a Purple Hairstreak, and they seem to sense where you are so they present the smallest profile possible...

9th August: With other things to do again, only a short local expedition today again. However, a Holly Blue stole the show today. Without counting various Whites, of which there were many, Holly Blues were probably the most frequent and widespread species today. An emergence of Small Heaths might have pushed them in sheer numbers, but they were much more localised.

Nectaring Holly Blues usually turn out to be males, and they have a preference for pink bramble blossom.

However, they also have a great liking for the flowers of the snowberry, often found in ornamental hedges. Passing one such hedge (which has a mix of this bush, hawthorn and elm, and which was full of Comma caterpillars a couple of years ago), I found a female Holly Blue on a snowberry flower.

It moved to a sunlit leaf, but refused to open up before disappearing over the hedge.

A metre or so further along, I noticed another female butterfly sitting in the shade.

It was quite dark and the photo wasn't good, but it soon moved to a more sunlit spot and then to the snowberry flowers.

Very obliging, if a little worn, but the first second brood female this year that I've seen to open its wings even a little.

Dave

[essexbuzzard]

Shame i missed you on Friday Dave,but great set of images. You did well with the Cloused Yellow,i kept an eye but didn't see any all day. There were a lot more Brown Argus at the north-west end of the site,in the gullies,roosting among the blues.

[Goldie M]

Lovely Holly Blues Dave, it's such a delicate little Butterfly and you've caught this image in your photos Goldie

[David M]

You shouldn't care much that it's faded, Dave. Any open wing Holly Blue shot, especially if it's a female, is a precious thing!

[millerd]

Thanks, all. The Clouded Yellow was a lucky find, certainly.

Well, what a lousy week down here it's been. Wednesday was the only day any sun appeared, and all I could do was make a brief nip out to Bedfont Lakes Country Park near work at lunchtime and a short wander locally later on.

12th August: At lunchtime, Bedfont produced Common Blues in quite reasonable numbers, plus a few Brown Argus.

One Common Blue female had a very washed out appearance, but was actually pretty fresh.

There was also one Small Heath and quite a few faded Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns. No sign of a Small Copper - I suspect they have gone from here.

Near home, later, things were similar, though there were many more Small Heaths.

Naturally enough, despite a lack of sunshine, there were Holly Blues nectaring and Red Admirals patrolling in the gloom.

I found a Red Admiral caterpillar, which was in danger of imminent strimming, and it has come home with me. Here it is, with a leaf shelter under construction at the tip of its nettle stalk.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Love the photos of the Small Heath, especially the one with it's head nearly in the bud I always find them hard to photograph Goldie

[millerd]

I was lucky, Goldie - they were relatively inactive because it was cloudy. I can just about creep up on them.

15th August: At least there was a bit of sun today, but no opportunity to venture beyond my local area. The only addition to the usual mix of species was not just one, but two Painted Ladies. One was pretty new, but the other had been out long enough to have suffered a bit of damage.

I also saw the smallest Common Blue I've ever come across. A tiny insect, smaller than many Small Blues I've seen.

I spotted a female Common Blue close to the ground, and watched her lay a minute egg on a clover-like plant.

CB egg3 150815.JPG (66.68 KiB) Viewed 414 times

This is the butterfly responsible.

A selection of the rest:

Dave

[millerd]

16th August: With some reasonable sunshine this morning, I strolled down to the local garden centre café for a coffee. Alongside the pavement at one point there is a healthy stand of nettles, quite luxuriant after the recent rain, backed by a tall fence. I have seen Small Tortoiseshell nests here before, but unfortunately the nettles always seem to get cut down before the caterpillars pupate.

I decided to have a closer look today, and was amazed by the number of folded leaves betraying the presence of Red Admiral caterpillars. There were a good couple of dozen in this stretch of nettles - here are a few examples, showing the variety of construction used.

It is interesting to see how close to severing the leaves the caterpillars are when they construct these - many seem to be hanging by a thread. While photographing these "tents", I came across one Red Admiral caterpillar out in the open - I think from it's somewhat bloated and dull appearance it was about to change its skin.

Then I spotted another caterpillar on the outside of one large folded leaf: closer examination showed that this was in fact a Comma. Presumably these normally solitary creatures don't worry about the proximity of other species.

I have my fingers crossed this nettle bed is not for the chop soon - it is getting to the height when that is likely to happen. When they cut the grass verge, they'll cut this too. A resue mission would fill the house with caterpillars...

Of butterflies seen around the limited area I walked today (mostly suburban housing), there were a lot of various Whites, a Red Admiral or two, a Small Tortoiseshell on a garden buddleia, and the inevitable selection of ever more worn Holly Blues.

Speckled Woods are also now increasing in numbers quite noticeably. A spot of extra variety was this impressive moth, which I believe is a Red Underwing.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Lovely find with the Red Underwing Dave Great Cloudy too - they seem to be in shorter supply this year than last

Have a goodun

Wurzel