Wurzel

[bugboy]

A MALE Brownie!!!!

That second wasp you saw is a Ruby-tailed Wasp, probably Chrysis ignata. To quote Micheal Chinery's pocket guide to insects:
Commonest of several similar species... Parasites mason bees mainly, and often seen running over walls and tree trunks in search of their nests.

And to think it looked like you were catching up on your reports....... Looking forward to seeing whats flying in the Czech Republic

[Goldie M]

Wurzel , I'm late catching up on your posts but just to say have a great holiday, your photos are fantastic, White Admirals, PE, every thing. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Bugboy That's the wonder of Shipton Bellinger. I've had males come down there for the last 5 successive years. Cheers for the ID of the jewel wasp - I'm always a bit hesitant as BEWARS has it that there are a number of similar species and dissection is the only way to ID

Cheers Goldie Hopefully I'll latch onto a few new species for the life list

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Have a great holiday Wurzel , looking forward to your reports when you get back.

Cheers,

Neil

[trevor]

HI Wurzel,
I think you deliberately posted an image that would leave us seething, spitting blood and flying into
an uncontrolable rage of jealousy by sharing that male Brown Hairstreak photo as a parting shot
before your hols. Talk about being in the right place at the right time!!. What's worse i've never
seen a male .

Seriously, have a good'un
TREVOR.

[Katrina]

Some more of from me for the Brownies, SSS and Wood White - all fantastic shots

[Wurzel]

Cheers Neil I'm so far behind it'll probably be Christmas before my holiday snaps are sorted
Cheers Trevor They were supposed to be taster shots not 'bad taste in the mouth shots' If you're after a male Brostreak Shipton Bellinger and an earlier visit should see you right
Cheers Katrina I'm looking forward to sorting the rest of the shots

Having gotten back from the Czech Republic yesterday and visited Shipton Bellinger for female Brostreaks today I've got even more behind on my PD so without further ado the catch-up begins!

Mottisfont 19-07-2015

The final Sunday before the holiday and it was a family day out for me to Mottisfont. I had suggested a trip to Lulworth but my wife’s ‘butterfly trip’ radar was obviously switched on! Still I took the camera and away we went. It was actually quite handy as we took a new and shorter route and drove through Broughton so now I know roughly how to get to the Down for Silver-spotted Skippers.
Things were reasonably quiet with only a Large Skipper on the brambles when we arrived and I missed a grounded Holly Blue when some oaf wandered straight up to it whilst I was knelt ready to take my shot: “Oh look, a blue butterfly” he exclaimed. Indeed a blue butterfly and one I didn’t get a shot of thanks to you numpty boy I felt like replying.

We ambled and little L cart-wheeled our way up to the Walled Garden stopping on the way for face painting. A Comma and a Peacock both did a fly-by on the way in and there were a few Meadow Browns and Whites scattered around in the part with the four lawns. They were all very solar charged unfortunately and so I couldn’t get onto any. Once in the end art of the garden things seemed much quieter and calmer possibly because of the heady scent of the Lavender? Whilst here I saw a 5 or 6 Spot Burnett, Common Blue, Meadow Browns, Large White, Green-veined White and both varieties of Smessex Skipper - a first for me here I think.

After eating lunch and ice-creams we moved onto the other areas of the grounds including the house where were looked at the Charlie and Lola exhibition in the house so I didn’t get many more opportunities for many shots. Still it was a pleasant trip out and it’s always nice to add some new species to a ‘site list’ with the added bonus that now I know where Broughton is...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Looking forward to your Czech Republic reports, Wurzel.

I trust you had a good trip?

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel, hope you had a good time in the Czech Republic, looking forward to the reports.

Love the shot of the Skipper on the Lavender (022), cracking combination of colours with the background

Cheers,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Cheers David I could eb a while as I have about 10 oher postings in various stages of completeness but I will get round to posting a Czech report or two. The species count was a lot lower than I expected but I thought it was a successful trip as it was really a family holiday with me nipping off where I was able to
Cheers Neil I was happy with that shot too

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Glad you had a good holiday Wurzel, looking forward to your Shots Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie There will be a bit of a wait as I've got a lot of other posts to catch up on

Laverstock – 23-07-2015

Part 1
I was gutted when poor weather meant that I missed out on my final chance for an afternoon visit to Laverstock Down. Luckily K has been enrolled in the summer classes at her Tutors so now, weather permitting, I might be able to make two visits a week, possibly even three.
Today was the first and I practically flew up the Down as I was anxious of finding a Chalkhill for the yearly tally. I mean why not? I’ve encountered everyone of the other species mentioned in various SSSI reports or Species lists associated with the Down. The most likely place I thought would be the furthest ‘flower meadow’ at the bottom of the Down so I motored along the farm track and around the base of the hill trying not to get distracted on the way. It seems that I need to try harder as it felt like I was stopping every 30 seconds or so – for a nice fresh Peacock, Green-veined Whites as well as the obligatory checking of every Hedge Brown for excessa or other aberrations.

Eventually I reached the ‘meadow’ (not really a meadow at all but I don’t know how else to describe it!) and scanned across the tops of the grasses. A DGF caught my eye and as I approached it and it shot off I spied a ghostly blue skimming by – my first Chalkhill of 2015 – job done! I spent the rest of the remaining time here before legging it back to pick up K stopping only briefly to note a Holly Blue when almost back at the Tutors.

Part 2
Suitably refreshed and refuelled after lunch I took K back to the Tutors for the English session. Once more I hot footed it back to the Meadow noting 2 Holly Blues on the fallen Ivy at the start of the track. Once on the reserve proper I headed straight up the hill to the area which had previously held Adonis Blues so I could walk round to the meadow and come to it from above. I was pleased to find a couple of Chalkhills here before I carried on round.

Once at the meadow I spent some more time with the Chalkhills here, encountering about 6 different males. They all seemed very fresh, almost immaculate, and it will be interesting to watch the rise in numbers as they work their way to the peak.

I also spent some time wandering round the slopes of the Down in the hope of finding a Silver-spotted Skipper. They’re not mentioned on the SSSI report but the habitat looks good. Unfortunately I didn’t strike gold...sorry I mean Silver. Mind you over my visits here I’ve totalled 28 species, a mighty fine haul for a small bit of Down on the outskirts of a city!
On the way back I realised that still had 10 minutes or so which was lucky as the pair of Holly Blues were on the fallen Ivy again. This time I managed to lean in close enough for a few shots before one of them nipped off upsetting the one I was photographing. So I got back from Part 2 chuffed once again but my chuffed-ness quickly turned into embarrassment as I was 10 minutes late. The lesson had finished at 45 minutes past, not on the hour which I’m used to! Opps!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Great catch-up shots and narrative Wurzel, so often in life there's a 'numpty oaf of Mottisfont' to frighten them off

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, glad your back I like to read your reports, lovely photos too of the Chalkhill Blues Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Mike The numpty's are just another way we have to suffer for our hobby
Cheers Goldie on both counts

Broughton Down 26-07-2015

Having driven through Broughton, completed some research and got some very useful information advice from Pete I packed the girls and the camera into the car and headed off to try my luck at Broughton Down for Silver-spotted Skippers. My aim is to try to ‘wrap things up’ save for a possible Cloudy before jetting off to the Czech Republic so a Silver-spot would add nicely to my tally. Hopefully the predicted mix of sun and cloud would be mainly sun.

Once were got there we walked up the hill, stopping on the way so K and L could admire a three-legged dog and then dove down along the wooded ’tunnel’. I think we entered the reserve too early and so ended up at a small patch of ground which quickly sloped steeply down. K and L set off mountaineering down and we had lunch on the soft, springy turf at the bottom of the hill. Well they ate lunch whereas I wandered around after DGFs and mint moths nipping back to the picnic rug for another mouthful occasionally. The DGFs were tired and faded but were still hard to track down. Suddenly and orange/green blur buzzed by and landed just long enough for a few shots. Ace – with the Silver-spot in the bag I could now have a proper look around.

Once the girls had finished lunch we moved up the other side of the hill and while they read I mooched around finding the suggested entrance in the process. This area had similar low turf with a scattering of scrub and bramble and it felt slightly like the top of a cliff in the way the slope dropped away so steeply again. I set about looking for the Triple-S and they proved surprisingly easy to find. They’d pop up from under your feet and veer away in a fast buzz to drop down amongst the vegetation and become lost from view. Or they’d be sitting on a flower feeding in the sun and swaying backwards and forwards in the breeze like a Woodpecker pencil topper. Over the next hour I probably saw and photographed at least 8 individuals although the intermittent sun made photography tricky despite slowing the little blighters down due to the quality of the light.

There were again DGFs including one which seemed remarkably fresh as well as having white wing edges – a possible partial albino?

Eventually I felt that I’d gotten what I came for and so we walked through the wood, down the hill and then we drove on to Mottisfont – the sweetener/bribe and why the girls accompanied me. During a walk along the river in between playing ice-cream huts and using the wooden dams I checked out a large bramble bush which held 4 Commas, 2 Brimstones, 2 Peacocks, a Specklie, Large White, Small White and more than a few Meadow Browns and Hedge Browns.

Eventually we all drove home happy; me because of finding a cracking new site and Silver-spots, the girls because they’d had the water play at Mottisfont and my wife because she’d had 5 hours peace!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

You almost gave me a heart attack, Wurzel, posting images of Large Skipper on 20th August!!

[Goldie M]

Great Silver Spotted Skippers Wurzel, they seem to be every where but where I was in Kent, it would be interesting to know if any one did see them there at Temple Ewell, Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers David Sorry about that, I'm trying to catch up
Cheers Goldie They do seem to have had a good year

The Devenish 27-07-2015

Today I was supposed to be walking around Botany Bay photographing my second ever lot of Wood Whites but the weather reports on the Saturday when plans were laid were abysmal. Instead I spent the morning taking my wife to Shaftesbury for her ‘shop stuff’ and then dropped all three of my girls off for swimming in the afternoon. As I had an hour or two to kill and the weather wasn’t perfect I thought that I’d try The Devenish to keep my hand in.
Once on site I checked the stump and again there was a different type of wasp on the opposite fence post. The little tunnel of trees had a couple of Specklies guarding it and as I haven’t taken many Specklie shots this year I tarried here for a bit. One of the Specklies didn’t have very strong markings but I’m not as clued up about Specklie abs as I am Hedge Browns.

In the Orchid Meadow there were plenty of Meadow Browns, Hedge Browns as well as the odd white and a fresh Common Blue. There were also a few worn Smessex on their way out and nowhere near as active as they once were. The large Bramble had more of the same plus an H.Comma.

As I walked up the side of the Down a ghostly blue was flushed by a passing Marbled White. Ace the Chalkhills are out here too. But just as I thought that the sun disappeared behind the cloud and the wind whipped up the hillside. Because of this I found a sheltered little scallop area on the leeward side of the wood on the Down top. In here Meadow Browns, Smessex and a Small White were all feeding whilst the brambles had a few Hedge Browns and an immaculate Red Admiral.

As time was ticking by I needed to make a move back but I decided I’d better have a look for one more Chalkhills. So I wove my way forward and back across the Down using the rabbit run terraces. Suddenly glinting silver there was a male Chalkhill. It closed its wings took off and it was gone. Luckily I watched where it had landed and then somehow managed to relocate it amongst the low grasses. The cooling effect of the sun being in behind the clouds meant that I was able to lie down and steady myself to get in really close.

A quick check of the other Meadow offered a fantastic sight with Hedge Browns on almost every stand of the tall yellow flowers with the largest grouping numbering 9 individuals. Unfortunately despite my careful stalking and patient checking not one was an excessa. Last year almost every other one had some extra spotting yet this year so far I’ve found only two slightly ‘different’ Hedgies. A Brown Argus fresh out of the box did its best to cheer me up and succeeded especially when it closed its glorious chocolate wings to reveal a lovely orangey brown underside.

Not bad really, although Wood Whites would have been preferred .

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

...One of the Specklies didn’t have very strong markings but I’m not as clued up about Specklie abs as I am Hedge Browns...

Hi Wurzel,

That looks to be within the range of normal variation for a late summer male Speckled Wood, albeit at the darker end of the range. They tend to get darker as the season progresses although that is a generalisation and I have seen dark individuals in the spring and bright looking ones later In the year.

That is a lovely Brown Argus, great stuff

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Love the close up shot Wurzel Goldie