August 2015

[Pete Eeles]

Comma caterpillar seen today near me - on a Red Admiral caterpillar "tent".

Comma cat + Red Admiral tent2 160815.JPG

This stretch of nettles had dozens of these folded leaves containing Red Admirals of various sizes - but only one Comma as far as I could see...

Dave

Nice one!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Aughie]

Just took this in a field near me today 17/08/15

[Adrian Dowling]

I took a trip over Crawley way today with my wife Anne, where we were hoping to find Brown Hairstreak, as this is a species we haven't seen before, with it being absent from East Kent where we live.
What a day we had, a great run down, plenty of sun, very little wind and best of all at least 3 sightings of our target species and my first ever photo of one!

Certainly a very good start, but I feel further visits coming on in the future in an effort to secure 'the perfect shot'.
It was also a pleasure to meet Vince over there, it's always nice to meet fellow 'UKButterfliers' and put a face to the name.

Adrian

[Vince Massimo]

Great to meet you both as well Adrian
I'm very pleased you managed to get some shots. I saw a few up in the master tree, but none came down.

Vince

[Essex Bertie]

found a belated Purple Haristreak today at Mill Green Common, Essex. At first sight, the blackberries didn't seem ripe enough and on closer inspection, she was more interested in a small piece of mildew(?) growing on the stem.

[Testudo Man]

A great weekend had at both Queensdown Warren(Sat and Sun) and Darland Banks(Sat)...both sites in Kent.

On the 15th, i spent the afternoon at Darland Banks(having spent the morning at Queensdown Warren) and whilst talking to a fellow enthusiast, he spots a Clouded Yellow, which was flying hard/fast. We both laughed at the large numbers of "Blue's" that gave short bursts of chase, but they were no match for this beast! Then it landed, up a steep incline, so off i went, it was my turn to give chase! The Clouded Yellow made me work hard, but i never give up, so after 15 minutes of chasing, i finally captured some images.

Then on the 16th, i was back at Queensdown Warren, where i sighted 2 second brood Adonis Blues(males).

Some photos, cheers Paul.

Still plenty of SSS's at Queensdown Warren.

[David M]

Interesting observation, Essex Bertie.

On those rare occasions I've seen Purple Hairstreaks dipping their probosces into something, it always seems to be around the periphery of the berry itself.

[James M]

The weather has been pants lately up here but I finally managed to do my weekly butterfly transect at RSPB Dovestone.
16 Meadow Brown
14 Gatekeeper
7 Small Heath
2 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Small Skipper
1 Large Skipper
2 Speckled Wood

Plus at the other end of the site I finally found Purple Hairstreaks, which hadn't been confirmed in the site before

All in all not much variety around here lately, hoping for an emergence of Small Tortoiseshells and Peacocks soon as there has been lots of caterpillars.

[David M]

I'm surprised you have recorded so many Meadow Browns when they are all but spent here in south Wales.

[James M]

I'm surprised you have recorded so many Meadow Browns when they are all but spent here in south Wales.

I guess because we're further north and higher up?

[Jack Harrison]

Scotch Argus still flying 28th August a few miles inland from Nairn but beginning to look worn.

Jack

[Allan.W.]

Hi all,
Had a look at a local sight today,hoping for some 3rd brood Small Coppers,but unfortunately not a one,at the same site last year,and at the same time it was alive with Clouded Yellows,and good numbers of Coppers,but this year ,none .On the plus side though we did count 25 Small Heath and 3 Painted Ladies,after a bite to eat at the Rose and crown ,Old Romney we moved on to Dungeness, on leaving the car we quickly spotted our first Small Copper,and the second,was an aberration,in fact the same insect,that Hoggers posted in his diary yesterday,a bit of a fluke considering the numbers that were on the wing at Dungie! still a few battle worn Meadow browns and Brown Argus about,5 Painted Ladies,5 Small torts,a single Small Heath ,and 3 Hummingbird Hawks ,including an egg laying female,its been a good year for them this year,we see at least one on most visits. Regards Allan.W.

[badgerbob]

Butterflysaurus Rex and myself had an Adonis session today at the back of Seaford. We were more than surprised to find 2 male abs. One was so dark it looked much more like a female. That is, until it opened its wings and the vivid blue shone through. Rex will no doubt put some more images on his diary. They may both be ab. krodeli??

Male Adonis Blue ab.

Male Adonis Blue ab.

Male Adonis Blue ab.

[Matsukaze]

Some unusual-looking butterflies above - well done!

Nothing so exotic here in east Somerset but a few freshly-emerged Small Tortoiseshells and Painted Ladies about today.

[David M]

14 species seen in a 4 hour visit to the Pembrokeshire Brown Hairstreak site today.

Sadly, only one female betulae was observed (the stormy weather has likely taken its toll on this species over the last 10 days or so):

Full list of species/numbers was:

Small Tortoiseshell 30-40
Hedge Brown 15-20
Common Blue 10-15
Speckled Wood 10-15
Peacock 10-15
Painted Lady 13
Small Copper 6
Green Veined White 3
Small White 1
Red Admiral 1
Holly Blue 1
Meadow Brown 1
Large White 1
Brown Hairstreak 1

[Allan.W.]

Had a brilliant couple of hours today,at what I believe is one of the jewels of Kent nature reserves (along with Dungeness) ie;Lydden/Temple Ewell reserve,it was alive with butterflies today and harks back to long gone days ,on the downlands of hordes of blues every where you look! I didn,t count them but there were hundreds of Adonis.Chalkhill(in particular),Common blues,along with Meadow Browns,in surprisingly good nick,i managed to find about 12 Silver spotted Skips; and ten Clouded Yellow, ten!!
three times more than I,ve seen all season! even the single Small Copper we found was a blue spot, along with the obvious draw of the butterflies,its also home to Wartbiter cricket,and Britains largest cricket,the great green (sadly we didn't see either),we did find lots of Autumn Ladies Tresses (orchids) in fact you really had to look where you trod! Along with Autumn Gentian ,Eyebrights,Devils bit Scabious,plus loads I couldn't name,arriving back at the car we found 2 Holly blues in an Ivy,if you,re down this way give Lydden
a go ..you won't be sorry! Regards Allan.W.

[David M]

That Silver Spotted Skipper looks decidedly fresh for the eve of September!

[Allan.W.]

Hi,David,
I agree the Silver spot did look very fresh...... it was! and of the other 11 that I saw most were in the same nick,it seems that the Silver spots were quite late out at this site this year,i believe Goldie visited Lydden at around their usual appearance time but was sadly out of luck.
the one pictured below was freshly emerged,and found crawling across the footpath on 16th Aug.
Regards Allan.W.