Maximus

[bugboy]

Some great shots recently. It's always nice to see a nice fresh Purple Hairstreak

[Maximus]

I'm glad the photo of our reared female Purple Hairstreak made your day Jamie

I'm very glad you liked the Purple Hairstreak too, Goldie

Cheers bugboy, and it's even nicer to see (and photograph) one in the wild, as you did at Bookham, great stuff


As the weather forecast for Thursday 10th September (yesterday) was looking good, we decided to make a last ditch effort to find and photograph a Brown Hairstreak at Noar Hill, after several earlier failed attempts. Initially our search revealed nothing. Conditions were almost perfect, but once again a gusty wind, a feature of our recent Summers it would seem, was doing it's best to spoil things. We searched the triangle, normally a good area for BH's, but found none, so we moved on up the site to a very sheltered chalk pit which has been good for us in the past. Meadow Browns gave us the odd BH false alarm, and good numbers of these were nectaring, some very fresh. Eventually, after some searching I spotted a Brown Hairstreak nectaring low down on a yellow Daisy. As I moved in for a photo she flew up onto a small Blackthorn and began the familiar pirouetting so typical of BH females looking for somewhere to deposit their eggs.

The first female looking for an egg laying site on Blackthorn

The freshly deposited egg, and Spider

Resting up after egg laying

During the morning we saw six different females all ovipositing, the most we have ever seen at low level at Noar Hill!

Although perhaps not the freshest female Brown Hairstreaks (it is almost the middle of September) we were thrilled to see them and their eggs bode well for next years population

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots Mike, the more mature Brostreaks certainly wear it well

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

You're really doing the Hairstreaks justice there Mike! Wish I'd been there to see the Purple HS close up. I've yet to see one at close quarters. Great shots of the BHS's as well!

ATB

James

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Mike, some great Brown Hairstreak photos there

I have only seen one this year and that was more by accident than design...I must try harder with this species next year (mind you, I think I said something similar last year).

Cheers,

Neil.

[Maximus]

Cheers Wurzel, a little old fashioned I may be, but they do wear it well

Thanks James, both BH and PH are lovely butterflies, I'm sure you'll catch up with them both next year

Cheers Neil, you'll always miss out on some species, it's difficult to find time for everything


Just before the weather changed (for the worse) we paid a visit to Old Winchester Hill NNR to (hopefully) find some Silver-spotted Skippers and second brood Adonis Blues. On a beautiful sunny morning we'd walked only five minutes from the car park and we'd seen both species! The Adonis Blue males were hard to miss as they stood out like shining blue beacons in the grass and all appeared very fresh. I hope that their population will increase here, as the number we saw across the site was low! The Silver-spotted Skippers were mostly quite worn but we did manage to find a couple of fresher females. There also appeared to be very good numbers of this dainty little butterfly across the site.

A little bit faded Silver-spotted Skipper nectaring on Autumn Gentian

A much fresher female

We saw eight Adonis Blue males.

We also saw male and female Chalkhill Blues in reasonable condition and some female Adonis Blues.

Glad we made the most of the good weather as it's now fairly grim.

[David M]

There's life in the butterfly season yet! Lovely images of some beautiful butterflies.

[Goldie M]

Lovely Butterflies Max, You've got two there I really envy Adonis and Silver Spotted Skipper :mrgreen:s Although I've shot them before I'd still like to get better photos of them ,I'll have to wait until next year now Goldie

[Wurzel]

Lovely Silver Spots Mike , I'm a little tired so I'm finding it difficult to link a song lyric in tonight

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Yes David, there's still a little bit of life left in the 2015 season.

Thanks Goldie, I'm sure you'll get some better shots of them next year

Thanks Wurzel, I can't think of one to link in either



While spending time at Noar Hill looking for Brown Hairstreaks, I was sidetracked (once again) by the amazing colour variations between female Common Blues. So as I did last year, I took photos of different individuals, in order to illustrate this.

Two fairly 'normal' brown individuals

various shades of blue

[David M]

Fantastic sequence there! It's amazing how much variability there is amongst these females.

[bugboy]

You found some particularly lovely ladies there, 50 shades of blue!

[Wurzel]

A lovely set of Blues Mike Some are almost mariscolore in colour and the variation is great to see, I wonder what the adaptative advantage the different colour forms have?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

It seems to have been a particularly good year for striking female Common Blues Mike. Those are real beauties. The variations have been quite pronounced making them a real joy to see.

ATB

James

[Goldie M]

Some really lovely Butterflies Mike and a striking variation of colours , great shots Goldie

[Maximus]

Thanks David, their variability always amazes me.

Very nice ladies bugboy, isn't fifty shades of blue an erotic film title?

Cheers Wurzel, almost mariscolore, but why would females want to look like males?

Hi James, female Common Blues are real beauties, I find the variations fascinating.

Thank you Goldie, glad you like the Common Blue variations


The promise of good weather on Wednesday found us heading down to Kent at stupid o'clock in the morning. Arriving at Dungeness at around 8am we were surprised at the numbers of birders already there. We had no idea at the time that they were all hoping to see an exotic American arrival to the UK, the Arcadian Flycatcher. There was a cool breeze when we got there, but once in the sheltered areas out of the wind we found our first Small Coppers. In the main they were fairly worn, but there were some much fresher individuals which we took full advantage of. About mid-morning we bumped into another UK Butterflies member, Hoggers. It was lovely to meet you and thank you kindly for pointing us in the direction of the radiata that you had just found, a first for us and very much appreciated.

The female radiata had some damage to a hind wing

A shot that shows you're never to old for love!

A lovely 'blue' female Common Blue

As we were overdosing on Small Coppers, having been starved of them so far this season, we forgot how fast time was slipping by. By the time we reached our main destination it was 2.30 pm and I cursed myself for not having been more disciplined. As we walked onto the site our first sighting was surprisingly a Small Copper. The SC was quite flighty and as we tried to get a shot it took flight and disturbed a blue butterfly from under our feet. It was obvious straight away from the size, shape, colour and the rapid twisting flight that we'd just seen our first Long-tailed Blue of 2015! The bad news was that it disappeared over the cliff edge not to be seen again. However, just a few metres on I spotted a second blue butterfly nectaring on a Scabious flower. It flew off and settled on a grass stem close by. As I crawled slowly in on hands and knees I saw a beautifully fresh Long-tailed Blue with wings closed. I was really over the moon as this was only my second close up view of a LTB, the other being in 2013, but as I tried to take a shot it took flight and I lost sight of it. A full two hours of searching failed to relocate it, and a search of the site failed to reveal any more. We stayed locally intending to return the next morning, but it was bucketing down so we headed home. As I didn't get a photo I'm posting an image of the LTB I saw in 2013 at the same site. At least we now know there's at least two LTBs in Kent, but in reality there's probably a whole lot more.

Kent 2013

[Hoggers]

Brilliant report, Maximus - Great to meet you both and I'm delighted that you caught up with the radiata!

Best wishes,

Hoggers

[Goldie M]

Sorry you missed out on the LTB's Max, but at least you've seen them and got photo's to prove it from 2013, a lot more than most of us have Goldie

[Wurzel]

Sorry the LTB evaded your lens Mike, mind you with the radiata already in the bag perhaps it was a case sometimes getting what you need?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Given the weather forecast for the next few days, further opportunities to see Long Tailed Blues should be available.

Good luck.