essex buzzard

[Padfield]

Dream butterfly. Brilliant.

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Nice one Mark! A real beauty.
BWs, Neil

[trevor]

[David M]

That's not worthy of a gold star.....a diamond one is more apt.

Superb find and I imagine the first image of this species posted on here?

[essexbuzzard]

Thanks for the comments,everyone. You can imagine my amazement. When i saw it,i thought i would be checking if it was a Small or Southern Small White! Didn't know what it was untill i got back to GB. I was also stunned to see an orange tip flying in autumn,but it seems Desert Orange Tip is repeat brooded. Here is another picture...

[essexbuzzard]

There was a female present,too. There were a lot of people around,and she was disturbed several times,but she frequently settled,though not with her wings open...

[bugboy]

And in immaculate condition as well

[Goldie M]

Lovely Butterfly Mark, weren't you lucky. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Stunning stuff Essex that is a real gem of a butterfly and the female is beautifully marked

Have a Goodun

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

Thanks everyone,yes,they were in mint condition and beautifully marked adults. Yes Goldie,i was incredibly lucky,though i did put a bit of effort in for that one. And to think,most visitors to the Costa Del Sol lie on the beach all day!

[essexbuzzard]

COPPERS AND COMMAS PART TWO!

Last Thursday (8 Oct) and something a little different. I visited New Hall Vineyard,near Danbury in Essex. With 100 acres of vines,this is one of the largest and oldest vineyards in the country. You might think our climate is only marginally suitable for grapes,at best, but it seems the dry,warm weather (well,sometimes) in south East Anglia produces a perfectly good crop. Even in the washout year of 2012,New Hall suceeded at a time when most other English vineyards failed.

At weekends,you can book a guided tour but,having introduced myself,they very kindly allowed me to wander freely throughout the site,making for a most enjoyable couple of hours. A few butterflies were found. Several Small Coppers,a Small Heath,single Large and Small Whites and a flypast Red Admiral. Buzzards were circling,and a kestrel was hovering over the vineyard. Before i left,i thanked them,and,of course,purchased a couple of bottles of their excellent wine.

[essexbuzzard]

THEN onto Bedfords Park for another visit. Plenty of Small Coppers here,too-some again with blue scales on their hindwings,to a varying extent. A Comma was feeding on blackberries and,further up,another was on devil's bit scabious. Another enjoyable couple of hours well spent!

[Goldie M]

Lovely Butterflies essex, I love the Comma on the Berries it shouts of Autumn and the Small Coppers are superb Goldie

[essexbuzzard]

WITH the cold,dull weather,the butterfly season has finished early,apart from Long-tailed Blues in Sussex,of course! Compare this to last year,when i was still seeing Clouded Yellows and Walls,and temperatures reached the 20's!

So it's time for a trip to Brownsea Island,in Poole Harbour. For a change the sun shone,and in sheltered areas it felt quite warm. A Red Admiral,couple of Small Whites and Common Darters were still hanging on. A flock of spoonbills were on the lake,with lots of avocets and black-tailed godwits among others. But the highlights of the day these beauties, abundant on the island in the absence of their grey cousins,and easy to see at this time of year...

[Goldie M]

Hi! essex, great minds think a like I went to Formby Point on the same mission No Butterflies though but the Squirrels were great Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Essex It always wrankles me slightly when nature programs talk about Red Squirrels in Britain and always forget about the Brownsea/Dorset population Still we might be able to keep em for ourselves

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

NORFOLK

Yesterday (Wednesday) we took a trip up to Horsey Beach,near Great Yarmouth. At this time of year,the grey seals arrive on the beach to have their pups and the sight of a sandy beach, with seals and pups dotted all over,is a strange one.

This breeding colony has only been here for a few years,but has increased rapidly. Already,330 pups have been born here this year, with more every day. They will continue to be born untill the end of February.

[essexbuzzard]

SUCH a shame i couldn't make the UKB winter (late autumn) social-working weekends can be a pain at times. But it looks like everyone had a good time,thanks for posting the pictures.

The Essex Heath Fritillaries are struggling. Two negative things are contributing to this.

Several of the sites are on council owned land. These are times of major cutbacks. Maintaining a coppice cycle costs money. Much of this work in done by contractors. Spending money in this way is becoming harder to justify. You can imagine the public outcry if a hospice closed,or a major road improvement was cancelled,only to discover the council had spent big money 'saving butterflies'. The press would have a field day!

However,at a couple of Essex Wildlife Trust woods,the opposite problem occurred last year. The fritillaries were so abundant,and layed so many eggs,the resulting caterpillars exchausted all the caterpillar foodplant by time they were half grown. A few managed to switch to ribwort plantain,but most starved.

We must remember,these are just my opinions,based on my own opservations,and i am in no way blaming anyone. i'm simply bemoaning the current sorry state of affairs.

On Sunday is was our turn to do our bit. We cleared some clearings,where cow-wheat grows,that were becoming smothered in brambles and saplings. We also coppiced a few hornbeam stools to create some bare ground which,hopefully,the cow-wheat will grow onto. But with such limited time,we only scratched the surface. There is so much more that needs to be done.

[Wurzel]

You were missed at the Social Essex, but then there's always next year Hopefully the hard work you put in on Sunday will pay dividends next season

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

That's quite an image of the seal pups gathered on that beach. I presume not too many people go walking there?