IAC

[IAC]

EARLY MARCH BUTTEFLIES

Some cool and cloudy weather has finally given way to something a little more acceptable. Bright sunshine and temperatures at around 14oC certainly demanded a good long walk down by the river Whiteadder today. A brisk westerly chased me into the wooded edges that had at least a south east face and it did not take too long to see a Comma firing past at speed. Another Comma on the same banking only minutes later was a little easier to approach and it seemed to be in very good nick indeed. The sunshine became a little milky after lunch and the wind intensified a little heralding a dark slab of cloud....so I used the lull in the weather to transport myself to another location, a well sheltered bank that is permanently wet due to underground springs. The ground is very muddy and never freezes over in a frost, so Butterbur always flowers here first. The first butterflies were Small Tortoiseshell and Peacock, one of each. The Small Tortoiseshell only had eyes for its big and bold new girlfriend...poor little thing. Another Comma alighted and landed on a Butterbur leaf on the other side of the shallow spring stream...so...with one knee in the stream and braving the mud I got another photo.
I think by the looks of it that given another 2 days of this weather there will be good numbers of butterfly tempted out into the open....very early indeed for this part of the world at least.

[IAC]

May and early June highlights

It has been a while since I last updated this diary. I just have not had the time to do so. The weather...I could ramble on for hours about the weather. Its been kinda tough finding butterflies this season, and when you do its usually one or two of each species. I have been concentrating on the coast of Berwickshire throughout May trying to track down Small Blue colonies hidden away on the rocky inlets and sheer cliffs from Berwick Upon Tweed to Fast Castle. A survey of the coast for adults and foodplant has been so far very successful with a good number of volunteers combing the coast, not only in Berwickshire but also North Northumberland where there is ample habitat for the butterfly. A field trip was organised which went very well despite the east coastal haars best efforts to muddy the waters. A good number of folks saw the Small Blue in large numbers and at close quarters which was great.
Butterfly numbers are well down, suppressed by this constant stream of Low pressures, however, if you take your chances inbetween the deluges rewards are sweet. So far in May, Orange Tip and Green Veined White continue to fly, it will be interesting to see how late the Orange Tip persist. Up here mid June is usually the latest, I have a feeling it will be possible to see them in July this year. Small White are scarce after an early start, Large White are frequent. Peacock and Small Tortoiseshell had a famous March, a quiet April and a quieter May.....still being seen in low numbers, mostly females. Comma are posted missing for now, not seen one in a while. Speckled Wood are a very hardy butterfly and were seen throughout the period with a brief lull mid May things are picking up again with a few fresh ones on the wing. Wall Brown have been very evident huge numbers when the sun shone on the coastal footpaths. Small Copper are okay, massive emergences having been suppressed locally. In the Duns hills a 20m square piece of ground held no less than 25 warring individuals...total chaos!! Small Blue have had a great season, however, I feel that again high numbers have been down to forced emergence because of a weather break...rather than an increase of anykind in actual numbers. Northern Brown Argus have just began emerging, though I did see 3 males at Burnmouth on the 28th May.. Common Blue and Large Skipper are on the wing as well...only just with low numbers so far.
This weekend and next week I will be hoping to find some Small Pearl Bordered Frits.....nothing so far....this is highly unusual..fingers crossed for a wee spell of the warm stuff soon.

[IAC]

It has been quite some time since I attempted to update this diary. Bit of a losing battle really. There comes a time when you find that updating blogs, Facebook and Twitter pages can become a full time job.

The month of March has been very kind to me after yet another miserable winter. The Comma are the main pull for me to get out and about again. They very seldom let me down. Can there be anything better than the Comma in March...well....perhaps an Orange Tip in March...but that did not happen this year. I have recently acquired a new camera, the Canon 750D. So I have been very keen, keener than usual to test it to the max at every opportunity. I am still using the Sigma 105mm with the new Canon....and I have to say, I dont believe the Canon 750D likes this lens at all. Some very strange behavior, camera locks up from time to time and pushes out some very weird light metering. I have been struggling to get it it to do what I want it to do...One thing I can say about the Canon 750D auto focus, is that it is incredibly quick and accurate, light years ahead of the 600D I previously owned. Here are some examples...

Iain.

[trevor]

I'd say your getting on pretty well with your new camera. Like to see more !

Trevor.

[IAC]

Thank you Trevor, I will try my best to find some time to keep posting on here. Here are a few more Comma, Small Tort and Peacock as well as a Gorse Shield with the new 750D and a few various from 2015 with the old 600D.