Bugboys mission

[MrSp0ck]

It would be interesting to know which sites the Grizzled are out, and how much warmer HB is. This may be the first Surrey record.

I didnt see any non-hibernating butterflies at HB today, but hope to get a Grizzled on the Transect when i walk it.

[Goldie M]

Your having a great time Bugboy and I love the Grizzled Skipper shots, we don't have them round here but I'd love to see them. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cracking find of the Grizzlie Buggy - it seems that the East is, as usual, ahead of the West possibly by a week or more Still all the more to look forward too! Cheers for the Glannie heads up - I'll be over your way shortly!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thank you Goldie, I'm sure you'll catch some in your travels

Thanks Wurzel, this Grizzlie may well have been the county first . Counting the days until the Glannies start appearing

19th April, staying local

With a good weather forecast I decided a whistle stop tour of a few local patches to try and notch up a few more species. The plan was to spend the morning wandering around Walthamstow Marshes, lunch at Abney Park and then an afternoon stroll on Tottenham Marshes.
Things started of reasonably well with a Small White and Small Tortoiseshell on the wing as soon as I got to the site with a Peacock appearing shortly after. None of them were in the mood for a photo shoot though so I moved on to my Holly Blue hotspot, a Dogwood hedge. Nothing appeared except a couple of those fluffy pink, black & white things we call Long-tailed Tits.

The air was full of the sound of spring with Greenfinches, Robins, Dunnocks, Blue & Great Tits and various Warblers all singing away in the hedgerows. It wasn’t until nearly lunchtime when I finally found a butterfly willing to sit within range, a Peacock feeding on blossom.

On the whole inactive butterflies proved hard to come by, the day had certainly warmed up but my persistence paid off when I came across a couple of Speckled Woods who sat in-between aerial dogfights.

I’d had several UWF (unidentified White Flybys) but the next one I saw wasn’t as white, spring has finally sprung for me!

He did stop briefly but not in a particularly convenient spot so just a couple of record shots today, hopefully lots of better ones in the weeks to come though.

The wander continued with more UWF and all three hibernating vanessids taunting me. I did manage a few close-ups though. I used these to practise using fill-in flash after the recent thread with varying results

no flash

Flash

Flash

Time to wander over to Abney Park. It was lovely and warm now but despite the weather there was little in the way of butterfly activity. I had a fleeting glance of a Small white and a Brimstone and a better look at a Speckled Wood who tempted me to chase him. I was glad I did since it was he who disturbed species number 11 for the year, a very fresh male Holly Blue who was quite happy to sit in the sun for me, gorgeous!

As far as butterflies were concerned that was it but I was lucky enough observe a courting pair of Goldcrest. Very cute to watch, both singing to each other with him raising up and showing off his golden headdress whilst she whirred her wings at him, always keeping a little ahead of him, such a tease!

Next stop, Tottenham Marshes

[Goldie M]

Lovely Holly Blue Bugboy and Speckie, I've seen both but can't pin them down for a photo. Glad you got an Orange Tip hope I see one soon Goldie

[Pauline]

Hi Buggy - hope you don't mind me asking you this. I have Goldcrests in the garden almost daily but I have never seen a Firecrest. Is it possible your shot could be a Firecrest or is it the light as the colours seem quite striking. I am sure I am wrong as you would probably know from their vocals etc but thought perhaps you might be kind enough to explain. A shot I took some years ago as I have just about given up trying to get decent photos of the birds:

I would really love to see a Firecrest but although I've had 63 species in the garden, that has never been one of them

[bugboy]

Hi Buggy - hope you don't mind me asking you this. I have Goldcrests in the garden almost daily but I have never seen a Firecrest. Is it possible your shot could be a Firecrest or is it the light as the colours seem quite striking. I am sure I am wrong as you would probably know from their vocals etc but thought perhaps you might be kind enough to explain. A shot I took some years ago as I have just about given up trying to get decent photos of the birds:

DSC03000ad.jpg

I would really love to see a Firecrest but although I've had 63 species in the garden, that has never been one of them

Hi Pauline, they are definately Goldcrest , I've only seen a Firecrest twice but as long as you see the head it's unmistakable. The black and white pattern on the face is very distinctive on a Firecrest. The bright orange on the one displaying is how you can sex a Goldcrest, the females, like the one in your picture, have just yellow feathers whereas the males have a generous dash of orange as well.
Not sure about how different they are vocally though.. there's probably not much between them

[Pauline]

Thanks for that explanation Buggy. I shall pay a lot more attention to the Goldcrests in the garden so that at least I'll be able to recognise male from female

[bugboy]

19th April, staying local (cont)

It was 3.30 by the time I got to Tottenham Marshes and I had an almost cloudless blue sky to accompany me. Within minutes I was watching a female Comma look for that perfect nettle leaf on which to deposit an egg whilst above me the Sand Martins were announcing their arrival from Africa as a Goldfinch sang away at the top of a nearby Elder.

It seems to be good news in the Ladybird world is that I’ve yet to see one of the invasive Harlequins this year, loads of 7 spots around so perhaps after the initial invasion balance has been restored?

I found an Alderfly clutching a dead stem, probably hoping to remain invisible to any foraging birds.

At my favourite suntrap the usual suspects were active, Commas and Peacocks with a female Speckled Wood making several guest appearances.
Since they were pretty much captive targets, mostly holding territories, I decided to experiment with fill in flash again... more practise needed to stop them looking a bit flat I think.

In between practicing on these ‘captives’ I wandered off, catching a couple of distant glimpses of orange-tips amongst the several UWF and I found a small group of Specklies whom I spent a bit of time with as well

I very enjoyable end to a good day out

Here's a Hairy Shieldbug to end on

[Wurzel]

A great set of Speckies Buggy Any chance you could send some over this way - they (and most species) have been pretty thin on the ground this far West

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

I second Wurzel on your Speckies Bugboy, It's one Butterfly I've yet to photograph which is unusual a round here, it's usually one of the first out after the Small Tort's and Peacock's. Goldie

[bugboy]

Thanks Goldie & Wurzel its been a pretty slow start over here as well, it's still a bit of work to get a Specklie in these parts too...and now we've regressed back into winter

20th April, Hadleigh Country Park

It wasn’t until I was on the train, deep into Essex, that I realised I may have made a mistake in choosing to visit this site today, it’s coastal and there was a brisk easterly blowing in along the Thames estuary... Oh well, too late to change plans.
The reason I chose to visit was that I was curious to see what the butterfly activity was like in the spring after finding it teaming with various species last summer whilst hunting for White-letter Hairstreak. Unfortunately my early fears were validated with only the one Peacock seen shooting off into the distance in the first hours searching. Had the wind been coming from another direction I probably would have seen a bit more but since most the paths run east to west they were mostly acting as wind tunnels today.

My luck however changed after the first fruitless hour. Clinging to a blade of grass and swaying precariously in the wind I saw my top target for the day, an Orange-tip . Being nestled down in the grass on a windy day meant it wasn’t the easiest photographic target.

After a while he decided to risk taking to the air where he struggled heroically for a time against the wind before seemingly giving up and was whisked off into the distance, only stopping when he collided with one of the few hedgerows that don’t run east west. He put the sudden break from the wind to good use and sat well for me this time.

That encounter cheered me up no end and after he fluttered off over the hedge I wandered up and down this sheltered path. A few Small Whites and Speckled Woods were flitting up and down but nothing wanted its picture taken.

The next butterfly that was good enough to sit for me was a rather windswept Small White trying to feed.

Getting close to noon it had started to feel quite warm in the rare spots out of the wind and I found a friendly Speckled Wood enjoying one of these sun traps. This male seemed to enjoy having his photo taken especially when he perched on a daisy for me!

A little further on I found a hungry Comma and then a very pretty female GVW.

Peacocks and Commas were turning up regularly now and the Speckled Woods seen earlier were now far more willing to be approached.

All of these were unceremoniously ignored though when another Orange-tip appeared and flew past. He settled regularly to feed and rest from the wind. The wind actually working in my favour this time, he could only manage a slow walking pace flying into it so every time he rested I was close enough to get a few snaps before he took to the air again.

I ended up following him for about 10 minutes before I finally lost him.

I went back to play with the Specklies again and whilst getting a few shots of it sat on the ground I noticed a little red velvet mite scuttling nearby. This is probably a Trombidium sp. The little mites who’s larvae are so obvious on butterflies during the summer.

a Blackthorn flower petal for scale

A couple more orange-tip and Comma encounters and it was time to make a move.

A good result after an iffy start

[millerd]

You did well with the Orange Tips, Buggy. I'm really struggling to get a settled male at the moment.

Dave

[Wurzel]

I agree with Dave Buggy - OTs are being more of a pain than normal for me this year Good to see someone is gradually upping the species count - stuck on 6 here still

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Those Red Velvet mites are aptly named Buggy - never seen one before but your images clearly show the 'velvet'. Very nice OT's too capturing all the detail and shading.

[Goldie M]

Very nice Orange Tip photos Buggy and I love the Speckie on the Daisy, the wind seems to be causing the coldness every where, out of it in the Sun it's really warm, you did really well in the circumstances Goldie

[bugboy]

Thank you everyone, every picture this year does seem to be hard won but I'm very pleased with my Orange-tips. I may be up to 11 species this year but only 5 of those are into double figures as far as individuals are concerned and of those 4 hibernate as adults. I've only seen the 1 of each of Holly Blue and Grizzlie, 4 or 5 OT's, maybe half a dozen GVW 7 or 8 Specklies and a couple of Red Admirals. The only non adult hibernator thats around in any numbers so far is the Small White.

I think all my pictures probably give a false impression of whats actually about currently just like these pictures taken at Hadleigh Country Park give a false impression of the current weather!

Spot the Green Woodpecker!

[bugboy]

27th April

It was a trip to Bookham this morning to check on a few eggs and stuff. Out of the wind it was relatively warm but an hour and half wandering, rather disappointingly, turned up no adult butterflies .
My two Brown Hairstreak eggs seem to have hatched, no sign of any caterpillars but they are likely tucked up out of sight in the unfurling buds. Hopefully I will be able to locate one after they moult when they are a little bit (relatively speaking) easier to see.

One of my Purple Hairstreak eggs has also hatched but the buds on this particular Oak are yet to break, fingers crossed the little cat is tucked up inside one of them.

I had another good search for White Admirals but I could neither find any caterpillars or fresh leaf nibbling .

By now, noon, it had started to spit rain and with all sorts of apocalyptic weather forecast for the afternoon I decided to catch the train back to London.

.........

2 hours later it was feeling very spring like in the sun so I risked a trip to my local Marshes, determined to see at least one butterfly today. I had a (probable) Peacock flyby and a few Whites were active, mostly Small Whites but the only butterfly who sat still for me was a pretty female Green-veined White.

There were lots of birds active in the hedgerows, Dunnocks, Robins, Warblers and Linnets to name a few, all no doubt nest building whilst wondering where Spring went!

Linnet

[Goldie M]

I've noticed that Buggy, no Butterflies to speak of but loads of birds, hope they're not enjoying the Cat's too much. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots of the GVW Buggy I managed to find my first today - struggling to get anywhere in the single figure temperatures Still no PBFs but I'm keeping my eyes peeled

Have a goodun

Wurzel