Maximus

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sun May 15, 2016 9:08 pm

Indeed a mighty collection of which the Greenies top the bill

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Goldie M · Post by **Goldie M** » Mon May 16, 2016 3:47 pm

Fantastic shots of all the Butterflies Max, I'm envious

Goldie

David M · Post by **David M** » Mon May 16, 2016 9:10 pm

I'm most envious, Maximus. You seem to have had a veritable blitz of species.

Make the most of them, and while you're at it keep looking forward to the next batch of emerges.

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Fri Jun 03, 2016 10:30 am

Thanks, Neil, bugboy, Pauline, Wurzel, Goldie and David

We have recently returned from our annual pilgrimage to the Isle of Wight where we spent a few days getting our much needed Glanville Fritillary fix. Luckily, this year the weather was much more obliging during our chosen week than it had been in previous years, although the persistent strong breeze made getting decent photos challenging! Over the past few years we've been fortunate enough to find up to about a dozen Glanvilles, mostly along the sheltered coastline at Wheelers Bay, this year however a walk along this stretch of coastline gave us a count of 41 Glanvilles, far exceeding our expectations!

: Wheelers Bay

Our second day we decided to explore the south-west coast, stopping at various places along the Military Road. In one particular spot where there was an abundance of thrift we counted no less than a hundred Glanvilles. There were probably many more than this, but too many to count..It was a real Glanvillefest! We sometimes observed small groups of them in hot pursuit of each other, often being carried over the cliff edge by the strong breeze, only to reappear seconds later to nectar momentarily on the thrift before repeating the whole process again. Couldn't help but be in awe of their amazing flying abilities in such conditions. We also saw a number of mating pairs and several freshly emerged females being constantly pestered by interested males. It would appear the emergence is ongoing and numbers have not yet reached their peak.

: Glanville heaven

: A beautiful darkly marked female

: And this lovely ab!

The rest of our week to follow in my next post....

trevor · Post by **trevor** » Fri Jun 03, 2016 7:18 pm

I've enjoyed the Glanville's at Hutchinson's Bank this season, but there's nothing
like seeing them in their natural habitat. A similar AB to yours was seen by some at HB.
Great images, Mike.

Best wishes,
Trevor.

Paul Harfield · Post by **Paul Harfield** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 7:52 am

Hi Mike
Gorgeous Glanvilles

kevling · Post by **kevling** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 3:48 pm

Maximus,

41 Glanvilles! That;s quite a haul, well done. Love the photos and that ab looks stunning.

Regards Kev

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 4:22 pm

Some great shots there Mike

Actually, you can have another 2 of those

just for being on the Island! Surely that dark female has to be an ab. too??? I love the shot of the Glanville with the scenery in the background - very Padfield-esque

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sat Jun 04, 2016 9:37 pm

That sounds just fantastic Mike - to see so many Glanvilles

Beautiful shots as always too!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Sun Jun 05, 2016 11:49 pm

Thanks, Trevor, you got some great shots of Glanvilles at HB, but it is fantastic to see them flying around the crumbling cliffs of the Isle of Wight. That's interesting that a similar ab was seen at HB.

Thanks Paul, they are gorgeous butterflies

we were lucky to see so many.

It was quite a haul, Kev. glad you like the pics, the ab was stunning!

Thanks for the greenies, Pauline

you would have loved it there

I guess she could be an ab?

It was out of this world, Wurzel, surrounded by all those Glanvilles

5th June

Having not seen one of these this year....until now...

...just like buses two arrived in our garden today

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 1:47 pm

Continuing with the posting from our Isle of Wight trip.

Small Blues appear to be having a very good year, and on the sites we visited we found them in very good numbers. This year we also found them on sites that we hadn't seen them on last year, some without any apparent Kidney Vetch present!

Adonis Blues did not appear to be present in the numbers we saw last year. Perhaps their main emergence was later this year, but we still saw a couple of fresh ones.

: Sharing a perch with a Brown Argus

Common Blue numbers, at least for us, were down on last year too, but those we saw were stunning.

: Almost as brightly coloured as an Adonis.

Brown Argus were present in good numbers as always with some lovely marked specimens.

: A lousy shot but a brightly marked Brown Argus

Pauline · Post by **Pauline** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 2:18 pm

You're doing well with the abs. this season Mike

I've just looked at the species page and there is a couple of examples very similar to your Brown Argus under the unspecified aberrations section.

trevor · Post by **trevor** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 2:43 pm

HI Mike,
Your image of the Adonis Blue and Brown Argus sharing a perch is a real gem.
Right place, right moment, to the second !.

Trevor.

Goldie M · Post by **Goldie M** » Wed Jun 08, 2016 3:49 pm

Fantastic shots Mike, I second Trevor on that photo it's great.Goldie

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Thu Jun 09, 2016 9:40 pm

A beautiful set of Blues Mike especially that stunningly marked BA

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 1:46 pm

Thanks Pauline, yes I've now seen those on the species page and it's quite similar.

It's pure luck, Trevor, as always, they were fighting again shortly after.

Thanks Goldie

Thanks Wurzel, if only I could have got a better shot but it flew off into the distance, never to be seen again

Final part of our Isle of Wight trip.

We saw our first Large Skipper of the year at Compton Bay and then several more at other locations.

Dingy skippers appeared to be in good numbers in the usual sites along the south coast of the island.

Grizzled Skippers were less common than Dingys but those we saw were in fine condition. Quite a bit of variation in both species.

There were not as many Green Hairstreaks as in 2015 and they were showing various states of wear.

During a visit to Brading Down we saw quite a few first brood Holly Blues, three Red Admirals and a single Wall Brown. The Down appeared to have become a bit overgrown since last year, particuarly at the bottom of the Down, where we saw most butterflies in 2015.

: Holly Blue ovipositing on Dogwood

: The best and only shot we could get of this Wall

At one point, while we were watching dogfights between the Small Blues, Common Blues and Brown Argus, a small dark butterfly parted from the melee and landed on an Alkonet plant at my feet. Taking a closer look I saw it was a Small Copper, only it looked a little different from the norm. Looking at the couple of shots I got of it on my camera's LCD screen confirmed that it was an ab!

: ab. radiata?

Having only seen three Small Coppers in total during our visit what were the chances of one of those being an ab?

Hoggers · Post by **Hoggers** » Sat Jun 11, 2016 2:40 pm

Hi Maximus, that Copper is just drop dead gorgeous!

Congratulations on a fantastic find!

Best wishes,

Hoggers

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Mon Jun 13, 2016 7:30 pm

That's a great looking ab Mike. It's like a much chunkier ab. radiata

Have a goodun

Wurzel

bugboy · Post by **bugboy** » Tue Jun 14, 2016 5:06 pm

That's a great looking Copper

, like Wurzel says, very chunky looking hindwing spots

Maximus · Post by **Maximus** » Fri Jun 24, 2016 12:14 am

Thanks Hoggers, glad you liked the Copper, I know you've seen a few

which makes you a very good judge

Thanks Wurzel, a chunky radiata it was

and I was lucky to spot it.

Thanks bugboy, it was a bit unusual and would have looked even better when it was really fresh

We have recently made three trips to our local Silver-studded Blue site, which is a late site for this species. This was borne out during our first visit when we failed to find any SSB's. On our second visit five days later we found about half a dozen males, all appeared to be very freshly emerged. The timing for the third visit on 17th June was spot on and we really hit the jackpot as, not only were there lots more males, but the females had finally emerged too. There was plenty of activity as the males were intent on finding freshly emerged females, and during our visit we found four mating pairs.