jackz432r

[Pete Eeles]

Excellent ovipositing sequence, Paul! You're giving Vince a run for his money

Cheers,

- Pete

[Gary.N]

Love the shots of the Peacock eggs.

Gary

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Goldie, Wurzel, Jamie, Pete & Gary
Thanks for all your comments

Sunday 1.5.2016 Hatch Farm

Being without car today meant I was confined to sites close to home. The weather was acceptable so I thought I would have another try for my first Orange Tips of 2016.

There were literally thousands of these beetles destroying the young Alder saplings here. Does anybody know what they are?

First butterfly of the day was a Comma followed by Peacocks all looking rather aged now. There were also a couple of Speckled Wood and thankfully a few Brimstones around, the Brimstone seems to have been notable by its absence during recent outings.

The hibernators are starting to look weary now

Speckled Wood male....and female.

I headed over to the boggy area where the Cuckoo Flower grows expecting to see at least some evidence of Orange Tip activity. However, although I spent some time here there was no sign . A little later on in a different area I spotted a small white butterfly fluttering. It eventually settled briefly on some Nettles enabling me to identify it as my first Orange Tip of the year, a fresh female. I followed it as it fluttered along the sunny edge of the field completely ignoring the patch of Cuckoo Flower. I eventually caught up with it for long enough to get a photo before it disappeared into the neighbouring gardens.

First Orange Tip of 2016 was unusually a female which totally avoided a large expanse of Cuckoo Flower

This male Holly Blue was clearly enjoying his tasty meal!

As I made my way back I passed a large clump of Brambles. One particular clump of Bramble leaves had a generous coating of bird excrement which proved irresistible for my first Holly Blue of the year. This male returned several times to the same location to feast upon its delights .

Hopefully next time with transport I will be able to enjoy some Duke of Burgundy action.

[Wurzel]

Lovely Specklies Paul and that close up of the HB is a cracking shot. Is your female OT and aberrant as the forewing spot seems much larger than usual?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Thanks for the comments Wurzel
'
Sunday 8.5.2016 Stephens Castle Down

Today I was hoping for my first encounter of 2016 with the 'spring downland quartet', namely Green Hairstreak, Duke of Burgundy, Grizzled & Dingy Skipper. The weather looked to be pretty much perfect. Unfortunately I was tied up first thing, by the time I left home at 9.50am the temperature was already saying 25 degrees . I had already notched up 5 species walking from the car to the entrance gate including my first Red Admiral of the year. I arrived on site to find everything in full swing and it was only a few moments before I had already ticked three of my four boxes, that just left Green Hairsteaks to find.

Grizzled Skipper

Duke of Burgundy

Green Hairstreak

Duke of Burgundy do not normally occur here in massive numbers, I counted four today which all appeared to be males. I counted a dozen Dingy Skippers and half that number of Grizzled Skippers. Once I had located the Hairstreaks in their usual haunts I counted five including an egg laying female. There were also plenty of egglaying Brimstones. After my first Red Admiral of 2016 earlier I saw a further two including one egg laying female.

One of many egglaying Brimstones and the resulting egg

Egg laying Green Hairstreak

Peacock, Comma, Small Tortoiseshell, Orange Tip, Small White and a mudpuddling Holly Blue made up the rest of the days sightings. A quick check of the Peacock eggs laid 2 weeks ago revealed that they are yet to hatch. This was one of those days where I could have stayed all day until the evening had I not had other things things to attend to .

Mudpuddling Holly Blue

Small White

[Goldie M]

Lovely Butterflies Paul, No Dukes here yet. Goldie

[trevor]

HI Paul,
That last image of the Green Hairstreak is a cracker, just the sort of image
I find very difficult to obtain. Lovely Dukes too.

[bugboy]

Very of the egg laying Greenie, she looks stunning in that second sunlit shot! Looks like a great site.

[Wurzel]

An absolutely cracking sequence of shots Paul You must of had a brill day

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Goldie, Bugboy, Trevor & Wurzel Thanks for your kind comments

Sunday 15.5.2016 Knowle Village

Unfortunately I had little time to get out this weekend . I had to be satisfied with a flying visit in less than perfect conditions on Sunday afternoon to one of my favourite spots. The sun made only brief appearances and when it disappeared the wind was pretty brisk.

Better late than never, my first Green Veined & Large Whites of the year

First up were my first Green Veined Whites of the season, one male and one female. As always plenty of Small Whites here mostly hunkered down in the vegetation today, taking to the air as soon as the sun came out. I also found my first Large Whites of the year, several males.

Plenty of Small Whites but this was the only female seen

One of many male Small Whites typically in this pose sheltering out of the wind

I was starting to think that today would be an all white affair, but eventually a Red Admiral flew past. It spent some time bobbing around the Nettle patches in a very nervous a jittery way sometimes disappearing deep into the undergrowth before reappearing in a different position. On the way back to the car an aged Peacock put in an appearance. I also spotted a male Orange Tip roosting upon a Nettle plant. This individual had found itself in a cool shaded spot and gone into roosting mode despite the fact that a couple of meters in any direction there was full sunshine.
.
I am now up to 14 species this season, but hopefully there will be more to report next time.

[Paul Harfield]

Friday 20.5.2016 Pitt Down & West Wood, Farley Mount Country Park - Part 1

Today was an unexpected butterfly day. My wife had a hospital appointment in Winchester. I had intended to stay with her, but that was not allowed so I ended up with a couple of hours to kill . Farley mount Country Park is only 10 minutes up the road so I headed for Pitt Down. Unfortunately the weather was not ideal cool overcast and breezy. Not a sign of any butterflies until it was time to leave and the sun appeared (isn't that always the way ). I hung around a few more minutes just in time to catch a few Dingy and Grizzled Skippers . On arrival back at the hospital I was told I was too early and to come back in another hour, so I whizzed back down the road and stopped at West Wood which is immediately adjacent to Pitt Down. By then it was fully sunny and warm and in the short time I was there Brimstone, Large White, Green Veined White and Speckled Wood were on the wing.

Grizzled Skipper Pitt Down 20.5.2016

Dingy Skipper Pitt Down 20.5.2016

Plenty of Bugle at West Wood, just missing some Pearls

There appeared to be areas of recently cleared woodland that were starting to regenerate. There was plenty of Bugle around, in fact all that was missing was some Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. As I arrived back at the car a small orangey butterfly paused briefly at the fence and then disappeared across the road before I could get a positive id. It certainly looked as if it could have been a Pearl Bordered Fritillary but I was sure they had not been seen here for many years. I convinced myself it could not have been. Later at home I discovered that Pearl Bordered Fritillaries had indeed been reported from this site last year for the first time in many years. I decided to return for a second try...........

Large White male West Wood 20.5.2016

Brimstone female West Wood 20.5.2016

Green Veined White male West Wood 20.5.2016

Later at home I discovered that Pearl Bordered Fritillaries had indeed been reported from this site last year for the first time in many years. I decided to return for a second visit and more surprises...........TO BE CONTINUED

[Paul Harfield]

Sunday 22.5.2016 West Wood, Farley Mount Country Park - Part 2

Today was something of a first for me, the first time I have ever managed to productively visit three sites in one day. After visiting the other two sites earlier (more of those later) West Wood was to be my final destination for the day. My possible Pearl Bordered Fritillary at this site 2 days before meant I just had to make a return visit to try and confirm what I had seen. It was cloudy and overcast as I arrived but this soon started to clear and the sun gradually appeared.

As I set off down the main track my first butterfly was a Speckled Wood fluttering up in the branches taking its time to come to ground level. I then took a little used side track which looked promising. By pure chance (I could easily have walked past without noticing)I noticed some movement down in the grass out of the corner of my eye. To my complete astonishment there was a Duke of Burgundy there crawling up a grass stem . Now to my knowledge Dukes have not been recorded from this site in recent years and I have since had it confirmed on good authority that that they have not been seen here since the 1970's. This butterfly fluttered around this area and then disappeared into the depths of the wood out of site. By this time I had only seen a total of 2 butterflies but was feeling pretty good

I nearly missed this surprising Duke of Burgundy crawling around in the grass

Surprisingly both Primroses and Cowslips are present at West Wood, but Primroses are much more abundant

I made my way to an area of recently cleared woodland, again off the main track. Still on a high after that Duke of Burgundy I set off looking for my main goal for the day. Fairly soon what looked like my quarry flew into this small cleared area low to the ground, investigating every nook and cranny and flew on out of sight without stopping. As it flew it sent up another smaller butterfly from the surrounding vegetation which chased it off with some vigour. I waited and watched the smaller butterfly return to what turned out to be a favoured perch. Yes it was a second Duke of Burgundy . This one stayed in this fairly small area with 3 or 4 favoured perches. I stayed close by for the next hour or so as it defended its territory for all it was worth.

Confirmation! Pearl Bordered Fritillaries at West Wood

Duke/Pearl action in this area of West Wood

A few metres away I found some significant clumps of Bugle and decided that here would be my best chance of confirming Pearl Bordered Fritillary. I did not have to wait for very long when a slightly worn Pearl stopped to nectar. Well that was mission accomplished , but I hung around here for more Pearl/ Duke action. The Pearls were very active and I struggled to get any decent shots of them, but I had seen at least 4 and probably more all chased away by the resident Duke. There were also Grizzled Skipper and a Brimstone in the area.

Several Grizzled Skippers were present here

This second Duke vigorously defended his territory against the Pearls

No sooner had there been longer interludes of sunshine then it started to cloud over again and the sky gradually darkened. Rain was forecast and by the look of the sky it would not be long. I stayed to see what the Duke did and where it went for cover. It sat open winged on a Bramble leaf for an age until the sky was almost black and the wind increased. To be honest I expected it to crawl under the leaf when the rain came but all of a sudden it flew off into the top of a small Hazel tree. It paused there for a while before flying off into the trees out of sight. Then it started to rain, buy the time I got back to the car it was torrential and there seemed to be a mass exodus from the country park

Pausing briefly before the downpour arrived

It was quality rather than quantity today as I only just managed double figures, but what a fantastic day

[Pete Eeles]

To my complete astonishment there was a Duke of Burgundy there crawling up a grass stem

Hi Paul - nice find! Can you please report this to Hants BC? This is pretty significant, as you rightly observed!

Cheers,

- Pete

[trevor]

That's Butterflying at it's best, finding the unexpected.
Both PBF and Duke are having a brilliant year, and spreading it would seem.
Lovely images as always.

Trevor.

[Pauline]

That's a great find Paul. Where do you think they might have spread from? I don't know that area too well or where the closest colonies are?

[Neil Freeman]

Great report and photos

Well done on finding the Dukes, it is always so much more satisfying to find something for yourself than seeing things at the well known sites.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Great find those Dukes and lovely shots too, it seems the Dukes are doing well down in the South but they're not doing too well in the North Goldie

[Wurzel]

Two great finds Paul, definite rewards for taking the time and doing the leg work

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Thanks All for your comments

Pete - I have made Ashley Whitlock aware of these findings and of course all my sightings are submitted via Living Record
Pauline - I am certainly not an expert, but as far as I am aware the nearest Duke colonies are Stockbridge Down to the West and Deacon Hill to the east. It has been suggested to me that they could originate from Stockbride Down which is closer but still some distance away. Of course they could have been there all the time in some hidden away area surviving in low numbers and the population reacted to newly created habitat. Or it could have been unofficial human intervention of course.

[Paul Harfield]

Here are few brief bits from the last couple of weeks relating to larvae finds:-

West Meon - Inspired by Guy Padfields recent images of wild White Letter Hairstreak larvae I spent some time recently looking for my own. I did not find any, maybe I left it a bit late to look for larvae, but I am pretty sure I found evidence of feeding?

White Letter Hairstreak feeding damage?

Stephens Castle Down - I have been monitoring a group of Peacock larvae since eggs were laid on 24th April. Yesterday in the early drizzle I found they have now split into 2 separate groups and most are going through a moult. I also found 9 Brimstone larvae close by on one knee high Buckthorn plant. These varied in size from quite small to almost fully grown.

22.5.2016 Peacock Larval group

11.6.2016 The same Peacock larval group. Most in the premoult stage with one freshly moulted.

11.6.2016 This final instar larva was the largest of 9 Brimstone larvae on this small knee high Buckthorn approx. 35mm in length

11.6.2016 On the same plant this was the smallest Brimstone larva just 5mm in length. 2nd instar?

Bramshott Common - Today I went to Bramshott Common in more persistent rain primarily looking for Silver Studded Blues. Whilst there I spotted some well developed Small Tortoiseshell larvae. I also found a newly hatched group of larvae which I guess must be Peacock, but they would seem to be very late.

12.6.2016 Final instar Small Tortoiseshell larva

12.6.2016 Recently hatched Peacock? larval group today