millerd

[Wurzel]

Great to still see Lulworths Dave If you can get to Durlston in the first week of the holiday you can pick up some really fresh looking Lulworths. Lush Adonis BTW

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Great report and photos from 'Darkest Dorset' Dave

Marbled Whites certainly seem to hang on down there, I have previously seen them in early September still looking in good condition at a number of sites in that area including Durlston, Durdle Door and Bindon Hill.

Cheers,

Neil

[millerd]

Thanks, Wurzel. The Adonis were as good as they get. The earliest I've been down there is the end of July, and the Lulworths were a bit fresher, certainly. They have an amazingly long season (starting in May?) - I wonder why?

Thanks, Neil - I know you're fond of this bit of coast too. It is odd about the Marbled Whites, as I think they start here at the same time as elsewhere. The Adonis are a bit behind those in the southeast, though.

MORE ADONIS AND A TOUCH OF YELLOW FEVER

Monday 29th August - Bank Holiday Monday, but I was at work until 3. However, that gave me enough time to pop up to Aston Rowant with the dual aim of seeing the Adonis Blues here, and hopefully also seeing some more Clouded Yellows. The visit proved successful on both counts, and one or two other things made it a very good late afternoon.

I walked along the path that cuts across the middle of the northern hillside and was aware that the flowers here were still showing well, with plenty of scabious in particular. There were good numbers of Brown Argus, Common Blues and Meadow Browns, with a few Small Heath, elderly Chalkhills and a single Small Copper too.

There were a few Small Tortoiseshells, all very bright and new, but none of them was Mike's ab.

A bit further on I noticed that Silver-spotted Skippers were on quite a number of the flowerheads, and one or two were really quite new.

As I reached the far side and headed for the gate onto Beacon Hill (where Mike Oxon had reported them), sure enough the Adonis Blues started to appear, with a selection of individuals in good condition.

After some while spent with these, I wandered slowly back along the lower path thinking that once again I had missed out on the Clouded Yellows. However, I was instantly proved wrong when not one but two appeared right in front of me. As is customary, they flew around at speed, enticing me up the slope (not recommended!) and down again. Eventually one decided to nectar on a succession of flowers, and even sat on the ground in front of me (edge on of course...), but at last a decent picture was in the bag. Phew.

Chasing the Blues away may be recommended, but chasing the Yellows - definitely not.

Dave

[Katrina]

The last photo is lovely and sharp - great capture. Clouded yellows are busy butterflies and certainly not mellow.

[millerd]

Thanks, Katrina. There was a bit of effort expended catching up with that butterfly!

Tuesday 30th August. With a really lovely day going on outside, I started work early and finished in time to brave the M25 the other way and head for Denbies. A bit of a contrast with Aston Rowant - large areas of tall grass (or straw as it is now) and very few areas of rabbit-grazed herbiage.

The butterfly mix was essentially the same, though the season is further advanced (a good week or so I'd guess) and everything was much more spread out across the slopes and the butterflies generally more worn.

I'd say I saw more Adonis here in the end (including several females; these had not been in evidence up at Aston Rowant), 20 - 30 in all perhaps. The day was warmer and they were rarely opening up at all, even late on when they were roosting. No last bask as the sun got lower! Consequently, I took a few undersides instead, and had a brief glimpse of a female upperside.

Once again as I turned and decided to leave, the Clouded Yellows appeared. There were three or four I'd guess, and they led me another merry dance allowing very few opportunities for photos. These are certainly two different butterflies.

I think I may just wait for the next Clouded Yellows to come to me...

Dave

[Pauline]

Lovely shots of the Clouded Yellow Dave . I can certainly empathise with the effort put in to achieve those great results. Good job they appear at the end of the season as I doubt I'd be fit enough to run up and down the steep hills that they seem to favour so much!

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots Dave of all the Butterflies, glad to hear the Tort's looked fresh may be there's a chance we'll see some up here yet. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cracking series of shots Dave Going back to the Lulworths - I reckon they have such a long flight time as they like to 'make hay while the sun shines' and in Dorset we get a reasonable amount of sun

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

You're making me envious now, Dave. Virtually everybody else is seeing Cloudies.....except me!

[millerd]

Thank you, Pauline. Well worth the puffing and panting up and down the slope. I wish I had the patience to wait - the Denbies contingent did perform wide circuits and end up back in the same area again.

Thanks, Goldie - I hope you see some Tortoiseshells too. Until these I hadn't seen any for a while.

Cheers, Wurzel. This is probably the last gasp of the season - not many outings now will have this variety and such fresh butterflies. I know about the Dorset sunshine - isn't Weymouth the sunniest spot in the country? That coastline from Bournemouth to Portland is just beautiful too.

Those Cloudies must be getting closer, David. They are so restless that given sunshine and a bit of wind assistance it won't take them long.

Thursday 1st September. Stuck at work on another warm sunny day. I took a lunch break and looked round the nearby Bedfont Lakes Country Park. Everywhere was extremely yellow and dried up, including almost all the wild flowers, with almost head high grass (straw) in places. There were virtually no butterflies: I saw a few Whites, a handful of Meadow Browns (completely camouflaged except when settling on the few scabious to nectar), a single Small Heath and perhaps half a Speckled Wood.

On the way back, I crossed Bedfont Road to have a look at the spot where a grass fire had broken out last week. I found a sizeable wild meadow area with a large burned patch quite close to housing. Looking at the rest, it is easy to see how a fire might start and spread pretty quickly. There were a few butterflies in this field - more Meadow Browns and Whites mostly, including a nice GVW.

I then spotted something unexpected and different just ahead by the footpath: a Small Copper.

After almost a complete blank with this species earlier on, since the start of August I've seen Small Coppers in several spots, though rarely more than one at a time.

Dave

[trevor]

HI Dave,
I have only just found your Clouded Yellow conquests, very nice.
Who needs to go to the gym when there are Cloudies to photograph.

Trevor.

[Wurzel]

I too would count that Speckled Wood as a 'half'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

I'm pleased you saw Adonis Blues at Denbies. It was looking so overgrown when I went,I wondered if any would appear at all.

[millerd]

Thanks, Trevor - they led me a merry dance, those Yellows, and you're right, that's quite enough exercise for the time being.

I also wondered about that, EB, but there were a reasonable number around. I'm a bit more concerned for next year as the females will struggle to find the foodplants in the grass.

I saw a few whole Specklies today, Wurzel to make up!

Sunday 4th September. Cloudy all day, but dry and certainly not cold. A bit of brightness mid afternoon tempted me out round my local patch, and I initially saw eight or nine Red Admirals around a wild buddleia, but annoyingly mostly on the far side from where I was. It's quite a big bush. A bit later, another Red Admiral and a Comma sat close together on the brambles - a most autumnal picture.

Several Speckled Woods popped up along the hedgerows, and there were still a few Holly Blues, including one fresh female that annoyingly evaded the camera.

Everywhere there were White butterflies, of all three types as well - difficult to say which were commonest to be honest.

By the time I reached the open meadow area, the sun was well and truly obscured again, and all I found were a couple of Small Heaths, one or two Meadow Browns and a roosting Common Blue.

Good weather is forecast this week, but I shall unfortunately be back at work...

Dave

[Katrina]

Lovely Small White photos - I find them really hard to get close to.

[millerd]

Thank you Katrina - I have to agree that they are very tricky to approach. The recent ones have all been either towards the end of the day, or when it's been cloudy. They seem to have been less active, though even when nectaring they hop frustratingly from flower to flower just as you get close.

Monday 5th September

COMMAS and COPPERS

Not what you'd call an ideal day - warm and muggy, with very little sun - but really quite productive for the time of year on my local patch. In fact, worth splitting up into sections to avoid it becoming a bit cluttered.

Part One: Everything Else

As with Sunday, there were several Red Admirals on the big buddleia not far from home - a bit more amenable today.

Various Whites were everywhere, but more active than yesterday and I only got near the one, a female Small White.

Speckled Woods are still emerging and this new example had quickly found some oozing ripe blackberries. It seemed practically wedged in between the fruits, and displayed the almost purple edge to the underside hindwing that fresh individuals have.

I caught sight of a couple of Holly Blues but once again they stayed high up around the ivy - which is beginning to come into flower. Too many other nectar sources still for anything to be taking a interest yet. One or two Meadow Browns were still flying in the field/meadow area, along with a scattering of Small Heaths. I'm sure that in full sun, more of the latter would have appeared. This time last year, this whole area had been mown short, but despite much longer grass growth this year, so far nothing yet. A good thing, because one particular part, close to the slip road up from the M25, boasted Brown Argus and Common Blues. The former out-numbered the latter two or three to one, and were also generally less worn. Encouraging numbers of the former as well, considering how few I saw in the spring - ten or so today in a relatively small area.

one of each: the BA much the fresher of the two

However, the two highlights of the day for me were the Commas and the Small Coppers...

Dave

[millerd]

Part Two: COMMAS

One thing was noticeable today - there were more new Commas. I've been seeing ones and twos for a few weeks, in amongst the fading hutchinsoni forms, but today they were far more in evidence.

They were mostly basking higher up on the foliage, making the most of the occasional weak sunshine, but one or two were lower down indulging in the blackberry feast available everywhere at the moment.

One in particular caught my eye - it was low down on a bramble, and had its wings almost bent back, certainly a slightly odd posture.

It was brilliantly coloured and completely perfect and undamaged, and I decided it must be newly emerged.

As if to confirm this, it squeezed a drop of meconium from its abdomen - you can see this droplet on the leaf below it.

Shortly afterwards it took its first flight. I looked in vain in the undergrowth beneath where it had sat for a vacated chrysalis. I assume the caterpillar had fed on hop, because there were no nearby nettles and wild hop was mixed up with the bramble. Beautiful autumnal colours and hopefully to be seen again among the bare branches as spring arrives next year.

Dave

[Pauline]

Lovely shots of the Commas Dave. Looking forward to seeing the Coppers ........

[bugboy]

Nice Comma's, that final one looks like a Hutchinsoni Certainly looks paler in your photos and has noticeably less scalloped wings edges. Her abdomen looks rather full of eggs as well!

[millerd]

Thank you, Pauline - Coppers on the way...

Thank you too, Buggy - I see what you mean about that Comma - it does look almost intermediate between the forms. However, the markings bordering the pale spots along the hindwings look much lighter than the bold dark spots, whereas in hutchinsoni they are the same dark shade - more or less! Easier to tell the difference from underneath of course. Either way, I think she'll have to hang onto those eggs for a good six months as no new males are going to take the slightest interest in her until next spring!

Monday 5th September (Part Three):

COPPERS

Up by the M25 slip road, along with the Brown Argus, Common Blues and the odd Small Heath, I had spotted another butterfly joining in the dogfights. I had previously seen just one Small Copper up here, but on three separate occasions - apparently different individuals each time, and the last one had been ten days ago. Here was another - however, as I progressed up to the top of the slope, I realised that there were actually at least three or four. Though they rested frequently, they were constantly sparring with each other and the other small butterflies. Groups of four or five butterflies of mixed species would take off together, with the Brown Argus and Coppers the most aggressive. They were hugely difficult to follow, but Small Coppers have a reliable tendency to return to the same spot - for a second or two at any rate. As well as this Copper hotspot, I encountered two others in the general area (one fresh and one rather ragged), but a good 100 metres away and very close to the spot where I had first seen one here in April 2010. I suppose they could have been here on this site all this time, but I failed to see any here in 2013, 2014 and 2015. This a shot of the hotspot area.

If this is a comeback, it's a very encouraging one! Here are selection of shots of this delightful butterfly.

Dave