May Butterflies

[eccles]

The weather forecast changed pretty abruptly from rain to reasonably bright today, so I called Denise and we trawled a few sites. Odd Down Park and Ride car park came up trumps with small blue where we found around a dozen or so individuals. We then headed to West Yatton Down, which was very disappointing so we cut that one short and finished up at Hazelbury Common to look for Adonis Blue. Unfortunately there were no Adonis but we did see several marsh fritillary and dingy skipper, a couple of common blue, and a mother shipton moth.

Here's one of the small blues:

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[Denise]

Today is the three month anniversary of buying my DSLR!
Here is one of my Small Blue photo's from today.
Another tick!! yessss.


Mother Shipton Moth


Thanks eccles.
Denise

[dave brown]

We visited Lydlinch Common SSSI yesterday afternoon and saw 7 Marsh Fritillaries in a brief bright spell just before the rain set in. If visiting this site please note that the ground is very wet at present. I had expected to see many more here but I understand that numbers are down this year.

Dave

[Gwenhwyfar]

Found my first Large Skipper of the year today.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
Today I pretty much completed my 2008 survey of Sussex Dukes, ending up with a personal, cumulative count of 206 - a good total for the county , which is at the 'front line' of the species' retracting range. Unfortunately the 2008 season will always be marred for me, by the fact that I recently had to 'deal' with two collectors on one of 'my' sites on private land. Considerable damage has been done , but I won't say too much as the incident is being dealt with in the appropriate manner (see http://www.sussex-butterflies.org.uk for a statement on how such events should be handled). Of course, as a representative of BC, it is important to behave professionally, resisting the urge to 're-locate' the offender's paraphernalia to a body-part, whereby only a series of intricate surgical operations could retrieve them.

While on the Downs I saw my second Scarce Chaser dragonfly of the week and watched a female Common Blue pumping out eggs at a remarkable rate. On the way home I dropped into a site on the edge of woodlands near Arundel, where I have been monitoring the development of Purple Emperor caterpillars for the second year. I recently showed this site to 'Purple buddy' Matthew Oates, who was suitably impressed, even in view of his immense experience with the species. Their behaviour is fascinating. Now in their final instar and fat as butter, they leave their silk-padded 'seat/resting leaf' (of which they have several in their late stage development) and travel at high speed down and up branches, to feed some distance away - so as not to leave tell-tale feeding damage near their HQ. At this size, a whole sallow leaf is munched at an incredible rate, right back to the stalk. They know exactly where 'home' is when they return in the early evening, only venturing forth on nice sunny, relatively calm days. They crawl on head-first, perform a tight U-turn at the tip, then 'hang up' for the night in the famous 'praying position'.
Neil

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[FlyByWire]

Sorry Sussex Kipper. I managed to bag both Glanville and Marsh Frits today. I just posted this report to uk-leps. I forgot to mention I also saw a male Brimstone somewhere on an A road. Can't remember where now. The report:

My A plan today was to glide but I failed to get a glider in the ballot. Forecast wasn't that great anyway. So I switched to pre-planned plan B, got back on the M3 and headed to Hurst Castle just beyond Southampton, Hampshire. Then at lunchtime headed north to Seven Barrows near Lambourn and Hungerford, Berkshire.

Hurst Castle was sunny, warm and humid with almost no wind. I decided to get the ferry across rather than walk the shingle spit to the castle out in the middle of the solent in those conditions as I was fairly tired.

Glanville Fritillaries - There must have been maybe 40-50 near the lighthouse! I definitely saw atleast 20 minimum but long lost count. All my first ever. And my target - mission success. They were remarkably docile. One even settled on my left hand and stayed there for a couple of minutes posing nicely for my camera. They look remarkably like Heath Fritillaries except for the extra spots on the hind wings.
Large White - 1
Unidentified White - 1 or 2.
Speckled Wood - 1 seen from the A337 on the way out.
Cream Spot Tiger Moth - 2-3 - what an awesome sight! My first ever. Shame they were moving like bats out of hell. No pics.
Cinnabar moth - 1 - my first of 2008.
Plus 1 suspected Silver Y moth - my first of 2008. Would let me get anywhere near it to id it for sure though.

Seven Barrows was fairly cloudy but bright, and still mild and humid. I thought I was doomed when the cloud beat me to the site. But I saw butterfliers in the field, so I just homed in on them and duly found the Marsh Frits. Yay!

Marsh Fritillaries - 5-10 still on the wing despite the fading light levels. All my first ever. And my target - mission success. Also observed a courting pair.
Dingy Skipper - 5-10 also.
Common Blue - 1 Male and 1 or 2 females - my first of 2008.
Small Copper - 2-3.
Small Heath - plenty all very active too.
Miscellansous moths, including some Common Carpets, various Crambid type moths, some Burnet Companions and a ~3cm white moth with dark spots I have photographed but yet to identify. I initially thought it was a small white from a distance when it was flying.

If the butterfliers at Seven Barrows this afternoon are reading - was a pleasure to meet you. Thanks for the photography tips and team Marsh Frit spotting.

A grand day out. Although I underesitimated the distances and the huge number of dawdling weekend drivers. Ended up travelling almost 300 miles for that lot and on the road for rather longer than I spent butterflying! My wallet hurts but is happy.

-Mike

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Mike,
Congratulations on getting both in a day . Sounds like the large amount of effort you put in earned you just rewards. Only giving you 9.5 out of 10 though - getting the ferry across, shame on you!
Neil

[Paul]

31st.... A 600 mile round trip yielded....





My carbon footprint and wallet feel like this..

[Trev Sawyer]

Well done Paul - great shots!
Anyone who got up to see the Checkered Skippers this year was onto a winner I think... The weather has been very kind. Pity about the petrol prices though - I'm sure if you had asked, a few of us could have split it with you though

One day, I'll get there.

[Paul]

Yep. - maybe next year!! I wouldn't have been great company, beloved doggie put down on Fri That's partly the reason I went. It's a LONG way from here too!
Probably need a tent & more than one day usually to be sure!

[FlyByWire]

Hi Mike,
Congratulations on getting both in a day . Sounds like the large amount of effort you put in earned you just rewards. Only giving you 9.5 out of 10 though - getting the ferry across, shame on you!
Neil

lol thanks Neil. Ahh well I was knackered as it was very humid and got up at 6AM. I'm glad I saved my energy as I was running on empty by the time I got to Seven Barrows. I was determined to get there ASAP especially after taking a wrong turning to avoid a huge jam at Lymington put me on the A31 in the wrong direction with no way to turn around. I should have doubled back instead of take the A338 to Salisbury though. (Unless the jams were caused by an incident on the M27 maybe?) That took forever and no way to overtake the weekend drivers who crawled all the way!

Not yet had time to process the pics. Been out all day today. Will be sure to let you know when I get them online.

Now to post a report to the June thread...

-Mike

p.s. Awesome Chequered Skipper pics there Paul! You've outclassed my effort and then some. *envious*!

[Matsukaze]

Hi Neil,

re the butterfly collectors - I could well be wrong but my understanding is that, legally, wildlife is owned by the owner of the land it happens to be resident on at the time - so presumably collecting without the landowner's consent would constitute an offence under the Theft Act 1968, irrespective of whatever species of butterfly was being collected?

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Matsukaze,
Yes, this is technically correct. The problem is that trespass, which in effect makes this illegal, is really no more than a 'slap on the wrist' offence - "sorry Your Honour, we had no idea it was private land; it was close to where rights-of-way are marked on the map and we didn't see any 'keep out' signs". And the 'partial protection' (for sale only) afforded to many of our rarer species is pretty toothless - proving 'intent to trade' is nigh on impossible in a court of law.
Neil

[FlyByWire]

If anyone is interested I uploaded my Glanville and Marsh Fritillary pics last night.

http://piccies.flybywire.org.uk/Butterf ... index.html

Apparently the first moth is a Green Carpet. Will need to update that. Someone suggested the Common Carpet is actually a Silver Ground Carpet but must admit I am not convinced...

-Mike

[Annie]

I was intending to get out to Sand Point north of Weston Super Mare on Saturday, but there was a heavy sea-mist which put me off - so pootled down the road to my mother's house where Speckled Woods were enjoying the odd sunny spells, basking on the purple irises in her wildlife pond. I wish I had a camera! They looked stunning against the purple and green backdrop.