Kip

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Thu May 11, 2017 7:37 am

Thank you Pauline, I'm delighted her image has been so well appreciated, I hadn't even considered she might be in any way unusual!!

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Fri May 12, 2017 9:52 pm

No photo, but walking in the garden at twilight this eve, spotted a "looper" catty on our Elm..... well guess what... turned out to be WLH larva. Saw adults on the tree last year, looks like they may be here to stay

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Sat May 13, 2017 3:43 pm

so here he/she is...

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Sun May 14, 2017 5:23 pm

First Wall Brown in the garden this year today. No photo!.. but did find this sleepy beauty this evening in a sunny corner...

f9 1/500s Canon 7D + 100mm macro IS, no flash

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Sun May 14, 2017 9:14 pm

A Wall Brown in your garden

those were the days

Cracking OT shot BTW

Have a goodun

Wurzel

millerd · Post by **millerd** » Sun May 14, 2017 9:34 pm

And not only Walls in the Garden, but WLH as well... Great shot of the larva.

Dave

David M · Post by **David M** » Sun May 14, 2017 9:52 pm

A White Letter Hairstreak larva and an adult Wall Brown in your garden is worthy of major applause, Kip. I sincerely hope that any larvae will visit again as imagoes in a few weeks. Good luck!

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Sun May 14, 2017 11:08 pm

Thank you guys, I am rather lucky!.. but I do try and create the best possible habitat. I also have Purple Hairstreaks atop an old oak at the bottom of my patch - relatively uncommon up here. Having said that, I cannot hope to see as much as you who live in the south do.... Brown Hairstreaks, white admirals etc in the garden, as I've read of in the past.... in my dreams

Even Holly Blues and Brimstones are exceptional rare visitors.

I live in an old railway house on an abandoned line, which acts as a bit of a species corridor, with me at one end. Small numbers of Walls have bred along the line for the 20+ years I have lived here, they don't seem to have suffered such declines as other places have seen. . They occasionally, but regularly mooch through the garden

My desire is to have Common Blues breeding in the garden, hence loads of BFT being nutured and an ongoing wannabe "calcareous grassland" meadow in it's infancy (still)

!! So far, I still only see one or two a year, and no suggestion of breeding.

I think my idea of using weed-proof membrane to occlude nettles and creeping thistle has backfired, in that it seems to discourage ants.. presumably a barrier to their nests. I suspect this in turn discourages Lycaenids (????)

If only I could trundle the whole lot a couple of hundred miles south!!!!

I think I will miss the WLH adult stage this year, though my trees had at least two adults on their crowns last year; likely to be away for most of their flight time, but junior was still on his branch today, munching happily. I haven't seen another one yet though.

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Mon May 22, 2017 6:13 pm

Managed to visit Salcey Forest a couple of times last week, and was rewarded with my first ever views of Wood White in the UK, though familiar from the continent, it is great to find them in the UK. Even on such hallowed turf for the species, they were not easy to come by, but eventually I saw a few.
On my last visit I met David James, the Northants recorder, who felt they were only just on the wing, and very early in their local flight season.

Lovely venue, if a little crowded on a weekend, it wasn't difficult to find lonely sanctuary

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Wed Jul 05, 2017 6:07 pm

Sharpenhoe looks wonderful at present. I was surprised to see a few fresh male coridon and delighted to see some wonderful female aglaja .....

She wasn't in the best of focus, but boy, were they active!!

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Tue Jul 11, 2017 8:50 pm

Another morning with a fleeting visit to Sharpenhoe... many more coridon this time, but it was brewing rain so I didn't hang around long..

Don't see many Gatekeepers up my way, only Gamekeepers!

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Tue Jul 18, 2017 5:31 pm

The White-letter Hairstreak catty photo previously may well have matured into imagohood!! Seen today, high up, so hence only record shot, but I'm really pleased to see them at home, I just hope there are more lurking in the tree-tops. Another local site I visited today up here in northernmost North Yorkshire had about half a dozen, but all impossibly high to photograph.

Other garden varieties today... 3x Meadow Brown, 1x Small Skipper, 2x Ringlet, 1x Green-veined, 1x Small White, 3x Small Tort, 1x Peacock, 1x Comma, 8x Red Admiral, 1x Speckled Wood, 1x Small Copper and at least 1x Purple Hairstreak, high in old Oak. At 14 species, that's the most so far this year!

Post by **Pete Eeles** » Fri Jul 21, 2017 8:20 pm

Just catching up with your posts Paul; I should have responded back in May! Anyway, all I can say is that I wish I had a garden like yours!

Some excellent species there! I've had stupid numbers of Holly Blue, Gatekeeper and Meadow Brown in my suburban garden of late; the latter are almost a pest; I have to rescue a few every day from our modest conservatory! Still, it's better than rescuing the occasional Wood Pigeon, that always seem do some damage, given their size!

Cheers,

- Pete

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Sat Jul 22, 2017 12:02 pm

Thanks Pete... I would love Holly Blues to be regular, I see 1 per year here if I am lucky. I can imagine a woodpigeon in a greenhouse to be a bit like a bull in a china shop... might swap for that simile in the future!!!

David M · Post by **David M** » Mon Jul 24, 2017 7:54 pm

…but all impossibly high to photograph

Well, Kip, you did pretty well given those circumstances. That is unambiguously a good image of a treetop White Letter Hairstreak. I wish I could get similarly close to this frustrating species (in the UK at least).

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Tue Jul 25, 2017 8:19 pm

Well.... if you come visit me one mid to late June, we will see what we can do.. haven't seen one for a few days now, so guess virtually over for another year.

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 12:14 pm

Couldn't resist posting this male Celestrina argiolus today in our garden, which I had merely two clicks at before it flew off. One of them produced this, which is possibly the best image of this species I have ever achieved... Canon 7D using Canon EF 100m macro IS USM, AV, F9, ISO 100.

(Looks better if you click on the image!!)

Wurzel · Post by **Wurzel** » Tue Apr 30, 2019 6:14 pm

That is a blinding image Kip

Have a goodun

Wurzel

David M · Post by **David M** » Wed May 01, 2019 7:41 am

Nice work, Kip. It's interesting to see the scales on the wings when you maximise the image. This really is one of the UK's most attractive little butterflies and it's always good when you can get close to one.

Kip · Post by **Kip** » Thu May 02, 2019 8:57 am

thanks guys, much appreciated.. working with narrow depths of field I usually find the tip of the forewing costa, or the edge of the hindwing is soft in focus. This one ticked all the boxes and was just plain lucky especially as I only had two photos to pick from, not the usual 20+

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