millerd

[millerd]

Thursday 17th August: Another local trip only today - or rather a late morning one and a late afternoon one. Today, it was the turn of female Common Blues to be looking for suitable spots to lay. They are all looking rather drab now, but still distinguishable from the Brown Argus that were here a couple of days ago.

Several Commas again today, but this time there were a couple of new ones in winter plumage as well as a dark version of the summer sort (I had trouble making my mind up about this last one, but seen next to the others it is more obvious).

There was also another new Small Tortoiseshell, but this one was up and about and flying strongly between basking sessions on the path.

Both morning and afternoon I saw Holly Blues, but only one came close earlier in the day.

However, on the way home at the end of my second stroll round, I saw a little silver triangle on a fleabane flower which was not the expected Common Blue. It turned out to be a female Holly Blue, and though a bit worn and missing the tip of one forewing, provided some nice views.

I found quite a few Whites today, but they were as usual quite hard to approach. Both GVW and Small Whites were seen...

...but here is one that I am not quite sure about.

The overall "feel" of it says Small White, but the black markings are much more extensive than normal, and there is even a hint of a second black spot on the forewing. To be honest it resembles one or two of the photos I've seen of Southern Small Whites (I think there was some discussion of these last year when they had been found further north than usual on the continent), but it can't realistically be one of those. Just another unusual variation I suspect.

Dave

[trevor]

That's a very smart Small Tortoiseshell, a very vivid specimen.
You had a better day than me.

Trevor.

[Wurzel]

That last Comma is a bit of a teaser but I would go for 'winter plummage' as it's not just two-tone like H.Commas, it's got at least four different tones in it Interesting White as well, those black tips look similar to a Green-veined Whites' markings but it's not one of those, intriguing Fingers crossed it's a Southern

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

The last specimen is a male Green Veined White, Dave. It looks very similar to the ones I see in the Alps, which are similarly weakly marked.

The apical black markings extend right down to the forewing spot, which is never the case with Small White, as can be seen by comparing it to the image immediately above.

[millerd]

There are a few fresh Tortoiseshells around, Trevor - let's hope they still look like that next March...

I'm sticking with my final diagnosis of that being a dark summer Comma, Wurzel. Having gone through lots of other photos, it turns out that they are not all two-tone (though some certainly are), and something about those hindwing edge spots doesn't seem right for the winter version. I wonder if there any "intermediate" forms?

Thanks you for that confirmation, David. I thought it could only really be a GVW, but without seeing the underside, the lack of dark scales along the veins, and the overall softer look to it confused me a bit. I have found a photo from last year of a male GVW where the patterning is the same as this one, but there are black scales along the veins on the edge of the hindwings - which looks more "normal". Incidentally, are there any known instances where the two species have hybridized?

After a complete washout on Friday, I hoped for better on Saturday 19th August. I set off reasonably early and made my way down to Noar Hill.

By the time I had arrrived, the sunshine had become a bit patchy, there was a stiff breeze blowing, and truth be told it wasn't that warm. As usual, there were loads of wild flowers, but butterflies were not around in any numbers. The commonest species was the Common Blue, but these were all looking really worn.

There were a few Small Heath around, but it wasn't until I stopped in the last pit at the far end where there was some shelter that anything truly worth a photo appeared. First up was this beautiful new Red Admiral, with a lovely velvety texture and its body hair puffed up by the wind.

Then a sudden burst of strong sun seemed to energise the Brimstone population, and they emerged from their hiding places to nectar.

It was while I was following one of these that my eye was caught by something that I at first took for a rather bright female Gatekeeper. I had come across a couple of these earlier, but they were duller and more yellow, so I decided to follow its somewhat erratic flight down to the grass. It landed, and stretched its wings wide to soak up the weak sunshine. It was a female Brown Hairstreak. She was virtually unmarked in terms of rips and tears, and had all her tails intact, but she had been out for a while and the glorious shiny chocolate brown had worn to a much more dull matt finish.

After sunning herself on the ground, she moved from shrub to shrub seeking better spots to bask and seemed completely oblivious to my presence.

Eventually, she took off towards the trees and disappeared. All I can assume is that recent indifferent weather had kept her up in the trees after mating, and that now the urge to lay was upon her and she needed to warm up sufficiently to do so - hence the full on basking.

Dave

[Janet Turnbull]

That red admiral is glorious, and what a beautiful set of photos of the brown hairstreak!
Janet

[trevor]

Your first image of the female Brown Hairstreak, is exactly what we all strive for.
Fully open, with wings flat. It's a shame she is worn, but none the less, what a shot !.
Gorgeous Red Admiral too. One as fresh as that landed on my bosses forehead whilst
he was eating his lunch today ( camera was in the car unfortunately ).

Trevor.

[millerd]

Thank you, Janet and Trevor - the Brown Hairstreak was a real piece of luck to find, nowhere near any of the spots on the site that it's been suggested to me that you should look, and certainly not close to any blackthorn. Still, I'm not complaining!

Saturday 19th August continued... Driving back home via the A3 after the skies clouded over, I decided to avoid the M25 and cut across via Guildford and round the back of Woking. This took me right past Dawney's Hill near Pirbright, so I decided to drop by and look at another Grayling colony. As luck would have it, breaks appeared in the clouds and there were spells of warm sunshine. Having seen a few here at the start of July, I was surprised to see well into double figures today, seven weeks or so later.

After seeing Bugboy's brilliant shots of egg-laying activity, I resolved to track down a female and see if I could observe the same thing. I found several females, and one bright new-looking one caught my eye inn particular. She was just sitting in standard pose on the ground when a burst of sunshine appeared and immediately set her in motion. Without any ado she walked quickly a little way and laid an egg on a tuft of grass. She then half hopped, half flew to another tuft, and then another before flying off a bit further.

With some bright new individuals around, I tried to get a few shots of their beautiful uppersides, but only managed to achieve a few blurry ones, mainly by dint of the camera failing to focus on the moving butterfly, and also by me failing to zoom in more on one displaying to a courting male.

I may return for another try in a day or two!

Dave

[trevor]

Has the Grayling site at Dawney's Hill recovered from the scalping it received last year ?.
Looking at your report I should have paid a visit this season.

Trevor.

[Goldie M]

Hi Dave, I'm just catching up with my posts and found your fantastic BHS shot After trailing about looking for them on Sunday I had to laugh at your luck of finding that one I feel sick!
We don't seem to have a lot of different species around at present except for RA and Peacock so it feel's Like Autumn has arrived here already. Goldie

[Maximus]

Nice Brown Hairstreak from Noar, Dave Also some very interesting and varied Grayling shots from Dorneys, it's nice that they are still going strong there. I might have to pay it a visit!

Mike

[bugboy]

Those are better upperside shots than anything I've ever managed Dave and glad you used my observations to find your own egg laying female

[millerd]

Dawney's Hill is recovering pretty well, I'd say, Trevor. The work on removing some of the extensive patches of overlarge gorse has allowed more heather to grow - which should benefit the SSB - and also encouraged the grass that the Graylings lay on. There are still good areas of bare ground sheltered by gorse on which the Graylings like to bask. Judging by the numbers I saw on Saturday it seems to have worked for them. I didn't see the SSB in full flow here this year, but I know they were around.

Thanks Goldie and Mike - that Hairstreak was an unexpectedly good find.

And thanks again Mike - Graylings are well worth investing a bit of time in: fascinating creatures, as Buggy can confirm (thanks for the tips, Buggy!).

Sunday 20th August: With a sunny start at least to the day in prospect, I headed off fairly early for Denbies. Before even leaving Steers Field, I had seen a Small Copper, several Chalkhills, and the first male Adonis - this boded well for the day. It's difficult to know where to start - there were good numbers of Adonis, Common and Chalkhill Blues, Brown Argus and Silver-spotted Skippers, Small Heaths and Meadow Browns - plus a Painted Lady. I took in excess of 400 photos, ruthlessly deleting a third fairly quickly, but deciding which of the rest to post is tricky (particularly as Bugboy has already included some corkers in his diary).

First come the "best of the rest":

the only one seen all day

the best looking of many many individuals seen

nectaring avidly on the knapweed

Silver-spotted Skippers were everywhere across the middle part of the hillside:

Considering how long they have been out, there were still a good few fresh Chalkhills to be seen, males shining silvery blue in the sunshine...

...and a couple of very different females

the usual chocolate brown

almost grey in colour, with white dots on all four wings

The Adonis deserve a separate post to themselves, I think!

Dave

[bugboy]

You certainly got a better range of species, I only saw one Argus and one Common Blue. Then again I was focusing my attentions on the Adonis

[millerd]

20th August at Denbies: Adonis Blues.

There were good numbers across most of the hillside, the males standing out like blue jewels. There were females too, but they were much harder to track down, and sometimes male behaviour was the best clue to their whereabouts.

shiny iridescence on probably a very new individual

And then there were the males...

I also found a mating pair, settled unusually in a very good position to have their portrait taken.

As I made my way back, I came across Bugboy (again!) just arriving for the afternoon shift. He certainly had a very good spell on the hillside after I'd left. Back at the car park I bumped into Mr. Sp0ck as well, and we chewed the fat over a coffee from the excellent van that is based there on Thu/Fri/Sun. Good to see you, Martin.

All in all, a very good day, and the autumn blues were blown away by a hefty dose of the summer ones

Dave

[bugboy]

You found more females than I did too, the clouds seem to have quietened things down a bit after you left. Forgot to mention I bumped into MrSp0ck on the hillside too!

[millerd]

Yes, I think Sunday morning was better than the afternoon, Buggy.

Tuesday 22nd August: Back to my local patch, and warm overcast with some brighter interludes - enough to allow a few things to fly. In fact, it turned into a good day for newly emerged Green-veined Whites and Small Heaths, and I also saw my first Clouded Yellow of the year (but it eluded the camera as they often do). For some reason, the Small Heaths were sitting higher in the vegetation than usual, and allowed several nice close shots.

There was a lot of courtship activity and numbers were very good across a wide area. Here is an attempt to capture one of these encounters in mid-air:

I found several new GVW, including one taking moisture from the path.

They popped up everywhere and the emergence seems coordinated right across all parts of the site I visited.

There were a few Small Whites as well, but they were generally far less approachable.

I covered quite a lot of ground that I wouldn't normally walk across, and discovered that the Brown Argus population is also larger and more widely distributed than I realised, easily matching that of the local Common Blues. Both species were now rather dull and worn-looking.

Amongst them was a tiny Brown Argus no bigger than a thumbnail.

Meadow Browns were quite active today...

...and there was another new Small Tortoiseshell guzzling nectar in preparation for hibernation.

An interesting wander out, and despite the advancing season it was good to see some fresh butterflies of a few species.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 23rd August: Another trip out locally, but a somewhat different selection seen. Common Blue females seen lately all seem to be of the brown variety - maybe they lose any blue scales they may have started with as they get older.

Red Admirals are down in numbers compared to a few weeks ago, but there were still a few, mostly concentrating on nectaring now.

Some ageing Holly Blues were still good value...

...and along with the GVW today...

...was a new Small White.

Also looking new was this Speckled Wood...

...and even newer was this autumn brood Comma, already focussing on the fermenting blackberries - the air near the brambles had a definite alcoholic aroma about it.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of reports recently Dave , I'm playing catch-up having been away for a few days down in Devon. Those Adonis are great, as were the previous Chalkhills and it was good to see some definite Green-veins not pretending to be Small Whites

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely Butterflies Dave, love the Adonis shots, your getting more species there than we are here, it really feels like Autumn now , the Moors are purple with Heather and Blackberries , I'm hoping to get some shots of them. Goldie