Thanks
Trevor, this has been an extremely frustrating season so far, hopefully with summer just around the corner things will settle down now
Haha, thanks
Wurzel, that Holly Blue wasn't quite up to Millerds standards, a bit crumpled looking. Give your local Grizzlies a week or two yet, Mill Hill is a south facing slope on the south coast so it's always going to be an early site.
Thanks
Andrew, I do try my best when opportunities present themselves
1st May, Spring’s here…?
Well would you Adam & Eve it, a sunny forecast coinciding with a day off. A rare thing for me this year but since I've waited quietly and patiently(
) for such an occurrence, I certainly wasn't going to waste it. I set my sights on my first visit of the year to Denbies and some Green Hairstreak. As always, the walk from the station was a distracting stroll, Speckled Woods inhabiting most the sunny glades along the more wooded parts of the walk, although a little disappointing not to find any Holly Blue which more often than not join them.
In the more open areas Whites were present, mostly sporting a distinctive flash of orange as they zoomed past, sadly I was too late to catch any breakfasting, but it was meant to get a little cloudier later so hopefully I'd have better opportunities on the return trip. A Small White did stop long enough though.
As usual the wind at Denbies was amplified but at the Hairstreak ‘master shrub’ it was sheltered enough for it not to matter. What did matter (to me) was the complete lack of Hairstreaks
! In fact, for the entire hour I wandered the slope I saw just one solitary Butterfly
.
I presume this lack of activity is just a blip brought on by the up and down April. Hopefully a second wave of Hairstreaks will appear soon along with the spring Skippers and Lycids, fingers crossed for next week
Little fluffy clouds had begun to appear so I turned my attention to Orange-tip hunting. I had several flybys on the return but the spot that seemed the best was a sunlit lane leading down to the winery. A dark cloud had appeared just in time and very quickly I located a grounded male. As the cloud passed there was a sudden hive of activity, three males jostling for my attention along with an unfortunate male Green-veined White who had to put up with continued dive bombing male Orange-tips. Common Vetch seemed to be particularly attractive.
Just before reaching the train station I found a female, not fully asleep and my attention caused her to flutter around a bit but she did pose exceedingly well when settled
!
My next destination was Bookham. It's damp meadows are another good spot for Orange-tips plus I hoped I'd be able to locate a few larvae.
It was with some disappointment that I arrived under a grey sky. The little harmless fluffy white clouds now replaced with foreboding dark blankets
. It's a good job I give scant regard for forecasts these days I thought as I put on my coat to the first spots of rain.
I easily located my first target though. Two years in a row now I've managed to locate a Brown Hairstreak egg on a small isolated sprig of blackthorn, making finding the resulting larvae that much easier. This ones already moulted once or twice from the looks of things. My rescued ones I returned last time are all still unhatched but then they've only had a fortnight of spring to start development.
The cloud cover remained, accompanied by the occasional light shower so I was left to look for sleepers, finding just the one, another female, hanging like a mossy tear from some Greater Stitchwort.
A little sunny spell awoke her briefly from her slumber where she fed as quickly as she could before settling again, showing off the remarkable camouflage this species possesses, something I shall never tire from seeing
.
- Spot the Orange-tip.
Butterfly-wise that was it for the day, which, considering the sunny start, was a little disappointing. On the upside, at least I had Orange-tips, even if the most compliant ones lacked the orange
.
Looking for sleepers inevitably meant eggs were found and given the number, and that i saw no larvae, I’d say I have a good few weeks left here before they are done for another year
.
Some new birds did fall victim to the new lens. A Garden Warbler. I know it was a Garden Warbler because I spent ages looking for the singing Blackcap until I noticed the sound was coming from this rather nondescript chap.
And another Warbler, the Whitethroat.
Things look to be getting better after tomorrow so I can only hope it's true, I'm off all next week and all other plans are currently shelved in favour of chasing butterflies!
)
Much better to just wake up and look out the window...
!
. It was quite early in the morning so they were still warming up, perhaps still a little too bleary eyed to notice he was chasing another boy