Bugboys mission

[Wurzel]

Great report Bugboy Lovely set of Small Pearl shots and another lovely looking female blue.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Yes Dave, Bramble flowers did seem to be the main attractant, although this is most likely due to the lack of choice of anything else as much as anything!
I'm pretty sure if you were their mother Pauline, 'adorable' would not be a word you would use to describe those noisy, demanding little buggers !
Thank you Goldie, I got a bit lucky with the Painted Lady I think
Thanks Wurzel , but just wait until you see the next female Common Blue I found...

6th June, Sunny Sussex (part 2)

Since its just one stop up the line (but an extortionate price of over £8 for a single ticket I was to discover ) I thought id take my first wander across Malling Down of the year, overlooking Lewes. I was hoping the Adonis would still be showing well. It started pretty much as Abbots Wood had ended with Speckled Wood occupying the shady path up to the top. I always start on the northern side, where the old chalk works are and here Small Heath and Common Blue ruled supreme with a few Brown Argus and the occasional Dingy Skipper. In the heat most were super charged so photographic evidence of what I was seeing was hard to come by.

An accidental upperside shot...nearly in focus!

I did follow a male Common Blue who looked nice and fresh who, not for the first time this year, turned out to be one of the fairer sex!

Over on the other side where I'd hoped for the Adonis it was disappointingly quiet to start with. A few fresh male Meadow Brown flopped by and I was buzzed by the occasional Common Blue, but it wasn't until I was halfway down the slope that the distinctive flash of Adonis appeared. Not many though and in varying states of disrepair. There was however the odd late emergent to focus my attention on.

The older males were still on the search for females and still seemed to have a good amount of feisty energy about them. I tried to get pics of a female giving the brush off to one of these old boys but due to the constant motion I think it works better as a gif.

The fresh males weren't immune either !

At the bottom of the slope and along the path overlooking the allotments Common Blues again took over.

Quite a successful day in the end and leaving now I'd hopefully miss the London rush hour

[Janet Turnbull]

That's a pretty good shot of the open winged SH!

[Wurzel]

Woah see you what you mean Bugboy Great video clip - needs the Benny Hill backing track

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Janet, pure luck/chance
Thanks Wurzel, she was a proper stunner, I've noticed that many are starting to do away with the red spots as well.

6th June, Sunny Sus… Walthamstow (part 3)

Arriving home at 6 the still clear blue sky and warm temperatures tempted me out for an hour onto Walthamstow marshes. I hoped to get some better images of the Holly Blue early stages and also see if the Common Blues were still active.

I don't know if anyone else has noticed but there seems to be an above average profusion of Bramble blossom this year, and it was on one such thicket that a number of butterflies were dining whilst enjoying the dying rays of the sun. A handful of Holly Blue, I suspect mostly males from the behaviour, a Comma high up and a Red Admiral at the perfect height.

Moving on to the Holly Blue nursery I easily located the same two larvae I photographed last time as well as loads of eggs.

Thumb for scale!

I also did a bit of a survey along the path, picking at random various Goat’s-rue plants as I went, I couldn’t find any that didn’t have Holly Blue eggs on! Last time I made an ‘off the top of my head’ estimate of 100 plants along this path which I now think is a woeful underestimate and is probably closer to 1000. They all grow along the sunny side of a straight path and given that I’ve watched the Blues lay all along here over the past few years it’s a reasonable assumption to say the majority have eggs. Rounding down to say 20 eggs per plant and a 1% survival rate still gives a very rough but still impressive estimate of 200 adults in July!

And the eggs are still being deposited!

Further out into the meadow there were indeed several Common Blues about, alternating between attempting to roost and flitting around looking for a final snack for the night and were mostly hard to approach. Flying with them were a few fresh male Meadow Browns.

And there ends another very long but very satisfying day.

[millerd]

Excellent stuff with those Holly Blues, Buggy. My local ones are still laying too, on the same plant. I wonder what the success rate on this foodplant actually is - it's going to be great finding out, I hope!

Dave

[bugboy]

It is going to be interesting isn't it Dave, imagine clouds of them flitting around late summer Ivy growth


8 - 10th June,

The continued fine weather allowed me to get out during lunch breaks at work and get the weeks transects completed. Large Skippers have appeared about a week or so later than is usual, no doubt caused by the spring cold snaps. Still not seen any females but I suspect numbers are just days from exploding, although with a fortnight leave fast approaching I may miss the main emergence.

A few other usual suspects are around, Small whites and Speckled Woods both looking particularly fresh at the moment, and I was pleased to find a batch of Peacock larvae. Although no adults have yet been recorded this year at work, it does prove at least one female found my workplace suitable for her children. Even more pleasing since it was on a patch of nettles that I had specifically asked my horticulture dept to leave alone for just such a visitation, since it did seem to be growing in the perfect spot .

[MrSp0ck]

At least Ditchling Common is only a short walk from Burgess Hill and its station [1.5km], not all sites are as handy.

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Bugboy The blues are waning, the Browns are waxing, all change!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots of the Skipper Bugboy, things are quiet here at present ready for the next invasion I hope Goldie

[Andrew555]

Still some lovely blues you've found Bugboy, nice gifs.

[bugboy]

Indeed it is Mrsp0ck, although I'd already made other plans...
I'll let you off that typo Wurzel given how manic this site has been this season (I've given up trying to keep up with everyones diaries now, skimming them on the train too and from work is all I can do now)
Given the way things are running along down here it's only a matter of time for you Goldie, as long as the incoming storm doesn't do too much damage


13th June, a trip to the Black Country

The Black hairstreak had fallen off my radar this year. Suddenly is was June and a couple of messages to PhiliB over the weekend had me making some rushed plans to rectify this oversight. With train tickets booked on Monday evening I went onto UKB to find THAT announcement! I was in the area last week but the situation in Sussex was still being assessed so had yet to be made public.

Well anyway, Phil was promising me a day to remember, this year at Castor Hanglands Nature Reserve just outside Peterborough.

I left at a nice civilised time, a 45 minute train ride arriving at Peterborough just before 10 where Phil met me for the 20 minute drive to the site.

The site itself looks well managed; a mosaic of meadows, scrubland and woodland with areas fenced off areas to protect flora rich sensitive meadows from idle trampling. It didn’t take long to see our first Hairstreak, surprisingly fluttering low over a meadow towards the hedge we walked along. When it landed I took a few record snaps, as you would with a supposedly rare species, but Phil hurried me along, telling me not to worry about that one! We passed several more fluttering here and there and the sightings increased as we entered a maze of freshly mown rides that snaked through thickets of Blackthorn. As we continued along these paths I gave up counting individuals, Black Hairstreaks already far outnumbering all other species combined, which mainly consisted of Speckled Wood and Large skippers. I did manage a few more record shots, little did I know how much better things were to become though!

We made camp and Phil said to just wander around the rides and wait for one to sit low. I did, and they did, with relative frequency. The only problem was there were too many of the bloody things. You’ll just see your target, and another would fly by and put it up.

Eventually I found one unaccosted long enough for some snaps and what a little stunner she was, auditioning for the Hairstreak version of Vogue!

I would hazard a guess that for everyone that settled low down there were another 5 or 6 that stayed up high.

I’d been wandering around for about 30 mins when I realised I’d become totally disorientated and had no idea which direction to go to find Phil and base camp and it was almost by accident that I stumbled across him again.

As morning became afternoon low down landings became more commonplace and you could even be confident enough to pick and choose your target, “skip that one, bit tatty”, and we were able to concentrate on fresh specimens, all seemingly trying to outdo the previous one in Vogue posing stakes. Much to our surprise it wasn’t just females that are still emerging either, we came across at least 3 mint males as well, the third of which seemed rather unsteady and was almost certainly only hours old.

A friend of Phil’s turned up mid afternoon (I forget your name, sorry), after getting stuck in traffic for a few hours, and another couple of enthusiasts stopped by but apart from them we had the place and what was probably hundreds (if not thousands over the entire site) of Hairstreaks, to ourselves.

It really was an incredible day and will go down as one of the highlights of the year for me. In Phil’s 20 years of observing them he can’t remember a year like it and one of the other enthusiasts who had 50 years in the bag said the same thing. We really are experiencing a once in a lifetime event with them this year, even without the Sussex population appearing! I remember bumping into Neil Hulme at North Stoke a few months ago and saying I had a good feeling about this year, I didn’t think it was going to get this good! Big thanks once again to Phil, good to catch up and have a natter

[millerd]

That sounds like a terrific day at a real hotspot for the Hairstreaks in amongst what seem to have been many hotspots this year! Lovely fresh butterflies and great shots too, Buggy.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Sorry about the typo Bugboy, been a bit hectic at work (teaching lessons at 7:30am is getting a bit draining on the little grey cells). Your shots are cracking of the Blackstreak, but also very envy inducing as I probably won't get to see them this year when it looks set to be the best year ever for themt

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Looks like you had an amazing day yesterday, with some great shots of the 'abundant' Black Hairstreaks

Mike

[Janet Turnbull]

I've never seen Black Hairstreaks and your pictures are amazing!

[PhiliB]

It was good to meet up with you again Paul.
I'm glad you could make it up to Peterborough to witness what is likely to be, as you say, 'a once in a lifetime experience'.
I do like your head on shot of the recently emerged male as it well shows those lower wing hairs which the butterfly loses so quickly.
I wish you the best of luck for the rest of the season, especially with your quest for your last British butterfly. Is it then mission accomplished?
Phil

[David M]

This will certainly go down as a particularly memorable year for Black Hairstreaks, BB, maybe even a groundbreaking one!

It may be some while before we see such numbers again, so folks are entitled to fill their boots whilst the phenomenon lasts and you clearly did precisely that.

[Neil Freeman]

Great report and photos of the Black Hairstreaks Bugboy, they certainly seem to be having a fantastic year at most of their usual locations as well as the now famous discovery in Sussex.

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

Thanks for all the comments, it really was an amazing day. To think, 3 years ago I was over the moon at seeing a single tatty female for about 30 seconds

16th June, Fairmile Common

Silver-studded Blue was today's main target and I had the choice of two sites, my usual SSB hunting ground of Chobham Common or Fairmile Common where I've been once before, two years ago. I chose fairmile since the weather seemed rather questionable and it's a much smaller site to find my, possibly roosting quarry, I'd found them quite easily in light rain two years ago.

As it turned out I needn't have worried, it was mostly overcast but still warm and entering the site I was soon greeted by the sight of lots of silvery blue butterflies fluttering low over Heather and Gorze. I actually ended up wishing it was a little cooler as these boys seemed full of beans and very reluctant to settle.

They were still emerging here, quite literally at times as I found more than one still drying it’s wings.

I managed a couple of females as I followed the males around until I came to the far end of the site. Here females seemed to outnumber males and I spent a fair amount of time following these around. Having other things on their mind, they're much more willing to pose (and usually have a far better set of studs). Several had the blue markings on the hindwings, first seen on one by Millerd a week or so ago. It would seem it’s the new fashion accessory for this season.

I’d also been keeping my eye out for mating pairs, to add another species to my in-cop list and near the end of my visit I stumbled across just what I was after

Another impressively studded female with the freshly emerged oily shimmer and then a second mating pair presented themselves to me. I ran off a run of shots before realising I was overexposing them. As I reset the camera though the male disengaged and then proceeded to bask over his most recent conquest, such shivelry !

I could have stayed here for a couple more hours, but I wanted to go and see what was happening at Bookham since both Purple Emperors and White Admirals have both been seen now. Sadly, the weather took a turn for the worse and I was left looking for roosting butterflies for the majority of the latter half of the day although I did get one White Admiral flyby during the one and only brief sunny spell.

I left when it started spitting with rain but still, a good few hours with some lovely SSB