July Butterflies

[jellyang]

July 1st seems to be Meadow Brown and Ringlet day in Norfolk. I also spotted my first Red Admiral of the year today. Numbers do seem to be quite low considering it has been a sunny & warm few days. Rain is forcast for tomorrow

Angie

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
An awesome day at Southwater Woods! Copy of report to BC Sussex website appended.

This morning I met up with 'Purple Emperor Guru' Matthew Oates, Max and Fiona (filming butterflies for 'BirdGuides'), the Steedmans, the Lucks (and their friends visiting from New Zealand!) and BC Committee member Caroline Clarke. Matthew, Jim and Judith have seen many an Emperor in their time, but most were hoping for their first sight of this wonderful butterfly - and they were not about to be disappointed! If the sightings elsewhere in the woods by Chris and John Hamilton (3), and the Fletchers from Seaford (early morning 'grounded' male - congratulations on becoming 'Purple'!) are added into the equation, careful analysis of the many multiple sightings gives a total of about 20 Purple Emperor! Jim and Judith had one male down briefly and we later saw a rather worn female 'on the deck'. But the highlight was a pristine male, which we tracked through the woods between 15:45 and 16:05. It landed repeatedly, probing for mineral salts and occasionally entering the woodland, searching for sap runs. As it performed tight turns around us it flashed the most brilliant shades of vivid purple. Even for the most seasoned butterfly-hunters, a quite remarkable day!

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Neil

[Annie]

I'm off to Alice Holt Forest tomorrow for Purple Emperors and I CAN'T WAIT!!!!!! Plus with my newly-borrowed camera I can get photos of butterflies for the first time ever.

[cheddar-caveman]

Anyone know of anywhere in the South West where we can see these beautiful butterflies???

[Susie]

Superb shot! I can't wait for the BC walk on Sunday, I just hope it isn't a wash out.

Is the afternoon a better time to see Purple Emperors, rather than in the morning?

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Rosy,
There are no 'hard and fast' rules, but generally mornings are better - for males. The hotter the day, the earlier they might be down. The males are usually probing for mineral salts in the morning, but this can (more rarely) occur at almost any time of the day. 9 - 11 AM is usually considered the best time. In hot weather females will come down for moisture and I've observed 3 doing this during the afternoon over the last couple of years. On Sunday we will do a circular walk around the woods for the BC outing, but if the weather is kind I will stay on with those wishing to give it longer.
Neil

[sahikmet]

Hi,

At Aston Rowant (Bald Hill) this morning, lots of Marbled white, Medow brown also few Small heath.

Cheers,

Sezar Hikmet

[IAC]

I visted Burnmouth SSSI today to see if I would be lucky enough to see some NBA.....they turned out to be numerous..16+....however, already beginning to show some serious signs of raggedy edges. Also Grayling in small numbers, but in tip top condition. The past 2 days have been the best, weatherwise, for some time here on the Scottish east coast. Yesterday saw 1 Small Tort in excellent condition....should be more soon if weather holds.Ringlets in hundreds now.....incredible numbers, also plenty Meadow Brown.
Cheers all IAC.

[Susie]

Hi Rosy,
There are no 'hard and fast' rules, but generally mornings are better - for males. The hotter the day, the earlier they might be down. The males are usually probing for mineral salts in the morning, but this can (more rarely) occur at almost any time of the day. 9 - 11 AM is usually considered the best time. In hot weather females will come down for moisture and I've observed 3 doing this during the afternoon over the last couple of years. On Sunday we will do a circular walk around the woods for the BC outing, but if the weather is kind I will stay on with those wishing to give it longer.
Neil

Cheers, Neil.

Just one very fast flying Comma and a few Meadow Browns in Cranleigh this afternoon.

[Pete Eeles]

I visted Burnmouth SSSI today to see if I would be lucky enough to see some NBA.....they turned out to be numerous..16+....however, already beginning to show some serious signs of raggedy edges. Also Grayling in small numbers, but in tip top condition. The past 2 days have been the best, weatherwise, for some time here on the Scottish east coast. Yesterday saw 1 Small Tort in excellent condition....should be more soon if weather holds.Ringlets in hundreds now.....incredible numbers, also plenty Meadow Brown.
Cheers all IAC.

Nice shots! We could do with these on the main species pages, since they're both different subspecies to those that "us southerners" get to see

If you could send me high-res images I'd appreciate it (if you want them on the main pages, of course!!!). pete@ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers,

- Pete

[Denise]

Not a butterfly I know, but what a stunning creature this Scarlet Tiger Moth is.



I found it in my garden when I got home from shopping today

Denise

[Gwenhwyfar]

Wish I found stuff like that when I come home from shopping, I love these, nice one Denise

[Jack Harrison]

DG Fritillary at Sharpenhoe Clappers (north of Luton) 3rd July east slope TL069299 sightings about once every three minutes but on one occasion, three seen at once.

Jack

[jellyang]

Today I saw White Admiral at Holt Country Park in Norfolk.
There were two gliding gracefully around the trees but they refused to stop for a photo.
I will return !

Angie

[Pete Eeles]

DG Fritillary at Sharpenhoe Clappers (north of Luton) 3rd July east slope TL069299 sightings about once every three minutes but on one occasion, three seen at once.

Jack

Lovely photo Jack - I know how hard getting such a good shot can be!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

DG Frits may be difficult but nothing like as difficult as White Letter Hairstreaks. This was taken from about one Light Year distance near Hoddesdon, Herts (TL358087 ) on 1st July. It serves as no more than an i/d record shot.

Sussex Kipper's Purple Emperor is a stunner!

Jack

[Gruditch]

July is certainly livening up, on our transect yesterday, we only had 9 species, but a total of 210 butterflies. Mostly made up by Marbled Whites 87, and Meadow Browns 88, a good number of Ringlets 24, plus Common Blue 2, first Gatekeepers of the year 2, Small Whites 4, Large Skipper 1, Small Skipper 1, and the first Dark Green Fritillary of the year 1.

Gruditch

[Annie]

I was lucky enough to visit Alice Holt Forest with Matthew Oates to look for Purple Emperors yesterday.

We started off at one area (I can't remember the name!!) where, after an hour of looking we saw our first male, high in the canopy. Matthew put some belachan out but to no avail.

Moving further down we were lucky when a pristine male settled on the path in front of Matthew - it stayed for several minutes, basking in the sunshine. Then more appeared in the canopy and, to our amazement, two settled on the path only a metre away from eachother. Then another settled at a muddy pool. This was too good to be true!

They were everywhere, all males. After 11am they started sallow-searching, and were still settling on the ground - I even had one on the tip of my finger for the briefest of moments.

There were so many that we were becoming blase and stopped pointing them out. A pristine male came down to a second lot of belachan and fed for a good few minutes.


Later on in the day we moved onto Goose Green, where there was a cherry picker waiting. There were many males in the canopy (and so many ringlets in the grass I lost count). A male PE settled on the arm of the cherry picker!

It was a long day (I left home at 5.30 and arrived back at 7pm, a round trip of about nearly 300 miles) but so, so worth it - I can safely put it down as one of the greatest days of my life. I wish I could be back there today.

Thanks to everyone who made it such a great day, and it was lovely to meet Lynn and Tony (I think it was Tony, I'm so sorry if your names not Tony but you'll have to excuse me, my mind was in the clouds yesterday!)

Other species I saw were SW Frit, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Small Skipper (male), Large White, Marbled White, White Admiral and Red Admiral

[Annie]

I would just like to point out that Matthew's health and safety notes may need a little updating - on depositing the paste he wrote "vile" on a little card and placed it in front of the suppurating ooze.

Unfortunately, the side facing the pile proclaimed, in cheery cherry red, "Coca Cola".

I don't know whether this was some sort of intentional "dirty protest" against the Coca Cola company; I just hope it hasn't attracted the attention of any wandering groups of caffeine-addicted children...

[Shirley Roulston]

We are very friendly up North- very friendly, July 4th the Meadow Browns are in party mood.

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From Shirley