Bugboys mission

[bugboy]

Sorry David, I missed your earlier comment, I am pondering whether to take on european butterflies, a little bit intimidating with all those Blues and Skippers and Ringlet etc but there are several species that I've wanted to see since I was a kid. A bit of planning might be needed and I suspect there will be a bit of a steep learning curve and lots of questions . As for what I run on, well one advantage of having a 'chauffeur' at my disposal for these long trips is that I can nap in the car



26th June, Bugboys Big Northern Trip 2018, day 7, a west country Brucie Bonus.

So instead of driving straight down to London we took a minor detour.... via Gloucestershire, and a certain pub called The Daneway. Arriving in the searing heat of mid-afternoon I hopped out the car and did a recce of the bank whilst my chauffeur sorted out the overnight accommodation. There was a lot of general butterfly activity but not much in the way of the target species. I decided to give it a couple of hours in the hope I'd catch something later and helped put up the tent before relaxing in a cool pub with an even cooler drink, flicking through the thousand or so pictures I'd amassed during the week. It was whilst I was relaxing that I think a certain Wurzel was prowling the bank.

Two hours later we returned to look for Large Blues. The butterflies seemed torn between roosting and being hyper active in the still silly heat, but still no Blues of the Large persuasion showed themselves. For an hour we wandered the slopes, Skippers and Brown's all over the place. We did find some blues, but they were far from Large.

It was just as we were leaving to have a well-earned meal at the Inn when the unmistakable shape and hue (I think the technical term at this site is Deep Blue) flew past and vanished round a bush. Oh well, at least I knew they were about.

27th June, Bugboys Big Northern Trip 2018, day 8, a west country Brucie Bonus cont.

We got up early the next morning, but yet again the heat beat us. At 7.30am everything was already up and about and mostly not willing to sit still. It took a while but eventually a Large Blue showed up. From the look and behaviour I suspect freshly emerged. She was most unwilling to open up but with a bit of perseverance I managed some underside shots.

No more showed up on the lower slope so we moved to the upper bank, Brown's and skippers erupting with every footfall. A very large orange butterfly appeared from nowhere, circled us a few times and landed halfway up a tree. I wasn't expecting a SWF to make it's season debut here.

Up here another Large Blue also appeared and gave me the runaround for a bit, but it eventually landed and coyly opened its wings for a minute or two.

I'd say more of a Cobalt Hue myself but then what would I know.

Happy to achieve some upper sides we moved on. Large Blues becoming more common as we circled back round to the lower slope again. I probably saw around a dozen before we left at 9.45, most of them now super charged up and not worth chasing around, trampling all over the habitat in the process. How ridiculous, butterflying that early in the day and getting your shots in before breakfast!

So that's it really. Mission complete with a shed load of bonus species in the bag too. My friend had work the following day, but I still had four days before returning to work, four days of relaxation....... you know me better than that by now surely !

[Wurzel]

Glad you got them in the end , I must have missed you by a whisker Looks like the early morning was a better idea than the early evening as none 'oped up' for me, still got my shots though

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Beautiful Large Blues, BB, with wings open too! There won't be many who achieved that this year with wall to wall sunshine.

[bugboy]

Early morning and perhaps several degrees cooler Wurzel
It was hard work and ridiculously early David, but worth the effort as always


28th June, normality resumes…. Bookham, a purple bonanza.

Every time I found connection and had a quick browse of UKB during my northern trek I felt like I was being bombarded by Purple Emperors, so as soon as I got back I felt the need to go to Bookham to find one for myself.

There was a good amount of general butterfly activity, Small Skippers and Brown's darted and flopping around in the morning sun but the first thing to really catch my attention were the dozens of Purple Hairstreaks that were flying low over the bracken, I've never seen numbers like this low down. It wasnt just one sex or freshly emerged insects either, both sexes were actively flying down from the tree tops. They were very active even when settled so photo opportunities were not common, but there were enough around to manage a few. They all seemed to be searching for something to lick so I wondered whether the recent temperatures have caused the honeydew to dry up?

I could see a few fellow Emperor hunters up ahead and seeing me they waved for me to come over, but they hadn't seen what I was looking at. I called over to point out an Emperor on the path between us. Like the Hairstreaks he was an active fellow as he wandered around on the ground, constantly opening and closing his wings, making catching the purple a bit challenging. Still he didn't seem in any rush to go anywhere fast, so we had plenty of time with him.

At one point he discovered, much to his joy, some dog mess, so I poured a bit of my squash onto a mossy log and with the help of my sweaty brow moved him to a more photogenic position.

Once he'd finally returned to the tree tops to start some fights with anything that moves I decided to call it a day, dropping Millerd a message about all the Hairstreaks. I got a reply nearly straight away that he was 10 minutes away, so I made my way to the car park he normally uses, both of us arriving at the same time.

10 minutes later, as we wandered along, chatting about what he would likely see during his impending trip to Arnside an Emperor landed amongst some foliage on the side of the path. This chap stayed in the shade and wore some battle scars, I suspect he was the local thug.

Now things had warmed up the Hairstreaks were somewhat less willing to sit and we had to settle for being spectators for the most part. That was until we were leaving. Walking along the side of Banks Common we saw an Emperor fly into an isolated oak, quite high up and out of sight but shortly after a Hairstreak settled lower down. It was relaxed enough that we were able to pull the branch down to get closer to it and grab some pretty decent shots.

It wasn’t all about the colour purple though, here’s some of the others who caught my eye

A good day, with the Hairstreaks being an excellent bonus

[trevor]

It's been a remarkable year for ' Purple ', Paul.
It would seem that your Purple experience has rivalled mine this year !,
with more Emperors and Hairstreaks around than normal.

Great images,
Trevor.

[Andrew555]

Love the open wing Large Blue Bugboy, I must go next year. Glad you got some Purple action.

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Bugboy Brill Emperors but I have to reserve the 'greenie' for the Hairstreaks as those are great images

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Trevor, I was following your diary whilst up north with a certain amount of envy!
Thanks Andrew, it's a great site to visit during Large Blue season. Small and compact but with a large range of species plus somewhere close to relax if the weather turns
Thanks Wurzel but you might want to pace yourself before dishing out too many of those greenies

29th June part 1, more purple.

Before we parted company the previous day, Millerd and I agreed to meet back at Bookham the next day, well the purple ones seemed to be performing rather well so it would be rude not too !

Again, it seemed to be raining Purple Hairstreaks at every sunny glade along the paths and again they were annoyingly active, and in some cases, there were simply too many. Like the problem I have with my WLH site in Essex, you zone in on one only to disturb an unseen closer individual which then disturbs the one you're focused on, oh what a predicament to be in! With so many around though, we did manage enough to not leave empty handed.

The best one was a freshly emerged individual I found clumsily clambering up a grass stem.

Unfortunately, Dave was otherwise occupied, and it flew off just as he was coming over.

We bumped into another enthusiast, who was indeed rather enthusiastic, who finding out we had yet to see an Emperor that day, proceeded to give us directions to one of the master trees, and betted his camera (a rather nice DSLR with an impressive lens) that we would see some there. After standing under said trees for several minutes I concluded I should go and collect my winnings, but we didn't bump into him again.

We didn't see any of the bigger purple inhabitants today but there was still a lot to enjoy, Bookham really does come alive at this time of year.

Note the obvious beak mark indicating a close shave

[bugboy]

29th June, part 2, a touch of orange

We parted company after midday, my plan was to head off the Essex to see if there were still some WLH around and to rectify the minor detail of not yet seeing an Essex Skipper this season. It's become a tradition to see the first in the county that gave it its name now.

There were a few Hairstreaks around but mostly well past their best and in much lower numbers than a few weeks ago.

Hutchinsoni Commas were rather commonplace

but nothing like as numerous as the Skippers. From what I could tell they were mostly Essex Skippers but it was still stupidly hot and they were rather difficult to pin down. One thing I did notice as I stalked them, something I’ve never noticed before, is just how much more nervous Essex Skippers are compared to Small or Large. In fact it became so obvious I had a 100% success rate of ID’ing them based on this behaviour based on the ones I managed to get close enough to positively ID them in the traditional manner.

Essex

Essex

Essex

Small

Small

I can't remember what this one was and only have this pic of her. There is no sign of orange on the antennae but the overall look does look more Small than Essex ?

Browns were also present in varying numbers. Meadow Browns all looking rather tired now but some Ringlet and Marbled White were worthy of attention

All three species of White put in an appearance, plus some old first gen Holly Blues, but they were all still too active.

[Wurzel]

I see what you mean Bugboy A cracking array of shots. I reckon your Smessex is an Essex, the antennae lack the 'flicks' on the end and also the ground colour is less in your face orange and more 'sandy' coloured I'm ready to be corrected though...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

They were a good couple of days down at Bookham, Buggy - hairstreaks galore! My experience from the WLH spot is that every skipper I could get near enough to identify was an Essex - you did well to find a Small one.

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, still more Little Purple ones to come though I think I'll end up erring on that skipper and labeling it as a Smessex.
Yes they were a good couple of days Dave, so good I couldn't keep away

30th June, 2 days till work!

The temptation of those Hairstreaks was just too much and I ended up at Bookham for the third day in a row. Once again the Hairstreaks didn’t disappoint, popping up all over the place.

In the same grassy glade as I found the freshly emerged one the previous day I found another clambering up. This one was much friendlier than yesterdays and only flew weakly indicating it was very fresh. I willed it to open up and tried every trick in my armoury (shading, turning my back, putting my camera away, taking out my lunch) but nothing worked so I made do with a shed load of undersides.

Whilst searching other glades for Hairstreaks (to be fair no searching is needed this season), I had a surprise appearance of a different type of Hairstreak. Only one quick snap was achieved before she shot off.

Elsewhere a Comma was doing his best Purple Emperor impression and under the Emperor master tree (I still saw no sign of HIM) a couple of rather nice female Meadow Browns were doing a grand job of dispelling the myth which still regularly pops up on FB groups about the ‘one pupil = Meadow Brown, two pupils = Gatekeeper’

Since this was my third day here in a row I decided to leave early and use my afternoon to catch up on more mundane things that we’re obligated to do as a grown up, but there were a few things that delayed my departure, mating Ringlets

And a tree full of fledgling Swallows! The parents were flying around, and I managed a few shots as they came in to feed them. It was just a shame the sun was right overhead, making it impossible to get better shots.

Dad taking a well earned break

[Wurzel]

Fantastic stuff Bugboy I reckon there was one trick that you missed and that was pour a coffee, generally the butterflies turn up when ou have the flask in one hand, the top under your chin and the flask in your other hand

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, I knew I missed something

1st July, Just one more purple day .

Back to work the next day but in the interest of wringing every drop of butterfly hunting out of my two weeks off I went back to, yes, you've guessed it, Bookham. This time it was an afternoon/early evening visit to see what the Hairstreaks were doing, perhaps being more willing to sit still and pose open winged for me. Unfortunately, it actually became rather overcast for much of the afternoon so not too much was active. A few orange butterflies did pose though

But there was very little in the way of purple in the air. Wandering up to the Emperor master tree I saw a few people looking up into the canopy with bins and scopes. Reaching the spot, I looked up expectedly to find two Emperors engaged in a dogfight. Time to show me what you can do zoom lens .

A purple Hairstreak comes in for the kill!

I stayed there for about an hour snapping away and watching them fight. At one point no less than four Emperors were having a mass brawl .

Bookham had one final present for me as I was leaving, a nice Ringlet ab. lanceolata playing hide and seek.

A good finale to my two weeks off

[Wurzel]

A fantastic finale Bugboy, great action shots and a sublime lanceolata

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Splendid scrapping Emperors, Buggy! My puny little camera can't manage that sort of stuff and those are great images.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Fantastic shots of the Emperor Bugboy, i didn't even get to see them when I visited Fermyn so i'm envious
Goldie

[David M]

Delightful stuff, BB. You've done really well with a whole range of species lately, but you seem to 'own' Purple Hairstreaks right now and that is something few people can lay claim to!

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel
Thanks Dave, your camera may be smaller than mine but it still produces some impressive pictures, size isn't always important
Sorry to hear you missed your Emperors Goldie, at least there's always next year
I don't think I can say I 'own' PH David, they seem to be having an incredible year with unprecedented numbers coming down all over the place!

3rd July, staying local.

Due to how my rota works, I was back to work for just one day then I have my half day followed by my normal weekday day off. Time to have a little jaunt on my much-neglected local patch. As with everywhere else, its suffering from the lack of rain, and can only be Walthamstow Marshes in name at the moment with much of it looking more like mid to late August. I didn’t see a great deal to start with, no Skippers or Browns in the first meadow through the entrance I use. It was only when I reached some of the shadier spots that I started to see the occasional butterfly, the odd white would flutter by and Gatekeepers would settle and try to stay cool.

In one of the regular sun traps that usually hosts a resident Comma at various times of year I found a couple, battling it out for prime vantage points. A couple of Red Admiral were also here and refused to move on, much the Comma’s chagrin.

Think I was chanelling my inner Neil Hulme with this one

one for Wurzel :)

Further on I checked out the Goats-rue that's so popular with the resident Holly Blues. It too was looking rather withered, but the seed pods still looked green and plump so hopefully the Holly Blues won't be too badly affected. I didn't however see any adults.

Along this stretch are also lots of Buddleja bushes in full flower, but as a sign of just how dire urban butterfly populations are these days there were just a handful of butterflies here. A couple of Small Tortoiseshell, a few Peacock a single Comma plus a few Whites and Meadow Brown's. Only the Comma and Peacocks presented themselves for the camera.

As a kid, I clearly remember the single Buddleja at the bottom of my garden would attract significantly more than this meagre amount.

[Wurzel]

Cheers for my shot Bugboy Great set of images especially the Hedge Browns. They almost don't have the second pupil - something I've seen a fair bit this year

Have a goodun

Wurzel