Art Frames

[Art Frames]

And now pictures from the last, and rather glorious day; from meadows full of flowers. In the UK they would be designated as SSIs but this was normal and plentiful habitat.

A few first time butterflies for me, plus some reminders of wonderful repeats from earlier.

Firstly, a light looking Comma





And then a Duke, it is lovely to see them behaving so differently to the UK race.



More puddlers



A Nettle puddler



A Woodland Grayling puddler



Knapweed, Queen of Spain and mating Spotted Fritillaries.





The Trip’s only large Tortoiseshell.



An Hungarian Skipper



Eastern Bath White



Amanda’s Blue



Mazarine Blue



And a couple of onlookers, a Bush cricket and Dalmatian Algyroides





And with that my story is done. It is a wonderful Country and I would go again with much pleasure.

[Wurzel]

Superb Peter I'm just sad that it's all over

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Art Frames]

Superb Peter I'm just sad that it's all over

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Yes, I am and I know you would be too.

But it was a blast and I will be looking for next years trip shortly. Somewhere that has a chequered blue production line.

I always debate whether two trips a years is being greedy. My wife would say it was fine, but it does take a lot of energy so I'd need to have some space between them.

[bugboy]

So many sumptuous images to drool over

[David M]

That Southern Comma looks quite strange, Peter. It's nothing like the ones in the SE of France. Do they have larger spots in central & eastern Europe?

[Art Frames]

That Southern Comma looks quite strange, Peter. It's nothing like the ones in the SE of France. Do they have larger spots in central & eastern Europe?

Hi David, as it was the first I'd seen (or maybe not) I have no idea. Do you think it is just a light version Comma?

[David M]

That Southern Comma looks quite strange, Peter. It's nothing like the ones in the SE of France. Do they have larger spots in central & eastern Europe?

Hi David, as it was the first I'd seen (or maybe not) I have no idea. Do you think it is just a light version Comma?

To be honest, my initial reaction was that it was c-album.

Take a look at these for egea:

http://www.eurobutterflies.com/sp/egea.php

[Art Frames]

After a break for photography, holiday and a little bit of work I am now ready to continue with a few highlights of my summer.A major problem with reporting the Croatia trip was that all of the time I was nipping out to visit my favourite sites and neither activity helped the other. So I fell behind and have months of pictures to skip through. Not ideal, but that just means you get to relive a little bit of my summer, and see some of my memories. And it has been a very good year.

So first memory was from June 25th when I popped out to Daneway Banks having seen some lovely shots from a friend on Flickr. Unfortunately, it was very hot, very sunny and although I saw a good number of Large Blues they were very reluctant to spread their wings. I was on site very early having enjoyed a nice clear run at 6am. So despite being on site at 8.30am it was not early enough (note for next year)









I also took some lovely ringlet mating shots and managed to lose several pints of body fluids in the heat, which I put right in the evening at home - although the pub did look welcoming...

But it was a good lesson in how far I can travel in a day, and was a success worth repeating. And since then I was told of another site to visit next year so it may entail a B&B/pub stay...sounds perfect

[Art Frames]

Two days later (June 27th) I visited a favourite wood in deepest Bucks, Finmere Wood which was alive with Ringlets, Marbled Whites and some lovely Silver-washed fritillaries. Unfortunately the Emperors and Admirals were very mobile and remained mostly at height apart for a couple of run-throughs...

However, I did secure some early Purple Hairstreaks, including one which was either in the process of emerging or that had not emerged with total success.









A few days earlier at Buckley wood I had some closer encounters with Silver-washed and also a very fresh White Admiral.







Unfortunately, the timeline of this diary has become rather erratic, however, it is mostly about the pictures and the memories for me.

So I'm just whizzing though the days to get to some later special days....

[bugboy]

Lovely pictures as per usual . Your Large Blues bring back memories, I was there the day after you and camped over night there. 7.30 am the following day was still to late to catch anything warming up! . Previous years have been easier when it's just normal mid twenties and a bit of cloud cover to calm things down a bit.

[Art Frames]

Having drawn a blank with Emperors at Finmere Wood, on the next day (June 28th) I made my first visit to Fermyn which was far more productive (and only 20 or so miles away from my home - well there have to be some benefits to living in Northants!). Between the main wood and Lady Wood I saw over 60 Emperors and photographed 12. I arrived at about 7.00am and enjoyed some peace and quiet and relatively fresh conditions as the sun was behind a low grey sky for the first hour or two. Later on it became unbearably hot and the butterflies became more and more energetic. By the time I reached Lady wood there were a lot of visitors and the heat was becoming a real issue.

But it was one of my best ever days with his majesty and was in reality the best day ....until a few days later

So here are a few of my own memories

First sighting was a lovely hairstreak - resting at 7.20am (with the grey light). It was one amongst many, but most were staying higher.



This was 20 minutes later and despite best efforts was not showing purple.



By about 8.00am I was seeing Emperors but still flying high and so I shot a few flying and took this burst and made up this gliding montage from eight stacked together (I suppose I could have made a moving gif)



At 9.20 I took my first of many grounded sessions. And as so often happens someone turned up (with his girlfirend) just as I had patiently tracked the butterfly for 100 yards and waited for him to settle. He immediately announced it to be an Emperor and set himself in prime position. I said I knew as I was tracking it and had been there for two hours. So (rather generously) he let me get a shot after his girlfriend had waggled an iphone towards it.







I prefer shots of butterflies on vegetation (rather than baited ground or turds) so I was pleased to come across my next Emperor at head height in a fairly green alcove away from the tracks.



He was sharing the space with a number of dragonflies and I secured my only shots of a parked Brown Hawker for the year..very special



I shan't post all ten of the Emperors, but this was a nice opportunity at about 11.00am in Lady Wood



Just near to another resting White Admiral



Well maybe a couple more...





So by about lunchtime I was ready to depart with several hundred photographs, and a very big smile. But a learning point for next year is to go to Lady Wood first, take a packed lunch, have a rest for an hour and go back again as days like this are precious and you need to make the most of them. As it was I had to return with a friend in a few days, but that is another story....

[trevor]

An excellent set of images as usual, Peter.
I particularly like the Purple Hairstreak shots, and the multi Emperor in flight sequence.
Before I had read your text my first reaction to that shot was jammy g*t.

All the the above images are stunning, but there always have to be favourites.
I am also pleased that the Emperors performed for you this year.

All the best,
Trevor.

[Art Frames]

Just add this one as the focus is better

[Wurzel]

Absolutely fantastic images as always Peter I had a very similar experience at Bentley with a Johnny-come-lately that turned up and was constantly moving so they were in the prime position. I discovered that actually he was a birder/twitcher hence his appalling/selfish attitude

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Glorious montage, Peter. Delighted you got such an audience in spite of the unwelcome interruption.

Bored birders who've moved onto butterflies are particularly objectionable.

[Art Frames]

Thank you Bugboy, Wurzel and David for generous comments.

I enjoy showing nature to others and am happy to lend binoculars and explain all that I can. Just occasionally we all meet someone who is a pain, but they usually depart and allow normal people to breathe and relax.

He wanted me to tell him where to see the white-letters. I had no idea

But the next pictures to be posted will be white-letter hairstreaks. But a day later and not from Fermyn

[Art Frames]

Continuing my story of the summer, on June 29th having looked at my Emperor pictures first thing, I decided to follow up a local tip for White-letter Hairstreaks which had been reported in County. The tip was sufficiently detailed and exciting that I checked the site out on Google maps and worked out the postcode...

I was excited as I had been considering driving over to a far-away site that Bugboy had given me details about previously. W-l's have always been a butterfly I encountered infrequently and never to get a decent picture of - so a challenge. Getting to Essex would mean several hours of driving and navigating the M25 - neither of which was a fun prospect. Staying local seemed too good to be true.

But it was a hot day (weren't they all!) and I planned some alternatives if I was disappointed at site one and set off on a 20 mile trip.

The site was close to a town, just by a ring-road, some rough ground with ditches, scrub brambles and nettles with a couple of scrubby elms( yards away on the other side of the ditch). Behind them was a security fenced factory/warehouse unit and lorry park. So a perfect location to be taking pictures...

But on arrival I had seen fast and dramatic hairstreak action at the upper parts of the tree. And as I checked it over I saw dozens of hairstreaks. Looking worn, bird-pecked and small even with my telephoto. I took pictures and looked for any routes that I could navigate to get me closer, without breaking my neck. There were none.

After checking out all of the adjacent hedging for 50 yards in each direction my eye fell upon a bright yellow plant, ragwort about 20 feet from the elms and accessible to me (with a few stings and scratches). On it were numbers of black beetles, several hover flies and an absolutely perfect hairstreak.







I took a number of shots on the flowers and this one on a nearly plant. May have all been the same insect. It did keep flying off and returning as this was the only flower for some distance.



Not only was I able to take photos I also shot video and changed lenses, it was one of those moments to remember. I was pleased with the images and from a huge number I chose a few to allow me to portray the charm of this butterfly.

They are edited to simplify the background a little and remove the black beetles, which did draw your eye a little too much!

Later in the summer I found even more W-l's at Bucknell Wood, but more on those later.

[millerd]

Those are lovely shots of the White Letters, Peter. Like you, I've generally found this species difficult, but for some reason they kept appearing unexpectedly this year. From your interesting account they can be found in unlikely spots as well!

Cheers,

Dave

[Art Frames]

Like you, I've generally found this species difficult, but for some reason they kept appearing unexpectedly this year.

Cheers Dave. Glad it's not just me.

But I agree this year has been special. I saw all of the UK Hairstreaks and quite a number of the European species too. And in large numbers. good year.

[bugboy]

I'm glad you got to see your WLH, and without the long journey to Essex . Great images and judging by the patterning on her forewing 'streak', it was definitely the same individual you were seeing. Looking forward to the next imstalment .