Art Frames

[jenks]

Fantastic photos, Peter.

I visited Fermyn Wood this year on 22 June. Too early as it turned out for PE but I did see White letter Hairstreak (4) in Lady Wood and Brown Hawker. And then on 19 July at the High Brown site in Glamorgan I saw 4 more White letter Hairstreak, not on their favoured Elm tree but low down nectaring on a Bramble patch. For me they always seem to be a species seen when looking for something else, a chance encounter almost, and very really do I see them when consciously looking for them.

Jenks.

[Art Frames]

Many thanks Bugboy and Jenks for looking at the pictures, and for your helpful comments. I have some other individuals Bugboy and may add one or two later.

But I just uploaded the video to Youtube so hopefully I can add it here. (You get to see beetles and a hover fly too).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eqz7KZ4cVY[/video]

or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Eqz7KZ4cVY

[Wurzel]

Fantastic images Peter The tails are particularly resplendent

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Great images again, Peter, and I really appreciate you posting that lovely video footage.

It's interesting to see the Hairstreak tails flickering around in the wind. I wonder whether that's some form of defence mechanism against predation? Perhaps the moving tails draw attention from the head of the butterfly to the rear?

[trevor]

I suppose I should award you 10 out of 10 for those White Letter Hairstreak images,
9.5 out of 10 would be rude !.

Great stuff as always,
Trevor.

[Art Frames]

It's interesting to see the Hairstreak tails flickering around in the wind. I wonder whether that's some form of defence mechanism against predation? Perhaps the moving tails draw attention from the head of the butterfly to the rear?

David, thanks for commenting. I feel that the tails act as a draw to birds even if that wasn't the creator's first thought. But I have never seen them as long and mobile before. They do look like antennae on the video don't they? I felt privileged to spend time with such a fresh and accommodating butterfly. It must have flown away and returned a dozen times, there were three visits in that short video

[Art Frames]

I suppose I should award you 10 out of 10 for those White Letter Hairstreak images,
9.5 out of 10 would be rude !.

Great stuff as always,
Trevor.

Trevor your scores are gratefully received and similar scores are returned for your recent cloudies and the brown hairstreaks too. It would be good to be able to give scores to many of the images I see here. Some uplifting images about.

[Art Frames]

Moving swiftly on to July I am pleased to bring to you a new site (for me) and some more Emperors.

I noted a post last year about Cotgrave Woods in Nottinghamshire, I think on another forum, where a dark form Emperor had been spotted and photographed. I mentioned this to a friend who said it was actually only 3 miles from his house. So we agreed it was worth another 'foreign' exchange visit (he had come down to Salcey Forest to see Black Hairstreaks - about the same distance from my house)

My friend Stan had been careful to set my expectations on the low side as he'd never seen a confirmed and settled Emperor at the site. So we visited on that basis (although privately I always expect to see something and am usually a mad optimist when it comes to butterfly trips). And it was a beautiful warm and sunny day - so what could be nicer.

Within the first 50 yards of the start of the wood we met a fellow photographer who was staking out a tree which had recorded activity on previous days (mostly hairstreaks I believe) But he had not seen any Emperors (ever ). We were joined by another visitor as we talked (who was also an Emperor virgin). As everyone talked I spotted my first Emperor about 100 yards away at treetop height and pointed it out. Everyone was stunned but then baffled. I quickly established everyone else was unable to spot flying Emperors or even perching Emperors, even with binoculars and long lenses. Thankfully my vision for distance and movement is still very good so I became spotter and guide for the day and introduced a number of virgins to around 10 Emperors. Is there a better term for this

I must have spent 15 minutes showing this 'hidden' perching Emperor. I must learn to keep quiet...as most people clearly feel I am making it up until they see it too.


But with good fortune and the warmth of the day after 9.45am the butterflies became easier to see and many gave close and personal appearances. Initially, on dung....









The trouble with being a guide is you are constantly showing others and ensuring they get the shot and my shots for the day were numerous but not as good as I like, despite some great opportunities. Including 10 minutes where I was the subject, modelling alongside this one beauty (shoes, trousers shirt etc) without getting a single shot (but Stan sent me a few of his!)



I tried to record my own close encounter but I couldn't get a shot until it left me to land on this chap's feet who had got down to take some close ups... (....he apologised for their state of his feet as we all took pictures!...I think they were better attractants than Trevor's cheap tin of tuna ). I even stopped and took shots of this encounter with his own camera to ensure he had a record of his 'deflowering' with HM.



A great day at a fine wood, with some good laughs and memories; which I will visit again. Lots of other butterflies besides these. But, needless to say I did not see any dark form Emperors. I would probably have mentioned it if I had

[trevor]

It does make one question one's personal hygiene when an Emperor wishes to savour you.
But, last year one landed on my shoe, confident that I was freshly bathed, it occurred
to me that my very old shoes were ' ripe ', and thus a succulent treat for an Emperor.

Great story and images,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

A great set of images Peter There's nothing quite like a trousering for causing muscular strain, they always seem to settle in just the right place to necessitate maximum contortion Mind you it's worth it

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Wonderful account of what must have been an exhilarating day, Peter. Makes you wonder how many more tracts of woodland harbour these magnificent butterflies without many (if any) people knowing.

[Goldie M]

Great to see your shots Art, I totally missed them last year, I wish they'd come further North Goldie

[Art Frames]

Thank you everyone for your comments. (Trevor, same shoes as France then David M, it is astonishing for me to see PEs in a number larger than 1, and I live in a good area. Something has surely happened? Goldie, I believe they will but Wurzel and Trevor will be enjoying even more species from the continent by then...so we still will need the ...and Wurzel, trousers are OK but I think my best experience of contact with HM was his visit to the sweat on my nose and forehead.. - not sure if I have a photo of that, but I do have pictures of close encounters with some wonderful butterflies - mostly my two sons as young boys on our French holidays)

It is good to know that even out of season my pictures are worth posting. And there is something less stressful, less competitive about being last with your stories...I'm delighted to be a month behind Wurzel, but then I cannot match his prose and insights.

So I will relate some more time with Emperors at Fermyn on the 3rd of July. I'd been persuaded to return with a good friend who I do the majority of my trips with. He'd not seen a grounded Emperor in many years and was very keen. So I again reached Fermyn quite early and we made our way straight to Lady Wood. Dennis did need persuading as we went past large numbers of Emperors at about 10 feet from the ground, gliding around and occasionally diving directly at us. But I was persuasive on this occasion and it paid off.

I'm going to include this picture purely for the story behind it, which was one of the days highlights for us. We came upon a really friendly lady staking out a large area of dried up horse dung. There were no Emperors and we fell into conversation about the dung. I said, naively as it turned out, 'that it was a good pitch as there was so much poop'. She explained that she had collected it all and arranged it there. And, just to emphasise that she arranged it a bit more with her bare hands and delicate fingers and said she'd already had some interest...So we hung around and in conversation I asked about her dung collecting and needing a good wash before lunch. She said it was OK as she'd got some wet wipes before her sandwiches....

But it worked and we were able to secure lots of pictures of a couple of visitors with her bait.



I'm not a fan of baiting, and not attracted to the shit shots that occur as a result. But I admire her dedication to the task in hand and she was a good handler of the butterflies as well as the manure. ...As we left we resisted the chance of shaking hands and simply doffed our hats.

We saw her again later in the day and asked how she was getting on. She said a car had come along at speed along her track and wrecked all of her work scattering it in fragments, and she'd not got the heart to put it all together again...but she'd seen many more butterflies and was seeing lots whilst walking too.

Alongside all of the Emperors there were lots of other butterflies. I took this and five other shots of a Silver-washed courtship flight. I'd toyed with the idea of a moving GIF ...but there is too much movement but It was the best I've achieved over several years of trying. I will eventually improve my skills and perhaps shoot some video, but I was quite happy with getting both male and female in the shot and mostly in focus.



As the day was mostly about seeing Emperors (we didn't count the numbers but it was in the region of 40-50 with around a dozen photographed at close quarters we walked everywhere and took hundreds of pictures. Fabulous. Absolutely amazing scale of plentiful abundance... Here are a few shots.







But, for me, the highlight of the day was at lunchtime, we'd walked back towards the gate where I'd parked the car and within 50 metres of the car I saw an amazing butterfly. It was a 'what the ...' moment. Having not too long ago been in Croatia my mind went into overdrive...all I could do was hit the shutter button a few times. I called out to Dennis and calmed enough to check the camera and turned the dial to engage 20 fps mode on the camera. This was most unusual for me as I don't like huge numbers of similar, unplanned, shots. But it was my salvation as the butterfly was fluttering in a very bright, very hot place and the first shots were rubbish. The butterfly was there for less than a minute and I had enough pictures to be able to see an underside and several good topsides and about 50 shots in all. It was clearly a very nice Small Tortoiseshell aberration. The first I'd ever seen and hugely exciting









I did post the picture here for any help in identifying the name of the aberration as well as sending it to our county recorder. In the view of the recorder (and an expert friend he shared it with) it was very similar to ab. seminigra (Frohawk, 1938). And if 'seminigra' was good enough for Frohawk that will do for me - I don't expect to be seeing another . I can say was it was an exceptional, wonderful feeling and I had some fun reading about stress related aberrations here and elsewhere. Plus I then ordered a very nice book on butterfly variations for my birthday.

Little did I know that I would be seeing several more aberrations during the summer (not Torts). But that is a spoiler to parts of the diary yet to be written. So more anon.

[bugboy]

That is a wonderful Small Tort ab. One of the many variations caused by extreme temperatures during the larval and/or pupal stage so not hugely surprising to find one this year but still a great find

[MikeOxon]

...........calmed enough to check the camera and turned the dial to engage 20 fps mode on the camera...........

Splendid series of photos of a great find. Modern cameras have so many clever features but, for me at least, the biggest problem lies in remembering they are there, when needed

Mike

[CallumMac]

Magnificent shots of the Small Tortie ab. Really stunning!

[David M]

Wow! It's not often a Purple Emperor gets trumped but that Small Tortoiseshell ab. is quite something to behold.

I trust the image will be going into the species-specific album of this site?

[Wurzel]

An absolutely cracking find Peter What a stunner! You must have a black belt in meditation to have calmed down enough to have got those shots - I think my camera would have been shaking all over the place if I'd found this ab!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

WoW! just seen your ab, it's fantastic Goldie

[Art Frames]

Thank you everyone (Goldie M, Wurzel, MikeOxon, Bugboy, Callummac and David M), I'm pleased to realise I'm not barking, deluded or worse.

As I'm putting pen to paper - or finger to plastic it helps to realise that....(NB...I must tell my wife that I'm just going upstairs to finger the plastic. That will make her think...)

So I will now prepare my next set of images and hope to share them later today. BTW we are still in July in Northamptonshire...