CallumMac

[CallumMac]

It's strange how Small Coppers seem to be so common in many areas right now. If there was one foodplant I'd expect to have suffered as a result of this summer's long, dry spell it would have been sorrel.

Somehow though, this hasn't handicapped phlaeas in the slightest. Perhaps the butterfly's early stage predators took a bigger 'hit' than the butterfly itself?

Yes, it's remarkable how well they seem to have fared! Somebody (millerd?) said to me recently that the drought seemed to have broken at just the right moment, with fresh green shoots of sorrel coming up at around the time when the 2nd gen phlaeas were egg-laying. So maybe they just got lucky!

[David M]

It's strange how Small Coppers seem to be so common in many areas right now. If there was one foodplant I'd expect to have suffered as a result of this summer's long, dry spell it would have been sorrel.

Somehow though, this hasn't handicapped phlaeas in the slightest. Perhaps the butterfly's early stage predators took a bigger 'hit' than the butterfly itself?

Yes, it's remarkable how well they seem to have fared! Somebody (millerd?) said to me recently that the drought seemed to have broken at just the right moment, with fresh green shoots of sorrel coming up at around the time when the 2nd gen phlaeas were egg-laying. So maybe they just got lucky!

That's perfectly plausible, Callum. Clearly, there MUST have been sufficient LHP for so many to have emerged lately.

[millerd]

Hi Callum - yes, I did mention it. On my visit to Calley Heath, though the grass over the rabbit warren was still brown/grey and lifeless, the green leaves and shoots of sorrel were already emerging and the Small Coppers were taking advantage. This has been repeated at both the Surrey Heathland sites I've been too recently. It looks as if sorrel comes back more rapidly than other plants after drought and consequently the Small Copper is doing well. However, it sounds as if the timing of the return of the rain was all wrong down at Dungeness - though hopefully all will recover in due course.

Interesting to hear about the flood of them at Walmgate Stray, though!

Cheers,

Dave

[CallumMac]

06/09/2018 - Summer's last hurrah

With all the chatter about Small Coppers, and the remarkable count reported from the Stray on Monday, I've been keeping an eye out all week for suitable conditions to go and have a look for myself. I really didn't think today would be the day - it was so autumnal when I got up! But I glanced up from my computer screen at around 2pm to discover the sun had broken through! I dashed down to my car, grabbed my camera and headed out onto Walmgate Stray. It took all of 20 seconds to find a Small Copper!

There were a couple trying to fly, spending long periods basking between short hops. Soon the sun went in - probably just as well as it forced me back to my desk before my absence had been noticed!

By the time I left to drive home after work, the skies had cleared to mainly blue, with the occasional cloud skudding across the sun. Buoyed by my earlier success I decided to pop into Calley Heath for half an hour.

Again, it only took seconds to find the first Small Copper, with one flying in the area immediately inside the gate.

I wandered further into the reserve but without seeing any further butterflies. After a few minutes a larger cloud covered the sun. With at least 5 minutes to wait before the next sunburst, I decided to head to a small patch of Rock-rose where I had previously found Brown Argus. I must have put my lucky pants on this morning, because sat on a sedge right above the Rock-rose was a roosting female!

The sun soon came back out, and my female began to bask. Pretty shortly another flew in a couple of metres away.

Time was slipping by, so I decided to head back and spend another 5 minutes in the first area and search for more Coppers. This turned out to be a good decision, as there were at least four flying around!

These were super-freshly emerged. I think this is the first time I've seen a Small Copper with a genuine coppery sheen - really something to behold!

Anyway, after some stiff competition this year from Adonis Blues, this afternoon has cemented Small Copper back into the top spot as my favourite species!

[millerd]

Good to see the next generation coming along nicely at Calley Heath, Callum!

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Great set of Copper images Callum - they're having a cracking end to the season Also your Brown Argus looks good as an ab. snelleri (at least I think that's what it's called)

Have a goodun
Wurzel

[CallumMac]

They seem to be doing pretty well, Dave, and the place looks a lot greener than last time I was there so this gen shouldn't have any problems (barring an early frost).
Thanks Wurzel

your Brown Argus looks good as an ab. snelleri

- yes, I thought so too. In fact those are the two separate individuals (look at the hindwing wear) both showing the same feature, so perhaps it's quite frequent in this population. Seeing that particular ab. in a population on Rock-rose (although bivoltine), right on the edge of the former NBA range, it's quite tempting to imagine there are a few NBA genes still knocking around!

[Andrew555]

Really lovely Coppers Callum.

[Goldie M]

I second that Callum, there does seem to be an abundance of them at present Goldie

[CallumMac]

Thanks Andrew & Goldie!

[David M]

For reasons that I'm yet to reconcile myself with, late August/early September of this year will be remembered for an abnormally high preponderance of Small Coppers.

They seem to be about in numbers in many areas both north and south where they are often only seen in single figures (if at all).

Long may it continue though, as I reckon most of us would have them in our favourites list.

[Old Wolf]

Hello Callum, I am trying to catch up on diaries.

Lovely Copper shots especially the one showing the copper sheen on the hind wings. What a beauty

[ernie f]

Hi, Callum. Glad to hear the Small Copper is your top fav again. I particularly liked the shot of the one you took with the glitzy copper scales on its hind-wings. I have sometimes seen this sheen but its hard to get a pic of it.

[CallumMac]

Thanks David, Old Wolf and Ernie! That copper sheen was really something. If you pressed me, I would guess that on that occasion I was helped by the fact it was quite late in the day, so the angle of the sun was relatively low.

09/09/2018 - Aire Valley RSPB reserves

A brief and belated report from my birthday outing! In a good year, the timing of my birthday can allow for some good butterflies to be found, but unfortunately this year the weather was overcast, with a cool and brisk westerly. L and I decided to prioritise birds instead! I hadn't been back to RSPB Fairburn Ings for over nine years, since I spent a week volunteering there. We had an interesting enough walk around the place, which had changed a lot, with areas that were previously inaccessible to the public opened up by a series of new footpaths. There wasn't a huge amount to be seen, with highlights being several Spoonbills and my first-ever Cattle Egret - both beyond the reach of even my longest lens. Other than a few Whites, the only butterfly was this Small Copper; even that disappeared before I could switch to my macro lens!

Believe it or not, this is the first decent photo I've ever managed to get of a Magpie. I love the character of these birds, and the wonderful folklore that surrounds them!

With the afternoon still relatively young when we returned to the car park, we decided to take a short detour from our homeward journey to look in on RSPB St Aidan's. This site has featured in my PD at least once before; we have visited reasonably regularly since 'discovering' it back in spring, because there is a pair of Little Owls that supposedly nests right next to the main reserve car park! Now owls are by far my favourite birds, and if they weren't so hard to find I would happily spend as much time chasing them as I do butterflies! In three previous visits we had not yet been lucky enough to see them, but clearly somebody had tipped them off that it was my birthday, as one was sitting out in full view.

The weather's continued to be cool, cloudy, and often windy ever since - I've hardly seen a butterfly. Definitely autumn up here now.

[Wurzel]

Great shots of the Little Owls Magpies are a right bu$$er to get shots of as they always seem to be on the move Probably trying to avoid the clutches of the Law

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...Now owls are by far my favourite birds, and if they weren't so hard to find I would happily spend as much time chasing them as I do butterflies!

Agreed! Nothing in the bird world beats an owl (except, possibly, a hummingbird). The one you got there is probably the cutest of the lot too!

[Goldie M]

Love those Owl's Callum, you don't see too many in England, I've only heard them at my daughters house at night in Kent but I've never been able to find them, she lives near Blean Woods Canterbury Goldie

[CallumMac]

Magpies are a right bu$$er to get shots of as they always seem to be on the move Probably trying to avoid the clutches of the Law

Thanks Wurzel maybe just busy carrying news around! You'll know this song if you love the BBC comedy Detectorists, which is about a hobby that involves spending lots of time out in the countryside and which 99% of the population think is totally weird... feels very familiar to me! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6EIFD80f90

The one you got there is probably the cutest of the lot too!

Thanks David I do love their grumpy little faces, but I must admit I have a particular fondness for beautiful Barn Owls.

Love those Owl's Callum, you don't see too many in England

Thanks Goldie Actually I'm pretty lucky living in the East Yorkshire Wolds in that it's probably the best place in England for owls - I think the fairly low-intensity cattle/sheep grazing in the some of the steep dry chalk valleys (which look a lot like the South Downs) makes very good vole habitat. The chap who bred the one in my photo above says that East Yorkshire has the highest density of Barn Owls of anywhere in the country, which I can well believe as I quite often see them out hunting in the daytime when I go for a cycle ride. There are quite a few reliable spots for Little Owls which I'm hoping to visit more often over the winter, when it's easier to "pop out" at dusk and still be home for dinner! Then we get lots of Short-eared Owls overwintering along the banks of the Humber estuary (if they make it through the summer on the Moors without being gunned down by a gamekeeper ). And we have Tawny Owls living in the cemetery behind our house - we can sometimes lie in bed and listen to them hooting!

[ernie f]

Callum - Love the Owl pics. I have not seen an owl for ages so your shots are very welcome. Like you I have heard them though. At our house we usually hear the Tawny hoot from nearby trees but a couple of weeks ago I am sure we heard Little Owl too.

Last year I was lucky enough to get pics of the Short-eared Owl for the first time. Its about 30 years between my first sighting and my first pic but well worth the wait.

[Wurzel]

That was a brilliant show - I just which they'd have done another season they left me wanting more I read somewhere that a real life detectorist found a gold piece only to discover that he'd found one of the props from the show

Have a goodun

Wurzel