Pauline

[David M]

..Great sets of photos, I like the way they are presented by subject..

Yes. There's a real effort gone into that and it has a real impact. Puts my own PD (and most others) to shame.

[Maximus]

I totally agree with you, David (and all the other comments), a lovely way to present a summary of your season.

[Old Wolf]

Hello Pauline,
Great summary of an exceptional year.

Thank you for sharing all of your great photos, observations and information which is going to be very helpful in my search next year.

I wish you all the best over the autumn/winter and look forward to following your diary next year.

Take care.

[Pauline]

It's April 1st but no fooling about
I had to come back as the Dukes are now out

(Inspired by the book I have just ordered by Richard Harrington )

Almost exactly the same time and place as last year but one month earlier!

Thank you all for all your amazing comments last season. Kept me going through a hard winter!

[bugboy]

Blooming 'eck Dukes already and I'm still stalled on 5 species (in the UK that is). Welcome back from hibernation Pauline

[Wurzel]

"it's April 1st but no fooling about" - I had to check the time on your post just to make sure Pauline What a cracking way to come out of hibernation

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, glad your back super shots of the Dukes, what a start Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Now I know its Spring...Pauline is back

Great start to your season

Cheers,

Neil.

[Maximus]

Hi Pauline, welcome back well done with those Dukes

Mike.

[trevor]

Very early Dukes, and a slightly earlier Pauline.
Now we know the season has started!.

Well found,
Trevor.

[Andrew555]

Very nice Pauline, good to see you back.

[David M]

Seeing you return always picks my mood up, Pauline.

Welcome back and I hope you had a productive winter.

PS - I genuinely DID think those Dukes were an April fool at first.

[millerd]

Welcome back to the fray, Pauline - what a splendid way to start things off. I hope your hibernation passed well.

Almost a couple of March Dukes - the first I saw last year was on 2nd May, so quite a difference.

Cheers,

Dave

[Pauline]

Thank you all so much for that very warm welcome - much appreciated. Some already know that it has been a tougher Winter than usual due to some extraordinary events but I shall not dwell on that. I have been so looking forward to getting out and about again but my life is currently being controlled by a neighbour's cat!!!!! It has already killed my little cockerel Pickle who was just the sweetest little bird. He was brought to me with another cockerel, Popeye, 15 years ago, after being dumped at the side of the road. Popeye had already been hit by a car and his eye had popped out - hence the name

Anyway, Pickle was just sat in his shed, under his heat lamp which was his favourite spot, when the cat attacked him and traumatised him so badly he did not recover. This is Pickle and Popeye about 10 years ago:

The cat has now attacked Petal, one of the hens whilst she was in her nestbox. The result was a visit to the vet for an abscess on her foot and no eggs for a week as she wouldn't go back in the next box. I have spent £100 for pointed plastic to go on the top of the fence - no difference. The owner refuses to keep her cat in. It has been suggested I get a 'super soaker' which can fire water 40' but the cat disappears as soon as I open the door or window. The upshot is that if I want to go out I have to shut the hens in their sheds which I am loathe to do in good weather. When they are free range I have to 'guard' them. Bearing in mind I have a lovely little cat of my own, any suggestions which would enable me to get out to see butterflies would be appreciated.


Hi Buggy, I was pleased to read your op went well and some lovely shots posted recently. I don't want to rub it in but here's a couple of shots from the garden in March:

Hi Wurzel - no fooling! The transect walker also saw it and discussed with MO who had reports of one on 28 March from Wiltshire! You're not looking hard enough

Cheers Goldie - not bad for my first outing

Good to hear from you Neil. Just had this emerge from an over-wintered pupa:

Cheers Mike - hope to see you and Cathy around this season, unless you're off to more far flung places

At this rate Trevor I'll be seeing you at Chiddingfold a whole lot sooner than normal

Thank you Andrew. Hope you have a great season!

Very pleased to hear it David If you've any suggestions on dealing with that cat I'd be delighted to hear them as I've never known cats to attack poultry in such a persistent and determined manner.

Now here's the funny thing Dave. I chat on the phone to Hazel quite a bit and we compare butterfly notes. She remarked to me last week that the earliest she had ever seen a Duke was 9 April. I then looked back at my photos and THOUGHT that I saw them last year on 1 April which was why I went to look. Alan T kindly brought it to my attention that it was actually 1 MAY that I had seen them last year and when I checked my photos again he was right. If it hadn't been for that mistake I would never have gone to Noar Hill. In the event I nearly didn't get there as the road was blocked and I was sent all round through Newton Valance. With my sense of direction! ........... I guess I was meant to see that Duke!

[Pauline]

As Trevor commented perhaps my departure WAS a little premature last year but unfortunately it was unavoidable. I did continue to see a whole lot of interesting things so before we get into the season proper my next few posts will be something of a resume.

Having been witness to the strange behaviour of the Brown Hairstreaks at the start of the season I became a little obsessed with them, and had to continue to monitor them closely, visiting Noar Hill about a couple of dozen times, to learn as much as I could about these elusive insects. There were only 3 visits when I didn’t see any despite going at very different times and in all sorts of weather. Not surprisingly, one of the visits where I drew a blank it was teeming with rain!!! I didn’t expect to see anything but it was warm and I just needed to convince myself (I have seen PE’s fighting in a thunderstorm). I ruined my spare battery as a result of that visit. I was soaked to the skin and on returning home I just stripped off and threw everything in the washing machine. It wasn’t until much later, after the washing cycle was complete that I realised the spare battery was still in the pocket of my jeans!!!!

Another time I didn’t see anything was early one evening. I have seen them about quite late but not on that occasion. The third time was seemingly perfect conditions so I reckon it was a case of wrong place, wrong time.

On the other visits I saw sometimes up to 7 females, many in very good condition right up until 13th September (the latest I have ever seen one was September 14th but I have been informed that Mark T and Nick L photographed a fairly fresh female here some years ago on 22 September!). I watched them egg-laying from 10.55am until 2.55pm on various days and followed some right across the site as they travelled further than I had expected. Eggs were sometimes laid in what I consider to be atypical places – the middle of a branch was quite common but one was even laid on a dead leaf. Eggs were laid singly and in multiples but only to a maximum of 3 – unlike the 5 eggs I saw a female lay a couple of years ago. I watched one egg being laid a couple of yards from my car down on the road but like many others, it had been predated when I checked 48 hours later. Whilst looking for eggs I came across what seems to be a newly emerged Chinese Character – lovely!

On one of these visits to Noar Hill I bumped into Nick L. who showed me a photo he took of a WLH on 22 July at the exact same spot where I had seen one the season before. That would make it a total of 3 years running that 1 or 2 have been seen here. From memory the one I photographed was a male but the photo Nick has kindly forwarded clearly shows a female:

One visit to Noar Hill will stay in my mind for quite some time. I had recently met someone who did not know a lot about butterflies but she was interested and very keen to learn. I had (almost) promised her that I would show her a Brown Hairstreak but the day of the visit was very dull and overcast. Not many butterflies were on the wing but she was pleased to learn about the Small Heath and Common Blue. Her enthusiasm and optimism spurred me on but when I bumped into Roy Symonds who told me that he had been there for over 3 hours and had seen nothing I began to feel less hopeful. Nevertheless, under leaden skies we traipsed around most of the site and eventually ended up back where we started and prepared to return to the cars. I apologised for not being able to deliver on the Brown Hairstreak front and no sooner had I finished the sentence than a pristine female flew around me and landed on a leaf in front of us allowing her a clear and close up first ever sighting. The timing could not have been better and caused a few chuckles from a couple of others who had joined us!

Anyway, because I saw so many of these gorgeous creatures I must include a very small selection from the hundreds of shots I took.

[Pauline]

Apart from the Brown Hairstreaks at Noar Hill, a few other notable sightings included a Small Heath (female I think) sitting with its wings parted. There were many Small Heath in the surrounding area but this one was noticeably larger. A couple of times she opened her wings fully but only for seconds and I was too slow to catch it on camera. She moved a couple of times, landing on a leaf and scraping her curled abdomen along it. This is what made me think she was female – I am not sure if the size is significant.

[Pauline]

I continue to try to improve my bird photography when I am out and about but I have made little progress. Sometimes I don't even need to leave the garden. A Greater-spotted Woodpecker crashed into the conservatory window and when I went to look he was lying unconscious on the ground. When I picked him up I realised he had a massive beak. I wondered whether to use this opportunity to take him to the vet to have it trimmed in case it prevented him from eating – but I reckoned that he had managed well enough up to now and being a wild bird the stress may have killed him. I had left him in an old aviary and in an hour he was fully recovered and raring to go. I took a few quick shots but didn’t want to delay his departure or cause him more anxiety :

[Wurzel]

I seem to recall that there were a few partially 'open' winged Small Heath last year - I wonder if this was down to the heat we had - it certainly seemed to affect the Brostreaks, if there was such a thing as a rule book for them they tore it up and into tiny pieces last year Intersting looking GSWoody as the bill looks more like a Hoopoe, I can't see it having much success 'drumming' but it was possibly using it like a Winkle pin?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...a few other notable sightings included a Small Heath (female I think) sitting with its wings parted.

I've seen this occasionally, Pauline, including Pearly and Dusky Heaths on the continent. I'm sure it can't be weather related, since if it were then all of them would be doing it.

Amazed to see the woodpecker with the elongated beak....if there was one bird I'd say wouldn't be able to prosper with such a condition, it would be this one. Seems to be otherwise okay though.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, your seeing more Butterflies down there than we are up here, it's been so cold here. Love your shots of the Small Heath Goldie