Neil Freeman

[Andrew555]

That's a really great shot of the Brimstone Neil, well caught! Love the GVW also.

Cheers

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for your comments Pauline, that Brimstone was difficult to capture a shot of without intervening twigs in the way. Luckily she stuck around for a few minutes which gave me the chance.

Yes, the cloudier weather can certainly help Wurzel. The thing with emergence times is not only the way they vary from year to year but also between different sites, even within the same area.

Same here David with the Longhorn Moths, I nearly always see them when looking for Green Hairstreaks.

Hi Dave, I know the places you mean but Green Hairstreaks can crop up almost anywhere round the site these days although I believe the 'hotspot' is still the hedge on the side nearest the police college.

Thanks Andrew, that GVW is the only one I have managed to photograph so far this year.

Sunday 28th April.

Since last Wednesday the weather here deteriorated until Saturday which was a real shocker of a day with rain and high winds and even some hail at one point in the afternoon.
Sunday was a lot calmer and although the morning was dull and dreary, the sun eventually came through a bit later in the afternoon. This was enough to get the Specklies up and about and I eventually spotted four different males and a female plus a single Holly Blue that passed though during one sunny spell.

The photos posted in my last few reports have all being taken with the Nikon D3400 fitted with a Nikon 70-300 lens. With the D3400 being a crop sensor camera this effectively gives the equivalent of a 105-450 lens on a full frame camera and I am finding that I like this as a walk around setup as it gives me a good working distance for when butterflies are fairly active, which is most of the time when I can get out.
I had been thinking about treating myself to another lens, mostly for taking photos of moths from my trap, especially the smaller ones which my Lumix FZ200 struggles with, but also to use on other occasions when I could get closer to the subject.
After a bit of research I settled on a Sigma 105 macro lens which duly arrived on Saturday, just in time to give it a go in the garden with the better weather on Sunday.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 28.04.2019

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 28.04.2019

The cooler spells allowed me to get nice and close, I have seen photos of butterflies with hairy eyes before but this is the first time I have captured it myself.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 28.04.2019

With the grotty weather during the back end of last week I hadn't bothered running the moth trap but with the wind dropping I decided to give it a go on Sunday night. As it happened, the skies cleared overnight and turned cold which led to just 4 moths, singles of Shuttle-shaped Dart, Double-striped Pug, Light Brown Apple Moth and best of all a Chocolate-tip, just a bit too late for Easter . This was only the 4th example of this species I have had to my garden trap since I started running it in 2016 ( 2 in 2016, 1 in 2017 and none last year)

Chocolate-tip - Coverdale 28.04.2019

With stunning inevitability it was a better day today whilst I was back at work and the rest of the week doesn't look too bad either, oh well!

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

I feel the weather blues/Met-itis as well Neil - I was gutted that the weather was rubbish all weekend and so much better yesterday that I stopped off on the way home - only for a cloud to sit directly overhead for most of the time I was out Great Specklie shots Do they call that Moth the chocolate tip because of the wings, the thorax, the abdomen or all of them?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Love that first Speckled Wood, Neil...it's mint fresh.

Your chocolate tip moth is a stunner as well. I don't think I've ever seen that species before.

[ernie f]

Neil - Great moths recently. I liked your Waved Umber and of course the Choc Tip. I've not seen either of these before. The Choc seems to be dark, milk and white choc all in one! Plus Adela's. I've had some success with pics of them like you did this year and never before. It must be the cooler weather over the past few days making them a little more lethargic than normal I guess.

[bugboy]

Looking forward to what else you get with your new lens. I've been using the Sigma 105 for a few years now, I'm more than happy with the results I get with it

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel, I have always assumed the Chocolate-tip was named for the tips of it's wings, much like a smaller version of the related Buff-tip.

Hi David, yes that Specklie was one of the most nicely marked I have seen so far this year.

Thanks Ernie, I think you are right in that the cooler weather helped in getting the photos of the Adela's. They have always been much more flighty when I have seen them before, often little more than hordes of small black blurs in the air.

Hi Bugboy, I noticed that the Sigma 105 seemed a popular lens and with my D3400 being a crop sensor camera it effectively gives me the equivalent of a 160mm lens (or thereabouts).

No butterflies seen this week as despite some reasonable sun on Tuesday and Wednesday, this was when I was stuck indoors at work and by the time I have got home it has clouded over.

I think conditions will be a bit borderline here over the weekend with the possibility of Sunday looking reasonable but it could go either way.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Cracking shots Neil of the Speckled Wood, the bad weather's the only thing that's cheered me up shouldn't say that really but you know what I mean If you can't can't get out your not missing any thing. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the tip-off about which tip the Chocolate Tip is named after

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Goldie, I know what you mean about the weather being bad and not feeling like you are missing things

Glad to be of service Wurzel, reckon that deserves a tip

Saturday 4th May.

After a cold couple of days here on Thursday and Friday during which we also had a fair bit of rain, which if I am honest we needed, Saturday was at least dry although it remained quite cold with a nippy wind from the north keeping temperatures well down.

With just a couple of hours spare on Saturday afternoon and the weather not up to much I decided to just potter about in the garden where I ended up spotting four butterflies which were tempted out by the occasional bit of sun.

One of these was a male Orange-tip which appeared a few times. This was one of those times when I could easily have counted the same individual 3 or 4 times as he returned on his circuits but photos prove that it was the same individual every time.

Orange-tip - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip - Coverdale 04.05.2019

On one visit he remained settled for quite some time during one of the many dull and cloudy periods before the sun popped out again to warm him up just enough to continue on his way.

Orange-tip - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip - Coverdale 04.05.2019

There was also a female which, like the male returned a few times and on one occasion stayed settled for a while on a dandelion clock. She had a malformed tip to her left hand forewing which made identification easy each time she returned.

Orange-tip female - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip female - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip female - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip female - Coverdale 04.05.2019

Orange-tip female - Coverdale 04.05.2019

As usual, there was a male Speckled Wood flitting about. Just the one today though, most of the time it was too dull and cool even for these.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 04.05.2019

The fourth butterfly of the day was a Holly Blue which was spotted passing through just the once without stopping.

Sunday 5th May.

According to the weather forecasts, Sunday was supposed to be the better day of the weekend but despite the promise of a bit of sun early in the morning, a thick grey overcast built up so that from mid morning it was really dull and dreary for the rest of the day and ended up feeling even colder than Saturday.
Nevertheless, I managed to see a single butterfly making the most of that bit of early sun, a Large White that I spotted drift into the garden from next door and settle just long enough to grab a couple of photos.

Large White - Coverdale 05.05.2019

This was only the second Large White I have seen so far this year, in fact all three 'common' white species have been thin on the ground around here. I have mentioned previously that most 'whites' I have seen have been turning out to be female Orange-tips and this is still the case.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[trevor]

Stunning Orange Tip images, Neil.
There are still butterflies to be found in this cool weather if a sheltered, sunny spot can be found.

Great stuff,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

WRT your last post - 3:15 Salisbury; Wurzels' Wonder Nag

Cracking Orange-tips I know what you mean about the other Whites they seem to have taken a while to get going - perhaps they're not used to the stop start type spring that we've had?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

You have lovely dark Speckled Woods there. Your photographs really do them justice.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Trevor. The problem here over the bank holiday weekend was that it was downright cold rather than just cool with not much in the way of sun. Saturday was the best day but I simply didn't have the time to go further afield to see anything special, Green Hairstreaks, Dingy & Grizzled Skippers, PBFs etc are all very localised around the midlands and usually entail a few hours or half a day at least to make the trip worthwhile.

Cheers Wurzel, not just stop-start to the spring but from one extreme to the other with temperatures swinging from well above average to well below and back again a few times.

Thanks Nick, I have seen them described as chocolate and cream which sums them up nicely

Monday 6th May

Bank Holiday Monday and not having been out anywhere over the weekend I was determined to get out somewhere. The day started off pretty much as a re-run of Sunday, that is some early sunny spells soon disappearing as the clouds built up again.
I decided to have a run down to Bishops Hill to see what I could find, hopefully Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and maybe Green Hairstreaks, all of which occur there although I realised it was probably a bit too early for Small Blues which I usually visit this site for sometime around mid May.

Jane came with me for the run out and as we headed down the M40 the clouds got thicker and darker until we arrived under quite gloomy skies. As we walked into the site it was obvious that nothing was flying and away from the shelter of the lower part of the site and up the hill a quite chilly breeze made itself felt.
Anyway, I had a slow wander around examining all the seed heads that I could find and managed to find a couple of Dingy Skippers settled up. The first one actually looked like it was alert with his antennae sticking up but I kept an eye on him for some time and he showed no sign of moving. The second one (a female I think) had more of a droopy antennae sleepy look. Neither of them were in the classic wrap around pose that this species usually adapts to roost but rather seemed to be just plonked precariously on their perches.

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 06.05.2019

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 06.05.2019

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 06.05.2019

Bishops Hill is not really a proper hill, rather a pile of limestone waste from a nearby quarry and cement works which has now become mixed limestone grassland / scrub habitat. Nevertheless the top of the 'hill' commands views of the surrounding Warwickshire countryside and from there it could be seen that there was thick cloud from horizon to horizon, so with no breaks in sight and nothing else found we decided to call it a day and head home.

Bye for now,

Neil

[essexbuzzard]

Tough going, Neil. I was looking at the Met office site, and their headline was ‘ a cold, bright weekend’ well it was cold, certainly, but bright? Hmm. But well done for making the effort, and some success at least.

[Wurzel]

Despite the poor weather from the looks of those shots Neil is certainly worked out okay, cracking shots one and all though the last is the most cracking - it looks pretty despondent and down matching the weather

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[CallumMac]

Some fabulous early efforts with your new 105! I particularly like the face-on Dingy on the teasel. My own Sigma 105 has just passed its first birthday and I couldn't be happier with it.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Mark, it was anything but bright here, in fact rather grim.

Cheers Wurzel, that Dingy looks like I have been feeling this week.

Thanks Callum, yes, I am really pleased with the 105 although I am still finding my feet with it.

Wednesday 8th May.

I know I said a couple of reports back that we could do with some rain around here but I reckon I should have kept my mouth shut It started coming down sometime in the early hours of Wednesday morning and carried on all day with some periods of that really heavy stuff that comes straight down...like stair rods as my dad used to say. It carried on all night through to Thursday when it eased off a bit later in the morning although it remained unremittingly gloomy until it stated raining again in the afternoon. A couple of days when I really didn't mind being stuck indoors at work.

With the grotty weather we have had recently, I have only put the moth trap out in the garden once, on Tuesday night. I had seen that rain was due early in the morning but not supposed to arrive until around 06.00 and as I get up for work at at 05.00 I was hoping I could get the trap in before the rain arrived. In truth I was not that bothered if it started a bit before that as long as it was not too heavy as many moths will happily fly in light rain.
Anyway, when I got up it was hammering down and looked like it had been doing so for some time. Nevertheless there were a few moths in the trap including my first Hawk Moth of the season, a Lime Hawk. It is always good to see the first Hawk Moth of the year

Lime Hawk Moth - Coverdale 07.05.2019

The rest of the catch also included another couple of NFYs (New For Year), singles of Brimstone Moth and Garden Carpet, plus a couple of Shuttle-shaped Darts and a single Red-Green Carpet.

Friday 10th May.

A much better day with some sunny spells and temperatures actually feeling like they had climbed into double figures. I finished work at midday as usual and after popping round to see my mom was back home and pottering around in the garden when I spotted a female Green-veined White fluttering about. With the conditions now being a mix of sun and cloud she settled a couple of times so took the opportunity to take some shots.

Green-veined White female - Coverdale 10.05.2019

Green-veined White female - Coverdale 10.05.2019

Shortly after settling on the dandelion clock above, a big black cloud rolled in accompanied by a rumble of thunder which heralded a 10 minute burst of quite heavy rain. After this had finished I went back out to see if the GVW was still there and found that she had moved down a bit but otherwise weathered the downpour in the same spot.

Green-veined White female - Coverdale 10.05.2019

The sun soon came back out and with the sun high in the sky at this time of year soon warmed things up again so that she started fluttering around again albeit not very quickly and curiously enough regularly returning to the same dandelion clock to settle. I do not know what it was about this one particular dandelion that kept attracting her as there are a few similar ones close by but she always picked the same one to settle on .
The photo below was taken over an hour later when she had again settled on this same dandelion.

Green-veined White female - Coverdale 10.05.2019

As I write this (7.45pm) she is still there settled in for the night.

As well as the GVW there were a couple of male Speckled Wood doing their thing, one of which was well faded but the other one looked like he had not been out for long.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 10.05.2019

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 10.05.2019

After a dismal week, things are looking up for the weekend and next week is looking like a return to better weather.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Pauline]

I'm impressed by that Lime Hawk moth Neil and your image of it. I have never seen one before. I really should get the moth trap out but I never seem to get such a diverse selection as you do (and your shots of them are way better than mine )

[David M]

Great Dingy images, Neil. They’re particularly attractive when fresh, with that beautiful dusting of silvery scales.