May 2019

[bugboy]

Managed to find 3 Glanvilles at Hutchinsons Bank along with plagues of Small Blue and Brimstone. A few Common Blue were seen, Small Heath, Dingy, Grizzled and my first Large Skipper of the year, a female! Still some quite fresh Green Hairstreak knocking about. Also seen: Holly Blue, Orange-tip, Speckled Wood, GVW, Peacock, Red Admiral, Small Copper.

[Allan.W.]

Just once in a while everything goes right on a butterfly trip ,which I,m sure we,ve all found ,this afternoons trip out locally,for me was one such trip !
As I,ve said in a previous post I,ve more or less given up May /start of June to finding new areas locally for Grizzled Skippers ,some have turned out to be non-starters ,this afternoons spot was at a site that used to hold Grizzles around 30 years ago ,and I,ve not been back since ,a friend visited a couple of weeks back ,and found 6 ,all normal bar one . All in all between 4'30 -6 pm I had around 40 sightings ,some were fly-byes ,some small groups of scrapping males and around 20+ settled ,and they were still flying when I departed around 6. What was remarkable was that most of the 20 (settled ) were abberant with a minimum of 15 AB;Taras ,in one spot ,I had 5 in view ,amongst the others settled only 3 were normal.
Regards Allan.W.

[lee3764]

Allan...........Oh brilliant! Am so pleased for you! What a find indeed! Ab: 'taras' in that high density is fantastic!

Cheers,

Lee Slaughter.

[Pauline]

Fantastic find Allan and wonderful shots. Well done!

[Jack Harrison]

I’ve only ever seen one taras but with so many (and superbly photographed) this year, might this be evolution in action?

A search through old external hard drives, locating power sources, etc has produced results.
Here is the only picture of an Orange Tip that I had in 1946 – hence my confusion when I caught one without the orange.

This Children’s Encyclopedia plate was sent to me a few years ago by a kind member of ukb but sadly I can’t recall who that was. Thanks again.

Jack

[jenks]

I didn`t send you that plate Jack but it`s familiar to me. My late father was a primary school headmaster and we had a collection of Arthur Mee`s Encyclopedia for Children in the house where I grew up. Those volumes were published in the early 1900`s and contained plates of birds, butterflies, moths etc, and helped spark my interest in natural history. Looks like it could have come from that encyclopedia series.

Jenks.

[Allan.W.]

Many thanks for the comments Pauline ,Lee and Jack ,I felt very privileged to have seen them ! Didn,t quite manage a pair though Lee ! ,
And I,m with you Jack ,I do wonder if something is "going on " unfortunately I,m not experienced enough (or scientifically minded ) to be able to put forward a theory as to why they (AB;Taras ) seem to have suddenly become more numerous and widespread. Thanks Again !
Regards Allan.W.

[bugboy]

A trip to Abbots Wood this morning found the first SPBF on the wing. Both sexes flying around with the PBF, some of which are also still looking very fresh.

A couple of hours at nearby Malling Down found many of the usual suspects but also some Small Blue which I can't remember ever seeing there before, and I've certainly never noticed any Kidney Vetch there.

[Testudo Man]

Finished work a little early today, so took a trip to Bluebell Hill (between Maidstone an Rochester) in Kent.
Still very low numbers of both Common Blue/Brown Argus about, but did get a surprise in a single male Adonis Blue sighting.
Dingy/Gizzled Skippers still active, an i missed a shot of a very dark brown Dingy.
Only 1 Small Copper, a couple of Green Hairstreaks, an several Brimstone.

I only saw 2 female Common Blues...But WOW, both of them were stunners
I would think these 2 females were of the blue type/form...one of the females took off in the wind, so i only captured a quick image.
The other female, posed nicely for me...but that was after chasing her for some time!!

Some pics, cheers Paul.
All 3 images are not cropped.

1st blue female.

2nd blue female.

A ground shot of the shy male Adonis Blue, he is showing just a glimpse of his superior shimmering blueness!

[Allan.W.]

Off too a good start then Paul ! two cracking female Common Blues there ,although both stunning ,I particularly like the top one ,must try to get amongst some this weekend !! Regards Allan.W.

[tomlantaff]

Lots of Small Blue at Hutchinson's Bank in New Addington today. And during a period of sunshine a single Glanville Fritillary.

Andrew, good to meet you. Thank you again for showing me the Small Blue location! Sights like the one below were commonplace..

Spent Tuesday afternoon with the Wood Whites in Oaken Wood - numbers seem fairly low compared to this time last year, however! Will try again during the summer brood

Tom

[Matsukaze]

Two new emergences this morning, 19th May. The net cover of the box was removed and they both subsequently flew away strongly.19-05-19-016-OTs.jpg Recall that these fellows had spent the winter in the fridge until 27th April. With hindsight (and lesson for next year) about two weeks earlier would have been better but I had wanted to avoid emergence while away on holiday.

Jack

Hi Jack - how do you know when to bring the Orange-tip pupae out of the fridge?

[David M]

...Sights like the one below were commonplace..

..and what a sight that is. Stunning!

[Jack Harrison]

Hi Jack - how do you know when to bring the Orange-tip pupae out of the fridge?

From fridge at around 4C to emergence is about three weeks but can be a little as two. I didn't want to risk them emerging while on holiday so although my timing this year wasn’t perfect (out of fridge 27 April), it was reasonable. One week earlier would have been even better.

Remember here in north Scotland, the natural flight season is later than in southern England. So for your location of Somerset, I would suggest out of fridge on April Fool's Day (easy to remember) wouldn't be too far wrong. But I don't think timing is all that crucial.

Jack

[Testudo Man]

Off too a good start then Paul ! two cracking female Common Blues there ,although both stunning ,I particularly like the top one ,must try to get amongst some this weekend !! Regards Allan.W.

Cheers Allan, thanks for that. Yes, 2 lovely fresh females sighted/photographed. Their colouration surprised me for sure.
It would seem that Kent is playing catchup, with other parts of the country sighting higher numbers of Common Blues before us?!
I had another go after work today (another location) an higher numbers of Common Blues were sighted, so things are looking better by the day.

That location for those special Grizzled Skippers of yours, looks to be a good area...I bet you dont leave it another 30 years before your return.

Happy hunting for this weekend, im busy tomorrow/Saturday, so its either Sunday for me, or perhaps Monday??
I did get some great images of Common Blues an Adonis Blues today, so i cant complain too much about not going out tomorrow
Cheers Paul.

[Ian Pratt]

I am away for a long weekend with my wife in the Loire valley. Gorgeous weather but a dearth of birds and almost complete lack of butterflies. What has happened? Too many pesticides?

[John W]

A slightly worn but nonetheless beautiful Glanville Fritillary at Hutchinsons Bank this afternoon. According to local expert Martin (aka Mr Spock), Hutchinsons Bank was the site that James Pettiver had in mind in 1717 when he named it the Dullidge (Dulwich) Fritillary.

Cheers
John W

[Greenie]

Went yesterday with fellow enthusiast Keith to enjoy the Small Blue bonanza at Hutchinson's Bank . In the sunny spells they put on a great show , not just in their usual hot-spots , but all over the reserve . Amongst their vast number were several pairings .

We watched females egg laying on the Kidney Vetch , and on searching , found multiple eggs on most flower heads .
Keith found the highest number of eggs on a single flower head , 13 .

Just before leaving , we found our first Large Skipper of the season .

[Jack Harrison]

This lady had to wait for two days after emergence for the rain to stop.

She's having her first feed on a daisy on my wild "lawn".

Emergence almost complete with the final Orange Tip expected tomorow. Just one out of 25 failed and was deformed when it got stuck in its pupal case. And as far as I can ascertain, only one died over the winter. The 2000 bood is now coming along ncely but I have no idea yet how many there are.

Jack

[Andrew555]

Cheers John. Very nice shots, glad you got a Glanville.

Amazing Grizzlies Alan!

Tom, no problem. It was great wasn't it!

My contribution to the 'blue Common Blue female' collection. Seen at Kithurst Meadow.