ernie f

[David M]

..I live in a house at the bottom of a hill called Windmill Hill. It’s actually in the town of Alton but if I walk up my road through a housing development, a path leads to open countryside near the top of the hill. For years it was a muddy, cow-patty pasture but recently the local council have started to manage it as a flower meadow. They have let the grasses grow long and seeded it with all manner of wild meadow flowers such as Poppy, Cornflower, Corncockle, Corn Marigold, Scented Mayweed and a host of others. It is an amazing sight now but it’s only just beginning. The butterflies are starting to find it.

How I wish more councils would do likewise, ernie. It looks absolutely delightful and will no doubt continue to attract increasing numbers of insects so long as it is allowed to thrive. Here's hoping.

[ernie f]

Wurzel, David. No doubt this will be a regular summertime stroll for me now to see what pops up.

[ernie f]

24th June 2019, 4-5 pm, Four Marks, 20% sun, 22 degrees

I thought today was going to be a complete washout. How wrong could I be? Gloria wanted to go to a garden centre so it was one of those trips! This one is in the countryside down a quiet lane. Opposite the main gate is a public footpath that runs beside a grassy field and for about 20 paces there is a hedgerow combined with bramble and wild flowers such as Red Campion and Green Alkanet.

Within this short stretch of hedgerow there were two Painted Lady, three Meadow Brown, 1 Red Ad, 1 Large Skip, 1 Small Tort and a Small Magpie moth plus I think nesting Wren.

Also a pair of mating Coreus marginatus bugs.

I was able to get exceptionally close to the Painted Ladies. They hung around this hedge the entire hour I was there.

[Wurzel]

A fantastic set of shots Ernie - those Painted Lady close ups - brill Who'd have thought a trip to the Garden Centre could be that productive I just wish my wife would start to prefer garden centres to Ikea

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Wurzel - My wife's liking for garden centres certainly can work in my favour. I had been waiting for the Painted Lady influx and now they have finally arrived I am able to extend my close-up gallery which is my main goal this year.

I forgot to add this one to my recent post.

[trevor]

There are plenty of Painted Ladies around here too, Ernie.
Mostly worn and tatty, but one can only admire them for the distance they have flown.
Perhaps it's the severe heat on the continent has sent them north.

Trevor.

[ernie f]

Trevor - I think they will have to keep on going north then if this weekend's forecast is anything to go by!

[ernie f]

25th June 2019, 3-4.30 pm, Alice Holt Woods, Overcast, Very Humid, 22 degrees

4 L Skip, 2 P Lady, 1 Comma, 1 S White, 3 Ringlet, 1 Red Ad, 3 S Skip, 1 White Ad
And loads of Meadow Brown.

But the main feature of today was the Small Skippers, all of them at "The Straits" Trailhead. More opportunities to extend my Close-up gallery.

[millerd]

Great Painted Lady shots, Ernie - suddenly there are dozens around to choose from, and they don't mind the warm cloudiness at all. Your Small Skippers are splendid as well.

Cheers,

Dave

[ernie f]

Thanks, Dave. The painted Ladies are really picking up around here now. I saw lots more today, in various states of tattiness - mostly fading colours.

[ernie f]

26th June 2019, 9.30-10.30 am, Odiham Common, Overcast, 16 degrees, fair breeze

6 Painted Ladies, mostly coming to the ground or low on the grass, 2 Marbled White, 1 Large White, loads of Meadow Brown.

I came out under these conditions and early-ish on purpose. When it gets much warmer or sunnier than this, trying to get decent close-ups of most butterflies gets troublesome with my camera - not having spent over £1000 on an SLR and a decent zoom lens. It means I have to set my Bridge Camera to super-macro and get within a few centimetres of the beast.

Now I have found Marbled Whites are one of the worst for flitting off just as you take their pic in such situations so you are left with a nice picture of a leaf instead.

I was after Marbled White pics today and my strategy of coming out early on an overcast day worked. They were quite lethargic.

[Old Wolf]

Beautiful close up shots your are catching ernie with a marbled white 'in hand'

I am yet to see a marbled white this year so your pics give me hope that I will be seeing some myself soon and hope to get some pics as good as yours. I have noticed that all of the marbled white in your shots have lazy deely boppers. Is this due to the cloudy weather?

[ernie f]

Thanks Old Wolf. I don't know whether the droop is due to the weather being cloudy or not, it was 16 (going on 17) degrees so while not hot, it wasn't particularly cold either. At the time I first spotted him I assumed that it was a roosting posture but he did it every time he landed after a short spurt. One thing though, all these pics are of a single individual so maybe it's just a characteristic of this one.

[ernie f]

26th June 2019, 3.30-4.30 pm, Windmill Hill Flower Meadow, 90% Sun, 22 degrees, breezy.

I just had to come back again to my new most local site. I wanted to see what was there now the sun had come out. And the result was:

4 Painted Lady
1 Red Ad
1 L White
2 Marbled White
10 Large Skips
… and even more Meadow Brown.

The Large Skippers were particularly good here.

[Wurzel]

Brilliant set of posts recently Ernie - I'm having trouble keeping up! The close-up are cracking and the collection is building very nicely Cooler, damp days are great for Marbled Whites - sometimes you can capture small droplets of rain running over their compound eyes I'm seeing Painted Ladies all over the place at the moment - long may it continue and if they could invite some of their yellow cousins so much the better

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Thanks, Wurzel.

Small droplets of rain running over their compound eyes!!! My you do set the bar high, don't you?
I need to add a bottle of eye-drops to my butterflying kit now just to get that shot!

[ernie f]

I was up quite early today and covered three reserves before noon. It was quite a varied day for wildlife with some unexpected encounters. My main task today was to try and get a close-up of a Dark Green Frit. I got a fleeting chance at my second reserve. I think I'll do this in three separate posts as Gloria is hinting she needs to go shopping and I am her chauffeur!

27th June 2019, 8-9 am St Catherine's Hill, Full Sun, 15 degrees, breezy

2 P Lady, 4 Red Ad, 35 Marbled Whites, 4 L Skip, 3 S Heath, 1 C Blue, and the usual loads of M Brown.

It was amazing how many Marbled Whites there were. I only saw my first one of the year yesterday!

Also 7 Bee Orchids - a flower I have never seen here before. I came across them quite by chance.

And I liked this cluster of Common Spotted orchids.

[ernie f]

27th June 2019, 9.30-10.30 am, Magdalen Hill, 18 degrees

Part 2 of todays posts. I parked at the bottom of the hill in the lay-by. There is access to the reserve from here but mainly I did it because of the huge number of Dark Mullein growing by the roadside. I have never seen so many Mullein spikes before.

This picture shows just one portion of them.

They were interspersed with many other plants, notably Bladder Campion.

And also on the Great Mullein I found a Mullein moth caterpillar basking in the sun.

I finally entered the reserve. Butterfly counts were as follows:

4 P Lady, 3 L Skip, 2 Ringlet, 3 S Heath, 2 Red Ad, 1 S Skip, 1 DF Frit, loads of M Browns of course but also 67 Marbled White!

So I found my quarry - a single Dark Green Frit.

I got a bit closer to try and get a close-up shot to continue with my close-up gallery. I thought to myself - I'll be lucky to do this now as I had missed my window of opportunity - ie the cooler early morning. It was now above 16 degrees which seems to be the trigger temperature for butterflies to fly about willy-nilly. But I haden't reckoned on the effects of the keen breeze. This DG Frit seemed to want to do a spot of nectaring and was being rocked back and forth in the wind. It was clinging on for dear life. I did a burst shot and hoped for the best. I got just that little bit too close and it flew off. When I got back home I discovered the best of the burst sequence was...

I have got used to getting closer to butterflies recently but this is actually OK I think.

Mission accomplished I made my way back to the car when I came across this.

Well there were two of them actually. I have never seen a Bolete fruiting in June before. I had to look it up. The only one that grows on calcareous soil in summer is the Lurid Bolete and the colouration is the same as the pics I have seen. This is a new one for me. A lifetime first.

[ernie f]

27th June 2019, 11.15-12 noon, Binswood, 20 degrees

Last year in July Binswood gave me the most Purple Hairstreaks I have ever seen at one location and some fair pics too but I was a little late and by then many of them were a bit tatty. I decided to go earlier in the year this time.

Butterfly counts:

En-route from the car, saw what appeared to be a Brimstone. Then at the reserve itself...

1 P Lady, 6 M White, 1 L White, 2 L Skip and of course it almost goes without saying by now loads of M Brown.

But also four Purple Hairstreak. All of them came down momentarily. Two in flight and one landed but as soon as I had focuseed my camera on it - it flew off again. Blast.

My consolation prize was a damselfly - I think a male White-legged damselfly (I am sure someone will let me know if it isn't)

I walked back to the car, just a little disappointed as you would be, but beside the actual entrance gate I got this.

It was a bit wobbly-looking, one wing-tip cocked to one side and the other ruffled a bit. Probably not yet having fully pumped-up after a recent emergence.

I still think I am going to have to make the trip to Browndown to get a proper close-up though.

PS:

Totting up the Marbled White count for the day I got 108. I only had my first one of the year yesterday. What an explosion in numbers.

[Wurzel]

Brilliant stuff again Ernie That is often the way with butterflying - just when you think the day is a dead loss a butterfly appears as you're almost in the car park and rescues the day

Have a goodun

Wurzel