July 2019

[Allan.W.]

A very tatty AB;Arete Ringlet ,locally ,late afternoon ,wouldn,t normally post one so damaged ,but it does show the top wing markings of this aberration quite well ,seems to be a lot of abberant butterflies about this season !

Allan.W.

[Testudo Man]

Rained off work early yesterday! but when it cleared by the afternoon, i made my way to Queensdown Warren, Kent.
Reports of a few SSS early sightings on the web/net, prompted me to have a go myself! but i didnt think i would see any in July?!
Well, i got lucky...possibly 2 SSS seen, but it was really hard going, constant searching for some time, but it paid off in the end.

1st image is not cropped, but the 2nd image is cropped.
Just time for a quick photo opportunity, then the little beauty was gone! a couple more flash sightings later in the day, but no more pics.
Cheers Paul.

[Jack Harrison]

Very fresh Painted Ladies (3 to 5) Burghead Moray coast 27th July.
They showed no tendency to move away so unlikely to be immigrants: most likely home-grown.

Jack

[Matsukaze]

Comma at Langport, Somerset, this afternoon.

[IAC]

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone away from the east coast of Scotland , north east England is experiencing a very sharp increase in Painted Lady numbers. Reports incoming are of multiple hundreds almost everywhere. Coastal locations are seeing phenomenal numbers. I have even had reports of Painted Lady being washed ashore in North East England, and fisherman reporting Butterflies flying inland off the sea. We already have a homegrown mass awaiting emergence that arrived at the beginning of June. We could be seeing something off the scale happening up here.

[aeshna5]

I've only seen one this week around London, though weather hasn't been great since Friday. We had quite a few earlier but nothing on the scale I've been reading about.

[Wolfson]

I cannot comment on North East, but there were plenty on the North Norfolk coast yesterday. All looked freshly emerged and I assume they were the progeny of the influx reported earlier in the summer.
Initially, it was about 18oC and drizzling and a few PL were the only species flying. As rain stopped and cloud thinned many more took to the wing.

[Allan.W.]

A couple of hours spent watching the Blues ,mainly Chalkhills going to roost on the North Downs near Wye (Kent)
early evening ,also a few Common Blues ,and particularly pleased to find my first second brood Adonis (2 males ) , and one or two Brown Argus .
But for me ,my best finds were around 15 Wall Browns (13 male ,2 female ) ,at a site where your,e normally lucky ,to see one or two .
Amongst the 40 + Chalkhills ,was this male . AB;Obsoleta …………………….. I think !
Regards Allan.W.

[Deborah]

It’s been pretty quiet here in Brittany- all the usual suspects- but I would say that numbers are down on last year across the board. Or maybe they all come out to play once I’ve turned my back! However, the Purple Hairstreak colony outside my kitchen window is still there and this tatty specimen came down and let itself be photographed. And this lovely second brood Map. Commas and Speckled Woods doing well:

[Jack Harrison]

29th July - A good day along the Moray Coast and just inland.

Painted Ladies – fresh and one every two minutes or so
Tortoiseshells – numbers much reduced from recently (hibernating?)
Ringlets - tired and almost over
Meadow Browns – perhaps five seen in 30 minutes
Graylings - four or five in 30 minutes on the dunes
Scotch Argus – a few very fresh males at inland localities. The lacation had been checked daily so this was first emergence of 2019
Small Copper – three at Findhorn Dunes
Common Blue – males only at rate of one new individual every five minutes or so.

Pictures.
Common Blue on Hare’s Foot clover

Spot the butterfly!

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

30th July
With yesterday being apparently the first day of the Scotch Argus flight season, we went out again today.
Huge success at Ardclach NH952453 to south of Nairn.

Not always easy to photograph.

Jack

[Kip]

Regarding IAC's comment...

Hi all, I'm wondering if anyone away from the east coast of Scotland , north east England is experiencing a very sharp increase in Painted Lady numbers. Reports incoming are of multiple hundreds almost everywhere. Coastal locations are seeing phenomenal numbers. I have even had reports of Painted Lady being washed ashore in North East England, and fisherman reporting Butterflies flying inland off the sea. We already have a homegrown mass awaiting emergence that arrived at the beginning of June. We could be seeing something off the scale happening up here.

In the last 5 days, I have counted successively, 0, 3, ?, 26 and 17 Painted Ladies... Top end of North Yorkshire ~30 miles inland. They are all as fresh as could be... these haven't travelled far I suspect.

Nice fresh 2nd brood Small Copper(x2) here at home yesterday...

[False Apollo]

There was a time when I would not venture out for Brown Hairstreaks until the first week of August, but now the end of July seems to be the norm. Having seen a male at Alners Gorse, Dorset on 23rd July I visited Shipton Bellinger in Hampshire on 29th July and found a male and female on creeping thistle in close proximity to one another. Particularly pleased to see the female, both were down for around 30minutes.

Mike.

[Kip]

Today I have my best home sighting ever! We have a Silver-washed Fritillary in our garden in the top end of North Yorkshire!! - 54,23,52.81N 1,41,22.98W.
I didn't rear it but I suppose it may be a captive bred release. I rather hope it is a natural vagrant, and maybe even the vanguard of another northward moving species.

I don't normally do butterflies on buddleia, but this time I don't care, the photo's rubbish but it's only a record shot anyway

[Jack Harrison]

Sorry Kip, while a Lat / Long might be fine for many people, I am struggling. A grid ref or a map with a pointer would be much easier for me.

I simply want to know approximate location of your SWF signting.

Jack

[Kip]

Ok Jack....

[Rivoldini]

Among 82 Painted Ladies on one site one of them was an ab Pallens. North Durham this afternoon.