August 2019

[Innes Henry]

Wasn't 1947 the year of The Clouded Yellows? I think recall my Dad 1935-2009 telling me that in '47 he saw "clouds' of them - it was an amazing summer (after a VERY cold winter)

An earlier August.

72 years ago (at the age of eight) was my first serious year butterflying. I had had my introduction, courtesy my mother, two years earlier. School holidays began at end of July.

August 1947 was sunny and hot (by the norm for that era). Butterfly seasons were much later than they are today. August 1947 was a big month for me.

I am Norfolk born and lived near Great Yarmouth at the edge of town: countryside was within easy distance. We would go out every afternoon and wander the lanes.map.jpg Memory is of course imperfect but my ‘list’ was this – give-or-take.

Large and Small Skipper.
Large, Small, GV White and Brimstone. Clouded Yellow at end of month
Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock (one or two only – scarce in those days), Red Admiral, Painted Lady and Comma (yes, a single Comma). One vagrant Silver washed Fritillary from nearby woodland.
Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper (aka Hedge Brown), Ringlet, Wall Brown (common!), Grayling, Small Heath. NO Speckled Woods then (nor of course Marbled Whites).
Common Blue, Brown Argus (yes, I could distinguish from female Common Blue), Holly Blue, Small Copper, Purple Hairstreak.
I might – but very unsure – have found Small Blue on some waste ground.

Although my memory is coloured by that childhood summer, I have read elsewhere that 1947 was vintage.

Norfolk was the native county of that other great lepidopterist, F.W.Frohawk who indeed at one point (according to wiki) lived in Great Yarmouth. So Norfolk has produced three famous people, the other two being Admiral Horatio Nelson and Frederick Frohawk.

Jack

[Deborah]

It’s been very windy and showery here, which has definitely limited sightings. But in between the showers once the sun came out, a Brown Argus, lots of Cabbage Whites (and obviously some more on their way soon!) and a Swallowtail.

[David M]

... lots of Cabbage Whites...

So that's where they all are ?! They're conspicuous by their absence round my way.

[MrSp0ck]

Wasn't 1947 the year of The Clouded Yellows? I think recall my Dad 1935-2009 telling me that in '47 he saw "clouds' of them - it was an amazing summer (after a VERY cold winter)

The Summer of 47 was great for migrants but the Winter 47/48 was very cold, its what killed of the Gorganus Swallowtails that were established in the southern counties, took until the 1999/2000 to re-colonise.

Figures for 1947 were the following

Clouded Yellow 36,000
Pale Clouded Yellow 870
Bath White 8 , following years of 2 - 680 - 13 - and years after 1 - 2 and 7 [so it had established for 7 years].
Camberwell Beauty 52
Queen of Spain Frit 6
Long Tailed Blue 1

So it was a good year.

[Testudo Man]

Another trip to Queensdown Warren in Kent this last Sunday (11/8/19).
As well as the usual species for this time in the season, i noted/photographed 2 unusual looking Chalk Hill Blues!(both male an female).

The 1st was a freshly emerged, large dark female. At 1st glance, i thought it may have been a female Adonis Blue, but im pretty sure its a Chalk Hill Blue. This female shows hardly any signs of white colouration to it (apart from the head/thorax area). The wing fringes, body/leg hair, outer dot circles (on the under wings) appear to be shades of brown. Which certainly looks different to the female Chalk hill Blues that ive seen.
Perhaps others have seen/photographed this same colouration??? but its a first for me.
I took many many photos of this female, but chose to show an image of her perched on my finger.
This image is S.O.O.C. as in - no editing at all (jpeg).

The other specimen was a fresh male.

[Testudo Man]

Further to my post above ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This is a better example of a comparison of 2 female Chalk Hill Blues.
Both these females were shot, using the exact same camera set up, settings etc. Even the images were taken within less than 60 seconds from each other! Both images are S.O.O.C. no editing at all (jpegs).
The 1st image shows the normal/average colouration of a female Chalk Hill Blue.
The 2nd image shows the darker variation of a female Chalk Hill Blue.
Cheers Paul.

I would normally adjust levels/sharpness etc. slightly for these images (they look a little light/pale/soft etc. to my eye) but i wanted to show images that had no editing/PP, for a fair comparison.

[Ian Pratt]

I tried to upload some video of a Provençal fritillary in MP4 format but it would not work. The short video can be seen at www.flickr.com/photos/lepreskil
It was taken last week in Santillana del Mar in Cantabria , northern Spain.

[NickHull]

Having been away for 2 weeks on a family holiday, I was keen to get to Chambers Farm Wood for Brown Hairstreak, thinking I may be too late. Arrived about 10:00am to see 2 almost immediately, albeit one just flying up to rest in the trees and 1 tatty male that rested down in the scrub but gave no opportunity for any pictures. And that was about it; two more seen flying up in the bushes and no photo opportunities. Looking on this forum, it seems that there are very few reports of BH so far.

So what is happening? Was I too late or too early, or are BH just having a bad season? Answers on a postcard please....

[David M]

... Looking on this forum, it seems that there are very few reports of BH so far.

So what is happening? Was I too late or too early, or are BH just having a bad season? Answers on a postcard please....

Yes, they DO seem to be few in number this far, Nick. They behaved unusually last year too if I remember. All other species were emerging early due to the prolonged hot weather yet Brown Hairstreaks remained pretty much wedded to their usual flight time.

Perhaps they'll surprise us with a burst of activity once this stormy spell has passed?

[David M]

My first Brown Hairstreak of the year at West Williamston in Pembrokeshire on Thursday 15th:

Other species seen were Hedge Brown, Speckled Wood, Green Veined White, Small Copper, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Large White, Painted Lady, Silver Washed Fritillary, Small Tortoiseshell & Common Blue.

Amongst the Common Blues was this abnormally blue female:

[jenks]

I`ve just heard from one of my birding/butterflying colleagues that she saw a Long tailed Blue in Rowland`s Wood, Sussex this morning. She is staying in the area and saw and photographed it. Pictures on BC Sussex Area web site.

Jenks.

[Sylvie_h]

Horton (South Gower) Saturday 17th August:
Painted ladies (10+) especially fond of Golden samphire.
Red Admiral (3)
Small Tortoiseshell (1)
Small white (2)
Meadow brown (2)
And this beautiful Humming bird hawkmoth in the village itself.

[Greenie]

A better than average transect yesterday at High Elms LNR near Bromley , Kent , produced 18 species which included :
Brown Argus (14) , Clouded Yellow (3 , 2F1M) , Painted Lady (7) ,WLHairstreak (1) and SWF (11) .

[bugboy]

Went to Newhaven Tidemills today, mainly to find some LTB eggs (an adult would have been a nice bonus but didn't materialize). It took me 5 minutes to find my first and ended up with a modest total of nine. Most of the Pea here is clambering over bramble so hopefully that total is just the tip of the iceberg. I also found some impostor eggs, which I took to be LTB until I looked closer on my camera, they are smooth and oval, presumably some kind of moth?

Full details will appear in my PD some point in the future, most likely when these eggs have flown back across the channel!

[David M]

Good work, BB. So long as the weather stays reasonable, the first week or so in October could be very interesting!

[Jack Harrison]

1947, as I have mentioned elsewhere, was my first “real” year butterflying. August especially was memorable – an 8 year-old on school holiday. The weather as I remembered it in East Norfolk was dry, sunny and hot day after day. I went out with Mum every afternoon chasing butterflies with my little net.

Childhood memories are of course “coloured” so I looked up the weather archives. (The Met Office site : https://digital.nmla.metoffice.gov.uk/c ... 8d0bd7e13/ is somewhat difficult to navigate)

Yes August 72 years ago was indeed blessed with excellent weather – so it isn’t just nostalgia.

Total rain for month 7 milimeters
Sun average 10 hours per day
Average maximum temperature 23C

I really hope that today’s young butterflyers will have their own such happy memories in the 2090s.

Jack

[peterc]

The last time I posted an image of a possibly aberrant Small Heath I was embarrassed because the 'lines' on the wings were cast by shadows

However, yesterday on my local patch I saw a similar specimen and the lines (nervures) look genuine this time. I thought it could be ab. venata but this relates to the uppersides only according to the definition on this website. Any thoughts anyone?

ATB

Peter

[millerd]

Long-tailed Blue eggs and a couple of worn (but very active) males seen today down in SE Kent - a mating pair were reported here yesterday as well.

Mixed up with these two was the entirely misleading presence of a Purple Hairstreak, which had me fooled for a while...

Dave

[bugboy]

Spending a few days in Dorset this week looking for butterflies turned into such a damp squib we came back a day early. Durlston was virtually deserted of butterflies. A few worn Painted Lady and Browns of various species but no Skippers of any description and just the handful of Adonis and Common Blues were all that tempted me to grab my camera. Alners Gorze had reasonable numbers of Small White and Nymphalids fattening up for hibernation or migration but no sign of Brown Hairstreak and a stop off at Corfe also came up blank. Just shows how far forward the season has moved in recent years . The only saving grace was a stop off at Shipton on the way down where, with the help of Wurzel and Philzoid, we managed a few Brown Hairstreak but even that was hard work!

[Sylvie_h]

Whiteford Burrows (Gower Peninsula) 26th August:

Brimstone x1 in mint condition
Marbled White x1
Meadow brown x10
Brown argus x5
Painted lady x5-10
Small copper x2
Tortoiseshell x1
Common blue x5
Small heath x3

Sylvie