millerd

[trevor]

Lovely fresh Small Copper, Dave. I saw a mint specimen yesterday
but it was too quick.
We will have to see whether any restrictions are eased, in the
planned government covid 19 meeting next Sunday.
Longer distance car travel would suit us!. Social distancing
can be observed whether we are 1 mile or 50 miles from home.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Goldie M]

Lovely selection there Dave, especially the Small Copper, it's bit dead for species in my Garden at present only Whites so far and they're giving brief visits so it's great to see your Butterfly shots Goldie

[Wurzel]

That Small Copper is an stunner Dave You made a great point about the OTs Dave -I can't recall ever having seeing a torn one, it could be because they feed and roost on 'soft' plants or their camo underwings work a treat or the distasteful substance that makes them 'white' OR maybe all three

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Fingers crossed, Trevor. Though the (mostly) excellent weather has meant staying local hasn't been too much of a hardship so far, with all those other species out there now, the feet are getting distinctly itchy...

Thank you, Goldie and Wurzel - new Small Coppers are lovely butterflies. Which is good, because I have discovered a veritable Copper Mine just down the road from me...

On Saturday 2nd May, after a quick pitstop, I headed south down a footpath alongside one of the reservoirs near me, with the River Colne just to the right. I had been this way before, but not for a while and could only remember some tempting but inaccessible bits of land - and on one walk, whole areas covered by water making the footpaths impassable. However, today I took a right turn down a path I didn't remember, and after about ten minutes came out into a vast open area with the river winding through the middle.

A sign board informed me this was Staines Moor, an SSSI no less.

Though no specific mention was made, I could see immediately that significant areas of the grassland were covered in sheep's sorrel, and I guessed what that probably meant!

I did a relatively small circuit of a nearby part of the moor and it was no surprise that by the end I had counted at least a dozen Small Coppers.

There was a damper area with abundant cuckoo flower, an almost white version (the ones nearer home are distinctly pink), but no Orange Tips or evidence that they had been visited. However, I did find this longhorn moth and a small solitary bee.

On the way home, a sunlit bit of path had been adopted by a Red Admiral for the early evening.

With so many Small Coppers, and a large area to explore, I could see that I would have to make further visits.

Dave

[millerd]

Sunday 3rd May was a bit of a contrast, with no sunshine at all and relatively low temperatures. All I saw out while I was out walking today was a solitary Red Admiral surprised from somewhere down in the grass.

However, Monday 4th May was better again, with some morning sun in particular and a high of 18 degrees. There were more Small Coppers around today (they must have heard I'd been seeing others down the road recently) - I counted six, which is a good first brood total here as in some years I've struggled to find them at all in the spring.

Both Small and Green-veined White females were flying low over the grassy areas, looking for wild cruciferous plants on which to lay. They don't stop long whilst doing this and I was lucky to catch a GVW taking a breather.

Initially I thought I'd found another one, but this butterfly was instead intent on nectaring as much as egg-laying - a female Orange Tip.

As ever, Holly Blues were the commonest species with a count of 20, and still the odd new one in the mix.

After Saturday's success, I decided to head down to Staines Moor again later on.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Lovely, Lovely, Butterflies once again Dave, I'm still searching for an Holly Blue Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Nice find with the 'new' local site Dave, especially with all those Small Coppers

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

There's something about the 2nd Small Copper form the 2nd May Dave - I can't work out whether it's the dark brown that's darker (almost 80% Cocoa), the orange on the fore wing that's paler or a mixture of both but it does look 'more different' than the normal variation? Anyway that's a cracking local find Dave If you get a good pair of binoculars I reckon those reservoirs could be really productive in the winter - may even get Smew

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Great selection again, Dave, though your last open-winged Holly Blue is rather like those I'm still seeing round my way.

Like you, I too have set foot in previously rarely explored terrain. A reminder that we all become a bit lazy having found all our local hotspots over the years - a little bit more adventure is never a bad thing!

[millerd]

Thank you all - it's great to find a new spot to look at, especially with a healthy number of Small Coppers. It occurs to me that the first brood is generally the least numerous, so if that pattern works through, come the third brood this site could be knee-deep in them. There is certainly no shortage of foodplant. There is a lot of variation amongst them, in terms of size, markings and depth of colour so there will always be some interest. I know large populations throw up the odd aberration too, so I shall be on the lookout...

So on the afternoon of 4th May, I went back to Staines Moor. Warm, fairly still, and mostly cloudy by now - but that was probably a good thing as the Coppers were more prone to basking. However, there were other things of interest too. First up I came across a female Orange Tip laying on what looks to me like wild rocket.

No sooner was the egg laid when she was accosted by a male.

In the same area was a stand of bramble around which several Holly Blues were flying - I resisted the temptation... However, nearby I spotted a silvery flash of a small butterfly, a complete contrast to the little coppery sparks flashing past. This turned out to be a new male Brown Argus, my first of 2020. He posed nicely, helped by the cloudy conditions that induced him to bask fully open.

The rest of the visit was devoted to the Small Coppers in all their variety.

One in particular looked rather pale, more pale gold than copper.

All these looked freshly emerged (though there were several others that looked more worn), and I probably saw over 20 individuals altogether.

Dave

[bugboy]

All those Coppers . If I'm able to get to Epping Forest in the coming weeks I should be able to add them to my yearly list. That plant your Orange-tip is laying on might be Hedge Mustard Sisymbrium officinale. Pretty sure I've seen it being used by them myself.

[trevor]

Superb Small Copper sequence, and as for the Brown Argus .
Fingers crossed that any easing of restrictions will benefit us!.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cracking Brown Argus Dave And that final Small Copper - that's got to be a named ab surely Fingers crossed for Sunday...

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thanks for the plant ID, Buggy - I've seen one with yellow flowers now and see it's a kind of mustard. The leaves do look a bit like rocket - I wonder what they taste like? Hopefully the Orange Tip caterpillars will enjoy them.

Somehow photos don't fully capture the deep chocolate colour of a new Brown Argus, Trevor and Wurzel, but that one wasn't a bad stab, I must admit.
There will be a few more Coppers to post I suspect, but thet last one does look pale enough to qualify as an ab. However, there are well over a hundred different abs to sort through! Oddly enough though, the very first one illustrated on the British Butterfly Aberrations website is ab. intermedia, described as brassy rather than reddish-coppery coloured. http://www.britishbutterflyaberrations. ... berrations It looks like a close match to me: the one I saw was brand spanking new, with full fringes and not a mark on it, and compared to the others was markedly pale (as you can see in the other photos). It is a sort of halfway point between normal and the exquisite silvery-white ab. schmidtii. Now that would be something to see!

Tuesday 5th May. Cooler, breezier, but generally sunny. Within a few minutes of leaving home on my morning walk around my local patch, I spotted a Holly Blue flying very uncertainly at the bottom of the hedge and watched it flop down into the grass. Time for a rescue! It clambered onto my hand with no encouragement at all, probably because of the relative warmth and shelter it afforded from the cool breeze. In fact it readily opened its wings to reveal a splendid new female butterfly.

After allowing it to warm up for a while, I transferred it to the most sheltered bit of sunlit bramble I could find nearby, and was rewarded with a great series of poses.

Eventually it settled down, probably to wait for the sun to climb and warm things up properly.

A couple of males later on tried to compete, but there was no comparison.

Having said the other day that Orange Tips don't gets tattered, just faded, I came across one that had suffered in both regards.

Having not seen one for ten days, I came across two Commas today relatively close together. One posed, but the other was rather more active.

I only found a couple of Small Coppers too, but I knew there would still be plenty flying down at Staines Moor later on.

This Peacock was typical of the handful still being seen - basking within sight of large banks of nettles, and no doubt preparing for an egg-laying spree

The good numbers of white butterflies included this almost unmarked male GVW. They have an almost chalky texture to them.

Finally, after seeing that first Brown Argus yesterday a few miles to the south, I now found the first of the year on my local patch - if previous years are anything to go by, the first of many.

However, the star of the morning was that very first butterfly.

Dave

[millerd]

May 5th (continued). My afternoon walk to Staines Moor did indeed produce another good spread of Small Coppers, as well as another couple of Brown Argus.

However, the surprise came right at the end as I was walking back again alongside a lush bit of meadow annoyingly on the other side of a robust barbed wire fence. On some long grass not far in, I spotted a roosting Small Copper and with my eyes focussed at that distance I then noticed another butterfly in the wings-closed head-down typical lycaenid pose. Unable to identify it for certain, I decided the zoom on the camera might help, and had a crack at a distant shot. Not only did this confirm that here was the first Common Blue I'd seen in 2020, but the photo wasn't too bad either.

Dave

[trevor]

That fresh female Holly Blue !! , superb.

[Wurzel]

Congrats on the Common Blue - not seen one yet myself this year but looking forward to it Those Holly Blue shots are something else Dave - I think the words of Ted Theodore Logan and Bill S Preston esquire sum them up best; "Bodacious and most triumphant dude"

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

You've done it again haven't you, Dave? What an honour to have that delightful Holly Blue basking on your hand!

Nice to see a Comma again; they vanished a couple of weeks ago round my way. At the other end of the emergence spectrum, Brown Argus & Common Blue are welcome additions.

[millerd]

Cheers, Trevor - there are more of these little beauties coming in the next few days-worth of posts!

Thank you, Wurzel - good to see a Common Blue for a change, even from a bit of a distance. Hopefully there will be a few more very soon. I believe I know the origin of your quote - a reference from popular culture possibly?

Thanks, David - as I said above, more Hollies to come as the females start to emerge, and then head off to lay on a variety of plants.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 6th May. Lots more sunshine today and pleasantly warm too: 60 or so butterflies seen locally, of 12 different species. One of those 12 was a new one for 2020 - my first Small Heath.

The Coppers are definitely doing well this year here, as I counted 6 again.

One Brown Argus put in an appearance, after yesterday's debut, but I expect numbers will grow as I find usually them quite widespread across the site.

Peacocks continue to appear every day, but numbers are beginning to dwindle.

One bonus today was finding a female Large White intent on nectaring, and therefore allowing reasonably close approaches.

Out in the middle of the field/meadow area I was once again convinced I'd spotted a Common Blue, flying low over the grass. However, I should have known better and realised that the butterfly in question was just too dark a shade in flight, and when it finally landed it turned out to be a female Holly Blue (again!).

Though initially taking an interest in the goats' rue which is common here, she ended up settled on a flowerhead of black medick which is probably even more so (and is a favourite of the Common Blue population).

She then promptly laid an egg.

This is the first time I've see this plant used, though to be fair almost anything with a flower bud will do at present.

On my way back, I checked the buckthorn for Brimstone caterpillars, and was rewarded with this tiny little chap - at least I think that's what he is!

Finally, I actually managed a shot of a Mother Shipton moth. At least there are no species here with which to confuse them!

Dave