June 2020

[zigzag_wanderer]

Took a day off working from home and walked with my daughter down to Ditchling Common.

There were thousands of young frogs (or possibly toads) on the paths, meaning a need to tread very carefully.

Despite sunshine being very intermittent I managed to bag my first ever Black Hairstreak on the way out. Shots from distance not great - but good enough to open a new folder

[Medard]

My morning walk started at Westhay NNR a fresh looking small White seen but little else of interest seen, I moved on to Shapwick Moor, initially little seen to excite , however surprises can always come along, as I made my return a White Admiral flashed by, then it made a U turn and came and perched directly in front of me in camera range, what a surprise to see this superb newly emerged butterfly,  Large Skippers numbers increased by three, I  hope to see  more in the coming days

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

[Andrew555]

Isn't it great when you go out and find exactly what you were looking for? In this case female Dark Green Fritillary, that I hoped would be out by now. And on Sunday I found two of these gorgeous butterflies.

To die for!

The number of males had increased considerably from my last East Sussex visit mid week, they were all over the place. This individual was sporting a particularly fine set of spots, bolder than usual. Variation not aberration, I believe.

[David M]

That is indeed a splendid Dark Green Fritillary, Andrew. I've never seen one with such a prominent row of submarginal spots.

[PhilBJohnson]

A visit to Bookham Commons this afternoon (2nd June) gave me sightings of my first White Admirals of 2020. I saw four or five individuals, but they were very active and spent a great deal of time flying in and out of trees and bushes from light to shade and back again. It's no wonder they don't stay pristine for very long! There are only a few bramble flowers open here yet, but the Admirals did find them once or twice - but nowhere near the path! A couple of shots for the record of what must be a pretty early date for my first sighting of the species.WA1 020620.JPGWA2 020620.JPG
Dave

Thanks Dave,
I don't think that there ever has been a Spring sighting (End of May) of a United Kingdom, wild White Admiral (WA) butterfly on the wing.
I am sure it will be noted that this year was the earliest wild emergence from pupa, although, might one quote a reference from the 1800s?
There was a Climate Change hashtag for that.
First week of June in Lincolnshire had been quite cool (15 degrees C, not much WA flight time). I had an interest in Bookham Common when I lived in Surrey. I saw fresh WA June 13th 2014, and June 20th 2015. One could expect the Silver-washed Fritillary to emerge at about the same time as WA and Purple Emperor (PE) about 7-10 days later.
2017 was a very early emergence year for the PE (June 11th).
https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=AwrC0F8 ... 3pLN6T0uY-
(That was a relevant link).

[Ian Pratt]

I presume this is a large skipper, but please correct me if I am incorrect.

[David M]

Can't see an image there, Ian.

[zigzag_wanderer]

Lunchtime walk around my usual fields - saw my first Small Skippers of the year.

[Charles Nicol]

went to a new part of the Paxton Pits complex this morning. warm sunshine until midday.

saw a marbled white & this small tortoiseshell:

[David M]

There are suddenly hundreds of Meadow Browns round my area. On Monday and Tuesday I ventured out locally and saw many, many dozens. One suspects Ringlets, which are due to emerge any day, should be equally abundant.

[Wolfson]

On Sunday 7th, I paid an early morning visit to the Heath Fritillary woods in Essex. They seemed to outnumber the sum of all the other butterflies seen and put on a fantastic display during the brief periods of sunshine.

[Testudo Man]

A week further on(from last Tuesday) an I did the exact same thing, as in - visited the same location after work. DGF numbers have increased, but not by that many, I reckon less than 15 on the whole site (all males). A few more Small Skippers about, but this time, Marbled Whites were on the wing now. I would say 20+ (all males). Small Heaths(8 to 10) and less than 5 Common Blues! Apart from that, it was pretty quiet!

Location - Kent. Highlights of the session, none of these images have been cropped, cheers Paul.

Male DGF.

Marbled Whites (all males, I didn't see a female).

Small Skipper.

[David M]

First class images, TM. Really nice to see such clear portraits of the Marbled Whites. I can't wait till the wet weather breaks here in S. Wales so I can go and see a few myself.

[Testudo Man]

First class images, TM. Really nice to see such clear portraits of the Marbled Whites. I can't wait till the wet weather breaks here in S. Wales so I can go and see a few myself.

Cheers for that David, I had a good session with those Marbled Whites.
I hope the weather breaks for you, an you get to see some too.
Heres several more images, from that afternoon/evening, cheers Paul. No images have been cropped.

Marbled Whites (males) from Tuesday.

[Matsukaze]

In the garden today, a Large White caterpillar that thinks it is an Orange-tip, feeding high on garlic mustard.

Meadow Brown numbers are steadily building here, and there are still plenty of Large Skipper about, but still no sign of Marbled White or Ringlet.

[William]

Some of you may already have seen this, but if not: https://twitter.com/johngifford50/statu ... 5935006723

Final instar Large Tortoiseshell larva found in Weymouth (similar general area to the sightings on Portland over the last couple of years). Potentially a significant moment!

[Pete Eeles]

A very significant moment! Given that the larvae are gregarious, there must have been quite a few around!

Cheers,

- Pete

[CallumMac]

Made the trip to Smardale Gill yesterday, taking advantage of the current stage of lockdown easing to meet my (Cumbria-based) parents for a walk. Northern Brown Argus were abundant in the brief patches of morning sunshine, with some already looking quite worn but others very freshly emerged.

[David M]

Some of you may already have seen this, but if not: https://twitter.com/johngifford50/statu ... 5935006723

Final instar Large Tortoiseshell larva found in Weymouth (similar general area to the sightings on Portland over the last couple of years). Potentially a significant moment!

That is a very significant find, William. Certainly worth searching that area for more as where there's one, there should be many others.

[petesmith]

In the garden today, a Large White caterpillar that thinks it is an Orange-tip, feeding high on garlic mustard.

This is interesting - I have a fair amount of garlic mustard in my garden. The Orange Tips use it every year without fail, with anything between a handful and several dozen eggs laid. I have often seen Large Whites use it before (as well as Small and Green-veined), their larvae confining themselves to the leaves, but this spring is the first time that I have seen Large White larvae seeming to home in on the developing seed pods, rather than restricting themselves to just the foliage. We have had quite a number, to the extent that many of the garlic mustard plants have been totally stripped of seed pods. The extent of this has lead to some competition for food between the larvae of brassicae and cardamines. Although I haven't witnessed any direct conflict between larvae, I suspect that some Orange Tip larvae have been out-competed!