June 2020

[Stevieb]

Good selection on Bewley Common now including my first Ringlets of the year today.

♂ Ringlet 12th June

♂ Ringlet 12th June

Common Blue in cop 12th June

Common Blue in cop 12th June

Common Blue in cop 12th June

♂ Common Blue 12th June

♂ Common Blue 12th June

♂ Common Blue 9th June

♂ Meadow Brown 9th June

♂ Meadow Brown 9th June

♂ Marbled White 12th June

♂ Large Skipper 12th June

♀ Large Skipper 9th June

[Stevieb]

Nice selection from 2hrs this morning at Green Lane Wood, including my first White Admirals of the year

White Admiral 13th June

White Admiral 13th June

Red Admiral 13th June

Red Admiral 13th June

Small Tortoiseshell 13th June

Small Tortoiseshell 13th June

Comma 13th June

Comma 13th June

[David M]

...including my first White Admirals of the year

Thanks for the alert, Stevie. They're on my radar now.

[Chris L]

Absolutely wonderful photos everyone. I always enjoy browsing the offerings submitted. As well as learning for me it also serves as an early warning as to what I may encounter next. Possibly Ringlets it seems.

It was good to get out again with the sun on my back today looking for butterflies after a week of rain, dark clouds and sitting at my kitchen table Monday to Friday, 7am to 5pm, doing my job. I saw over 50 and I am happy with that.

[Pauline]

Loving your enthusiasm and interest Otep Do let us know what you're seeing.

[Max Anderson]

A few shots from a nice sunny, albeit slightly wind, day at Chantry Hill (Sussex), 13/6/2020

A few DGF flying in the wind-sheltered spots, most looking very fresh:

Small Skipper:

Large Skipper:

And, this Small heath (I presume ab. alba):

[David M]

First Small Skippers on the year (about 10 in total) seen at Crymlyn Burrows, Swansea this morning:

[Chris L]

Nice photo David and yours too Max. Seeing the Small and Large Skippers on this page close together makes me think I am getting the hang of it now. I had been looking at Google images with my key word search being 'Small and Large Skippers' and some of the images thrown back at me fried my brain.

[zigzag_wanderer]

Lovely day today (or yesterday technically) walking locally around the mid Sussex weald. At a conservative estimate I saw 1500 butterflies of which 1400+ would have been Meadow Browns. They were swarming in some places.

Also the best single day for Small Tortoiseshells I've had for at least 35 years. Really great to see them in good double figures.

Saw Small and Large Skips, Small Heath, my first Marbled Whites of the year (3), Comma, Red Admiral and my first ever fritillary of any type (Silver-washed), so been able to open a new folder twice this week - can't be bad.

Apologies - photos from distance with my point and click don't really compete.

[Chris L]

Circa 1,400 Meadow Browns. That must have been amazing. I like that labyrinth spider web. Something else for me to look out for.

Seeing the badger in broad daylight would have struck me as unusual. However, I was chatting to a lady last week and she saw one mid afternoon on the fringes of a local wood the previous day.

[zigzag_wanderer]

I took a few snaps of the badger, but then switched to vid. Got about 30 secs of footage until I think he got scent of me (I didn't take it personally but did have a shower when I got back) and he sauntered back into the wood. He was only about 12-15 feet from the edge of the wood.

I was out for a long walk, where MBs accompanied me for most of my journey (not the same ones, but in relay), and there were a few fields, including one lined with some white-blossomed bushes where the numbers were massive and said bushes were alive with them.

I didn't see any Ringlets at all but I keep my eyes open. You'll have the Gatekeepers to look out for soon too Otep - these will mix in with the MBs (very common but not as numerous as the MB - not by us at least). Although common, I think the adult Gatekeeper is a beautiful insect.

You can't beat that thrill of seeing something new - like when you were able to ID the Small Skipper. So when I looked up and saw a massive orange/black butterfly I just knew I had a new-folder to open when I got back. Glorious thing in flight - although it got mobbed by a pair of Commas so unfortunately flew off. I waited a long time to see if it would return, but no.

The number of Small Torts I saw was very heartening to me also.

[zigzag_wanderer]

When I looked back at my snaps of the labyrith spider....the very last one showed that the web had done its job !

[Testudo Man]

A great Saturday session (13/6/20) at the same location as the previous 2 Tuesdays (Kent).
Both DGF and Marbled Whites have probably doubled in their numbers.
A couple of female MW's sighted, but no female DGF's (although someone else on site, saw a possible 3 females).
As usual, the DGF's didn't start to come in to roost(in the long grasses) until 7.00pm!
I was lucky to just miss a storm! but the thunder went on for awhile.
Last photo of a DGF, was shot 8.17pm!

Some highlights of the day, cheers Paul. No images have been cropped.

DGF (male) in the long grasses, these are hard to find! but once you "get your eye in" they can be found.

Another male, image was taken at 8.17pm!

Female Marbled White.

A pair of Marbled Whites (back lit).

A mating pair of Small Skippers.

[David M]

Outstanding, TM. I think I'll try that ploy at my High Brown site before the month is out to see where they roost. Plenty of Dark Greens there too, so hopefully I'll hit on something.

[Chris L]

That pair of Marbled Whites on the purple flower is the sort of photo I dream of taking TM.

[badgerbob]

Two Large Tortoiseshell found yesterday in East Sussex. One was found early morning near Beachy Head by a local birder and then I found what seems to be a female on the South Downs near Seaford in the afternoon. This one was seen nectaring on Bramble and hung around for 2-3 hours.

It was less than a mile from the one I found in March, but going by the fact 2 were seen today I would guess it is probably more migrating over.

Large Tortoiseshell. Seaford.

Large Tortoiseshell. Seaford.

[Stevieb]

Nice one Badgerbob

[Stevieb]

White Admirals from this morning at Green Lane Wood

15th June

15th June

15th June

15th June

15th June

[Testudo Man]

That pair of Marbled Whites on the purple flower is the sort of photo I dream of taking TM.

Thanks for the comment Otep, which is appreciated.

Outstanding, TM. I think I'll try that ploy at my High Brown site before the month is out to see where they roost. Plenty of Dark Greens there too, so hopefully I'll hit on something.

Cheers David.
Yes, finding were these big beautiful Fritillaries come in to roost, is always a treat...but standing in over 3 feet of long grasses, plays havoc with my hayfever ……………….its worth the effort though.

[Testudo Man]

Two Large Tortoiseshell found yesterday in East Sussex. One was found early morning near Beachy Head by a local birder and then I found what seems to be a female on the South Downs near Seaford in the afternoon. This one was seen nectaring on Bramble and hung around for 2-3 hours.

It was less than a mile from the one I found in March, but going by the fact 2 were seen today I would guess it is probably more migrating over.


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Fantastic find/images here, well done.