ernie f

[David M]

Nice work with the Purple Hairstreak, ernie. Was it nectaring on those brambles? I din't think I've ever seen one feeding on flowers, neither in the UK nor in Europe.

[ernie f]

Neil

Yep, I am fit and well. Well, not fit exactly... but well.

Wurzel

Although there are only two species represented in that dung shot I do love it when you can get three species in a single photo, something I might start up is a triple-shot collection if I can (but maybe without the dung).

David

Come to think of it I am not sure I have found PStreaks nectaring from Bramble before. I'll have to look back through my past pics. If you click on the photo as posted in order to enlarge, it does appear that you can see its proboscis stretched out into a bramble flower.

[ernie f]

David: Re that "nectaring" Purple Hairstreak picture. I have now reviewed all my 140 photos of Pstreaks I have taken over the years and not a single one shows any individual nectaring from ANY flower, not even perching on one. I looked in the internet and only two pictures show a Pstreak perching on a flower head but not nectaring from it. I was so surprised I went back and took a closer look at my pic just to prove to myself that is WAS a Pstreak and it certainly is.

My pic shows it with its proboscis unfurled and stretching out to a neighbouring flower head to the one it is perching on - so it is obviously doing something. Whether it is actually nectaring from the plant or licking honeydew from its petals is open to debate but I think the latter explanation is more likely (unless anyone knows anything more about this).

[ernie f]

Departed from Alton in full sunshine really early this morning. Arrived 15 minutes later at Odiham Common under a 100% cloud cover. Blast!

Nevertheless had a trouser encounter with a Marbled White!

Which I then lifted off with my finger for closer scrutiny.

If the sun had been out I guess none of this would have occurred. However there was the odd break in the cloud but not for very long.

[bugboy]

Nice work with the Purple Hairstreak, ernie. Was it nectaring on those brambles? I din't think I've ever seen one feeding on flowers, neither in the UK nor in Europe.

They don't do it often but they do do it. I came across this little fella last year at Bookham who I stayed with for about half an hour as he gorged on the Bramble blossom. I even disturbed him a couple of times lining up shots but he simply fluttered back to the flower. I've no idea how long he was feeding for, he was doing it before I found him and I left him to it after filling my boots with images!
download/file.php?id=149938&mode=view

[Wurzel]

Lovely Marbled White shots Ernie - I hate it when you get beaten to a site by the cloud, some of my most frustrating days have seen me racing to get somewhere before the blue sky disappeared but on the plus side the cloud worked in your favour with the Marbled White on the trouser
I saw a Purple Hairstreak nectaring on Bramble last year as well, at the time it was very hot and had been for a few days so I reckoned that it was desperation as they honeydew had dried up?A quick google of "what do Purple Hairstreaks feed on" brought this up...

"What do purple hairstreak butterflies eat? Caterpillars: the leaves and flower buds of English oak and sessile oak. Adults: mainly honeydew (a sweet substance secreted by aphids feeding on tree leaves), but sometimes also nectar sources like bramble"

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

Some very nice images recently. Ernie, especially the White Admiral underside.
Pity about the ' wrong species ' on that pile of poo!.

Great stuff, keep well,
Trevor.

[David M]

Nice work with the Purple Hairstreak, ernie. Was it nectaring on those brambles? I din't think I've ever seen one feeding on flowers, neither in the UK nor in Europe.

They don't do it often but they do do it. I came across this little fella last year at Bookham who I stayed with for about half an hour as he gorged on the Bramble blossom. I even disturbed him a couple of times lining up shots but he simply fluttered back to the flower. I've no idea how long he was feeding for, he was doing it before I found him and I left him to it after filling my boots with images!
download/file.php?id=149938&mode=view

Interesting stuff, Paul. The only thing I've ever seen Purple Hairstreaks feeding from are unripe hawthorn berries, where they 'dab' at the part which joins the stalk with their proboscis. There must be something they particularly like contained in these berries as I see them in hawthorn almost as often as I see them in oak trees.

[ernie f]

Thanks to you all. It's nice to get out again, even if it is cloudy a lot at the moment.

Re PStreaks on Bramble. Thanks to Bugboy for sharing his pictures. That confirms they do.

And as if by magic, I visited Binswood again today and what do you know? Yes. Another PStreak feeding on a bramble flower. Like London buses, you don't see one for ages and then two come along at once!

And here is another shot of the one from yesterday.

[ernie f]

Dodging the showers today but still pretty good.

My first Peacock since the lockdown. My second and third Summertime Holly Blue (males) and my first Gatekeeper of the year. Plus the Purple Hairstreaks, SW Frits, White and Red Admiral, L Skip, Meadow Brown and Ringlet, S & L & M White and Comma.

[Wurzel]

Love the stained glass Silver-washed Ernie - I'd like that one in my collection

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Dodging the showers today but still pretty good.

My first Peacock since the lockdown. My second and third Summertime Holly Blue (males) and my first Gatekeeper of the year. Plus the Purple Hairstreaks, SW Frits, White and Red Admiral, L Skip, Meadow Brown and Ringlet, S & L & M White and Comma.

Admirable return given the vagaries of the weather right now, ernie. I daresay Hedge Browns won't be long round my way - much as I like them it always makes me a bit sad as they herald the latter end of summer.

[ernie f]

Wurzel - I love trying to get those "Stained glass" backlit shots and the Frits are one of the best. But the Commas also can put on a show - like this one today...

David - I know what you mean but there is still a lot of the summer to go and the dreaded virus seems to have dropped-off a bit round our way. Sometimes I am glad I don't live anywhere near a beach!

[Goldie M]

Hi! ernie, my Daughter has just retired to a house near the beech and tells me it's been horrendous there, car's parked every where and loads of people Goldie

[ernie f]

3rd July 2020 - A day in the life of a Binswood Purple Hairstreak.

Breakfast time.

There seems to be something tasty under this petal.

Brunch.

And there is definitely something tasty on the top of this petal.

Lunch.

Something tasty at the base of this flower head.

High Tea

Something tasty on the top of the flower head too.

Dinner.

There is something tasty just about all over these brambles. Yummy!

Dessert.

Now I thought I saw a lovely young lady fly by. I wonder where she went?

Ah, there she is. I wonder if she would like to go out for Supper with me?

[Wurzel]

Love the style of reportage Ernie and cracking shots too I think we can categorically count Bramble as a food plant for Purps Or it could be covered in Honeydew

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Wow! That bramble is quite a magnet for them, ernie. I'll have to reassess my approach to this species now and start paying a little bit of attention henceforth.

[trevor]

Your open wing female Purple Hairstreak is very mrgreen worthy, Ernie.
As soon as I return from Wiltshire I will be haunting my local patch for them.

Great stuff, keep well,
Trevor.

[ernie f]

Thanks everyone. This sequence of shots of a male investigating a bramble flower was only one. There was another individual further along the hedge doing much the same thing and that was added to the two occasions I have seen them do that recently - but never before. I wonder if the long dry spring has anything to do with it? Perhaps the Oak-top honeydew is not available to them?

It seems I left the word "Dessert" in the text. I had originally intended to show another picture for this entry of a Purple Hairstreak probing inside an almost completely closed bramble bud but I somehow lost the pic in my over-zealous culling of the hundred or so shots I took that day!

Nevertheless I found it fascinating that he would actually do such a thing given all the open blooms around.

[ernie f]

Binswood again! At this time of year I visit almost every day for the Purple Hairstreaks.

I found this one on a bramble again, feeding from a flower head well and truly "gone-over". In fact the one adjacent had already started to berry!

For some reason a male was creeping around in the grass and even opened its wings to bask at one point. It was not newly emerged, instead flying to this point from, you guessed it, another bramble bush.

At home, on the garage, an almost black moth which I think is called the "Crescent".