Hi Ernie
The black moth is the melanic morph form of the Box-tree moth.
Cheers
Maurice
ernie f
Re: ernie f
I wonder if Purple Hairstreaks nectaring on brambles may be a feature of the summer, Ernie - I saw three doing this down at Bookham this morning, though none was prepared to open their wings like your lovely female. Splendid shot! 
Things are advanced though - I've been picking edible blackberries since the last few days of June on my local patch, and more are appearing every day. (I always associated blackberrying with the end of the school holidays as a kid, but not so any more.)
The dark version of the Box Tree moth can catch the light rather like a male Purple Hairstreak and produce a subtle violet sheen, making this recently-arrived pest species rather an attractive insect!
download/file.php?id=153677&mode=view
download/file.php?id=153676&mode=view
Cheers,
Dave
Things are advanced though - I've been picking edible blackberries since the last few days of June on my local patch, and more are appearing every day. (I always associated blackberrying with the end of the school holidays as a kid, but not so any more.)The dark version of the Box Tree moth can catch the light rather like a male Purple Hairstreak and produce a subtle violet sheen, making this recently-arrived pest species rather an attractive insect!
download/file.php?id=153677&mode=view
download/file.php?id=153676&mode=view
Cheers,
Dave
Re: ernie f
More great Purple Hairstreak shots Ernie - I can see why you visit there everyday! 
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Re: ernie f
That makes more sense if they are after the maturing fruit which replaces the flower, ernie, since I've seen them prodding their probosces in hawthorn berries plenty of times.
Maybe this propensity to actually nectar from flowers is one of the vagaries of this ultra-strange season?
Re: ernie f
Maurice & Dave - Thanks for the moth ID. Thankfully I have no Box in my garden!
David - I am sure you are correct. I have been over Binswood many times these last three years and as I said, never before saw one on a Bramble flower before, and yet now its almost as it I have come to expect it!
Wurzel - Thanks, yes I consider myself very lucky to have so many PStreaks to watch every year low down at this location which is barely 4 miles from my house.
David - I am sure you are correct. I have been over Binswood many times these last three years and as I said, never before saw one on a Bramble flower before, and yet now its almost as it I have come to expect it!
Wurzel - Thanks, yes I consider myself very lucky to have so many PStreaks to watch every year low down at this location which is barely 4 miles from my house.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
Binswood for PStreaks again!
But first a short intermission...
Just good friends?
... and now back to the main feature.
I have started to arrive early, today it was 7.15 am. Cool to start but sunny and it soon warmed up.
The first one I saw was on the ground creeping through the grass licking leaves. It was not the only one doing this either.
Within the next hour I saw at least a dozen. Mostly in the bramble and low oak boughs. Some good open-wing shots before it got too hot.
But first a short intermission...
... and now back to the main feature.
I have started to arrive early, today it was 7.15 am. Cool to start but sunny and it soon warmed up.
The first one I saw was on the ground creeping through the grass licking leaves. It was not the only one doing this either.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
10 Points each for the open wing male and female Purple Hairstreaks Ernie.
Even the fussiest among us would be happy with those shots.
Keep well,
Trevor.
Even the fussiest among us would be happy with those shots.
Keep well,
Trevor.
-
Neil Freeman
- Posts: 4434
- Joined: Fri Jul 23, 2010 6:25 pm
- Location: Solihull, West Midlands
Re: ernie f
A great series of reports on the Purple Hairstreaks Ernie, love the last two shots of the male and female
I wonder if the hot sun earlier in the year dried a lot of the aphid honeydew and the recent rain has washed off much of what remains so the PHs are coming down to the bramble blossom more than usual.
Cheers,
Neil
I wonder if the hot sun earlier in the year dried a lot of the aphid honeydew and the recent rain has washed off much of what remains so the PHs are coming down to the bramble blossom more than usual.
Cheers,
Neil
Re: ernie f
A cracking set of shots again Ernie - I think I need to look up this Binswood and possibly make a trip there myself next year if it's this reliable 
I reckon Neil idea could provide the explanation
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
I reckon Neil idea could provide the explanation Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Re: ernie f
Trevor: Thanks for those 20 points. I sure did get lucky that day. Arriving early paid dividends. I was there from 7.15 to 8.45 or thereabouts. At the start the only ones I saw were on the ground. A few minutes later they were moving along the hedgerow. Then a little while later, the hedgerow and the lower oak boughs. And so on, as it heated up, they got busier in flight and went higher too. By 8.45 there were many in the air at once but few came down and none by then seemed to want to open their wings.
Neil: Exactly my thinking regarding the heat drying the honeydew higher up on the oaks although I have to admit I hadn't thought about the rains later washing it down like you did. Excellent idea - and it kind-of explains why they were on the ground licking the leaves of low plants.
Wurzel: Binswood is a fascinating place. It was once a small medieval Deer Hunting Forest and is still partly surrounded by a Ha-Ha (and is still inhabited by Roe Deer). There was once a building known as King John's Hunting Lodge on a neighboring hill overlooking the woods (which before that was an Iron Age Hillfort skirted by a Roman Road which is still discernable in the land today). Even now, Binswood is an idyll because no roads pass through or directly adjacent to it. But it's a double edged sword. Once you are there it is great but it is difficult to find the best way in and equally difficult to park close by.
Neil: Exactly my thinking regarding the heat drying the honeydew higher up on the oaks although I have to admit I hadn't thought about the rains later washing it down like you did. Excellent idea - and it kind-of explains why they were on the ground licking the leaves of low plants.
Wurzel: Binswood is a fascinating place. It was once a small medieval Deer Hunting Forest and is still partly surrounded by a Ha-Ha (and is still inhabited by Roe Deer). There was once a building known as King John's Hunting Lodge on a neighboring hill overlooking the woods (which before that was an Iron Age Hillfort skirted by a Roman Road which is still discernable in the land today). Even now, Binswood is an idyll because no roads pass through or directly adjacent to it. But it's a double edged sword. Once you are there it is great but it is difficult to find the best way in and equally difficult to park close by.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
Broxhead – Silver Studded Blue – End of 2020 season survey results
Introduction
I have now performed four years of records for this site, the last three are consecutive and with some degree of procedure in that I have visited the lek area regularly during the flight period of the Silver-studded Blue and followed the same planned route every time, only counting those individuals within a 180-degree field of view looking forwards – anything that flies into view from behind is not counted. Typically it is a walk at pace but unlike other people I have met that walk an official transect, I count anything I see, not just those within a few feet of me. Of course I will double-count to some extent when there are many in and around the lek all at once but I believe this is compensated for by the ones I inevitably miss – especially the later season females who will be low and camouflaged by the heather while egg-laying.
Habitat
Broxhead Common is a small dry lowland heath lying between Kingsley and Bordon in North-East Hampshire and about a mile from the edge of Alice Holt Forest. To the north is Alton and the Chalkhills of the North Downs. Broxhead itself lies on the Upper Greensand and is therefore a very sandy heath. Its specialities other than the SSB’s are Small Copper, Common Heath Moth, Brown Argus, Dartford Warbler, Stonechat, Nightjar, Woodcock, Hobby and the rare Sand Lizard. The lek area for the SSB’s is just the other side of the metal gate on the main lay-by between Kingsley and Bordon. I study this area in particular because I have discovered it is a good predictor of the health of the entire Broxhead colony which in fact spreads out over the entire heath, with pocket colonies dotted here and there with the odd individual flying between – but most staying within a short distance of where they emerged. By focussing my attention on this relatively small patch I can do my transect in about 30 minutes – it would take most of the day to cover the entire heath! This means I can repeat the transect more frequently and thus identify population trends over time. Broxhead Common lies adjacent to two other heaths (Kingsley and Sleaford) but the incidence of SSB’s at those is negligible to none and likely this is due to the lack of the relevant ant species the SSB needs to complete its life-cycle.
History of the study
I did perform a full count of the heath in 2010 without any form of procedure but it took a number of visits each around 2 hours duration over some days around the peak of the flight period. I don’t intend to dwell on this other than to say I was surprised at the healthy overall count of over 550 individuals and by this means identified the more densely populated areas and I discovered where the main lekking site was.
My first proper study was in 2018. Numbers were much the same across the entire reserve as they had been in 2010 (I did a lek count AND a full heath count that year), so presumed at the time this was the “normal” population size. But in 2019 there was a shocking surprise drop in numbers. So what would 2020 bring?
2020
This year we had a long wet winter followed by an exceptionally dry spring. The heath at the end of May was parched dry and many of the lower heather plants had yellowed. It was, I thought, touch and go whether we would get much of a heather bloom and how the butterflies would fare with such a reduction in nectaring opportunities. As the days rolled on the SSB’s started to emerge, males first as usual. The first incidence I saw was on 28th May (2 males). This was my earliest ever record of this species at this site, a clear 9 days earlier than in 2018 and 18 days earlier than in 2019. It was odd to see them flying with so few heather blooms on show. It was very worrying. The dry spell continued and the numbers started to increase along the same curve as they did the previous year only much earlier. We did get the odd spot of rain and thankfully – those heathers that had not died back completely started to bloom. I breathed a sigh of relief. And then, just as the numbers were starting to build nicely the temperature crashed and we got four days of rain with a breeze. After that cleared away I discovered the numbers had been culled back but a further spate of sunny weather corrected that and the rain had actually been a great benefit to the flora with many more heather bushes now blooming. This explains the double peak with the dip between on the 2020 chart below, the previous two years were pretty much consistently fine for the entire flight period by comparison.
Overall, this year the numbers were slightly better than last year suggesting the population not only survived the crash of 2019 but were clawing their way back to the “good times”. Only further annual reviews will be able to establish this for sure. Possibly the species has a boom and bust cycle over years such as some other species do. Whatever it was in 2019 that had such a drastic effect, the males were hit a lot harder than the females, and since it is the number of females that dictate future size of population it should be of no surprise that the colony held up into this year quite well.
The peak of males was 118 on date 26th June.
The peak of females was 24 on date 24th June.
The total population in and around the lek over the entire flight period was therefore
z = 118+24=142
Since my observations in previous years concluded that the lek area typically contains 2/3 of the entire site population, the estimate of the entire population at Broxhead this year is therefore...
Total site population P = Population in and around lek * lek to site ratio
P = z * 3/2 = 213
Last three years trend charts for comparison. Blue bars are males, red bars are females.
The double peak suggests I have undercounted though. Not all of the 113 males I saw in the first peak can be assumed to be included in the 118 males in the second peak because the dip suggests some of those died in the cold snap.
Post-script: Other sightings for Broxhead this year.
During this season I saw a female SSB with wobbly wings, obviously not yet fully pumped-up after newly emerging and yet already she was vigorously wing-rolling, albeit in an odd “wings-ajar” kind-of way. Pictures of this can be found under the “General” forum entry for wing-rolling.
Plus my very first male Sand Lizard in fully resplendent mating colours. As I approached – it did not move. Then I realised it was dead. Sad. It reminded me of Monty Python’s Parrot sketch. Beautiful “plumage” but dead. Does thinking that make me a bit weird? Probably. My wife (who I was out walking with at the time), moved it off the path and covered it with foliage, giving it a decent “burial”.
The birds were very good this year. I stood watching two Dartford Warblers (a pair) for ages, taking pictures. They went to ground for awhile then suddenly appeared off to my side. How on earth did they do that I wondered. Then the two I had been watching re-appeared in front of me again. Oh, there were TWO pairs! Marvelous.
Oh, yes and the Stonechats too…
Introduction
I have now performed four years of records for this site, the last three are consecutive and with some degree of procedure in that I have visited the lek area regularly during the flight period of the Silver-studded Blue and followed the same planned route every time, only counting those individuals within a 180-degree field of view looking forwards – anything that flies into view from behind is not counted. Typically it is a walk at pace but unlike other people I have met that walk an official transect, I count anything I see, not just those within a few feet of me. Of course I will double-count to some extent when there are many in and around the lek all at once but I believe this is compensated for by the ones I inevitably miss – especially the later season females who will be low and camouflaged by the heather while egg-laying.
Broxhead Common is a small dry lowland heath lying between Kingsley and Bordon in North-East Hampshire and about a mile from the edge of Alice Holt Forest. To the north is Alton and the Chalkhills of the North Downs. Broxhead itself lies on the Upper Greensand and is therefore a very sandy heath. Its specialities other than the SSB’s are Small Copper, Common Heath Moth, Brown Argus, Dartford Warbler, Stonechat, Nightjar, Woodcock, Hobby and the rare Sand Lizard. The lek area for the SSB’s is just the other side of the metal gate on the main lay-by between Kingsley and Bordon. I study this area in particular because I have discovered it is a good predictor of the health of the entire Broxhead colony which in fact spreads out over the entire heath, with pocket colonies dotted here and there with the odd individual flying between – but most staying within a short distance of where they emerged. By focussing my attention on this relatively small patch I can do my transect in about 30 minutes – it would take most of the day to cover the entire heath! This means I can repeat the transect more frequently and thus identify population trends over time. Broxhead Common lies adjacent to two other heaths (Kingsley and Sleaford) but the incidence of SSB’s at those is negligible to none and likely this is due to the lack of the relevant ant species the SSB needs to complete its life-cycle.
History of the study
I did perform a full count of the heath in 2010 without any form of procedure but it took a number of visits each around 2 hours duration over some days around the peak of the flight period. I don’t intend to dwell on this other than to say I was surprised at the healthy overall count of over 550 individuals and by this means identified the more densely populated areas and I discovered where the main lekking site was.
My first proper study was in 2018. Numbers were much the same across the entire reserve as they had been in 2010 (I did a lek count AND a full heath count that year), so presumed at the time this was the “normal” population size. But in 2019 there was a shocking surprise drop in numbers. So what would 2020 bring?
2020
This year we had a long wet winter followed by an exceptionally dry spring. The heath at the end of May was parched dry and many of the lower heather plants had yellowed. It was, I thought, touch and go whether we would get much of a heather bloom and how the butterflies would fare with such a reduction in nectaring opportunities. As the days rolled on the SSB’s started to emerge, males first as usual. The first incidence I saw was on 28th May (2 males). This was my earliest ever record of this species at this site, a clear 9 days earlier than in 2018 and 18 days earlier than in 2019. It was odd to see them flying with so few heather blooms on show. It was very worrying. The dry spell continued and the numbers started to increase along the same curve as they did the previous year only much earlier. We did get the odd spot of rain and thankfully – those heathers that had not died back completely started to bloom. I breathed a sigh of relief. And then, just as the numbers were starting to build nicely the temperature crashed and we got four days of rain with a breeze. After that cleared away I discovered the numbers had been culled back but a further spate of sunny weather corrected that and the rain had actually been a great benefit to the flora with many more heather bushes now blooming. This explains the double peak with the dip between on the 2020 chart below, the previous two years were pretty much consistently fine for the entire flight period by comparison.
Overall, this year the numbers were slightly better than last year suggesting the population not only survived the crash of 2019 but were clawing their way back to the “good times”. Only further annual reviews will be able to establish this for sure. Possibly the species has a boom and bust cycle over years such as some other species do. Whatever it was in 2019 that had such a drastic effect, the males were hit a lot harder than the females, and since it is the number of females that dictate future size of population it should be of no surprise that the colony held up into this year quite well.
The peak of males was 118 on date 26th June.
The peak of females was 24 on date 24th June.
The total population in and around the lek over the entire flight period was therefore
z = 118+24=142
Since my observations in previous years concluded that the lek area typically contains 2/3 of the entire site population, the estimate of the entire population at Broxhead this year is therefore...
Total site population P = Population in and around lek * lek to site ratio
P = z * 3/2 = 213
Last three years trend charts for comparison. Blue bars are males, red bars are females.
Post-script: Other sightings for Broxhead this year.
During this season I saw a female SSB with wobbly wings, obviously not yet fully pumped-up after newly emerging and yet already she was vigorously wing-rolling, albeit in an odd “wings-ajar” kind-of way. Pictures of this can be found under the “General” forum entry for wing-rolling.
Plus my very first male Sand Lizard in fully resplendent mating colours. As I approached – it did not move. Then I realised it was dead. Sad. It reminded me of Monty Python’s Parrot sketch. Beautiful “plumage” but dead. Does thinking that make me a bit weird? Probably. My wife (who I was out walking with at the time), moved it off the path and covered it with foliage, giving it a decent “burial”.
The birds were very good this year. I stood watching two Dartford Warblers (a pair) for ages, taking pictures. They went to ground for awhile then suddenly appeared off to my side. How on earth did they do that I wondered. Then the two I had been watching re-appeared in front of me again. Oh, there were TWO pairs! Marvelous.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
Very interesting to read your report Ernie Down out way the Heather got nipped back by an unseasonable frost 
- it damaged most of the Ling and Bell Heather on the site I visit and I couldn't get back to see if they'd managed to hold on and take advantage of other nectar sources. 
Great shots especially the Dartford Warbler - a cracking little bird that one
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Down out way the Heather got nipped back by an unseasonable frost - it damaged most of the Ling and Bell Heather on the site I visit and I couldn't get back to see if they'd managed to hold on and take advantage of other nectar sources. Great shots especially the Dartford Warbler - a cracking little bird that one
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Re: ernie f
You've certainly put considerable effort into those studies, ernie, fair play to you. Interesting to read about the annual fluctuations.
Lovely bird images too. How do you do it?
Lovely bird images too. How do you do it?
Re: ernie f
Thanks, guys.
Re the Dartford Warbler picture. I just got very lucky. I once lived in a house actually in the New Forest for 5 years. That was a time before my butterflying days - then my main nature passion was birding and in all that time I never got a picture of a Dartford Warbler anywhere near as good as the ones I am getting at Broxhead now.
Cheers
Re the Dartford Warbler picture. I just got very lucky. I once lived in a house actually in the New Forest for 5 years. That was a time before my butterflying days - then my main nature passion was birding and in all that time I never got a picture of a Dartford Warbler anywhere near as good as the ones I am getting at Broxhead now.
Cheers
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
Butterflying can become an obsession of course - we all have it don't we? But at the moment my particular obsession is with PStreaks. I make no apologies - they are a fantastic little creature and Binswood for the third year running seems to be remarkable for them.
Yet again today they were down on the bramble. After a cloudy start, I arrived in sun at 8am. They were already down! And they were still down at 10.30am. Sure some climbed the heights of the oaks by then, but I found an enclave of a very high hedgerow, pretty much untouched by human hand and there they were, at least four of them, all brambling happily away.
One seemed glued to one specific bramble flower for about 15 minutes.
At one point two joined in at the same time.
And sometimes they would open their wings for me.
Tearing myself away from them, what else was there? Ah, the Small Coppers - of course. I see a small number of them here every year and today I saw four. This one appeared to be freshly emerged.
As was this wobbly-winged GV White.
A lovely Holly Blue sunning itself.
And a mating pair of GV Whites.
Not to mention the Commas, Red Ads, M Browns, Gatekeepers, Ringlets, S&L Skips, S, L&M Whites and SW Frit.
All in all, a productive couple of hours.
Yet again today they were down on the bramble. After a cloudy start, I arrived in sun at 8am. They were already down! And they were still down at 10.30am. Sure some climbed the heights of the oaks by then, but I found an enclave of a very high hedgerow, pretty much untouched by human hand and there they were, at least four of them, all brambling happily away.
All in all, a productive couple of hours.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
Fascinating report about the SSB, Ernie. As Wurzel also mentioned, a couple of Surrey sites I visit (Fairmile Common and Dawneys Hill) were affected by a late frost at the start of May, which caught the heather blooms. It was this, rather than the lack of rain, which meant that flowers were crisped and sparse for the unusually early emerging butterflies. I hadn't realised this, but the guy who looks after Fairmile pointed it out to me on my first visit and expressed concern for the population there this year.
Your Purple Hairstreaks are amazing - their consistent behaviour in coming down and nectaring on the brambles is reminiscent of some White-Letter Hairstreak populations that descend from the tops of elm trees. I saw a few PH do this at Bookham earlier this week, but not in the way you have described and photographed - quite extraordinary. Worth some of these I'd say...
Cheers,
Dave
Your Purple Hairstreaks are amazing - their consistent behaviour in coming down and nectaring on the brambles is reminiscent of some White-Letter Hairstreak populations that descend from the tops of elm trees. I saw a few PH do this at Bookham earlier this week, but not in the way you have described and photographed - quite extraordinary.
Worth some of these I'd say... Cheers,
Dave
Re: ernie f
Dave - Thanks for the confirmation as to why the heather had died back so much. It didn't occur to me that a short spell of frost at just the wrong time could have had such a dramatic effect but it clearly did.
The PStreaks are quite stunning at Binswood this year. At nearby Alice Holt Forest (no more than 4 miles away) they are there in good numbers but don't seem to want to come down as much as the ones at Binswood. But then, there are few mature hedgerows at Alice Holt!
The PStreaks are quite stunning at Binswood this year. At nearby Alice Holt Forest (no more than 4 miles away) they are there in good numbers but don't seem to want to come down as much as the ones at Binswood. But then, there are few mature hedgerows at Alice Holt!
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
I think I might need professional help. I can't stop going to Binswood to see the PStreaks!!!
I got there at 6.45am today and saw my first in flight at 7am. By 7.20am they were feeding on the brambles again and generally messing about low down.
Yep, that was a PStreak too, an odd backside shot.
I think I have seen a PStreak do a wing-roll before but cannot ever remember capturing it in a photo. Until today that is.
I'll try and crop these two pics closer and put them on the wing-roll thread under the general forum.
I got there at 6.45am today and saw my first in flight at 7am. By 7.20am they were feeding on the brambles again and generally messing about low down.
Ernie F
Re: ernie f
With Purple Hairstreak photos like those Ernie there is no wonder that you keep going back - it's not an obsession it's just common sense 
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Have a goodun and stay safe
Wurzel
Re: ernie f
Binswood (again) for Pstreaks.
I have come up with a whole new classification for Butterflies. It simplifies everything. There is the classification of "A Purple Hairstreak" for Purple Hairstreaks and there is the classification of "Not A Purple Hairstreak" for everything else.
So today at Binswood we had this...
A Purple Hairstreak (APH).
And this...
Not a Purple Hairstreak (NAPH).
Underneath the NAPH, backlit by the early morning sun.
On a more serious note. I was at Binswood for 1 1/2 hours this morning and only saw 3 Purple Hairstreaks. Looks like my obsession with them is about to be parked for another year.
Here is one of my favourite "Purple Patches" at Binswood. It doesn't look much but that small Oak in the centre of the picture harbours a colony and they come down to the hedgerow in front of it. It's where I got todays picture of one.
I have come up with a whole new classification for Butterflies. It simplifies everything. There is the classification of "A Purple Hairstreak" for Purple Hairstreaks and there is the classification of "Not A Purple Hairstreak" for everything else.
So today at Binswood we had this...
And this...
Underneath the NAPH, backlit by the early morning sun.
Here is one of my favourite "Purple Patches" at Binswood. It doesn't look much but that small Oak in the centre of the picture harbours a colony and they come down to the hedgerow in front of it. It's where I got todays picture of one.
Ernie F