July 2020

[David M]

Tuesday 21st - Managed to rack up a dozen species on the private grounds of my estate today. Nothing especially uncommon, but this female Holly Blue and Small Copper were the pick:

[Testudo Man]

Another late afternoon/evening session here in Kent (Tuesday).
Starting to see a few 2nd brood Small Coppers now too.
Small Copper an Chalk Hill Blue highlights. Images are not cropped. Cheers Paul.

Small Copper.

A "Trio" of CHB's (female plus 2 males).

A male CHB ab. (No spots on his hind wings).

[David M]

Nice work, TM. That last CHB is very impressive.

[David M]

Thanks to some judicious advice from Stevieb, as well as two guys wielding cameras at an urban buddleia on my way in, I managed to see a Large Tortoiseshell on Portland yesterday (22nd), one of many that have been spotted this last 3 weeks or so.

Seen this species plenty of times on the continent, but never in the UK, so it was a particularly satisfying moment:

[Allan.W.]

Nice find David ...............brilliant ,they seem to be turning up all over now...................maybe the start of something big !
A few pictures from July . A couple of weeks back we enjoyed a last minute booking ,down in the west country,i managed to fit in the odd hour or two
looking for some plants that i,d hoped to see ,one of them an endemic (Western Ramping fumitory ) and i was successful ,actually finding quite a few,
an absolute beauty ! also managed to see 3 butterfly species that i certainly didn,t expect to see in 2020 ,Silver studded Blue ,Dark Green Fritillary
and Grayling .Very pleased !

I know that a lot of local Moth-ers(and UKBR,S) have been experimenting with Pheromone lures ,so i thought i,d have a crack myself ,glad i did
i,ve been fairly successful ,and have managed to lure 3 species ,a mate of mine has had 10 species in his garden !!..................still theres always
next season ! below are Six-belted and an Orange -tail over a lure .

the last two pics ,are of a Female Common Blue............... a Brown one ,more unusual these days it seems . The Gatekeeper ,had a very unusual hole
clean through its forewing ...........never seen this before.

Regards Allan.W.

[Allan.W.]

Whoops ..............me again ,wrong Common Blue ,oh well ,another bluish one ! . Allan.W.

[David M]

I've never seen a butterfly with wing damage like that, Allan. Looks like it's been used for target practice by someone with a pellet gun.

[MikeOxon]

Yesterday (23rd July), I visited my local reserve at Dry Sandford Pit, Cothill, Oxon. The place is usually my first outing of the year for the Spring emergence but this year has been different! There was a fair 'sprinkling' of species, including Brimstone, Whites, Red Admiral, Peacock, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, and Speckled Wood, although not in large numbers.

I rarely get excited about Meadow Browns, but I spotted this mating pair close to the side of a path and, as I watched, they started to gyrate slowly around their leaf until one, suddenly and briefly, opened its wings, revealing unusually vivid orange patches. It also had twin-pupilled eye-spots, which seems to be an increasing trend amongst Meadow Browns. In my earlier butterflying days, single pupils seemed to be the rule but now twin pupils are relatively frequent.

Dry Sandford Pit, Oxon - 23rd Juy 2020
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/400s@f/8 ISO 640

Dry Sandford Pit, Oxon - 23rd Juy 2020
Olympus E-M1-ii with 100-400mm lens - 1/500s@f/9 ISO 640

Mike

[David M]

Wednesday 22nd - White Letter and Purple Hairstreak seen at Alner's Gorse, neither of which came close enough for images, but I was delighted to find another Hairstreak which did:

[web4160]

Two small skippers arrived together in our pennine garden

[Neil Freeman]

...below are Six-belted...

Cracking photo of the Six-belted Alan I've not managed to find that one yet although a friend has had one in her garden in South Birmingham not that far from me.

Cheers,

Neil

[Allan.W.]

Returned to Temple Ewell Downs (near Dover ) today ,thought i,d see if i could find any Small Blues (as reported by Goldie ) .the spot was actually one which i felt looked right ,a while back ,very pleased that Goldie (or the chap she spoke to ) found some ,i managed 4 males ,i worked out that the last time i,d seen them in the area was about 1987.
Tried an area on the downs which i rarely bother with ,and i,m very glad i did ,it was an absolute riot of wildflowers and hundreds of Chalkhills ,
was pleased to at last find good numbers of Common Blue ,including 3 pairs , still high numbers of Meadow brown ,Marbled Whites and Gatekeepers,
but best of all my first Clouded Yellow (2),1 male Adonis(poss 2), and a fresh minted Silver -Spotted Skipper .
Also seen 1 Wall, 1 Small Heath , 1 Brown Argus ..................... If it hadn,t been so breezy ,i reckon i,d have found more Brown Argus.No Dingy Skips
today...........................but i,m not complaining !
The battered female Meadow Brown is from my local walk ......................early morning ,i,d like to have found it a week or two back.
Regards Allan.W.

Regards Allan.W.

[Allan.W.]

Hello Neil ,
Thanks for that Neil ,they are cracking little moths ,funnily enough the Six-belted comes to the lure quite easily. At Dungeness ,which as you know covers a huge area ,i,ve attracted up to 8 at a time on any clump of Birds foot Trefoil that i,ve placed the lure on , and on my local "lockdown" circuit
in an area with kids playing ,cyclists ,numerous dog walkers and you name it ! and about 300 metres from my front door ,thought i,d try the lure ,
and two appeared in less than two minutes ,i,ve tried all four of my lures in the garden ,and not a single visit !
A friend of mine who has a large garden on the edge of Romney marsh (Kent) has had 10 species ,in the garden ,and another chap ,lured
25 Lunar Hornets(At Dungeness) in about 10 minutes .
Regards Allan.W.

[millerd]

My first Silver-spotted Skipper of 2020, seen up at Aston Rowant on the Chilterns. There were perhaps four altogether, but only this one allowed a close(ish) approach.

The first of many, I hope!

Cheers,

Dave

[Stevieb]

...Also possibly ovipositing.(Bewley Common)

Certainly looks like it, Steve. Do you fancy rearing a few? Might be worth searching for the ova.

I wouldn't know where to start David!

Went back yesterday but the Clouded Yellow seems to have moved on now. Some nice female Common Blues were cooperative though.

24th July

24th July

24th July

[zigzag_wanderer]

Bathroom visitor last night - magpie moth.

Don't recall seeing one before, although I read it's reasonably common in Brighton, not too far away.

When I let it out it flew immediately onto the outside of the window pane.

[Testudo Man]

Nice work, TM. That last CHB is very impressive.

Cheers David, yes, a lovely male.

I returned to the same site yesterday(early evening) an found a female Chalk Hill Blue ab.
I also sighted two fresh 2nd brood Dingy Skippers, which is a 1st for me, Ive never seen 2nd brood Dingys before
I couldnt get any images of the Dingys though, the wind was just too strong!

Other highlights were a sub adult female Adder, an also a juvenile/yearling Adder, the juvi was probably born last year.

Just the one image, of the female Chalk Hill Blue ab. A normal female CHB shares the same perch, which shows a good comparison.
Image is not cropped, cheers Paul.

[Vince Massimo]

Lots of activity in my developing seaside garden in Lancing. Unsurprisingly my Sea-kale is covered in Large White and Small White eggs and larvae, but surprise visitors on 21st July were a Marbled White on one of the Buddleias and a Hummingbird Hawk-moth which laid 3 eggs on my Red Valarian. This is not the most common larval host plant for this moth, but has been recorded in the past.

Large White eggs nearing hatch - Lancing, Sussex 20-July-2020

Parasitic wasps with Large White larvae - Lancing, Sussex 21-July-2020

Hummingbird Hawk-moth egg - Lancing, Sussex 21-July-2020

The Sea-kale also provided a day-time resting spot for a lovely Elephant Hawk moth earlier in the month.

Elephant Hawk Moth - Lancing, Sussex July 2020

Vince

[Pauline]

That's a great shot of the HH moth egg - I'd love to rear one of those. I get them in the garden sometimes and have planted food plants especially but no luck yet. Hope you are going to make the most of the opportunity and I look forward to seeing progress.

[David M]

My first Silver-spotted Skipper of 2020, seen up at Aston Rowant on the Chilterns..

I wondered how long it would be before SSS emerged. Thanks for the heads-up, Dave.