millerd

[David M]

Some real stunners in your latest offerings, Dave. The female Hedge Brown stands out but that last Holly Blue is wonderful....glad to see you've rediscovered your 'mojo' with this species.

[millerd]

Cheers Neil, Wurzel and David! Another atypical Copper (if such a thing exists... ) and an obliging female Holly Blue is always welcome!

Friday 17th July. With a decent sunny start to the day, I headed up to Aston Rowant again with the chances of an early Silver-spotted Skipper increasing. I didn't see one today, but it turned out that I was only a few days premature as I believe the first one was spotted here on 20th. Chalkhill Blues were now the main feature of this lovely flowery site, with the more obvious males taking centre stage (though there were also plenty of females
skipping low to the ground and seeking out the horseshoe vetch foodplant).

However, the main surprise was to discover that there were still some fresh-looking Dark Green Fritillaries nectaring in the morning sunshine.

One particular area of marjoram was hosting dozens of Peacocks, plus Red Admirals, Small Tortoiseshells and Gatekeepers, and across the slopes there were Brown Argus, Common Blues, Small Coppers, Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, Small and Essex Skippers, Marbled Whites, Brimstones, Large and Small Whites, and GVW. One or shots of these...

...and a Large White to finish, with a bit of context.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking Chalkhills Dave I really need to get out and see a few more of them...I keep meaning to each years but then I feel the call of the Brostreak Those DGFs are in really good nick for the time of year - they normally last into August but they're usually a pale reflection of their former glory by then and I can't recall seeing any that are in as good a nick as some of those

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Yes, Wurzel, the DGF did come as a bit of a surprise, especially as on my previous trip here they all looked like the first one I've posted above - a bit pale and jaded. Still, I wasn't complaining.

A quick look locally later on 17th July produced one of the smallest Brown Argus I have ever seen, about the size of my fingernail.

There were a couple of Commas - one doing its best to be a dead leaf in an appropriate setting...

...and another sitting much more obviously in the late sunshine.

Saturday 18th July. Another warm largely sunny day, which I started on my local patch. The next round of Small Heaths was underway, but as yet numbers are low. Summer ones do seem paler than those earlier in the year.

Once again, Common Blues were widespread with a variety of females seen, as well as some pristine males.

Brown Argus were in among them, but with a more darting silvery flight and generally noticeably smaller.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Great report Dave Interesting Brown Argus that final one - the second spot anti-clockwise is practically non-existent - I've seen a few like this recently Mind you that's probably because I'm actually looking for it now

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

I think the (near-)disappearance of that spot is quite a common thing, Wurzel. I've seen it on perhaps a third of the Brown Argus round here.

With the threat of a change in the weather arriving from the northwest later on on 18th July, I decided to check out the Grayling on Chobham Common. Arriving up at one of their hotspots, it didn't take long for one to find me.

Overall I saw around a dozen Graylings, all males, and all of them very tricky to photograph in the strong sunshine because they preferred to sit edge on the to the sun. It was either that or they would settle in the shade or in places that swallowed their camouflaged wings amazingly well.

Once or twice, they forgot themselves and nectared briefly on the heather.

A few Silver-studded Blues were still flying, all rather worn, and rather curiously for the location a single female Holly Blue. I came across this butterfly sitting on a sprig of heather, where it appeared to be laying an egg.

However, I checked and found no egg had been laid, but I was still puzzled. A second brood female (as far as I know) would lay exclusively on ivy flowers, so this would have to be a very late first brood female. Very late indeed - but it appeared pretty fresh, not worn at all. One of nature's mysteries...

Dave

[David M]

Great to see the Graylings, Dave, and also good to see fresh Dark Green Fritillaries in the latter half of July.

By me, this species is practically done by the third week in July. All the ones I saw at the High Brown site near Bridgend a week ago were very worn indeed.

[trevor]

Good to see those Graylings, Dave. Love to see them on Heather.
Also like your female Chalkhills, really fresh.

Keep up the good work,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Great Graylings Dave I'm finding it a bit weird just seeing them on Heath this year after last summers holiday to Portugal where they were everywhere - including outside Lidl's Good to see that you managed to conjure up a Holly Blue even here

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thank you everyone - Graylings are entertaining to watch, but can be so difficult to get a decent shot of. Things get even better when the females appear and there is some courtship and displays of the uppersides. Some of those females are big butterflies too...

Right on cue, the weather on the morning of Sunday 19th July was wet and cooler. However, things brightened a bit at lunchtime, and it was enough to energise the butterfly population on my local patch. It really doesn't take a lot to get the local Common Blues into the air.

There was one rather odd moment - I reached the small piece of field which was the territory of the very long-lived Small Copper that had held it back in May/June. Right at the point where that individual liked to perch was the ghostly form of another very old Small Copper.

I had to do a double take, but it was over a month since I'd last seen the earlier butterfly and it could not possibly be the same one. Later comparison between photos confirmed this, but it was very odd to see another decrepit individual in precisely the same spot. The only other Small Copper I saw here today was by contrast bright and new, with very bold spots and a diminished hindwing orange band.

Dave

[millerd]

With half an afternoon left on 19th July, and Small Coppers in my head, I decided on another visit to Staines Moor. There were a few Brown Argus around...

...and a notable female Common Blue

...but aside from a few Skippers, Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers...

...it was the Small Coppers that held the attention again.

One individual in particular caught my eye, a quite dusky one with markedly large spots, prominent tails and interesting dark lines along the veins through the orange hindwing bands.

A brand new female, it was a striking insect.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Another great selection of species in your recent reports Dave.

I remember seeing quite a few Dark Green Fritillaries still flying at Aston Rowant when I went there last year at the end of July, not in as good condition still as yours though.

Cheers,

Neil.

[millerd]

Cheers, Neil. There were still a few quite fresh-looking DGF flying at Aston Rowant yesterday, so I wouldn't be surprised to see them in August this year. Considering they started a bit earlier than usual this year too, they've had a long season.

Monday 20th July. An ideal summer's day really, with over 12 hours of sunshine and a high locally of 23/24 degrees. Unsurprisingly during a morning walk, I saw over 300 butterflies of 17 species (though around a third were Meadow Browns and another third were Gatekeepers). A significant number of the rest were Common Blues - this species had a really good first brood, and is clearly doing well in the second as well. I see far more of them here on my doorstep than anywhere else I visit to be honest. Currently there is a constant supply of new males...

...and attractive females in varying degrees of blue plumage.

The underside of fresh individuals is well worth a look too.

I also came across an unusual bit of behaviour for the species - I found one which I mistook initially for a Holly Blue because it was flying low over a damp patch and ended up taking minerals from something on the ground.

When it stopped for a breather, the underside ground colour looked unusual too.

A selection of the rest...

Large Whites are much more approachable than they are in the spring

A subtly marked summer brood GVW

It's surprising not to see more Gatekeeper pairings considering the numbers

Very new - it looks freshly painted

Numbers are starting to fall as they creep off into hibernation

Another typically pale summer brood butterfly

A fresh-looking individual

Finally, another distinctly unusual Small Copper, with non-standard spotting, a dusky overlay and a bit of a sheen at an angle to the light. A fresh male.

There's always something worth seeing at the moment.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Lovely set of shots Dave - that final Small Copper is reminiscent of some of the sultry/dusky ones I was seeing this time last year in Portugal
Great catching up today - we need to do it again soon as I've got the metaphorically taste for Brostreaks

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - there have been a few Med-style Coppers around this year. Perhaps they should be called Les Petits Gendarmes... Yes, after today's excellent adventure, at least one more bout of Brostreaks-huntingdown there is essential I'd say!

Tuesday 21st July. The forecast was again good, so I went further afield again, starting with a morning at Bookham which included a hopeful (but unsuccessful) look for early Brown Hairstreaks. In fact, the first butterfly I encountered was another of their Purple cousins, displaying nicely down on a burdock leaf for all she was getting a little ragged.

Silver-washed Fritillaries were still around along the sunlit tracks, but the White Admirals had disappeared.

Even the skippers were posing today, with a nice example of a fresh and very golden Large...

...and a quite dusky Small, which struck a most artistic pose on a thistle.

Amongst several Commas seen were two that stood out. The first was very strikingly marked...

...and the other was bright and by contrast very lightly marked indeed.

Echoes of Southern Comma there...

Dave

[millerd]

With still more sunshine and the afternoon of 21st July to play with, I headed down a bit further to Box Hill. Even on weekdays at the moment, the NT car park is full, but I was lucky enough to spot someone leaving and nipped in. As ever, the place was teeming with cyclists and the drive up the zigzag road was pretty hazardous. The Olympics have a lot to answer for! The refreshment counter has now reopened, which was a distinct bonus. I headed east of the viewpoint slopes out onto Dukes, which even on such a busy day was relatively quiet. The further east along this hillside I went, the more butterflies appeared - mostly Chakhill Blues, but there were quite a few Common Blues too, ageing Marbled Whites, Brown Argus, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and a couple of female DGF. However, as yet, no Silver-spotted Skippers, though it can't be long before they appear. It was warm and very sunny, which unfortunately meant that the Chalkhills were not opening up at all really, aside from the odd individual. I spotted one of these from a way away and noticed that every time it landed it did open its wings, at least a bit. This allowed me to see that there was something distinctly odd about it. When I finally got a bit closer, I could see that it had white margins to the wings where normally they would be dark, and the overall colour was more silvery, with only a hint of pale blue near the body. The underside was pale and lightly marked, but not exceptionally so.

I managed to catch up with a few of the "normal" ones in the end.

Of course, no day anywhere is truly complete without one of these.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 22nd July. Another day of warm sunshine in prospect, and I set out on a trip I'd be promising myself, taking in a few of the Sussex sites I tend to visit as it gets a bit later in the season. I started off the furthest away, up at High & Over at around 1000. It was probably a bit late, as with the strong warm sunshine the species I'd hoped to see were already very active: the Walls. There were well over a dozen I'd guess, at and close to the viewpoint, as well as along the open bit of downland by the road down to Alfriston. This area also had good numbers of Chalkhills, Common Blues, Brown Argus and a few rather worn Marbled Whites. The wooded area at the hilltop had Red Admirals, Specked Woods and Holly Blues, plus one or two Peacocks and Commas. I managed a few shots of the target species, but nothing at all special. A return trip early in the third brood in less sunny weather seems like a good idea.

The Chalkhills weren't easy either...

...but a Common Blue found up in the woods was more obliging.

To add to a somewhat frustrating visit, I came across a Hummingbird Hawk Moth, but it constantly sought nectar sources down in the grass, so offered no decent views at all.

I headed back westwards, and considered stopping at Tide Mills near Newhaven, but the car park was full and overflowing so I carried on back past Brighton and down to the sea at Southwick (Shoreham Harbour). A walk back and forth along what has in the past been a very productive path was surprisingly sparse in butterfly life - a few Red Admirals and Whites was pretty well it. However, hopes were raised by a Clouded Yellow flyby. I expected this butterfly to return as they so often do when patrolling up and down - not that there was any cloud to potentially cause it to come to ground. In fact I didn't see it again. I decided to cut my losses and carry on a bit further to the slopes of Mill Hill.

Mill Hill of course had lots of butterflies. I made my way down to the bottom of the main slope, where there were good numbers of Chalkhill and Common Blues, Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers, Brown Argus, Brimstones and various Whites. Curiously, both these butterflies show similar v-shaped "beak marks" from unsuccessful bird attacks.

There were also one or two Walls, generally no more cooperative than those at High & Over, though I did track down a female (probably egg-laying).

One oddity was the electric blue flash of a worn male Adonis Blue. This had to be a leftover first brood individual, on the cusp of the emergence of the second.

Also unusual, though becoming less so these days (I think they are seen here most years) were second brood Dingy Skippers. I saw at least two, and probably three, of these along the hedge margin at the bottom of the hillside.

I looked up from following the rapid flight of this species and started watching a few white butterflies. One of these was flying more rapidly than usual, and away from the edges of the hillside - quartering the territory with brief pauses to nectar, across and back, across and back. Something clicked - this was how a Clouded Yellow flies. I managed to get close enough to a flypast to see the wings, and my suspicion was confirmed - it was indeed a Cloudie, and a very pale helice one at that. I attempted to get close enough for a shot or two, with a modicum of success, but the lack of clouds was annoying. The disappearance of the sun for even a couple of minutes would have been enough to ground the butterfly and allow a close approach. However, this is what I was able to manage in the end.

I realise that I hadn't seen the helice form of the female Clouded Yellow since the big influx of 2009 when I had seen several at the same time down near Birling Gap. Quite a day in the end!

Dave

[trevor]

Very nice Helice, Dave. There are reports of odd Clouded Yellow sightings nationwide
at the moment, so hopefully we will be busy this Autumn.

Keep well,
Trevor.

[bugboy]

nice set of Cloudie pics, better than anything I've managed so far this year . I'd say your hummingbird Hawkmoth was looking to lay eggs, that's Lady's Bedstraw in the background, the LHP

[millerd]

Cheers, Trevor and Bugboy! Definitely a case of right place right time for that helice, but I will admit to putting a bit of effort into chasing the thing between its brief settling points, praying in vain for the sun to go in... Worth it though, even if I didn't get as close as I would like (and you both know how close I prefer to get!).

I never considered that the Hummer might be laying, Buggy. The behaviour fits squarely with that, as it was right in amongst the greenery rather than nectaring out in the open as I normally see them - and I didn't know what the foodplant looked like to make the connection. Thanks for that idea!

Thursday 23rd July. More sunshine in the forecast, though a bit cooler perhaps with a bit of cloud. A change of scene today, and a visit to Noar Hill. Unusually, this was my first time here in 2020 as the lockdown kept me away at the start of the Duke season. The site loked glorious as usual, covered in flowers, but I arrived a bit early for most butterflies as I had overestimated how warm it would be first thing. However, things did warm up nicely and I saw a great variety of different species.

Both SW and DG Fritillaries.

A few Brown Argus and lots of Common Blues.

Second brood Small Blues. I'd never noticed just how much Kidney Vetch there is here when visiting earlier in the year, and to be fair have never seen many Small Blues here before either.

Sightings today included a mating pair.

In the same area as the Small Blues, I found a second brood Dingy Skipper, quite at home with them to chase of course.

I scoured the Hemp Agrimony (just bursting into flower at the moment) for Brown Hairstreaks without success, but did find Peacocks and Red Admirals.

Last but not least, I found a female Clouded Yellow of the normal yellow variety. Its flight was somewhat impaired by having lost a chunk of one hindwing, and though it moved around a lot between nectaring stops and also visits to trefoil plants for what I guessed was a bit of egg-laying, it wasn't too difficult to keep up with and approach.

I believe this butterfly hung around the site for several days at least as Pauline reported seeing one with the same wing damage a few days later. If eggs were indeed being laid, this bodes well for some time in September... Fingers crossed.

Dave