Trevor

[Wurzel]

A veritable Constabulary of Coppers Trevor The floral backgrounds really bring out their colours to great effect

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

Cheers Dave. The two Cloudies on the flowers were almost passed off as a singleton,
it took careful scrutiny to establish that two individuals had been seen.
The third one on the ground was easy as it was showing some wear.
Looking forward to your ( and Bugboys ) LTB shots, a in advance if either
of you managed an image of a pristine female!. Neil Hulme has a stunning female shot.

We tended to lose interest in the Coppers once the Cloudie(s) appeared, Wurzel.
Two interesting migrant species, and pristine examples of both, in one week can't be bad!.
Let's hope this weather holds.

Take care both,
Trevor.

[trevor]

I had a great day at Herstmonceux Castle gardens today, lots of butterflies
including a bonus Small Tortoiseshell. One Small Tortoiseshell is good around here,
two and it would have been champagne and dancing girls tonight!.
To celebrate this sighting it'll be a bottle of chilled Leffe blonde.

Trevor.

More to follow.

[Katrina]

Great Small Tortoiseshell photo. I haven't seen many this year.

[trevor]

That was my 5th Small Tort from East Sussex this year, Katrina.
To put it into perspective I've seen greater numbers of Black Hairstreaks,
Purple Emperors, and Long Tailed Blues this year than Small Torts.

Serious times for them around here.
Trevor.

[trevor]

There was an amazing number of fresh Common Blues at Herstmonceux today.
I found a mating pair in full view of the visitors, none of them noticed though.

[trevor]

The main reason for my visit to Herstmonceux today was for Clouded Yellows.
Unlike Thursdays visit, today I saw three Cloudies in the air at the same time.
I have yet to analyse my images thoroughly, but I am sure there are shots of two of them.
They are so easy to photograph there, no scrambling up steep slopes, and when nectaring
on Verbena Bonariensis they are at head height. Very civilised!.

Trevor.

[Katrina]

Loving that first shot. Stunning with the yellow and purple. Better than the standard Cloudie shot.

[trevor]

Thanks Katrina. Maybe you should visit those gardens on one of your days off.
There is a lot of variety there, and even an area specially planted for butterflies.

[trevor]

The temperature when I left home this morning was only 13c.
When I arrived at Whitehawk it had crept up to 19c. Surprisingly six people
were already on site. One of the enthusiasts, Andrew Burns, told me that my
hoped for pristine female had already been seen. For the next hour or so only
very tatty and worn males appeared, and more people arrived.
A large huddle concentrated on a fairly fresh LTB that had landed near some BLEP,
and there it stayed. Once the huddle eased I went over for my turn and soon became
convinced that this butterfly was a female, just by it's behaviour. This was confirmed
when she started wing rolling and milk coffee brown coloured hind wing could clearly be seen.
Unfortunately in the heat she never opened up and eventually flew up into a bush.

I later met Max Anderson and he kindly directed me away from the crowd to a spot
where a male LTB was regularly returning to a favourite perch, several satisfactory
shots were obtained when the LTB came back to his perch.
In the heat today most of the LTB's kept their wings closed on landing.

It was also good to have a catch up with Ben Greenaway this morning


Not the best day, but still quite enjoyable.
Trevor.

[David M]

Fabulous reportages, Trevor. Whilst I'm conscious of your dearth of Small Tortoiseshells (they are common round my way), I am extremely envious that you can hook up with Clouded Yellows and Long Tailed Blues.

[Wurzel]

Lovely shot of the Small Tort Trevor - and a good choice of beer Those Clouded Yellows are some of the yellowish Cloudies that I think I've ever seen! Lovely set of, the now almost obligatory, LTBs Still a few of these left in the tank

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

I went back to Whitehawk Hill again this morning for what will possibly be my last
visit of this year. The next time I could visit is next Tuesday, and the site is now so
trampled with very few pea flowers left that could mean a wasted future trip.

The start today was hampered by a stiff breeze and no sun, and left the waiting
hopefuls twiddling their thumbs. Not too long after Katrina arrived she spotted
an LTB land on a leaf a short distance from the main area.
Next came the butterfly of the day ( as far as I was concerned ), another small
group had discovered a Clouded Yellow hunkered down in the grass. After they
left it I took a few shots, and soon realised that I was looking at a Helice which
nicely completed my Clouded Yellow collection for this year.
I was denied the hoped for open wing female LTB, but a couple of fairly fresh males
obliged for the camera once the sun finally appeared.

It was great to meet Katrina, John Williams and Ben today.
Trevor.

[Katrina]

Good to see you today. Unsurprisingly my photos look very similar!

[millerd]

Very nice set of shots, Trevor. There aren't going to be many days when you can see both LTB and a helice Clouded Yellow flying in the same spot.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Flipping fantastic way to finish the Whitehawk Hill visits Trevor I'd have been chuffed with LTBs and the Cloudies but even more so with the Helice - I've never seen one

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Some beautiful Clouded Yellow shots in your earlier reports Trevor

Cracking LTB shots from Whitehawk Hill

And a helice too

I went back to Whitehawk Hill again this morning for what will possibly be my last
visit of this year. The next time I could visit is next Tuesday, and the site is now so
trampled with very few pea flowers left that could mean a wasted future trip.

A shame about the trampling of the habitat Trevor but I suppose it was inevitable once the word was out and the twitchers started descending on the site. I have seen a number of comments on social media about the number of people there and a couple of photos showing a crowd of photographers gathered around a LTB with very little social distancing.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

Long Tailed Blue and helice Clouded Yellow is amazing, Trevor. You'd struggle to see that in the south of France!

[trevor]

Many thanks Katrina, Dave, Wurzel, Neil & David.
Considering there was not much else flying at Whitehawk Hill, the combination of
Long Tailed Blues and a helice was quite remarkable.

Wiltshire turned out to be very quiet on the butterfly front. Two highlights were a
high speed Clouded Yellow at Tilshead, and a male Wall Brown in the grounds of
my ex. Wife's house. With my camera some distance away on a patio table I had
no chance of photographing the Wall.

Never mind I had better luck today!.
Trevor.

[trevor]

To make the most of the remaining fine weather another visit to Herstmonceux Castle
was on the cards today. There were many Small Coppers squabbling among themselves,
and they also took great exception to any Common Blue that passed by.
At least two Clouded Yellows were seen, and at one point they met, so I had two definite
individuals to identify. Eventually both settled and were in ' the bag ' after a few missed
opportunities.

Stay safe and well,
Trevor.