September 2008

[eccles]

Silver 'Y'?

[Perseus]

Hello,

September Butterflies in Shoreham

10 September 2008
About a dozen Green-veined Whites were seen on the Coastal Link Cyclepath with half a dozen Large Whites, at least one Red Admiral, one Peacock Butterfly, one Small Tortoiseshell and one Comma Butterfly on ripe Blackberries on an overcast day. On the southern (north-facing) slopes of Anchor Bottom, I recorded one male Adonis Blue and a brown female blue butterfly which was identified by the photographs as a Common Blue, as well as two Meadow Browns.
Nine species

9 September 2008
It was still much too overcast, with spots of rain, for butterflies to be out and about if they had survived the atrocious weather. A quick check on the Privet-inundated lower slopes of Mill Hill produced seven male Adonis Blues, ten Meadow Browns and a Small Heath Butterfly. The scrub added a Speckled Wood, and the upper area of Mill Hill another Meadow Brown and another Small Heath. Large Whites, Small Whites and a Green-veined White were seen on the Pixie Path. There was one Red Admiral in the Butterfly Copse next to the Waterworks Road.
Eight species

8 September 2008
Large and heavily marked specimens of the Large White Butterfly were frequently seen, especially around the Sea Kale on Lancing Beach. There were occasional Red Admirals on the Ivy on the the Coastal Link Cyclepath south of Old Shoreham, and in the Butterfly Copse next to the Waterworks Road. A Speckled Wood was seen in Lancing town near Brooklands.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2008.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2007.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: September 2008
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Sept2008.html

Adur Valley & Downs Gallery
http://www.flickr.com/groups/adur/pool/

View and upload your Sussex Wildlife Images to:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/sussexwildlife/


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[Jack Harrison]

Thursday 11th.

The sun eventually came out at around 1530 and as if by magic, four species in the garden. Speckled Wood, Tortoiseshell, Large and Small Whites. One male Small White was HUGE, certainly bigger than many Large Whites I have seen. I managed only two or three photos, all horribly over-exposed. The setting was my normal - 1/3 stop, but more like a a whole stop was probably required. (spot metering)

Puzzle for you with the Speckled Wood photo. It was on a plant in the garden and the butterfly landed very high up so I needed a big stretch with camera held at arms' length. I of course know what the is plant but do you? It's the first time I have ever seen a Speckled Wood land on this type of plant.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Another big Small White. I think this is a different individual as the forewing spots are less prominent.

Also a tatty Large White with heavy black markings.

There must be something special about my cabbages that these guys most probably fed on last month.

Jack

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[Padfield]

As the butterfly year draws to its close the species I see here in Switzerland (I live at 1280m) are increasingly UK butts. This happens every year. Two days ago the Buddleia in my village square had two small tortoiseshells, three painted ladies, a large white and this high brown fritillary on it (the fritillary was right at the top, so this is taken with x24 zoom!):



Common and Adonis blues still abound on my local ski piste, but all looking rather weary, and today a brimstone cruised through - what a beautiful butterfly! My herb bed is covered in meadow browns. Large and small whites are still common but it is now a week or so since I saw a Berger's clouded yellow up here - they die off in the winter months before the clouded yellows, which can still be seen in the valley in December and even January.

Instead of wall browns (which I have seen in the valley into December), large walls persist up here, usually into October, and instead of third brood small coppers, sooty coppers usually remain flying into at least October. This female sooty copper was in my garden at lunchtime today:



Autumn seems to be setting in early this year.

Guy

[Gruditch]

Apart from the odd White battling the wind, and a rather worn female Common Blue I've not seen a lot at work this week. But the rain finally stopped and the sun actually came out, so I went over to see if anything had been enticed out to the Bubbleia. There were 2 large whites, 1 Green-veined White, 1 Brimstone, 1 Painted lady and 3, yes 3 Small tortoiseshells, plus 3 Speckled wood's near by.

Gruditch

[Denise]

I've had diddly squat all week except for a few tatty Small White and this rather interesting spider.

IMG_5582 (Small).JPG (20.87 KiB) Viewed 2655 times

Denise

[eccles]

Not a lot here either. I've had to make do with a common darter or two:

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
Yesterday a visit to Steyning Rifle Range in good weather conditions failed, for the first time this season, to turn up any Brown Hairstreaks, suggesting that they are all but over for the year (or the 'Extinction Committee' have finally found the venue!). Butterfly numbers have plummeted here, although several Red Admiral were seen nectaring on ivy flowers, and a few Comma were feeding up on blackberries. A switch to Mill Hill at Shoreham finally produced a 'pocket' of late season butterflies, with over 30 Adonis Blue, a couple of Small Copper and the first 'third brood' Wall (single male) being the best of the bunch.
Neil

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[Shirley Roulston]

Great photos of the Comma, I don't care for those of spiders and close up of the darter. Give me a really nice photo of a butterfly any time. Also Jack explaining why the white butterfly appeared too white is always a problem now I know what I should do, maybe difficult to do with a compact camera. But we beginners need all the tips to help up get better photos.
Thanks to Jack. I forgot that Painted Lady of Gruditch was also good I expect it was taken with his Sony camera!

[Gruditch]

I forgot that Painted Lady of Gruditch was also good I expect it was taken with his Sony camera!

Shirley, just watch it.

Gruditch
Oh, and just for you, seen today, just before caught a small child

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[m_galathea]

As a continuation of the Kipper's report, here are some of the Adonis Blues from Mill Hill yesterday:

Alexander

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Mating Pair Adonis.JPG (90.48 KiB) Viewed 2461 times

Head on.JPG (164.08 KiB) Viewed 2461 times

Female underside.JPG (124.17 KiB) Viewed 2458 times

Adonis Blue (M).JPG (173.81 KiB) Viewed 2453 times

[Shirley Roulston]

Fantastic butterflies, lovely photo's. Well done.

[Shirley Roulston]

It was one of the most sunny days we've had in North Wales for a long time, but unfortunatly there were very little sign

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of butterflies, three Small Tortoiseshell's basking on a corrugated roof- my potting shed. This Small Copper was here and gone in a few seconds.

[Jack Harrison]

This is NOT a montage but an extraordinary fluke. Camera set to continuous shooting.

Jack

[Padfield]

Nice picture, Jack!

10m visibility, single figure temperatures and wall to wall rain for the last two days here in the Alps. BUT I did get my butterfly net out tonight. It turns out they're perfect for catching bats that have strayed into your living room! I think this one was having difficulty getting out of my loft, because when I opened the trap door, after hearing a strange noise up there, it zoomed down into the house like something out of BtVS, much to the excitement of the dog!



Guy

[Matsukaze]

A fine day for butterflies on the Somerset/Wiltshire border today. Small, Large and Green-veined Whites, Brimstone, Small Copper, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Peacock (only one - numbers dropping off now), Small Tortoiseshell (many and just about the first I have seen since the spring), Meadow Brown (a few in wet meadow - their season is running on later this year) and Speckled Wood. Also a few Silver-Y moths, the best numbers I have seen since 2006.

Would have tried for Adonis had I remembered they were out at this time of year. Still, there is tomorrow...

Comma has gone MIA - I have seen none since the hutchinsoni finished early in August.

[Tony Moore]

Hi Y'all,

Just back from a couple of days at Durleston, where the weather was approaching perfect. Apart from the expected multitude of Meadow Browns and a massive influx of Silver Ys, there were good numbers of Large and Small whites, Common Blues, Speckled Woods and Red Admirals. I also saw 20+ Adonis Blues, predominantly females, which were confined to a small area of south-west facing valley side to the east of the bridge on the main metalled road at about GR : SZ 028 770. Seven Small Heaths in the same area and a couple more elsewhere. A single Painted Lady on the Red Valerian by the castle (a good spot) and one example each of Lulworth Skipper, Small Copper and Marbled White! Sadly, no Small Torts, Walls or Clouded Yellows. I did, however, manage to pick a pound of fresh macrosporus mushrooms! Can't be all bad .

Tony M.

[Simon C]

Fair numbers of Adonis Blues at Pewsey Downs NNR on Saturday, having survived the heavy downpours the previous night/week/month. A good place was below the horse figure.







Some evidence of extra-terrestrial visitors, too.



Simon

[Jack Harrison]

Simon C wrote: Fair numbers of Adonis Blues at Pewsey Downs NNR on Saturday....... A good place was below the horse figure.

At the very bottom of that slope below the White Horse there used to be (1970s) a good colony of Duke of Burgundy. Are they still found there at the appropriate time?

Jack