Bugboys mission

[bugboy]

Thanks Ben, bizarrely I’ve never seen gorganus, the only place I’ve ever seen machaon is Norfolk!
Thanks Goldie, it is and I’ve seen quite a few now this year!
Thanks Neil, I couldn’t resist persevering some more with this particular species this year…
Thanks Wurzel, vica-verca for me, I’ve yet to see gorganus. Yes good to bump into you in the field yesterday and yes I did happen across a handful of Daneway Blues, a freshly emerged female completely stealing the show for me !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

Tuesday the 8th, Norfolk Swallowtails take 3. Ok, so I really am taking full advantage of my new-found access to britannicus! This time the weather forecast pretty much stayed the same in-between booking train tickets and arriving in Norfolk and within half an hour of arriving I was watching my first Swallowtail feeding in the Doctors Garden, sharing the flowers with a Peacock, a Painted Lady and a Red Admiral. I took a few pictures but I’ve never felt entirely comfortable taken pictures here, from someone else’s front garden, even if the owners are ok with it. Plus there’s no getting away from the fact the results tend to feel somewhat artificial. I moved round to the hill behind and after a short wait I was joined by a hungry Swallowtail. As anyone who’s watched them in feeding mode in the morning will know, they’re pretty much bomb proof and you can follow them around without fear of spooking them too much. They also seem to have an almost insatiable apatite so my camera was really put through its paces. Shortly before a second turned up I received a message from Millerd to say he’d seen his first Swallowtail at the visitor centre, neither of us knew the other had planned a visit today but I replied saying he should come find me. Several more hundred pictures were then taken…

I love some of the shapes they pull with their constant fluttering as they feed

And even as they try and escape the lens they just add to the experience

Dave had better luck with them in the afternoon out amongst the reed beds, I went for a wander along some nearby paths I’d found on google maps, hoping to find some suitable areas where territories may be being held but all I found were a few Peacock, behaving as though it was still April along a sun backed path.
As usual the place was alive with Dragonflies, Scarce Chasers (who are anything but scarce in these parts) and Norfolk Hawkers making up the bulk of what was about.

All in all an extremely successful day

Dave closing in on his quarry!

[millerd]

What an excellent day that was! I enjoyed your Swallowtail contortionist photos - I ended up with a few too, and they really give a feel for the insect: much more real than the standard flat all-four-wings shots (which you hardly ever see in the field!). Of course, the other thing you never come home with is an action shot of yourself, so thanks for that one as well...

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Good to hear you got some Daneway Blues as well, apart from teh breeze it was almost perfect conditions for them that day Did you see a male with only three spots on the wing?
More fabulous Swallowtails, it'll be quite some time til I get to travel for them so I'll just have to enjoy yours (and Dave's and Trevors and all the others)

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

I'm sure your camera battery was exhausted after that workout, Paul?

Sounds like a fabulous trip out with some interesting non-butterfly wildlife on display too.

It's been 10 years since I've seen britannicus, largely because I tend to see gorganus in numbers when I'm on the continent and getting to the Fens is one hell of a journey for me. However, our race knocks spots off the European version with its darker appearance and it is well worth the effort to go and see it. I'm pleased you have done just that.

[bugboy]

A great day indeed Dave. Here’s another Millerd action pic. This time I think you’re taken a beautifully composed snap of a flower

The one that got away!

Yes, the breeze was a bit of an irritant that day Wurzel, I still came home very happy though .
Luckily never leave home without a fully charged spare David, particularly important with such a target at ones beck and call !
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

Saturday the 12th. Time to give the Norfolk Swallowtails a rest and go hunting for something else. That something was a bit of a needle in a haystack though. Small Pearls have never been seen in any numbers at Abbots Wood since the re-introduction in my experience, and given the poor showing at the other Sussex sites this year I wasn’t counting my Pearls before seeing them. The weather wasn’t too bad, warm with plentiful sunny spells so at least that was on my side. I had a few subjects to point my camera at as I made my way to the hotspots.

At the first hotspot I had a moment of excitement when I disturbed a Fritillary from the side of the path but when she landed again she proved to be a faded Pearl. At the next hotspot had a couple of pristine male Common Blues and an attractive micro moth, Dasycera oliviella. A localised species generally restricted to ancient woodlands which are still sympathetically managed, making it a welcome sighting.

I did a few circuits as the day worn on, not seeing a great deal more. The same PBF would always show up no matter what direction I arrived at the first hotspot, invariably feeding like it was going out of fashion. I imagine she’d laid all her eggs and was just getting the most out of her final days.

This may look like a young Grasshopper (the aphid providing a handy scale) but it is in fact an adult Common Groundhopper, a tiny relative of Grasshoppers.

At the lakes Dragonflies and Damselflies were busy going about their business and I added a Holly blue to the days tally and later Red Admiral and Speckled Wood, good to see the latter starting to bounce back after being virtually absent for the first brood.

My wanderings found this attractive Geometrid larvae which will grow up to be a Brindled Beauty if it survives the many small birds and it’s safe to say any local Foxes won’t be getting cold toes in the near future.

Whether I’d missed any Small Pearls or the cold spring had done for the small population here I can’t say (I don’t recall any other reports of sightings of them here this year).

Trying to leave I became side-tracked when my first Meadow Brown of the season distracted me and drew me to a patch of Ragged Robin where I found another season debut, a couple of Large Skipper. Some fresh Small Heath were also worthy of my attention

A White-legged Damselfly provided further distraction, a species I only come across occasionally but the second I’d seen today.

There was more distraction as I made my way back to Polegate station along the cuckoo trail, a large patch of Dogwood was proving attractive with a couple of Red Admiral, a Holly Blue and a beautifully fresh Small Tort all having a late afternoon feast. (Well, the Holly Blue had other things on her mind I think.)

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of shots Bugboy I don;t think that its been a vintage year for Small Pearls apart from in their western haunts, Bentley in particular was on the dire side

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, I have it on good authority that the SPBF are doing well on at least one northern site.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

Sunday the 13th. Time to catch up with a few more species, this time an excursion deep into Essex. Firstly to find out if the White-letter Hairstreaks were out yet, and secondly to receive an audience with the Heath Fritillary which I knew from various reports had been out in the Essex woods for a week or so now. At the WLH hotspot there was no sign of them. In retrospect this was probably a good thing, the Bramble blossom which they seem to rely on and coincide their emergence with was also not out, I estimated both were about a week away. I had a wander round the rest of Hadleigh Country Park. Normally the place would now be teaming with various Skippers and Satyrids but there was practically nothing, just the odd Specklie flitting around out of reach.

Belfairs Nature Reserve was my next destination where a found some Fritillaries, mostly just sitting around in between sunny spells. one fresh one looked particularly dark and velvety.

I’ve never been to Pound Wood but a quick look on google maps found that it was only a short walk away along some country lanes. Also using google maps I managed to locate what looked like some cleared rides that might be suitable. It did indeed look right when I arrived but I only found two, one of whom only stayed briefly. The other one did have my full attention though due to his somewhat unusual markings, the closest I can find is ab corythallia.

I’ve since found out that where I was wasn’t the main centre of activity .

Returning to Belfairs and exploring some more I found the current centre of Heath Frit activity. As well as the normal Bramble flowers, they were also obsessing over a Buckthorn whose tiny green flowers must have been dripping with nectar, enough to have them crawling deep into the shade to get their fill.

As well as nectar, this Buckthorn was also dripping in Brimstone larvae, pretty much every instar could be found and a female was still adding to the load, when she wasn’t being harassed by either one of two marauding males.

[Wurzel]

I wonder if your authority is the same person I'm thinking of Bugboy Cracking set of Heaths and that is a cracking ab (whatever its called) I've seen a few Marshies with something similar on their fore wings where the 'chequers' fuse into 'fingers' but not in Heaths

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel . I'm not sure if it's the same source since he bumped into another mutual acquaintance up there, small world!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

On Monday the 14th I was back at work but it was my fortnightly half day so I planned to have a wander round Tottenham Marshes to see if any summer Small Tortoiseshells had emerged. Unfortunately the morning sun had all but vanished by the time I arrived and I found very little on the wing save for a couple of Specklies and a Green-veined White. The scarcity of almost anything white this year (and the fact little else was to be seen) did cause me to pay her some attention.

On Tuesday the 15th I managed to find time and a spell of decent weather to do my work transects, the only thing flying were some Speckled Wood, oddly mostly females. The main thing to note though was their size. You can’t really see from the photos but the females were approaching Grayling size, they looked huge!

[Wurzel]

When the Green-veined Whites are like that Bugbboy I often think that they deserve a different name. Smoky White or Charcoal Dusted White would be good - cracking shot

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

p.s. it sounds like the source that I had in mind - my other informant only managed a couple

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, I’m sure she was a stunning insect when fresh. Yes, that is correct, I bumped into your ‘other informant’ again today during a fruitless hunt for the big purple one
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

Tuesday the 22nd marked the start of a three-week break from work, which goes some way to explain how I’ve fallen so far behind in this diary. Of course it was all booked long before we knew how much rain and cloud this alleged ‘summer’ would bring. My first day didn’t look particularly promising but there are a few species for which a cloudy day can be useful to use to one’s advantage as long as the ambient temperature holds. One such butterfly being the Black Hairstreak, another species I’d failed to catch up with last year. I’d had a look round the ‘new’ Epsom site last year but I was too late to find any flying.

The day started off a bit on the damp side, occasional light showers and mizzle followed me and I did wonder if I’d over done my expectations for the day. I’d borrowed Pauline’s directions via Millerd to help re-acquaint myself with the area and soon found some familiar paths through Blackthorn and bramble scrub. It was still a bit wet and dull, not even a Meadow Brown was tempted to break cover and I hadn’t bothered to take my camera out when I stumbled across the first thing to point my camera at, a Roe Stag quietly sitting in the grass. I shuffled back around the corner to get my camera out and fiddle with the settings. He hadn’t moved when I reappeared and still didn’t move as I started clicking away. I got five minutes out of the encounter before he finally got up and casually wandered off, leaving me to ponder if he was unwell, he certainly didn’t behave like a healthy, naturally timid wild deer !

A 15-minute heavy shower saw me sheltering under a tree next to one of the ponds, enjoying the company of a family of Canada Geese (who seem to have adopted a Greylag gosling) and a family of Mandarin Ducks. It’s quite obvious everything is used to being fed by humans here!

The adopted Greylag taking exception to the family of Mandarins minding their own business.

As I was watching these and having a bite to eat a noisy flock of what were mostly Long-tailed Tits were flitting around above me. In amongst them were other tits, Goldcrest and Treecreepers. I must have merged into the background rather well since at one point a flurry of brown feathers fluttered down post my nose and landed literally at my feet. The Treecreeper appeared surprised to see me looking down at it but still found time to grab whatever morsel of food it had seen before zooming back into the tree. It all happened too quick to grab a picture though.

Well the rain had stopped and the clouds seemed to be thinning on the horizon so I returned to the Hairstreak hotspot, finding a couple of Large Skippers sitting around and feeding, making use of the barely perceptible rise in temperature. Looking around I spied another orangey brown butterfly sitting on some bramble (they do stand out a bit). Target acquired, time to move in for the closeups

The spell of brighter weather didn’t last long and the sun never managed to break through but over the course of 10 minutes I managed to find four Hairstreaks, all sat on bramble soaking up the once again dissipating warmth, in fact most of the pictures I took of them were in light drizzle. Here are the mugshots, three girls and a boy .

That was it as far as Hairstreaks were concerned, the clouds failed to break enough for anymore appearances. I did however stay for a few more hours, finding various things to point my camera at, most notably a few more White-legged Damselflies including a male showing how they get their name with his broad white leg ‘flanges’, an alternative name for them are feather-legged Damselfies. There was also a batch of young Emperor Moth cats and a Green Oak Tortrix put on a lovely display for me.

Whilst wandering I stopped to chat to a couple of wardens who were cordoning off some Oak Processionary caterpillars. They were pleasantly surprised to hear I'd seen four Hairstreaks and I found out from them that they've been here for at least 15 years (they had this info from a 'good authority'). They also said they are quite widespread across both Epsom and Ashtead Commons and at nearby Horton Country Park.

[bugboy]

June 2021

On Wednesday the 23rd I found myself catching another train to Norfolk having ‘accidentally’ booked some more tickets to the land of the Swallowtail! For once the forecast panned out and the glorious blue skies predicted came to fruition. Despite this I had a long wait for the star of the show to turn up, or rather for me to be in the right place!

A few butterflies were keeping me occupied whilst awaiting the main event,

As were the Dragonflies. The nationally scarce Norfolk Hawkers were everywhere and I managed to get some in-flight shots, a mating pair and a handful of egg laying females.

Scarce Chasers were as equally as common and they too were sorting out the next generation, several mating pairs were encountered.

Black-tailed Skimmers were starting to emerge too, this is a young male growing into his powder blue abdomen, it takes male Dragonflies and Damselflies a few days to get their adult colouration.

It was whilst photographing the mating Norfolk Hawkers that I heard whispers of a friendly Swallowtail. Having garnered the required information I quickly set off. He was just a short 5-minute walk away at a spot that for some reason I hadn’t explored. I quickly found out from some of his adoring fans that he’d been here for about 5 hours already!

He was indeed very accepting of his small crowd of fans, gliding back and forth in-between posing like a front page model

After an hour he finally drifted off down the river Yar but with a few hours left to kill it was back to the Odonata. I located some Red-eyed Damselflies, Lily pads are a favoured resting place for this species.

Scarce Chasers were settling down for the night and I finished the day with a nice (gruesome) Odonata/Lepidoptera combined offering, a Black-tailed Skimmer munching on an unfortunate Meadow Brown.

A very satisfying day watching all sorts of nature also included seeing a Hobby ascending from the reed beds clutching something in its talons, well worth the train fare

[Wurzel]

A couple of fantastic posts recently Bugboy - my apologies for missing them - I don't know how that happened Those Blackstreaks just sitting around, they didn't behave like that when I saw my first ones last year I might need to have a look into which is closer Ditchling or Epsom for next year As for the Swallowtail - well nuff said really

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Just catching up again Bugboy. Great Black Hairstreak photos and I love that first Swallowtail shot against the combination of trees and blue sky

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel,
That's OK Wurzel, it's not known as the silly season for nothing. Hopefully you've been out chasing all things Purple although like nearly everything else this year, they seem to be making it up as they go along
Thanks Neil, that Swallowtail was so settled he allowed photo's from pretty much conceivable angle with a large variety of backgrounds

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021
Thursday the 24th. Time to drag myself away from more repeat visits to Norfolk and catch up with some ore species closer to home. I missed the White-letter Hairstreaks last year by a week or two, and by all accounts they had a poor year.

It always takes a while to get your eye in, even when there’s double figures feeding on the bramble. Unless they’re flitting around they do blend into the background and even when moving around on the flowers they seem to be moving in slow motion. My first hutchinsoni Comma’s did rather stick out though and were a welcome sight after their parents fell of the radar very early in the spring this year.

Once my eye was in though the Hairstreaks started popping out all over the place, and nearly all looked to be in pristine condition.

The usual problem you have here is that there’s too many! You see one posing for you, move in for a closeup and disturb another that was right under your nose who then disturbs the one you were aiming for, still it’s not a problem you should really complain about and they always come back in the end.

I don’t normally come across them further along the country park, despite the large amount of Elm and not for want of looking, however, today I came across quite a few, including views that are probably more normal to most people looking for this species.

My wanders also managed to tick off a couple more season firsts. Essex Skippers turned up first followed by only a few minutes by my first Small Skipper flying with them.

Having seen them a few times in my recent forays I finally managed to nab a few shots of Meadow Browns too

Anyway, that was the morning, a short walk inland kept me occupied for the next few hours…

[Wurzel]

I wish I'd been out chasing Purps Bugboy - it's been work and family events - still there's this weekend so fingers crossed Great set of Whitters My encounters have generally been lucky finds or have been distant views with the aid of binoculars so that site sounds awesome - to have so many Whitters down that you spook one when trying for a shot of another

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

I hope you’ve had better luck than I have this year with the big purple ones Wurzel! This WLH site is pretty much guaranteed for them, even in light drizzle on a gloomy day you’ll find a few during the peak flight .

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

June 2021

Thursday the 24th cont. Shortly before noon I arrived at Belfairs wood for another audience with the Heath Fritillary here. They were still going strong and fresh ones weren’t difficult to come by.

The usual shameless shenanigans were going on, this particular male was very determined but his advances were ultimately fruitless even though he managed to connect momentarily.

A short story of love lost.

I also went to Pound Wood where the same thing was going on, I think the Essex populations are safe for one more year!

I like the Wood Ant looking on

As I was leaving the woods, I came across a rather spectacular caterpillar which I later found out was a Gypsy Moth.

I couldn’t resist stopping off to have another browse of the WLH strewn bramble before going home, well I have to walk past it to get to the station anyway. A mating pair of Small White distracted me, it’s been a while since I’ve seen a White of any description!

Although it had become somewhat overcast the Hairstreaks were still active.

Looks like he didn't let the paint dry in his streak.

If you're gonna start a fight...

best be prepared for the outcome!

Fresh first generation Holly Blues were also about in the morning but too active to pin down. Now they had slowed down a bit I managed a fresh male. Bramble seems to be the only available LHP for the spring brood to lay on here (it’s the only place I’ve witnessed a Holly Blue laying on a bramble) so they seem to delay their spring emergence to coincide with it. There is plenty of Ivy for the second brood to use though.

[essexbuzzard]

Good to see Essex is treating you well this year, Buggy! Some lovely images there, and hopefully memories to go with it!

[David M]

Those are White Letter Hairstreak scenes I'd pay a king's ransom to share, Paul. Lovely to have them nectaring on the bramble in full view like that.

[Wurzel]

Same luck as always - see a few but no goundings - I think a trip to Fermyn has to be on the cards one year Cracking set of shots - those Heaths are brilliantly variable but in a more suitable way than Marshies and those Whitetrs - just sublime

Have a goodun an stay safe

Wurzel