Thanks Pauline. Fingers crossed for the weather down there, I could do without a heatwave, pleasantly warm will do me
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
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How is the season going down there? things are still running a bit behind up here and I am curious as to what might still be flying.
Cheers Wurzel. That is a cracking little moth, I have only had a couple here before so always a good one to see.
Wednesday 4th August.
After another couple of mostly dull days, yesterday (Wednesday) looked to be much brighter and warmer although the clouds were forecast to build up once again in the afternoon.
After dropping Jane off at her Mom’s for a couple of hours, I carried on to Blythe Valley Park to see what was around. With the recent grotty weather, I had not visited here for a couple of weeks and was wondering if any summer brood Common Blues were out here and maybe Small Coppers and Brown Argus.
I parked up and followed my usual route around the site and saw loads of butterflies, the most numerous of which were Gatekeepers which were all over the place. Most of the males were looking past their best now, not surprising with some of the storms we had here last week, but some of the females were still looking respectable.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 1120 resize.JPG (585.68 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Gatekeeper female - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_ea332cd65f263d92aa44df322237020f)
- Gatekeeper female - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
Meadow Browns were around in reasonable numbers but definitely not as many as I have seen here in past years.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 1350 resize.JPG (567.83 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Meadow Brown female - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_636006a87b8dbaf3e05a274ed95ea875)
- Meadow Brown female - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
A couple of Speckled Wood were dancing about in the dappled shade along the path through the woods but they stayed well out of reach for a photo.
No Ringlets or Marbled Whites were seen, it looks as if the recent storms finished off both of these here.
Both Small and Essex Skippers were zipping about with the Essex being the most numerous and the Smalls mostly looking tired and faded now.
Lots of whites were flying, most of them actively patrolling but I managed to get close enough to examples of all three common species to grab a few photos. Green-veined were by far the most numerous, followed by Small with just a handful of Large Whites.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 0780 resize.JPG (533.27 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Green-veined White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_e6445113fd5d021a195eba360501e696)
- Green-veined White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 1920 resize.JPG (498.66 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Small White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_6918019f0443af99eda7dae26754a7c6)
- Small White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 1610 resize.JPG (529.57 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Large White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_003e5e4e4a45d7f595acf4affbf15aaa)
- Large White - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
Peacocks were very much in evidence all around the site with a good couple of dozen seen, often flying around various stands of thistles and stopping regularly to feed up in readiness for hibernation.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 0260 resize.JPG (621.78 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_0397f60db6ca5dceffe9e5965cf9cbd0)
- Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 0420 resize.JPG (567.81 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_8f2cf78936433999bd231e7057006a38)
- Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 0500 resize.JPG (620.12 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Peacocks - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_535c7d625ba9f9034942c458757ce89c)
- Peacocks - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
One of the Peacocks has some small dark patches in the centre of its forewings, something that I have never noticed before.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 1230 resize.JPG (622.21 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_54b9435a0bd3bb2c6b93454257ef7a12)
- Peacock - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
A single Comma was spotted amongst the Peacocks on one patch of thistles.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 2280 resize.JPG (549.31 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Comma - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_d66e3f1fc1e9fd3b801ea1234cbf79e1)
- Comma - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
No Small Tortoiseshells today, I reckon the recent weather has convinced them to go into hibernation. I often find that they tend to disappear around here when the Peacock numbers build up.
Around a dozen Common Blues were seen, all fresh looking males with no females seen.
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 2000 resize.JPG (589.12 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Common Blue - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_0b29529b4c3ccf43bc601e9b59cf047c)
- Common Blue - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
![Blythe Valley 04.08.2021 0880 resize.JPG (521.04 KiB) Viewed 1787 times Common Blue - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021](./files/thumb_10101_40f5009da88fb7ccd7754c16729202d1)
- Common Blue - Blythe Valley 04.08.2021
I failed to find any Small Coppers or Brown Argus which, along with the freshness of the male Common Blues leads me to think that we are still running a bit late here. This is not surprising really as despite the few days of a so called ‘mini heatwave’ that we had a couple of weeks back, we have not had any sustained spells of weather warm enough or long enough to pull the season back.
As forecast, the clouds had been building up through the morning and by midday they were producing long dull periods so I made a move.
Bye for now and stay safe,
Neil.