millerd

[millerd]

Cheers, Trevor - plenty more visits to Chiddingfold on the way, starting with Thursday 8th July.

The SWF and White Admirals didn't disappoint, but aside from the usual accompaniments of Large Skippers and Ringlets, there was not much other excitement.

particularly heavily marked

After judging that Emperor sightings were not going to be forthcoming, Bugboy and I decided to continue the day elsewhere and headed for the North Downs.

Dave

[millerd]

Next stop on 8th July was at Denbies, and a welcome coffee to start proceedings. Three species monopolised this visit.

To start off with, the first of 2021's Chalkhill Blues. As it has turned out, the handful seen has become a veritable host over the last three weeks.

Next were the Marbled Whites, with plenty of fresh examples still appearing.

One curiosity appeared when I took a shot of an underside presented at an odd angle. Looking at the photo later on, I realised that I had captured the moment when the butterfly was ejecting an egg.

enlargement of detail from the shot above

I have read that they do not necessarily place their eggs carefully on the food plant, and may even release them in flight, so this almost random appearance of an egg tends to fit with that.

Last of the three species of interest was the Dark Green Fritillary. Never as numerous at Denbies as they are at nearby Box Hill, they are nevertheless reliably found here, and the females in particular seem to stand out as the season moves on. In one particular sheltered corner where there are tall thistles, knapweed and scabious, several were found nectaring. This included a slightly faded male or two...

...plus a striking new female that rivalled the one I'd seen at Arnside for dusky beauty.

With a bit of time left in the afternoon, as a postscript to the day we moved on to Box Hill.

Dave

[Pauline]

That's an absolutely brilliant shot of the Marbled White egg-laying Dave. Even if accidentally captured it does not detract from the image. Excellent!!!!

[Katrina]

Fantastic egg laying shot !

[bugboy]

Great capture with that MW . That's one egg anyone would struggle to find. There must be millions of them littering the fields in July!

[trevor]

Yes, your Marbled Wood with egg emerging must be a shot in million!

Great shot, stay safe.
Trevor.

[Maximus]

Another thumbs up from me, Dave, to your Marbled White egg laying shot plus the great SW Frit and White Admiral shots Hopefully they went some way to making up for the lack of HIM at Chiddingfold

[millerd]

Many thanks to all of you for your appreciation of that very serendipitous photo of the Marbled White depositing the egg. It just shows it can be worth looking closely at every shot you take!

After Denbies on 8th July, Bugboy and I nipped across the Mole Valley to Box Hill for the tag end of the afternoon. Predictably enough there were lots more Marbled Whites...

...plus good numbers of Dark Green Fritillaries (including some reasonably fresh males). The females proved too difficult for me, alternating long flights and dives into hiding on the ground. The fritillaries were settling down for the evening, and just by walking across the slope of Burford Spur, many were disturbed in ones and twos from the grass.

A long and very full day!

Dave

[millerd]

On Friday 9th July, I was back at Chiddingfold where despite a promise of better weather things ended up much the same as ever. Once again, the Emperors failed to appear but the Silver-washed Fritillaries kept the interest going with a few more females appearing alongside the males, and one or two of the species' elegant courtship flights.

However, this elaborate ritual is clearly not an essential precursor to mating. One female was quietly nectaring on a bramble flower...

...when she was violently set upon by a passing male.

Within a matter of moments and after no preamble whatsoever, they had paired.

Dave

[millerd]

I stayed on my local patch on Saturday 10th July, and on a bright rather than actually sunny day counted over 200 butterflies - though three-quarters of them were Meadow Browns. Of the remaining eleven species seen, the highest count was for Essex Skippers - which outnumbered their Small Skipper relatives quite noticeably. I managed to ID a significant number to reach this conclusion, but who knows? I may have just missed out a few Small Skipper hotspots on my way round. First some Essex...

...and a couple of Smalls.

As well as the established difference in the colour of the underside of the antenna tips, looking at these photos it appears that the Essex Skipper has dark eyelashes, whereas the Small Skipper's are fair.

Today marked the appearance of the year's first Gatekeeper: just the one, though in the three weeks since they have swelled enormously in numbers of course,

a fresh male, the first of many

A selection of what else appeared:

female Small White

just one seen today

one of the few sightings here this year

a third skipper species

female GVW

very fresh

probably still a first brood individual

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Dave Funnily enough I'd just finished reading the chapter on egg laying in Butterflies: A Natural History when I saw your photo from a couple of posts back. So I had visions of the female taking off and going on a 'bombing run what with being loaded up ready Love the Essex shots, they run a close third place for cutest Skipper in my book (Silver-spots 1st and Lulworths 2nd) and that first shot in aprticular is cracking - it really shows the sandier colour well that can sometimes be enough to distinguish it from Small Soon be Brostreak time - Alners Gorse is going great guns but I've only heard of a single male from Shipton so far...

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel. I am also looking forward to the Brown Hairstreaks - having seen an unusual number of male butterflies last year, it would be nice to find a few cracking females this time round. Just waiting for an upturn in the weather...

On Sunday 11th July I met up with Bugboy down at Bookham again. Hopes that a few Emperors might appear were dashed once again, but there was a variety of other interest as always here at this time of year. Three kinds of golden skippers were around, with fresh examples of each. The underside of a new female Large Skipper is very golden, and completely justifies the name.

Large

Large

Small

Essex

The White Admirals were definitely starting to look a little worn...

...but the Silver-washed Fritillaries still seemed to be emerging.

A Marbled White had snuck into the woodland from somewhere...

...and the first Gatekeepers were out here too.

This Ringlet (amongst the many) looked uniformly dark brown, with not a hint of a spot. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the underside to check whether it was a true "blind" example.

There were increasing numbers of Commas...

...and I was pleased to find a fresh Small Tortoiseshell too. The blue marginal spots were particularly striking.

Bugboy also pointed out to me an Orange Tip pupa he's been keeping an eye on, but I'll leave him to post photos of that. It remains the only wild one I've ever seen.

Dave

[millerd]

As I'd not been down for a few weeks, I had a quick visit to Staines Moor after I'd returned home on 11th July. This did produce what I'd expected - a single Small Copper.

On the way back, there a single gate to pass through onto a larger track, and I'd noticed last year that this junction is frequently overseen by a Comma. Lo and behold, one was poised here today.

Fascinating.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking reports Dave Love that final Comma, you can see the slightest of white fringes Only 5 male Brostreaks at Shipton today

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - that was a very fresh Comma, and I found it (or one just like it) in the same spot a week or so later.

With regard to Shipton B., I should be able to head that way around 13th and thereafter. If the forecasters are to be believed, there might even be some sunshine by then! Still, the males have begun to appear in Surrey too, but they are much more hard work!

Monday 12th July was back to cooler cloudier conditions, but I thought I'd check out two heathland sites not far away for Silver-studded Blues and the possibility of early Graylings.

My first call was at Dawneys Hill, near Pirbright. This site is becoming increasingly covered with fast-growing gorse which is choking out the heather. The SSB rely on the latter for nectar, and I'm also not sure what happens to the ant populations that they depend on if gorse takes over and shades the ground completely. A few barer areas remain which are favoured by the Graylings.

None of the latter were out yet that I could see, but I did find a dozen or so each of male and female SSB, some quite fresh.

My route back home was via Chobham Common. The main area I find both my target species is at the top of a small sandy hill. This can be a bit damp at the best of times, but the recent abundant rainfall meant that it was very wet indeed. Nevertheless, there were a handful of SSB to be found in their usual haunts (but once again no Graylings as yet). It is relatively cool and open to the elements up here, and the butterflies seemed rather more worn than at Dawneys.

There were few other butterflies around aside from the odd Small Heath - which are a noticeably pale variety here, and look particularly yellow in flight.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Interesting looking Small Heath that one Dave I had the opposite back in early June - one with brown lines across the wings and looking really dark Cracking set of Silver-studs The end of next week does still look good weather wise - fingers crossed it holds

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Chobham Common always produces very pale Small Heaths, Wurzel - must be something in their diet (grass growing on sandy soil? Bit of a reach, that... ). Anticipating your annual Silver-stud report from the wonderfully-named Slop Bog shortly too - I was reminded of it just today as I trundled past it on the A31. It made a change not to be sitting in a queue of traffic there for once!

Tuesday 13th July - back to Chiddingfold as the weather improved. Finally, Purple Emperors deigned to grace us all with their presence - or at least one did with a few fly-past encounters and some perching almost out of reach.

Well, it was a start.

Aside from that bit of excitement it was more of the usual fare from high summer in this woodland.

The Silver-washed Fritillaries in particular continued to excel themselves this year.

Dave

[Wurzel]

On the A31? So were you heading to Studland/Durlston or were you off to Portland for Large Tort? Even with that distant Emperor shot Dave you did better then me this year for His Nibbs Fingers crossed for this Friday and some good weather over Tidworth

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

You sussed me out there, Wurzel - I had a daytrip to Portland on Wednesday. A simply beautiful day weatherwise, and there were butterflies galore. In retrospect after reading Mark Tutton's post regarding the same spot 24 hours earlier I probably did see at least a couple of Large Tortoiseshells haring past, supercharged in the sunshine, but with a number of other possible species flying to confuse them with and my lack of knowledge as to any traits that might give them away, I'm taking a cautious view of things. I did find a few Lulworths though.

Back to three weeks ago. I rounded off 13th July with another look at my local patch. There seemed to have been an emergence of Green-veined Whites, but in line with the year so far, not in very great numbers.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 14th July. After the teaser trailer of the 13th, another trip to Chiddingfold for the ever-elusive Emperor was inevitable. Today, following several days of patient gazing at White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries and that one glimpse on the day before, A Purple Emperor made an appearance on the ground.

First of all though, those of us gathered at the triangle were treated to another tantalising view of an Emperor up in the trees.

On this occasion, those with better-endowed cameras were at an advantage.

Rather than continue gazing upwards with a hint of increasing neck-ache, I set off on a wander westwards, and soon saw at least one more Emperor flying between the trees along the path. After a while I turned around, and this time watched as one of these butterflies started the routine of ever-decreasing circles and finally landing on the ground ahead. It was clearly on a mission, with a specific target in mind (unfortunately!), and kept moving until it reached its destination.

This glorious insect had chosen to feast on probably the single most disgusting thing it could find in the entire forest.

As is often the case the butterfly became completely engrossed, so after a considerable number of photos, I headed back to the triangle and summoned Trevor. The hurry back down the track was quite unnecessary - I don't think the butterfly had moved. There were more photos: I braved the close proximity involved and took advantage of some underside views.

I also did my best to achieve a high degree of purple (ironically, the shot with the most purple was taken on my phone - which has only a poor quality camera).

While we were there, the butterfly took two breaks up on the nearby bracken.

After the second of these, Trevor and I returned to the triangle, where other purple people had regathered - we sent them off down the path, and I'm glad to say our amenable Emperor made their acquaintance - even shifting to a less unsavoury location in the end.

It had been a while coming, but the zenith of the butterfly year had arrived at last. There would be further sightings later in the week, but for me at least this was the best - it's always good to have this splendid butterfly to yourself for a bit.

Dave