August 2021

[zigzag_wanderer]

Many thanks Trev - I've just taken a look on British Bugs and I see that there's much overlap in colour, markings and size amongst the 5 UK species in the Lygus genus....but for Lygus pratensis there is one image that looks pretty adjacent to mine. I think mine was a bit smaller than the 6.25-7 mm range noted for that species, but again it says there are smaller ones out there.

So cheers again for pointing me to that. Under my "who's-going-to-be-double-checking ?" cataloguing system.....that's a new folder created

Didn't spot any similar bugs today on my local patch, but there were a massive number of hoverflies enjoying the ragwort explosion. I did see my first female Brown Hairstreak but unfortunately lost it. This male was slightly more obliging though.

[Bertl]

At last half a dozen painted lady butterflies appeared in my aberdeen garden today

[essexbuzzard]

Aston Rowant. Good numbers of Chalkhill Blues and Meadow Browns. Several other species also seen, including Common Blues,Brimstones and a few Dark Green Fritillaries. But numbers of Silver Spotted Skippers were low, a few dozen spread over both sides of the M40, rather than the hundreds of adults I normally see. Whether this represents a late, staggered emergence or a real crash in numbers, remains to be seen.

[Testudo Man]

Had a pretty good weekend just gone. Visited 2 Kent sites on Sunday, an just the one site on Saturday.
Saturday was all about the SSS's, not high numbers yet, but a good session. Location Queensdown Warren in Kent.
Sunday was more of the same, but as well as Queensdown Warren, late in the afternoon i also visited Darland Banks in Kent.
Second brood Adonis Blues are out now (at both sites) but really hard to find! I would say no more than 3 to 5 males found, one of them was quite small in size. Had my 1st sighting this year of a lovely fresh looking Clouded Yellow (on Sunday) which was a bonus.
Some highlight images, cheers Paul. No images have been cropped.

1st up were those SSS's, 1 even briefly landed on my hand!

This one landed on my hand!

That fresh Clouded Yellow, which was super active, an no sooner had it arrived, it was gone in a flash, glad i got a couple of pics of it though.

[David M]

Great to see another Clouded Yellow, TM.

Just when we thought conditions were set fair, along came a persistent north-westerly wind to keep them firmly on the continent.

[David M]

10th Aug, Port Eynon, Gower:

Meadow Brown 40-50
Common Blue 20-30
Hedge Brown 20-30
Small White 15-20
Large White 5-10
Small Tortoiseshell 4
Brown Argus 3
Painted Lady 3
Red Admiral 2
Green Veined White 2
Wall Brown 1
Brimstone 1
Small Heath 1

[Old Wolf]

Friday 13th August I took a trip to Pegsdon Hill nature reserve which is a part of the Chilterns in Bedfordshire.

The weather wasn't the best but I had to use my last days holiday on this day or would lose it! The wind was quite strong and the cloud cover quite thick which meant that for the first hour and a half, the only action were the meadow browns disturbed either side of the track on my passing.

The cloud thinned a bit to allow the warmth required to get everything going but the strong wind made photography difficult to say the least. The figures were:
Meadow Brown - 50-70
Chalk Hill Blue - 40-50
Brimstone - 3
Gatekeepers - 6-10
Peacock - 3
Large White - 3
Common Blue - 1 (one very fresh male_
Brown Argus - 4
Dark Green Fritillary - 2 (very worn females)

Unfortunately, I am still yet to see a Clouded Yellow here!

On another note, the garden has been busy this year with a record 9 species visiting in one day, including a very welcome Small Tortoiseshell who has been loitering for a few days now. The species are: Brimstone(1), Gatekeeper (1), Small Tort (1), Red Admiral (2), Large White (2), Small White (1), Holly Blue (2), Comma (1) and Peacock (1).

One day last week I had 5 Peacocks and 3 Red Admirals on the buddleia at the same time. It reminded me very much of the watching butterflies as a kid where the Buddleia would be covered which sadly, is not the case anymore.

[Medard]

Ham Wall 16-08-2021
A disappointing visit to Ham Wall RSPB, Somerset, I had high hopes on seeing good numbers of Red Admirals and Peacocks that I normally expect to find on the Hemp-agrimony but was very disappointed,at the most
5 Red Admirals
1 possible Peacock
1 Newly emerged Small tortoiseshell plus several small whites
by contrast there were good numbers of newly emerged Specked woods along the paths.
The rhynes had been recently dredged/cleared with the result the Hemp-agrimony that grows abundantly alongside the rhynes had been flattened which may not have helped.
It was a similar story with the Dragonflies only one Brown Hawker and a couple of Common Darters seen.
Very dismal returns for the 1.8 miles of walking.
https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

[Matsukaze]

Grayling at Hurlstone Point, Exmoor, yesterday.

[Stevieb]

Despite the overcast and breezy conditions there was still a good variety on the wing this lunchtime. Beacon Hill, Wiltshire

17th August

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and a Wasp Spider. Always nice to see

17th August

[Stevieb]

Still a good variety on the hill this lunchtime. Beacon Hill, Wiltshire.

20th August

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[Bertl]

Despite the drizzle here in Aberdeen today still had a few butterflies on the wing in my garden.

[Deborah]

Finally a glimpse of the sun and an uncut clover field nearby gave me three Clouded Yellows... I didn’t know which one to watch first!

[Testudo Man]

Great to see another Clouded Yellow, TM.

Just when we thought conditions were set fair, along came a persistent north-westerly wind to keep them firmly on the continent.

Always good to see Clouded Yellows David, im hoping to see a few more before the season comes to an end.
The last week of August looks good for the weather, but its fair to say that Augusts weather has been poor.

More of the same for me yesterday, i visited Queens Down Warren here in Kent, but dodged the rain...spent some time under the trees, to keep out of the rain, but it came good in the end, the sun came out late afternoon, so the butterflies were once again active.
Adonis Blues are still thin on the ground, but a few males were active, still plenty of female Chalk Hills, an good numbers of Brown Argus too. But low numbers of 2nd brood Common Blues...an of course, the SSS's are around, but numbers seem to have "stalled" at this location.

Several highlights, no images have been cropped. Cheers Paul.

[David M]

After a whole week without seeing a single butterfly due to the awful weather, this solitary Small Tortoiseshell on the bowles mauve in my garden on 17th Aug cheered me up no end:

[Stevieb]

Despite the persistent overcast conditions on the hill it's still delivering. Beacon Hill, Wiltshire

23rd August

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23rd August

and another Wasp Spider.

23rd August

[petesmith]

A fabulous and pretty extreme Speckled Wood aberration - found today out at Chambers Farm Wood in Lincolnshire by Phil Bowler, and also enjoyed by two fellow enthusiasts who were in the right place at the right time. I was fortunate to be one of those two. With the Speckled Wood not being known for throwing particularly unusual aberrations, this was a very special WOW moment! Can't find anything quite like it online or in the books, but it could be a particularly severe ab.saturatior.
I don't imagine I shall see anything like this again!

Brown Hairstreak females also showing well.

And our Common Blue females continue to be mostly very blue this summer!

[Vince Massimo]

Today I took up an invitation from Martin Kalaher to visit his wonderful wildlife garden in Storrington, Sussex. Species, seen were Large White, Small White, Brimstone, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Red Admiral, Common Blue, Brown Argus and Small Copper. Additionally, the nettle patch produced an enormous larval web of 3rd instar Peacock larvae.

Peacock 3rd instar larva - Storrington, Sussex 23-Aug-2021

Peacock larval web - Storrington, Sussex 23-Aug-2021

These are undoubtedly second-brood larvae and judging by their number, they are most likely the result of more than one egg batch.

Vince

[David M]

A fabulous and pretty extreme Speckled Wood aberration - found today out at Chambers Farm Wood in Lincolnshire by Phil Bowler, and also enjoyed by two fellow enthusiasts who were in the right place at the right time. I was fortunate to be one of those two. With the Speckled Wood not being known for throwing particularly unusual aberrations, this was a very special WOW moment! Can't find anything quite like it online or in the books, but it could be a particularly severe ab.saturatior.

Normally, Pete, any post containing female Brown Hairstreaks would be eye-catching, but that Speckled Wood ab. is off the scale and trumps betulae completely!!!

Tremendous find and thanks for sharing.

[maverick]

My frist painted lady of the year in my Warrington garden