millerd

[millerd]

Monday 20th September was thankfully a much better day. Several dozens of butterflies were seen locally, and a highlight of the day was a female Large White. Curiously they are not a common sight anywhere on my local patch, and those that are seen are usually relatively high up in the trees along the edges of bits of woodland. Consequently, this reasonably fresh female was a bit of a bonus. She did lead me a merry dance from flower to flower in the sunshine, much as a female Cloudie might do.

Brand new Red Admirals now dominated proceedings (and would continue to do so for several weeks more).

One was so fresh, its wings caught the light and showed a blue sheen across the wingtips.

With the trees remaining resolutely green and no sign of autumn yet, they made a very summery sight.

I could not ignore the Small Coppers either...

...one of which was by now a familiar sight.

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 21st September was if anything a better day still, with more sunshine and a high of 22 degrees locally. A few more butterflies than Monday, including one more species (making 11 seen on the day). A different selection ended up as the highlights too. A shining third brood Brown Argus appeared...

...and an interesting female Common Blue.

After a bit of a lull, the Commas were back in force with 18 counted today altogether. Some were puddling - quite unusual behaviour for butterflies that you'd expect would be feeding up for hibernation.

The additional species today was a Holly Blue...

...and though I spotted another female Large White, it was a female GVW that provided the best opportunities today.

Just one Small Copper today, but that almost goes without saying...

Dave

[millerd]

The run of summery weather continued on Wednesday 22nd September. With eight hours of sunshine and highs of 23 degrees it bettered most of August and the whole of May... I didn't see quite as many butterflies today though, but again I seemed to concentrate on a slightly different mix. A (distinctly creamy) female Small White today for example...

...a Small Heath...

...and a Speckled Wood.

As well as another example of the infinitely variable female Common Blue...

...I also caught up with a few males.

This one caught the light rather strangely.

A few more Red Admirals completed the day (including the beautiful intricately patterned underside)...

...and a couple with remarkably bulging abdomens - egg-laden females?

There were two additions to the Small Copper population today...

...plus the established resident posing as usual.

Dave

[millerd]

Thursday 23rd September required a change of scene, so I decided to pay Denbies one more visit while the weather remained warm. It was not so sunny today, though, but in the end I suspect it made not a great deal of difference. The hillside had become almost monospecific - there were still good numbers of Meadow Browns, but precious little else. However, I suppose this is what you might expect (though I have seen various blues flying here in October in past years).

Somehow, I managed to find a male Adonis...

...and what I think is a female Chalkhill.

To be fair, there were still a few Small Heaths dotted around among the preponderance of Meadow Browns...

...and this Speckled Wood caught me by surprise well away from the trees.

However, since they actually turned out to be worth a closer look, I concentrated on the Meadow Browns - all females.

It's the only time of year they get this much attention! One or two were really quite pale.

Finally, I managed a shot of a raptor that came unusually close overhead.

It was silouhetted against the sky, but I've tweaked the shot to increase what detail there is - no doubt someone will instantly identify it for me...(I know it's not a Red Kite! )

Dave

[bugboy]

It's a Kestrel

[millerd]

Thanks for the ID on the Kestrel, Buggy. I know other raptors fly at Denbies, so I thought I'd check...

On Friday 24th September, another promising day weatherwise, I went out a bit further, braving the possibility of unruly dogs and heading once more to High & Over. Arriving at the same time were a couple of vaguely familiar faces: Lisa who I had met before almost exactly a year before at Whitehawk Hill with LTB on the menu, and Bob, a habitue of H & O, who was showing Lisa around with Walls particularly in mind. Good to see you both again, and indulge in a good natter.

There were certainly several of the target species around, all males patrolling the hedge on the seaward side out of the breeze. In the absence of its namesake to rest on, this one elected for the next best thing.

They were more skittish than they'd been a week before, and less inclined to bask.

However, that did allow for some underside shots of one of the more attractive examples around.

While Bob and Lisa were following some of the others, I came across first a Peacock (very unobliging)...

...and then a Clouded Yellow.

Curiously, the only other example of this species I've seen up here in previous years was actually in even worse a state than this one! Also seen were a Small Copper, plus several Red Admirals and Speckled Woods. There was also one other good sighting - a Humming-bird Hawkmoth appeared and busied itself in flitting rapidly between flowers. Lisa had never seen one before and we gave her free rein to gather photos with some equipment several orders of magnitude more sophisticated than mine - I know how my Hummer photos usually turn out... She was really chuffed to have seen it too.

Once again conscious that the days were ever shorter now, in order to take in another site I bade farewell and drove west along to Mill Hill behind Shoreham. I was hopeful that there might be some late season bounty here, but it was very disappointing - even the large patch of hemp agrimony at the top of the hillside (which in other years had played host to a variety of nymphalids) managed just one Peacock.

A bit of an anticlimax really.

Dave

[millerd]

Saturday 25th September was another day with no sunshine and it was a struggle to see any butterflies. However, these two defied the odds.

Firstly a very new-looking Small White...

...and then a Small Heath with a tiny additional eyespot.

a glimpse of upperside, but not quite enough to see the forewing eyespot on the upper surface

This addition was slightly larger on the other side.

Of course it was not quite possible to see how this might manifest on the upperside.

This is not a variation I've come across before - whether it counts as an aberration I don't know.

Dave

[millerd]

Sunday 26th September was a better day again. I saw 33 butterflies of nine species on my local patch, but a sign of the declining season was that two of these were their last appearances here of the year: Large White (male) and Brimstone (female). I achieved no photos of either, but the latter butterfly was flying in a very unsteady fashion fairly close to one of the patches of buckthorn in the hedgerow. I hoped it would land, but after a bit of dithering it chose to head out over the river. Something must have woken it from hibernation.

I caught up again with the Small Copper I'd been following for the previous fortnight, which posed today on a large daisy.

There were one or two others around today too, including a similar individual with the same vestige of blue spots, but with a very noticeable hindwing tear.

Another was even more ripped about the wings.

The variant Small Heath seen on the 25th was around again too...

...and another rather more worn one.

Who knows? This could be yesterday's Small White as well.

New Commas continue to appear - I still can't get over the contrast with this time last year when so few were seen despite similar good weather.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Not sure where to begin with the catching up Dave So jumping right on in...brilliantly marked Green-veined White and lovely fresh Brown Argus Nice collection of Meadow Browns as well including an ab for sure and a cracking Small Heath variant

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

I missed out on the Butterflies quite a lot this year Dave, so it's great to see yours Goldie

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel. As you may have noticed, I'm trying to catch up before Christmas, which means whipping through the days a bit quickly! Hopefully I won't overlook anything significant...

Thank you, Goldie - you are going to find Kent is terrific for butterflies, and depending where exactly you end up, you may find all kinds of interesting things in the garden. When I lived in Dover some years ago now, I remember Walls and Chalkhill Blues being the best garden visitors.

It was cooler and less sunny on Monday 27th September, and there were noticeably fewer butterflies. However, a new male Common Blue, almost certainly third brood at this stage of proceedings, was worthy of some extra attention.

It was also impossible to ignore the continued appearance of new Commas with their brilliant orange autumnal colours - not that there was any real sign of those colours in the trees around here yet.

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 28th September was a similar day, with similar butterfly numbers. However, the mix was slightly different. A fresh Holly Blue....

...the variant Small Heath again...

...and a Painted Lady resting briefly on its mission south.

There were a few more bright Commas...

...and another surge in Red Admiral numbers. The 12 seen today turned out to just be the beginning.

Dave

[millerd]

There now followed two rather contrasting days. Both had highs of around 17 degrees, but on Wednesday 29th September there were 8 hours of sunshine, and on Thursday 30th there was none at all.

Unsurprisingly, butterfly appearances followed the sun - I counted 25 Red Admirals on 29th, but only 8 on 30th (actually pretty good considering the lack of sun). Inevitably, lots of Red Admiral photos followed on 29th...

ab. fructa

a dragonfly in shot too

three in a row

ab. bialbata

becoming commoner in the background again

...but I managed one or two others, including Small Coppers...

...one of which was quite familiar now...

...and also a female Speckled Wood.

The Red Admirals on 30th must have been hardier individuals.

Dave

[millerd]

A quick overview of September locally (weather stats are those for Heathrow)...

Overall, the month was unusually warm, with an average high of 22.3 degrees, slightly higher than that for August, near enough the same as June's and six degrees above that for May. There was about four hours of sun a day on average, better than August's three especially bearing in mind how much shorter September days are. A couple of days reached 30 degrees (7th & 8th) and the lowest high was 17 degrees (on 29th and 30th). No nights were colder than 7 degrees, and there were five when the temperature didn't drop below 17. To summarise, September in essence qualified as a fourth summer month.

Fifteen different butterfly species were seen here during the month (including a solitary Clouded Yellow, and just the one Brimstone), and butterflies were seen on every day. Probably the most notable highlight was the high number of Commas of the new brood destined for hibernation - very few were seen in the whole of the same month of 2020, but as many as 24 appeared on just one day in 2021. Small Whites and Small Heaths also had good months, Common Blue numbers remained buoyant after an excellent August, and Speckled Woods had their best period of the year. After a very poor showing earlier in the year, Red Admiral numbers also started to rise, especially towards the end of the month. The last Meadow Brown of the year was seen on 19th.

Dave

[Wurzel]

I'll be lucky to have even finsshed August by Christmas Dave Lovely Commas and Admirals and that is a lovely but late Common Blue The highlight this time for me is that penultimate Red Admiral - such a lot of blue packed into the tiny area on the hind wing

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

That female Green Veined White in an earlier post is possibly the most striking I've ever seen, Dave.

Do you get many marked as heavily as that one or was it a one-off?

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel! There have been just so many Red Admirals round here recently that someone with time on their hands could spend many a happy hour looking through photos picking out all the variants. I'll see what pops up over the next four or five weeks of sightings...

That female Green Veined White in an earlier post is possibly the most striking I've ever seen, Dave.

Do you get many marked as heavily as that one or was it a one-off?

I have seen a few well-marked females round here, David, but that one is particularly striking as you say. In the absence of the attractive Bath and Dappled Whites in the UK, GVW do their best to fill the gap.

So, into October. Friday 1st was a bit warmer again, with some sunshine. Out of 27 butterflies seen locally today, 22 were Red Admirals - a pattern that would now continue, and as of the time of typing (2nd November) still does.

One of the others turned out to be the last sighting of a Small Heath here this year.

A particular Small Copper was naturally one of the others...

...and one or two Commas continue to appear, but most seem to have tucked themselves away for the winter now.

Dave

[millerd]

Saturday October 2nd was a rare day - the first since 30th July when I didn't see a butterfly. The weather was grey, dull, damp and not especially warm - even the Red Admirals hid away.

However, Sunday 3rd October was a great improvement, with sunshine and 18 degree temperatures. The Red Admirals proceeded to make up for the lost day, and during a lengthy circular walk locally taking in all the likely spots, I managed to count an astonishing 48 individuals - it could well have been more, as spotting those hiding with their wings shut round the back of ivy-covered trees just wasn't going to happen.

I only saw another seven butterflies of other species: two Small Coppers, two Commas, a Holly Blue, one Small White and a Peacock.

One of the Coppers needs no introduction...

...but the second was mixing it with the Red Admirals on one of the ivy patches, and it proved impossible to get more than a record shot. A first for this particular spot.

One of the Commas was in the same area...

...as was the Holly Blue, but I couldn't even get a distant shot of that one.

The Peacock followed on from a couple of odd sightings in September, and may well be a second brood example - they've been seen elsewhere.

In amongst all those Red Admirals, there were some lovely new examples, and I took one or two photos, but this diary will become super-saturated with the species if I'm not careful...

Dave

[millerd]

Monday 4th October was a similar sort of day, though I only managed to count 32 Red Admirals and just four other species. One of these four species was the Small White and one of the four individuals seen provided some photo opportunities for once. It was a female, and noticeably pale creamy-yellow rather than actually white.

Three Commas were seen today...

...a single Holly Blue that ended up presenting a non-standard angle...

...and the visit wouldn't have been complete without this little chap.

Since his first appearance on 12th September, other Small Coppers have come and gone, but he has persisted, though his blue caeruleopunctata spots have almost disappeared ...

For the sake of completeness, a couple of Red Admirals (though I did get shots of a few more... ).

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 5th October was another "blank" day, without a butterfly sighting. At this time of year the worry starts to creep in that maybe that's it, the season is over, nothing till March... Until the next day dawns sunny and becomes warm again.

Which is what happened on Wednesday 6th October. 18 degrees was the high, and eight hours of sunshine were recorded at Heathrow, which is pretty good for the time of year. The day of enforced rest must have suited the butterflies, as 55 appeared today. Okay, 41 were Red Admirals, but the remaining 14 were spread across seven species.

The return of a false "summer" must have disturbed a Brimstone, which I saw purposefully making its way along the brambles as if it was indeed March. However, I couldn't will it to stop any more than I'll be able to when it (hopefully) reappears next spring. Everything else was similar to recent days, with the addition of three Speckled Woods, none of which cooperated any more than the Brimstone did. A Holly Blue was better behaved today...

...and the Small White that allowed a closer approach was a worn male rather than a new female.

One of today's Commas was posing on the blackberries, which they do find irresistible.

Red Admirals are quite partial to them as well...

...but ivy blossom seems to divert almost all their attention.

Oh, I nearly forgot...

He was obviously happy to have a day off too.

Dave