Bugboys mission

[millerd]

That's a very late Brown Hairstreak, Buggy, and in pretty good nick too. I don't think I'd even have been looking for them in the last week of September.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

That first Red Admiral is lush Bugboy - so inky velveteen And that is a late Brostreak and in great nick considering the date. I recall Neil Hulme saying that sometimes they have a bit of resurgence later in their flight so perhaps this is one of those? Great to see whatever the explanation

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks guys, I’ve checked my records and my previous latest BH sighting at Bookham was mid-September.

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

September 2021

Monday the 27th. My final outing for September was a rather windy day down at Newhaven.

A nice illustration of how well a harbour wall works.

A more intelligent person may have gone to a less windswept site on a day like that but here I was doing a circuit of Tidemills looking in vain for a sheltered lee behind some scrub but mostly failing, at least there were plenty of sunny intervals. A solitary Red Admiral clinging onto some Buddleja was my only lepidopteran find.

There wasn’t too much birdlife either, probably doing the sensible thing and sheltering from the wind. A Meadow Pipit did pose rather well though, for an LBJ they really are a pretty little thing with their warm olive tones .

There would hopefully be better shelter over around the fort so I quickly gave up with Tidemills and walked around to see what I could find. In the estuary a group of Cormorant were busy fishing, not sure what they’d found but most of it was already swallowed before I managed to get my camera on one, possibly a shoal of fry?

Things were significantly improved around the fort which did indeed provide plenty of shelter, the brickwork also helping to nudge up the temperature a few degrees I'd warrent. Another Red Admiral was followed by a few Speckled Wood, some Small and Large Whites and finally some glowing Comma's, once again looking gloriously autumnal.

Biggest surprise was a brief visitation from a male Wall. He didn’t hang around for long, after straying to far from the shelter of an actual wall he was whisked away to god knows where!

[Wurzel]

Great find with the Wall there Bugboy, would that be a third brood? Those Comma shots are glorious I didn't see that many this Autumn but hopefully there'll be plenty around next spring t make up for that

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel. Little doubt it was a third brood Wall, They triple brooded at Tidemills last year (where they’ve recently recolonised) and Thirds broods are the norm at nearby High and Over. More glorious Comma's below

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

I’m pretty confident I’ll have finally caught up with my diary by the end of November! Anyway here’s the first dose of Octobers goings on, only 4 weeks late!

October 2021

Sunday the 3rd. I ventured once again into Essex, buoyed by the hoards of Red Admirals on my last visit and an unseasonably warm, sunny day, I’d crossed my fingers that they hadn’t all left for the continent. It was a somewhat breezy day and on the Ivy where last time there were 50+ butterflies, today there was zero, most likely partly due to it being less sheltered from the wind and partly due to much of it going over now. Further on I did find a Small White braving the wind and a solitary Red Admiral had found a sheltered spot to bask in.

Nothing more was found in Hadleigh Country Park so Two-tree Island it was. Here I managed to to claw my up to the dizzy heights of seven species. A few aged Green-veined White were still active.

A handful of Comma and Red Admiral were busy with some Ivy in peak bloom and blackberries, plus a surprising addition of a late Painted Lady.

A solitary Speckled Wood had, rather optimistically, set up a territory. He looked like he was on his last legs too.

Species seven was a lone Large White.

The new hide (replacing the one that was burned down by vandals a few years ago) means you can watch waders in the shallow lagoon at western tip of the island without scaring them off to the far end again. Avocet were dotted around and a flock of Black-tailed Gotwit had arrived for the winter. A small flock of Greenshank were another notable sighting here.

All round a pretty decent outing for the beginning of October

[Wurzel]

Those Commas are indeed glorious although the Red Admirals are giving them a run for their money

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, here's something else to rival the glorious Comma's, although I think you've already seen this pic

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


October 2021

Friday the 8th. Newhaven again. It’s that time of year when the best chance of finding anything you either have to go to a coastal site or find somewhere near a large international airport! It was a dull cloudy start today and the forecasts said it would stay that way at least until just before the sun set, but hey, the forecasts have been known to be wrong on occasion…

Rather than going straight to Tidemills, I ventured to a place very close by but had never visited, the Ouse Estuary Nature Reserve. I’d seen reports of clouds of Cloudies a week or two previously but that was highly unlikely to be repeated today, the dull low grey cloud clung to the sky like a leech, and there was precious little wind to move it along. Most frustratingly though was I could see the edge of it a few miles out to sea.

Eventually a passing Large White my duck but this was followed by the slightly more surprising appearance of a couple of freshly minted Peacock, second broods are fast becoming the norm in the south now if they can manage one in this relatively poor year.

At a large patch of Asters I found a tatty Small White, another Peacock and a Red Admiral.

The brand-new bridge connects the reserve with Tidemills so it’s just a short minutes-walk over. Here though I found nothing, the clear skies still uselessly far out to sea. The large charms of Goldfinch that form here every year proved to be my only entertainment, today flocking with Greenfinch and Linnet.

Back over the bridge into the reserve again I came across a flock of Long-tailed Tits who seemed to be getting mugged by a Chiffchaff .

The Red Admiral was still on the Asters but the Peacocks had given up waiting for the sun to appear.

I ended my afternoon by wandering over to the Fort where I arrived just in time to watch a lone Speckled Wood flutter up into a hedge to roost. It was just after 4pm now and the edge of the cloud bank had finally just about reached the shoreline making the forecast absolutely spot on, who’d have thunk it! here’s a 21st century Turneresque seascape.

[David M]

..It’s that time of year when the best chance of finding anything you either have to go to a coastal site or find somewhere near a large international airport!

Yes, I empathise with that situation, Paul. Some microclimates are beyond enviable at this time of year, aren't they?

Peacocks, Whites and Speckled Woods are nonetheless very welcome into the second week in October.

...Here’s a 21st century Turneresque seascape.

JMW would be turning in his 170 year old grave were he to know such seascapes existed!

[bugboy]

Thanks David. I had to do a bit of cramming and making the most of what free time I had, but October was rather good for me this year, all things considered.

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

October 2021

Saturday the 16th was the next time I managed to get out. If you did a study comparing my days off work with the least sunniest days in October, the correlation would be remarkable! There wasn’t a great deal of sun today either so there was little point going long distance. I stayed local with an afternoon wander around Epping Forest. Predictably there were no butterflies to be found and as a further sign the season is all but over if any were needed, my first Redwings of the winter were heard and glimpsed raiding the hedgerows for berries. Mushrooms, Toadstools and other fungi added to a autumnal feel.

Birdlife was, in general, rather thin on the ground, just the usual suspects on the lakes. Don’t let the innocent, surprised look on the Gulls face fool you here, he was very much the aggressor in this situation!

Some Goose butts, Canadian to be exact.

Before leaving I became distracted by a group of Ringneck Parakeets raiding some Hornbeam seeds

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

On Sunday the 17th I went to Bookham, once again not expecting to find any adult butterflies, mainly to check on the White Admiral Caterpillars and make sure the Orange-tip pupae was still there.

First off, I had a quick look at the Blackthorn where I watched a Brown Hairstreak lay a few weeks ago, quickly locating the egg.

I don’t normally do a proper egg hunt until the leaves have fallen so next stop was the Orange-tip pupae, all well and good there, a context shot.

Spot the pupae.

Then on to the White Admirals where I made a rather surprising discovery. Whilst partial second broods are well documented, I was not expecting to find a 5th instar caterpillar this year. I’d have thought a generally late season and overly cool conditions would send all 3rd instar caterpillars to sleep through the winter, but I would be wrong, and here was the proof!

Sadly I fear it has made an error of judgment. Should it make it to adult, the chances of it being warm enough to stand any chance of surviving long are practically zero, not to mention the complete lack of any food source. Still, without these ‘natural experiments’ mother nature wouldn’t be able to adapt to changing climates and environments, so looking at the bigger picture we should see this as a positive thing.

Here are a couple who’ve taken a more realistic view about surviving into adulthood.

front and rear of the same hibernaculum

[bugboy]

October 2021

Tuesday the 19th. A couple of butterfly-less outings had me itching to get to the south coast where I knew there was still some activity. A half day from work and the shortening days meant I only realistically had time for one site and since Southwick harbour is just a short 2-minute walk from the station that would do for the day. A male Common Blue kicked things off,

followed by a few Small White including a female busy depositing eggs like it was the last days of summer !

Finally there were a couple of Clouded Yellows which occupied most my time until the sun became obscured by cloud.

Swimming along nearby during my visit was a friendly ugly duckling

[Wurzel]

Those Cloudies are cracking Bugboy - the single one that I saw this year was nowhere near as vivid a yellow as those That third from last, mid-air taking off/looking to land shot is brilliant!

Have a ggodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, that Cloudie was just taking off

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

October 2021

Friday the 22nd. I had the whole day and it actually looked like a decent day in the offing, not the sort of October day I’d be expecting way back in my teens but these days they seem to becoming more and more the norm. Anyway I returned to the south coast and awaited the air to become warm enough for some activity. At Southwick harbour (where else would I start!) I noticed a yellowish triangle quietly warming itself. He was a bit worn and battered but a good start. High up on the Ivy I also saw a Red Admiral.

I found a second Cloudie on the centre grassy slope. This one was in better condition and also sported a particularly large and well-defined hindwing spot with a slightly elongated look, reminiscent of lanceolata Ringlets. According to the literature this may put it on the boundaries of ab. geisleri. Here he is with a little friend.

He posed rather well!

I also had another Red Admiral, the usual selection of Small Whites and (most likely) the same Common Blue as earlier in the week.

With more time on my hands today I moved on to Mill Hill where I found several more Red Admiral and added a few Comma to the days tally, most of whom avoided the camera, just one sat still long enough for photo’s, nestled amongst some Old Man’s Beard.

My day ended a bit earlier than intended. I’m always very careful navigating the steps down to the main slope which get extremely slippery with only the slightest hint of moisture, I’ve nearly come a cropper on more than one occasion, but today I took my mind of them for a split second and found myself come crashing down with my shin taking my full weight as it hit a step (funny how in this situation you instinctively grab your camera and forget about bodily harm). Anyway as I lay in a heap on the steps wondering whether I’d actually broken my leg, I pondered the fact that I hadn’t seen anyone for about an hour and whether I’d have any signal on my phone. Thankfully I didn’t need to call for help, or spend the night sleeping on the steps. Even as I post this though, I still have a particularly meaty reminder of that mishap residing on my shin. It’s a perilous hobby we have!

Other than that, considering it’s into the second half of October, a decent days haul

[trevor]

Good to hear you escaped serious injury at Mill Hill. That slope is something else!.
I've never attempted a descent, but on ascending it once I decided that all fours was the safest option.
The place has other hazards, Rabbit holes covered in grass, and stumps of trimmed shrubs concealed
by vegetation which are trip hazards and are painful to kneel on ( done that! ).
Not my favourite site, but it is host to a great selection of species.

Still you had good value from your rail ticket, love your Cloudies!.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Benjamin]

The steps are certainly a bold choice with any moisture around! I’ve slipped and only just recovered my footing on numerous occasions - it’s only a matter of time….

Glad you avoided any serious injury - that could have been a very unpleasant crawl for help!

[bugboy]

Thanks guys. It wasn’t actually the steep set of steps up the slope, it was the ‘safer’ option, the ones that lead to the bottom car park.

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

October 2021

For the rest of October I didn’t manage to photograph any adult butterflies, on two of my three final outings for the month I caught glimpses of a Red Admiral but that was it. On Friday the 26th I returned to Bookham to check up on a few little ones, the main one being the White Admiral cat who’d gone through without hibernating.

I’ve always tried to find Purple Emperor cats here too, in the past mostly half-heartedly but with Benjamin’s in depth details I’ve tried looking a bit harder this year. I found a couple of interesting things but no iris. A Crab Spider that seems to have fallen victim to some sort of Cordyceps like fungus and some Sawfly larvae that are most likely responsible for the leaf damage I was seeing.

The Orange-tip pupae had a little visitor today. I think it’s a Psocid and unlikely to do any harm.

I found the 5th instar WA cat sat on the only remaining leaf with any visible life left in it on that particular patch of Honeysuckle, so I decided to look around for another more leafy patch to move it to.

Despite it being late October there’s actually a surprising amount of fresh leaf growth, I just had to find some that was still sheltered enough from the worst of the elements. Here’s it’s new home.

It had been somewhat damp recently and I found the two other cats I’m following a little more exposed, presumably to stop them from drowning in the pools of water that will have collected in their little pouches.

The fungi were also enjoying the damp conditions.

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

Four days later on the 30th I returned and was surprised to find the WA caterpillar still alive and seemingly well.

The other two and the OT pupae were still all ok. Another search of suitable Sallows turned up no iris cats or dangling leaves. I stopped off at the woodland lakes and found a late Willow Emerald Damselfly and on the way to the station managed a few snaps of the Redwings raiding the hedgerows.

[bugboy]

October 2021

Sunday the 31st. For the final day of October I ventured to Two-tree Island again where I caught a few glimpses of a Red Admiral flitting around the Ivy. Sadly there’s no large international airport nearby so although it was a sunny day, the chilly wind whistling along the Thames estuary which made sure I wasn’t going see any more than that as far as butterflies were concerned.

A Robin alert to the song of a nearby rival!

The best spot of the day happened quite early on when a kerfuffle of gulls and Waders alerted me to a passing Marsh Harrier. He was already vanishing across in the direction of Canvey Island so I only managed a couple of record shots, but always good to see.

Like my last visit the tide was out, so there were no big flocks within range of my camera. I could see some Brent Geese but even through my long lens they were just black dots far out on one of the sand banks

Nothing new or unusual was loitering on the shallow lagoon, Lapwing, Green & Redshank, Black-tailed Godwit, Avocet, Grey Plover and Wigeon were all present in modest numbers but it made for a relaxing few hours watching them go about their business.

Grey Plover

Lapwing

Redshank with lunch

Lapwing

Black-tailed Godwit with landing equipment fulling extended.

Avocet

This final picture is slightly gruesome (the unmistakable remains of a Redshank, presumably a Sparrowhawk or Harrier kill), however it does showcase rather well a common misconception of the location of bird’s knees. You often hear people ask why long-legged birds like Flamingos etc. have their knees on backwards. The joint in question is actually the ankle, the knee it usually invisible high up and hidden under the plumage with the femur being a rather short bone. This arrangement isn’t actually weird at all, most animals walk on their toes, it's us and our foot arrangement that’s in a rather small minority!

[Neil Freeman]

...It wasn’t actually the steep set of steps up the slope, it was the ‘safer’ option...

Being involved in 'elf & safety' at a large manufacturing company in my last job, it is amazing how many accidents occur when people think they are safe. It is human nature to be careful when things look dangerous and to 'switch off' in 'safe' surroundings.

Glad to hear that there was no lasting damage

A nice selection of birds in your recent posts too.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Great set of Cloudies again Bugboy and a fascinating, if gruesome, fungus That shot of the Redshank remains was a useful reminder - although if you google 'Owls showing legs' it's a bit more comical
All being well we're a week away from Social Eve

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Neil. I know all too well how you switch off in safer conditions. I’m not good with heights so I’m always very careful climbing up a ladder at work but the number off times I’ve tripped up a step… well
Thanks Wurzel, Owls do have surprisingly long legs!

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

November 2021

Friday the 5th. Another return to Bookham to check on the 5th instar White Admiral caterpillar. There’d be several rather chilly nights with grounds frosts since my last visit so I was even less hopeful than last time of finding it but somehow it was still alive. It had clearly made itself at home with lots of silk on it’s chosen leaf as well as some nibbling along the edge although had this been late May, I would imagine most of the leaves here would have been consumed by now.

Elsewhere the other two I’ve been keeping an eye on were just fine. Finding these little brown spikey creatures during hibernation is a little bit trickier than earlier in the year, not least because predation has caused numbers to dwindle but once you know what you’re looking for, but far from impossible. The easiest ones are of course the ones you’ve found before hibernation who haven’t wandered far from where you last saw them. This image shows the location of one of the two I’ve been able to follow since before hibernation. One of its final feeding leaves is still very obvious with its central extended ‘pier’in the lower right, the hibenaculum is the small 'pouch' on the upper left.

It's this pier that’s my main way of re-locating ‘lost’ caterpillars as Autumn draws into winter. Here’s another one who’s owner is still on the ‘lost/MIA list but again shows how obvious it is.

Another technique I’ve stumbled across is the use of flash. Invariably I have to use flash to photograph these caterpillars since they live in the darkest, dankest recesses of the wood and my camera, or perhaps my camera skills , just aren’t up to such low light without the aid of artificial light. The flash does make the caterpillars ‘pop out’ in the resulting images, even just a few spines become much easier to see against the dark background. Here’s a re-found one. I couldn’t see him with the naked eye but the remains of the pier at the bottom of the pictures showed one had been here at some point. A closer look with the aid of the flash showed a few reddish spines poking out from his hibernaculum. The angle and arrangement of the leaves meant I couldn’t see it from other angles without manipulating the leaves or hibernaculum, both of which could easily end in disaster for the caterpillar, so without using flash this one would almost certainly have gone unnoticed.

A context shot showing the location of the same hibernaculum

My search for iris finally gave me some hope that I’m on the right track. Using Benjamin’s technique of looking for danglers (old feeding leaves still attached by silk) came up trumps (I think) the dead leaf on the far right here was gently swaying in the light breeze and there’s some feeding damage on the left. I did search but the minor detail of leaving my glasses at home didn’t help, plus this particular Sallow has quite a bit of bramble growing through it making any comprehensive search virtually impossible without risking killing any caterpillar lurking… the search continues.

The local Redwings proved elusive today but before leaving I was able to watch a pair of Crows harassing a Buzzard. I think it was a youngster since they spent a fair old time mobbing it and much higher up a pair circled which I took to be the parents. When it finally got rid of them it glided back quite low giving me some impressive views

Tuesday the 9th. I returned four days later to find the White Admiral caterpillar had finally fallen victim to something, I’m not sure whether it was partially predated or whether it had finally succumbed to the cold and it had been scavenged but it still survived far longer than I thought it would when I first discovered it.

I did manage to locate another ‘lost’ one using the methods outlined above. In this case the caterpillar can just be made out to the left of the old feeding leaf where it seems to have simply sewn a couple of dead leaves together to create a hibernaculum. Again, despite it looking quite obvious in the pictures, I couldn’t see this one with the naked eye.

Having remembered to bring my glasses this time I had another look around the dangler Sallow leaf but alas nothing was found. Earlier in the day, at another Sallow thicket that I’ve scanned numerous times I watched a gang of Long-tailed Tits work the stems wondering how many iris they were finding, certainly many more than I was!

Birdwise, I found my first Fieldfare of the winter but with the low sun in front of me the resulting pictures are rather shoddy record shots at best

[bugboy]

November 2021

Saturday the 13th. In the interests of scraping the bottom of the barrel out of the butterfly season I once again ventured down to the south coast. Stopping off at Southwick first where I was lucky enough to arrive in time for a decent break in the cloud. A Red Admiral gave me the slip and there were no Clouded Yellows or Whites this time but flitting along the slope a small blue butterfly captured my attention. Last year I discovered a small emergence of third brood Holly Blues here and I’d been keeping my fingers crossed there might be something similar again this year, despite the weather we’ve had. Well not quite the emergence of last year, this single male should probably have stayed asleep until March at least but that’s climate change, but as I post this he is my final butterfly of the season.

Cloud cover ended the search for anymore but I ended up staying for a while longer watching a Peregrine sortieing along to and from the power station. No pigeons were harmed although there were a lot flying around.

Coming in to land through a cloud of whatever comes out the power station (in my head I like to think it's just steam...)

One pigeon looks on top right whilst a second seems to be doing a mid air handbrake turn closer to the Peregrine!

The cloud stayed put for the rest of the afternoon so that put an end to the chance of anymore butterfly activity so the rest of the day was mainly birds. I found nothing of interest at Mill Hill so I wandered down to Widewater Lagoon where you do occasionally get some interesting winter migrants, although not today. There was not much of a wind so the interesting stuff was probably all off shore, a few Cormorants were sitting around and a lone Redshank allowed me to practice low light photography, and at 5pm on a cloudy November evening, the light was very low!