dilettante

[dilettante]

2- & 3 June 2021

On Wednesday, my family were shopping in Norwich so I had the day to myself - a perfect opportunity to go Swallowtail hunting again. Except I had the dog with me and I knew Strumpshaw and Hickling reserves don't allow dogs. I decided to try How Hill, but on arriving there found that they don't allow dogs either. What to do? The Hickling Broad NWT website said dog walkers could follow the Weaver's Way footpath to the South of the broad, but didn't give much of a clue where to find that so with a bit of map searching and guess work, I headed to a likely-looking spot. We walked a long way along the delightful but largely butterfly-free path in the hot sun, and I was getting tired and ready to turn round, when a couple of small brown butterflies caught my eye - a pair of Walls. I figured this was a good consolation prize and walked on a little further to see if I could find more and photograph them. Suddenly, a Swallowtail zipped across the path and started nectaring on pink campion, fluttering all the time, mostly obscured by vegetation. I scrambled through a few nettles to try to get a record shot. After it flew off, I started heading back, and saw a few more in the section I'd just passed, near where the Wall was, and I managed to get some photos. I also noticed there was a car parked nearby, so if I'd started at that end of the path I could have saved myself the long walk!







Reluctantly I had to leave them, and I headed home. But I had a few hours the next morning, and was staying about 20mins away (now that I knew where to park). The weather was perfect - hot, sunny and fairly still, so I had to go back. The Swallowtails were there again, and I spent a couple of hours in their presence. They were still extremely active, so hard to photograph (I put a short, poor-quality video here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6FxJiIRPjY ). I'd brought my better quality but slower-focussing lens, so I don't think I got any better pictures than the previous day, but tried to get some undersides.







I also managed to track down and photogaph one of the Walls. I lover their crazy underside patterns

[Katrina]

Those swallowtails are beautiful. I will have to award you
Well done on tracking them down

[bugboy]

Much better than my recent efforts, I keep bringing the cloud and rain with me !

[Wurzel]

Absolutely brilliant stuff Dilettante Those topside images are pretty sublime and I love the first underside image

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[dilettante]

5th June 2021
Back home in Cambridgeshire, I went from our biggest to our smallest butterfly. I cycled up to the recently (re)discovered colony of Small Blues in Trumpington Meadows just outside Cambridge, and found a small number fairly quickly. Being so tiny makes them harder to photograph, but they do tend to sit quite still, which is kind of them.


Small Blue


Small Blue


Small Blue

Trumpington Meadows, despite being quite new and right next to the M11, is very beautiful at this time of year, and was full of wildflowers, which were being enjoyed by a strong population of Small Heaths and Common Blues, and a few Brown Argus


Small Heath


Common Blue (male)


Common Blue (female)


Common Blue (female)


Brown Argus

[David M]

Great work, dilettante. You've captured the Swallowtails beautifully (they're tricky to get when nectaring due to their habit of flapping their wings).

The other species are lovely too; a real sight for the eyes.

[dilettante]

12th June 2021

Thanks to David M, Wurzel, Katrina and bugboy for the recent comments.

Today I went to nearby Royston Heath, Herts to look for the recently arrived (or possibly introduced) Adonis Blues. I think they were first seen here a couple of years ago, but I had yet to see them. They seem to be establishing themselves nicely, as there were many in evidence, flying in the long grass on the chalk hillside. (Unless someone is going to tell these are all Common Blues...). I didn't manage to do the characteristic iridescence justice in these photos - is there a trick to it? I couldn't find an angle that made it appear on the resting butterflies, but the brilliant blue was evident when they were flying.


Adonis Blue male


Adonis Blue male

This last one was 50% down on the antenna department

Adonis Blue male

Also seen: My first Large Skipper and Meadow Brown, plus Brown Argus, Small Heath, Brimstone.

[dilettante]

Sunday 27-Jun-2021

With a hankering to see a Marbled White, I took a brief trip to Trumpington Meadows outside Cambridge. Numbers are yet to build, but the ones I did see were nice and fresh. All males as far as I could tell, mostly searching and not resting much, in breezy conditions. Also nice to see Small Skippers, and fair numbers of Meadow Browns. I didn't see any Ringlets. Small Torts were everywhere, often duelling or trielling (?) with each other, or with the occasional Painted Lady. Also quite a few Common Blues, past their prime.


Marbled White


Common Blue


Small Skipper


Small Tortoiseshell


Meadow Brown

[David M]

With a hankering to see a Marbled White, I took a brief trip to Trumpington Meadows outside Cambridge. Numbers are yet to build, but the ones I did see were nice and fresh. All males as far as I could tell, mostly searching and not resting much, in breezy conditions. Also nice to see Small Skippers, and fair numbers of Meadow Browns. I didn't see any Ringlets. Small Torts were everywhere, often duelling or trielling (?) with each other, or with the occasional Painted Lady. Also quite a few Common Blues, past their prime.

Sounds very much like my experience round where I live, dilettante. Lovely images as ever, especially the Small Skipper displaying that definitive, curved sex brand.

[dilettante]

10th July 2021

An afternoon trip to Therfield Heath near Royston and the Herts/Cambs border. This is always a great site, and today was no exception. I don't remember seeing so many Marbled White or Dark Green Fritillary in previous years. Chalk Hill Blues are just getting started I think, with only males seen.


Marbled White


Small Heath


Gatekeeper


Ringlet


Measdow Brown


Dark Green Fritillary, with out-riders!


Dark Green Fritillary


Large Skipper


Chalk Hill Blue


Chalk Hill Blue


Ringlet

[Butterflyboy]

are Chalkhill blue easy to find when in the right place?

[dilettante]

are Chalkhill blue easy to find when in the right place?

I would say so. There weren't too many when I was looking yesterday but once they're fully emerged they are often seen in large numbers, sometimes very large numbers, at their established sites.

[Butterflyboy]

Thanks I might go and try to see one then!

[David M]

Wow, Chalkhill Blues!! Summer is flashing by at an indecent rate.

Great capture of the hoverflies with the DGF, dilettante.

[dilettante]

Great capture of the hoverflies with the DGF, dilettante.

I'd like to claim it was skillful, but I don't think I was even aware of the hoverflies when I clicked the shutter.

[dilettante]

Saturday 17th July 2021

The hot weather and seeing lots of pictures of Purple Emperors online persuaded me to head to Fermyn Woods. We arrived in Lady Wood around 10:30, and depsite others saying they had seen a few, we only saw the one on the ground. It was surrounded by photographers (hello if anyone here was among them) with longer lenses than mine, so I didn't want to venture too close and risk scaring it off. It wasn't showing much inclination to open its wings, so I settled for this shot and moved on.


Purple Emperor

So no further encounters with the emperor, but there were a surprising number of Purple Hairstreaks at ground level which definitely made up for it.


Purple Hairstreak


Purple Hairstreak

Also seen:
- Silver-washed Fritillary
- White-letter Hairstreak
- Large Skipper
- Small Skipper
- Large White
- Green-veined White
- Meadow Brown
- Ringlet
- Gatekeeper
- Red Admiral
- Comma
- Small Tortoiseshell

(Where are all the Peacocks this year? Yet to come?)

[David M]

Been a strange Emperor season thus far, dilettante. Looking at the Purple Empire blog, there have been places that aren't normally that reliable that have seen many groundings, yet in others that are more notable for this phenomenon there have been fewer than normal.

I live in hope that this hot weather that we are having even in Wales sees our own Purple Hairstreaks come to ground for a change.

[dilettante]

Been a strange Emperor season thus far, dilettante. Looking at the Purple Empire blog, there have been places that aren't normally that reliable that have seen many groundings, yet in others that are more notable for this phenomenon there have been fewer than normal.

I live in hope that this hot weather that we are having even in Wales sees our own Purple Hairstreaks come to ground for a change.

It would be a boring hobby if everything was predictable! Good luck with the hairstreaks. Is it the heat that brings them down? I don't recall ever seeing Purple Hairstreaks on the ground, but we saw quite a few that day, as well as a White-letter Hairstreak on the ground.

I think I was just a bit late for peak PE at Fermyn - both late in their emergence (proably I would have seen more a week earlier) and late in the day (would have seen more in the cooler early morning). The hot weather the previous days meant the ground was pretty dry, so perhaps nothing too tempting to come down for.

[dilettante]

Apr-May 2022

I've been a bit lax with my diary of late, but a quick catch-up from the last couple of months.

17th April 2022
I happened to be in Hampshire in mid-April so a visit to Noar Hill was suggested. We were lucky enough to see a single early Duke of Burgundy, and not much else!


Duke of Burgundy

30th April 2022
Off to Devil's Dyke and Burwell Cutting, Cambs to look for Green Hairstreaks. It took a while but I found a few, along with a nice fresh Brown Argus and some Holly Blues, Brimstones, Peacock and Orange-Tips.


Green Hairstreak


Brown Argus


Holly Blue

8th May
I cycled up to Over cutting, between Cambridge and St Ives, to look for Grizzled Skippers. Sadly, none were found despite good weather. I don't think any have been reported there this year, so it seems they may have finally died out from this site. Several Small Coppers were nice to see though

Small Copper

14th May 2022

A trip to Therfield Heath, Royston again for the Adonis Blues. There were not many around, all males, and quite busy. I didn't manage any shots that captured the iridescent blue well.


Adonis Blue

Adonis Blue

21st May 2022
I'd looked for Small Blues at Trumpington Meadows NR outside Cambridge a couple of times in the preceding week to no avail, probably because of the weather. So it was great to see plenty of them flying on Saturday morning in the warmer weather. Their numbers are growing year by year here.


Small Blue


Small Blue


Small Blue

22nd May 2022
Out walking the dog, I came across a mini hilltopping site (well, this Cambridgeshire, so not much of a hill) with several Painted Ladies, mostly looking worse for wear after their long migrations.


Painted Lady

[David M]

Lovely images as ever, Dilettante.

Looks like you've had an enjoyable spring.