July 2022

[Allan.W.]

Funnily enough ,another Swallowtail by the monument at St Margarets (bay ) Kent on the 23rd ,photo on Kent butterflies (facebook )

[Allan.W.]

An add on to the last post ,at least another 4 Swallowtails reported in Kent over the last 4-5 days ,at Rolvendon ,Ramsgate , Sandwich ,
+ New Romney (i think ?) ,probably more to be found ,along the coast .
Allan.W.

[Charles Nicol]

a pleasant trip to Barton Hills this morning.

there are copious amounts of Chalkhill Blues

i saw 1 battered fritillary on the wing ( probably DGF )

i saw this pretty white flower... any ideas what it could be ?

[Vince Massimo]

Some more recent observations from me in July.

I have mentioned before that despite only having one small pot of nettles in my Crawley garden, it gets visited by Red Admirals and Commas every year.

Nettle pot - Crawley, Sussex

I recently released two Red Admiral larvae, because the plant could not support them and then spotted some new holes in two leaves. Underneath were two 1st instar Comma larvae.

Comma larva (1st instar) - Crawley, Sussex 23-July-2022

While searching for others I came across some lacewing eggs which are laid on silken stalks.

Lacewing egg - Crawley, Sussex 23-July-2022

On Sunday, during a transect at Gatwick Airport, I spotted Silver-washed Fritillaries laying eggs mainly on mossy patches low down on tree trunks.

Egg location - Gatwick, Sussex

When I returned yesterday they were still laying and I managed to locate two of them.

Silver-washed Fritillary egg 1 - Gatwick 26-July-2022

Silver-washed Fritillary egg 2 - Gatwick 26-July-2022

Some egg-laying appeared to be going on as high as 4m above ground while I was there.

Young foxes continue to visit my Crawley garden and this was the view this morning.

Garden fox - Crawley, Sussex 27-July-2022

Finally, another Lancing sunset, this from 6th July.

Lancing sunset 6-July-2022

Vince

[Jack Harrison]

My Scotch Argus season began on 27th July with a possible over my garden (they do occur here). In the afternoon, I went to a favourite hotspot at Ardclach near Nairn (NH952453) where I saw about a dozen males in 20 minutes. Ringlets are still flying but are old and pale as are the Speckled Woods. Scotch Argus is a rich deep brown.

The males are lively and the best opportunity to photograph is when the sun goes in. They like to rest on the ground and on bracken. Favourite nectar source is Devil's bit Scabious with Bramble as a back up.

Jack

[Allan.W.]

Charles ,your White flower is the white form of Clustered Bellflower the more usual colour is Blue .............nice find ,a plant i,d dearly like to see as its pretty scarce in Kent.
Regards Allan.W.

[Charles Nicol]

Charles ,your White flower is the white form of Clustered Bellflower the more usual colour is Blue .............nice find ,a plant i,d dearly like to see as its pretty scarce in Kent.
Regards Allan.W.

thank you so much Allan ! there were blue examples nearby.

[Ian Pratt]

An enormous number of chalk hill blues on Arreton Down today, including this unusually marked male. Is this a known aberration? Also, about 50 butterflies feeding on dog poo!!

[adrian riley]

My Scotch Argus season began on 27th July with a possible over my garden (they do occur here). In the afternoon, I went to a favourite hotspot at Ardclach near Nairn (NH952453) where I saw about a dozen males in 20 minutes. Ringlets are still flying but are old and pale as are the Speckled Woods. Scotch Argus is a rich deep brown.

The males are lively and the best opportunity to photograph is when the sun goes in. They like to rest on the ground and on bracken. Favourite nectar source is Devil's bit Scabious with Bramble as a back up.

Jack

Hi, Jack
Early morning, just as they are waking up, is also a good time as they usually bask openly. Also, if they do fly off at this time, their cool and feeble flight doesn't take them far.
Cheers, Ade

[Stevieb]

A few fresh individuals from this morning. Hazelbury Common, Wiltshire

28th July

28th July

28th July

28th July

28th July

[David M]

My Scotch Argus season began on 27th July with a possible over my garden (they do occur here).

That's quite some garden 'tick', Jack.

[David M]

Friday 22nd, Gower coast:

Half a dozen Graylings seen along with a few dozen Hedge Browns, a fair few Meadow Browns, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Small Skipper, Speckled Wood, Comma, Common Blue and all three Whites.

[sahikmet]

For the last few days we found a number of these moths in the garden. This pair was on the old shed door. Are they tiger moths? please help to identify them.

[Matsukaze]

For the last few days we found a number of these moths in the garden. This pair was on the old shed door. Are they tiger moths? please help to identify them.

Jersey Tiger moths.

[Matsukaze]

Here in Somerset today the sun is shining brightly for what seems like the first time since 1624, and out have come the butterflies. Garden highlights include Small Copper (usually one or two a year here, and the species has done poorly this spring), Brown Argus (maybe once every three years) and 4 Brimstones (2 male, 2 female), which must surely be a record number for the garden.

[Stevieb]

Three species of hairstreak this morning. Alners Gorse, Dorset

29th July

29th July

29th July

[Jack Harrison]

North Sea Butterfly.
My son Miles tells me that halfway between Hook of Holland and Harwich (ferry) on 27th July, he saw a butterfly.
His i/d was poor but he suggested - quite reasonably - a Red Admiral.

Jack

[sahikmet]

For the last few days we found a number of these moths in the garden. This pair was on the old shed door. Are they tiger moths? please help to identify them.

Jersey Tiger moths.

Thanks thats a great help.

[zigzag_wanderer]

Odds'n'ends round up. Sorry it's so much but there's a couple of weeks' worth. These are in chronological order.

There were no Chalkhill Blue visitors at work last summer, but I saw one male earlier this week and two were duking it out yesterday. Maybe there's so many of them up on the Downs that a few have decided to come down to the flat lands. Yesterday's female Common Blue took a shine to the garden mums. Her hindwings were a lot bluer than her forewings, not sure if she'd always been like this or it was down to a quirk of ageing.

The hoverfly bee/hornet big boys are now out in force to join their smaller wasp-mimic cousins.

I've had a go at identifying stuff. Please shout if I've got anything wrong.

There are two things I couldn't identify. The parasitic wasp looks eminently ID-able with a red body, purple thorax and green eyes - but I can't find it. There are so many parasitic critters out there though.

The moth I really should be able to get with its distinctive wavy-lines. There are quite a few Pearls that look close-ish but I'm not seeing anything that matches closely.

So as always if anyone can ID these I'd be very grateful, ta muchly.

[Allan.W.]

Nice selection of bits and pieces there Zig-Zag ..............the moth is unusual ,but could be of the Anania family.
I,m sure someone will know ................its also similar to European Corn Borer (which it isn,t !).
over the last couple of late afternoons i,ve re-visited my closest Grizzle Site ,to see if anything else is about ,but as i half expected it is now more or less inaccessible (?) ,the entrances completely covered with Brambles . Having made the short trip ,i remembered that a fair number of buddlia bushes had sprung up by the football grounds car park,so i was hoping for a few feasting butterflies ..........the only problem with this small site is that its also used by illegal fly tippers ,and to get to the bushes you have to negotiate piles of building waste ,household rubbish,old chairs and the like ,i was pleased on arrival that it hadn,t put the butterflies off ! and i found around a dozen Small Tortoiseshells ,which are always good to see,
Iwas also amazed to see a female Silver Wash amongst them ,and as i left a Hummingbird Hawk moth .
Allan.W.