Holly Blue - Favourite Photo of 2022

[Wurzel]

Holly Blue - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 8

With a few advent chocolates gone there isn’t too long now until the Easter eggs are in the shops and we’re fast approaching the half way point. The nights have really drawn in so hopefully choosing the images for these threads is brightening the dreary afternoons and evenings.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Didn't see many this year but this chap at Bookham threw a decent pose.

[Stevieb]

One of the harbingers of spring in my garden, this beautifully fresh female was my favourite photo this year. Melksham, Wiltshire

13th April

13th April

[Goldie M]

I took loads of Holly Blue shots in my Daughters garden this year from Spring with a short break into Summer, it was amazing to sit having lunch watching them Hope fully my new garden will produce the same amount next year

The first photo I took is in the garden of my new house. Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

I saw good numbers of Holly Blues locally and the spring brood especially gave me some good opportunties for photos, in fact I managed some of my best shots ever of this species this year.

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 24.04.2022

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 24.04.2022

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 24.04.2022

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 24.04.2022

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 13.05.2022

The summer brood were equally as numerous but no doubt due to the warm and mostly sunny weather they were far more active and consequently I didn't get as many good photo opportunities.

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 25.07.2022

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 25.07.2022

Holly Blues - Coverdale 25.07.2022

Cheers,

Neil

[Phil Bowler]

Of the few photos I took this year of the Holly Blue, this is my favourite of a first brood female making a rare appearance on buddleia globosa in our butterfly garden.

[millerd]

Looking back, I took a lot of photos of the species during their first brood, very few during the second, and then quite a number late on when the third brood were flying. I've picked out a few females to show the difference in markings between broods.

22nd April: first brood abundance

22nd April: 1st brood

2nd May: 1st brood

5th August: 2nd brood

28th September: 3rd brood

6th October: 3rd brood

The spread across the year was considerable; here are the first and last butterflies photographed in 2022 here on my local patch.

1st sighting: 26th March

Last sighting: 9th November

This lengthy season had no real gaps in it, and overall the species was the third most commonly seen here (in terms of numbers).

Dave

[David M]

My local hotspot is by the coast, so this species tends to emerge during the last week of March. I was lucky enough to find this fresh female basking in the woodland glade on 29th March:

[Wurzel]

Holly Blue

This was taken right at the start of the season during a family walk from Garston Wood. There had only been a few butterflies during the walk and even fewer opportunities for any photography. We’d all set up camp to eat our lunch and it was then that the butterflies decided to start playing fair. A few Whites drifted past and then up on the hill behind us I descried a pastel blue bit of fluff that floated down from a nearby tree. Only it wasn’t a bit of fluff it was a Holly Blue and it remained seated whilst I remained likewise as I was finishing eating. With the last morsel departing down my oesophagus I was already climbing the hill and heading for the spot where I’d watched the blue make landfall. It was still there waiting for me and once it knew I was onto it, it fluttered a short distance and landed on a much nicer perch. So because of its patient and obliging nature and also because of the lovely perch it chose this became my favourite shot of this species.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Looking back, I took a lot of photos of the species during their first brood, very few during the second, and then quite a number late on when the third brood were flying. I've picked out a few females to show the difference in markings between broods.

Quite a range, Dave. That one from 5th August looks more like a Holly Black.