May 2023

[MrSp0ck]

Mondays visit to Hutchinsons Bank, Glanvilles and Marsh and Dingy Skipper in the Cutting, the old faithful "Bent Antennae" in the lower field, a female Duke at Chapel Bank, and a Yellow Shell Moth.

[Bertl]

Visited Appin on the Scottish West Coast yesterday. Chequered skipper, SPBF, Marsh Fritillary and Small heath on the wing.

[Wolfson]

Holly Blue certainly bucking the trend this year. I thought Dave’s HB ovipositing on grass was extraordinarily and possibly aberrant behaviour until I came across this post on social media.

[Chris L]

Visited Appin on the Scottish West Coast yesterday. Chequered skipper, SPBF, Marsh Fritillary and Small heath on the wing.

Lovely photos there Bertl which I view with a tinge of jealousy. A nice array of lesser seen butterflies. I have yet to even see a SPBF which I am a bit ashamed of.

[millerd]

Holly Blue certainly bucking the trend this year. I thought Dave’s HB ovipositing on grass was extraordinarily and possibly aberrant behaviour until I came across this post on social media.

Fascinating to see another example of this rather curious behaviour - thank you for posting that, Wolfson. Holly Blues really do seem to lay on an extraordinary array of plants in the spring. If you are particularly lucky you might find a female laying on Holly...

Round my way at the moment, Goats' Rue is by far the favourite choice, and as this grows in the middle of fields and meadows I wouldn't be at all surprised if these butterflies in flight were taken by more casual observers to be male Common Blues. Other plants I've seen used include vetches, trefoil, clovers and in woodland dogwood is a favourite. If all else fails they will lay on bramble buds (the spring brood butterflies do this in Hadleigh Country Park in Essex, where their emergence is a bit later for some reason). However, grass was a new one on me!

By contrast, the summer brood appear to lay on ivy flower buds without exception. A good choice, as ivy appears almost immune to the vagaries of the weather, even last summer's heat.

Cheers,

Dave

[millerd]

My first Large Skipper of the year seen today among the tank tracks on Salisbury Plain in the excellent company of Wurzel and a good many other species.

Full report to follow in my PD - unless of course Wurzel gets there first!

Cheers,

Dave

[Chris L]

In the excellent company of Wurzel and a good many other species.
Dave

How many species of Wurzel are there Dave?

Sorry about the above.

Lovely photo!

[Wurzel]

No fear Dave but you did beat me to the sightings report 1 Large Skipper, 2 Greenstreaks, 2 Small Blues, 2 Marshies, 2 Dukes, at least 6 Small Copper, 8 Walls (minimum) a couplf of Red Admiral and a smattering of Adonis with Common Blues, Small Heath, Grizzlies, Dingies and Brown Argus too numerous to count - although the Brown Argus were easily the most numerous species of the day.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Visited Appin on the Scottish West Coast yesterday. Chequered skipper, SPBF, Marsh Fritillary and Small heath on the wing.

Enviable selection there, Bertl. Sounds like a fabulous day.

[Bertl]

Thanks David. It was a great day out especially when the Scottish weather is kind to you.

[Bertl]

Visited Appin on the Scottish West Coast yesterday. Chequered skipper, SPBF, Marsh Fritillary and Small heath on the wing.

Lovely photos there Bertl which I view with a tinge of jealousy. A nice array of lesser seen butterflies. I have yet to even see a SPBF which I am a bit ashamed of.

Thanks Otep. I have been very inclined to chase all the butterflies found in Scotland. I hope to visit various areas down south to add some of your wonderful species to my list.

[Pauline]

Nice shot of the Wall Brown Wurzel - reckon I'll miss out on these this year.

[Trev Sawyer]

The glut of Holly Blues this Spring encouraged me to try to get a decent close-up shot of a Holly Blue egg on Dogwood. They are everywhere

[Pauline]

Wow!!! What an amazing and complex structure. How on earth did you manage to get that level of detail?????

[badgerbob]

With reference to the Silver-washed Fritillary that Bugboy found at Chiddingfold, I think it looks like a different individual to the one I had just over a fortnight earlier, as there is a part of the left hind-wing missing on mine that appears to be there on his.

As an aside, there was also a suspected one in Somerset in late April that was mentioned following me posting mine on Twitter.

[Trev Sawyer]

It's that same lens and camera combination Pauline. 8 shots stacked together (I should have done another one as the bottom of the egg is a bit blurry)

[millerd]

After seeing my first Large Skipper of the year yesterday down in Wiltshire, one pops up on my local patch today, taking the species tally here to 17 for the year so far.

There were a few other nice sightings as well, some of them predictable...

Dave

[David M]

The glut of Holly Blues this Spring encouraged me to try to get a decent close-up shot of a Holly Blue egg on Dogwood. They are everywhere

Phenomenal close-up, Trev. Thanks for sharing.

[Chris L]

As usual I always feel a bit bad drawing attention to one photo amongst a batch of total winners, but I really like the Speckled Wood one Dave.

One common feature with your latest offerings that struck me is how pristine they all look - devoid of any fading or tears.

[Chris L]

Absolutely nothing to report from South Derbyshire today or yesterday. Cold, quite breezy, a heavy blanket of cloud and occasional fine rain. I am sitting in the house with a hoodie on. The BBC forecast that there would be sunshine from 3pm onwards for yesterday and today but there was absolutely no sign of that at all. I would rather the BBC forecast had written 'Haven't got a clue today folks' rather than forecast incorrectly.