Neil Freeman

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel. Marbled Whites are Jane's favourite species, and certainly one of mine too. I think the 'hitchhiker' is actually a seed from some plant.

Thanks David. Those Swallowtails were certainly hard work this year so I was pleased with what I ended up with.

Friday 23rd June.

We popped round to see my Mom this morning (Friday) and whilst there I had my usual short wander down to the local park by her house. There was a layer of cloud to start with but it was gradually thinning out and feeling quite warm and humid by 10.30am.

I mentioned in my previous report about Large Skippers being thin on the ground around here so far this year so with this being a spot where I usually see a fair few I was particularly on the lookout for them. It didn't take me long to find a couple of males chasing each other around some brambles and during the next 30 minutes or so I found a total of 8 including 2 females.

Large Skipper male - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Large Skipper male - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Large Skipper male - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Large Skipper female - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Large Skipper female - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

A single Small Skipper was also spotted.

Small Skipper - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

White butterflies have also been thin on the ground so far this year with just a few seen wandering in the distance with most too far away to ID. I have still not seen a confirmed Large White this year. I did manage to see a Small White today that was feeding on bramble and stayed still just long enough for me to grab a photo.

Small White female - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Also seen were Meadow Browns (23), Ringlet (4) and Speckled Wood (3).

Speckled Wood - Langley Hall 23.06.2023

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Eyed Hawk-moths

29 out of 30 of my Eyed Hawk Moth pupae have now emerged successfully and all been released in the back garden. Unfortunatly the last one looks to have died but I am happy with that success rate.
Interestingly, I have run the moth trap in the garden a few times, both whilst and since releasing them, and not one has shown up to the trap.

Lime Hawk-moths

A couple of pages back in this diary I said that a second Lime Hawk-moth had come to my garden trap and that this was unusual for me as I only usually get one of these a year at most and some years don't see one at all.

Well, just to prove me wrong I had another two on the night of 17th June, a male and a female, both showing signs of wear.

Lime Hawk-moth pair - Coverdale 17.06.2023

Then, a couple of nights later (19th) I had two more, this time both males in better condition and showing a nice variation in colour.

Lime Hawk-moths - Coverdale 19.06.2023

Lime Hawk-moths - Coverdale 19.06.2023

The female that I had back in May had left me a few eggs, just 6 this time and these all hatched just over a week ago. They have just changed skins into their second instar and are now just about recognisable as Lime Hawk-moth larvae although at this size they are very similar to how the Eyed Hawk-moths looked at this stage.

Lime Hawk-moth larva - Coverdale 23.06.2023

With just the 6 to look after, these should be easier than the Eyed Hawk-moths were as 30 larvae got through a lot of foodplant as they grew.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Just love these Hawk-moths Neil and the high quality images I've come to expect from you Inspirational.

[Wurzel]

Those Lime Hawks are a cracking looking Moff Neil I was also struck by the Small White in the previous post - it looked like it was trying (but not quite managing) to turn itself into a Southern Small White Even though it was 'just a small' still a lovely looking, clean cut butterfly

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those Lime Hawk moths are stunning, Neil, especially the last one.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments Pauline, Wurzel and David. The Lime hawks are nice and docile during the daytime which makes taking photos nice and easy.

Thursday 29th June.

This week had been a dull one here up to now with constant grey cloud. Monday was quite windy too and although this dropped from Tuesday it was replaced with bands of drizzle. After a lot of rain last night, this morning (Thursday) was forecast to be much brighter, at least for a few hours, so I decided to have a run down the M40 to Harbury Spoilbank to hopefully see some Dark Green Fritillaries.

I left home just after 08.00, hoping to get clear of Solihull before the worst of the school run traffic built up as this can be a nightmare around here between 08.30 and 09.00 I still copped for some traffic getting out of Solihull and arrived at Harbury just before 09.00 with my car display reading 17c. There was a mixture of sun and white fluffy clouds and walking into the reserve I soon saw Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites fluttering about. It took about 10 minutes before I saw the first Dark Green Fritillary, a worn example with a large chunk missing out of one hindwing, but soon after I started seeing a few more in all kinds of condition. They were already very active and rarely stopping and even then only briefly. There were a couple of stands of thistles and I decided to stake these out and just wait to see what came along. Marbled Whites were in good numbers and there were nearly always some on the thistles but every now and then a DGF would join them albeit only for a brief time. Nevertheless, I managed to fire off a few grab shots, some of which came out not too bad.

Marbled White and DGF - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

In the past I have seen DGFs nectaring on flowering privet here so I had a look and sure enough found one doing exactly that.

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

Occasionally I had a DGF in sight when a cloud came over and covered the sun and managed to spot where they went down. These still required some careful sneaking up on however and would more often than not spook up again before I could get close but as always a bit of patience produced some results.

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary - Harbury 29.06.2023

At one point I put up a mating pair out of the grass by the side of a path and watched as they flew into a small oak tree where they landed at about my head height.

Dark Green Fritillary pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

They shuffled about a bit and after a couple of minutes the male opened up,

Dark Green Fritillary pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

Followed shortly after by the female until she opened her wings fully showing herself to be a lovely fresh example.

Dark Green Fritillary pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

Dark Green Fritillary pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

Over the next hour or so I kept revisiting this pair hoping to see them separate so I could get a photo of the female by herself but the last time I looked they had gone and I didn’t find the female again, or any other female DGF during the morning for that matter.

During the couple of hours that I was here I reckon I saw about a dozen DGFs at most, it is difficult to be sure as they could fly from one end of the reserve to the other in seconds so I am sure I saw the same individuals repeatedly.

Marbled Whites were easily the most numerous species here with a conservative 100+, many of them looking worn and faded now.

Marbled Whites - Harbury 29.06.2023

Marbled White - Harbury 29.06.2023

Marbled White - Harbury 29.06.2023

These also included a mating pair,

Marbled White pair - Harbury 29.06.2023

Apart from the Meadow Browns already mentioned the only other species seen here were a number of Small Skippers and a couple of Ringlets.

Around 11.00 the clouds thickened up and turned a darker grey colour so I decided to make a move. As I drove away from the reserve, the first rain spots fell on the car windscreen so I had timed it just right.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Pauline]

I reckon you're deliberately tantalising me now Neil!! Seriously, great shots of the mating DGF Would love to see that but don't think I've much chance yet with only 3 males on site at the moment.

[Wurzel]

That is a lovely looking DGF Neil (final shot) with the dark markings all merging together - lush

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Mating pairs of Dark Green Fritillary and Marbled White on the same day!!

That's quite a result.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Pauline. Sorry, I'm not doing it on purpose

Cheers Wurzel. I was hoping to get a shot or two of her on her own but I couldn't find her again later.

Thanks David. I find mating Marbled Whites most years but they were the first mating pair of DGFs Ihave ever found.

Garden Moths – June.

Things finally started to improve in the second week of June although this was also when we went to Norfolk so I couldn’t take advantage of some very warm nights. For the rest of the month things were changeable but at least the cloud that we often had stuck around overnight leading to some decent conditions to run the moth trap as long as the wind didn’t get up too much. I ended up running the trap on the nights of 17th, 19th, 24th, 27th and 30th with results varying from 171 moths of 58 species on the night of 17th to 218 of 54 on the 24th. This brought my tally for the first half of the year up to 96 species of macro moth and 60 micros for a total of 156 species, which is not far short of where I usually am by this time of year. The slight shortfall is explained by the fewer nights that I used the trap earlier in the year due to unfavourable conditions.
Most of the moths that I have seen are the usual ones for here with a smattering of more interesting species, including 8 new macro species and 6 new micro species so far this year. In order to avoid repeating myself I will leave the details on these until I do a final roundup at the end of the year.
In the meantime, a few of my favourites,

Common Emerald - Coverdale 17.06.2023

Swallow-tailed Moth - Coverdale 24.06.2023

Peppered Moth - Coverdale 24.06.2023

Elephant Hawk-moth - one of two on 27.06.2023

Early Thorn summer gen. - Coverdale 27.06.2023

Lozotaeniodes formosana - Coverdale 30.06.2023

I have also been putting my Clearwing pheromone lures out whenever the weather has been suitable and have now had the other three species that I usually get here, these being Orange-tailed and Current Clearwing and Lunar Hornet Moth which bring it up to my usual 6 species.
Edit: I've since realised that I had Current Clearwing back on 8th June and already posted about that.

Orange-tailed Clearwing - Coverdale 10.06.2023

Current Clearwing - Coverdale 22.06.2023

Lunar Hornet moth revving up for take-off - Coverdale 23.06.2023

I also had a single Six-belted Clearwing here last year so will be trying again for this species when we lose the wind and clouds here.

Those who follow these things may also be aware that Dusky Clearwing, a species previously thought to be extinct here since 1924, has been found in the UK in a number of locations this year, these being attracted to the TAB lure. This follows on from a female that was found at an undisclosed location in Warwickshire in 2021. This year it has turned up in Cambridgeshire and Suffolk and a targeted effort in Warwickshire has also turned up a few more sites. As the TAB lure was included in the original set that I bought back in 2020 I have been trying it in my garden, without any success so far. I don’t know if I stand much chance of seeing a Dusky Clearwing here but until a few weeks back I would have said the same of Dewicks Plusia and I had one of those to the Ni Moth lure. Whether it has recently arrived in the UK from the continent or whether it has been here undiscovered all along will probably never be known but it will be interesting to see how many are eventually found this year.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Wednesday 5th July.

This week here has been pretty much the same as last week so far, that is Monday and Tuesday were mostly cloudy with strong winds and some heavy showers. It has also been quite cool with temperatures not getting much higher than 13 or 14 degrees under the cloud. The occasional break in the clouds did allow the sun through briefly but never for long enough to have much impact.

Today (Wednesday) was forecast to improve a bit with sunny spells and the possibility of showers, but with lighter winds and temperatures supposed to be nearer where they should be at this time of year so I decided to have a drive down to Oversley Wood.
I arrived just after 10.00am with my car display showing 16c and set off along the main track that circles the wood. I soon started seeing Meadow Browns and Ringlets in the grass verges to the side of the path and as the clouds broke up to allow some nice sunny spells they were joined by both Large and Small Skippers.

Scanning the plentiful brambles as I slowly wandered past I started to see a number of Commas, soon followed by the first Silver-washed Fritillaries. Despite the forecast saying the wind would be lighter, it was still quite blustery which sometimes made taking photos a bit tricky. Luckily the butterflies would often pick a sheltered dip in the brambles to keep themselves out of the worst of it which helped somewhat.

Large Skipper and Comma - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Comma - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Comma - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Silver-washed Fritillaries - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

During the next hour or so I reckon I saw 20-25 SWF, mostly males, some with damage caused by life among the brambles but others looking nice and fresh.

Silver-washed Fritillary - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Silver-washed Fritillary - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Silver-washed Fritillary - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Silver-washed Fritillary - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

The only female that I saw was one that I spotted being courted by a male on a bramble leaf. I managed to get a couple of shots before she took off, followed by the male as he proceeded to loop around her in their typical courtship flight as they disappeared into the trees.

Silver-washed Fritillary pair - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Along with all the Meadow Browns and Ringlets, Marbled Whites were also flying in the grassy clearings along the track.

Marbled White - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Marbled White - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

A couple of fresh Gatekeepers were my first of these this year.

Gatekeeper - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Gatekeeper - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Half a dozen Red Admirals were seen which is a pretty normal number for here at this time of year. I have seen reports of large numbers further south but it doesn’t look like those numbers have reached here yet.

Red Admiral - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Whites have been a bit thin on the ground so far this year and I saw more here this morning than I have seen anywhere else up until now. Most of them appeared to be Green-veined Whites but there were definitely a few Small Whites amongst them. I also saw a couple of Large Whites, these being the first of these that I have actually confirmed so far this year.

Green-veined White - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

Large White - Oversley Wood 05.07.2023

About 11.00am I had to take shelter under the trees from a rain shower and thereafter the clouds built up again and the breeze picked back up. The next hour or so was quite dull until a bit more sun just after midday brightened things up again for a short while. After this a blanket overcast built up and I made a move for home around 1.00pm.

A few Speckled Wood completed the tally seen this morning. No Purple Emperor or White Admiral today, perhaps the conditions were just the wrong side of borderline for them.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

"I was hoping to get a shot or two of her on her own but I couldn't find her again later." always the way that Neil
Cracking report I was reading and at each next section I was expecting His Nibbs to appear -sorry He didn't play ball for you these butterflies have no sense of narrative do they

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel. It appears that His Nibbs is playing hard to get up here this year, they are being seen but only in small numbers and very hit and miss, no doubt due to all the cloud and strong winds we have been having recently.

Thursday 6th July.

Another dull and breezy morning but I couldn’t go anywhere anyway as I had to wait in for someone to come and fix our washing machine that had developed a fault last week.

The afternoon was pretty much the same although there was some thinning of the cloud that allowed it to brighten up occasionally and with that weak milky sunlight shining through the clouds it was feeling pleasantly warm. I decided to have a wander down to my local spot by Wagon Lane to see if anything was about and in particular to have a look to see if Essex Skippers were out here yet.

I headed to the meadow areas where I usually see these and soon started to see a few Skippers flitting about. I spent some time looking carefully and taking some head on shots to get that all important view of the antennae from underneath although the breeze made this a bit tricky. Eventually I confirmed a few Essex Skippers and equal numbers of Small Skippers plus a number that I couldn’t get a good view of and could have been either species.

Essex Skipper male - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

Essex Skipper male - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

Essex Skipper female - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

A couple of Large Skippers were also seen, both looking quite faded now.

I then circled back past a couple of large bramble patches where I saw 5 Commas including a nice impressively large hutchinsoni female.

Comma - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

Comma female - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

A single Fresh looking Red Admiral was also seen.

Red Admiral - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

Around a dozen each of Meadow Browns and Ringlets were also seen along with a single male Gatekeeper that kept chasing around with one of the Commas.

Gatekeeper - Wagon Lane 06.07.2023

A nice fresh Small Tortoiseshell was spotted along with a really tatty, almost transparent one that must have been the last of the hibernators hanging on here. Both of these kept to the far side of some brambles and wouldn’t come close enough for a photo.

Also seen but not photographed were two Green-veined Whites and another couple of whites that were too far away to identify.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cracking looking Essex Skippers Neil Also really like the Gatekeeper - looks like an extra spotty one - especially around the 'eyes'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel. Time to start counting the spots on Gatekeepers again

Friday 7th July

A nice morning that started off without a cloud in the sky. We went round to my mom's and whilst there I had my usual walk down to her local park for a quick circuit. It was already warm and the butterflies, mostly Meadow Browns, were in full active mode and not stopping. A few Large Skippers were spotted along with far more numerous Small Skippers, again mostly very flighty in the bright sunshine although I did manage to catch one Large Skipper nicely posed on top of a thistle.

Large Skipper - Langley Hall 07.07.2023

Half a dozen Commas were also flitting about around some large bramble patches and these were a bit more accommodating.

Comma - Langley Hall 07.07.2023

Comma - Langley Hall 07.07.2023

A couple of whites were seen, at least one of which was a Green-veined and I think the other was a Small White but couldn't be sure. Back at my mom's I was doing a couple of little jobs in her garden when a Large White passed through.

Back home later in the afternoon I noticed a couple of Large and Small Whites passing through the garden along with a Ringlet, a Meadow Brown and a Comma. None of them stopped in what was now a very warm afternoon.

With a clear but warm night on Friday, I put the moth trap out with the result of 242 moths of 50 species. Most of these were the usual supects but I was pleased to get another Elephant Hawk-moth.

Elephant Hawk-moth - Coverdale 07.07.2023

Sunday 9th July

The less said about Saturday the better. It started off reasonably enough but from mid morning we had a succession of thunderstorms and really heavy rain that carried on until late afternoon before the skies cleared again.

More thunderstorms were forecast for today (Sunday) supposedy starting early afternoon, but in the end they hung on until just before 4.00pm when we had a belter accompanied with heavy rain coming down like stair-rods. Before that arrived however I had spotted both large White and Small Whites and singles of Comma, Red Admiral and my first summer brood Holly Blue passing through the garden. The only one that stopped was one of the Small whites that was tempted by my lavender for a while before it carried on.

Small White - Coverdale 09.07.2023

As I write this (around 6.00pm) the skies are clearing again and the sun is back out. The next few days look to be a bit unsettled so we'll see how they pan out.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[David M]

You're doing well with your moths, Neil. That Elephant Hawk is a real beauty.

Shame you missed out on the Emperors at Oversley. Surely you'll have another go?

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks David. At least all the cloud we are having helps with the moths and they don't mind a bit of rain as long as it is not too heavy. We just need to lose the wind now.

I probably won't try for Emperors again this year now. They have been thin on the ground up here this year and although I have seen reports from various woods around the midlands numbers have generally been low. I have seen a few photos over the past week or so but those have been of worn looking individuals with bits missing from their wings, no doubt due to being buffeted about in the wind and rain.
A succession of thunderstorms over the past few days and another wet and windy day today may all but finish them off up here.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Tuesday 11th July.

As alluded to in my earlier reply to David M, today was another wet and windy day here, at least up until just before 5.00pm that is when the clouds parted to allow a brief spell of sunshine through.
Looking out of the kitchen window I spotted a white butterfly fly in and go down on the brambles at the bottom of the garden. Grabbing my camera I went out and had just got close enough to confirm it as a Green-veined White when it was up and off again.

I lurked around in case it came back but instead I spotted a Gatekeeper flutter in and settle just in front of me.

Gatekeeper - Coverdale 11.07.2023

Shortly after a male Speckled Wood also arrived and settled over to one side.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 11.07.2023

Also of interest was a Hornet Mimic Hoverfly buzzing about on the bramble flowers. For the past few years I have seeing these impressivly large Hoverflies regularly in the garden during the summer.

Hornet Mimic Hoverfly - Coverdale 11.07.2023

After about 10 minutes the clouds closed up and it started raining again. As I write this just before 7.00pm it is still raining and it looks to be in for the next couple of hours.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

Wednesday 12th July.

After a load more rain yesterday evening, the skies cleared sometime overnight and this morning was a nice bright and sunny one to start with. It was very windy though and clouds soon started to blow in again to give us a morning of mixed sun and cloud with showers forecast for the afternoon.
Around 10.00am I decided to have a walk down to my local spot by Wagon Lane to make the most of a reasonable looking albeit windy hour or so before the showers arrived later.
My usual circuit soon started to produce some butterflies with Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Gatekeepers appearing within the first few minutes.

Gatekeeper - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Gatekeeper - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Commas seem to be having a good summer brood and I counted 9 here this morning scattered around the site.

Comma - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Comma - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Half a dozen summer brood Small Tortoiseshells were seen, not as many as I have seen here in recent years. Whether numbers are down or they have been held back by the recent poor weather remains to be seen.

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

A couple of red Admirals were spotted and as is often the way, the partially worn one was the one that posed for a photo whereas the nice fresh looking one kept its distance.

Red Admiral - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

There were loads of Small/Essex Skippers about and although I managed to identify a few of each species, I have no idea as to how many of each there were in total as the wind made getting a good view or a photo to confirm which was which very difficult.

Essex Skipper - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Small Skipper - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

Around half a dozen each of Green-veined and Small Whites were seen with about the same number again staying too far away for a definite ID.

Green-veined White - Wagon Lane 12.07.2023

A couple of Speckled Wood completed the tally for the morning.

I had been watching a darker band of cloud blowing towards us and it arrived just after 11.00am so I headed back home. Shortly after that the first shower of the day arrived and through the afternoon we had a couple more, the second of which was less of a shower and more like a deluge.

At least with all the rain we have been having here lately, we shouldn’t be suffering from any drought this summer.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Great to see the next round of Small Torts Neil - your post has served as an impetus to get out and have a look around the school site, unfortunately tomorrow lunch is Rock Soc. (Scorpions this week ) so I'll have to dodge the showers

Have a goodun

Wurzel