millerd

[millerd]

Thanks, Trevor - yes, the Hairstreaks behaved very well for Wurzel at Epsom. It appears that they have been at Epsom for 15 years or so, and can be found on neighbouring Commons as well as they are loosely connected and have similar habitat with mature blackthorn.

Thank you, Goldie - finding so many Large Skippers at this site in a relatively small area came as a bit of a (welcome) surprise!

Despite the cloud which had now all but covered the sky, I carried on to Box Hill. Here, the first few Marbled Whites were flying under bright cloudiness.

As yet they didn't outnumber the Meadow Browns, of which I found this mating pair.

However, there was very little else with the "June Gap" only just showing signs of easing with the appearance of the Marbled Whites.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking colour palette on that pair of Meadow Browns Dave, all those subtle hues of cream through to grey brown Great report from Epsom o what was a great day - reading your report and looking back at my notes it difficult to count up but easily into double figures and all hanging around in on little area - made it easier for sure Brostreaks have been seen at Alners Gorse and Shipton is usually a couple of weeks later plus the weather is set to dire next week so I'll keep you posted

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

..This was my first sighting of the year of this last species, and my efforts to photograph it involved getting rather too involved with the greenery, and three ticks discovered later were the penalty...

Worth the ticks to get the tick, Dave. White Admirals are so lustrous when fresh.

Well done with the Black Hairstreaks and Marbled Whites too.

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - it was unusual to have both partners so fresh in that Meadow Brown pairing. Looking forward to the best that Shipton B. has to offer sometime in the next few weeks (weather permitting!).

Thank you, David - it's rare for me to get ticks, and a collection of three was a bit of a surprise, especially as I didn't find them for 36 hours. Sneaky little critters... The White Admiral was a worthwhile surprise bonus, though.

Sunday 18th was completely cloudy but very warm and thundery. For the first day in some while I didn't go out for butterflies, but I had previously arranged some family stuff with my offspring in Leicester (though none of us twigged it was Fathers' Day, believe it or not). I expected to go back south on 19th, but in the end made it home very late.

Consequently, I was able to go out locally on Monday 19th June, when the weather improved somewhat. Species numbers were creeping up again, with 13 seen, but aside from an explosion of Meadow Browns, actual numbers of butterflies remained modest.

At this point in the season, I never know whether a fresh Common Blue is first or second brood.

The Small Skippers were definitely new, and were yet to be joined by their Essex cousins so ID was not an issue.

The Small Copper was familiar, with a characteristically damaged hindwing identifying it as one I'd seen several times before.

Small Heaths were just in double figures today...

...as were Red Admirals (a hint of things to come... )

More of the new hutchinsoni generation of Commas appeared (hopefully the relative lack of post-hibernation individuals won't have limited their numbers).

Finally, a few of the rest...

As well as this pretty decent roster of adult butterflies, today turned out to be a good one for caterpillars, but I'll turn that into a separate post.

Dave

[millerd]

A selection of caterpillars from 19th June.

Peacocks.

Red Admiral.

Brimstones.

Orange Tips.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Weather permitting indeed Dave - the next 10 days looks dreadful over this way Normally I'm praying for an end to the bad weather during the spring but now here I am doing just that in July/August - what a topsy turvy year it's been
I love the look of those fresh Small Skippers - they really start of quite orange

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Despite the wind and heavy showers on some days, the weather has been pretty good for butterflying locally, Wurzel. It hasn't been as chilly as elsewhere, and bright skies seem to be as good as bright sun for a lot of what I'm seeing. The persistent damp patches along the paths have been excellent for puddling too. However, I suspect that the Brown Hairstreaks will be a bit more picky...

Tuesday 20th June was less warm and not as sunny, but of course around the solstice the level of UV coming through the clouds is high and it was worth a trip out to a series of sites not too far distant.

I started off at Fairmile Common for some more Silver-studs, and hopefully some females would be flying alongside the males now. I saw a selection of both, though numbers weren't particularly high. This site is also good for Small Coppers, and I spotted a couple among the Blues.

To start with, I only found male SSB sitting tight, noting that some of them appeared to lack the characteristic turquoise "studs" that give the species its name...

...though this one managed a few.

Gradually, a bit of extra brightness persuaded them to open their wings.

The blue colour is very variable, being dependent on the angle and brightness of the light, but this individual seemed very pale and silvery however it was lit.

I did manage to find some females - which have a browner underside than the males with much more prominent studs in most cases.

The females also opened up, but they were really tricky to photograph when they sat on a pale substrate.

This one showed hints of blue spots on the upperside of the hindwings.

Finally, one of each - a mating pair.

Two more stops today after Fairmile - another post I think...

Dave

[millerd]

Stop number one was just down the road at Bookham Commons. It was eerily quiet here on the butterfly front, with a few White Admirals gliding around (always out of range), and the odd Meadow Brown and Red Admiral. However, there was a good sprinkling of Large Skippers, and this female was amenable to a photo or two.

The final site for the day was Box Hill. I often go here after/before nearby Denbies Hillside, but at this particular time of year, Box Hill has the edge - for two particular reasons...

Another post for those!

Dave

[millerd]

It was well into the afternoon on 20th when I reached Box Hill. After getting a coffee, I headed straight out onto Burford Spur where as expected more pristine Marbled Whites were flying - or more especially settling down to nectar on the knapweed - than a few days earlier. Writing this exactly a month later, having just seen the fragile scraps of tissue paper that the Marbled Whites have become, it really brings back the sheer beauty of the inky-black/chalky-white contrast these butterflies display when fresh.

However, just as I was about to leave these glorious butterflies which rose up in clouds if the nearby grass was disturbed, the spell was broken by a couple of bright orange tearaways zooming up and down the slope: Dark Green Fritillaries had arrived. Despite the latish time in the day, they were rarely prepared to stop for breath, and the shots I managed were all from a bit of a distance.

All in all, a very varied and successful day.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 21st June: the longest day and for once it was blessed with long hours of sunshine and highish temperatures. I stuck to home turf, and curiously the day wasn't quite as productive as those before (or after). A selection, including only the third Painted Lady here this year after one in early April and one in mid-May.

I also visited Staines Moor again, where the Large Skippers had been joined by several Small Skippers and the odd Small Heath.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Love the Skipper shots Dave I'm still looking for White Admirals Goldie

[Wurzel]

Fantastic collection of posts Dave I love the fourth Marbled White shot And the female Silver-studs were intersting to see - one looked almost black in colour whilst the Silver studs on the topside added a certain something to the other one Alners Gorse is going great guns for Brostreaks but I haven't heard anything from Shipton yet - I just hope that the wether picks up beyond the forecast fortnight of dire stuff

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thank you, Goldie - I find Skippers make great subjects for photos as long as I can get close enough and get them in focus! There are hundreds of deleted shots...

Cheers, Wurzel - I thought you'd like the backlit-from-underneath Marbled White! It took a bit of doing to get down low enough for that one. I'm keeping my on the forecast for next weekend (it keeps changing, as usual in the current weather pattern - cool and wet yesterday, sunny and warm today - and so on unpredictably. )

Thursday 22nd June: Another good day of weather expected, and another long day out planned. As I left the house, I spotted some unusual clouds. I believe these are called virga, where precipitation falls in visible streaks, but evaporates well before it reaches the ground. I was rather taken with this formation which (to me) resembled birds in flight.

I met up with Paul (Bugboy) down at Bookham, somewhat later than hoped as the improvement works at the A3 junction with the M25 were a nightmare.

We soon came across stalwart Surrey butterfly enthusiast Colin Kemp, and then shortly afterwards a surprise appearance of a fresh male Dark Green Fritillary - a very unusual sighting for this location.

The Imperial Purple season had started here (Paul had seen an Emperor the previous day), so we set off round likely spots with eyes split between the ground and the treetops. As it turned out, the next sighting was indeed Purple - but it was a Hairstreak, not an Emperor. However, this was an immaculate new male, and it posed wings tightly shut to show probably the best underside of the species I have yet seen. The subtlety of the colouring was amazing on such a new butterfly, with lilac, dove-grey, orange and even hints of green...

...and it posed for some time. We never saw its upperside.

After gazing without success at the tops of the trees near the highpoint, we came back along the path and almost walked right over a Purple Emperor enjoying one of the species' usual treats. It looked slightly worn, but the first one of the year is always special, and for me it was the first grounded individual I'd ever seen at Bookham, and possibly my earliest Emperor too.

Eventually it moved on, though it reappeared not far away a little later for a short spell on a different snack.

There were decent numbers of fresh White Admirals around, worries that their foodplant might have been badly affected by last summer's drought luckily seem to have come to nought. We watched a pair crash into the foliage (presumably a male and a female) hotly pursued by a third. The pair disappeared completely into the jungle, but the pursuer re-emerged.

After my last visit here, just two days before, had seemed rather bereft of butterflies, today the woods were beginning to come alive...

Dave

[trevor]

Both Purples in one day! Can't be bad.
A for that immaculate male Purple Hairstreak. Excellent shot too Dave.

[Katrina]

From me too for the purple pair.

[bugboy]

You really caught the hairstreak well, and you managed some purple from HIM too, which is more than I managed from that particular individual

[millerd]

Thank you all - that Purple Hairstreak was a cracker, and I doubt I'll ever get so close again to such a new example sitting in the perfect position. The Emperor was almost the bonus, rather than the main event for once. That would change in a couple of days, however...

After Bookham, Paul and I continued the day down at Denbies and then at Box Hill. Both sites were similar: building numbers of Marbled Whites...

Denbies

Box Hill

Box Hill

...Meadow Browns...

Denbies

...a few Skippers...

Box Hill

...and the orange blurs that were a handful of Dark Green Fritillaries. None at either site were as well-behaved as the one earlier at Bookham, either they were dashing around madly when the sun was out (though this one paused for a snack...

Denbies

...or skulked in the grass when it wasn't.

Box Hill

We had hoped the Fritillaries would start nectaring towards the end of the afternoon, but they clearly had other ideas.

Still, a pretty good day overall.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Brilliant stuff with the double purple Dave (butterflies not wing coverage ) That Hairstreak looks fresh out of the box

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - now, double purple on that Hairstreak would have been spectacular given its newness, but it stayed tight shut.

Back to home territory for the day on 23rd June, another hot and sunny one. The local species count for 2023 increased by three today, with Gatekeeper, Marbled White and Essex Skipper added to the list. The first of these provided a nice underside...

...the second only distant record in-flight shots not worth posting and the third I am pretty sure I've ID'd correctly!

Small Skipper numbers were now well into double figures...

...and this one was already egg-laying.

With both species now on the wing, accurate counts will prove impossible.

There was also one rather worn Large Skipper.

After about three weeks with hardly any sightings, both Small...

...and Green-veined Whites reappeared. The latter are quite differently marked to the early spring brood of the species.

Still early in their season, new hutchinsoni Commas were only just getting going: they are splendid insects, rivalling Fritillaries in my book.

Red Admirals were also still in low single figures, with no hint yet of how this would change only ten days later.

One other highlight was a very blue female Common Blue, which would have been glorious when perfectly fresh (and not too shabby now).

I really shouldn't overlook the immense number of Meadow Browns - I lost count around the 250 mark. Even with that number I failed to get a decent photo of any. In the heat and sun they tend to hide in the grass when not careering in flight in little groups with each step through the grass. Quite a sight, but not one easy to capture.

Dave

[millerd]

Sunday 24th June proved to be quite a day.

I set off really early in the sunshine and was down at the Botany Bay entrance of Chiddingfold Woods soon after 7. I had the place to myself, and wandered gently along the rides, looking out for newly-emerged Purple Hairstreaks. I failed dismally in the search, but did find early-rising Large Skippers...

...and Ringlets.

White Admirals were also gracing the paths, initially keeping to the trees, but then starting to settle briefly on the track too.

I followed one such individual, a beautifully fresh one too. It landed, and before I could get a shot, had set off on foot to its target - a piece of something noxious of course.

It was still only quarter past nine, and I wasn't quite yet in Emperor mode - though the White Admiral had set me thinking a bit that way. A good thing too - within a minute or two I was circled by the unmistakable form of a Purple Emperor in flight. Having given me the once over, it became clear that I was standing close to his target - another pile of something anything but a butterfly would consider unpleasant. I stepped back a bit and the Emperor landed, continuing briskly on foot to his breakfast.

After a relatively short snack, he dismounted and with a brief flash of purple, flew off.

An early start to proceedings, but about half an hour later in a different part of the wood, I disturbed another Emperor from the ground. It flew up to the side of the path for a moment...

...but then instead of returning to the track, headed into the trees. I carried on, spotting a tired first brood Wood White along the way.

Once again, I was then looking up instead of down, and disturbed a third Emperor from the ground - this one was most unforgiving and despite toying with landing again, gave up and also disappeared into the trees.

I was by this time (not quite ten o'clock) surprised to have already encountered three Purple Emperors, but also puzzled that no other Purple People had joined me in the woods. It was very good to have had that first one entirely to myself, but also very unusual. Surely this would change?

Things soon became even more interesting - but that will need at least one more post!

Dave