millerd

[David M]

...and not even a much hoped-for Clouded Yellow or two (they all appear to have headed for South Wales this year!

Seems like it, Dave, although you'll have the luxury of Long-Tailed Blues all to yourself!

[millerd]

She was a splendid butterfly, Wurzel - I do have a soft spot for female blues... (And I thought you'd like that Small White, especially now you know what a real Southern one looks like! )

It's true that the south coast is currently blessed with good numbers of LTB, David, but I'm still waiting to see a Cloudie this year, so remain of your sighting.

4th September was the first of the extraordinary run of 30 degree September days, and also clocked up eleven hours of sunshine locally. I found 13 species of butterfly today, but the combination of heat and sun made them very tricky and many (like this Holly Blue) were at the end of their summer broods.

A female Large White approachable enough to photograph was unusual...

...and this Comma and Speckled Wood were new...

...and this Small Copper not far off it.

Red Admiral numbers were low, but still ticking over, and I watched this one in partial shade which had found something of interest on this tree.

The hot spell (including a series of really warm nights) meant fewer outings, even locally - which may mean I get to catch up this diary a bit more quickly of course!

Dave

[trevor]

Good to see you today Dave. That was quite a party!
Some exceptional butterflies and a friendly group of people.
Needed to pinch myself to remind me it is October. And there's
the retail trade trying to get us in the festive mood with the sun shining and 24c!

[millerd]

Good to see you today Dave. That was quite a party!
Some exceptional butterflies and a friendly group of people.

Good to see you too, Trevor, and everyone else as well. Here's a shot which sums up very well what an enjoyable outing it was!

I'll get round to a full post about the day at some point, but here's a taster of what everyone was looking at...

Dave

[trevor]

Your group shot is an excellent souvenir of a great day!
Something to look back on. Great mating pair shot too.

[millerd]

Cheers, Trevor. It does make a good souvenir! Very natural, with no one posing for the shot. If you zoom right in, it is even possible to make out the grey blur that is those two butterflies...

Anyway, back to the timeline of my diary, stuck about a month behind on 6th September. It was warm and sunny back then too - actually stupidly hot and sunny, with it reaching 32 degrees locally. Having not gone out the previous day, I had a bit of a walk, but the butterflies looked as uncomfortable as I felt, and largely tucked themselves away. However, it's always possible to find a Red Admiral or two this year...

Also appearing happier than some with the heat were a selection of Small Heaths.

I did have to look hard to find Holly Blues, but there were a few females in the shade of the ivy carefully seeking out the growing flower buds and laying an egg or two before resting half in and half out of the sun.

Dave

[millerd]

9th September turned out to be the hottest day of the year (and also the warmest 9th September on record), reaching over 33 degrees. The series of hot days and very warm nights had made things uncomfortable indoors at home, so in the end I ventured out onto my local patch again. Curiously I found more to photograph than I had three days before.

I had another try at catching a Small Heath in flight.

Second brood Common Blues a month ago were rather more ragged than those of the third brood seen today...

...though the Small Coppers look remarkably similar.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking open wing Small Heath Dave That was me girding my loins before mentioning the envy inducing LTB in cop shot
And these count double as I had to type them in as my iPad doesn’t put them quick links in the correct place
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - one day I may actually get a close in-focus open-wing Small Heath. A nice fresh one, of course...

There are more LTBs to come - a few posts ahead, though. They are getting closer to you these days - they've been seen in Hampshire this year.

On 10th September, I ventured down to Denbies again, reasoning that it wouldn't be long before the slopes were bereft of butterflies until next spring. There was always the chance of a Clouded Yellow too: there have been very few years when I haven't seen the species here. However...

I was right in thinking that there wouldn't be much left now. There were Meadow Browns (though not as many as are often left at this time of year) and Small Heaths.

There were still a few Blues - mostly Adonis, but the odd Chalkhill remained too.

Even the Adonis were almost universally very worn now...

...but one individual (a late emerger I suppose) bucked the trend. Luckily, it was happy to allow a whole series of shots and I can't resist obliging the species in these circumstances.

Aside from some weary Brown Argus and female blues too worn to easily identify (and mostly tucked down in the grass laying when they were spotted), that was about it. Another check along the bottom hedge for signs of LTB on the BLEP proved negative.

A definite end of season feel here, at odds with the hot sunshine really.

Dave

[millerd]

11th September was another very warm and mostly sunny day, reaching 27 degrees locally. My usual walk revealed 13 different species and a respectable overall total of around 80 butterflies (though Small Whites accounted for 30 of these - there appeared to have been a sizeable emergence round here).

This is the time of year when the second broods of lycaenid species tend to fade out, but as third broods are a common feature in these parts, I'm never quite sure which are actually which. The worn...

...and not so worn.

More of today's variety:

In amongst all the Small Whites...

...were a few Green-veined...

..and unusually I squeezed one of each into a frame.

However, the latter species provided the more interesting shots, with a pairing involving a very lemony fresh female.

the female was left dangling, but they relocated...

...to a more mutually comfortable spot

I also couldn't ignore a particularly large and fresh Red Admiral. It seemed to have been the first to discover that the newly-opened ivy flowers provided better nectar than the last of the buddleia ones.

For some context, here is a habitat shot of an area where Small Coppers, Brown Argus and Common Blues are regularly found together. I'd say harmoniously, but in fact when all three are around they constantly squabble.

Though the trees here are beginning to show the first signs of autumn colours, a month later they didn't look a lot different - I think autumn was paused this year...

One last thing - this is what the Box Tree moth can do to a (neighbour's) carefully manicured hedge...

Dave

[Wurzel]

Great looking Adonis Dave:mrgreen:
The contrast in the underwings in those Green-veined Whites is quite stunning - I’d not twigged that they could be so markedly different as I usually see them individually:shock:

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel! It was surprising to find such a fresh Adonis so late -it did rather stand out amongst its fellows...

Green-veined Whites are a much-underrated butterfly in my book, especially when new, and the following day I encountered another.

12th September was not quite as warm (only 24 degrees), and the sun barely came out at all. I saw fewer butterflies on my local patch as a consequence, but one of them was, as mentioned, a fresh female GVW. It was difficult to approach, then when I did get closer, it shut its wings. In the end, with a bit of patience and perseverance, I ended up with a variety of shots.

I only saw two Commas today, but they were sitting close together.

One stayed open-winged...

...but the other shut up shop and displayed its dark mottled-green winter plumage.

A Large White stayed still while nectaring for once...

...and inevitably a Red Admiral struck a good pose.

Small Whites and Speckled Woods were the only other butterflies to show their faces, but I did find this attractive moth which (as usual) I cannot put a name to...

Dave

[bugboy]

Your mystery moth is a Light Emerald. They are actually green(ish) to start off with but fade to the off white after a few days.

[Wurzel]

Lovely Green-veined White again Dave - really well marked that one it could give the more exotic continental Whites a run for their money

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...Green-veined Whites are a much-underrated butterfly in my book, especially when new...

Absolutely! Haven't seen too many this latter half of the year but yours is a near-impeccable example of an understatedly beautiful butterfly.

Thanks too, Bugboy, for explaining how the colour in the Light Emerald fades out so quickly. You learn something new every day!

[millerd]

Thanks for the moth ID, Paul - it didn't occur to me that it might be an emerald! I do see them here occasionally, but obviously I've only met fresher ones before.

Cheers Wurzel and David. I like to get shots of fresh GVWs when I find them in both spring and summer broods - the two are markedly different and both broods can be stunning when new. It's good to see you are both fans of the species too.

My next outing was local again on 14th September, when once again it was 24 degrees but today the sun shone all day. I did one of my periodic counts today and ended up with the highest total for the month: 82 butterflies of 13 species. The tally looked like this:

Small White 22
Speckled Wood 14
Comma 8
Red Admiral 8
GVW 6
Small Heath 5
Meadow Brown 4
Brown Argus 4
Small Copper 3
Large White 3
Holly Blue 2
Common Blue 2
Brimstone 1

Brimstones rarely appear this late in the year, and no doubt the heat had woken a few up.

A selection from the rest...

Then there were the Red Admirals. A number of the species did not migrate northwards in July, but stayed and produced offspring. This new cadre were now setting up territories in the usual spots, and I chanced to stop in the middle of one. The inevitable happened and the owner landed on me and became difficult to shift. I took advantage by taking a series of shots at varying angles to the light, producing subtle variations in colour of this butterfly's already fantastic underside patterning.

In the end, the butterfly was persuaded to perch in a more natural position.

A bit further on, I found another making a tree its vantage point in the manner of a Grayling.

Dave

[millerd]

15th September was a similar sort of day - sunny and very warm again. With plenty to see locally, it seemed pointless really to struggle with the M25 and go to any of the other relatively close downland sites where I'd probably not see much at all. Here is a mix of what was out and about...

Probably the most interesting sight was this resting Hummingbird Hawk Moth, which looked quite fresh. Amazing-looking tail-end bristles!

Dave

[Wurzel]

It seemed to be a good year for HBHMs Dave and they also chose to have a bit of rest a fair bit as well Lovely intimate views of the Admiral - to get him off you would have needed someone to have called “Come in number 68 your time is up!”

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

You're right Wurzel - I've seen Hummers around in several spots, including that day at Shipton B. However, all my shots this year have been of resting insects.

Over the years, I've had far more Red Admirals land on me than any other butterfly. They seem to show no fear and will persistently buzz you if you deliberately stand in the middle of their patch. Thoroughly entertaining!

Dave

[millerd]

With more warm sunshine threatened, on 16th September I decided it was time to visit the Sussex coast where by all accounts it was not possible to avoid seeing a Long-tailed Blue at the moment. However, I made more of a targeted approach and headed initially for the Tidemills car park on the A259 between Newhaven and Seaford.

As I stepped out of the car after a surprisingly easy journey, who should be walking purposefully past but Bugboy, no doubt on a similar mission. It turned out that Paul had just been up the road to the bus stop on the Buckle bypass where he had found a female LTB laying on the BLEP that flourishes in this unlikely spot. He intended to head the other way know and look at Tidemills and the Newhaven area before heading for Brighton.

I elected to make the most of a definite potential sighting and wander off to the bus stop before doing anything else. This was a good move as it happens, as I didn't see any other LTB that day, but the female Paul had found was clearly not going anywhere while she still had eggs to lay. She was a bit worn now, but still made a good subject and was my first female LTB seen with wings open. I did take a few underside shots as well.

This looked to me like a vacated egg...

...and this looks as if it could be the holes created by a larva entering a flower bud.

After a while with this butterfly, I set off back down to look around Tidemills, but found virtually no butterflies at all of any kind. The next port of call was the other way - up on the Downs behind Seaford at High & Over.

Dave