Speckled Wood - Favourite Photo of 2023

[Wurzel]

Speckled Wood - Favourite Photo of 2023

Week 18

Not long to go now! Time to check the final selection for the overall Fave but don’t forget the last few species!

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

[Wurzel]

Speckled Wood

This was taken on the same day as my Favourite Orange-tip but earlier in the day and in a different county. We’d (the family that is) gone for a spring walk to Garston Wood as the Bluebells and Purple orchids were out but the butterflies were playing a little harder to get. And this is why this is my favourite shot of this species. Once we’d left the confines of Garston Wood itself and we were wandering along the tracks towards Deanland my hopes of finding butterflies started to fade. However on the high hedged path a butterfly just popped into view and stayed sitting for a good while with wings wide open. It was lovely and fresh and was practically bombproof despite me getting right up into its grill. It was a great reminder to always expect something.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

This was the first one I saw last year. Flicking through my images for this thread I was taken by just how yellow/orange the marking are.

[Bertl]

Most of the speckled wood butterfly I saw in 2023 was on a warm day on 17th May at Cambus o May.

Best photos attached

Bert.

[ChrisStamp]

Speckled Wood is still a novelty for me here in East Perthshire. They have been spreading, and I've been tracking them approaching our village - their range was only 1km away at the end of 2023, so I'm expecting them to arrive in my garden in 2024. This is a 2023 picture of one from a recently-established colony on the north bank of the Tay.

[David Lazarus]

I am fortunate enough to have ideal habitats in the local area for Speckled Woods - and there were plenty of them, mostly males bombarding me from their perches while I was walking past. Despite this they always settle with wings wide showing off their beautiful markings. Too many to select from, it was a hard choice. I settled for the following. Firstly, the lovely underside of a newly emerged woody from early June - they have spots along a bridleway where the sun filters through the tree canopy:

Speckled Wood 04/06/2023 Meadgate bridleway, Chelmsford

I had to include this wonderful specimen from later in the year at my local park, with outstretched wings maximizing the heat generated in partial sun:

Speckled Wood 07/10/2023 Meadgate Park, Chelmsford

Sorry, I had to include this one as well, because it was a little smaller and stubby, and seemed quite a bit darker than the usual ones we have around here:

Speckled Wood 08/09/2023 Meadgate bridleway, Chelmsford

I love woodies, and had one in my garden for a few days who would fly around manically each time I got too close. So manic was his flight he did not take care and got hit by a lorry full on to end up on the road. I was heartbroken and went to retrieve his body, only to see him fly off never to be seen again.

[overthepass]

First one photographed in 2023, from a local nature reserve in SW London in early May. It looked quite fresh at first glance, although closer examination suggests it had been around for a while.

In autumn they were abundant in our area of SW London and surrounds, but by then most of my attention was directed to documenting the excellent showing of Brown Hairstreaks which were flying in many of the same places as the Speckled Woods. Eventually, in early October, a walk around one of our local hairstreak hotspots seemed to confirm that their season was indeed over, and I paid a bit more attention to the Speckled Woods which were still around in decent numbers. This one was the smartest on show.

[Goldie M]

I found the Speckled Wood in Castle Gardens Tankerton on the 2nd of June last year, compared to the year before very few were to be found there Goldie

[Allan.W.]

Saw reasonable numbers of Speckled Woods locally (mid-Kent ) ,at several different sites but took very few shots .These are my favourites. Allan.W.

[David M]

This was the first one I saw last year. Flicking through my images for this thread I was taken by just how yellow/orange the marking are...

Never seen one like that in the UK, Paul. It's very like the southern European version.

[bugboy]

This was the first one I saw last year. Flicking through my images for this thread I was taken by just how yellow/orange the marking are...

Never seen one like that in the UK, Paul. It's very like the southern European version.

Not the ones I saw in and around Gibraltar a few years ago, they weren't orange, they were ORANGE!

[Wolfson]

Speckled Wood seemed to have an ok year as they appeared to be about in typical numbers at my usual haunts. In June I was walking in a friends Norfolk garden when we came across this individual basking in the dappled sunshine doing what Speckled Wood do best.

[David M]

Not the ones I saw in and around Gibraltar a few years ago, they weren't orange, they were ORANGE!

Yes, the ones in southern Spain (and Gibraltar) are very orange indeed....and of course, once you get to the Macaronesian islands, they morph into something even more extreme.

[Neil Freeman]

An average year at best for me with Speckled Wood in 2023. I saw them regularly at all the local spots I would expect to, including my garden, although numbers never seemed to really take off, not even later in the year when they often have a late flourish.

My favourite is probably the first one I saw, at my local spot by Wagon Lane and was the first time I have ever taken a shot of a Specklie on blossom. Although in the shot below it is just basking, I also observed and took a couple of (so-so) shots of it nectaring from the blossom, also something I have never seen before.

Speckled Wood - Wagon Lane 18.04.2023

Also, I can't resist posting a few more.

One from the local park by my mom's house...

Speckled Wood - Langley Hall 25.04.2023

...and a few from my garden,

Specklled Wood - Coverdale 01.05.2023

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 07.05.2023

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 02.08.2023

Speckled Wood - 07.10.2023

The last ones I saw were a couple of tired looking males in mid-October that chased each other into next door's garden.

Cheers,

Neil.

[David M]

Took quite a few images of Specklies last year, meaning I had a job to trawl through them and pick a favourite.

This mint fresh beauty from Teifi Marshes on 30th August is the winner: