Bugboys mission

[Wurzel]

"No eye-catching ab’s today" I reckon that female Common Blue, whilst not an 'ab' is still pretty eye-catching Bugboy -a lovely slaty blue

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Indeed Wurzel, but when you come across an eye catching Marshie ab the day before, it all becomes relative!


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May 2024

A quick overview of May 2024, overall bloody awful would be my glass half empty 'stuck at work when it was sunny' assessment! The what seemed to be constant cloud cover was probably exasperated by my not being able to get any Leave during the month. On the flipside there were some great highlights, the discovery of what seems to be a thriving colony of Green Hairstreak on my local patch, finding a pair in cop and what was probably their best season for them in my experience. Some excellent Duke action in the Chilton’s and a couple of lovely days out in the Wiltshire hills (complete with that impressive Marshie ab.)

So my final May post is just a few choice snaps I took on lunchtime wanders at work when I was dreaming of being further afield!

Wednesday 8th.

Thursday 9th.

Wednesday 15th.

Sunday 19th.

Friday 24th.

Two weeks off in June means this is a long month of posts, might not get through them all until I’m waving goodbye to the last LTB as it departs for the winter, bear with me !

[bugboy]

Going back to that Marshie ab, been trying to pin down a name for it. The best fit I can find for the upperside seems to be virgata, whereas the underside looks most closely to melanoleuca.

[Wurzel]

"Indeed Wurzel, but when you come across an eye catching Marshie ab the day before, it all becomes relative!"...you might have been suffering from a condition called 'Abblindness' Nice to see the photos from your lunch time wanderings - sounds like your lunch breaks are similar to mine "was dreaming of being further afield"

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Pretty much standard thought process during my lunch breaks Wurzel


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June 2024

Tuesday 4th. June started much as May ended, overcast. However today was set to be warm and a little muggy, which in the first week of June means Black Hairstreak are on the menu. I got to Epsom Common mid morning, but things took a while to get going. I occupied myself with some local Odonata. There were lots of Azure Damselflies around, a few Large Red and Blue-tailed but the White-legged Damselflies were the most readily approached.

Freshly emerged females are a creamy white, but gain black markings as they mature

This young male shows the flanges that give them their name although I prefer the alternative name, Featherleg Damselfly.

Dragonflies were also around. I put up a female Black-tailed Skimmer and followed her to a bramble thicket only to find she had morphed into a female Broad-bodied Chaser. Very strange, but as I got closer I found that I had both species sat next to each other.

Black-tailed Skimmer left, Broad-bodied Chaser right.

Males of both species were also found.

Black-tailed Skimmer

Broad-bodied Chaser

As I was occupying myself with these there had been sporadic sightings of Hairstreaks flitting around but nothing settled for an hour or so. And when they did start they were being very annoying.

It was close to midday before I came across one that was behaving (Millerd would also photograph this one a few days later, recognisable from the small nick from the wing). There was only the one other enthusiast present today, who was after a lifer, so he was overjoyed when I pointed this one out to him.

As far as the target was concerned that was it but I did manage my first Meadow Brown of the year

And walking back to the station a few nice-looking Speckled Wood.

[millerd]

It's always interesting to see the same individual butterflies at different points in their existence - three days later and there was no noticeable extra wear on that birdstruck female, Paul. I wonder how long they last (assuming they continue to evade birds, dragonflies and crab spiders...)?

Dave

[bugboy]

According to Paul Whalley (Butterfly Watching 1980) Dave, they live up to 3 weeks. However, he also states Small Copper live about 3 weeks and I think you may have proved that to be an underestimate! Mind you I’m inclined to go with the Black Hairstreak given it’s narrow flight period.


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June 2024

Saturday 8th was mostly a drab, cool and cloudy affair, but there was a glimmer of hope that the clouds would break at some point in the afternoon. Given this, and the fact that Heath Fritillary are relatively easy to find when roosting, I hopped on to a train to Hockley. It was still cloudy when I arrived but walking along the bottom path, checking out any areas where lush growths of Cow-wheat was found it didn’t take much to find the first roosting one. A few snaps then looking round I noted a few more scattered around in ones and twos. More snaps and more looking produced more until I amassed around thirty sat quietly around me.

The merest hint of extra warmth by a slight thinning of the cloud had an almost immediate effect with wings creaking open all around me and I realised there were a few more than thirty!

The cloud thinned and thickened periodically with the Fritillaries reacting accordingly for the next hour or so until eventually it started to break up properly, and the usual Heath Fritillary shenanigans ensued. It would seem most of the females had already been mated as there was an endless procession of males harassing females as they fed, with in flight females routinely being followed a train of four or five eager males. I did come across one mating pair trying to remain unseen from the throng of activity.

In the end I didn’t move from this one small area for the twoish hours I was there, in total there were easily over a hundred here and every time the sun came out from behind a cloud they would rise en masse from where they’d sat out the cloudy spell, I always find this a most wonderfully ethereal experience.

Just to put David Lazarus's mind at ease, non of these images (or from the next post) were obtained by crushing of foodplants/roosting spots/anything else

[bugboy]

June 2024

Saturday 8th cont. During my visit, with so many targets to aim at, I took an obscene amount of pictures and whilst going through them you couldn’t help but notice just how variable they really are. Here’s a range with a couple of extremes thrown in.

Near the end of my visit I became aware of a writhing bundle of Fritillaries which turned out to be the result of two mating pairs sat close to each other. The pheromones were attracting males from far and wide. These two pairs weren’t getting any alone time any time soon !

[Wurzel]

Cracking Blackstreaks from earlier Bugboy and the Heaths are magnificent - so variable and seeing them in such numbers must have been awesome

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...you couldn’t help but notice just how variable they really are...

Very much so, Paul. A couple of them look quite like False Heaths in all honesty.

[bugboy]

Thank’s Wurzel, more Hairstreaks below
Thanks David, like the Pyrgus, this group of Fritillaries confuse the hell out of me the other side of the Channel. I’m sure things click into place after you get used to them but there’s also all the regional races to contend with as well as the recent genetics which are now splitting up cryptic species, looks like a minefield to the inexperienced like me.


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June 2024

Sunday 9th. I returned for another audience with Surreys best known Black Hairstreaks. They were once again somewhat uncooperative with a fair amount of activity high up but precious little lower down. To be fair it was a warm bright day and and I hadn’t arrived as early as planned so one shouldn’t be too surprised.

I eventually came across one feeding on bramble, but I still had to hold my camera at arm’s length above my head to reach it.

To start with there were four of us but as the morning wore on more people turned up so I decided to wander further afield to escape the crowds. This is something I’ve meant to do in previous years since they known to be widely distributed across the whole site. I hadn’t gone far when I came across my first Large Skipper of the year, something that would become a bit of a season rarity, at least for me. There was also a Meadow Brown that seemed to have enough for the day and was having a lay down.

It didn’t take too long to come across another Hairstreak hotspot, quite a large area and best of all, I had them all to myself . Although it had clouded over somewhat and cooled down a tad, they were still mostly uncooperative, rarely letting me close and more often than not buggering off after one shot, if not before. Still there was enough of them and dogged persistence paid off in the end.

[millerd]

Some of those earlier shots have insane numbers of Heath Fritillaries in them! The place will be full of eggs - will there be enough cow wheat to feed them all? They seem utterly dependent on it in the UK - presumably in mainland Europe its tastes are less restricted as it seems to be a common landscape butterfly rather than a habitat specialist? Great photos of them.

The first time I went to Epsom Common for Black Hairstreak I had no real idea where to look, so I wandered (and nearly got completely lost) and saw the butterflies in ones and twos all over the area - almost entirely around the tops of the trees and shrubs, though! They are clearly well-established and widespread here. I like the one caught on takeoff - a frequent sight, though usually just out of frame as it makes its escape...

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking collection of Hairstreaks Bugboy The one time I visited the site Dave and I generally had the best luck when it was just us two, although at times a step-ladder would have been handy, either that or arms like Reed Richards

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Dave. I could have panned right and got a similar image in the Heath Fritillary clearing. There was certainly no shortage of Cow-wheat, hopefully it didn’t get trampled in later days.
There were many shots of empty leaves and flowers where Black Hairstreaks were perched moments before I took the picture!
Thank’s Wurzel. I do prefer to do my butterflying away from the crowds. As much as everyone is usually polite and good natured, a big part of the reason I do it is to escape people.


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June 2024

Monday 10th, Wales day 1. This is a trip I’ve been meaning to take for several years but for one reason or another never got round to. Specifically I wanted to catch up with the couple of Great Orme specialities so I’d booked myself four nights in the cheapest B&B in Llandudno I could find for what I hoped would be the start of their flight periods. Well, I arrived mid afternoon and despite worries over what weather I was going to find, day one proved to be very sunny, at least in the afternoon anyway so after checking in I went off to get my look around the rock itself. First impressions, rocky and VERY windy. I explored a fair amount of the southeast corner for a couple of hours but found very little in way of butterflies. A handful of Small Heath and a solitary Large Skipper was all that showed themselves.

Luckily the birdlife did provide some distraction. Stonechat and Meadow Pipit were quite common but it was the noisy arrival of a pair of Chough that caught my attention. They have a very distinctive silhouette, even without seeing the red bill and legs, the squared off tail and long fingered wings combined with the constant coarse call make them easily identifiable. Fun fact, like many birds’ names, they say their name, except over time we’ve changed how we say their name. Originally it was pronounced ‘cow’ not the ‘chuff’ we now say.

Stonechat

Chough

Anyway, things would improve but not today, I hadn’t eaten properly since breakfast!

[bugboy]

June 2024

Tuesday 11th, Wales day 2. I awoke to find the weather had deteriorated overnight, as predicted. Cool, grey, windy and rainy. However, the same forecasts did say it would brighten up a bit later although actually blue sky and sun seemed to be a bit of an optional extra depending on what forecast you put your money on. So, it was at 9am I was found walking along the seafront in driving rain heading for Great Orme to look for butterflies, clutching hopefully at whatever optimism I could find!

Perhaps the name Happy Valley, the destination, was a good omen. Handily situated to be partially sheltered from the wind and upon arrival the rain eased leaving just the cloud as the main hinderance. Of course Blues don’t make much of an effort to hide away whilst roosting and it didn’t take long to finally find the target, several in fact all nestled in the middle of a Barberry and looking around there were many more in the surround turf.

Exploring further up the slope revealed, particularly in clumps of Bramble that dotted the slope.

I had to wait another hour before the cloud thinned just enough for some wings to creak open and over the next hour increasing breaks in the cloud up above produced matching splashes of blue all around me,

However, the real prizes were the females.

Having filled my boots by lunchtime I thought I’d chance my luck by visiting one of the introduced sites further east along the coast. Unfortunately sods law stepped in to produce the best bit of sun during the bus ride down and then cloud over again upon arrival. Butterflies were few and far between, so much so the only thing to get photographed was a Meadow Brown.

Luckily the long days of June meant I still had plenty of time to fit in some more butterflying, there's plenty more Silver-studded Blues to come!

[Pete Eeles]

Some stunning photos there Buggy! The variability in the appearance of the females is quite something. Did you manage to watch them going to roost, when quite large numbers can build up?

Cheers,

- Pete

[bugboy]

Thanks Pete, they really are quite stunning and addictively photogenic! Funny you should ask about their sleeping arrangements…


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June 2024

Tuesday 11th, Wales day 2, cont. So, after failing to find much of anything at Mynydd Marian, I returned to Llandudno where the evening sun tempted me back to Happy Valley. Here some parts were now in shadow, and this had put many of the Blues to bed, but other parts were still getting the sun and there was still plenty of activity to be found.

Halfway through this particular stay I also caught sight of the second site target. A Great Orme Grayling bounced through settled briefly on the path and then bounced off before I could get a snap off, but at least I now knew they were out too. Shortly after that one vanished it (or another one) appeared further up the slope. Cue me nearly breaking several limbs as I scrambled over loose scree to get close enough for a record shot.

Back to the Blues, it was a rumbling tummy that finally tore me away from them, I would return though.

[trevor]

Those roosting shots were worth the trip on their own.
I agree about the females, stunning! Pleased you were not snookered by the weather.

[millerd]

You appear to have made the most of your time on the Orme, Paul. It's a great place to visit even without the indigenous subspecies of butterflies - trams and a cable-car, and some terrific views.

However, those Silver-studs are amazing, and appear to be thriving there as well. And a Grayling as well - it really does look different to the ones down here in Surrey.

Cheers,

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

I am enjoying your reports from the Great Orme Paul, brings back memories of when we visited, I cannot believe it was 8 years ago viewtopic.php?t=5424&start=1760

We stayed in a B&B by the west shore beach in Llandudno from where a path took me up to 'Invalids Walk', a path that runs along the southern lower slope of the Orme. We did visit Happy Valley and found hundreds of SSBs like you but being so close to Invalids Walk I spent more time there and found even more SSBs. I also found the endemic Graylings at both locations.

I really must think about going back again some time.

Cheers,

Neil.