April 2009 Lepidoptera Sightings

[NickB]

- but impossible to photograph with the family nagging me to get a move on

If I drag my son (31) away as company camping and cycling (and surprisingly doing both where there are lots of butterflies )
he can get fed-up. Last time his frustration finally showed when, as I dismounted for the nth time that morning, chasing a Clouded Yellow across the down, he finally cracked... " How many pictures of bleeding yellow butterflies do you need, anyway?" (or something like that!)...Sadly, the wrong question. The answer is of course, as many as possible! He is showing signs of being less enthusiastic this year; I wonder why?
So, the answer is Mark, grab every opportunity you can by yourself - half an hour at lunchtime is enough to get used to taking some shots
Good luck!
N

[xmilehigh]

Solitary Grizzled Skipper today @ Brown's Folly, same one as mentioned in Eccles prior post.

[Shirley Roulston]

Nick, I could take photos of the Orange Tip all day, I don't know why I just like watching them of all butterflies. The other day I took my Dad for a run and said I'd seen two male OT going round and round and would have loved to have taken their photos, Dad said surely you have enough photos by now and I just said I'll never have enough, no answer came back! I have a total passion for OT. I think because they are so small and pretty. The weather here is heavy rain and rotton wind.
Shirley

[Dave McCormick]

Hi Shirley,

Guess I am the same with OTs, really don't know why I like them either, but I could have spent all day out photgraphing them if the weather had remained good, dang I forgot my HD video camera, next time I go there I'll bring it to get some videos of them.

[Susie]

I had a better than expected morning at Cissbury Ring today. Saw plenty of peacocks and brimstones, also orange tips, green veined white, large white, grizzled skipper and my first for the year small coppers and a green hairstreak. Also possible dingy skipper and painted lady but not close enough for a definite ID.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
I spent the morning on a private site where we (BC Sussex) have been managing the habitat for the benefit of the Duke of Burgundy for some years now, in partnership with the South Downs Joint Committee. It's still early in the flight period here and the number seen (7) should swell rapidly this weekend if we get the good weather promised. The most exciting aspect of today's visit is that 3 of the Dukes were on previously unoccupied land, nearly 1 Km away from the main population. Good news for a species that is struggling throughout most of its range.
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Three or four Dukes Ivinghoe on Wednesday plus similar number of Green Hairstreaks. Dingy Skipper reported by another enthusiast but not seen myself.

Despite appearances, NO flash used - it was a bright sunshiney day!

At nearby Totternhoe, all the expected whites plus two Holly Blues but again no Dingies.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Earlier someone wrote (think it was on this thread) about the difficulty of photographing Orange Tips commenting that sunshine with occasional cloud is ideal; they calm down once the sun goes in. I followed OTs in just that type of weather on 29 April and although they kept flying for a couple of minutes after the sun went in, they did eventually settle, almost invariably on Cow Parsley (camouflage?) and are then easy to photograph. However, I have never seen OTs feeding on Cow Parsley - has anyone?

Just as the sun is about to come out again, they begin to open their wings.

Jack

[Perseus]

Hello,

29 April 2009
Mike Parsons and his two colleagues from Butterfly Conservation in Dorset were bashing the Privet on the lower slopes of Mill Hill, Shoreham, in an unsuccessful attempt to find the caterpillars of the Barred Tooth-striped Moth, Trichopteryx polycommata. Mike identified for me a Green Carpet Moth, Colostygia pectinataria. I had always realised that some of the Carpet Moths seen on Mill Hill were different in colour from the ones seen in Shoreham town and I have probably misidentified them before as the Common Carpet Moth, Epirrhoe alternata. The micro-moth Pyrausta nigrata was very common on the lower slopes as in the previous week.

Mill Hill
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/MillHill2009.html

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2009.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2009.html
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2008.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: April 2009
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/April2009.html

[FISHiEE]

Hi Jack. Nice pics

I often find Orange Tips roosted up on cow parsley and other 'small multiple white flower plants' so think it is mostly a camouflage thing and it is incredibly effective I must say.

[Shirley Roulston]

I like your photos Jack, my favourite butterfly at the moment. I found one to-day and it was slower than usual I think it was a bit damp. One or two photos.

the little butterfly was resting inside the leaf on my pear tree.
Shirley