July Sightings

[Gibster]

Hi Trev, superb photo of the greenbottle. Shame about the distracting background clutter

[felix123]

Went to Ware Cliffs today saw numerous Small skippers(First in my life) and 4 Marbled whites (first ever) also lots of Medow browns and Ringlets, Fresh Comma and 2 Large whites.

Aparently there is a small colony of lulworth skippers at Burton Bradstock has anyone seen them there?

Great day!

Felix

[David M]

Tremendous day butterfly watching. Arrived at Lower Woods in Gloucestershire at 10.45 and spent approx 5 hours on site. This place is a veritable butterfly paradise. There are dry and marshy meadows, as well as ancient woodland with huge rides and clearings. The two best places were Plumber's Trench and Horton Great Trench, the latter of which is believed to be a right of way that predates the Romans.

These 100 feet+ wide rides were absolutely and literally crawling with insect life and my only regret was that I'm not a general insect specialist, as some of the dragonflies/moths/hornets were of a variety I'd never seen before.

As far as butterfly numbers are concerned, it was (for me) a record breaking day in the sense that I broke my previous best of 13 species in a day and also saw more aggregate numbers than I'd ever seen before.

The location is here:

http://www.gloucestershirewildlifetrust ... penElement

The tally was:

1. Ringlet 300+ (Silly numbers just about everywhere - on the ground, by the hedgerows and in the trees)
2. Meadow Brown 150-250 (not far behind Ringlets, though they were even more abundant in the meadows at the edge of the wood)
3. Silver Washed Fritillary 80-120 (never thought I'd get bored of seeing this species, but they were literally everywhere)
4. Marbled White 25-40 (good numbers in the meadows and a few in the woodland rides)
5. Small Skipper 20-30 (after positively identifying the first 10 as Small rather than Essex Skippers, I recorded all subsequent sightings as Sylvestris)
6. Comma 14
7. Large White 12
8. Speckled Wood 12
9. Large Skipper 9
10. White Admiral 7
11. Green Veined White 6
12. Small Tortoiseshell 3
13. Purple Hairstreak 1
14. Red Admiral 1

Couple of things to comment on:

*SWFs and Commas seem not to like one another. Is it because they're similar from a distance but when they meet they mutually recognise their differences?

*Too many Meadow Browns/Ringlets makes for chaos in the woods - White Admirals and SWFs were constantly harassed by these to the point where observing them settled proved frustrating.

Plumber's Trench - butterfly heaven

Male SWFs were abundant today

Female SWFs were scarce but more placid and photo-friendly

This is where my camera falls short - had to take this Purple Hairstreak from a distance

SWFs everywhere!

Checking the antennae is becoming an obsession!

Only two of the seven I saw were within genuine photo reach

Taken me 42 years to see this species, but it was worth the wait

[selbypaul]

selbypaul referred to Lindrick:

Visited Lindrick Common near Worksop today

Lindrick sounds a very interesting place and although I can see "Lindrick Common" on the OS map, it appears to be a golf course on either side of the A57. Is the buttefly "hot spot" to the west in Lindrick Dale or even on the edge of the woods even further south?

Jack

To be honest, I'm not sure myself. I don't think I found the "hotspot" so to speak as I didn't manage to see any Silver Studded Blue's. The best spot I found was just North of the road, where the main bridleway crosses the A57. There is a longer grass area by the tee's for one of the holes. I saw the Marbled White and Dark Green Fritillary's there, plus a range of the commoner species

[doggie]

Great photo of the Hornet Clearwing moth Doggie... Brilliant impersonation of a real hornet isn't it and most predators would steer well clear of this harmless moth. It won't have been far away from a Black Poplar tree which are pretty rare in the UK either, so well done. There is a tree outside my workplace which is used by Hornet Clearwing and their hatching can be timed almost to the day. Yours are a couple of weeks later than "mine" though as they have already been and gone.

My wife and I went to Fermyn Woods today, partly for the Emperors and partly for White Letter Hairstreaks. We were lucky on both counts, although the only adult WLH we saw was not keen to have its photo taken. I did get a shot of a pupa though, which was nice ...

Trev.

Thanks very much - yes, I had no suspicion it was a moth at first, a remarkable evolution indeed! It even looks and sounds like a hornet in flight

Lovely clear shot of an emporer there - I've never seen one. Must make more of an effort

[millerd]

Amongst other things seen today at Bernwood, there was a venerable Black Hairstreak down on the grass sipping honeydew that had dripped from the trees above, and a Purple Emperor along the sunny path from the main car park to the meadow. The latter failed to stop, sadly. The meadow is a riot of wild flowers and Marbled Whites at the moment.

Dave

[Matsukaze]

Good numbers of Grayling doing what they do best, playing chase and then hiding, on the cliffs at Brean Down.

[AndrewP]

Hi,

Jack Harrison was asking about Lindrick Common. I visited the site this morning and the drak green fritillaries, marbled whites and silver-studded blues were out in profusion. What a fantastic sight, even if they were introduced. They seem to be self-sustaining colonies.

The site is a rough meadow which can be accessed by parking further west than was mentioned by selbypaul. There is a wood with a track at SK541827. There is space to park 3 or 4 cars at the end of the track. Then walk north and take the track right - the meadow is immediately east of the wood (and north of the A57).

Andrew

[Perseus]

Hello,

4 July 2010
Like a falling leaf a Swallow-tailed Moth, Ourapteryx sambucaria, dropped out of the tree canopy on to the meadow on the verges of the Coastal-Downs Link Cyclepath midway between Old Shoreham and the Cement Works at Upper Beeding. Nine species of butterfly were seen on the Adur Levels during the morning including frequent Ringlet Butterflies, three Wall Browns, three Comma Butterflies and one Small Skipper. My trip was curtailed quickly because of excessive bicycle traffic.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2010.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2010.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: July 2010
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/July2010.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316

[Perseus]

Hello,

5 July 2010
The first Chalkhill Blue Butterfly of the year was recorded at 11.06 am on the lower slopes of Mill Hill.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2010.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2010.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: July 2010
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/July2010.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316

[selbypaul]

Hi,

Jack Harrison was asking about Lindrick Common. I visited the site this morning and the drak green fritillaries, marbled whites and silver-studded blues were out in profusion. What a fantastic sight, even if they were introduced. They seem to be self-sustaining colonies.

The site is a rough meadow which can be accessed by parking further west than was mentioned by selbypaul. There is a wood with a track at SK541827. There is space to park 3 or 4 cars at the end of the track. Then walk north and take the track right - the meadow is immediately east of the wood (and north of the A57).

Andrew

Cheers Andrew
Your tip is much appreciated. If the weather is good on Wednesday or Thursday, I'll pop back to try and see the Silver Studded Blue.
Paul

[Jonathan Evans]

Seen today at Glamorgan Canal Local Nature Reserve, North Cardiff, were: 10+ Gatekeeper, 2 Small Copper, 40+ Small Tortoiseshell, 2 Red Admiral and 1 Peacock. Also Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Small and Large Skipper, were very numerous, with smaller numbers of Large, Small and Green-veined Whites.

Jon

[Vince Massimo]

Neil and myself both got a tip-off from Susie about a number of Silver Washed Fritillary aberrations that she had seen during the morning at Southwater Woods. I got there at 1.30pm and Neil arrived shortly afterwards, soon to be joined by Susie who had managed to escape from her kids for a few more hours. Looking at her pictures she had got 2 aberrant males and an aberrant female, all in the meadow, as well as a Valezina female (pictures now on Susie's diary). By that time I had already got a dark White Admiral and a different Valezina female.

When we all arrived at the meadow the bramble flowers where the Fritillaries had previously been seen were now in shade and none of the aberrations were in sight. There were however still Fritilaries and White Admirals in the locality. There were also 3 Purple Emperor seen in the canopy of the Madgeland master tree but they were not coming down, so Neil then decided to try his luck at Botany Bay. I was going to follow, but changed my mind at the last moment and went back to the meadow where I caught up with the aberrant female that had been seen in the morning.

It seems that the early morning is the best time to visit the brambles on the sunny side of the meadow for these aberrant Fritillaries. You also need to look out for a very rare bilateral gynandromorph which is male on the right side and female on the left. This was seen by Colin Knight along the main ride on Sunday 4th July. A photo of this has alreday been posted on the species album.

Also seen during the course of the afternoon were my first Purple Hairstreak and Gatekeeper of the year. My strange sightings of 'pale' White Admirals last week turned out to be Marbled White which fly in the meadow and occasionally come into the wood. I also had a careful search for the aberrant Small Tortoiseshell but this was not found and I have seen no reports of it since last Friday. By the time I left at 7pm White Admirals were still active in good numbers, mainly nectaring on bramble.

Vince.

[Jack Harrison]

Thanks AndrewP [for the useful information about Lindrick Common, Worksop]. I'll be along later this month.

Jack

[NickB]

Some nice stuff guys & gals. Nothing like that here except the normal stuff but did find this big (35mm) beast - any ideas?

Some sort of wasp .....?

[Rebecca]

I'm not sure if its nation wide but I cannot believe the numbers of butterflies this year, its fantastic.
Just out walking the dogs across the fields and into the wood on the farm where I live, I have seen several small tortoiseshell, 1 painted lady, 3 common blues, a couple of red admirals, a brimstone, 10+ large white, 3 gatekeepers, 50+ meadow browns, 30+ large skippers, a couple of small skippers, about a dozen or so speckled woods and hundreds of ringlets.
Walking along the overgrown pathway at the back of the woods is just amazing, the air is thick with ringlets and damselflies. I cannot remember seeing anything like it!

[Mark Senior]

I was at Southwater Woods yesterday morning , another wonderful day . 19 species including the Emperor but no close encounters sadly .
Also saw a most interesting SWF aberattion with no markings at all on the upperside . Possibly similar to ab oscellata in the Cockayne database or a much paler version of ab valesina-eudora .

[wavelea1]

Just back from two of the hottest weeks I can remember in Norfolk - unfortunately as most butterflies were on the wing but

My first silver-studded blues at Kelling Heath (20+)
Dark Green Fritillaries at Horsey Gap (50+) although only 6 pics.
and Swallowtails of course - seen at Strumpshaw Fen, Hicking Broad and Horsey - again struggled to take pics.

We recorded 13 different species in our back garden this time including Ringlets and Large Skippers - AND we were informed of a Camberwell Beauty west of Holkam Bay where we observed White-letter Hairstreaks - but no pics sadly.

Mike

[Perseus]

Hello,

5 July 2010
Shoreham, Sussex , 17 butterfly species in two hours

Chalkhill Blue 1 Marbled White 36+ Meadow Brown 33+ Peacock 1
Small Heath 9 Gatekeeper 9+ Ringlet 7 Small Blue 2+
Small Skipper 2 Large Skipper 1 Comma 3 Speckled Wood 3
Large White 3+ Small White 3+ Green-veined White 1 Small Tortoiseshell 1+
Red Admiral 3 6-spotted Burnet Moth 3 Yellow Shell Moth 1

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2010.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2010.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: July 2010
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/July2010.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316

[Piers]

IMG_3955-01GE.jpg

Checking the Cockayne database I think that ab.nigra is the closest match I can find.

Hi Vince,

It's ab. nigrita.

Ab. nigra has entirely black hind wings but the forewing pattern is always pretty much normal.

Felix.