September sightings

[Paul Wetton]

Visited Hope Gap on Saturday to look for Clouded Yellow. Two males were found on the lower slopes at the end of the gulley thanks for the information Neil. One was fairly worn with some staining on the hind wings, the other in pretty good condition. Don't know how these compare to the two you saw Neil. No sign of the Helice female unfortunately.

Other butterflies included several Large, Small and Green-veined Whites, large numbers of Small Heath and Meadow Brown, a single male Common Blue (very worn), a larger blue in extremely poor condition that looked like a male Chalkhill Blue, difficult ti ID due to wear and tear. Single Comma, Red Admiral and Small Tortoiseshell and many fresh Small Copper.

In woods near by were more Red Admirals, Comms, Speckled Wood and several Brimstone. Not a bad day out for the time of year.

Paul

[NickB]

Well, went to Minsmere RSPB in Suffolk yesterday - not too much to twitch about tho' there were waves of people wandering up and down the beach looking for a Lapland Bunting and a King Eider that had been sighted. Didn't see them but did see a short-eared owl that my sister and I put up on the nearby heath and it gave a fly-over the scrapes in Minsmere later. Also a couple of Hobbies giving dragon-fly catching exhibitions and the inevitable marsh harrier, egrets and avocets too. Did see a few Small Copper - a couple right next to the beach in the dunes, Speckled Wood and a Comma, with a few Large Whites and the odd old Red Admiral and Brown Argus...

Minsmere

Sizewell B behind Minsmere

Dunwich Beach - Sizewell B in distance

..also saw some Parasols - got this picture just before someone picked them!

Parasols

[Neil Hulme]

Hi all,
For those living in the Bournemouth area, and still wishing to see Clouded Yellow this year, some details of where I saw two yesterday can be found at the base of page
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4065&start=160.
In reply to Paul; yes - the two Clouded Yellows you saw at Hope Gap fit the description (in terms of wear and tear) of those that I saw. They really are in short supply this year!
Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Nuclear power generation remains controversial. But just imagine it wasn’t controversial. Sizewell B would surely become a listed building in the future. It somehow typifies from an aesthetic perspective the very best of 20th century industry.

Allegedly, Black Redstarts breed on the power station. I once saw an early season loose flock of six birds on the grassy areas to the seaward side. They are stunning birds when seen close up.

Jack

[Michaeljf]

NickB,
nice photos there. I especially like the Parasols with the ladybird creeping up it. Sounds like a birding hotspot

Saturday 18th & Sunday 19th September
I started with a quick trip to Lamby Way in Splott, Cardiff. It looks like a rubbish spot from the road, but next to a car-park is a smallish Lake and some playing fields. I've received an email from Richard Smith of Butterfly Conservation which has a reported sighting of a Brown Hairstreak in this spot several years back. I hoped that the trees available there would cut down the possibilities of the sighting being a Purple or White-Letter Hairstreak, but there seem to be Oaks, Elms and Blackthorns there. So bang goes that theory - must return next year, but it's a fairly large site and looking for a hairstreak would be the proverbial 'needle in a haystack'. While there I saw a Comma, some Small Coppers, Large Whites and plenty of Speckled Woods.

In the afternoon we popped up to Aberbargoed Grasslands in the South Wales Valleys. DavidM had gone there earlier this year and confirmed the colony of Marsh Fritillaries, so I wanted to have a look. Despite being right next to some houses and industrial estate, the site is really nicely managed and I have never seen so many Scabious flowers growing through the grass or just amongst the scrub & heather. I returned this afternoon and managed to find one web of the Marsh Fritillaries, given away by a previous smaller web full of caterpillar-poo!

The light was very dull at this point, so I'm afraid the photographs aren't great, but I made sure not to disturb the caterpillars. I'm impressed any caterpillars can survive the winter in such a tight community amongst the grass. Walking further on we found at least 4 Fox moth caterpillars. I'm looking forward to going back in spring/early summer to see the Marsh Fritillary adults.
Michael

Aberbargoed Grasslands - Scabious in wooded area

Scabious Flowers

Marsh Fritillary Caterpillar web

Web close-up. You can just about make out the caterpillars

Fox Moth Caterpillar, curled up

Fox Moth Caterpillar on the move..

[NickB]

Nuclear power generation remains controversial. But just imagine it wasn’t controversial. Sizewell B would surely become a listed building in the future. It somehow typifies from an aesthetic perspective the very best of 20th century industry.
Jack

Indeed - it has that symmetry and solid mass that give it a peculiar beauty.
Michealj - Thanks (Aberbargoed looks great in your pics). Minsmere was where, many years ago, I saw my first spoonbill and egret in the UK; it is a fantastic site. Titchwell in Norfolk is smaller but some people prefer it; my sister and I had a bittern do a fly-past at 10 metres right in front of us there. The whole coast of East Anglia is great for visiting waders, raptors, ducks and geese as well as other Scandinavian and Continental migrants.
...and to think I left the Parasols - I don't take anything like that from the countryside, now - even if they are delicious

[Michaeljf]

The whole coast of East Anglia is great for visiting waders, raptors, ducks and geese as well as other Scandinavian and Continental migrants.

NickB,
indeed - we've done brief sorties to East Anglia as my wife's family live in Norwich. We visited Clay in early July as well as nipping to Hickling Broad for the slightly past-their-best Swallowtails. I'd love to get some good shots of Marsh Harriers, which were flying around both areas, but never close enough to get good shots. Or, they would suddenly appear when you weren't ready Only problem is that East Anglia is a long drive from Wales. I should invest in a helicopter or Balloon really p.s. Aberbargoed looks nice in the sun when you can't see the houses
Michael

[Jack Harrison]

Michael said he visited Clay in Norfolk. Sorry to say that he has fallen victim of Norfolk’s absurd spelling of certain places. For example:

Wymondham is pronounced Wyndum
Happisburgh is Haisbro
Costessey is Cossy

Cley (with an E) – undoubtedly where Michael went– is pronounced Clay.

As a Norfolk native, I hope by explaining our odd pronunciation I haven’t opened a can of worms; lesson on how to pronounce Welsh place names follows

Jack

[Rogerdodge]

Cley (with an E) – undoubtedly where Michael went– is pronounced Clay.

Surely Jack it is pronounced Cligh - rhymes with "high".
Or at least it was when I was an inveterate twitcher in the 70's and 80's and the Cafe there was the information source for rare bird sightings all over the UK.

[Jack Harrison]

Roger:

Surely Jack it is pronounced Cligh - rhymes with "high".

Quite right Roger. Silly me. But it's certainly not spelt Clay.

Jack

[NickB]

.....and the Cafe there was the information source for rare bird sightings all over the UK.

.....Just like the Cafe in Snettisham where all the birders meet after a morning out in the Wash....
I can recommend the Full English...
N

[Piers]

Just like the Cafe in Snettisham

Which is pronounced....?

[NickB]

Just like the Cafe in Snettisham

Which is pronounced....?

..according to that great information source , Wikipedia, the manor has a number of different pronounciations:
Two of them being "Snesham" and "Nestesham" - ask Jack for proper Nawfok pronounciation....
Much more interesting than work.....

[Jack Harrison]

Pushing his luck. But can butteflies see spiders' webs?

Jack

[Michaeljf]

Michael said he visited Clay in Norfolk. Sorry to say that he has fallen victim of Norfolk’s absurd spelling of certain places. As a Norfolk native, I hope by explaining our odd pronunciation I haven’t opened a can of worms; lesson on how to pronounce Welsh place names follows
Jack

Jack,
I was probably more victim to a poor education, and typing too quickly I am well aware of the very strange pronounciation of Cley (even if I can't spell it properly), as every time my wife's father says it. I have a mild internal chuckle, in that I can hear how it's supposed to sound, but I can't commit to sayinng it like that..

Don't start on the Welsh language. I'm mostly a foreigner. I know that proper spoken Welsh often sounds like an episode of 'The 'Fast Show'.

I've only recently started to spell Emperor properly this year after realising I'd been getting it wrong every other time. Bad Michael.

Michael

[Jack Harrison]

All you need to know about Nawfok dialect:
“Thas a rummon!“ (meaning “how strange!”)

Jack

[Michaeljf]

All you need to know about Nawfok dialect: “Thas a rummon!“ (meaning “how strange!”) Jack

My wife says she has used that phrase!

[millerd]

Late sunshine after work - not much to be seen, but I followed a very yellow-looking Small White for a while. We tend to take them for granted, but the amount of yellow-colouring underneath varies enormously. There's always something interesting out there...

Dave

[Gibster]

Hi all,

just back from a Pirate & Nurse Wedding in Cornwall followed by their honeymoon on St Marys on Scilly (we'z a friendly bunch don'tya know) Note - not a hint of the Norfolk talk!

Anyway, we hit Scilly for the endemic races of Speckled Wood and Meadow Brown. Speckled Woods were seen by the bucketload but not a sniff of Meadow Brown. Looks like we left it too late again. No sign of Clouded Yellow either (the only target species left on our BlitzList excluding rares)

We did find a Small Copper with entirely black uppersides to the hindwings which we've never seen before. Grabbed a few shots before it disappeared. Plus two male Comma on Bryher which are apparently quite rare over there. Loads of Small Coppers on Marys and Bryher, a few Peacocks on Bryher, Speckled Woods abundant on Marys and Bryher, Red Admirals seen Marys and Bryher, Large, Small and a couple of Green-veined Whites on Marys, Large and Small Whites only on Bryher. Incredibly I've learnt that Graylings are absent from Scillies!

Non-butterfly highlights include a self-found Wryneck, a Spotted Sandpiper to 30ft and an excellent pelagic which gave us Sooty Shearwaters, a Puffin, 2 Sabine's Gulls, a juv Long-tailed Skua, 2 Grey Phalaropes (well 3, but I missed one!), 2 Sunfish and a pod of 7 or so Common Dolphins riding the pressure wave at the prow - a mere 6ft below our noses. The skipper uses his dog to find the pods - the dog hears the echolocation and goes a bit nuts, amazing to watch but it certainly works!!!

All the very best, just gimme a couple of days to update the blog...

Gibster and Sami.

[David M]

Been a lovely day in Abergavenny today. Saw one Red Admiral on some Valerian (why does it always seem to grow on the tops of walls?), several Small Whites fluttering by and a solitary Speckled Wood in the park.