Lee Hurrell

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Chris. A quick google * search seems to agree, although there are purple and blue forms?

Cheers

Lee

* other search engines are available (thanks Felix!)

[Susie]

Its polygala calcarea, or chalk milkwort, boys

[ChrisC]

I did say possibly

[Susie]

It's up there with dogwood and oak trees

[Zonda]

Lee:

1 Green Hairstreak
1 Dingy Skipper
4 Grizzled Skipper
1 Peacock
2 Speckled Wood
4 male Orange Tip
4 male Brimstone, 3 female
2 Small or Green Veined White

That's a great day Lee, after my GH success, i'm now free to think about Grizzlies. What a twitcher i am.

[Lee Hurrell]

I was quietly chuffed to be honest Zonda, especially as by the 17th April last year I was still on only about my 4th butterfly of the year, a Peacock!

Well done on your GH success, good luck with your Grizzlies.

Cheers

Lee

[Lee Hurrell]

Its polygala calcarea, or chalk milkwort, boys

Thanks Susie

Cheers

Lee

[Lee Hurrell]

A beautifully fresh Brimstone moth flew in the patio doors this evening. I was in the kitchen and I heard screaming 'turn the light off, turn the light off!'

We've seen too many moths fly in and fatally burn themselves on the light bulbs. Mind you since last year we've switched to energy saving bulbs so perhaps they don't illuminate with such heat. I'll have to touch one and find out. Hmmm...

Anyway, the Brimstone moth was safely liberated outside to fly another night.

[Lee Hurrell]

Seeing as it was going to be a nice day I arranged some visits for this morning My day went like this:

Left home at 07.30, drove to Alpterton (car service)
Alperton to Isleworth (visit 1)
Isleworth to Twickenham
Twickenham to Wraysbury
Wraysbury to Colnbrook (visit 2)
Colnbrook to Staines
Staines to Putney
Putney to Southfields (visit 3)
Southfields to Acton
At my desk by 13.30. Phew. And boy was it hot. I think I burned my head...

Anyway, I saw some butterflies on my travels:

1 Comma
1 male Brimstone
1 Green Veined White
17 Small or Green Veined White
24 Orange Tip (22 male, 2 female)
11 Holly Blue

A couple of obervations - Staines station seems to have a very healthy population of Holly Blue; the most in view at any one point - no less than 9 individuals!

The Colnbrook visit was a construction site for the new Hilton hotel. Within the site was large colony of Sand Martins, I saw at least 50. I hope the sand bank they were using remains after all the building.

Finally Acton to Alperton and home, £350 lighter.

[Lee Hurrell]

Our resident Speckled Wood was flying by 08.30 this morning. I had some fun with him a little while later:

Tilly keeps chasing him on his forays over the lawn. I've told her that if she catches him, she is no cat of mine.

I went to the cemetery between 11.30 and 12.45 and saw:

1 Comma
1 Peacock
10+ male Orange Tips, 3 female
2 male Small Whites
15+ Small or Green Veined Whites
3 Holly Blue
5 Speckled Wood
Plus another possible Large White, which again I won't record just yet.

This male was very dainty though:

[Lee Hurrell]

Total garden sightings for today:

2 Speckled Wood - with 1 flying by 08.30
1 Holly Blue - possibly more but only 1 in view at any one time
3 male Orange Tip
3 Small or Green Veined White

It's been lovely having butterflies in constant view today. As I write this the Holly Blue and Speckled Wood are still dancing around the tops of the trees still in the sun. One highlight was seeing 2 male Orange Tips and a Speckled Wood having an aerial tussle this afternoon.

Further afield tomorrow....

[Lee Hurrell]

Saturday 23rd April

Commitments at home have delayed my trips further afield until tomorrow. So at home, once again the Speckled Wood was flying early at 09.00. I also thought I saw one of the Longhorn moths! I was thrilled to see a Red Admiral this afternoon and my first Large White (a male) of the year at lunchtime.

Garden sightings for today:

1 Red Admiral
1 Peacock
1 Holly Blue
1 male Large White
2 male Orange Tips
2 Small or Green Veined White
2 Speckled Wood

In two trips to the cemetery, I saw;

12.30 - 13.15
1 Peacock -seemingly seeking out shade
1 Holly Blue
5 Speckled Wood
5 male Orange Tip
4 Small or Green Veined White

15.45 - 16.30
1 Peacock - likely the same individual, it was in the same location
3 Holly Blue
4 male Orange tip
3 Small or Green Veined White
5 Speckled Wood

I also found some more Longhorns! Ok, not in the numbers that Chris and Neil had reported but it was nice to see that they are over there. It was a mini swarm (I saw around 6) around a big mature oak.

[Lee Hurrell]

The Large White today brought me to 14 species for the year:

1 Red Admiral, 12th March, Greenford
2 Peacock, 13th March, Peopleton
3 Small Tortoiseshell, 14th March, Peopleton
4 Brimstone, 17th March, Peopleton
5 Comma 17th March, Grafton Wood
6 Holly Blue, 2nd April, Greenford
7 Speckled Wood, 2nd April, Greenford
8 Orange Tip, 7th April, Ealing Broadway Station
9 Green Veined White, 7th April, Greenford
10 Small White, 7th April, Greenford
11 Green Hairstreak, 17th April, Denbies Hillside
12 Dingy Skipper, 17th April, Denbies Hillside
13 Grizzled Skipper, 17th April, Denbies Hillside
14 Large White, 23rd April, Greenford

[Pawpawsaurus]

Its polygala calcarea, or chalk milkwort, boys

The Chalk and Common Milkworts are generally pretty tricky to distinguish. It takes a brave person to make a positive ID from a photo.

Just sayin'.

Paul

[Susie]

I've been to Denbies so many times I know the plant in the photo well.


Edit: In hindsight my comment above looks a bit terse! Apologies, Paul, I am sure the plant in question could be common milkwort and I do not know 100% that it isn't. I certainly am not an expert.

[Lee Hurrell]

Sunday 23rd April (Part 1) - Rewell Wood

I met up with Neil (Sussex Kipper), Sussex BC Biodiversity Officer Dan Danahar and Sussex BC branch member, Colin Knaggs in West Sussex. On route to meeting them I saw my first Swallow of the year sitting on a telephone wire in the village of Amberley.

We set off for Rewell Wood in search of Dukes and Pearl Bordered Fritillary (I was particularly excited as I had never seen a PBF).

Neil showed us the amazing results of much hard work put in over the last few winters to restore Duke habitat. I hadn't seen the forest before but with lovely wide rides and cleared areas of scrub it looked fantastic.

It wasn't long before we found Grizzled Skippers, Dukes and my first ever Pearl Bordered Fritillary!

After nearing extinction a few years ago and due to the amazing restoration work carried out, the Dukes were showing well and we saw a handful of PBF. We even saw the two sparring, an amazing sight.

Neil even spotted an aberrant female, which after chasing and some shadowing eventually sat still with open wings:

Species seen:

Pearl Bordered Fritillary
Duke of Burgundy
Grizzled Skipper
Speckled Wood
Brimstone
Orange Tip
Large White
Green Veined White
Holly Blue
Oh, and a dead slow worm

Neil in action (Duke bottom left):

A heart warming morning full of lovely surprises and success stories.

Almost impossibly, the day continued to get better - more to follow.....!

[Lee Hurrell]

Sunday 23rd April (Part 2) - Heyshott Escarpment

Leaving Rewell behind we headed further west towards the Heyshott Escarpment, another site where much hard work had been undertaken for the conservation of the Duke of Burgundy. As we walked up to the site, passing potential Duke habitat, Neil told us his plans to bring them further the hill and extend the colony.

It is a steep escarpment but the view from the top was worth it, just a little shame it was hazy on the horizon.

We started with a rough count of Dukes between the 4 of us and made over 30. They were by far the commonest species seen and my own personal count was 25+ for the rest of the time we were there so it's very likely there were more on site. Watch Neil's diary for more news/counts.

Also seen in good numbers were Grizzled Skipper and Dingy Skipper and a couple of Green Hairsteaks at the very top. Also noticed were 3 female Holly Blues seeking egg laying sites on Dogwood.

Species seen:

Duke of Burgundy
Grizzled Skipper
Dingy Skipper
Green Hairstreak
Holly Blue
Brimstone
Orange Tip
Speckled Wood
Red Admiral

With cowslips in the background

Heyshott is HOW high?

Anyone seen Dan?

I can see a Duke up there!

The view from the top showing some of the chalk pits where Dukes abound

Colin and his home made macro lens

Admiring the view

The final part to follow...

[Lee Hurrell]

An addition to part 2 - perhaps my luckiest in flight shot yet...

[Lee Hurrell]

Sunday 23rd April (Part 3) - Rewell Wood

We wanted to see a few Pearl Bordered Fritillaries go to roost and so headed back to Rewell Wood.

They were active in good numbers and as bedtime approached I found this pair:

We watched them for a while and eventually they separated. Here's the female post cop:

Showing remarkable camouflage against last year's bracken

A Holly Blue and hundreds of Neil's favourite exotic dancers, the Long Horn moths ended the day.

My thanks to Neil, Dan and Colin for great company and a wonderful day in lovely locations in West Sussex and especially to Neil for showing us some of his favourite places.

[Lee Hurrell]

Monday 25th April 2011 - Botany Bay

Between 11.30 and 14.00 I went in search of Wood Whites and they were out in abundance.

I counted 66 I was careful not to over count and as I made my way back stopped counting so the total seen may even be higher. They would not stop for photos though...best I could manage:

Surprisingly the other Pierids were much more obliging:

Sightings:

66 Wood White (including an egg laying female)
40+ Brimstone (at one point 3 males chasing a Wood White)
1 Large White
3 Green Veined White
9 male Orange Tip, 1 female
9 Speckled Wood
1 Red Admiral
Hundreds of Long Horn moths
Plus only my second ever Adder, although this one was squished in the road.

I think the highlight was 2 male Orange Tips and 2 Wood Whites circling around my legs at one point. Magical.

Gibster later saw Grizzled Skipper too but I didn't find these.

As attested to by Susie, the bird song was amazing - I heard my first Cuckoo and Nightingales while other Warblers filled the air with song.