Susie

[Susie]

I went to Iping Common today. It was blowy but the sun came out and so did the butterflies.

This lady was one of the first I saw

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150279585281972[/video]

[Susie]

She seems to have more blue on her than I would expect but I imagine this is within normal variation.

Here she is with a friend.

There were quite a few deformed butterflies around, most of them seemed to be female. Many of the males had very minor crinkling to their wings which you wouldn't notice unless you looked closely but they were a lot smaller than the perfect males.

As you can see this chap had a crippled wing on one side and the other side was fine but the markings were very faint.

[Susie]

After Iping I had to nip home and then I went on to Southwater at 5pm in the futile hope of being the first person to see a Purple Emperor this year. I saw loads of meadow brown, large skipper, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, silver washed frit (4) and white admiral (4) but no purple emperor. Never mind, there's always next year.

[Susie]

And just one more SSB

[Susie]

[Susie]

I went to Iping again this morning and then on to Southwater in the afternoon. Damn fine day with little breeze and sunny.

At Iping I got to see a female silver studded blue being attended by ants and I got attended by a fair few ants myself! I dunno about ants in pants but ants in eyes, up nose, in hair, you name it; I guess that's what you get for laying on an ants nest though. I met Robin Crane briefly so was able to tell him about all the deformed butterflies yesterday. He said he had never seen anything like it before. Fortunately for me I was able to show him a couple of pics from this page.

There were a lot of nice people at Iping today, I met a group of ramblers who had never seen a SSB before and were fascinated to see it covered in ants. We may have a few butterfly converts there. Also I met a lovely lady who lives by the downs who sounds to have an incredible "garden" (sounds a bit bigger than my idea of the average back yard as it includes downland and woodland) and gets fritillaries on her primroses in the spring. I hope I have convinced her to submit her records to Sussex BC. Even the dogs were on best behaviour today and nice to be around.

I had a very quick dash around Southwater woods. It made me laugh that I have been going there consistently over the last ten days and hardly seen a soul, with my car being the only one parked in the lane, now the Purple Emperor has been seen at Bookham the place was heaving! It was nice to meet a few more butterfly enthusiasts though. I didn't see the Emperor today but I did see white admiral, silver washed fritillary and the other usual suspects.

http://www.facebook.com/v/10150280263516972

Photos to follow. I took so many today and some of them aren't awful for a change. There's a shock!

[Mark Senior]

Hi Susie
I was up at Southwater this morning , bumped into Neil Hulme and his father , Eric . Our consensus is that the PE's are still 1 to 2 weeks off emerging yet .
I am sure you will see them first !!!! We saw quite a number of White Admirals and a few Silver Washed Frits some of both of these were newly emerged today . fresh Commas were also on the wing and I saw 1 Ringlet perhaps the 1st of these this year at Southwater . Sorry not to have met you , perhaps next time .

[Susie]

I saw Neil's car but didn't see him. Sorry not to have met you too. You've beaten me with the ringlet, I've not seen one of those yet. I reckon we're about four days behind Bookham (we were with white admiral anyway) so I expect we'll see PE by the end of the week (well, someone will, I'll be working).

[Susie]

White admiral today at southwater. I always think their underside is more attractive than the upper.


And just a few more blues cos they are my favourites (and the hairstreaks)

[Susie]

I had a possible glimpse of a Purple Emperor at Southwater this morning but too fleeting to be definite. Also seen; two purple hairstreak, white admiral, silver washed fritillary, speckled wood, meadow brown.

[Vince Massimo]

Susie, that first image of the emerging Silver Studded Blue with "attend-ants" is an absolute cracker

Vince

PS. have been photographing Brown Hairstreak pupae this morning. Will be posting an update soon.

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Susie,

The prediction I made some while back on here for our first Purple Emperor (17th June) remains firmly on track - we certainly won't have to wait for a week or two. During every year that I can remember, the first PE in Sussex was seen once female White Admiral is on the wing (only males so far - male numbers still building), when female SWF are numerous (only seen one so far), and when Purple Hairstreak and Small Skipper are out and about (first yesterday). So I'm pretty sure that a sunny spell on Friday will do the job.

The Bookham individual is unusually early, even given this year's weather, and seems like an isolated case (the same butterfly has been spotted again in the same place). In most years the emergence of PE (unlike some species) is remarkably well-co-ordinated, with first sightings in either Sussex or Surrey being matched the following day elsewhere. Some individual larvae/pupae will always 'get ahead', dependent upon localised conditions, but I think that in most years other individuals get the opportunity to catch up. But the change in weather (temperatures) across the South has been so sharply marked in recent weeks that I suspect that an early runner(s) has maintained a significant advantage at Bookham. As a rule I think that all these other indicators will hold good, as they always have done.

See you in the woods on Friday.

Neil

[Jack Harrison]

Neil:

The prediction I made some while back on here for our first Purple Emperor (17th June) remains firmly on track

I could have sworn you said 18th June. Sounds like an each-way bet to me

[Neil Hulme]

You might be right Jack . The weather looks more promising for Saturday. But it will be thereabouts for sure.
Neil

[Piers]

She seems to have more blue on her than I would expect but I imagine this is within normal variation.

Here she is with a friend.

252459_10150279674456972_584286971_9035215_6947056_n.jpg

You're right Sooze. In fact, the Dorset heath/New Forest populations are the only ones where females with (often substatial) blue on them are not fairly normal in this country.

[Susie]

She seems to have more blue on her than I would expect but I imagine this is within normal variation.

Here she is with a friend.

252459_10150279674456972_584286971_9035215_6947056_n.jpg

You're right Sooze. In fact, the Dorset heath/New Forest populations are the only ones where females with (often substatial) blue on them are not fairly normal in this country.

Thanks, Piers. I am curious why there is a female with dark wings in the aberrant section of the ss blue page of this forum.

[Susie]

See you in the woods on Friday.

Neil

I'll be stuck in the orifice on Friday (love it there really) but hope to catch up with you for the silly season soon.

[Susie]

The first of the emperor moths is pupating.

[Jack Harrison]

To digress slightly Susie, but would I be correct in thinking that you never looked for or had any success with Black Hairstreak in the Cranleigh area?

Jack

[Susie]

You'd be correct that I was unsuccessful but not that I didnt look. i was sussing out sites from early in the year and checking the most promising places once or twice a week right up until last thursday when I finally gave up.