celery

[Padfield]

Seconded. I've really enjoyed these shots and commentary. It makes me think I must make a trip to the States before flying gets too expensive. I went once, when I was 14, and spent a happy week in a cranberry plantation photographing pearl-crescents and buckeyes with my old 35mm SLR. It seems a lifetime ago...

Guy

[celery]

No new species here... just a few alternate photographs from other locations, or of different individuals, or from previously unseen angles.


Barred Yellows (summer form)


Atala


Eastern Tiger Swallowtail


Cassius Blue


Long-Tailed Skipper


Hammock Skipper


Eufala Skipper


Mangrove Skipper


Mangrove Buckeye


Phaon Crescent


Ocala Skipper


Soldier


Ruddy Daggerwings


Queen


White Peacock


Zebra Heliconian

[Lee Hurrell]

Some really lovely photos there Celery.

Florida is on my 'must visit one day list'.

NB - I didn't actually have a list, but I do now

Cheers

Lee

[celery]

As an addendum to the episodic Florida November 2010 trip report above, here are a few photos of 'captive' individuals taken at the Butterfly World 'attraction' in Coconut Creek. Featuring a couple of Florida natives/occasional visitors, but mainly the exotic tropical species so beloved of these establishments.

Nomenclature goes a bit wonky here (all I have to go on is the site's visitor booklet). If there are any obvious errors I'd be happy to correct.


Zebra Heliconians


Rusty-tipped Page


Thoas Swallowtail


White Morpho


Owl Butterfly


Sappho


Atthis


Blue Morpho


Hecale


Piano Keys


Ismenius


... er... dunno...

cheers, celery

[Paul]

Love the Ismenius, and the Mangrove Buckeye in the previous set

[celery]

I've not updated this diary in a while (though I have been posting in the 'sightings' forum) so here's a brief rundown and a few pics from my early season outings.

Back on familiar territory in the East Midlands with the occasional trip doon sowth.

18th March - first butterfly of the year. Small tortoiseshell on a 12 mile walk starting at my house around south Notts. villages of Tollerton, Normanton, Cotgrave, Bassingfield and Gamston.
19th March - Comma at Whatton, Vale of Belvoir.
21st March - Brimstone and peacock, on walk between my house and post box.
25th March - Holly Blue in garden.
4th April - Small white at Holwell Reserves, Leics.
10th April - In search of extremely early dingys, grizzlies and green hairstreak at Ketton quarry, Rutland - no luck, but 5 of the previous species sighted in greater numbers and also speckled wood and orange tip for the first time this year (and an adder).
16th April - Large white at Asfordby Hill, Leics - still no sign of those skippers.
22nd April - Finally... dingy skipper, grizzled skipper and green hairstreak at Ketton quarry, Rutland.
25th April - Brilliant trip out to Bison Hill, Bedfordshire. Duke of Burgundy (30+) and red admiral were the only new species for the year, but also green hairstreaks, dingy skippers, grizzled skippers, orange tip and brimstone in profusion.
29th April - Green-veined white at East Brigford, Trent valley, Notts.
30th April - Trip to Wyre Forest, Worcs. - Pearl-bordered fritillary (60+) and plenty of other species previously seen.
2nd May - Chambers Farm Wood, Lincs. - No sign of Marsh Fritillary (on a cold and windy day) but did find more dingy skippers.
5th May - Asfordby Hill and Holwell Reserves, Leics. - Small copper, common blue and brown argus (including an unusual 'white-spotted' individual at Holwell) also dingys, grizzlies and others.
14th May - First small heath of the year at Ketton Quarry, Rutland.
21st May - Trip to Salcey Forest, Nothants. - Wood white (20+) in grassy rides. Plus 9 other species making it my most species seen on any outing so far this year.

Pics below in separate post... cheers

[celery]

[celery]

[celery]

Just a few snaps from my visit to Prees Heath, Salop on 19th June 2011.

There were hundreds of silver-studded blues on the wing. In one small metre-squared thicket of willowherb I counted upwards of 40 individuals... and returning down the linear pathway I starting to make an attempt to count the total number I could see without deliberately searching... I gave up after about a hundred yards when the number reached 250.

This first batch has a habitat shot of the Heath itself and then some examples of the different colour variations on the females at the site.




1.


same individual as 1. (underside)


2.


3.


same individual as 3. (underside)


4.

[celery]

Some more silver-studded blues... males... groups... odds and ends...























cheers, celery

[Lee Hurrell]

Great shot with the male and female on both sides of the leaf, Celery!

Cheers

Lee

[celery]

Made the trip up to Arnside on Sunday (26th June).

The steep slopes from the car park had plenty of small heath and grayling and the odd dark green fritillary. The meadows at the summit of the knoll held many more dark green fritillary along with northern brown argus, speckled wood, meadow brown, large skipper, common blue and small pearl-bordered fritillary.

My parter,Tara, had a brief chat with the fellow doing the transact - he reported a sighting of 3 white-letter hairstreaks around the small clump of elms, but also confirmed that although he'd counted 36 large fritillaries he believed none of them to be high brown (all the ones he'd closely examined were dark green). Also he had not, as yet, seen any scotch argus at the site this year.


speckled wood (oblita?)


small pearl-bordered fritillary


dark green fritillaries


grayling


dark green fritillary - underside


(another) dark green fritillary


northern brown argus

cheers

[Gibster]

Image
speckled wood (oblita?)

Hiya Celery,

I don't think oblita occurs outside of northern and eastern Scotland (but stand to be corrected) A decent underside shot would clinch it one way or t'other. Lovely pose though.

Cheers,

Gibster.

[celery]

Oh,... okay. Serves me right for referencing stuff from just one book (in this case David Tomlinson & Rob Still's 'Britain's Butterflies')

It does seem to have different markings from the ones we get here in Notts - reduced spots under the forewing eyespot and more pronounced hindwing eyespots. And it also seemed to have paler yellow markings with a darker brown ground colour... but in retrospect it's probably just a male... when most of the photos I used for comparison were of females...

Thanks Gibster

[celery]

I had a couple of days free last week so I went on a few trips to a some new places for me, plus a couple of old favourites.

27th June - Lathkill Dale, Derbys. A slightly disappointing 10 mile walk on a warm and humid day in the Peak District. 10 species, but each in low numbers -a single Dark Green Fritillary made a fly-past on the steep hillside. Lots of lovely wildflowers and a great pub supper made up for a lack of excitement on the butterfly front.

29th June - Bernwood Forest and Meadows, Oxon. Went in search of purple emperors, purple hairstreaks and white admiral... and saw none. But came away happy after seeing the meadows dazzling profusion of marbled whites, ringlets, meadow browns and large skippers. 13 species in all, including silver-washed fritillary and a beautifully-knackered female brimstone which posed in one of the woodland rides. Nearly trod on a basking lizard.

30th June - Up with the larks... but then stuck behind a white van which got trapped in the narrow bridge roadworks just south of Corby... so by the time we arrived a Fermyn Wood there were already half-a-dozen cars parked opposite the gliding club. Before I'd seen so much as a white admiral I got a view of the Sussex Kipper speeding towards us on his Japanese folding-bike thingy. We didn't say hello - being relatively new to this pastime, and not having a lot to contribute in terms of expertise - I'm always kind of 'starstruck' when I recognise a celebrity butterfly guru.... Anyhoo, we saw (and got the same photo) as everyone else did of the mineral-sucking purple emperors. Also saw one of those almost-entirely-black white admiral aberrations being chased by a 'keen' photography yelling 'It's aberrant!!' to all and sundry.

Almost back at the car when a kind fellow pointed out a mating pair of white-letter hairstreaks in the shrubbery. Took my place in the queue to collect a souvenir snap, but quickly elbowed out of the way by another 'enthusiast' with a longer lens.

My better half, Tara, doesn't like visiting these popular locations where you are likely to be amongst a 'throng'. She thinks the guys with the fanciest, most expensive, and largest equipment could well be compensating for being a little lacking in another key department. In her job as a 'big cheese' in the world of industry and commerce she comes across these sorts of chaps all the time... and eats them for breakfast. So next time you're poised, sniper-like, behind that tripod, waiting with baited-breath for those gossamer wings to unfurl - watch out in case a size-six hiking boot dashes you across the back of the bonce and makes off with your memory stick...

[celery]

Some photos from the above mentioned outings...


Bernwood Meadows habitat shot. A beautiful place.
Ringlets, marbled whites, meadow browns and large skippers in their hundreds.


A mating pair of ringlets at Bernwood


Brimstone in a shady Bernwood Forest ride.


A sleepy marbled white at Bernwood. One of my favourite UK species.


Purple emperor at Fermyn Woods. The same shot as everybody else...


Brambles at Fermyn... with the requisite white admiral


Hastily snapped mating pair of white-letter hairstreaks,
once again at Fermyn Woods, Northants. ...I was in a queue...

Some more reports from last week... coming... in a bit... cheers, celery

[Michaeljf]

Hi Celery,
great shots as always. I know what you're partner means about the busy spots, but sometimes it's difficult to get around it. Regarding Fermyn Wood, it's a great place, and fairly big - I think Ladybank wood is right next to it and is just as good for the PE's. I still think that Fermyn is better than Bentley Wood, where you can get 'a throng' and still see very little.
Michael

[Neil Freeman]

Interesting to read your comments regarding some of the 'enthusiasts' at Fermyn. I went there myself on Monday and followed the ride through the wood and into Lady Wood. I spent all morning wandering around the rides in Lady Wood and on a couple of occasions came across groups staking out likely looking piles of horse droppings with what looked like thousands of pounds worth of equipment.
In one spot there must have been more than twenty people gathered round and as I approached one of them asked me if I had seen anything.
'Yes', I replied, 'I have seen about a dozen Purple Emperors further through the wood and have even got a shot of one on my knee'. This happened whilst I was all by myself watching two males coming and going from a patch of damp ground.
His reply was that it seemed that I had better luck than his group as apparently they had seen a few flypasts but nothing had landed close to them.
All I was carrying was my second hand Panasonic FZ38, a pair of small binoculars, and a bottle of water.
Made me think a bit that did.

Neil.

[celery]

Thanks for the comments guys

Anyhoo... leaving aside my undoubted misanthropy... I spent the next couple of days in Norfolk. It wasn't all butterflying... I squeezed a couple of site vists in between some viewings of gardens, strolls along the Prom and copious consumption of fish 'n chips and 99s.

1st July. Breakfast time. Strumpshaw Fen. Called in on the off-chance of a late season Swallowtail... but despite the Warden's encouragement that we had a good chance (they'd been recorded the previous day) it was all to no avail *sigh*. However, I did see that rarest of all UK wildlife sightings... the lesser-spotted Ray Mears, with encumbent film-crew. Tara asked him what he'd seen.... 'Not a lot' was his reply.

1st July. Lunch time. Kelling Heath. Silver-studded blue? Yes. Two males and a female on the gorse around the area where the railway line crosses heath. Spent quite some time chasing the very active golden skippers to try to 'bag' a confirmable snap of an Essex... I think I managed it... but you be the judge...


Essex Skipper? Yea or nay?

1st July. Tea time. Wiveton Down and the Blakeney Esker. Came in search of Walls... and, alas, there were none to be seen. 'Millions' of meadow browns though. And lots of good photographic opportunities for other commoner species on brambles on the lower, more sheltered part of the circular-walk path. Saw my first gatekeeper of the year... enjoyed the fabulous coastal views... got a bit of exercise... left quite content.

1st July. Supper time. Sheringham park. Now for a confession. "I took a wrong turn off of an unmarked track / Seven miles I couldn't find my way back / Fingering my silver St. Christopher / And saving my shotgun shells for her..."

Well, it wasn't quite as bad as 'The Triffids' sang it... but I did get lost... and I didn't find the famed 'Gazebo' until the sun had begun to set. So, no purple hairsteaks at eye-level for me. No sir-ee. I'm not blaming anyone else for my stupidity... but one has to wonder why there are (at least) two wooden-constructed platforms in the 'Tree' part of the park - plus another 'proper' Victorian stone construction overlooking the sea - all called 'The Gazebo'!!

[celery]

Addendum to my recent Sheringham Park segment, I forgot to mention... first painted lady of the year by the 'stone' gazebo (that extra, unnecessary, 5-mile 'Rambler's Route' wasn't a compete waste of time then...).

July 2nd. AM. Pensthorpe Nature Reserve. Another confession. I ain't much of a birder. Not that I don't like them... they just seem a bit, y'know avian. I went to look at the Piet Oudolf designed Millennium Garden... which was splendid. I did the full circuitous route round the reserve though... lots of dragonflies, orchids in the wildflower meadow, ringlets, golden skippers, meadow browns, whites and an unexpected small copper... AND... would you believe it... for the second time in two days... the.... newly re-named... common, or garden... Ray Mears. This time posing, all thoughtful-like, for his attendant film crew on a small bride crossing the Wensum. Nearby... a Land Rover (can't film crews walk like the rest of us?) and a series of fold-out trestle tables laden with goodies. Fizzy bottled water, sandwiches, crisps, fig rolls, cupcakes, fondant fancies - y'know... the kind of stuff you find growing wild in the forest.

July 2nd. PM. Narborough Railway Line. Too early for Chalkhill Blues (though reported elsewhere on the same day). Nice place. More pyramidal orchids than you could shake the proberbial stick at. Butterflies? Not so many. Holly blue in the car park. Commas, ringlets, meadow brown, golden skippers, whites. Nice walk in lovely weather though.

On to the pictures...


Silver-studded blue at Kelling - is it just me or do these have fewer, less prominent, 'studs' than those at Prees Heath?


Wiveton - green-veined white


One of the many commas at Wiveton Down


Red admiral... Wiveton again.


Meadow brown at... you guessed it... Sunset Boulevard, Hollywood, Calif. ... no, Wiveton Down.

cheers, celery