Susie
Re: Susie
Some more pics from yesterday.
You know I like my oddities, so I concentrated mainly on them. I found a male which appeared to have the end of his abdomen missing and was exposing his claspers. It looked like he had just emerged so I don't think it was post cop and just not put himself away yet. There were a couple more butterflies with deformities too.
The first one is perfect though.
You know I like my oddities, so I concentrated mainly on them. I found a male which appeared to have the end of his abdomen missing and was exposing his claspers. It looked like he had just emerged so I don't think it was post cop and just not put himself away yet. There were a couple more butterflies with deformities too.
The first one is perfect though.
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Re: Susie
A quick trip to Denbies this morning before work with over cast conditions was really nice and the butterflies were sitting around on flowers. I couldn't believe my luck. Saw chalkhills, brown argus, small copper, small heath, large and small skippers, marbled white, small white, meadow brown and gate keepers. I didn't realise how attractive the underside of gate keepers were until today. Just as I had to go the sun came out. Typical.
Had small white and speckled wood in the garden.Diary entries for 2011 have been archived. If there are missing images in this post, then they can be found in this archive if one exists. All archives can be found here.
Re: Susie
That final, really pale Chalkhill is absolutely cracking!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Have a goodun
Wurzel
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Re: Susie
Well thank you, Wurzel. It's not often I find butterflies just sitting there on something pretty. And not even wanting to fly.
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Re: Susie
On Saturday I joined UKBers Gibster, Sami and Philzoid for a jolly jape down to Portland in seach of Lulworth Skippers. As it turned out there were no Lulworth Skippers but there was a Captain (Bagsy - blog here http://bagsy-thecaptainslog.blogspot.com/ ) and lots of Red Admirals. We were joined by ChrisC for a while. We had a thoroughly splendid time and it was nice to meet such lovely people.
We stopped off at the bird observatory first (amazing book shop!) and had a look at the contents of their moth trap from the previous night. It certainly made me want to give mothing another go. Although we were only there briefly the people seemed very interesting characters and the bird observatory seemed a fascinating place. I would like to go back there again and spend some more time, maybe even do some mothing and stay over.
We then turned our minds to scouring the meadows behind the pub for Lulworths and although we found some small skippers, lots of gatekeepers, some meadow browns, common blue, brown argus, small blue (a really tiny small blue - in fact many of the butterflies here seemed markedly smaller than I would expect), marbled white, a chalkhill blue and there were an awful lot of red admirals coming in from over the sea, the actual Lulworths eluded us. It didn't bother me though, I was having far too good a time with the swallows and martins swooping overhead and investigating the small quarry hoping to see little owls; no luck their either though. We went on for a pub lunch and despite my ordering lots food but not actually eating a huge amount of it (am on the Dukan diet and it's a right b*gger at times! but incredibly effective - I guess starvation has that effect ) I had a lovely time and am envious of Gibsters' bins as well as learning a few birding terms. We found ChrisC's fleece on the way back which should be winging it's way back to him via Royal Mail.
We decided to skip the skippers and go to a quarry to hunt down wall lizards. These proved much easier to find and Gibster led us straight to them. I was a bit scared of going across some of the rocks (I know, coward! ) and so viewed from a short distance. The call of a passing peregrine was something I won't forget in a hurry. Then we witnessed the juvenile peregrines swooping and grabbing the pigeon over the sea which was incredibly exciting and some choice expletives were voiced in our enthusiasm!
To cap the day off we went to a second quarry and Gibster yet again entertained us by turning over rocks and finding slow worms. Great stuff. Unfortunately time was cracking on and I had to get back so we headed for home. All in all a most enjoyable day.
We stopped off at the bird observatory first (amazing book shop!) and had a look at the contents of their moth trap from the previous night. It certainly made me want to give mothing another go. Although we were only there briefly the people seemed very interesting characters and the bird observatory seemed a fascinating place. I would like to go back there again and spend some more time, maybe even do some mothing and stay over.
We then turned our minds to scouring the meadows behind the pub for Lulworths and although we found some small skippers, lots of gatekeepers, some meadow browns, common blue, brown argus, small blue (a really tiny small blue - in fact many of the butterflies here seemed markedly smaller than I would expect), marbled white, a chalkhill blue and there were an awful lot of red admirals coming in from over the sea, the actual Lulworths eluded us. It didn't bother me though, I was having far too good a time with the swallows and martins swooping overhead and investigating the small quarry hoping to see little owls; no luck their either though. We went on for a pub lunch and despite my ordering lots food but not actually eating a huge amount of it (am on the Dukan diet and it's a right b*gger at times! but incredibly effective - I guess starvation has that effect ) I had a lovely time and am envious of Gibsters' bins as well as learning a few birding terms. We found ChrisC's fleece on the way back which should be winging it's way back to him via Royal Mail.
We decided to skip the skippers and go to a quarry to hunt down wall lizards. These proved much easier to find and Gibster led us straight to them. I was a bit scared of going across some of the rocks (I know, coward! ) and so viewed from a short distance. The call of a passing peregrine was something I won't forget in a hurry. Then we witnessed the juvenile peregrines swooping and grabbing the pigeon over the sea which was incredibly exciting and some choice expletives were voiced in our enthusiasm!
To cap the day off we went to a second quarry and Gibster yet again entertained us by turning over rocks and finding slow worms. Great stuff. Unfortunately time was cracking on and I had to get back so we headed for home. All in all a most enjoyable day.
Last edited by Susie on Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:40 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Susie
Hey Susie, some cracking pics there...Phil looks positively thrilled just to be there!!!
Check out http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/r155218.htm Looks like you've clinched me another lifer. The 'roach was indeed Panzer's (or Lesser) Cockroach, so you and Phil weren't the only ones to see something new. Sweet!
Catchya later,
Gibster.
Check out http://www.bioimages.org.uk/html/r155218.htm Looks like you've clinched me another lifer. The 'roach was indeed Panzer's (or Lesser) Cockroach, so you and Phil weren't the only ones to see something new. Sweet!
Catchya later,
Gibster.
Diary entries for 2011 have been archived. If there are missing images in this post, then they can be found in this archive if one exists. All archives can be found here.
Raising £10,000 for Butterfly Conservation by WALKING 1200 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats!!!
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.
Re: Susie
I should point out that Phil had a chalkhill blue on his finger in that photo.
Splendid stuff, Gibster!
Splendid stuff, Gibster!
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Re: Susie
Sunday
Spent the majority of the day working in the back garden giving it a long needed over haul. The trouble with wildlife friendly plants is that they tend to be a bit, well, wild! The fleabane I planted by the pond had grown very tall and into the lawn on one side and into the pond on the other; this is despite my pulling out every bit I could find last autumn. I've pulled it out again so we can see the pond for a little while at least. There were peacocks, a comma, a holly blue, quite a few gatekeepers and a couple of meadow browns as well as small and large whites and dozens of red admirals.
Monday
I had a quick walk past my local brown hairstreak master tree and there was one sitting in a small ash alongside it.
In the evening I went to Denbies to see roosting chalkhill blues. I haven't seen them before en masse hanging up like that and it was certainly an "oh wow" moment. Long way down! I also picked up a stranger, unbeknown to me I found I had a tick on me this morning. Ewwwwww!
Spent the majority of the day working in the back garden giving it a long needed over haul. The trouble with wildlife friendly plants is that they tend to be a bit, well, wild! The fleabane I planted by the pond had grown very tall and into the lawn on one side and into the pond on the other; this is despite my pulling out every bit I could find last autumn. I've pulled it out again so we can see the pond for a little while at least. There were peacocks, a comma, a holly blue, quite a few gatekeepers and a couple of meadow browns as well as small and large whites and dozens of red admirals.
Monday
I had a quick walk past my local brown hairstreak master tree and there was one sitting in a small ash alongside it.
In the evening I went to Denbies to see roosting chalkhill blues. I haven't seen them before en masse hanging up like that and it was certainly an "oh wow" moment. Long way down! I also picked up a stranger, unbeknown to me I found I had a tick on me this morning. Ewwwwww!
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Re: Susie
Glad to see you found one of those Chalkhill abs, but sorry to hear about the little visitor on your own abs
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Raising £10,000 for Butterfly Conservation by WALKING 1200 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats!!!
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.
Re: Susie
Flabs, more like!Gibster wrote:Glad to see you found one of those Chalkhill abs, but sorry to hear about the little visitor on your own abs
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Re: Susie
the fleece arrived safe and sound this morning thank you i'll refund postage costs at the pub next time i see you
Chris
Chris
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- Mark Colvin
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Re: Susie
Love the Chalkhill Blue shots particularly the first image. Very atmospheric. I almost felt I was there.
I must visit Denbies some time as its not very far from me and it appears to be very productive.
Good hunting.
Kind regards. Mark
I must visit Denbies some time as its not very far from me and it appears to be very productive.
Good hunting.
Kind regards. Mark
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Re: Susie
Many thanks, Mark. Do go to Denbies, I am sure you will enjoy it. Shame it's not very pretty at the moment with all the dead bushes though and watch out for ticks!
I'm not going to ask which year that will be, Mr C! I am sure I can spare a bit of change for some postage, it's not a problem.
BTW, Gibster, I found three abs like the one above at Denbies yesterday plus one which was almost white.
I'm not going to ask which year that will be, Mr C! I am sure I can spare a bit of change for some postage, it's not a problem.
BTW, Gibster, I found three abs like the one above at Denbies yesterday plus one which was almost white.
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Re: Susie
I did a transect today of a square not too far from my local patch. Nothing particularly exciting on the official bit of the walk: meadow brown, gate keeper, large and small whites, some commas and peacock a holly blue and some speckled woods. There were three brown hairstreaks over the master tree up the road when I had a quick look this afternoon. I really must go up there with the camera at a better time of day and see if anything is within range.
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Re: Susie
Not had much to report lately, apart from the Denbies walk last Saturday which is described in the Events section, but there were several large and small whites in the garden today as well as a small copper, comma and speckled wood. No sign of brown hairstreak females egg laying here yet.
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Re: Susie
I've just had a week away in Turkey and blimey but it was hot. 38 degrees on Friday and still 22 degrees when we left at 2am Turkish time this morning.
The holiday wasn't a bug hunting expedition and the streets of Marmaris get sprayed nightly to keep the mozzies down the holiday rep told us so there was little hope of finding anything in the resort. Despite this I still saw a hummingbird hawk moth, a painted lady, some whites, somethings from a distance which looked like geranium bronzes, some small dragonflies which took a shine to the pool one day and a cricket.
The holiday wasn't a bug hunting expedition and the streets of Marmaris get sprayed nightly to keep the mozzies down the holiday rep told us so there was little hope of finding anything in the resort. Despite this I still saw a hummingbird hawk moth, a painted lady, some whites, somethings from a distance which looked like geranium bronzes, some small dragonflies which took a shine to the pool one day and a cricket.
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- Mark Colvin
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Re: Susie
Sounds like my holiday Susie.
I've just had a week in Italy (Rome, Pisa and Venice). It was 37 degrees the first day in Rome and didn't cool down much after that ... that's just TOO hot! (and I forgot my camera)!!
Good hunting.
Kind regards. Mark
I've just had a week in Italy (Rome, Pisa and Venice). It was 37 degrees the first day in Rome and didn't cool down much after that ... that's just TOO hot! (and I forgot my camera)!!
Good hunting.
Kind regards. Mark
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Re: Susie
But did you enjoy it? Rome is definitely on my wish list to visit
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Re: Susie
Venice was nice but I have to admit that there were many times when I wished I was at Steyning looking for Brown Hairstreaks!Susie wrote:But did you enjoy it?
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Re: Susie
The streets of Marmaris were only just being laid and tarmacked when I was there in 1994! Trust you saw plenty of birds if not butterflies then..? Plus the amaaaaaazing rock tombs, Roman ruins, Turkish baths, mud pits, football hooligans? Is everyone still called Mehmet and work in the bazaars, lol?Susie wrote: and the streets of Marmaris get sprayed nightly to keep the mozzies down
Gibster.
Diary entries for 2011 have been archived. If there are missing images in this post, then they can be found in this archive if one exists. All archives can be found here.
Raising £10,000 for Butterfly Conservation by WALKING 1200 miles from Land's End to John O'Groats!!!
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.
See http://www.justgiving.com/epicbutterflywalk or look up Epic Butterfly Walk on Facebook.