Lee Hurrell

[Michaeljf]

Hi Lee,
a lovely report and a collection of really good photos from Sunday. I really enjoyed reading it and having a look at your images - it's a lot nice reading someone else's report (a bit like eating a meal someone else has produced, much better than one you've spent hours on making yourself).

I always like your square cropping for the butterfly photographs. It helps to give your photographs a signature but it's a great format that I should nick more often!

Good to see you got a nice photograph of the Male Brown Hairstreak. I think yours is better for showing the inside pattern of the male. It's much better to have that lovely summer light for the photographs (I think we may be back for dull light this weekend).

It was a lovely day and Karen and I really enjoyed your company. This comes as no surprise as you've always been so helpful to me as soon as I came on this site. I see you've left out a picture of yourself though - such a shame I'm not fast enough to get one of you!

Fig rolls are great. They don't go too mushy in the heat and they fit in Karen's bag very easily!

Michael

[Michaeljf]

p.s.I think we did walk for miles as can be seen from my sunburn for the day

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your comments, that's nice of you to say

I should probably vary the cropping a bit to be honest, but I do aim for the rule of thirds normally. You know I was saying I need to remember to step back a bit sometimes, when you find one that isn't moving it is very easy for me to fill the frame!

The weather looked pretty good for the weekend I thought, well so it was yesterday? Will check it again in a moment.

A very enjoyable day indeed! I shall bear that in mind about fig rolls in the heat - my cheese and pickle sandwiches are always a bit sweaty buy the time I get back to the car

I may put one of me on later then...

Cheers

Lee

[Paul Wetton]

Hi Lee

I think the smaller dragonfly is probably a female or teneral Ruddy Darter. I've seen them at both Bernwood and Whitecross Green Wood before. Very similar to Common Darter but with a more waisted appearance.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Lee,

Good write up and photos, very enjoyable read, as was Michaels in the sightings thread.
In fact it was reading Michaels that tempted me to call in to Bernwood on my way back from Aston Rowant yesterday.

There is a photo of what I think is a female Ruddy Darter on the first page of my diary, looks very similar to your smaller dragonfly.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Michaeljf]

Lee,
the weather forecast keeps changing for the weekend. It may yet turn out to be nice...I'm still hoping for a good Purple Hairstreak photo somewhere!
Neil - glad my report was of some use and encouraged you to visit. Bernwood and Whitecross Green Wood are great places to go - especially in the sun - although WGW isn't quite as nice with a lot of the wildflowers cut down on the main ride at the moment.
Michael

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Paul and Neil for your comments and IDs - that does indeed look like yours, Neil.

Michael, you're right about the weather - white cloud now for Saturday!

Fingers crossed...

Cheers

Lee

[Gibster]

Hiya chaps,

I'm not sure the darter isn't actually a Common. Round here the Ruddies have emerged quite a few weeks ago and mature males are deeply reddish on the abdomen with heavier black markings than shown in the pic. It's getting on a bit for teneral Ruddies. The one in the (remarkably sharp!) photo shows lots of paleness on the sides of the thorax and there's quite a lot of paleness in the legs too, plus the shape of the brownish patch in the upper eye (Ruddy seems more evenly half-and half) all points towards Common.

But I could be wrong!

Cheers,

Gibster.

EDIT - Neil, just had a look at your mystery dragonfly too. Starting at the head-end, the sides of the thorax are banded brown, yellow, brown, yellow. That's way too patterned for a Ruddy, so you've got yourself a Common Darter. Looks even more teneral than Lee's individual, the leg pigmentation hasn't properly developed yet, but I think I can see hints of narrow pale stripes. Despite the young age, it's obviously taken a bit of a wing-bashing somewhere along the way! Cheers, Gibster.

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Seth.

It always makes me happy to be able to get close to dragonflies for some reason!

Cheers

Lee

[Gibster]

Little hint re getting close to dragonflies...works really well with darters.

Try and put yourself in the middle of a territory, close to a favourite perch. Let it come and go a couple of times then put your hand out, palm upwards and open. With luck it'll soon adopt you as the new favourite perch. It gets better...when you've been adopted the dragonfly will allow you to touch it with your other hand. I've spun one in circles by gently pushing its wing, they really don't seem to mind!!! But try and do that to one perched on a reed/twig and you'll be lucky to get closer than a few feet.

Some of the larger species are pretty approachable when they're busily eating large prey. I filmed a Golden-ringed devouring a wasp from 12" distance and it wasn't at all phased by me. Sweet

Catch up sometime mate?

Gibster.

[Lee Hurrell]

Wow! That's quite a trick - must try it....perhaps tomorrow!

Cheers

Lee

[Lee Hurrell]

Saturday 30th July

I got a new camera in the week (Panasonic Lumix FZ45) and took it out to play today, along with the Canon, just in case. I’m quite happy with the results so far; a few questions around image size and reducing this for the interweb but otherwise all good. I need to get used to shooting distance mainly I think as I have quite a few extreme close up shots...however, it seems I can get very close to a subject, should I want to!

The landscape shots are with the Canon, the butterflies with the FZ45.

I’m not ruling out a dedicated macro lens one day, I just wanted an update and decided based on the costs involved at this stage!

I went back to Bernwood today, arriving at lunchtime. The meadow looked completely different to a week ago – the entire meadow had been mowed and looked ominously devoid of butterflies.

However, having read the notice board it does say they mow in July or August and there were plenty of butterflies around the edges, just not the clouds of browns and whites there were last week.

Gatekeepers were again numerous in the hedgerow.

I walked along the thin meadow with fresh Common Blues and Small Skippers buzzing around.

I found 2 Brown Hairstreaks in the first Ash on the left and watched them for a while but they were not coming down to play.

I walked up to the end and found the wasp nest mentioned in Neil’s (nfreem) diary in exactly the same fashion – (‘where are all these wasps coming from? Ah, I see….’)

I did find more Common (?) Darters and managed to get face to face with this beauty.

The Purple Hairstreaks were still on the same Hawthorn and after watching them for a short while I had a most unexpected surprise

I walked all the way round to the Black Hairstreak gate but didn’t spot any more Brown Hairstreaks. Love was certainly in the air today though with 2 mating pairs of Meadow Browns, 1 pair of Gatekeepers and 2 pairs of Common Blues.

And I thought the colours on this female Common Blue were stunning!

Sightings for Bernwood Meadows:

2 Brown Hairstreak
8 Purple Hairstreak
20+Common Blue
1 Small Copper
1 Brown Argus
3 Silver Washed Fritillary
1 Comma
50+ Meadow Brown
50+ Gatekeeper
1 Marbled White
4 Speckled Wood
5 Large Skipper
8 Small Skipper
3 Large White
15+ Small White
15+ Green Veined White

I called into Aston Rowant on the way home to see some Silver Spotted Skippers. They were there in good numbers along with Chalk Hill Blues and Brown Argus.

The Silver Spotted Skippers were really looking for a fight, buzzing anything that dared to fly nearby; blues; browns and even a dandelion seed head that had the audacity to stray too close!

I found an oviposturing female too. I think posturing as opposed to positing as I didn’t find any eggs.

I also found one of those Brown Argus trees!

It was lovely see fresh Chalk Hills too.

Fresh Small Coppers were lovely to see.

Sightings for Aston Rowant:

25+ Silver Spotted Skipper
6 Small Skipper
50+ Chalk Hill Blue
3 Common Blue
20+ Brown Argus
5 Small Copper
2 Peacock
1 Small Tortoiseshell
3 Ringlet
30+ Meadow Brown
1 Marbled White
2 Speckled Wood
3 Small Heath
5 Large White
5 Small White
4 Green Veined White
1 Millerd

I bumped into Dave Miller (good to see you again, Dave!) by chance on my way back to the car and we sat on the slope having a chat with Silver Spotted Skippers and Chalkhill Blues at our feet and Red Kites overhead - a lovely end to the day.

[Michaeljf]

Hi Lee,

I hope all the processing was worth it ! Nice pictures still (regardless of the camera used!) I especially like the Purple Hairstreak (why not? you know how I love those critters, even if they won't pose for me ) and also the Brown Argus tree and Ovipositing Silver-Spotted Skipper - and always nice to see the Small Coppers returning!

Shame to see the meadow mown, but I suppose it's for it's own good - it obviously works every year...

Michael

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Lee,

Glad to see you've been out practising with the new camera. I particularly liked your 2nd Gatekeeper shot and the fabulous female Common Blue. I had one identical at Kithurst Hill on 23rd July.

Keep up the good work.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Michael!

Of course, perhaps next time the original images won't start out the size of playing fields

I can see some limitations compared to the Canon and lens I was using; (light subject against dark background for one, some noise, some sort of blurring about some edges) but lots of plus points too (better focus, sharper, brighter colours, more of the subject in focus). I'll keep practising though!

I took several of the shots above with both cameras so may post direct comparisons in due course.

That's true about the meadow, it was such a contrast to only a week before....

Cheers

Lee

[Lee Hurrell]

Hi Lee,

Glad to see you've been out practising with the new camera. I particularly liked your 2nd Gatekeeper shot and the fabulous female Common Blue. I had one identical at Kithurst Hill on 23rd July.

Keep up the good work.

Good hunting.

Thanks Mark

Also for your advice and help last week too.

The lady blue was a stunner, I have to say!

Cheers

Lee

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Lee,

Nice reports and some lovely photos.

Interesting to read your comments on the Lumix using a FZ38 myself. I recently fitted a Panasonic close up lens as used by Mark and Sussex Kipper and am pleased with the results. Adds a little bit of weight and size to the camera but is still nice and manageable.

The meadows at Bernwood look totally different, necessary management I suppose but what a contrast to last week.
I wonder if the mower found the wasps

Cheers,

Neil.

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Neil

Having not used a macro type lens before I was amazed at how close you can get! You get some lovely pictures from yours too.

Be good to meet up some time?

Cheers

Lee

[Lee Hurrell]

Sunday 31st July

I nearly didn’t go out today but the sun was out. So I did, but soon wished I hadn’t when I hit the M25. When I finally arrived at my favourite car park at Windover Hill, East Sussex, some 3 hours later, ( ), I’d had enough and was fit to burst. (Two traffic jams, 1 set of road works, slow and busy A roads, some village event and a tractor, in case you’re wondering). Perhaps in hindsight, the coast, from London, on a sunny day wasn't such a good idea.

Luckily the Chalkhill Blues fluttering in front of the car soon calmed me down.

There wasn’t much to see in the car park compared to this time last year though although I did find this Burnet with some extra red.

Sightings for Windover Hill car park:

10+ male, 3 female Chalkhill Blue, including a mating pair
3 Gatekeeper
2 Meadow Brown
2 Speckled Wood
3 Small Heath
2 Small Skipper
1 Large White
2 Green Veined White

I set off to the summit and was really pleased to see lots of Walls on the path up the hill. I was hoping to see some today although any photos proved impossible. Equally thrilling was a second brood Dingy Skipper.

Chalkhill Blues were in very good numbers, with well over 100 seen. At one point there were so many in view at one point I didn't know where to look. They seemed to be centered around some mineral taking on a bare patch of chalk, not something I've seen before. They kept barging into each other and fluttering about but I did manage to capture some shots, this one showing a lovely variation in underside hind wing ground colour.

I was perhaps too early for the hoped for Small Blues and Common Blues don’t seem to have hit high numbers yet but then the dry spring could have hit these two species. A couple of tired female Dark Green Fritillaries and a single Marbled White still hung on.

I made a slow ascent up the hill, trying and failing to corner the Walls. As I walked over the Long Man of Wilmington there were some sort of druidy thing going on at his base with medieval costumed people and a film crew.

Finally reaching the summit I walked down into the Grayling valley and found them nearer the top of the slope in good numbers. I managed to get very close to some!

Grayling country:

On the way back down it had all gone a bit Wicker Man as there were now tribal drummers doing their best Burundi, along with some strange chanting. The sound was crystal clear up where I was, having carried up the slopes - I’m sure the locals were scared stiff.

Sightings for Windover Hill:

100+ Chalkhill Blue
4 Common Blue
3 Small Copper
1 Dingy Skipper
6 Small Skipper
15+ Grayling
15+ Wall
1 Marbled White
40+ Gatekeeper
30+ Meadow Brown
5 Small Heath
2 Peacock
2 Dark Green Fritillary
1 Large White

[Michaeljf]

Hi Lee,
lovely shots of the Chalkhill Blues, and interesting to see the 'wickerman' ceremony. You're lucky to escape with your life!
Michael