October 2011 sightings

[Perseus]

9 October 2011
A Kestrel hovered over the middle slopes and thorn on Mill Hill. Wasps dominated the Ivy hedge that bordered Mill Hill Road north of the bridge over the A27. So much so, that I did not expect any butterflies on Mill Hill, until I immediately stumbled across a Speckled Wood followed a few seconds later by a Red Admiral, both south of the Reservoir. Eight Meadow Browns were seen all on the lower slopes and two of them in flight and copulating. A single male Common Blue was lively over the lower slopes and a Peacock Butterfly was seen on the Triangle part of the middle slopes. There was at least one grasshopper seen amongst the herbs.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2011.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2011.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: September 2011
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Sept2011.html

[Nick Broomer]

I did`nt manage to get out and about today, [watching the rugby world cup and then motor racing on the box] but i was watching to see what came into the garden. my first visiter was a humming-bird hawkmoth feeding on honeysuckle, seen 3 times during the morning. then a red admiral visited, 4 seen. [could of been the same one] 5 large white, 3 at one time, 3 sightings of speckled wood, and one comma. all in all a great day.

nick

[Ian Pratt]

Photos from last week in the Charente Maritime département of France.Any help with ID would be appreciated.

[marmari]

I'm guessing at pics 2 & 5 are Brown Argus,Ian

[Dave McCormick]

Been quiet here recently, saw 4 small tortoiseshells and a large white at a woodland in north of Co Down on Saturday, feeding on the last of the large area of knapweed flowers that was there, other than that, rain has been pretty much constant around here so not much to be seen.

[Ian Pratt]

I am interested to know if anyone else has any ideas regarding those I have marked with a question mark.

[Ian Pratt]

I'm guessing at pics 2 & 5 are Brown Argus,Ian

I think they were too big for brown arguses.
Ian

[Padfield]

Ian:

2 is not brown argus (cell spot and arrangement of spots on hindwing) - I suspect it is Adonis blue, though it could just be a common blue (female, obviously).

5 is brown argus.

For the first one, I have to say my instinctive reaction was helice, though the extent of black around the edge of the forewing doesn't seem great enough. She's quite a strange looking creature for a pale clouded yellow but that is the only other option. Far too angular for Berger's.

3 is a male long-tailed blue.

[Ian Pratt]

Ian:

2 is not brown argus (cell spot and arrangement of spots on hindwing) - I suspect it is Adonis blue, though it could just be a common blue (female, obviously).

5 is brown argus.

For the first one, I have to say my instinctive reaction was helice, though the extent of black around the edge of the forewing doesn't seem great enough. She's quite a strange looking creature for a pale clouded yellow but that is the only other option. Far too angular for Berger's.

3 is a male long-tailed blue.

Thanks Guy- obvious when you know what they are. The possible pale clouded yellow is a query. I attach some more clouded yellows for comments.

[Ian Pratt]

Although spiders are not strictly insects, can anyone identify this green spider seen in western France last week?

[millerd]

Micrommata viriscens or M. ligurina ?

They are the only two green spiders in my book of Mediterranean wildlife. From the photos, yours looks more like the latter.

Dave

[Ian Pratt]

Are both of these speckled woods or is one a wall brown?

[Ian Pratt]

Micrommata viriscens or M. ligurina ?

They are the only two green spiders in my book of Mediterranean wildlife. From the photos, yours looks more like the latter.

Dave

Thanks Dave for that- it seems right having looked at some other internet photos.

[Padfield]

Yes - both speckled woods. And I would say all the next set of yellows are male clouded yellows.

Guy

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Ian,
Going back to your first set of images, the first shot is definitely a female PCY, for the reasons that led Guy to the same conclusion. The extent and shape of the dark forewing margin precludes helice and is spot-on for PCY. The very angular wing tips preclude helice and BCY. It's quite a worn specimen.
Neil

[David M]

Was delighted to see my first butterfly for nearly a fortnight this afternoon. At about 1330hrs, in lovely sunny conditions, a Speckled Wood flew by me as I stood next to one of our aviaries in the back garden.

Thankfully the chickens didn't spot it and it duly flew out over the neighbour's garden.

[Michaeljf]

I was out at lunchtime today round the back of my work and there were 6 Speckled Woods, plus 1 Red Admiral and even a few dragonflies still hanging on. It felt as warm as a lovely spring day. Tomorrow should be nice so I encourage everyone to get out and enjoy it!!

Michael

[David M]

Good advice that, Michael. Looking at the BBC 5 day forecast, by Tuesday daytime highs are going to be a mere 12C.

[MikeOxon]

A walk around my local Radley gravel pits found this Speckled Wood and several Dragonflies enjoying the afternoon sun.

Nikon D300s with Tamron 90mm + 1.4x TC
1/250s @ f/9.5, ISO400

All the invertebrates were keener on basking rather than flying, which gave good opportunities for macro photos - not easy with Speckled Wood at most times!

Nikon D300s with Tamron 90mm + 1.4x TC
1/125s @ f/11, ISO400

Even at f/11, the depth of field is very shallow but smaller apertures tend to lose fine detail as a result of diffraction. I preferred this to one I took at f/16.

Mike

[dilettante]

We had a very light frost on the grass this morning, the first of the season, but I still managed to find this Red Admiral enjoying some decaying apples:


Red Admiral 15-Oct-11. Sony A700, Sony Zeiss 16-80 1/500s f/8.0 at 80.0mm iso200

And what's wrong with this signboard at a nearby organic farm?