Neil Freeman

[Neil Freeman]

Friday 13th April - Orange Tips

Following a cold and dismal start to the day this morning the sun began to peek out after lunch and by mid afternoon there were some spells of quite pleasant sunshine. After a week of heavy showers today was the first day that we did not have any rain either

I decided to get out for a couple of hours and headed over to one of my local spots, Castle Hills near Solihull, about 10 minutes drive from my house.
This is an area of agricultural and grazing land that surrounds a group of listed farm buildings that are currently leased for residential use. There are a number of meadows that are broken up by hedgerows and small woods with a couple of public footpaths crossing the site.

Castle Hills - Solihull

I spent a couple of hours here and during that time the sun would pop out for ten minutes or so and then hide behind clouds for ten minutes or so. The two photos below were taken in the same area at different times in opposite directions and clearly show the conditions.

Castle Hills - cloudy

Castle Hills - sunny

Anyway, the main reason that I had come here was that so far this year I had not seen any Orange Tips and thought that this was one of the best local places to try.

When I first got there and started walking along the hedgerows it was fairly cloudy and initially there was nothing to be seen. As soon as the sun started to pop out though I saw my first Orange Tip heading up the path towards me.
I followed him for a bit and as the sun went behind a cloud watched as he settled on some Blackthorn blossom. I took a few photos of him settled with his wings closed and then as the sun came out again he opened his wings for a few seconds before taking off to continue patrolling the hedges.

I soon saw another one and then another and then another
I found that the best way to get a photo was to watch them until the sun went behind a cloud and mark the spot where they settled. I could then approach carefully and take my photos of them settled with wings closed. I would then check the clouds and if it looked as if they would soon pass, I would wait. Usually, a few seconds after the sun hit the butterfly it would open its wings fully for a few seconds, long enough to get a couple of shots, before taking off.

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

When I positioned myself to take a photo of the individual above, he proved to be the only on that didn't wait a few seconds with his wings open before taking off. I thought that he looked a bit darker at the time and checking the photos at home he seems to have more black on his forewings similar to some I have seen reported on other posts. Just my luck that this was the one I didn't get a better top shot of.

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

The photos above were all taken with the close up lens fitted to my lumix but I took the one below with it removed and at 18x zoom. I have posted it uncropped straight out of the camera as I just like the effect of the butterfly against the blossom. I just looks like Spring to me

Orange Tip - Castle Hills Solihull

Other butterflies seen were single examples of Peacock, Small Tortioseshell and Speckled Wood.

Turned out to be a great afternoon, all the better for being unexpected given the gloomy morning.

Bye for now.

Neil F.

[Wurzel]

Some absolutely cracking shots there! The last one is a real jem as is the one with the sun shining through the wings, giving that great orangey glow.
The darker wing tips shot definitely do look darker to my mind - but I'm sure that others more knowledgable than me will let you know if it's an aberrant. The "waiting for the sun to go in trick" is something I haven't tried with orange-tips so I'll give it a go, but it definitely works for Skippers - although they're much harder to find when they land suddenly!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

I'm still not sure about that Orange Tip, maybe just a very fresh one with shiny new markings that look darker.

Saturday 14th April.

Cloudier today with just a couple of short sunny spells.
The Speckled Wood in my garden has been joined by a second male and I watched them a couple of times when they met up and did that rising spiralling round each other thing that they do.

Planning to head over to Warwickshire BC Spring meeting tomorrow.

Bye for now,

Neil F.

[Neil Freeman]

Saturday 21st April

A reasonable bit of weather today from mid morning to mid afternoon has brought the Speckled Woods out in my back garden. At one point I could see three different males at the same time, all staking claims to their little patch of garden and intercepting each other and anything else that flew close.

Speckled Wood male - back garden

Another Speckled Wood male - back garden

I also had a brief visit from a male Orange Tip that that just passed through, thats the first OT I have seen in my garden this year

After a bit of lunch, with the weather still holding I decided to go and have a look around some lanes about 20 minutes drive from me to scout out possibilities for return visits.
By the time I had parked my car and started looking around the wind had picked up a bit and some big black clouds were heading my way.
Nevertheless, I walked along a public footpath between a couple of fields and managed to see a Peacock, two Small Tortoiseshells and a couple of Orange Tips, one male and one female. None of these settled close enough for photos and I returned to the car just in time for the first rain drops to start falling.

Looks like the weather for tomorrow and into next week is going to be more of the same.

Bye for now,

Neil F.

[essexbuzzard]

I also use the 'sun behind the cloud' trick for Orange Tips,and many other species. Much as we are complaining about the weather at the mo, we must remember that in warm,sunny conditions,Orange Tips fly endlessly all day without stopping,and there would be no photo's coming into the forums. And there have been many excellent ones already-i never tire of this fantastic species!
The OT season is very short,and every day one is seen should be cherished.

[Wurzel]

Much better shots of Speckled Wood than I got today Like you I'm diving out when I can to try and find some butterflies-those 2 weeks in March really spoilt us! Good luck and weather for next week...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments chaps, much appreciated.

I am fortunate with the Speckled Wood in that I have a small resident population in my back garden and can rely on them being there when the sun pops out.
Even though they are there almost continuously from early April until October usually, I never get bored of watching them and taking ever more photos in search of a 'better' shot.

And I agree that the Orange tip season is all too short, especially when the weather limits the time that you can get out and about.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Neil Freeman]

Sunday 22nd April.

Its been another one of those days with loads of cloud, some heavy showers and a few sunny spells in between.

Mid morning, I was in the kitchen looking out of the window when I spotted an Orange Tip perched on one of my shrubs. The shrub in question is a Mock Orange (Philadelphus) that is just starting to show new growth.

As this side of the house doesn't get any sun until around midday I presume that the OT had roosted there since yesterday afternoon when it clouded over for the rest of the day.

I grabbed my camera and took a few photos whilst he was waiting for it to warm up a bit.

The one below was taken leaning out of the kitchen window and is straight out of the camera apart from a resize to post on here. The butterfly is about 20 feet away from the window, you can just see him in the centre of the photo.
I only realised afterward that these first photos were taken with the close up conversion still set to 'on' in the menu because I forgot to change it

Orange Tip from kitchen window

The next one was taken from the same position with the cameras maximum 18x optical zoom.

From Kitchen window 18x zoom

And the rest were taken with the close up lens fitted.

Orange Tip - back garden.

Orange Tip - back garden

I kept checking on him throughout the morning and he hung on to his twig through a couple of short, sharp showers. Eventually, just after midday the sun came out long enough to warm him up enough to take flight and I looked out just in time to see him take off. He landed again half way down the border before continuing on his way.

Orange Tip - back garden.

Bye for now,

Neil F.

[Neil Freeman]

Well, hasn't the weather been dismal this week!!!

Loads of rain, mostly in the form of heavy showers with very little in the way of sun in between, in fact I don't think that it stopped raining all day yesterday and through last night.

A little bit better today with a couple of sunny spells this afternoon and I saw my first butterfly of the week, a Green Veined White in my back garden which was also my first GVW for this year

Green Veined White - back garden.

He did not stay still for long, probably making the most of the brief bit of sun which actually felt quite warm whilst it was out.

The next few days are not looking much better....possibly a bit of sun on saturday, we'll wait and see.

Bye for now,

Neil F.

[ChrisC]

I noticed it was a certain persons Birthday today. many happy returns

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Chris,

I think the GVW was a special present considering the weather we have been having.

[Lee Hurrell]

Happy Birthday Neil

[Wurzel]

Happy Birthday! Did you ask for butterflies as a present?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Lee and Wurzel,

Many thanks for the greetings.

I didn't ask for any butterflies but I did get a couple of books

This one to help me with ideas for my wild end of the garden

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0955 ... 06_s00_i01

And this one to help me identify some of the other little critters I am seeing

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0007 ... 06_s00_i00

Cheers,

[Neil Freeman]

Monday 2nd May - In the back garden again.

My PC died at the weekend and at the moment I am reduced to using my sons laptop to get online. There is another PC in the house which is currently set up as my sons gaming machine as well as another laptop....methinks there is going to be some conversations around these over the next few days

Anyway, following a few days of miserable gloomy weather and rain, it brightened up today....whilst I was stuck at work.

I got home at around 4.00pm and went out into the back garden. It had clouded over a bit by then but was still fairly bright and reasonably warm.

Within minutes I saw a Speckled Wood, not sure if he is a survivior from last week before the weekends rain or if he has emerged today...he looks fairly fresh

Speckled Wood - back garden

The 'wild end' of the garden has loads of lush fresh growth including a nice patch of forget-me-nots that was buzzing with bees and hoverflies.

Forget-me-nots - back garden

Nomada bee species...I believe?

Looking around this patch during a cloudy spell, I spotted an Orange Tip settled on the flowers.

Orange Tip - back garden

The sun briefly popped out again for a few minutes and he obligingly opened his wings before closing them again as soon as the sun went in.

Orange Tip - back garden

I checked on him just gone 8.00pm and he is still there having settled in for the night on the same flower head.

Also spotted in other parts of the garden were this pair of bugs,

Pair of Bugs?? - back garden

and this bee, I cannot decide if this a male Tawny Mining Bee or something else?

Male Tawny Mining Bee ???

Seeing some of the other sightings by UKB members I am starting to feel the need to get out further to look for some of the more out of the ordinary species.

Heres hoping that the weather turns for the better before long.

Bye for now,

Neil F.

[Pawpawsaurus]

Also spotted in other parts of the garden were this pair of bugs,
<image>
Pair of Bugs?? - back garden

Yes, they're bugs all right - I believe they're Hawthorn Shieldbugs, Acanthosoma haemorrhoidale, the largest species we have.

Paul

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Paul, thanks for the ID on the Shieldbugs, I looked them up last night and that is what they are.

Thursday 3rd May - A bedraggled Orange Tip.

I got up to go to work this morning at 06.00am and it was raining...and it has hardly stopped all day, very grey and gloomy

Getting home at just after 4.30pm this afternoon, I wondered if the Orange Tip that I posted about yesterday was still there on the forget-me-nots.

I waited for the rain to ease off a bit and went down the garden to have a look....and there he was, still sitting there looking a bit wet but otherwise perfectly ok.
I took a couple of photos and left him there to sit out what looks like being another wet night.

Orange Tip - roosting in wet back garden

I should be home just after lunch tomorrow and will check on him again, thats if there hasn't been enough sun by then to tempt him into the air.

Heres hoping.

Neil F.

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots That's definitely a Nomada but I'm struggling with it due to the hairy back (could be ruficornis?)

The bee is most likely Andrena nitida...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

Thanks for the Andrena bee ID

I have a another shot of the Nomada if that helps?

Nomada bee - back garden

Cheers.

[Wurzel]

Could be a female lathburiana judging by the dark red legs and head? Sorry still guess...I mean learning

Have a goodun

Wurzel