May 2012

[NickB]

Managed to join PhilB & Rosalyn to Totternhoe.
Plenty of Dukes...

with a good number of Dingies and the odd Brimstone, lots of OTs and a few Whites, Large and Small, and the first few Small Blue....

..and stopped-off to see my first Wood Whites on the way back
N

[MikeOxon]

Yesterday (Wed) was blisteringly hot in Oxon. I visited the Seven Barrows reserve on the Lambourn Downs and then walked West along the path that follows the Oxon/Berks border.

Dingy Skippers were unusually abundant and many seemed much brighter than their name suggests:

Seven Barrows, Lambourn Downs - 23 May 2012
Nikon D300s with 300f4+1.4X TC - 1/750s@f/5.6 ISO400

They were very flighty and I resorted to using my tele lens to gain a large working distance.

On the bridleway near Crog Hill, there were several Duke of Burgundy nectaring on the may blossom. I have never seen them in such profusion at this site and they seemed to have spread from their usual 'enclave' on private land.

Lambourn Downs - 23 May 2012
Nikon D300s with Tamron 90mm macro - 1/180s@f/6.7 ISO400

The exposure was very difficult on the white blossom, with both sun and shade, but eventually one settled on the ground and 'posed' for its photo:

Lambourn Downs - 23 May 2012
Nikon D300s with Tamron 90mm macro - 1/180s@f/13 ISO400

At the same location, I watched the courtship flight of a pair of Small Whites, which eventually settled to mate.

Lambourn Downs - 23 May 2012
Nikon D300s with 300f4+1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO400

Mike

[A_T]

Is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of Speckled Woods at the moment? They're usually so reliable.

[badgerbob]

Following on from my Wall Brown count yesterday on my home patch, today I decided to call into another local Wall Brown hot spot, Bo Peep Bostal on the Downs above Selmeston. Here I have a circular walk which goes up a path to the top, then a walk along the fence line at the top before dropping back down after 600 metres or so and back along the bottom. The Wall are even more prolific here with a very impressive 43 seen, this is slightly up on last years count on this patch. A very fresh Speckled Wood was also seen so for A_T I think the next brood is now only just coming out and you will soon start to see plenty of specklies again.
I had yet another quick check on the Wall pupa and overnight it does appear to have darkened quite a bit so maybe things are at last happening here.

[NickB]

Is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of Speckled Woods at the moment? They're usually so reliable.

Was pleased to see just one yesterday; not seen any locally since March....

[Stevie69]

I went for a walk on Thursley common (jezz it was hot) I saw large white, small copper, speckled wood. Plenty of Broad bodied chasers and large red damsels and azure damsels, great to see 5 hobbies hunting over the common, then the heat said time to find shade and a drink.

[selbypaul]

Is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of Speckled Woods at the moment? They're usually so reliable.

Was pleased to see just one yesterday; not seen any locally since March....

Not seen one since March either. Suspect the prolonged poor weather in April and early May killed off any adults that were around in March. Here's hoping that they layed eggs so that there are some around in late summer

[Stevie69]

The speckled wood I saw today had definately seen better days

[Wurzel]

Pair of Holly Blue, 3 Large Whites and a female Orange-tip at lunch in Pewsey.
Also a male Orange-tip and Small White this afternoon

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[badgerbob]

Another good session this evening with the Wall Brown.

[Paul Harfield]

Is anyone else noticing a distinct lack of Speckled Woods at the moment? They're usually so reliable.

Was pleased to see just one yesterday; not seen any locally since March....

Not seen one since March either. Suspect the prolonged poor weather in April and early May killed off any adults that were around in March. Here's hoping that they layed eggs so that there are some around in late summer

Yes I also am concerned about the lack of Speckled Wood. They were very plentiful at the end of last year locally. I saw a few of them back in March/April but seen very few since.

[David M]

Decided to try two sites fairly close to each other today - Sand Point near Weston Super Mare for Glanvilles followed by Rodborough Common for Adonis Blues and Dukes of Burgundy.

Sand Point was a bit of a disaster. I arrived there after 8am to stubborn sea mist that simply refused to clear in spite of the weather forecast saying it would by mid morning. I felt sorry for the poor chap who'd lugged his SLR gear down from Manchester. He told me he was staying all day so I hope the mist cleared up for him.

Undeterred, I pressed on towards Rodborough at 10.45am, although even when I arrived an hour later the sun was still hazy.

Thanks to Willrow's recent advice, I headed straight for Swells Hill Bank, a south facing sun trap which looked promising from the moment I set foot on it:



There were quite a few Adonis Blues on the wing - at least 10 including 2 females. This is early in the flight period too so I suspect numbers will rise a fair bit over the next few days. Anyone visiting should have no trouble finding them, although they were restless in the sunshine and not disposed to settling with their wings open:



I was keeping my eyes peeled for Dukes of Burgundy, which meant every passing Dingy Skipper was closely monitored, particularly by the shrub line. Eventually, I saw a butterfly shoot up to challenge a Dingy and I knew straight away it was a DOB - it's flight mannerisms were totally different. I spent half an hour in his company watching him patrol his little stretch of hedgerow:



Butterflies seen here were:

Small Heath 20-30
Brown Argus 10-15
Adonis Blue 10-15
Dingy Skipper 5-10
Orange Tip 2
Common Blue 1
Large White 1
Green Hairstreak 1
Duke of Burgundy 1
Brimstone 1

[Millar153]

Flying in Glencairn Park, Belfast yesterday were 3 Cryptic Wood Whites, 3 Orange-tips, my first Small Copper of the year - and two Speckled Woods. A quite fresh-looking female Speckie curved her abdomen round a grass blade but looking afterwards I didn't find any eggs (d'oh!)

Enjoy the sun everyone!

[David M]

Visited Welsh Moor on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea this morning to see whether Marsh Fritillaries had emerged.

Plenty of them had and they were making the most of the hottest day I've experienced since moving to Swansea in summer 2010 - 28.5c on the way back home.

Green Hairstreaks were fairly ubiquitous too, with 3 spiralling around each other underneath one of the oak trees by the field's edge and two more aerial jousts involving a pair at different locations.



The area with most Frit/hairstreak activity was along the shrub line to the left of Welsh Moor:



This Green Hairstreak actually had a 'streak'. I think it makes them more attractive:



Totals seen between 10.45am and 12.30pm were:

Marsh Fritillary 24
Green Hairstreak 13
Common Blue 4
Small Heath 2
Large White 2
Orange Tip 1
Brimstone 1

[Matsukaze]

A few days of hot weather seems to have tempted a few more whites and orange-tips out, as well as more holly blues than I can remember seeing in a day for quite a while. It is also proving to be a good year for the small yellow underwing moth, one of those day-fliers that thinks it is a butterfly.

Also small blue and dingy skipper on a site south of Bath.

[badgerbob]

The latest pic taken this morning of the Wall Brown pupa. On checking on him yesterday before work a Large Skipper was very briefly seen at High and Over. Unfortunately, try as I might I could not relocate it for a 100% id. Having said that I am still 95% sure!!!!

[Dave McCormick]

Moth trapping overnight in a bog, so had the chance to look around this morning before leaving, saw 40+ small heath, 2 speckled wood, a common heath and 3 timothy tortrix just by a quick search of open bog. Not bad for 10 minutes. Small heath were not very photograph friendly though. Anyone else find them hard to photograph?

Small Heath

[Hoggers]

I made a brief stop at Lydden NR where I saw around ten Adonis Blues at the bottom of the hill:

Together with several Small Heaths.

I then had a walk along Folkestone Warren:

Where there were more Adonis Blues

And three Small Blues

I love Small Blues!

[ChrisC]

Martin Down for an hour so this morning
Dingy, Grizzled, com blue, small blue, Brimstone, red admiral, small heath, small copper, green hairstreak, orange tip.

[David M]

With the apparent impending disappearance of the Wrecclesham site, Sand Point's Glanville Fritillary population seems even more important. This morning, I'm pleased to say they appear to be thriving.

This butterfly is constantly on the move, so I arrived at 8.40am to try and observe them before the heat of the day sent them berserk.

Even at this time though, the temperature was 18c and the Glanvilles were already active. I saw the first about 20 metres after climbing over the stile and there were not only plenty more along the track that leads towards the point itself, there were a fair few busying themselves higher up the hill, constantly coming into contact with others and swirling round for a few seconds before carrying on their respective ways independently.



This sheltered little spot was a particular favourite with at least 8 seen in a 5 minute spell standing watching.



Underside shots were tricky as most of the time the butterflies were coming to rest on or very close to the ground.



I spent just under two hours here and it was positively delightful. Being on the coast it wasn't too hot and the butterflies were like confetti. Species and numbers seen were:

Common Blue 30-40
Glanville Fritillary 27
Brown Argus 15-20
Small White 15-20
Speckled Wood 5
Small Copper 4
Large White 4
Wall Brown 3
Brimstone 2
Green Veined White 2
Small Tortoiseshell 2
Orange Tip 1