Susie

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Susie,

Glad you've managed to get out.

A close encounter with a roe deer rounded off a very pleasant walk.

In all fairness though, that's not the best picture of a roe deer I've ever seen.

Just to the right of the tree and to the left of the tallest grass stem???

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Susie]

Lol. Sorry, that pic was just of the corner of the meadow, there is no deer in it.

[Susie]

A bimble around Southwater woods mid afternoon today turned up one silver washed fritillary, one white admiral, one comma, four red admirals and number of meadow browns.

I got a brief glimpse of a painted lady at lunchtime.

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots I've yet to see Silver Washed this year and I'm really jealous of the closed wing shot of the White Admiral

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Thanks, Wurzel.

I've been feeling a bit self conscious about my pics lately because they're really not up to scratch but I do like that white admiral and your words have cheered me up. I think the underside of the white admiral is more attracctive than the upper side tbh.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Susie,

You take some lovely photos. I much prefer to see a photo of a butterfly in the context of its surroundings such as yours usually are.

Keep at it,

Neil F.

[Gothic_dreams]

Lovely photos Susie, i love the shots of the silver washed fritillary and white admiral

Chris

[jenks]

Lovely photos Susie, especially the White Admiral. I still haven`t seen Red Admiral yet this year !. I love that word too; " bimble " ! I took a bimble today around Haugh Wood, Hereford. Glad to be able to get out after all the rain of the last few days. Good numbers of Wood White ( 16-17 ) along the southern butterfly trail. Only other butterflies seen were Large Skipper ( 2 ) and Large White ( 1 ). Still, target species seen.

Anyone know if Heath Fritillary have been seen yet at Haddon Hill ?

Jenks

[MikeOxon]

I know this is UKButs but the Speckled Yellow moth deserves a mention too! Nice photos.

Mike

[John W]

Hi Susie, I'm glad to see you got a picture of that White Admiral! Where did you see the Silver-washed, was it in the same area?

Cheers
John

[CJB]

Hi Susie,
I am a new member and have followed your posts for sometime.
The picture of the White Admiral is particularly good! You don't need to be self conscious about your photos, they are great. I am on a mission to capture all the UK species on my mobile phone (don't ask!?) and am up to 39, but the quality isn't a patch on your handywork!
Flutter on!
CJB

[Susie]

Hi everyone,

Sorry for coming across as so needy yesterday. Thank you to everyone, whether old forum members or new, who gave such kind comments. Much appreciated.

John W: Hi John, it was nice to see you yesterday and thank you for being so helpful with the white admirals The SWF was at the opposite end of the ride where the bramble is.

I was back at Southwater again this afternoon where I was pleased to meet up with Mark Colvin and also bump into Sussex Kipper. Despite there being plenty of bramble out the butterfly numbers are still low and the butterflies weren't sitting well (I know I need to refine my stalking technique! ).

I spent the first part of the morning at Iping as a chore had taken me to that part of the world. There were more SSB around than last week but still no where near the numbers I would expect. Anything sitting around tended to be tatty, the fresh ones where zooming around without stopping.

Again photo opportunities were few and far between.

[Susie]

This weekend I went up to Nottingham and had a chance to pop into a place on the way home that I have wanted to visit for a very long time. It's called Naturescape and I bought the majority of the wildflower plugs and seeds that are in my garden from here. It is a wild flower farm and garden centre. The conditions weren't ideal for most of the time I was there, it was windy and a bit drizzly, but I was still surprised by the lack of insects at a place I thought would be full of them. I saw a couple of bees, some cricket nymphs and a solitary meadow brown huddled down in the grass the whole time I was there. I hope to go back one day when it is hot and sunny and see if it lives up to my expectations then.

[Wurzel]

That looks like a fascinating place to visit. Is it a nursery or a reserve as it looks more like the later?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Hi Wurzel. Yes, it's an interesting place. Here is a link to it's website which will tell you much more about it. http://www.naturescape.co.uk/

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the link Susie, looks like a cracking place just a pity it's so far away.

Have a goodun
Wurzel

[ChrisC]

i hope susie doesn't mind me adding a couple of my own to her diary. this was naturescape june 2004.

[Susie]

Lovely photos, Chris

[essexbuzzard]

Looks like a great place,Susie-and we can bring some goodies home from ther as well!
Don't worry about your photo's Susie-they are a pleasure to see! My photo's arn't perfect,but they give me a great deal of pleasure,what more can you ask?
Cheers.

[Susie]

Very true, I guess you can't ask for more than that

Decided to seize the day this afternoon even though it was raining and headed to southwater. As my welies slurped through the mud I was pleased to see some meadow browns along the path. Unfortunately then the rain got heavier but I found a sheltering ringlet, my first of the year, and risked my camera in the wet to get a shot.

Deciding that I must be totally insane to butterfly in these conditions and with my camera inside my jacket to keep it dry I looked in on the meadow. The rain eased off a bit again and there were plenty of meadow browns around as well as a silver y and loads of crickets. Finally I found what I had really hoped to see, two marbled whites in the grass.

A sweep of the pylon ride only produced one white admiral which was laying flat out on top of some hazel in the rain. I was very surprised at this as I thought it would have closed its wings and sought shelter. Perhaps it was dead!

As the rain got heavier and a mozzie bit me on the wrist I decided to head for home.

The weather's cr@p, that's for sure!