July 2012

[ChrisC]

probably my first summery garden butterfly shot of the year

[GOLDENORFE]

went to Arnside knot , loads of dark green fritts, smll pearls,grayling everywhere! in heathwaite meadow , meadow browns and quite a few northern brown argus.

but only one High Brown Fritillary seen in 9 hours looking!!!!!! but WOW! STUNNING freshly emerged

[url=http://www.flickr.com/photos/golde ... .jpg[/img]
HIGH BROWN FRITILLARY 2012 #1 by GOLDENORFE, on Flickr[/url]

[NickB]

Visited one of the only 2 sites for DGF in Cambs today - and saw at least one male on the wing but didn't manage any pics....
(Also 15+ Ringlet, 10+ Meadow Brown and Small Heath and at least 5 each of Large and Small Skipper)

[Hoggers]

Since last week I've been on three Stake-Outs at the Warehorn Elms and today was rewarded with a sighting ( albeit brief! ) of one White-Letter Hairstreak as he quickly disappeared on the other side of the tree.

I then went back to Orlestone Forest : a much better day for White Admirals ( I saw 15 ) most of them fresh but one in rather a tattered state already:

They are a delight to watch as they fly through the Oak tree branches in bright sunshine.

There were also many Meadow Browns,several Ringlets and six Marbled Whites

[Jack Harrison]

Many will have heard of the incident on the M6 Toll

.....on investigation they found the passenger had an electronic cigarette which produces a visible vapour.

Any similar sightings in English woodland lately?

Jack

[Mark Tutton]

Hi all I have just returned from spending the afternoon at Alice Holt and for a change the weather was quite pleasant. The first port of call was goose green car park where unsurprisingly I bumped into Matthew Oates who had just seen his first Emperor of the year. Within fifteen minutes or so it briefly reappeared but with no other males around and very few flies to spook it from resting it did not reappear despite my hanging around for two hours. I decided to to take a look at another territory where Matthew had had another brief view and got one further view of a male making a very relaxed glide around some pines about 70' up. Had a good range of other species including white admiral, silver washed and hummingbird hawk moth but all in very small numbers. As matthew said - it's quality not quantity this year - seemingly for all species. Mark

[A_T]

Amazingly the sun came out and went to Llynclys Common this afternoon in search of the Silver-washed Fritillary. Didn't seen any but did see lots of Ringlets and Meadow Browns plus a couple of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries - perhaps an indication that things are running a little behind this year certainly away from the south of England.

[NickB]

First Small Skippers here.....

[Wurzel]

Large Skipper, 5 Ringlets, 3 Meadow Browns, Small Heath and 6 Marbled White near Larkhill this morning.

Tonight 3 female and at least 40 male Silver Studded Blues at Slop Bog - absolutely perfect conditions

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[web4160]

Visited Rhyd-y-foel in North Wales looking for Silver Studded Blues. A very accessable site only about 30 yards from the road. We saw about 50 butterflies in the area at the foot of the limestone cliffs. The colony here was established from stock from the Geat Orme in Llandudno.

[Ian Pratt]

Very pleased to get some decent photographs of butterflies between the heavy rain on Thursday and Friday 5/6July at Brading Down and across the road from my home in Branstone near Sandown Isle of Wight. All photos were taken with the Lumix FZ38 with no close-up filter or flash.

[EricY]

After all yesterdays rain (5miles from Jacks 51mm!) it cleared up in the evening & I decided to get a bit of fresh air on Snettisham beach & there on the gravel I found a very pristine Painted Lady at 8pm, hope there is a few more to come before this dreadfull summer comes to a close. Eric

[David M]

Needed to get out today as I hadn't seen a single butterfly thus far in July 2012!

The forecast warned against travelling east so I thought I'd take a trip out to Cors Caron, a raised peat bog neat Tregaron in west Wales.

This is the most southerly site for Large Heath in Britain (though there are some further south than that in Ireland).

Weather wasn't great, and it was 2 hours before I saw any butterflies, but I persevered and conditions did get a little better. 5 Large Skippers, 3 Large Heaths, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 1 Peacock seen.

This photo was taken at the entrance to the site (thankfully, there's an extensive boardwalk, otherwise the site would be currently inaccessible due to the recent wet weather):



Only one Large Heath was close enough to the path to photograph, and as ever, grass blades were an unwanted obstruction.



This is the polydama form of this species, which is less heavily spotted than the davus form found in England.

[Willrow]

Lulworth Cove, Dorset. What a week it's been, from the sublime to the gor-blimey, the weather has been absolutely glorious or b***** awful, but I'm going to deal with the strictly glorious on this posting

Our break on the lovely Dorset coast mean't I was able to 'sneak in' a look for Lulworth Skipper and last Thursday proved just the day, with lovely blue skies and lots of the yellow stuff On Bindon Hill I counted more than twenty nectaring on the Vipers Bugloss that was out in considerable amounts. This was my best butterflying day of the year so far, all in I saw 12 species, they are in order of appearance:- Marbled White, Lulworth Skipper, Small Copper, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown, Dingy Skipper, Small Heath, Ringlet, Silver-washed Fritillary, Brimstone, Silver-studded Blue and Red Admiral. I managed to add three new species to my years list namely Lulworth Skipper, Silver-washed Frit and Silver-studded Blue, my total species list is a rather surprising 35 species considering the appalling weather we've all suffered I'm quite pleased

For anyone travelling for Lulworth Skipper etc, one of the easiest ways is to park up using the main car park at West Lulworth (£3.00 for 2 hours) this is actually right on the famous cove itself and access to Bindon Hill is a reasonable climb via the coastal footpath steps (the cove side) and then through woodland and onto the open hill, on going through the gate, turn to your right and then simply follow the narrow footpath along the fenceline directly above the cove, lots of Lulworth Skipper here.

Bill

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Lulworth Cove with Bindon Hill on the left.

Lulworth Skipper territory on Bindon Hill.

A rather late yet still reasonably fresh Dingy Skipper put in an appearance.

Most likely a male Lulworth.

Probably a female Lulworth, fussing before egg laying?

Too breezy for a quality Marbled White on thistle shot...

[a_j_steele]

A mixed day weather wise but a fair bit of sun this morning so manged to get down to Bricket Wood and Common where had plenty of Marbled Whites and Large Skippers when the sun was out. In the Woods 1 Silver-washed Fritillary and around 6 White Admiral and a few Speckled Wood and 1 Silver Y Moth.

[David M]

Silver-studded Blue....

Great that you had such an enjoyable day out, Bill, but is that really a Silver Studded Blue in your photograph?

It looks unlike any other SSB I've ever seen.

[MikeOxon]

...and, from the photos, the first two look like Large Skippers rather than Lulworths. I agree with the male and female Lulworths later in the post.

Mike

[millerd]

The Blue is a female - and resembles some of the very blue female Common Blues around this year. It is unusually blue, whichever it is...

Dave

[Padfield]

I would be very confident that is a female common blue. It's a great butterfly - definitely at the 'aberrant' end of the spectrum - but not a silver-studded blue.

Guy

[edgueinart]

Yesterday in Castle Hill was really windy and rainy but manage to see 5 Dark Green F.,3 Marbled White,8 Meadow Brown,1 Small White and what I think was a Small skipper.

Marbled White by JPNature, on Flickr


Small Skipper by JPNature, on Flickr


Small White by JPNature, on Flickr

is it a Small Skipper?Don't think is a Large one.