Cheers Philzoid and Tuts for the extra ID help
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
, I was a little unsure as I didn’t think that females were supposed to come down onto the deck, but then that’s the beauty of nature watching – you have to expect the unexpected! And I much prefer these too buses!
Cheers for the congratulations Neil!
Cheers Pete
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
– I’m glad that Bentley yielded you good results too – it’s been a bit off there it seems the last couple of years, for me anyway. I’ll have to remember that spot and also scour my local Polish Deli for some shrimp paste that was recommended. Another idea I’ll nick from the baiters was taking along a stool so you can have a sit down while you wait!
I’ve only just got back from a 5 night camping trip to my old stomping grounds on the Isle of Purbeck and rather than sort through the photos I’m posting from a trip I made almost 3 weeks ago but never got round to sorting out...
Martin Down back in mid July was experiencing totally different weather to what we have had over the last week or so. As I was feeling the need to get out as much as possible I decided to make an evening foray. However I didn’t know what to try for – Bentley for more Silver Washed, Garston for a possible Valesina or Martin Down for some roosting DGFs?
In the end I headed into Hampshire and bombed along the well worn road to Martin Down. As I pulled up into the car park I was hopeful that the large threatening cloud might just skip by me and the sun would remain but as I headed for the butts I realised that my luck just wasn’t going to be in and for the next 20 minutes amongst the showers I saw only the occasional Meadow Brown that was brave/stupid enough to fly, possibly in a vain attempt to find some shelter.
I got as far as the meadow at Grimm’s Ditch (?) before deciding that I should call it a day and so I trudged back to the car park. The clouds would occasionally shift and the sun would break through only for rainbows to form for a few minutes before the next wave of rain hit.
I finally ended up at my DGF hotspot, the hollow to the right of the car park when the sun appeared, and with it butterflies! Where there had been none just 30 seconds before there were Foresters and spotted Burnets (okay they’re moths but I really didn’t care at this point – anything that flew was fair game), Small Heaths seemed to be having a competition with Meadow Browns to find which species could explode the quickest from the grass on the path and as well as Marbled Whites there was the occasional orange blur of a Smessex passing by. I did manage to track one of these down and I was actually quite grateful when a cloud covered the weak evening sun so I could manage an approach.
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The Marbled Whites were easy to spot, just look for any purple flower head and there would be one, sometimes two. I came across two Marbled Whites on two separate Knapweed heads, both head down, the one on the right facing right, the one on the left facing left but despite 5 or 6 minutes of constantly shifting my position I just couldn’t seem to get them both in focus. In the end I got as good as I could of both individuals and perhaps one day when I’ve got time/photoshop I’ll splice the two photos together or layer them to get the effect I was seeing with my knackered old eyes.
Although the sun was weak when it did shine it would catch the Marbled Whites in particular and they would glow almost with the delicate blue spots showing well.
In the end I had to call it a night as the temperature noticeably dropped and the butterflies became scarcer and scarcer. I never did see a roosting DGF and it was only as I was driving home that I realised that I actually didn’t know what I was looking for anyway!
Have a goodun
Wurzel