September 2012

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Lawts,
News less than an hour old is that it's visible - roosting in conifer close to the buddleia it frequents.
Neil

[Hoggers]

I thought I would take advantage of this morning's warmth and sunshine by dipping my toe into Sussex with a visit to Rye Harbour Nature Reserve. Once I'd got over my surprise at finding that they drive on the same side of the road as we do in Kent I walked along to the beach. Red Admirals frequently passed me by and did so throughout my walk. There were many Small Whites and quite a few Large Whites and Meadow Browns too. I then saw a Small Copper and took a few photographs

It was only when I got home to look at the pictures that I realised it had attractive blue marks on its hind wings: just like the Small Copper I found yesterday near my home. I guess this aberration is far more common than I had thought.

I also saw a Small Tortoiseshell

Several Small Heaths and a Brown Argus.

[Lawts]

Hi Lawts,
News less than an hour old is that it's visible - roosting in conifer close to the buddleia it frequents.
Neil

Thanks. There again today as well. Just needs to stay one more day - and another one in Flamborough but not sticking just to tease.

Will there be any Lulworth Skippers left whilst I'm down there?

Cheers

[NickB]

In amongst the RA pictures from today, I spotted this one...

Not seen an RA abs before....

[David M]

I've never seen one with red markings right up near the apex before.

[Vince Massimo]

In amongst the RA pictures from today, I spotted this one...

RA_2_abs_low_MRC_13th_Sept_2012.jpg

Not seen an RA abs before....

Nice one Nick

Could you add it to the Species-Specific Album please.

Vince

[NickB]

Copy in Species Album, Vince.
I suppose, with so many around, there are bound to be some abs. out there at the moment; a first for me!

[NickB]

Not often you see all these species together....
(Not sure about the dwarf tho' .... )
N

[Hoggers]

Work finished early today so I dropped in at Folkestone Warren on my way home

Hot and sunny and everything that June and July were not. Walking along the front I was treated to a Spitfire flying over the cliff tops towards Dover.
As for butterflies, there were many Small Whites and increasing numbers of Large Whites

Two Adonis Blues and 6 Common Blues

including this blue female

One Brown Argus

And 11 Red Admirals

At home there were 2 Small Tortoiseshells on my Buddleia and 5 Red Admirals all boozed-up on plum juice from the wind-falls.

[Gibster]

Oh Yeah Baby...MONARCH ON MY LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Quite a fearless chap, allowed a close approach whilst gorging on buddlehia. I probably could've done my trademark "put it on my nose trick" but there were folk watching...

And at nearby Lodmoor I saw some dodgy dowitcher thingy too.

Gibster.

PS regards the query above, we had a brief look for Lulworth Skippers around Portland Bill but without any success. Mind you, it was a bit blowy at the time.

[David M]

Oh Yeah Baby...MONARCH ON MY LIST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well done, Gibster. Glad you got to see him/her.

By the way, I'm still awaiting your feedback regarding numbers of species you and Sami saw on your LE to JO'G trek recently.

Let me know so I can boost your donation total.

[Hoggers]

Drawing back my bedroom curtain this morning I noticed a visitor:

Taking this as a good omen ( and also a strong reminder that I need to clean my windows ) I met up with my brother ( Hoggles ) for a bit of butterflying at Reculver

I'm not sure what butterflies would have been about back in AD250 when the Romans built their fort here but to begin with today there were lots of Small Whites. We then came across a scattering of Common Blues

which appeared to be having a better day than this poor chap:

Beauty and the Beast.

We saw three Small Coppers, all of which had blue markings on their wings

It now seems that every Small Copper I find has the blue on its wings.

The Ivy near the campsite was in flower and aside from attracting hundreds of Hover-fly and bees had a Comma

and a Red Admiral

( the only one I saw all morning).

A lovely morning's butterflying capped off with a Lime and Soda at The King Ethelbert Pub.

[Gibster]

Hi David, in answer to your question we managed a rather appalling 21 species on our Land's End to John O'Groats Honeymoon Walk. The species we saw were as follows:

Large Skipper - just a few
Brimstone - commonplace, adults and larva (although the species is absent from Scotland! No foodplant, you see)
Large White - commonly seen
Small White - commonly seen
Green-veined White - commonly seen, adults and larva
Orange-tip - frequent at first, larva only latterly
Purple Hairstreak - 1 larva seen
Common Blue - few and far between apart from parts of Scotland where more common
Holly Blue - common in Cornwall/Devon
Red Admiral - frequent, larva also found
Painted Lady - several individuals
Small Tortoiseshell - common in patches
Peacock - mostly larvae noted along with a few adults
Comma - infrequent
Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - scattered in Scotland
Pearl-bordered Fritillary - a handful in Cornwall
Dark-green Fritillary - several in Scotland
Speckled Wood - commonplace
Wall Brown - common along Cornwall/Devon coastal areas
Scotch Argus - frequent in Scotland
Meadow Brown - infrequent
Small Heath - infrequent
Large Heath - a handful in northernmost Scotland
Ringlet - commonly encountered

Bearing in mind that, apart from the Cornwall/Devon heatwave, we only had a handful of sunny days for the entire duration of our trip we fared moderately well. But I honestly can't recall any other year where I've missed so many 'usual' species. For instance the only hairstreak ALL YEAR was the solitary Purple Hairstreak larva. The only skippers have been Large. No White Admirals, Purple Emperors, Chalkhill/Small/Adonis Blues. NO SMALL COPPER!!!!!! No Grayling, no Silver-washed Frits. Despite a stupendously memorable walk, this has been by far my worst ever summer for butterflies. Apart from the Monarch

The Justgiving site is still live, there's still time to donate to a very worthy cause if you so wish. Just follow the link under this post. We've raised over £4500 so far, more would be appreciated though!!

Cheers,

Gibster.

[David M]

Thanks for the listing, Seth.

I'll make a further donation to your appeal tomorrow.

[Ian Pratt]

Lovely sunny day on the Isle of Wight today with many red admirals around, meadow browns and gatekeepers still.
On sedum spectabile (great nectar plant for butterflies) in my garden this afternoon, 3 commas , 4 red admirals and 1 small tortoiseshell all at the same time!

[Charles Nicol]

just noticed a twitter report from minsmere yesterday of an Orange Tip...

the funny thing is when i was driving near Haslingfield yesterday i saw 3 little white butterflies flying around a hedgerow and thought "those Small Whites look just like Orange Tips"....

[Charles Nicol]

In amongst the RA pictures from today, I spotted this one...

RA_2_abs_low_MRC_13th_Sept_2012.jpg

Not seen an RA abs before....

Lovely find Nicholas !!

Charles

[David M]

just noticed a twitter report from minsmere yesterday of an Orange Tip...

I always feel sorry for these few that emerge 6 months early. Orange Tips spend seemingly all of their lives fluttering around Cuckoo Flower so the poor things must feel bereft if they're on the wing in September.

[Vince Massimo]

An unmistakable Clouded Yellow seen flying alongside the A12 just south of Martlesham, Suffolk (TM235 420) on Saturday 15th

Vince

[Paul Harfield]

Yesterday morning along the Itchen Navigation at Bishopstoke in bright sunshine Meadow Brown 1, Speckled Wood 1, Comma 1, Small White 3 and Red Admiral 3

Meadow Brown Itchen Navigation 15.9.2012

Small White Itchen Navigation 15.9.2012

Yesterday afternoon around my local footpaths in Hedge End Speckled Wood 2, Red Admiral 3, Comma 3, Small White 1, Large White (male) 1 and Green Veined White 1

Red admiral Hedge End 15.9.2012