Hoggers

[Hoggers]

I'm trying to make the most of this spell of fine weather by stopping off on my way home from work to do some butterflying. Today I went to a wood near Wye. In the hour that I had there I came across 7 Peacocks,all of them on Dandelions

One had seen better days but was still going strong

The show of Dandelions this Spring on roadside verges ,roundabouts and such like is quite spectacular and, from the number of Peacocks and Tortoiseshells I've seen on them,something clearly important to the butterflies. I've been admiring them with a degree of trepidation as I don't suppose it will be long before the Council has them mown down.

I saw Primroses,Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard and Greater Stitchwort in flower, together with a few clumps of beautiful Wood Sorrel

A male Orange Tip patrolled the woodland edge

This was one of two that I saw today.

I also enjoyed watching Brimstones

And for a bit of fun tried to photograph one in flight

[Hoggers]

Every morning I inspect my flowerbeds and every morning I've noticed that my Asters are slowly disappearing. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to solve this mystery: Slugs. Last night I armed myself with a torch and there they were: some were big and some were small but all were well fed and ugly; a host of marauding Slugs. I nabbed as many as I could find, put them in a pot and deposited them over my garden fence into the field. However a friend of mine told me that Slugs Home rather like Pigeons and Prodigal Sons. I don't know if he's pulling my leg but I'll be out there again tonight waiting just in case.

My Blue Tit is sitting on 8 eggs. Yesterday for the first time she arrived at around 2pm and stayed on the nest. She's still there now so it looks as if incubation has begun in earnest, nicely timed to the pleasant weather conditions.

As my garden is being actively consumed by molluscs I thought that i'd better make the most of it while it lasts, especially on such a sunny day.

So today I've seen two Holly Blues, gambolling here and there, never letting me get very near. One at last settled high in my Plum Tree and I got this photo whilst balancing on a deck-chair

And here he is,flitting away

I had fast fly-pasts by a Small White and Speckled Wood and then my first (albeit rather battle-worn) Large White of the year,which spent some time on my as yet uneaten Wall Flowers

Three Peacocks and a single Small Tortoiseshell completes my butterfly tally for today.

[Hoggers]

Leaden skies and a cool, brisk wind greeted me this morning. I checked the Blue Tits. All seems fine: nine eggs with the female on the nest for most of the day. The male pops in now and again or calls her out for a brief foray around the garden

Last night at 10pm I went on a Slug Hunt in my garden. I think this must be a sure sign that I'm getting old or losing my mind (both,probably): friday night and I'm in the garden looking for Slugs.Welcome to my World. But I don't care what the neighbours think: I caught 20 of the Little Bug**rs. That'll teach 'em to mess with me.

One interesting thing that I discovered on my Nocturnal Mission was that Tadpoles party at night: my ponds looked like mosh pits at a Punk Rock concert with hundreds of Taddies bubbling up at the surface.

With a high, cold wind and the odd shower I didn't expect to see any butterflies today on my walk with the dogs but down by the river I inadvertently startled this Small Tortoiseshell

Then by pure fluke managed to spot a roosting Orange Tip

[Hoggers]

Superb weather and the first day this season that I've seen butterflies in appreciable numbers. I got off to a good start this morning in the garden with two Holly Blues and a Speckled Wood

Then out with dogs, a Peacock, Small Tortoiseshell, 6 male Orange Tips

And one female, together with 2 Green-veined Whites.

I once met a fellow butterfly enthusiast who said that his favourite butterfly was whatever butterfly he happened to be photographing at the time. I can understand what he meant by this. For me however, the Small Copper holds a very special place in my heart. I have never forgotten the first time I ever saw one: I was about eight years old and sitting on a dry mud track with my dog on a hot Summer's day when a Small Copper landed right in front of me. I thought it was the most gorgeous living thing I'd ever seen and I ran back home to look it up in a book, firmly believing it must be extraordinarily rare.

Yesterday I saw DavidM's excellent diary entry which showed that Small Coppers are back for 2013. So I decided today to visit a good site for them near my home: Samphire Hoe, near Dover. I also thought I might be in with a chance of finding the Early Spider Orchid as Samphire Hoe is one of the very few places on Earth where this orchid can be found.

I got there at around 11.30am and already there were good numbers of Small Whites on the wing

But a notice by the visitor centre came as a bit of a disappointment: "EARLY SPIDER ORCHIDS ARE LATE THIS YEAR"!!!

Nonetheless, I decided to try and find a Late-Running Early Spider Orchid. I was in luck

What a stunner. I found only 4 in flower but I'm sure that numbers will increase very soon.

Then after much searching I finally found what I was really looking for: a lone Small Copper

Good to see the little fellow back.

Before returning home I stopped in at Wye and saw a Brimstone, 2 Orange Tips and one Green Hairstreak. A fine day's butterflying.

[David M]

Delighted you found your Small Copper quarry, Hoggers.

Yes, like you I'm particularly pleased to reacquaint myself with this insect in 2013. I know butterflies are resilient creatures, but I genuinely feared for this species last spring as they emerged early due to the warm March and then got obliterated by the atrocious 6 weeks that followed.

Here's hoping that they thrive in 2013!

[Hoggers]

By the time I'd finished work at Canterbury the morning's gloom and drizzle had given way to warm sunshine, so I dropped in at Denge Wood on my way home.

The first butterfly that came my way was a female Orange Tip which appeared to be laying her eggs on Garlic Mustard

She then parked-up for a rest

Large Whites, Green-veined Whites and male Orange Tips were in busily patrolling up and down the rides, joined by a Speckled Wood and a Peacock.

I made my way to Bonsai Bank where after a bit of a search I found a Duke

Master of his Primrose Kingdom

He was the only one that I found. I spent a good hour in his company. Marvellous.

On the way home I visited Wye and saw two Brimstones, a Large White and five Green Hairstreaks

A great afternoon chasing Butterflies.

On a more mundane note, I've managed to eject 20 slugs each night from my garden. Now a friend of mine did tell me that they "home", and I'm beginning to wonder whether he was pulling my leg after all....

[Pawpawsaurus]

On a more mundane note, I've managed to eject 20 slugs each night from my garden. Now a friend of mine did tell me that they "home", and I'm beginning to wonder whether he was pulling my leg after all....

He may well not have been. Radio 4's Material World programme ran an experiment a few years ago to try to determine whether snails had a homing instinct. The results suggested that they did. Who knows whether the same is true for slugs?

Paul

[Hoggers]

Thanks for the tip-off, Pawpawsaurus :Any Slugs I catch tonight I'll take with me to Canterbury tomorrow morning and see how their "homing" instinct copes with the one-way traffic system.

[David M]

Thanks for the tip-off, Pawpawsaurus :Any Slugs I catch tonight I'll take with me to Canterbury tomorrow morning and see how their "homing" instinct copes with the one-way traffic system.

I wish I lived near to you, Hoggers.

Our chickens would be positively DELIGHTED to receive large numbers of slugs.

I'd happily exchange the protein diet for 2 dozen fresh eggs.

[Hoggers]

I had no idea that Chickens eat Slugs,David! Now that gives me an idea..!

[David M]

I had no idea that Chickens eat Slugs,David! Now that gives me an idea..!

Careful now!

There's a downside.

Chickens will devour any slug/earwig/worm, etc that they come into contact with. That's a given.

Sadly they'll also lay waste to your garden greenery at the same time (they adore vegetation almost as much as they adore live animal protein).

You'd figure that some science whizz kid could breed a chicken that turned its beak up at greenery whilst at the same time destroying the insect life.

Not happened yet though, unfortunately.

[Hoggers]

Things have changed rapidly from not seeing a butterfly for weeks on end to seeing at least one every day.

We had rain this morning which as a newly fledged "Gardener" I welcomed on behalf of my plants. When I got home from work the sun was out and I had three Small Whites, a Speckled Wood and two Holly Blues in the garden.

I've certainly suffered from the holly blues recently: they've tricked and baffled me as I blunder around the garden after them trying to get a photograph. I've spent most of my time watching them flying away but at least I've come to learn just how active a little butterfly they can be, more often on the move than not and covering a relatively large territory. One at least will roost high in my neighbour's conifers at evening, stir himself on a warm morning at around 9am then zoom around at least five back gardens for the rest of the day.

I've given up chasing them and instead will "stake-out" the garden hedge. This tactic paid off today and I managed to get closer to one than I have done in the past

[Hoggers]

I'm Chuffed to say that I can now add Orange Tip to my Butterfly Garden List

He just happened to catch my eye when I went up the garden this afternoon,roosting against the very blustery and mostly overcast conditions. On the rare occasions when it brightened up he'd go for a fly around but kept to the flowerbeds where I have Garlic Mustard and Wall Flowers

But these spells were all too brief and he soon landed, hanging on tightly against the wind

Certainly brightened up my day.

[ChrisC]

excellent news and congratulations Hoggers. the hard work has paid off.

Chris

[David M]

Orange Tip on Wallflower is a delightful colour contrast, Hoggers. Hopefully that won't be the last time you'll see them visiting your flower bed.

[Hoggers]

Thanks for your comments Chris and David. I live in a built-up area and so was thrilled to find an Orange Tip in the garden.

I don't know what the weather was like in your part of the country yesterday but here in Kent we had very strong winds and some rain too. I was interested to see what the Orange Tip did as the afternoon became progressively more cold and blustery so I kept an eye on it.

At about 4pm it settled on one of my Wallflowers, nearly at the top of the flower spike (and so exposed to the wind) and apparently "switched off". It just held on tight. I checked on it again at 7pm and there was no change. At 10pm I was hunting slugs ( my total catch per night has diminished from 20-30 of the Little Beasties right down to just 4 last night so maybe I'm winning this particular War..for now...) and there still was the Orange Tip in exactly the same position. It's the first time I've gone looking for butterflies by torchlight! But it certainly was unpleasant out there in the wind and rain, cold too, and seeing it there, so delicate and fragile, in the dark ,hanging on against the elements was quite an eye opener for me. Rough winds do shake the Darling Butterflies of May.

This morning dawned overcast and cool but the high wind of last night had died down. I checked on the Orange Tip at 7am and there he was still clinging on

I had to leave home at 9am but looked in on him before I left. The sun was just starting to peek through the clouds and when I looked at the butterfly I could just see a faint orange glow through his wings

almost as if he was warming up the engine.

I'd have loved to stay with him longer but couldn't. When I got home this afternoon he had gone, but the sun was shining and I've no doubt he had places to be. I hope he has a better night.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Hoggers,

Great reports and photos

In my diary last year I followed the progress of an Orange Tip that settled up on some Forget-me-not and stayed there for 4 days of gloom and rain in a quite exposed postition. After the 4 days the sun came out and he took off and carried on his way looking surprisingly fresh. He certainly gave me an appreciation of how tough these delicate looking creature really are.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Hoggers]

Hi Neil - Four days! Butterflies never cease to Amaze!
Cheers

[Neil Freeman]

Yes, I was pretty amazed myself.

More details start near the bottom of page 5 of my diary,

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5424&start=80

Cheers.

[Hoggers]

I managed to see a few butterflies today despite the fickle weather. My morning walk with the hounds yielded only one butterfly, this Small White, which was hunkering down in the grass out of the cold wind

I was glad to see it as,unusually for the location,very few of them have been there this year.

Around lunch time the sun had struggled through the clouds and all of a sudden (although fleetingly) my garden was Butterfly Central: I saw two Holly Blues and a Speckled Wood whizzing about, and a more sedate Large White on my Wall Flowers

Most exciting of all, just as I stepped out of the conservatory I saw this Green-veined White

I don't get many of these in my garden and I wondered if it had been enticed in by the Garlic Mustard that I've planted. I think it's a female (?) so maybe on the look out for somewhere to lay eggs.

Sadly the spell of sunshine was all too brief, it clumped over with thick black clouds and started to rain. Still, it saves me having to water my plants, although I've a feeling that the moist conditions will encourage a small army of hungry Slugs to slither out of their hiding places for a bite of supper. I'll be waiting!