June 2013

[David M]

Only butterflies seen by me today were through my window (torturous day of studying, sadly).

Let's see how things develop...

[Willrow]

Haugh Woods, Herefordshire. Another visit to this nice location, my quest was to find Wood White and Pearl-bordered Fritillary and also try out the latest addition to my 'photo kit' a new Bridge Camera the Fujifilm HS50 EXR. I've been quite pleased by the image quality of my Panasonic Lumix FZ150 but it has one considerable drawback, it's awfully slow to autofocus and I've lost far too many shots of critters and especially birds. After handling the Fujifilm HS50 EXR at the Focus on Imaging show at the NEC in March, I was very impressed with the camera's highly responsive (read quick) focusing and also the all round high quality of the product, I decided to give it a go and I must say my initial response after a few hours playing about with it is very positive...I have included a few images taken with it today for your perusal

Not a bad day's 'wood butterflying', both target species of Wood White and P-b F were in reasonable numbers, perhaps around the 25 to 30 mark for both species. Lots of Green-veined White in the rides, and I actually managed to see 4 Speckled Wood - is it just me or is this butterfly having a poor first generation, perhaps the (overlapping) second generation will improve matters. Also of note was a good amount of Speckled Yellow moths on the wing, a species I'm partial to, but they ain't half hyper!

Bill

[MikeOxon]

Ahh- flaming June I went for a walk along the Roman Road leading from the village of Beckley onto Otmoor. It provides a sheltered sun-trap for invertebrates and for many species of Warbler in the surrounding hedge-rows. There were good numbers of Orange Tip and Brimstone on the wing, continuously patrolling the ride. Also, a few remaining Peacocks and Commas, mostly looking pretty worn.

Roman Road, Otmoor, Oxon - 1st June 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/500s@f/5.6 ISO400

I was particularly pleased to find several Dragonfly species, including the Hairy Dragonfly, 4-spot Chaser and Broad-bodied Chaser, and most exciting of all and quite unexpected, a Club-tail (photo below), which is a regional speciality.

Roman Road, Otmoor, Oxon - 1st June 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/250s@f/6.7 ISO400

My walk was further enhanced by a constant sound-track from the warblers, especially some very vocal Blackcaps.

Roman Road, Otmoor, Oxon - 1st June 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/750s@f/6.7 ISO400

Mike

[MikeOxon]

try out the latest addition to my 'photo kit' a new Bridge Camera the Fujifilm HS50 EXR.

You've certainly got some good results with it

I love the Wood White coven.

Mike

[kevling]

Have just returned from a family holiday in Snowdonia and with favourable weather on each of the Saturdays, I made a visit to two great sites in Wales.
On Saturday 25th May, we visited Eyarth Rocks, Nr Ruthin in search of my first ever Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. I circular walk of the reserve yielded 9, of which one sat still for a photo (See below). Also present were a small number of Orange Tip, Large/Small White and Peacock. From talking with locals, the PBF are very late this year, with very few sightings at this site. I therefore counted myself very lucky.

Also on my list of first sightings was the Grizzled Skipper. On Saturday 1st June, we visited Llanymynech Rocks Nature reserve in Powys. This superb site is approx 8 miles south of Oswestry and is run by the Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust.
They have created a wonderful habitat for the spring butterflies, removing a number of bushes to allow the wild flowers and grasses to flourish. About to come into flower were a large number fo Butterfly Orchids. When the sun finally appeared, the slopes adjacent to the quarry were awash with butterflies. The following were seen during a 90 minutes stay.

Dingy Skipper 15
Grizzled Skipper 5
Small Copper 7
Green Hairstreak 4
Orange Tip 6
Wall Brown 1
Common Blue 1
Small Heath 1
Green Veined White 1
Large White 1
Peacock 1
Pearl Bordered Fritillary 1 (unconfirmed)

This is a top site and I would highly recommend a visit. I was in Butterfly Heaven !!

Regards Kev

[Paul Harfield]

A family day in Weymouth yesterday. Still managed to see a few butterflies. First Small Copper of the year. One very faded Small Tortoisehell. A few distant Whites. A couple of Dingy Skippers on the beach/cliff. Very happy to see Wall Browns on the cliffs, I have not seen this species since I was about 10 yrs old

[David M]

Spent just over an hour late morning up Kilvey Hill in Swansea.

Large White 20-30 (yet no GV or Small Whites)
Small Heath 4
Wall Brown 4
Common Blue 3
Speckled Wood 2
Small Copper 1

Funny how Wall Browns always seek the highest points. This one was right at the top of the hillock upon which the old windmill once stood (in the background is Swansea Bay and Mumbles Head):

[Willrow]

try out the latest addition to my 'photo kit' a new Bridge Camera the Fujifilm HS50 EXR.

You've certainly got some good results with it

I love the Wood White coven.

Mike

Thanks Mike...early days yet but the Fujifilm HS50 EXR has the potential for really good images, all I need is a cure for camera shake

Nice to see your Common Club-tail, superb dragonfly, I've spent many happy hours with them on the River Wye in South Wales.

Kind Regards,
Bill

[Matsukaze]

In this late year, there are still plenty of Brimstones on the wing here in Somerset - almost as though it were still April - and one or two Peacocks still about. Rather more surprising was to see a couple of Small Tortoiseshells today - one had fallen victim to a spider but the living one certainly looked like a hibernator, with very ragged and faded wings. However this did not stop its determinedly fluttering Small Tortoiseshell-flight and it looked in good health.

Whites are doing OK here but there are very few Speckled Woods about and, one Green Hairstreak in Oxfordshire aside, I've yet to see any lycaenids this year.

[MikeOxon]

all I need is a cure for camera shake

I use a monopod - adds a lot of stability while being much more flexible than a tripod. Those pics I showed above were all taken using one with a 420mm lens combination (630mm equivalent on 35mm) that has no electronic image stabilisation.

Mike

[badgerbob]

Mike I'm very envious of your Clubtail. I've spent a few fruitless hours hunting this one. Yesterday I managed the much commoner Four Spot Chaser. Today was a day looking for blues at High and Over and I found a mating pair of Common Blues where the female was a 'sitting duck' or rather a sitting butterfly as her wings were not formed. The mating went on for 35 minutes before they split up and by this time the female was still sitting with crumpled wings so I have a feeling that she was not going to form properly. Hopefully she will still be able to lay some eggs still. In the afternoon I decided to do one of my Wall Brown counts. However, the sun went in as I reached the area and a lot of the butterflies had gone into hiding so I gave up on that. A few Adonis were seen along with Brown Argus. Walking back the sun came back out and around 20 Wall were seen.

[Willrow]

all I need is a cure for camera shake

I use a monopod - adds a lot of stability while being much more flexible than a tripod. Those pics I showed above were all taken using one with a 420mm lens combination (630mm equivalent on 35mm) that has no electronic image stabilisation.

Mike

When I was using my Nikon D300 and Nikon 105mm Micro combination it was like carrying the proverbial housebrick around with me, sometimes without support of tripod or monopod the camera shake became very evident, hence my conversion to Bridge Camera's for walkabouts (I do miles!). On the whole I'm finding the image quality to be more than acceptable and both my Fuji and the Panasonic have very good image stabilisation...thankfully!

Your combination on a monopod is very sensible Mike, the one 'understated' requirement for a good quality image is a rock steady hand, some people are lucky in that regard, I'm afraid I'm not that category, at least not these days

Bill

[Willrow]

Aberbargoed Grasslands NNR, South Wales. It may be of interest to know that the Marsh Fritillary are now on the wing at this cracking reserve. Circa 30 counted during a mid-morning visit. I've put a few images up on the Sites page for Aberbargoed Grasslands for those of you that might be considering a visit and want a little more information before travelling any distance.

Bill

[ChrisC]

green haired hair streak.

[Wurzel]

I always thought the Greenstreaks were punks Chris - now I know they are

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

When I checked my photos from a visit to Weymouth yesterday, I noticed that my Wall Brown has a double eyespot. The photo is out of focus (see my diary for the reasons for this) it was the best I could do at the time I just wondered how unusual the double eye spot is comments please

[kevling]

jackz432r,

A double eye spot is not unheard of, but at the same time not too common either. Have seen a female with such markings and am also aware that it occurs with Large Wall Brown's too.

Kev

[Hugh Middleton]

Good numbers of Common Blue plus Orange Tips and Brimstone in the Lincs limewoods yesterday and this morning.

Hugh

[Wildmoreway]

Hi

ust wondering whether any Small Blues have been sighted this year in the car park location at Bath, if so I would like to know the location of the car park so that I could make a visit either tomorrow or on Wednesday.

Thank you.

[aeshna5]

Visited Denbies, Surrey for a couple of hours yesterday morning + recorded:

30+ Small Heath
1 Speckled Wood
1 Large White
4 Small/GV Whites
4 Brimstone
2 Orange Tip
14 Dingy Skipper
12 Adonis Blue (1 female)
5 Common Blue
2 Green Hairstreak
100+ 5-spot Burnet
4 Mother Shipton
1 Common Carpet

2 other chaps together did find a single Grizzled Skipper which eluded me.