Nick Morgan

[NickMorgan]

I am off work this week using up leave, so yesterday I drove down to the Borders to have a look for butterflies. Firstly I went to Linn Dean, a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve in the Lammermuir Hills. Here I was hoping to see Northern Brown Argus, but unfortunately I didn't see any. It was a little cloudy at the time, but there were plenty of Small Heaths around.

There were also some quite fresh looking Green-veined Whites.

I watched these two Small Coppers getting up close and personal, but after a few minutes the male flew off as if the female had said something to offend him. Just prior to that she had climbed down a grass stem with her wings vibrating.

After an hour or so it became more cloudy and I gave up on the idea of seeing any Northern Brown Argus. So I headed down to Gordon Moss, another Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve. This is a peatland covered in birch scrub, with some open grassy areas. Iain Cowe had been there a few days before and had reported a lot of Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries, a butterfly that I have only seen once before as it flew past me.
Iain advised me that SPBF will fly even in overcast conditions, so I was hopeful I would be able to see one. After a short walk into the reserve I saw the first one just in the gateway to the field that Iain suggested I look in. Over an hour or so I saw about 40 of them, along with a Small Copper, some Green-veined Whites and plenty of Small Heaths.
I was surprised at how variable their markings were.

This aberrant seemed to have trouble flying and its wings looked a little malformed along with its wonky antenna.

I was hoping to get some pictures of the underside of the wings which are truly beautiful. I think, because of the overcast conditions, the butterflies were trying to take any opportunity to make the most of any solar radiation. As soon as they landed they would open their wings up, almost flat, angled towards the sun.
This I assume is a freshly emerged female, who was attracting the interest of a couple of males. I presume she was still trying to dry her wings as she kept climbing up stems. At least she kindly revealed her under side.

It was a very enjoyable morning. Seeing Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries more than made up for not seeing any Northern Brown Argus.

[David M]

Great shot of the aberrant, Nick. I'd willingly trade yesterday's High Brown for that!

[NickMorgan]

Great shot of the aberrant, Nick. I'd willingly trade yesterday's High Brown for that!

I'm sure we could come to some sort of arrangement!!
It was a thrill to see it, but I was also very thrilled just to see the other SPBFs! I have to admit that I also felt a bit sorry for it, rather like the Dark Green Fritillary you came across.

[NickMorgan]

I managed to catch the sunshine this morning while I was checking a right of way near Muirfield where the Open will be held later this month. The coastal grassland was filled with Ringlets and I saw my first Meadow Browns of the year. Also a few Common Blues and my first Dark Green Fritillary.

1. Small Tortoiseshell
2. Green-veined White
3. Peacock
4. Comma
5. Orange Tip
6. Speckled Wood
7. Large White
8. Small White
9. Wall Brown
10. Small Blue
11. Small Heath
12. Small Copper
13. Red Admiral
14. Common Blue
15. Ringlet
16. Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary
17. Meadow Brown
18. Dark Green Fritillary

At lunchtime I went to Meadowmill to look for the Graylings, but I think it was too overcast by then for them to appear.

[David M]

That's one hell of a haul, Nick. Amazed you're still seeing Orange Tips in July!!

[NickMorgan]

That's one hell of a haul, Nick. Amazed you're still seeing Orange Tips in July!!

That's the year's haul, not today's!! Although there are still a few Orange Tips about just now.

[David M]

That's one hell of a haul, Nick. Amazed you're still seeing Orange Tips in July!!

That's the year's haul, not today's!! Although there are still a few Orange Tips about just now.

Sorry, Nick. Must learn to concentrate properly when reading!

Still surprised about the Orange Tips though.

[NickMorgan]

I've been spending a bit of time photographing Ringlets to see the variation in their markings. This was sparked off by the first Ringlet I saw this year having very reduced ocelli on the underside of the wings and virtually no markings on the upper sides.

This next one has just two small dots on the upper hind wings.

The next one has one dot on the forewing and two on the hind wing.

I was also keen to see the differences on the underside of the wings.

This nice fat female has three ocelli on the forewing and two on the hind wing.

And this is the underside of the same butterfly.

And another one with slightly differently sized ocelli.

Yesterday, when I was at Gullane, I saw this one that seemed to have no markings at all on it upper wings.

And this one seems to have slightly elongated ocelli.

This one has lovely markings on the underside of the wings. It is a shame that Ringlets always land in amongst the grass where it is difficult to get a clear view!!

This one has very reduced ocelli on the underside of the wings and only four on the hind wing rather than the usual five.

This one has almost no white in the ocelli of the forewings.

And this last one that I saw at Meadowmill has only small beige dots on the hind wing, but five this time!

I used to think that Ringlets all looked more or less the same, but now I am beginning to realise that they seem to be infinitely variable.

[NickMorgan]

At long last the good weather has reached Scotland! It hasn't made a lot of difference to my transect, though and we seem to be in the lull between the spring butterflies and summer butterflies. Today only yielded 11 Ringlets, a Small Tortoiseshell and a Meadow Brown.
Yesterday lunchtime I made a quick visit to a site where I thought I should find Northern Brown Argus. Initially I didn't see many butterflies, but I then found an area where I counted 16 Northern Brown Argus. I also saw a small Fritillary, that looked just like the Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries I had seen down in the Borders two weeks ago. It continued on its way without stopping leaving me intrigued. Later I saw 5 Dark Green Fritillaries and while I was photographing one a smaller Fritillary flew around my feet and I was delighted to see it was a Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary, a butterfly that hasn't been confirmed in East Lothian before. While I was there I also saw 60 Ringlets, 35 Small Heaths, four Green-veined Whites, a Large White, a Small White, five Common Blues and four Meadow Browns. A pretty amazing haul for 40 minutes in East Lothian.

This brings my UK total to 19 for 2013, 18 of them from East Lothian, so not far off my target of 20 species for East Lothian.

[Wurzel]

Love the NBA shots Nick and that sounds like a very respectable haul for a visit Good luck with getting those last 2 species

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

Thanks Wurzel. I managed to pop back to that site yesterday afternoon. After a cloudy morning the sun came out, the breeze stopped and the temperature went up. This happened just after I arrived, so initially it appeared as though there were no butterflies, but they soon came out and opened up their wings to absorb some rays.
After about ten minutes the air was full of butterflies. Hundreds of Ringlets, with a few Dark Green Fritillaries flying past, Meadow Browns and Small Heaths squabbling and the occasional Common Blue and Northern Brown Argus. I just stood there and watched the whole scene. After I managed a few more pictures I headed for home just as a Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary came into view, landed on a thistle and then flew off again in a wide ark. I thought it may return to the thistle, so I sat down a few feet away from it and didn't have to wait long before it returned. It was very active, and flew off after a few seconds. I did manage a couple of distance shots though.

As I was walking away from the site I spied this Ringlet with unusual markings. I have never seen one like it before.

[millerd]

You do have some varieties up there, Nick, but that particular Ringlet is spectacular!

Dave

[Pete Eeles]

As I was walking away from the site I spied this Ringlet with unusual markings. I have never seen one like it before.

Me neither - a very nice find indeed - most unusual! Looks like ab. chrysophalarus - for which I need to find a description.

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/ ... scientific

Cheers,

- Pete

[NickMorgan]

Thanks Dave, and thanks Pete for the identification. I was thrilled to find it and it shows that it is worth paying attention to each individual butterfly. I have been looking at the variations in Ringlets this year, otherwise I may have just walked past it!

Today I had another thrill when I received an excited phone call from a local enthusiast, Abbie Marland, who had just found some Small Skippers at Aberlady Local Nature Reserve. There had been a couple of sightings there two years ago, but nothing in 2012. Abbie had found five on a patch of thistles.
At lunchtime I went to have a look for myself and met Abbie on her way out of the reserve. She pointed me in the right direction and I found the thistles, but it took me some time to find a Small Skipper. They were not bothered by my presence at all, but they were difficult to follow as they darted about in the strong wind. It was difficult to know how many I saw, but there were at least three.
When I arrived back at the car park, Abbie was still there and she told me that she had seen another five on the path leading out of the reserve. I have to admit that she did really well to find them. I would never have seen them if I hadn't been told exactly where to look.
It was a shame that the wind was so strong, but nevertheless there were still hundreds of Ringlets and Meadow Browns, good numbers of Small Heaths, about thirty Common Blues and more than twenty Dark Green Fritillaries.
It is so nice being in areas such as this with good numbers of butterflies. It makes a lovely change from the baron fields of wheat and barley that cover much of East Lothian.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Nick,

Great reports and interesting reading about your Small Skippers, just shows that what is exciting all depends on where you are. I have never seen a Northern Brown Argus and Dark Green Fritillaries are not common in Warwickshire.

Great find with the Ringlet ab. good point about looking at each individual, it makes you wonder how many unusual examples of common species get overlooked when the rarer species are out.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Nick Broomer]

Lovely photos and report Nick, especially about the Small Skippers, and your Ringlet ab. but, have you noticed your picture of the fresh male Common Blue, i believe its a male, i don`t want to make another boo boo, but the undersides look remarkably like a females, could be wrong. But i took a similar photo, of what i thought was a female Common Blue with it`s` wings closed, and with the same colouration, then it flew off, and it turned out to be a male. What do you think?

All the best, Nick.

[David M]

You do have some varieties up there, Nick, but that particular Ringlet is spectacular!

Dave

Only just seen this and it's a belter! I didn't know Ringlets could throw up aberrations like that.

[Wurzel]

Great report of the Small Skipper escapade The Ringlet abs are brill - I thought my eyes were pretty open but now I'll have to really open them

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

Neil, I suppose that one advantage of not having that many species up here is that I can spend more time checking out what we do have in more detail.

Nick, I am pretty sure that was a male Common Blue. It was certainly very blue and it chased after a Dark Green Fritillary that dared to fly too close!

David, yes that Ringlet was thrilling to find!

Wurzel, it was only because I had been looking for aberrations that I bothered to give that Ringlet a second look! From a distance it didn't look any different for all of the others.

[NickMorgan]

Wow 20! I have managed to hit my target for the year! Initially, I was hoping to reach 20 UK species, but having seen Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries and Small Skippers in East Lothian I realised that 20 species for East Lothian was now possible!
Today I visited Meadowmill (an old slag heap!) where I saw over 80 Grayling. It is amazing to think that they were only discovered there two years ago. There were also about 40 Meadow Browns and four Common Blues. Not bad for 15 minutes on a windy lunch break!