August 2013

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Your Dragonfly is a male Emporer, in nice condition for the time of year too.

[David M]

Thanks, Rex.

Is it a common species?

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Thanks, Rex.

Is it a common species?

They are common in the south of England and Wales, much less so in the north.

[badgerbob]

Hi David.
The Emperor is not rare but its very rare to get a decent picture of one so well done!!

[Crispin]

There are a lot of dragonflies this year.
Migrants I guess?
The wasp populations appear to be building after a poor start to the year (not all wasps).

So I wonder what, if any, impact this will have on butterfly populations – the predators catching up after a series of poor years?

Looks nice out there today.
Adonis should be about to peak in numbers.

[Crispin]

The day is starting off well!

Just seen a Red Underwing outside the back door.
Clouded Yellow fly across the bottom of the garden, 5 male common blues and many, many whites in the garden.

[Trev Sawyer]

A week or so ago my buddleja bush was heaving with peacock butterflies as well as large and small/green-veined whites...
Today, small tortioseshells have replaced most of the peacocks, along with one red admiral and my first painted lady of the year. I haven't seen so many small torts since I was a kid (and that's a long time ago!)

Trev

[Jack Harrison]

Isle of Mull weekend 24/25 August

New garden ticks: Red Admiral and Speckled Wood. Peacocks emerged in numbers around 23 August, much later than in S.England.

Jack

[ChrissyM]

A week or so ago my buddleja bush was heaving with peacock butterflies as well as large and small/green-veined whites...
Today, small tortioseshells have replaced most of the peacocks, along with one red admiral and my first painted lady of the year.
Trev

Pretty much the same scenario here in Shropshire. However, a nice one today ~ I saw a Clouded Yellow down at the country park. I haven't seen one locally for three years or so Also had two Hummingbird moth sightings recently

[David M]

Utterly stunning day spent at West Williamston Reserve in Pembrokeshire with fellow UKBer Willrow (Bill).

The day started off with an unexpected find - Purple Hairstreak. I thought I'd seen one here last Wednesday but didn't report it as I wasn't 100% sure, and given the species hasn't been recorded here thought I'd better keep it quiet.

We were looking in the Ash trees and initially thought they were male Brown Hairstreaks, but they were too pale and I eventually got a image on my camera just sufficient to be absolutely sure they were Purple Hairstreaks.

Further along, Bill saw much activity in the Ash trees. Another zoomed image proved at least one of them to be a male betulae, the first one I can say 100% I've seen on this site.

There was a little lull on the foreshore for a while, but there was again a sudden flurry of activity, with 5 different females seen in just 12 minutes!!

Just when we thought it couldn't get any better, along came a Clouded Yellow!!!

The species list was impressive too (the only absentee being Meadow Brown, which perplexed Bill and I greatly).

5 hours on site and the numbers were:

Small White 100-150
Small Tortoiseshell 30-50
Common Blue 20-40
Green Veined White 20-40
Speckled Wood 20-40
Hedge Brown 15-25
Silver Washed Fritillary 9
Brown Hairstreak 9 (8 females, 1 male)
Red Admiral 5
Small Copper 5
Wall Brown 5
Holly Blue 2
Purple Hairstreak 2
Peacock 2
Large White 2
Comma 1
Clouded Yellow 1
Painted Lady 1

[Butterflysaurus rex]

We spent a lovely day at Steyning Rifle Range today, it was great to catch up with 'Kipper' who was his usual kind, helpful and informative self, Thanks V much Neil

Roughly around 10 Brown Hairstreaks were seen and although we didn't see any pristine examples, there were still some in good condition and 'I think' that most of us got some decent photos.

Maybe next year I will manage to get a shot of a really fresh one. With the weather set fair for most of the week I'll probably go back and have another go.

J

[Willrow]

West Williamston, Pembrokeshire. Just a few lines to add to David's report about our visit to this beautiful and incredibly peaceful nature reserve today. Eighteen species seen as itemised above, but how could Meadow Brown appear to be absent we both made a concerted effort to find the species without any luck, much of the reserve is prime MB habitat...this is the butterfly mystery of the season for me, just as David describes it perplexing!!!

Nine Brown Hairstreak at this site is good going by any standard, it's a tough site to monitor, scrub covers a great deal of the young Blackthorn, we did however locate several eggs and also watched a couple of females depositing eggs. A new glade has been created beneath the 'master ash' and this could prove quite significant in the years to come and incidentally this is the only Brown Hairstreak location in the UK with visitor friendly seating, courtesy of the local volunteers from the South & West Wales Wildlife Trust and our own South Wales branch of Butterfly Conservation - many thanks for your thoughtfulness kind people

Another lovely summer day spent in good company at a superb location can't ask for a lot more can you!!!

Bill

[MikeOxon]

The Clouded Yellow invasion has reached Oxon - there were at least 20 in the Juniper Valley above Aston Upthorpe this afternoon. I had forgotten how difficult this species is to photograph

Most of the time, they were flying fast and low, with just occasional brief stops to re-fuel. Their feeding stations were always low in the grass, so even when I moved quickly enough to catch one, it was still virtually impossible to get a clear view. The brilliance of their yellow underwings then makes exposure difficult! Gradually, I began to get the hang of it and,as the afternoon wore on, the feeding stops became just a little longer

Aston Upthorpe Down, Oxon - 27th August 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/1000s@f/5.6 ISO400

Inevitably, one flew just as I pressed the shutter but this did provide a view of the upperside, if rather blurred even at a shutter speed of 1/750 sec - they move fast!

Aston Upthorpe Down, Oxon - 27th August 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/750s@f/5.6 ISO400

One provided a 'face' view as it fed on Clover:

Aston Upthorpe Down, Oxon - 27th August 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/350s@f/9.5 ISO400

Apart from the Clouded yellows, there were a few very worn Chalkhill Blues, Small Coppers, and lots of Meadow Browns, while one flower head hosted nearly as many Common Blues as I had seen so far, this year!

Aston Upthorpe Down, Oxon - 27th August 2013
Nikon D300s with 300/4 + 1.4X TC - 1/350s@f/6.5 ISO400

Mike

[Lee Hurrell]

We have just spent a wonderful couple of days on the Isle of Wight over Sunday and Monday.

Along with several thousand mods on scooters, we saw the following:

Small White (hundreds)
Large White
Clouded Yellow (plenty)
Painted Lady
Small Tortoiseshell
Wall Brown
Meadow Brown
Gatekeeper
Small Heath
Chalk Hill Blue
Common Blue
Brown Argus
Small Copper

Silver Y and a Jersey Tiger bringing up the moths.

Lovely! Photos and report to follow in due course in my diary.

Best wishes,

Lee

[David M]

Where have all the Peacocks gone?

Just over a fortnight ago, Peacock numbers on the mature, sheltered buddleias near woodland in Abergavenny pretty much outstripped all other species combined.

Yesterday, there were just four.

Their place has been taken by Small Tortoiseshells, which were about in notable numbers; certainly 40+ seen, and many times 2 or even 3 to a flowerhead!

Half a dozen or so Red Admirals were observed, along with 2 Commas.

Small and Large Whites still about in huge numbers, whilst Speckled Woods seem to be multiplying.

[badgerbob]

Hi David. I've just had a quick walk to High and Over and I also noticed the Speckled Wood are emerging in pretty good numbers. I managed a shot of this one which has larger hind wing spots than I've noticed before. Adonis numbers also pretty good whilst Wall Brown are falling back.

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Today I returned to Steyning Rifle Range for another crack at finding the Brown Hairstreak. Things took a little while to get going but our patience was rewarded when several females came down to pose for photos and lay a few eggs.

I think it's probably safe to say that a great time was had by all, and what a great bunch of people to spend the day with. I hope to see you all again next year

A couple of the BHS were still in remarkably good condition and hung around long enough for us to get some decent photos.

Brown Hairstreak

Brown Hairstreak

Seeing as I only joined UKB last Sunday I've not managed to contribute many photos, I then realised that August is nearly at an end so here are a few of my efforts from this month. Sorry no European Swallowtails or Long Tailed Blues but I hope that some of you will enjoy having a look

Comments are most welcome.

Clouded Yellow F

Peacock

Common Blue F

Brimstone

Clouded Yellow - Helice

Silver Spotted Skipper

Small Tortoiseshell

Brown Argus

Speckled wood

J

[David M]

Comments are most welcome.

I have a comment, Rex.

How did you get that female Clouded Yellow open wing shot?

I presume she'd just landed and hadn't fully settled?

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Comments are most welcome.

I have a comment, Rex.

How did you get that female Clouded Yellow open wing shot?

I presume she'd just landed and hadn't fully settled?

Well I'd love to tell you that it was all down to my AWESOME skills, not to mention tremendous butterfly charming abilities But it was nothing more than some really good luck, I pressed the shutter just as she was about to fly off. However I'm perfectly happy for everyone to forget that and think I'm really good at it

[Neil Freeman]

Seeing as I only joined UKB last Sunday I've not managed to contribute many photos, I then realised that August is nearly at an end so here are a few of my efforts from this month. Sorry no European Swallowtails or Long Tailed Blues but I hope that some of you will enjoy having a look

A lovely selection of photos, I certainly enjoyed looking

Hope to see many more,

Neil F.