millerd

[LancsRover]

Hi Dave, just a quick belated message back, it was nice to meet you at Collard last Sunday and it's good to put a face to a UKB name and after seeing your superb pics. of the marbled white's dated 11th June, and how much you get about, I will be following your personal diary from now on.

Cheers Russ.

[Willrow]

Super reports from your last few adventures Dave, fine images to enjoy too

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[millerd]

Thank you both for your generous comments - I've been lucky with some cooperative subjects lately!

Not quite so much this weekend. I've been mostly out in the heat of the day, and quite a few of the darker butterflies have been taking shelter whilst the others have been whizzing about alarmingly. However...

Saturday 21st June. The annual trip to Alice Holt Country Park with boys today: though enticingly close to the more interesting bits of the woodland, they were too hot to persuaded into more than a short walk down ones of the rides leading from the visitor centre. Plenty of bramble in bloom against the trees, but a thick barrier of bracken made close approaches to any nectaring butterflies impossible. We saw a couple of White Admirals (one of which nectared half in and half out of the shade), three new brood Commas, several Small Tortoiseshells, Meadow Browns, Small Heaths and a Red Admiral. The hoped-for Silver-washed Fritillaries did not appear.

Heading for home in the afternoon, we stopped off at Dawney's Hill near Pirbright. Large areas of gorse have been cleared since last year, and the Silver-studded Blues appear to have been displaced somewhat towards the far end of the heathland, but were in reasonable numbers. The bright sunshine kept the males with wings closed and the females largely in the shade.

It was a bit early for Graylings, though I am aware these have been seen elsewhere already.
Finally, I had a brief scoot around my local patch, which produced no surprises, though I did see a Large Skipper (of course!), several Small Tortoiseshells, a couple of new Commas, and at least seven Red Admirals. Unlike reports from elsewhere, it has not been an untypical year for them hereabouts.

Sunday 22nd June. I had an extended walk locally today, accompanied by Toby who was more interested in the aeroplanes than the butterflies. The main thing of note was a definite Ringlet, the first seen for a couple of years and in the same location as before. The colony must be very small and easy to overlook during its window of activity. There were good numbers of Small Tortoiseshells, which is something I could not have said a few years ago - a real revival of fortunes.

All along our route were Meadow Browns and Small Heaths, and at the point we turned around I found a single worn Common Blue and some new Small Skippers.

Just nearby was a large area of head-high nettles, and suddenly I realised I was also looking at dozens of Peacock caterpillars of a variety of sizes.

Unlike yesterday, several Large Whites were on the wing, and I also spotted a mating pair of Green-veined Whites perched well up in a tree.

I then had to ferry two out of three boys back to Cherwell Valley services on the M40. The meadows round the back have always been good for butterflies, but whether there is active management, I don't know. In any case this evening, the grass was full of Marbled Whites and Small Skippers, and the nettle beds alive with Small Tortoiseshells.

It's a while since I've seen so many. I also noticed that the road verges on the approaches from the motorway to the services are full of kidney vetch at the moment - however, I will have to wait until I am stuck in a queue at the right time of year to look for Small Blues - not a place to venture safely on foot!.
Finally, on getting back home soon after seven, Elliot and I were greeted by a splendid stag beetle just outside the front door. Unfortunately we did not see it fly, as they buzz around like miniature helicopters and are quite disconcerting if you don't know what they are.

Dave

[Wurzel]

I know what you mean Dave - butterflying on Saturday was a nightmare - I saw plenty but getting a shot was next to impossible You did mighty fine getting teh White Admiral That Stag Beetle is something else

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thanks, Wurzel - he was a fine wee beastie!

Wednesday 25th June: After Sports Day at school, I had the rest of the day off too, so decided to head down to Botany Bay. With delays on the M25 and the rather late start anyway, I didn't get down there until around one, and it appears I missed all the day's Imperial excitement - I didn't see any Purple Emperors. However, there was plenty of other butterfly interest, and it wasn't long before I came across my first Silver-washed Fritillaries of the year.

The sun became a bit intermittent, but this didn't seem to affect the dozens of Ringlets swarming along the rides, nor the Large and Small Skippers down there with them.

I saw several White Admirals, mostly flying high in amongst the trees and only occasionally coming down to the brambles for some nectar. They were very hard to approach.

It was good to see some new hutchinsoni Commas, every bit as attractive as a fritillary, and tussling with anything else that moved (usually Large Skippers).

There were also Red Admirals, varying from tired and worn to nearly new, a couple of Small Tortoiseshells, Speckled Woods, a male and a female Common Blue, and somewhat incongruous-looking for a woodland ride, a couple of Marbled Whites.

I shall have to return soon, but earlier in the day.

Dave

[Pauline]

I like your cheeky little Skipper shots Dave - they always seem to be so feisty and full of charisma.

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Dave - I have still to photograph White Admirals and Silver Washed Frits I've seen them but they're either an orange blur or cutting their way through the air

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Willrow]

Couple of really fine reports Dave, that Stag beetle is really something, a species I'm yet to see

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[David M]

Aaah! So redolent of midsummer - White Admirals, Silver Washed Fritillaries and Silver Studded Blues.

We'll all be dreaming of this come October!

[millerd]

Thank you all for the appreciative comments - yes, Pauline, the Skippers are delightful subjects and I saw a lot more of them today. And for you, Wurzel, one of your favourites!

A mild crisis kept me at work until later than I intended, but as it's very close to the office I had a look around Bedfont Lakes Country Park. I hadn't visited for nearly six weeks, so the most interesting area alongside the railway line was now lush with grass and flowers. There was abundant knapweed, bramble, purple vetch, lucerne, plaintain, everlasting pea, marjoram and huge swathes of birds-foot trefoil, all ideal for butterflies. After a wet spell overnight and this morning, the sun was out and it was warm but breezy at six o'clock. It was quickly apparent that the long grass was full of Meadow Browns and Skippers. There were a handful of Large Skippers, but almost every single other individual I checked (and I looked at quite a few) turned out to be a Small Skipper.

It was only once I got a chance to look at the photos that I discovered one I'd seen right at the start looked much more likely to be of the Essex persuasion.

black underside to antenna tip

sex brand parallel to wing edge

A first for the year, and followed very quickly by another. I had seen a Ringlet in amongst the Meadow Browns, but then a much more orange butterfly darted up from the dense ground cover. This was a fresh male Gatekeeper. It appeared there was just the one, but you forget over the year just how intense the orange colour is, and also how by August you just take them for granted.

Other sightings were a single Small Tortoiseshell, one Small Heath, a Green-veined White, and a few more Ringlets.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Hedge Browns are here Great to see that you've started off with a "zero spot" Dave I can't wait to see my first now

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

I shall be snapping as many as I can this year, Wurzel, to study the variation in spots - you have me hooked!

Saturday 28th June: The less said about the weather here the better - though I've just noticed there are clear blue skies down along the south coast and some way inland: grrr. Nevertheless, I had a coffee in the local café at lunchtime, and as this is a few hundred metres from the Essex Skipper colony next to the southwest corner of the airport, I carried on to have a peep. Under grey skies with the odd spot of rain, and thunder rumbling in the distance, I found half a dozen of the little chaps perched on the vegetation.

They were actually fairly active, despite the lack of sun, but provided some of the typical cute skipper poses which are hard to resist.

This is a very small area, but nevertheless the quest for skippers turned up a Meadow Brown and two Gatekeepers as well. No chance to count spots here, as they remained resolutely perched with wings closed.

Dave

[Hoggers]

Hi Dave, fabulous pictures - I can't walt for my Gatekeepers to appear now as your photos have certainly whetted my appetite!

Best Wishes,

Hoggers.

[millerd]

Thanks, Hoggers - give them a week and they'll be everywhere I hope. I follow your Kentish activities closely, having lived in Dover for a while 20 or so years ago.

Later the same day... A bit of brightness lured me out onto other parts of my local patch, where I thought I'd see if the other Essex Skipper colony I have was active. I saw one rather coy individual, but there may well have been more roosting in the grass.

The warmth coming through thinning cloud livened up a few Meadow Browns and a single Ringlet. One of the former even indulged in a bit of basking, unheard of in full sunshine - the advantage of a bit of cloud.

I also found another new Gatekeeper, which did exactly the same thing, spreading its wings under the warm overcast. Another zero-spot individual, Wurzel - nul points in fact...

in the shade

with a bit of sunlight on it

There was nothing else except a Cinnabar moth sheltering under a leaf.

I succeeded in getting very wet from the long grass after the rain and discovered that my shoes leak really badly.

Dave

[MikeOxon]

It's easy to slip into thinking that 'browns' are a bit boring but your splendid pictures prove otherwise

Mike

[millerd]

Thank you, Mike. No, those brown butterflies can be very interesting in their variety. And as they aren't averse to a bit of cloud and the odd drop of rain, so much the better in an English summer.

Sunday 29th June: Not such a brown day today - more a case of purple, blue, white and dark green...

I left home at half eight, confident that the cloud cover would move off within an hour or two as the Met Office promised. They were right, and my arrival at Botany Bay coincided with sunshine. There were already several folk in the wood eagerly looking for Purple, but they were concentrating up the top of the hill so I decided to focus my efforts back towards the bridge, and down the other path from the triangle. Good idea! I soon came upon a chap (whose name I didn't get) down on the ground with a male Purple Emperor. Despite a variety of angles, the full purple eluded us, but we had it down for nearly a quarter of an hour, and it had been there a good fifteen minutes before I arrived, apparently.

I wandered back up the hill and then down again. With no one else in sight, not far from the first sighting I came across another grounded male, intent on a large and disgusting-looking piece of poo. This individual resolutely sat with wings closed for some while, even after the other group of observers had arrived and began to photograph it. It took the arrival of Neil Hulme to make it completely open up, and the full purple came into view.

After well over half an hour on the ground, it took off to a hazel bush to clean its tongue - I'm not surprised... Neil set off to seed the path with a disgusting fishy concoction, hopeful of enticing others down, leaving a trail that might cause you to think some incontinent and possibly seriously ill animal had been along... However, though I saw at least two Emperors up in the trees, no others came down before I left at 1230.

Next stop was at Denbies. The sun had become a bit hit and miss again, but there were dozens and dozens of Marbled Whites flying, basking and scrabbling around in the grass.

It was fairly breezy too. I also saw Ringlets, Meadow Browns, Skippers of several sorts, Small Heaths, a couple of fast-flying Dark Green Fritillaries and at least a dozen Small Tortoiseshells. These were mostly settled along the top path, flying up as you reached them and settling further on.

In amongst all the fluttering black-and-white, I noticed a flash of icy blue - the first Chalkhill of the year.

I saw four altogether, but no doubt they will be the first of a great many more if the last two summers are repeated.

Finally, to Box Hill for refreshment and a look around there too. Now, I thought the Tour de France was in Yorkshire... Driving up Box Hill, you would never know it. It's a bit hairy at the best of times, but it was very tricky today with so many cyclists. I walked out onto Burford Spur: as with Denbies, there were lots of Marbled Whites, perhaps a greater concentration here, even. Every last bit of knapweed had at least one in residence.

Added to this, there were Dark Green Fritillaries whizzing around everywhere, diving into the grass when the sun went in and then taking off madly at an alarming rate if disturbed.

They often seemed to seek each other's company when going to ground, though when active in the sun, there was many a tussle and chase.

Great characters.

Dave

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Dave,

Great to catch up with you today and glad to see you got some stonking good pics. Later in the day my baits began to work their magic and all but one was visited by HIM, as were my trousers and boots! Hope to get some images and a report up later tonight.

Best Wishes, Neil

[David M]

Great sequence, Dave. Nothing better than a grounded Emperor, that's for sure.

The Essex Skipper images are really nice too.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic stuff Dave, looks like you had a brill weekend, if only mine had been as fruitful

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Hi Dave your PD is always full of lovely photos of butterflies especially those from your 'local patch' which I know very well, as I lived in Ashford and worked on the T5 project, and was based in Longford Village. I well remember my summertime lunch hours spent walking the footpaths between Longford and Harmondsworth, spotting the butterflies which were surprisingly plentiful, glad they still are!
Great pics. of the PE at Chiddingfold, and yes I recognise that bit of poo too amazing that you saw two different individuals to the one I saw, makes one wonder how big the population at Chiddingfold is?

Mike