ChrisC

[Susie]

Lovely photos.

I hope you are enjoying your birthday incidentally, you share it with Benedict cumberbatch

[ChrisC]

after yesterday afternoons antics with Brimstones which I accidentally put in sightings (oops) I thought i'd have another quick go at Large whites. best 2 attempts

[David M]

after yesterday afternoons antics with Brimstones which I accidentally put in sightings (oops) I thought i'd have another quick go at Large whites. best 2 attempts

Those are really good, Chris, especially the second one with the intruding hoverfly.

[ChrisC]

just one of those moments today. At lunchtime as the sun was out I went for a walk, normally seeing the clouded yellow that I did would have made it special but walking around the industrial estate I found this buddleia dripping with butterflies. mainly small tortoiseshell but red admirals, peacocks, whites and brimstone were all in attendance. i'd guesstimate upwards of 150 butterflies were on this. I drove home got the camera but the sun went in. and as I pulled up half took off to land just about every where else.

the buddleia in question

the dots along the gutter are all small tortorts

the non uniform line dots are also small torts 11 in this pic

not even parked cars were safe. 3 on the roof here

this video will give a better idea although it really doesn't do it any justice.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/60372134@N07/9549252238/

what clouded yellow.....

[David M]

This, sadly, is where the human eye totally trumps the two-dimensional image.

A week ago, when I was in Abergavenny, I saw a sheltered buddleia with two dozen+ butterflies. Most were Peacocks, but there were all the other 4 vanessids as well as a selection of Whites.

There was no point taking a photo though, as the experience you get in real time and at real size isn't something a mere photograph can truly document (unless you post an image equivalent to your original human field of view, which would obviously require a 10 foot x 8 foot computer screen!)

[Susie]

What a fantastic experience!

[Wurzel]

Great shot of the Large White in flight Chris I was driving through Broadchalk today and every Buddleia through the village was covered in whites, Small Torts and Peacocks so I totally get your "whatClouded Yellow" moment

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Susie]

Happy birthday. How the years fly by!

[ChrisC]

thank you susie 4 more til the half century...

[Wurzel]

Happy belated B'Day Chris

Have a goodun (I hope you did)

Wurzel

[ChrisC]

thanks Wurzel, sorry i missed your post.

I have been decidedly slacking in my diary this year, mainly due to not really getting out and about, but today prompted me to.
so the story of the front garden.
The front garden was never a bowling green like many of the lawns down my road and every year i always had a couple of grasshoppers in the unkempt borders. so as well as continued efforts in the back garden i decided the front was really a wasted space. a plan was hatched when 2 years ago I found that Dorset Wildlife Trust did a wildlife garden plaque. I applied immediately and filled many of the criteria required without having to do anything. What i wanted though was the plaque. It arrived and was immediately screwed into an old piece of log and put on display out the front.

here it is with grasshopper.

so now all i had to do was wait, as the grass grew more grasshoppers survived, craneflies, grass moths, meadow ant hills. a veritable wonderland. 2 years later here is the result.

this year i saw a single meadow brown emerge wings partially inflated, and i suspected 2 small skippers but couldn't confirm. but what has happened just this week and i spend very little time out there so this must just be a snippet of what actually goes on.
at least 2 skippers egg laying and today my day was made by a common blue.

I know many will consider it a mess but it is one of the most rewarding things i have ever done with regards to gardening for wildlife. and thanks to DWT scheme and plaque any passersby will know that it isn't my being lazy. It will all get cut by hand grass shears in october, harder work than any strimming and mowing but the rewards are worth it.

Chris

[David M]

It ain't a mess to the majority of us on here, Chris.

'Tidiness' is probably the keyword responsible for the deaths of more butterflies than any other.

I'd love to have a huge garden, 50% of which I could devote to managing for butterflies. Naturally, this would mean that it would look, to the casual observer at least, unkempt.

Who cares though? Certainly not me. That plaque should explain it all.

[Wurzel]

That is absolutely brill Chris - congrats I want one of those now, but I'd have to get a garden first

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ChrisC]

well i thought the year for the front garden was pretty much done after the butterflies but little did i know....
when darkness came it was a whole new ball game, the entire lawn was like this.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/60372134@N07/14879599799/

an today i was checking the craneflies and hoppers when i was treated to.

it has been a brilliant year for the front lawn.

Chris

[Chris Jackson]

Well done for your wild garden Chris C. A good initiative.
Chris J

[Wurzel]

Lovely Small Copper and Common Blue Chris What's the butterfly total now?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ChrisC]

Lovely Small Copper and Common Blue Chris What's the butterfly total now?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

for the garden as a whole? 28 species. but Dingy skipper, brown argus, small heath and green hairstreak have all been singletons that i know of. one possible purple Hair but that isn't included in the total.

Chris

[ChrisC]

the small copper is still loitering for a third day

but the find of the day for me in the front "lawn", the gorgeous wasp spider.....chuffed

[Susie]

Oh! Now I'm envious! She looks full of eggs too.

[Hoggers]

Hi Chris I just love that sign you've got in your garden!

And a Small Copper in your garden too!!

Brilliant!

Best Wishes

Hoggers