Wurzel

[kevling]

Wurzel,

Playing catch up with the personal diaries after my return from holiday. Great shots of the Wall Brown (dead jealous that I did not encounter one myself this year. Ah well there's always 2015. Trouble is there are quite a lot of others species I've said that about too).
My particualr favourite is the Small Tort on the yellow flower head. Great stuff

Regards Kev

[Wurzel]

Cheers Dave Sorry perhaps I should have held off posting this until you've returned from your trip to Dorset when doubtless you'll return with shots of Wall, Lulworths, Camberwell Beauties etc etc
Cheers Mike I was chuffed with those
Cheers CJB I reckon you could get both DGF and WLH next year, there are some great sites detailed on this website for both of those species, keep heart
Cheers Kev You never know you could pick up a 3rd brood Wall

The Outlaws continued...

After a busy few days of trips out and wandering up and down the Lanes today was the day that we were heading to Aber. We kept to the usual routine; walk along the river path into town, look round the shops, stop at Yr Popty for a pastry lunch and then sit on the seafront eating and guarding our food. After this I’d pay my respects to Duncan at the Bay and then head back the way I came to eventually meet up at the swimming pool while the girls would take the more scenic route stopping at the park on the way.

This time however the memorial was gone and there were only a few butterflies around – a Red Admiral and couple of whites at the Police station along with a Common Blue and a few Specklies on the way back. Once I’d parked at Plascrug I checked out the little patch of rough ground between the car park and the neighbouring back gardens. This was packed with all colours of Buddleia and unlike more that I’ve seen almost all the florets were in bloom. I now worked out why I had seen so few butterflies – they were all over here enjoying a nectar bonanza! Amongst the mauve and purple I sighted 2 Peacocks, 3 Red Admirals, and up to 8 Small Torts. But the best find was a Painted Lady which breezed in, fed for a frustratingly short time before breezing out again. Still I managed a couple of shots – literally 2! A cry of “Wurzel” informed me that the girls had arrived so I packed the camera away and donned my swimming togs.

Once back home I sorted the car and swimming things out while the girls went mad in the garden. Jobs done I then took my last trip down the Lane to see if I could add to the earlier Painted Lady or the unusual Hedge Browns. It was actually quite quiet with the Hedge only throwing up a few whites and one or two ‘normal’ looking Hedgies. Further on along one of the Blues had gone but in its place was a nice Silver Y looking old and grey (I’m wondering if this a gammina?). One of the final butterflies I saw on my stroll was a lovely female Hedgie that was totally normal.

So a day of finals – final trip, final stroll down the Lane, final nights stay in Wales and so before that the final check of the Verbena round the side of my Outlaws house. There was the usual Peacock and Small Tort and a very unusual Hedgie! . It was a female and she played hard to get only revealing her upper wings briefly – when she did I could see an extra spot below the ‘eye’. However what was interesting was that when she moved the fore wing upwards with her wings closed two spots were revealed which both had pupils in them. I’m not sure whether this is a named aberrant but it was a great finale to the Wales visit.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Brilliant Gatekeeper ab Wurzel looks very similar to femaleab addenda, NHM Cockayne Collection.

Mike

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the ab ID Mike I'll have to check it out against the Cockayne Collection when I get a bit more time this weekend, that's one of the joys of going back to work - everything has to be crammed into twos days out of the available seven

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Shipton Bellinger 09-08-2014

During my week at the Outlaws I’d watched reports of Brown Hairstreaks coming in and the lush shots with ever increasing envy. I’d also been watching the weather with growing trepidation as the remnants of a hurricane swept across the Atlantic and headed for us promising to wreck the Jet Stream and plunge us all into unseasonal cool, wet and windy weather. As soon as I was able I was off to Shipton Bellinger to bag a Brostreak before the untimely end of the season
In amongst sun and cloud and slightly cooler weather than I’ve been used to I set off up the stone path up the hill. Almost as soon as I started the walk a Small Tortoiseshell flew by and landed on the path to ensure my near perfect record was maintained – that’s one at every site bar one still!

Eventually I reached the hotspot hedge right at the other side of the site with only a few whites and Specklies and blues and browns on the way. Plenty of Specklies had done their usual trick and impersonated Hairstreaks and a few Hedge Browns also got in on the act but despite any a crick in my neck and the occasional twinge of whiplash caused by a jinking, fleeting, orange Hedgie, on reaching the Hotspot I was still ‘Brostreak-less’. There were a few others peering into the bushes but they weren’t having much luck either. One such hedge watcher was Craigbirdphotos and so as we chatted we scanned and worked our way along the hedge and round to a few other spots along the road. There were good numbers of Meadow Browns around as well as blues fluttering amongst the flowers on the hedge margins but still no Brostreaks. Holly Blues were around and whilst getting a photo of one another decided that it wanted it’s photo taken as well and so they had a bit of a set-to.

After trailing around for about an hour a small butterfly fluttered down from somewhere and started feeding high up on a Bramble. The shark fin look of the closed wings suggested a Hairstreak and so I added a betulae to the yearly tally. It was a male but he was a bit shy, staying up quite high and only just in camera range and when I did manage a few shots they were bleached as I was taking the shots into the sun. We decided to leave him to see f he’d come down a little lower and I was able to enjoy the odd false Hairstreak as well as a very distant view of a female. She was even more camera shy than the male, refusing to step away from the Ivy right at the back of hedge and surrounded on all sides by a sea of Bramble.

Craigbirdphotos had to make his way homewards and so I had a further mooch around on my own. Luckily the male Brostreak decided that he’d teased me enough and so came down to a slightly lower level on the Bramble. He was pretty tired looking and had a sizeable chunk taken out of one hind wing but at least now I was able to get a few shots for proof .

Unfortunately for me my time was running out too and so I made to set off. I’d reached the end of the hedge where another couple were staring at the ground rather than into the hedge itself and so I asked what they’d found. It was another Brostreak and clearly another individual, the honey colour showing it as a male. It was in prime condition with its tails nice and pointed and hardly a scale out of place. “A fitting finale” I thought and indeed so it turned out to be despite a mud-puddling Holly Blue. During possibly the slowest walk back to the car ever I didn’t encounter another Brostreak!

Luckily the forecasters had erred and the weather was nowhere near as bad as they and certain Tabloids make out but I still had my Brostreak with several weeks of holiday remaining, a nice situation to be in!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely photo's Wurzal, it's so strange here at present, I've been to Southport, all the usual places and nothing seems to be flying much here except the Speckled Wood. Just a few Common Blue are about ( most of those are really worn ) Red Admirals are about but not as many as previous years.
Gate Keepers are none existent so your very lucky Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Autumn certainly seems to have come early this year, though saying that I did find a couple of really fresh Small Coppers today, perhaps there's more still to come?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel, I am playing catch up yet again. Some more great reports and photos. I particularly like your Wall Browns and the Small Tort on the yellow flower a couple of posts back .

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Neil I think we crossed over on comments earlier

Weekend in Worcester 15-17th August

We didn’t get round to visiting my sister in-law that lives in Worcester earlier in the year so with camping trip and visit to the Outlaws ticked off the “to-do” list we packed a few things and set off up to the edge of Midlands. I was hoping to ‘suggest’ a trip to Grafton after some advice from Nfreem but I wouldn’t be too worried as my sister and brother in-law cater to everyone needs.

After the drive we took a stroll along the canal to walk the cramp out of our legs and the girls were fascinated by the locks offering to help push the gates open and waving at the passengers as the narrow boat rose up from the depths of the lock below. Despite this being the middle of August it was quite cool and it was only on the return journey when the sun came out that so too did the butterflies. First was a Small Tortoiseshell which was investigating a small Buddleia and this was closely followed by two whites which were rather annoyingly on the other side of the canal. There were a couple of interesting Crickets around and once we’d left the canal side behind and were wandering thought the tree bedecked housing estates Specklies and Green-veined Whites became much more approachable.

The next day (Saturday) we went out to Hampton Court Castle. The weather was a bit hit or miss again but there was plenty to keep me occupied while the sun was in. Walking round the ornamental gardens a few whites fluttered by but never stopped. After the tour of the castle we had a picnic lunch on the lawn and it was freezing. It felt more like early spring than midsummer and the darting Swallows could have been feeding up to replenish their stocks rather than stocking up for the trip ahead.

In order to warm the kids up we all headed off on the woodland walk towards the Rope swing. On the way one side opened up to a small field and I noticed a few Browns fluttering about. The others went on and as I watched what turned out to be a multitude (well 8 in this little patch actually) of Specklies the sun burst forth from the cloud. So began a small ‘purple patch’ with a Red Admiral flying by, a few Meadow Browns hanging around the edges of the field and a cracking Small Copper. It put on a really good show for me; allowing close ups, closed wing, open wing and walking head first down grass stems. But I had to leave it and run back to find the rest of the party who were all swinging or pushing the aforementioned swings. The occasional White would fly by to distract me from my work and would then disappear again as the sun went behind a cloud and it would feel deceptively cool.

After the children had almost worn themselves out on the rope swing we headed back down the path and across the lawn to try out the maze and then it was back through the ornamental gardens to the exit. First though I managed to grab a few shots of a couple of the many Small Torts and whites that were occupying this small part of the garden. I don’t know which I was more pleased about – the Small Copper (which was a cracker) or the Small Torts (maintaining my almost flawless record of sightings)?

On the final morning of our stay my brother in-law and I took the children out to the local Country Park to let off steam. A Small Tort as soon as I climbed out of the car was great and then we started off with a walk through the woods. The odd white fluttered through the dappled light just out of reach and never stopping and at one point a Red Admiral erupted from the bark strewn path before I could get any shots. There were also a couple of Purple Hairstreaks (smaller, grey, square winged and high in an Oak) in one of the Oaks on he very edge of the Wood. Unfortunately they didn’t come down so I had to console myself with a few grabbed shots of a Specklie before my younger daughter wrenched my arm out of my socket in her excitement at having spied the massive 4 person swing!

On the way back home feeling relaxed after a great few days away I wondered if the weather would get any better or whether summer had been and gone...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

Nice report and pictures wurzel .

Speckled Bush Crickets require their own a special technique to frame them. You have to stick em in the corner to accomodate the incredibly long antennae (which I see you've just managed to do )

Phil

[Maximus]

I'm playing catch-up too Wurzel. Great Holly Blue, Specklies and Small Copper shots (among others) in your recent reports

Mike

[Wurzel]

Cheers Philzoid I was struggling to decide what to do about that Cricket, looks like I made the right call
Cheers Mike I too need to do some catching up, work has been getting in the way of butterflies recently, all work and no butterflies makes Wurzel an unhappy chappy

The Devenish 18-08-2014

As my older daughter was starting a week of Musical Theatre it left my younger daughter at a loss for whom to annoy/wind up/fight so she took to wandering around the house disconsolately . I packed us a lunch and took her out to The Devenish for a picnic and sweetened the thought of butterflying literally with a few choice penny sweets and also the promise of a swim later in the afternoon. I’d been trying to get back to The Devenish for a quick check up throughout the holiday and this seemed like the perfect opportunity as well as offering me the chance to bag a few extra Brownie points to use later in the week for some Brostreaks

Once on site we wandered through the car park hand in hand and came upon our first obstacle – the first of many gates. As she’s so short the gate towered over her but I showed her how to clamber over and she then seemed to climb over all the others on the site with relish. We reached the Meadow just as the sun broke through the clouds for a brief spell. It was if someone had flicked the switch; all of a sudden there were butterflies. Whites fluttered along the wood margins, and there were fading Meadow Browns, Common and Adonis Blues, Brown Argus, Red Admirals all flying and feasting on the Hemp Agrimony. The occasional Speckled Wood would also announce its presence by fluttering upwards back into the trees and of course there were a couple of Small Torts maintaining their ubiquity.

From here we moved on up to the side of the Down. The Brambles bushed that lined the path have now born fruit and been picked clean so there were no butterflies here. The swathes of Hemp Agrimony lining the base of the Down before it rolled into the Beech wood were where most of the butterflies were. As well as the three species of Blue already seen we also added Chalk Hills and a Brimstone to the tally. I was most impressed with the number of Brown Argus, they seemed to be everywhere although my little girl was more wowed by the 8 or so Red Admirals knocking about the place.

All the hill and fence climbing meant that by now my little girl was starving and so we quickly moved up to the very top of the Down and started looking for somewhere to settle down and eat our picnic. Just as we reached the top a Clouded Yellow bombed by, my first at this site and then we got waylaid by a couple of “cute” (her words not mine) Small Heaths. While we were enjoying these the Cloudy or another appeared and as the sun was masked by the clouds it settled more frequently so we tried approaching it carefully and succeeded a few times. It seemed much more placid then the usual Clouded Yellow and so I gambled that I might be able to encourage it to crawl onto my hand, which it did! After a while the sun came back out and it returned to its usual frenetic self and we returned to searching out a suitable spot for lunch.

Spot found we settled back and gleefully munched whilst spread before us was the whole of the Woodford valley. While I watched a Cloudy and Chalk Hill fly by my daughter read me “The Three Little Pigs” and then we both lay back and watched the clouds and rain fall while lunch went down. It was one of those occasions that is securely anchored in my memory as it was just blissful...

Eventually we made our way back down and through the Meadow with more of the same everywhere and in great numbers despite the autumnal feel to the day and the weather. We also checked out the opposite field where there is a lot of clearing going on. There was very little here but we did find a couple of Brown Argus and Common Blues roosting. I even handed my camera over to my daughter so she could take a few shots; well I had to hold it for her as it was “too heavy dad”.

My little girl's shot

About 20 minutes later and I was being drowned in the local swimming pool, such is life!
Have a goodun


Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Fantastic photo's again Wurzal , what can I say, I think they're all good can't pick one out I like the best

You sound also to be enjoying your daughter's company , make the most of it they grow up too quickly Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie you're too kind My younger daughter is growing up fast - it seems like only yesterday when I was pushing her round the Eastern Clearing at Bentley Wood in her Mountain buggy looking for PBFs - and that was four years ago

Larkhill 21-08-2014

This was just a quick call in as I was passing by on my way to collect the GCSE results . The weather wasn’t really favourable with only the slightest break in the cloud and some fleeting drizzle at times. Still it was nice to get back to old place and see how it’s come on over the summer. Truth be told I was slightly nervous at first as it seemed quiet and I had to walk a good way up the Northbound path before I came across my first butterfly, a Meadow Brown.
I then got my eyes in and started scanning across the grass tops looking for little white flags and all of a sudden I started seeing them. I don’t know whether they’d been holding onto the grass stems lower down and had crawled up as the drizzle abated but they literally started appearing as if from nowhere. I’d scan from right to left and then turn and make the same sweep with my eyes and there would be butterflies. I carried on slightly further than usual and I was still seeing Blues all over so I started taking their photos.

As I drove away I thought that seeing this multitude of Blues was quite appropriate as after looking through the exam results this would probably be how I’d be feeling!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Nice Cloudie Wurzel, and on your finger too

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzal hope your results were okay, I say "Yours" because if like me you took them later

It was great of you to tell me about the Comma's, do you know any thing about Red Admiral's ! My Posting!

The Blues look great , lovely photo's, the only thing we've got here at present are Admiral's, ST, Comma, ( saw one today, very tatty) and loads of Speckled Wood, they've had a great season . Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

...You sound also to be enjoying your daughter's company , make the most of it they grow up too quickly Goldie

Don't they just, it seems only yesterday that my daughter was a little girl and now she is all grown up with a son of her own. Mind you they will always be 'your little girl'

Great reports and photo again Wurzel, you really bring your trips alive with your entertaining style of writing

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Mike I was chuffed with the atypical Cloudy
Cheers Goldie Unfortunately I'm not up on my Red Admirals
Cheers Neil I'm struggling a bit at the moment, work keeps getting in the way

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Wurzel, that first blue in your last post seems to have unusually large underside forewing spots... Did you get to see any more of it?

Dave

[Maximus]

I agree with Dave, Wurzel, the underside forewing spots on that blue do seem to be large and also elongated.

Mike