Cheers Trevor
I'll keep my eyes peeled - there was one nearby two years ago...get those Tea crates ready
Cheers Goldie
I hope the Easter Bunny brings you butterflies along with the Chocolate eggs
The Blues – Part 2
44 Chalkhill Blue, 18-07-2014 The Devenish
The local Chalkhills really took their time for me but I was adamant that I wanted my first Chalkie to come from The Devenish so I was prepared to wait. Possibly because the slope they are found on there is West facing rather South facing they were slightly later than at most other sites. Saying that, my first was still 6 days earlier than in 2013 so the overall pattern for most species was continued. In terms of numbers I was slightly disappointed this year as though there were plenty to see at the three sites that I normally see them at they didn’t seem to be in such a high numbers as previously. Instead of a cloud at Stockbridge there was more of a ‘selection of puffs of smoke’ that would arise from each footfall.
This is another species which I need to spend some quality time with this year as I’d love to gets a lot more photos of some of the aberrant forms. I’ve previously found a male with the spotting missing and this year I got a few shots of a male with orange spotting on the upper hind wing margin and I’d like to build up my ‘collection’ (yet another species to obsess over
).
45 Adonis Blue, 25-05-2014 Marshie Site
So not only did my Marshie site hold a fantastic number of Marsh Frits and Greenstreaks along with Walls and Small Blues but it also yielded my first Adonis Blue of 2014. In fact on that one visit I think it produced possibly 6 firsts for Philzoid and the first Large Skipper for the county. Again the Adonis Blues were about a fortnight earlier than last year.
I felt that the Adonis, unlike their cousins the Chalkies, had a good year with a slight increase in their numbers. There were certainly more at The Devenish this year and my Duke Site was crawling with them. In fact they were so numerous here perhaps my opinion has been swayed? One thing I did notice was that the first brood seemed more numerous than the second – though this could because I didn’t witness them at their peak the second time round?
46 Holly Blue, 15-04-2014 Llanachaeron
This year felt like a better year for the Holly Blue as they seemed to be ever so slightly on the up. For the past couple of years I’ve felt like they were struggling yet this year whilst I saw them at probably a similar number of sites there seemed to be a few more about. But only a few so perhaps they are on the upward trend of the parasitic cycle. Like most other species they emerged early in 2014 by almost 3 weeks.
Large Blue, 22-06 Collard Hill
I can’t really comment on whether this species was earlier or later than normal from personal experience as this was the first year that I saw this species. In fact this was third time lucky as I have spent the last couple of years umming and ahhing about whether I should drive into Somerset to see Large Blues. For some reason I had gotten it into my head that Collard Hill was miles away – yet actually it took just about an hour to get there.
I had read that the site abounded with them and all you had to do to photograph them was turn up with your camera. It didn’t turn out like that however as Collard was almost bereft of the Large One – so much so that the official Blog carried a warning of their low numbers. When Philzoid and I did risk the visit we were rewarded with only two females from almost an entire day of searching. Both only provided closed wing shots but I was able to observe the low, fast and flurried flight revealing the almost purple colour from the upper wings. Saying that the closed wing view is still a cracker and the contrast between the white/powder blue of the ground colour and the large, sharp black spots is stunning.
It seems that the Large Blue had a reasonable year despite the poor showing at Collard as good numbers were reported from Daneways this year so perhaps next year I should try there instead (hopefully it’s roughly the same distance as the trip to Collard)? Perhaps the dry and cold start to the year didn’t do them any favours?
My 2014...
First up the lows
...
• I had a poor showing of a couple of species this year including Large Whites and Purple Hairstreaks.
• I missed out on photos of His NIbbs (who was playing hard to get), White-letters and Purple Hairstreaks.
• In general I had difficulty with catching up with stuff at times it was a trying year and was quite hard work at times?
Enough maudlin on with the Highs!
• My favourite outings were visiting my Marshie site and going for the Map with Philzoid.
• Starting the year with plenty of visits to Five Rivers with my daughter and bucket loads of Small Tortoiseshell.
• Wall Browns - a great year for me with this species
• Finally ‘ticking’ Large Blue.
Targets for 2015
• Having gone for and succeeded with Large Blue this year in 2015 I really want to finally go for and photograph Heath Frits.
• To spend a lot more time with Chalkhills.
• To get more shots of the Purple varieties.
• To try and get a Foreign Visit in....
Have a goodun, 2015 that is!
Wurzel
p.s now I can start my 2015 posts proper - only 8 or 9 behind now!