Neil Freeman

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Neil I'm chuffed that you got your first Specklie Going back to your place Small Tort it does look different and the wings margins and blue triangles don't appear faded

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

I love your amorous Small Tortoiseshell photos, Neil - there are definitely far more of them up your way than down here (perhaps you have just shown direct evidence for why this is!). And I knew you'd get a Specklie before I did!

Dave

[Mike Robinson]

I really like the Peacock on the Dandelion.
Thanks for noticing my Peacocks yesterday.
Mike ….

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for all the comments guys

Thursday 9th April

Back to work today so nothing seen until I was on my way home when a Peacock flew in front on my car as I waited at traffic lights on the A45 by Birmingham Airport. At home there was another Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell squabbling over the best basking spots in the late afternoon sun.

It certainly is good to see Small Tortoiseshells continue their recovery around here

Small Tortoiseshell - Coverdale 09.04.2015

My first garden Speckled Wood of the year also showed up, a rather 'crumpled' male that looked like his left forewing had not developed properly. Nevertheless he was defending his corner with the usual feistiness displayed by males of this species

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 09.04.2015

Bye for now,

Neil

[trevor]

HI Neil,

Good to see your Speckled Wood , None around here yet and i've been to locations where they
would be found , and hopefully will be very soon.

Keep up the good work,
TREVOR.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Trevor, I am sure you will see a Specklie soon, I am seeing a few reports from all around the country now.

Friday 10th April
Last year I had considered replacing my trusty old Panasonic FZ150 due to the fact that it had become a bit ‘knocked about’ and the zoom had started to make an ominous sound when operated. This was probably the result of being dropped a couple of times, most notably a couple of years back when my foot had turned under me on the grassy slope of Aston Rowant and I has gone rolling down the hill , much to the amusement of my son Chris who was with me at the time.
In the end I persevered with my FZ150 for the rest of the season and it continued to take photos that I was happy with, many of which have been posted in this diary.

With the start of this new season, my thoughts turned once again to getting a new camera, probably a FZ200 which I had looked into last year. I wanted something similar to my FZ150 and was drawn to the FZ200 with its constant f/2.8 aperture across the whole zoom range which I figured would suit my favoured method of photographing ‘most’ butterflies which is from a few feet away and using a zoom usually between 15x-24x. The reason for this is that when I am usually able to get out looking for butterflies is often during afternoons when they are at their most active and can be difficult to approach.

Anyway, this week I took the plunge and found a new FZ200 on eBay for a good price and this afternoon gave it a try out in the back garden.
First impressions in a completely non-technical way are that, compared to the FZ150 it is very slightly larger and heavier, but probably not noticeably so unless you have both cameras to hand. The zoom is very smooth in operation, especially compared to my FZ150 which as mentioned above had suffered being dropped a couple of times. The electronic viewfinder is much better than that on the FZ150 with a much higher resolution.
There were a couple each of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells lurking about which gave me the chance to try some shots. Autofocus and shutter speed both seemed to me to be a bit quicker than the FZ150.

Small Tortoiseshell - Coverdale 10.04.2014

Small Tortoiseshell - Coverdale 10.04.2014

Peacock - Coverdale 10.04.2014

Peacock - Coverdale 10.04.2014

I noticed that the Peacocks were both different individuals to the ‘smiley face’ one that I posted the other day. looking back at some of my Peacock photos I can now see that the hindwing eyespots often look like faces, although not always smiling ones, and in fact I have now started to use the different ‘expressions’ on these faces as another way to identify individuals, along with the usual damage and wear.

A little later another male Speckled Wood showed up and took up a position in the late afternoon sun from where he chased off all comers…

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 10.04.2014

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 10.04.2014

…including my first Small White of the year which strayed too close to his patch.

Looks to be a cooler and breezier day tomorrow but with plenty of sun forecast for around here, who knows, maybe my first Orange-tip will show up

Bye for now,

Neil

[bugboy]

Yes I just caught up on your diary, you are to blame for all the faces! I like your Peacock on dandylion btw, the red is very deep and rich, his face looks decidely angry though!

[Wurzel]

Great Specklie Neil The first of many I'm sure Good luck with the OTs!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Well done on the Speckled Wood, Neil, and I'm sure your OTs will be about within the next few days!

[millerd]

More nice photos, Neil. You are still a magnet for Speckled Woods. Not much about today - I was in your neck of the woods with assorted offspring, and one of only two butterflies we saw (both Small Tortoiseshells) was at Solihull station! The other one was at Ryton Country Park.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Bugboy, I had never noticed the different expressions until the other day. Once seen they can't be unseen

Thanks David and Wurzel, you were right about the Orange-tip

Cheers Dave, I managed to see a few butterflies in the end yesterday despite the cooler and blustery conditions

Saturday 11th April

A very wet and windy start to Saturday morning but it soon started to clear up albeit remaining a lot cooler than recent days and with a blustery breeze with quite strong gusts throughout most of the day. By early afternoon it was feeling reasonable pleasant with longer periods of good sun and, with a couple of Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells showing up in the garden again, I decided to nip around to my local spot at Bickenhill for an hour or so.

Making my way along the usual public footpath that crosses this site I soon started to see Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells along the more sheltered parts, fewer of the former and more of the latter compared to last week with about a half a dozen Peacocks and a dozen Small Tortoiseshells seen today.

Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 11.04.2015

Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 11.04.2015

Peacock - Bickenhill 11.04.2015

For the past week or so I had been hearing Chiffchaffs but they were usually out of sight or too far away but I finally manage to get a long distance shot of one along the path in front of me,

Chiffchaff - Bickenhill 11.04.2015

My highlight of the day however was my first Orange-tip of the year which fluttered down the hedgerow and settled just long enough for a quick (and overexposed) record shot before it carried on its travels. In truth I was caught out by the different button layout on the FZ200 compared to the 150 and fumbled with changing the exposure so missed my chance of a better shot

Orange-tip - Bickenhill 11.04.2015

After an hour or so I started off back for home but stopped off on the way for a brief look at another public footpath where I found another three Small Tortoiseshells and a single Peacock,

Small Tortoiseshells - Henwood Lane, Solihull 11.05.2014

Bye for now,

Neil

[trevor]

HI Neil,

Your description of the weather on Saturday mirrors what we had down here.
At least when the rain cleared the Butterflies came out, despite the wind.
( my first Small White was seen ). Lovely images as usual.

All the best ,
TREVOR.

[Wurzel]

I'm glad the luck worked for the OT Neil - I've seen three whilst drivng now so any chance you can pass the luck back so I can get a shot or three? Great shot of the Small Tort pair

Have a goodun
Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely photos Neil, not so lucky here with the weather only Tortoiseshells in abundance, hope fully when the others arrive they'll be the same Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated as always

Friday 17th April

A bit of a different week for me as I had been called for jury service at Birmingham Crown Court and this was my first week. This means that I have been getting home later than usual so I have lees time to check out the garden.
Nevertheless I have managed to see the usual two or three Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells hanging around and also saw my first Green-veined White and Holly Blue of the year with singles of both these species passing through on Wednesday along with a single Orange-tip

Small Tortoiseshells - Coverdale 14.04.2015

Peacock - Coverdale 05.04.2015

The first Bee flies showed up in the garden a couple of weeks back and have been seen on most days since,

Bee fly - Coverdale 15.04.2015

Today (Friday) has been cool and cloudy all day with quite a nippy breeze. No butterflies seen this afternoon but the usual birds were visiting the garden feeder including at one point a Great spotted Woodpecker at the same time as a pair of Bullfinches,

Bullfinches and GS Woodpecker - Coverdale 17.04.2015

The weather forecast for tomorrow is looking a bit better so I may be able to get out for a couple of hours, fingers crossed.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

Saturday 18th April

The cool breeze from the previous day had dropped and with plenty of sunshine it soon started to feel very pleasant. I had some household and family stuff to do in the morning but managed to have a few looks in the garden, spotting a male Brimstone and Holly Blue passing through. There was also a brief visit from a very light looking, even for spring brood, Speckled Wood female that paused briefly before continuing her travels.

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 18.04.2015

By early afternoon I was free to get out so headed off to my local spot at Bickenhill. This had been a good spot for Orange-tips last year and I was keen to see if the decent weather of earlier last week (when I was stuck indoors) had brought any more out.
With the temperature on my car reading 14 degrees I arrived at about 2.30pm and set off down the usual footpath, almost immediately spotting a male Speckled Wood. He was a particularly dark individual, looking more like a later summer brood male, and made an interesting comparison with the light looking female in my garden earlier.

Speckled Wood male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Continuing on along the footpath Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells were again very much in evidence with loads of both species, plus a few Commas seen along the hedgerows and meadows.

Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Peacock - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

The Small Tortoiseshell below was another pale looking individual, this being the second pale one I have seen this year after the one I photographed at my other local spot at Castle Hills the other week and posted on the previous page of this diary.

Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Small Tortoiseshell - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Following on from some pale individuals seen last year plus other differences noted, it has made me more aware of the variation that can be seen in Small Tortoiseshells, no doubt greatly helped by the numbers that are once again around.

Anyway, it was Orange-tips that I was keen to see and I was not disappointed as I soon saw males patrolling along the hedgerows. There seemed to be plenty of them with at least one in sight nearly all the time but I am wary of stating numbers of species such as this that can patrol back and forth across a large area. In fact I have taken record shots in the past that prove that I have seen the same individual in widely spaced parts of the same site which can give the impression that there are more individuals than there actually are. I took photos today that, looking carefully at afterwards, showed that there were at least six males plus a couple of females wandering around across the area.
With the blue skies and constant sunshine the Orange-tips were typically very mobile and it was not until after 4.00pm that they started to slow down a bit and settle occasionally. It was not really a good day for taking photos of them with the bright sunshine on their white wings making it difficult to get the exposure right. Add to this the fact that I am still getting used to my new FZ200, which despite being very similar to my FZ150 has some differences and, on the same settings, takes a ‘different’ photo, and most of my photos were trial and error shots but in the end I managed a few that I quite liked.
The first one that I saw settle was actually a female and sneaking up on her slowly I had just taken a couple of photos when she was ‘hassled’ by a male. I took a couple of quick shots before he took the hint and left her alone.

Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

A little later a similar thing happened when I had just approached a second female; in fact I think that it may have been the same male again trying his luck, persistent little fellah ,

Orange-tip female - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tips - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

I eventually managed to get some reasonable photos of males as they slowed down a bit later in the afternoon,

Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

Orange-tip male - Bickenhill 18.04.2015

I eventually did a couple of slow circuits around the site and apart from the species already mentioned I also saw a couple of ‘whites’ which I am sure were Green-veined, although they didn’t stop to confirm one hundred per cent.

Later on back home, after seeing a couple of comments on twitter, I realised that I had missed the Warwickshire BC Spring meeting. For some reason I had got it into my head that it was on Sunday 19th…doh!
Oh well, I had spent all last week cooped up indoors and I really enjoyed being out this afternoon

Bye for now,

Neil.

[millerd]

Those Orange Tips are splendid, Neil. I've not seen many yet, and no females. Those two contrasting Specklies are also interesting. The male does indeed seem like one straight out of late summer, and the female is beautifully marked.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Fantastic photos Neil, I'm just sat here being envious of everyone Goldie

[Butterflysaurus rex]

You've "done the business" with those OT photos Neil. I've only see a couple down this way so far... in stark contrast to last year when they were everywhere by now. Please ask a few to come this way

[kevling]

Great Orange Tip photos Neil. They have wetted my appetite for the mass arrival of these great Butterflies. But as yet, a quick flypast is all I've managed.

Regards Kev