Bugboys mission

[bugboy]

Hutchinsons Bank, 22 May (part 1)

Another day, another lifer or two! Today was all about Glanville Fritillaries and it didn't disappoint. I get to the site at about 11 and with only 3 hours to spare I worry perhaps I'm too early to make the most of it. I needn't have worried, within 10 minutes I disturbed 2 males basking on the path.

Despite the hazy sun the site is very warm, its micro climate seems to be around 5 degrees warmer than surrounding areas, so they were very active and not easy to approach.

With reports of double figures at the site I move on down towards the main scrape which is even warmer, stopping to take a few snaps of a cardinal Beetle as he dithers about whether to take flight or not:

He finally made his mind up:

Getting to the scrape the first butterflies I notice are several male Common Blues, my first of the year:

No females about as far as I could tell, and like the Brown Argus I saw a few weeks ago, I witnessed 2 males trying to mate each other:

Wrong sex, wrong end, just wrong!

There was also a Brown Argus periodically harrassing the CB's and Dingy Skippers were very active as well.
caught this pair as they tumbled in front of me, note both have their proboscis's extended:

But the main focus was the several Glanvilles flying about. The cloud had thinned a bit and they were proving more difficult to approach now. I love how they seem to leap out of the pictures though:

[Maximus]

Delightful Glanville photos from Hutchinsons Bank

[Goldie M]

I've not seen a Glanville Frit yet Bugboy, you make me very envious with your photos Goldie

[bugboy]

Thanks both, my first time in the presence of a Glanville. If the weather forcast is as predicted I may go for another dose in the afternoon tomorrow

[bugboy]

Hutchinsons Bank, 22 May (part 2)

So as I said before the Glanvilles were the main reason I was here but I was also hoping for another lifer, the Small Blue. Mrsp0ck was there (as well as a few other butterfliers) and came over to say hello. Almost immediatley he pointed out a very fresh male Small Blue

As another couple and I got our fill of him a mating pair suddenly appeared!

The second time this year I've had a mating pair for a lifer

Inbetween all this Small Blue action I still paid attention to the Glanvilles who were flitting around.

Brimstones were also very numerous, at one point I saw 4 males flying together, but this female was very approachable as she fed on the Horseshoe Vetch:

It was interesting to watch her feed from every flower, not missing a single one yet also not going to the same one twice

There were also a few Small Heaths flitting, none very approachable until this remarkable one landing in front of me .

It wasn't until it landing that I realised anything was wrong. It's flight seemed quite normal by Small Heath standards but from what I can see it is missing the entirety of one forewing and most of the hindwing on one side. I've never seen a butterfly with such extreme wing damage alive, yet alone be able to fly. I was very confused for a few seconds as I tried to work out why it was basking with it's wings open!

After an hour or so I moved off from the main scrape and started to slowly make my way back. I found another Small Blue back where I had seen my first two Glanvilles, another very fresh individual:

Those two Glanvilles were still there and I noticed one acting oddly, continuously extending its tongue:

When it flew onto some grass I was able to get a better look at what was going on with it. It would seem to have damaged its palps and he was unable to coil up his tongue properly. felt a bit sorry for him, it seemed to be very annoying as he repeatedly coiled and extended his tongue, tried cleaning it with his leg. I was tempted to try and catch him and help him out but feared I would end up doing more harm than good

I left him to his tribulations and found an exhausted looking Painted lady. It didn't fly far from me as I pestered it for a picture and kept probing the damp path for moisture:

As I was leaving the site another Common Blue decided to pose for me, looking very pretty as he fed on Cow Parsley:

Only 3 hours but what a fantastic 3 hours it was, 2 lifers, some interesting behaviour and lots of lovely photographs to take home with me

[MrSp0ck]

Glad you enjoyed your visit to Hutchinsons Bank, the weather turned dull on Saturday, so sightings have dropped off again.

A few more Small Blues are starting to appear.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Bugboy,

A great couple of reports from Hutchinsons Bank with some lovely photos

Cheers,

Neil

[David M]

How the hell was that Small Heath able to fly!!

[Wurzel]

Your mission is certainly progressing well Buggy those Glannies are smashing Good luck with the Marshies

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Nice Painted Lady Bugboy hope they visit here soon Goldie

[bugboy]

Thanks Mrsp0ck, it was a great few hours

Thanks for the kind words Neil

God alone knows David, if I hadn't seen it I wouldn't have believed it!

Thanks Wurzel, 7 lifers this year so far already with hopefully 2 more still to go this year.....although the current weather forcast for this coming Saturday and the Marshies is looking decidedly iffy

Thanks Goldie, I'm sure they are on their way up to you although not this particular animal, it looked pretty much cream crackered!


Saturday 23rd May, Bison Hill

This was a pre-planned trip with a birding friend to get another dose of Dukes. Unfortunately the weather had other plans, low grey cloud and occasional light drizzle all day so no surprise not a single butterfly was seen. We turned it into a birding outing instead but I think I impressed him by walking up to a lone small tree (a Buckthorn) and finding two Brimstone eggs within seconds. By the end of the trip he was pointing out Orange-tip eggs to me!

Sunday 24th May, Walthamstow Marshes

So the next day the sun decided to come out again, laughing at me I'm sure but I managed to squeeze an hours worth of butterflying close to home. First I stopped off at the Small Tortoiseshell cats I'd seen on my last visit, just to see how they were doing. Less than before although they looked as though they were splitting into two groups when I last saw them. These ones are doing well though

I wandered over to where all the Holly Blues were hanging out last time but none were seen here today, there was however a very nice new male Speckled Wood, one of 3 I saw in total:

I did see 2 Holly Blues further on, one of each sex and both looking somewhat worse for wear!

Very little else was seen, just a few unidentifyable Whites, when I stumbled across a female GVW feeding and ovipositing

Trying to get some pics (and failing) of her laying eggs a passing male caught a whiff and proceeded to pester her for some time. My camera was already set to quite a fast shutter speed so I took the opportunity to get a few action shots, as best I could down in the undergrowth.

As can be seen she was giving him the 'NO' signal clear as day but he only lost interest when she managed to escape his attentions over the hedge. He stopped of for a quick drink and then went on his merry way looking for a less reluctant female to annoy!

These 24 Spot Ladybirds were getting on much better though

So a much needed antidote to Saturdays butterflyless day

[Willrow]

Great to enjoy your Glanville Fritillary shots Buggy, I have to get down to the Isle of Wight since we lost our nearest colony at Sand Point (near Weston-super-Mare)...I envy you

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[bugboy]

Glad you're enjoying my PD Bill

[bugboy]

Hutchinsons Bank Tuesday 26th May

With a half day at work, a half decent weather forcast and nothing else planned another Glanville fix was in order. Lovely sunny weather joined my journey there, only to vanish almost the moment I arrived at around 2. A couple of male Common Blues welcomed me to the site, making the most of what was left of the sun, just an occasional glimpse now!

I wandered around the site for nearly two hours with only a fleeting glance of one Glanville. Brimstones were again very numerous, easily into double figures today but none were in the mood to settle. I resigned myself to taking some floral pictures, this patch of Birds-foot Trefoil catching my eye in particular.

At one point I disturbed an orangy butterfly which glided around. For a moment I thought it was one of the Fritillaries but realised its flight was too strong and when it settled some distance from me I saw the first Comma I’ve seen in over a month. Looking in good nick for a hibernator!

More rummaging in the undergrowth turned up no butterflies but whilst searching the area where I had seen Small Blues on my previous visit, this Robber Fly landed in front of me carrying its freshly killed lunch. Dangling rather gymnastically by just one toe he munched on the Greenbottle for sometime before flying off to find somewhere less obvious to continue his meal.

and with flash...

It was getting close to 4 now but I decided to take one final circuit. In doing so came across a couple obviously photographing something settled halfway up a bank. It turned out to be a roosting Glanville and I could get a decent shot of the underside at last, something I hadn't managed on my last visit.

The couple had been there since 11 (somehow we’d bypassed each other for the last two hours) and said there were several Glanville’s flying around earlier. As we all took turns photographing this sleeping beauty the sun decided to come out for a longer period at last, waking up the Fritillary which flew of over a fence shortly after. The sun also woke up several Common Blues, including my first females of the year:

and a tiny female Small Blue:

with the Glanville making brief guest appearances every now and again:

Other butterflies seen were a single Small Heath, a single Peacock a couple of Speckled Woods and a single male Orange-tip.

So all in all a much better ending to the one I was starting to imagine

[MrSp0ck]

We were on site earlier Tuesday, With Several BC Surrey visitors, plenty of Glanvilles, well over 30, in the morning, but the numbers do seem to drop after 2pm. A female was spotted yesterday in the cutting at the bottom of the bank, she fed on bird-foot trefoil for a few seconds and vanished as she flew off, something the males don't seem to do as much. I had about 15 on the transect Wednesday, and about 10 today in dull weather.

Glad you enjoyed your quick visit, the Small Blues are only just starting to appear in reasonable numbers.

Hopefully we will find a few larval webs in a months time, when enjoying Dark Green Frits.

[Wurzel]

Enough with the Glannies you're killing me The Blus aren't to shabby either

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[kevling]

Buggie,

Great diary from Hutchinson's Bank. I visited the Glannies last year and had a great day in the company of Mr Spock.
Also liked the GVW sequence and never realised the position of the abdomen meant "not tonight love". I recently took a similar sequence of Orange Tips and now know that the male then was unsuccessful.

Regards Kev

[bugboy]

Hi kevling, yes that posture is used by most the whites as a way of saying 'not tonight love'. The posture makes it virtually impossible for the male to mate, but being males they sometimes don't get the message straight away!

Sorry Wurzel, I'll hopefully put up some Marshies instead in a couple of days.... but I may be able to squeeze in one more Glannie day before they are all gone for the year

Aldbury Nowers nature Reserve & Ivinghoe Beacon Wednesday 27th May

After Saturdays Duke fail I wanted to try for another dose before their season ended. I started as usual at Aldbury Nowers with the intention of walking over to the Beacon. Lots of sun today and Common Blues, Brown Argus and an aged Small Copper were all on the wing at the south end of the reserve, flitting over the rough grassy meadows.

I passed another couple of butterfliers who had found a Green Hairstreak but they looked quite settled in so I left them to it. At the other end of the reserve where a couple of sheltered steap chalk scrapes catch the sun, Dingy Skippers were common as were the ever present Brimstones.

There was also a swarm of Garden Chafers. These little guys were very comical to watch, blundering around, clambering frantically and randomly over the vegetation and falling off regularly. They don't sit still for a second so most my pictures ended up very blurred!

I've been seeing a few teneral Damselflies for a few weeks now but today I managed to get close enough to take a picture. This male Common Blue Damselfly, just a day or two from colouring up fully, was having a late lunch

I didn’t stay long though as I wanted to get to the Duke site whilst the sun was out and it was already past noon. Just as I was leaving I heard a rustling in the undergrowth and with some searching I discovered it was a mole burrowing through the leaf litter. I’ve never seen a live Mole before but couldn’t get a photo, they can move bloody fast when they need to!

On the way to Ivinghoe Beacon I take a slight detour chasing a Small Heath, I'm very glad I did as when it landed it showed me an extra eyespot on it's forwing, and an 'almost' spot between the two

When I crept closer it went all shy and hid the extra spot so in all the other pictures it looks perfectly normal

Half an hour later I arrived with the sun still out and started to look around. Since I’ve seen lots of pictures of Duke eggs in recent weeks on here I figured I’d have a look for them as well, a few minutes searching and I found one !

A bit further on I caught a glimpse of something dark flitting close to the ground and just like my previous visit my first adult was a Duchess. She was showing all the signs of wanting to lay and I watched as she alternated between basking and flitting from leaf to leaf.

Remarkably she somehow managed to miss every Cowslip leaf in the couple of square feet she searched for about 5 minutes, quite a feat when you consider the amount of Cowslips present! Finally she landed on one (possibly by accident) and got very excited, spinning in tiny circles and tapping it with her front feet. When it came to ovipositing she decided to try and get some privacy and, rather rudely I thought, tried to hide further into the undergrowth. I just about managed to get some pictures of her without disturbing her though.

When she flew off I had a quick peak and there were 3 freshly laid eggs

Fingers crossed I shall be seeing some of those flying in a years time!

A little further on I found quite a fresh Duke holding a territory.

More searching threw up no more so I took a wander down to the sheltered path by the side of the road. Here I found 2 older males, still full of beans and chasing anything that had the audacity to fly in their airspace.

This beautiful fresh Small Blue was one of those 'anythings' but she settled a short way off allowing me to get a couple of shots before I lost her over the hawthorn shrubbery!

As I was leaving I noticed something moving through the grass at the side of the path, another mole! 44 years of never seeing a live Mole and then 2 in one day. This one was slower but I would like to point out that no moles were harmed in the obtaining of this picture.

They are very curious animals to see in the flesh. I let him go and he scurried (if thats the right word to use for a mole) into the long grass.

I've been trying to get a picture of a Burnet Campion moth all spring, and failing miserably. Today I managed two shots from a distance which are ok....ish, certainly much better than anything else so far this year!

By now the cloud had arrived and the temperature had noticeably dropped so it was time to move on but mother nature had one last surprise for me, this time an avian lifer, a Corn Bunting! You can just make out the distinctive notched bill in this picture.

Back at Aldbury Nowers there is a huge patch of Garlic Mustard,

Orange-tip heaven!

A quick search along the edge produced several OT eggs and larvae of various instars:

early 1st instar

late 1st instar

A very nice end to a very good day with an ovipositing Duchess as the cherry on the cake. Next Stop Marshies, the weather had better bloody hold!!!

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Buggy,

I see you have been busy, and a lot of lovely lovely photos.

The two photos depicting the Orange-tip larva, are both 1st instars, the 2nd of the two is very close to it's first moult.

All the best, Nick.

[David M]

Excellent, diverse range of images there, Bugboy.

Your diary is fast becoming a 'must read'.