Neil Freeman

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments Pauline . That Dingy Skipper photo was taken with the camera at ground level and me crouching down using the variable angle screen on my FZ200 to line up the shot. I used the same method to get the shots of the two moths as they have a habit of settling partially upside down under vegetation .

Cheers Bill, with family and work usually taking up my time in the week I try and make the most of my opportunities when I have them .

Tuesday 26th May – A walk in the Wyre Forest part 2.

As mentioned in my previous report, the main target of my trip to the Wyre Forest was Pearl-bordered Fritillaries which were easily the most numerous species flying with something like 30 or more seen during the day. It seemed like a lot more but in reality I was seeing a lot of the same ones on the return leg of my walk through the forest.
The weather conditions were a mix of cloud and sun with some of the cloud quite thick at times but with some good warmth in the sun when it was out. This meant that the PBFs were active but settling often which gave me some good opportunities for photos during the day.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

On a number of occasions when the sun went behind clouds I noticed PBFs settling on the hard surface of the track, no doubt taking advantage of some reflected warmth. The female below was a typical example of this…

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

…as was this male just a bit further along the same track,

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

I also saw a number of females fluttering about amongst the lower vegetation and laying eggs amongst the dried bracken. I tried to take some photos but most of these were partially obscured by vegetation apart from the shot below of one female laying right at the side of the track.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

At one point in the early afternoon, during a spell of fairly thick cloud cover, I disturbed a female PBF from the side of the track at the pipeline section. She flew to the top of a birch about 6 feet high where I managed to take a some shots at full stretch making full use again of the vari-angle screen on my Lumix.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

It was a bit breezy up there and she soon moved down to a lower position and posed beautifully as she shuffled about a bit getting comfortable,

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

With it looking like she was staying put for a bit, I tried moving the branch she was on for a different angle but this disturbed her and she flew off a few yards down the track and came to rest on a fern frond in another nice pose,

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

After taking some more photos I then left her in peace and started wandering back, taking some more photos on the way,

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Wyre Forest 26.05.2015

A great but tiring day with a lot of walking up and down slopes but worth every step

Bye for now,

Neil.

[David M]

Shows how late a season it's been in your neck of the woods, Neil.

Most of those PBFs look remarkably fresh.

[millerd]

A lovely selection of Pearls, Neil, especially the various underside shots. The mix of sun and cloud is definitely the best to see them. Another spot on my visit wish list.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Hi David, yes we are running a bit late around here. The Pearls in the Wyre however are not actually that late. I saw very fresh examples last year in mid-may and in 2013 I didn't go until the first week in June and there were plenty of fresh ones about then.

Cheers Dave, The Wyre Forest is a great place but a large one and really needs a day there to do it justice.

Wednesday 27th May.

With our daughter Sarah coming round for the day yesterday(Wednesday) with her little lad Frankie we thought we would make the most of what looked like being another dry day and go out somewhere. I suggested having a drive down to Adam Henson’s Cotswold Farm Park which is not far from Stow-on-the -Wold and is somewhere that none of us had been to before. This was also a crafty move on my part as there is a wildlife trail there which takes in Barton Bushes SSSI and which I had read was good for butterflies .
So it was that we arrived at the Farm Park later in the morning, sometime around 11.00, and I went off for a walk, arranging to meet back up with the others after an hour or so. It was a pleasant sunny late morning with some white fluffy clouds but there was a bit of a breeze blowing that could make it feel quite cool when the sun went in.

The trail is well signed and goes through a couple of farm fields and then into Barton Bushes which is an area of unimproved limestone grassland and scrub with mounds and hollows which are apparently left over from shallow quarrying in the last century.

Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

I had read that there is a colony of Duke of Burgundy at Barton Bushes but in the time that I spent there I didn’t find any, mind you I was not really sure if I was looking in the right places.

I did however find plenty of other butterflies, including at least a dozen Green Hairstreaks, mostly looking past their best now, and similar numbers of Small Heath,

Green Hairstreak - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Green Hairstreak - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Green Hairstreak - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Small Heath - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Small Heath - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Small Heath - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

There were also around half a dozen each of Common Blue, Small Blue, a single Brown Argus, plus a couple of Dingy Skippers, often chasing each other about.

Common Blue - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Small Blue - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Small Blue - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Brown Argus - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Barton Bushes 27.05.2015

After a pleasant hour, and not wanting to push my luck by staying too long, after all we were on a family day out, I made my way back to the others…just in time for an ice cream . The Farm Park itself is a great place for families and I would certainly like to return sometime and have a longer look around the wildlife trail and Barton Bushes in particular.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cracking Pearls Neil especially the stained glass one Great Greenstreaks too, all manner of spots and streaks

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Wurzel, I thought you might like the stained glass shot

Thursday 28th May.

After a couple of short, sharp showers in the morning, Thursday turned into another day with a similar weather theme as the previous few days, in other words it was breezy with lots of cloud and some sunny spells. Again, under the cloud it would feel quite cool, especially in the breeze, but when the sun did come out it could feel reasonably warm.
With me taking advantage of the better spells of weather recently to go a bit further afield, I had not had chance to check out any of my local spots for a while. After finishing off a couple of little jobs in the house I decided to nip out for a couple of hours and have a look.

With Common Blues making an appearance at some of the places I had been to this week, I was keen to look for them locally. My first stop was at Shadowbrook Meadows where I soon found half a dozen or so, at one point counting five males in view at the same time…

Common Blue - Shadowbrook 28.05.2015

Common Blue - Shadowbrook 28.05.2015

Common Blue - Shadowbrook 28.05.2015

…plus a couple of nice females,

Common Blue - Shadowbrook 28.05.2015

including this very blue individual,

Common Blue - Shadowbrook 28.05.2015

Shadowbrook Meadows is the site where I also saw the very blue female lacking the orange lunules that I posted a photo of in my diary at the time, and again recently in the Aberrant female Common Blue thread viewtopic.php?f=16&t=8297 The one above was photographed in almost exactly the same spot here as the one last year, something to ponder perhaps with regard to whether it is environmental factors that influence the amount of blue on some individuals.

Other species seen in the hour or so spent here were a couple each of Green-veined whites and, by now, tired looking Peacocks.

Peacock - Shadowbrook - 28.05.2015

No Small Coppers here though which surprised me a bit as this is usually a reliable site for them at this time.

I then moved a couple of miles up the road to Bickenhill and the public footpath which crosses a couple of meadows which I often visit. I had just started along the first stretch of path which runs along the side of a farmer’s field when a splash of white on the path ahead attracted my attention. Moving slowly closer this turned out to be a white Cockatiel, something that I was really not expecting to see this afternoon. I would guess this was an escapee, possibly from a row of houses that are close by, and indeed it flew off in that direction.

Bit of a surprise to see this...

I wandered further along the path and into a meadow and saw a couple more worn looking Peacocks plus a couple of similar condition Small Tortoiseshells still hanging in there. There were also two or three Common Blues, all fresh males here, plus a couple of Green-veined Whites and a single male Orange-tip patrolling the hedgerows.

I was also pleased to find a couple of Small Coppers here, one of which was my first member of the ‘blue spot club’ for this year,

Small Copper - Bickenhill 28.05.2015

Small Copper - Bickenhill 28.05.2015

Small Copper - Bickenhill 28.05.2015

Small Copper - Bickenhill 28.05.2015

Now to go and do some packing, I am off to Cornwall for a week in the morning...fingers crossed for the weather.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[bugboy]

lovely couple of reports with some delightful pictures, as usual, to accompany them . Hopefully more of the same from Cornwall

[David M]

Looks like a male cockatiel given the bold orange cheek patches.

I hope he finds his way back to civilisation soon as he won't survive for long in the wild.

[Pauline]

That's the sort of thing that usually happens to me Neil - except somehow they usually end up coming home with me Now, I have a bone to pick - are you going to torment me all summer with your shots of SC with blue spots

[Goldie M]

I'm still catching up on postings Neil, fantastic shots of the Pearl BF I can't find one How sad is that Goldie

[Willrow]

Super stuff Neil Nice to see Small Copper are back out and about, hav'nt seen many in my neck of the woods.

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Pauline]

Evening Neil

Not sure how I missed your PBF's but the closed wing shots are great. I particularly like the second from last - that leaf, the background, all compliment the colour of the butterlfy and the result is a very artistic photo of the sort I wish I could take I read your previous response re variable angled screen - they certainly seem to be an asset.

[Neil Freeman]

My apologies for the late response but many thanks to everyone for the great comments, they are very much appreciated .

Cornwall 30th May – 6th June.

We returned home late yesterday (Saturday 6th June) after spending a week in Cornwall, staying at Kennack Sands on The Lizard for what was essentially a family break with Jane and my Mom, during which I managed to do some good butterflying.

I had not been to Cornwall for a number of years and indeed had never previously visited early in the year, my previous times always having been family holidays during the main summer season in late July/August when the kids were still at school and we had to go during school holidays. For a couple of years now I had been thinking of visiting in early June and earlier this year we decided to go for it.
The weather was decidedly mixed, particularly during the first couple of days when we had some heavy rain and very strong winds, the worst of which were overnight on the Sunday and Monday.
Nevertheless I managed to see butterflies on every day except for Monday June 1st and from Tuesday afternoon it started to get much warmer and although there was still a stiff breeze for most of the time there was also plenty of sun.

Coast path at Kennack Sands - 31.05.2015

Coast path at Kennack Sands - 03.06.2015

During the week I visited some beautiful spots and managed to see all my target species which included good numbers of Marsh Fritillaries at a couple of locations and plenty of Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries. More on these to follow when I have sorted through the many photos that I took.

There were loads of fresh Speckled Wood just about everywhere I looked with every little bit of hedge seeming to have a couple of males flapping along it. Wall Browns, Small Coppers and Common Blues in all sorts of conditions would usually put in an appearance along most stretches of coast path that I walked, as did Painted Ladies which appeared in increasing numbers as the weather improved through the week along with my first Red Admirals of the year.

Wall Brown - Kennack Sands 02.06.2015

Speckled Wood - Kennack Sands 02.06.2015

Common Blue - Kynance Cove 03.06.2015

Painted Lady - Predannack Cliffs 04.06.2015

Painted Lady - Predannack Cliffs 04.06.2015

If I remember rightly I think that it was Neil Hulme who commented last year on the size of the Small Coppers that he saw in Cornwall, and some of the females that I saw there were particularly large and impressive. Size is not something that comes across particularly well in photos but the Ox-eye Daisy in the shots below gives some idea,

Small Copper - Kennack Sands 04.06.2015

Small Copper - Kennack Sands 04.06.2015

Also seen at Kennack Sands was this example with reduced forewing markings,

Small Copper - Kennack Sands 03.06.2015

Later in the week I took a drive over to Upton Towans where, along with Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and a single Clouded Yellow, I also saw a number of Silver-studded Blues…again more on these to follow.

To finish off a great week we made a little detour on our way back yesterday just before crossing into Devon, to Greenscombe Woods at Luckett, where I saw Heath Fritillaries plus my first Large Skipper and Meadow Browns of the year…guess what, another report to come .

To be continued…

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Looking forward to the next report, do I need to get a bucket ready to be sick with envy?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

You should be ok Wurzel …Marshies coming up next and I believe you have a good site for those. In fact that is something I am envious of myself as this is a species that I have to travel to see.

Cornwall 30th May – 6th June part 2.

Earlier in the year whilst deciding when to actually go to Cornwall, I had done some reading up on flight times of various species and realised that I had a good chance of seeing Marsh Fritillaries during our stay. In the couple of weeks leading up to travelling down I did some more research and found that there were a couple of sites near to where we would be staying on The Lizard that looked like they would be worth visiting. UKB member essexbuzzard also tipped me off about a site that he knew about in the same area which, when I looked on the map, proved to be just a few minutes away from Kennack Sands. In fact, a closer look on the map showed all of these sites to be around the area of Predannack Airfield which is a satellite airfield for RNAS Culdrose that is used for diverts and training. I believe that Marsh Fritillaries exist in ‘meta-populations’ of loosely linked colonies and I would not be at all surprised to find that to be the case here with the colonies centred on the airfield.

On Sunday 31st May following a dull and drizzly morning the weather started to brighten up and by mid-afternoon the sun was breaking through, although there was still a blustery wind blowing. I decided to nip round to the site that essexbuzzard had given me the info for and following his directions made my way to the area where the Marsh Fritillaries could be found. At first there was a big dark cloud covering the sun and it all seemed very quiet but after a few minutes the sun came back out and I saw a Marsh Fritillary flitting over the grass…then another…then another, until I had a dozen or more in view around me at the same time.
Taking photos was challenging in the breeze with the butterflies settling regularly but usually low down in the vegetation with grass all over the place. Nevertheless, I managed to get some photos and was fascinated by the variation in markings with no two individuals being exactly the same.

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 31.05.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 31.05.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 31.05.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 31.05.2015

Marsh Fritillary female - The Lizard 31.05.2015

I spent just over an hour here and probably saw a couple of dozen Marsh Fritillaries here along with a couple of very fresh looking male Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries.

Being so close to where we were staying, it was inevitable that I would return to this spot and I did exactly that on the afternoon of Tuesday 2nd June when I spent another hour or so in conditions that were slightly warmer and sunnier and when there were more Marsh Fritillaries on the wing, at a rough guess there were easily 40-50, maybe more.

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary male - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary female - The Lizard 02.06.2015

Marsh Fritillary female - The Lizard 02.06.2015

My thanks to essexbuzzard for the tip off for this spot without which I would most likely have gone straight past on my way to some of the other sites I visited.

Later in the week, on the Thursday afternoon, I saw more Marsh Fritillaries at Predannack Cliffs, more to follow from that location.

To be continued…

Neil

[millerd]

Beautiful photos, Neil. There is such variety and variability with this species, and you have loads of both here. As others have said, this is one you just cannot get enough of.

Dave

[David M]

Yes. Each of those individuals are different in some way from one another. I especially like the female - she's a real beauty!

[Willrow]

Wonderful images and comprehensive report on your Cornwall holiday Neil...is'nt it great to be able to share your interest and intergrate it with a holiday glad you enjoyed your hard earned break.

Kind Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Dave , this is one species that I really wish could be found closer to me so I could see them more often, I think my closest site is Strawberry Banks in the Cotswolds which is somewhere I have yet to visit.
Cheers David , that female was a lovely and impressively large example, nearly twice the size of some of the males.
Thanks Bill , I am lucky in that my family will usually listen to my suggestions on where to go on holiday knowing full well that I will be hoping to see some butterflies

Cornwall 30th May – 6th June part 3.

On the morning of Wednesday 3rd June I walked the coast path from Kynance Cove to Lizard Point, enjoying the spectacular scenery under clear blue skies and accompanied by the sound of Skylarks singing high overhead.

Kynance Cove - 03.06.2015

On the way to Lizard Point - 03.06.2015

There were large patches of Sea Pinks (Thrift) all along this coastline and long stretches of dry stone wall that were also covered with this attractive plant.

Sea Pinks on dry stone wall.

My main target for this walk was Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries and I saw the first one about a hundred yards from the Kynance Cove car park and then continued to see them all along to Lizard Point, not great numbers in any one spot but probably 25-30 pretty well spread out along the walk.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

Half a dozen Wall Browns were also seen which as usual were difficult to approach and when I did manage to sneak up on them they would be holding their wings half open to regulate their temperature as it got warmer during the morning.

Wall Brown - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

Common Blues and Small Coppers were also present here, at least a dozen of each, many of the Common Blues in particular looking fresher than those I had seen so far during the week.

Common Blue - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

Small Coppers - Kynance/Lizard 03.06.2015

After taking a slow dawdle along the coast path I arrived at Lizard Point at around mid-day and sat down for a break and a pasty before setting off back again to the car, enjoying the same walk in reverse.

The following morning (Thursday), the women wanted to have a look around Lizard Village, so after parking the car and leaving them to wander around the tourist shops, I took the opportunity for a little walk down to Lizard point and spent another half an hour or so on this bit of the coast path.

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Lizard Point 04.06.2015

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary - Lizard Point 04.06.2015

Later on, after a bit of lunch, the women just wanted to chill out so I went off for another walk, this time to Predannack Cliffs…

To be continued…

Neil

[Maximus]

Great photos from your trip to Cornwall Neil hard to single one out as they're all superb The Small Coppers however are my favourite.

Mike