June 2015

[millerd]

The first hutchinsoni Commas out on my local patch near Heathrow this afternoon.

Dave

[Willrow]

Visited Daneway Banks, Gloucestershire yesterday, at least ten Large Blue seen, males were frenetic in the hot sunshine searching the banks high and low for females, I hardly bothered attempting to get pics, but I did manage a simple record shot of a mating pair, interestingly this pair remained 'in-cop' for approximately 40 minutes. The banks were too busy with visitors taking advantage of a lovely day (as I was!) and to add to the many; Gloucestershire branch of Butterfly Conservation were due for a guided walk during the afternoon so I moved on...(I'm not usually anti-social - but, I do enjoy a bit of peace and quiet ).

Poor grass impaired pic of Large Blues

I moved onto Swellshill Bank (near Rodborough Common) for a pleasant afternoon with some of our other mid-summer emergee's and during the day was pleased to add Marbled White, Ringlet and Small Skipper to my year list, something I had promised not to keep this year but old habits die hard

Fresh Small Skipper

Pristeen condition Marbled White

You can find out more about my visit to Danesway Bank on my Personal Diary

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[A_T]

Visit to Morfa Harlech dunes yesterday - cool and mostly overcast but lots of Common Blues, one Small Heath and my first Dark Green Fritillary of the year.

[Philzoid]

I've been busy replanting with insect-friendly plants recently, including quite a few buddlejas. I was rather surprised this evening to find this striking larva on one of the latter:

mullein.jpg

A little research online reveals it's the larva of the mullein moth. The information I found online says it usually chomps a plant called mullein, but it can often be found munching buddleja in gardens.

Nice find Nick and thanks for sharing. I have seen the larvae numerous times on Verbascum (gregarious caterpillars that can totally destroy the plant). but I didn't know they fed on Buddleia also .

Have never seen the moth

Phil

[Willrow]

Alun Valley, Near Bridgend, South Wales a rather hastily arranged visit to check out the situation on the High Brown Fritillary this afternoon produced the first five of the year, boy oh boy!...did they lead me a merry dance and I'm still trying to work out how I possibly managed to get the pics I did, the wind was really frustrating and the insects were not happy having to continually battle it, surprisingly it was far windier down on the coast that at home (and I'm situated 900ft ASL ) still under the circumstances I guess I was lucky...and that's the name of the game folks...'think lucky - be lucky'

Briefly grounded out of the brisk wind my first High Brown Fritillary of the year!

Closed-wing shot of HBF nectaring on a favoured food source...

So here's even more catch-up to do on my Personal Diary...how will I ever make time

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[David M]

Looks like a female too, Bill. Quite a find so early in the flight period.

[Testudo Man]

Thursday lunchtime break from work, saw me once again visit Darland Banks.

Species seen on the day were Marbled White(good numbers) Brimstone, Common Blue, Painted Lady, Small Blue, Meadow Brown, Red Admiral, Holly Blue.

It would appear that the 2 female Brimstone were both ovipositing, the 1st butterfly was too far away for a decent image, but the 2nd allowed me to capture some close up shots of her egg laying. I think i was in the right place at the right time, plus the females flight patterns were not as rapid as normal. Either way i think Im lucky to have got within 6 inches of an egg laying female Brimstone.

Some photos, cheers Paul.

Location Darland Banks, Gillingham, Kent.

PS - The Brimstone pics might look the same at 1st glance, but they are different

[NickC]

A little research online reveals it's the larva of the mullein moth. The information I found online says it usually chomps a plant called mullein, but it can often be found munching buddleja in gardens.

Nice find Nick and thanks for sharing. I have seen the larvae numerous times on Verbascum (gregarious caterpillars that can totally destroy the plant). but I didn't know they fed on Buddleia also .

Have never seen the moth

Phil

Thanks Phil. Gregarious is a good description looking at the plant it's been feeding on. It may be a while before I see an adult - Wikipedia states the pupal stage can last up to 5 years!

[sahikmet]

Silver-studded Blues in abundance at Fairmile Esher Common this last week. Over 60 to 70 seen. Mainly males. Cheers sezar

[A_T]

With the temperature soaring up to 20 degrees decided a trip to Fenn's and Whixall Moss was in order. Quite a few Large Heath were sighted (apologies for the pic best I could do - for reference only!). Also first Ringlets and Meadow Brown of the year as well as White-faced Darters.

[Allan.W.]

Hi all'
Just returned from a butterfly jaunt around the west country ,the main objective ,was really to add a lifer,ie.the Large Blue,so we did our homework and studied various page on the UKBut's site,and worked out a plan to start down at Lulworth Cove,to try for Lulworth Skipper ,on arrival things didn't look good,but after about an hour ,we got a break in the cloud,and hey presto there they were,good numbers at the landslip area, known as Stair hole,we saw several more including a couple of egg laying females at nearby Durdle Dor also a few Adonis blues,and a single Small Blue,were of note.We then moved up country to try for Marsh Frit, so we headed for Cerne Abbas Giant hill, what a cracking site ! having left the national trust car park and headed up the slope,and steps we walked along the bottom path following the hedge line,and after about 10 minutes we again struck lucky,i reckon there were about 20+ about ,mostly past there best ,but still a couple of crackers about,a word of warning though,when we got back to our digs,was horrified to find 3 ticks fastened to my leg and back,nasty little beasties!! Moved up country again to Glastonbury, and that afternoon in dull conditions we found Collard Hill ,what a terrific reserve ,we had a quick recce ,and hoped for better weather the following day ,we split the trip into a morning session,and a late afternoon session ,we weren't disappointed on either occasion ,seeing 6 in the morning and 3 in the afternoon ,including a pair ,found by Rosie the on site warden,a real credit to the nat ;trust,she genuinely wants all visitors to see the Large Blues ,and is a mine of information concerning the site ,there were lots of people on site but I'm certain all left having had good views of this beautiful insect .Finally on our last day and heading back home,we decided to come down and back through West Sussex and try for Silver Studded Blue at Iping and or Stedham common near Midhurst, just a flying visit this one ,after walking for about 5 minutes from the car park ,we came across a little cleared area with plenty of heather ,a bit of sun ,and there they were,a proper little hotspot! Isuppose there were10-15 about,so we watched them for a while and then made tracks homeward.In all we recorded 24 species ,a very successful little trip.

[Steve Babbs]

Quite a few black hairstreaks at Monk's Wood today.

[David M]

My first Ringlets (about 15) at the Alun Valley in Glamorgan today, as well as three positively identified High Brown Fritillaries amongst 40-50 medium sized Frits flying around the bracken slopes:

[Mark Tutton]

An acquaintance of mine photographed this blue near Ringwood recently and thinks it may be an early Chalk Hill Blue - it is a good distance away from any sites that I know of and three weeks early. To me it does not really register as Chalk Hill - the black margins of the fore wings are not even enough and I think I can detect some orange in them, and there is also no black margin to the hindwings.
I think it is an aberrant Common Blue similar to the one seen by Pippa on the species pages?
The link to the photo only brings up half for some reason but picture is here http://avondiary.net/images15/chalkhb.jpg

Any thoughts?

[Jack Harrison]

There has been a lot of discussion recently about "odd" blues and suggestions of hybrids involving Adonis Blue or Chalkhill as one parent. Now for that location Ringwood would seem to rule out both Adonis and Chalkhill.

The mystery deepens and this (and other similar examples photographed previously) perhaps point to a straightforward aberration of Common Blue and not a hybrid as had been surmised.

Jack

[adrian riley]

An acquaintance of mine photographed this blue near Ringwood recently and thinks it may be an early Chalk Hill Blue - it is a good distance away from any sites that I know of and three weeks early. To me it does not really register as Chalk Hill - the black margins of the fore wings are not even enough and I think I can detect some orange in them, and there is also no black margin to the hindwings.
I think it is an aberrant Common Blue similar to the one seen by Pippa on the species pages?
The link to the photo only brings up half for some reason but picture is here http://avondiary.net/images15/chalkhb.jpg

Any thoughts?

I believe this to be a Silver-studded Blue.
Adrian Riley

[Pete Eeles]

Looks like an aberrant female Common Blue to me.

Cheers,

- Pete

[MikeOxon]

There do seem to be several strange blues about this year - having seen a few myself! This is very Chalkhill-like but the double fringe shouts Common Blue to me. There are a few reddish scales amongst the dark spots as well, suggesting a female. An underside shot would have been a great help (probably)

Having been watching Silver-studded Blues over the last few days, I can't see much that points towards that species, myself, other than their being found in the New Forest.

Mike

[Mark Colvin]

Looks like an aberrant female Common Blue to me.

In total agreeance.

Kind regards. Mark

[Jack Harrison]

I couldn't find the image again but then remembered it is as a link. Reminder:

http://avondiary.net/images15/chalkhb.jpg

Jack