www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

HI Phil,
Love the SWF shot, and your videos of HIM on the Purple Empire. You obviously have a talent for spotting high up
Emperors .I can't wait for next June/July,the optimist in me tells me that December is half way there.
Here's to 2015!
All the best
TREVOR.

HI Phil,

Take your point about ' shooting ' especially from car windows.Hope the Police realize we're only
talking about cameras and Butterflies , if they read UKB.

Happy New Year ,
TREVOR

Thanks Trevor,
Best Wishes to you also for the New Year.
I live in Surrey. It is not close to the sea and I didn't have a confirmed sighting of single Painted Lady Butterfly this year.
I thought that maybe I just didn't have my eyes trained enough on the "butterfly bush" but looking at other comments I now realise that there were not that many to be seen in several areas. This is the best I can do: Apparently it does flap it's wings and maybe Butterfly Conservation need some ideas for next years Christmas Catalogue !

HI Phil,
Talking of Painted Ladies ,maybe 2015 will bring another invasion of this species. I can recall two occasions when
they have arrived in vast numbers. Once at Ventnor Botanical Gardens , several years ago ,there were swarms of them.
I have an image,on film unfortunately, with eleven Painted Ladies in one picture!.

All the best for 2015
TREVOR.
,

In very desperate years I'd still be tempted to count it Phil! I read that the invasions of Painted Ladies are cyclic (in line roughly with 'Clodued Yellow years') so maybe 2015 will see a return to the huge numbers of this butterfly? Fingers crossed. Have a happy New Year

Have a goodun (2015)

Wurzel

Thanks Trevor and very generous Wurzel !
I am hoping to go to this, who else is going ?
Apparently Butterfly Conservation have a stand this year, very interesting.

https://www.rhs.org.uk/gardens/Whats-on ... glasshouse

Looking back at the summer.........

Butterflies in the Glasshouse at Wisley, Surrey. Long time, no log in !
I went with my son Alex to the above event today. He also said that he had never seen a real birds nest apart from those fake box ones!
I think we need to get out more This was the first time I used my Canon camera this year (I felt a bit "rusty" so I left it in P mode most of the time and didn't try changing the settings too often.

Kind Regards,

Philip

Good to see you back on UKB Phil Lovely shot of the Blue Morpho

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you very much Wurzel,
I know that I am miles behind, I only saw my first spring butterfly yesterday. A Brimstone on my way to pick up my new camera.
Here are some results from my first experiments with it this morning. The Herons are nesting at Bookham Common.
One can't miss them in flight as they fly quite slowly and are about 100 times larger than a Purple Emperor ! The camera I previously used to take video footage of the PE's has been given to someone young enough to know how to use it I never fully got to grips with it
Enjoy the Spring,
Philip

OK, so it's 17th March and I'm off (like a snail). I have still yet to photograph my first Spring butterfly
Here is a short video clip I just uploaded to youtube:
I called it the disappearing Silver Washed Fritillary:
.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-6soDi ... e=youtu.be
The "special" (not really) effect has been made just by cutting and then overlapping a short video clip.
Cheers,
Philip

Hi Guys,
I wont be posting so much this year. I will try and keep the quality reasonably good: Kind Regards,

Philip B Wright

Philip.

If it's going to be quality over quantity, you're off to good start. Cracking shots of the Green Hairstreak. Especially love the sharp colours of the second pic.

Regards Kev

HI Phil.,
Good to see you posting again. Great Green Hairstreak images, a species that has avoided
me this year so far. Looking forward to reports from Bookham Common.

All the best,
TREVOR.

Thank you TREVOR and Kev,
I was at Bookham Common today. Red Admirals, an overwintering Peacock but no SWF or White Admirals yet but they will be emerging very soon (looking at the brambles flowering in full sun).

Kind Regards,

Philip

I hope you'll be posting shots from Bookham soon, Phil

Thanks Maximus,
Between now and the weekend, for me Bookham Common is "after work only".
On Monday 8th after work, I couldn't even see a Speckled Wood. It rained when I left (please don't tease me about it). It is like going fishing and "blanking"

I have a couple of mobile phone images from the Thames Valley
A couple of "snaps" taken during scheduled work breaks (I don't smoke). Do they do mobile phones with fast shutter speeds or maybe I don't know how to operate my one properly? (iphone 6)
The Painted Lady I failed to get a confirmed sighting last year and up to now this year.
Small Heath also present in numbers but I didn't manage a photo (working too hard).
It is interesting how Thames Water have managed this area and I think they deserve some credit.

Nice shot of the Painted Lady. Like you, I didn't see any of these last year and so far, have only seen a 'fly by' this year.

You might like to try the '645Pro' app for the iPhone (from the Apple store). I haven't used it but my son thinks it's very good and it gives full control over the camera. See http://jag.gr/645pro/highlights/ for more info

Mike

Thank you very much, Mike. Very helpful.
Thursday 11th June.
I saw my first Meadow Brown of the year, today.
Small Heath in the Thames Valley. Kind Regards,
Philip

Painted Lady Butterflies at Bookham Common. Sipping nectar on bramble blossom, White Admirals and SWF very soon (if not already and unseen by me).
I saw 3 different individuals there today having seen none there in the last 2 years.
These are not 3 different individuals:

16.6.2015
Recently emerged at Bookham Common, Surrey
This is a very recently emerged var. Hutchinsoni Comma which is much paler in hue that those appearing later. No White Admirals for me yet.