July 2014

[David M]

As well as Glanville fritillaries it appears we now have bee-eaters breeding on the Isle of Wight. Exciting!
See https://www.facebook.com/IsleofWightNT?fref=ts
Ian

Wow! Difficult to believe that this is happening in the UK.

[daveboyle]

I spent the day at Arnside Knott yesterday - despite really good conditions I only managed to see 3 fritillaries all day, 2 High Browns in the area Tony Moore recommended on the Arnside Knott thread & 1 Dark Green on the south side of the hill.
To make up for the lack of fritillaries there were dozens of Scotch Argus all over the place

[CJB]

Good afternoon UK B'ers,

I am still yet to snap a DGF but hope I can do so before their time is through.

I managed to get a picture of a very obliging Brimstone and a busy pair of Brown Argus (Argi for all you latin fans), or at least I think they are!
Please feel free to confirm or deny.

Brown Argi??

Obliging Brimstone

As ever all on taken on the mobile.

Flutter on!

CJB

[PhiliB]

Plenty of Brown Hairstreak males, plus a few egg laying females, are now showing in Oxfordshire at all the sites south of the M40 that I visited today.
Please note that Whitecross Green Wood is closed at the moment.

[David M]

Please note that Whitecross Green Wood is closed at the moment.

Do you know why, Phil?

[PhiliB]

Please note that Whitecross Green Wood is closed at the moment.

Do you know why, Phil?

David
The notice at the entrance reads:-
'Whitecross Green Wood is temporarily closed to the public to enable important site management to be carried out'
They also give a contact telephone number, which can also be found on the Upper Thames BC sightings page.
Happy BH hunting at West Williamston.

Phil

[EricY]

White Admiral in my garden

2 female CHB's on Scabious

Did my annual visit to Warham camp for CHB's this morning. Quite windy but 1000's of them flying close to the slopes, also at least one Clouded Yellow that was up & down without stopping.
Returned home for a garden surprise, not only a Southern Hawker DF but also my 1st White Admiral. Only a few years ago they were considered rare in Norfolk & we are in middle of large village that is larger than some places called towns. Eric

[Testudo Man]

Last Saturday(26/7/14) saw me heading for Queensdown Warren in Kent, in order to sight some Silver-Spotted Skippers!
Very hot on the day, which made for some energetic butterflies on the wing!
Several SSS's were seen, and a bonus in the shape of a Clouded Yellow too. Probably 2 Clouded Yellows in the area, but it took me at least an hour of chasing them all of the Warren, in order to finally capture a shot!

I dont see that many Small Copper's in the areas that i frequent, so it was nice for one to visit my garden a few days ago. Which is the 2nd time that i have sighted a Small Copper in my garden. A female Common Blue also made a brief garden visit yesterday, so yet another nice garden sighting for the year.

Location- Kent.

Several photos, cheers Paul.

Large crop for the Clouded Yellow photo.

This Small Copper landed on my garden lawn several times, but i took this photo of it, when it flew onto the bramble bush.

[David M]

White Admiral my gdn

That's one hell of a garden spot, Eric.

[David M]

Please note that Whitecross Green Wood is closed at the moment.

Do you know why, Phil?

David
The notice at the entrance reads:-
'Whitecross Green Wood is temporarily closed to the public to enable important site management to be carried out'
They also give a contact telephone number, which can also be found on the Upper Thames BC sightings page.
Happy BH hunting at West Williamston.

Phil

I wonder what they're doing?

Thanks for the info.

[ayjay]

I've not seen a Wall Brown before and so set off to Keyhaven this morning to walk the Ancient Highway in search of some, I may have been a little too early (9:00) for this sun-worshipper, (unusual for me, I'm a night owl not a morning person). I walked from Keyhaven to Pennington with no success, just Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and Common Blues were flying.

I set off back along the same route (it's now 10:15) and soon saw a butterfly lift off from the ground as another overflew it, they spiralled up and one eventually landed and gave me my first ever view of a Wall Brown.

I counted six altogether on the way back.

[Willrow]

Hard to believe that July is almost out but on a more positive note it's been wonderful with lots of sunshine Myself and fellow UK Butterflyers PhilB and Rosalyn met at Shipton Bellinger on the Hampshire/Wiltshire border yesterday to enjoy a day with the Brown Hairstreak. Our tally for the day was most satisfying with at least a dozen seen, the majority along the 'hot-spot' hedgerow that actually forms the two counties border One male was undoubtedly trying for a Brown Hairstreak record for nectaring on one blackberry flower...considerably over Two hours the insect had over two thousand photographs taken by the several butterfly enthusiasts visiting...I counted problem was it was just tantalisingly too far away for any good image taking and only made a brief effort during that entire two hour plus period to open it's wings!!!

We followed one female along the blackthorn, watching intently for any signs of ovipositing but the contorted views the insect presented within the thick blackthorn tangle proved inconclusive we were joined for this session by Alan Thornberry who runs the excellent Hampshire Butterflies website resource, it was nice to make your acquaintance Alan!

We followed this mint condition female for over 15 minutes

Along it's way the insect made several sorties on to Wild Parsnip and several assorted digital cameras clicked away to get some record shots of this lovely butterfly in it's prime condition

There was a mad scramble to get this partially open-wing shot!!!

I should add here that Phil pushed both myself and Ros aside in his overly zealous attempt for yet another top quality image...we thought he would have been more than happy with his images of Brown Hairstreak from yesterday (see thread and images above ) but he had that certain glint in his eye and was unremorseful as he checked for image quality on his LCD screen while me and Ros picked ourselves up off the ground

The solitary record shot I managed of the male open-winged...

Twenty one species seen in total and another great (and hot!) summer day spent in fine company...thanks for sharing it with me Phil & Ros

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[dilettante]

Lovely Brown Hairstreak images - a species I've yet to see and will probably miss for yet another year.

As I got into my car after photographing Clouded Yellows today, I turned on the radio and heard news of Brown Hairstreaks in the village of Ambridge in Borsetshire. I couldn't find it on the sites listed here, but apparently this population is threatened by a new road development. In this documentary it sounded like the locals will use the presence of BH to fight the development

[dave brown]

Yesterday there was a mass arrival / emergence of Small Tortoiseshells at Dungeness Observatory recording area with a minimum of 500 being recorded by the warden.

[David M]

We followed one female along the blackthorn, watching intently for any signs of ovipositing but the contorted views the insect presented within the thick blackthorn tangle proved inconclusive we were joined for this session by Alan Thornberry who runs the excellent Hampshire Butterflies website resource, it was nice to make your acquaintance Alan!

Good stuff, Bill.

You've made me jealous but I'm saving all my energy for the West Williamston BH location this summer.

I have at least 10 days in the bag for this and I hope that at least one (or maybe two) will provide sufficiently good conditions for what is, undoubtedly, my favourite butterfly at my favourite location.

Can't wait.

[Cotswold Cockney]

Plenty of the 'usual suspect' butterflies in the garden today. Saw what almost certainly was a Holly Blue quickly passing through too. No doubt a male looking for freshly emerged females. He'll have to be more patient. Be a few days more yet before the females appear.

However, the highlight for me was discovered next to my garden fence on a weed I was just about to pull up. A half-grown larva of one of the most beautiful moths or butterflies of the world. The Elephant Hawk on Willow Herb... not Rosebay. I suspect Great Willowherb but not 100% certain of that. There are up to two hundred species of this attractive plant worldwide.



Nice to know these beautiful moths are about locally near me. About ten years ago, a neighbour lady pensioner knowing my interests, brought a fully grown larva of this moth along to me for and ID. It was found on her son's Fuchsia plants. He's a keen plant enthusiast and had many potted specimen plant varieties in his fine garden. The larva was obviously fully grown so I prepared a pupation chamber for it and placed in it the cool of my garage. I promised the old lady ( since passed on ) to show her the moth when it emerges next spring hoping it had not been parasitised. It had not and I was able to take the moth along and show it to her and her family who were delighted to see it. They were surprised to see how beautiful a moth can be.

[PhiliB]

I should add here that Phil pushed both myself and Ros aside in his overly zealous attempt for yet another top quality image...we thought he would have been more than happy with his images of Brown Hairstreak from yesterday (see thread and images above ) but he had that certain glint in his eye and was unremorseful as he checked for image quality on his LCD screen while me and Ros picked ourselves up off the ground

The pair of you didn't miss anything while you were laid out (unconscious?!)
Although, she did pose open winged for a minute.....

..... but I know you two purists would have snubbed this photo opportunity as she was partially shaded.

Phil

[Willrow]

You've made me jealous but I'm saving all my energy for the West Williamston BH location this summer.

And good luck to you David, I know how fond of Brown Hairstreak you are, and West Williamston is a superb location

..... but I know you two purists would have snubbed this photo opportunity as she was partially shaded.

Absolutely spot on Phil

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[owen figgis]

Spotted this unusual female common blue today on my transect at Mabie Forest, Galloway. Taken on my mobile phone so please excuse the quality.

Common Blue female.

Owen

[Perseus]

1 August 2014
An exceptional variety of 20 different species of butterflies in an hour on the lower slopes of Mill Hill made up for a rather dismal number of Chalkhill Blues for what should be their peak time. There were hundreds of the restless Chalkhill Blues but they were thinly spread and the transect acre total was only 47.

It is mystery why the population has crashed from thousands in 2003 to hundreds in 2014.

Adonis Blues (second brood) in flight have not reduced the same way as the Chalkhill Blues and there numbers have probably increased to 100 an acre and have always been more widespread.

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2014.html