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Cheers Nick

Well today saw my first lepidoptera sighting of the year ........ finally!

The signs were all good, a beautiful sunny day: Blackthorn flower buds were swelling: and the hazel was in full flower with it's tiny punky crimson hairdo: Then out it popped, I almost trod on my debut lepi 2015!





















Ta dah! A Ruby Tiger (based on the brown fur and black head), don't judge him because he's not grown his wings yet!

Good to see you've gotten off the mark Bugboy I hope the PM is useful

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Very useful, thanks Wurzel

So the cold grey days continue with nothing but the odd tiger moth cat (as far as lepidoptera are concerned) to be seen but thanks to MikeOxen I have discovered a good use for these grey skies and am discovering some hidden gems in the process:

These two are most likely the same individual, Hampstead Heath June 2001 An ovipositing Small Skipper, Finchley July 2003 And some GV Whites from May 2004 I've only gone through my skippers and GV whites properly so far, I have a good many days worth left but it is a very enjoyable way to fill these otherwise dreary days, and cost me nothing too

Hi Buggy,

you are obviously using flash in these photos, and i must say, to great affect. Especially the Large Skipper. Nice to see something different.

All the best, Nick.

Thanks Nick, I used to use flash all the time in the old days, not 100% sure if the large skipper was a flash pic but the Whites obviously were. It does make photographing these slides somewhat challenging with the extreme contrasts though.

A few more blasts from the past to quell my withdrawl symptoms:

2002 2003 And this one also from 2002.....spot the butterfly!

I had to maximise that last image to see the Comma, Bugboy.

Nicely concealed.

Indeed excellent camo It hurt my eyes

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks both, still trawling through my slides at every available opportunity.

A few months ago I posted some pics of Purple hairstreaks and I remember stating somewhere that it was the only one that had ever posed for me, but today I discovered that was a complete and utter lie! Found 3 slides from July 2003 of a tatty one nectaring on Creeping Thistles: Don't actually remember this encounter, which is rather surprising since it would undoubtably have been my very first with one!

On the other hand I clearly remember rearing the next individual from a small larvae in the same year specifically to get some nice close ups: Really like how the flash has accented the blue on the underside.

Here's a nice male Gatekeeper with a few extra spots from 2003: Pretty sure flash was also used to capture this shot on Hampstead Heath! and to finish another spot the butterfly, bit more difficult than the Comma yesterday but I think she's laying an egg:

Good work, Bugboy. I think that's the first image I've ever seen of a PH nectaring on a flower.

It DOES happen!!

David M wrote:Good work, Bugboy. I think that's the first image I've ever seen of a PH nectaring on a flower.

It DOES happen!!

Well it's happened once anyway......

The colours on that Red Admiral are brilliant Bugboy , I think I need to havea play with my flash.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:The colours on that Red Admiral are brilliant Bugboy , I think I need to havea play with my flash.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, I think being a freshly emerged animal helped with the colour intensity.

A few more 'flashy pics' from 2003:

The home processing of my slide collection continues when time allows, normally an hour in the evening after work before light fails. Still waiting for my first real butterfly of 2015 but that should happen very soon now with the promise of double figure temperatures by the weekend, and I'm not working! Hopefully a glut of Tortoiseshells and Peacocks awaits me on Saturday.

As for the slides, it would seem that I am unable to walk past a Small Copper without snapping hundreds of pictures of them. By far the most pictures of any single species is of these pugnacious little blighters!

Well another day looking for that illusive 'first' proved fruitless today. You could feel the warmth when you found a sheltered spot but that wind was still keeping temperatures down. High hopes for the weekend though.

On the plus side I did come across another sign spring has arrived, a couple of water voles playing chase, not sure if it was a turf war between two males or an amorous male checking out a potental lady vole. The chasee settled on the opposite bank of the ditch to where I was standing and allowed me to take 7 pictures before disappearing of into the undergrowth: The ones here are very bold, not phased at all by my presence, most likely due to the ditches they inhabit are next to one of the main paths through the site.

Anyway, got home with a few hours daylight remaining so I decided to dig out my slides from Slovenia from 2004 and get them on my computer. Seeing that Scarce Swallowtail was one of the highlights of that holiday for me !

Do need to do a bit of digging in notes and memory to remember exactly where I saw all these, didn't label these slides particularly well it would seem... a job for the next rainy day me thinks!

Well todays mini mission was to see a butterfly, any butterfly. This weekends fine weather has been forcast for a most of the week so I had been looking forward to today after a long week at work. Leaving relatively early (for me) at about 10.30 to explore my local patch temperatures were still a bit chilly and I saw nothing for nearly 2 hours. Then I disturbed a male Brimstone. Annoyed at not noticing it first as it would have been an ideal spot to get some nice closeups, low down next to the path, I nevertheless aimed my camera at the moving target and managed a fantasic yellow blur! I followed him around the little sheltered sun trap for a couple of minutes before he settled again, unfortunately not in an ideal spot for pictures this time. Couldn't get any closer than this to him without the risk of disturbing him, as I proved 10 seconds after this pic by trying to get closer and watching as he flew of over the hedge. I had to wait another hour for something else to appear. But appear it did as I was walking along the river Lea. Unfortunately a rather dashing male Reed bunting had caught my attention and all I heard was something flutter over my head. All I saw was what looked like a Peacock vanishing at high speed around the corner.

Another hour past and walking back along the river a flourescent orange patch caught my eye, an almost immaculate Small tortoiseshell sun bathing. This one was a good sitter and allowed me to get a few nice pics.. An hour later I nearly trod on another tortoisheshell, slightly more weather worn but still in good nick: Coming to the end of my 5 hour strole I doubled back to where I had started, and hoping for one last sighting checked out another little sheltered suntrap that normally attracts a few. Again I nearly trod on them, hiding behind a grassy hummock a pair of tortoiseshells. They fluttered off, obviously a pair by the way one was following the other as though it was connected by a piece of invisible string. I followed but sadly they never settled in sight so I left the two to get on with whatever they were going to be doing and headed home.

Off to a very good start and hopefully a good sign for things to come, and from the looks of things today was a good day for quite a few of us!

Nice stuff bugboy, you're off to a great start