Maximus

[trevor]

Great to meet you at last Mike.
Your visit to Ditchling common was obviously worthwhile, with some quality shots.
The day was a bit like a UKB social event !.

Best wishes,
Trevor.

[bugboy]

I heard there was a 'gathering' down in Sussex today, great shots . If I hadn't already made plans I'd have been there too!

[Wurzel]

Fantastic set of shots Mike, nuff said really

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Katrina]

Nice to meet you today, and great sharp photos!

[David M]

Fabulous shots, Mike. Seems like this new site has been a 'free-for-all' for many UKB members lately. Thanks to Neil H for flagging it up.

Shame the weather's about to take a turn for the worse otherwise I might have been tempted myself, as this is one of a handful of species I'm unlikely to see in France (along with Purple Emperor, Scotch Argus & Large Heath).

[Maximus]

It was nice to meet you too, Vince. It was a brilliant day out

Yes, they were very photogenic, Dave. It was a great day and it was nice to meet everyone

It was great to meet you too. Trevor. Nice site, stunning Hairstreaks and good company

It would have been great to have met you, bugboy, but you did ‘alright’ elsewhere

Thanks, Wurzel, I feel your frustration

Thanks, Katrina, nice to meet you too

There were a few UKB members there, David, but it was all very orderly, pity you can’t get to see them it’s well worth a visit.

I think that’s the first time I’ve posted on the same day as the sightings and in doing so I’ve jumped ahead of myself. However it’s not every day that you get to see Black Hairstreaks in Sussex .



4th June

Today we headed off early to visit a Wiltshire site in the hope that there might be a few Marsh Fritillaries still about. We arrived at the site to find we had it to ourselves. The weather was dull but warm, and walking up through the site we didn’t see any butterflies, roosting or otherwise. It was a little overgrown in places and we thought this may be the reason why. We were about to move on elsewhere when it brightened up, and with that a Marsh Frit took flight out of the long grass nearby. As we followed it we found more, some of which were in good condition. In all we saw about twenty or so Marshies.

We also found some very fresh looking Adonis and Common Blues.

Adonis Blues

Blue Female Common Blue

Common Blues

And some nice Brown Argus.

We also saw Small Heaths, Grizzled Skippers, some small Blues, some Small Whites and some worn Green Hairstreaks.

After a few hours here we decided to head off to Bentley Wood.

[Wurzel]

Great to see there were still some Marsh Frits around they've had a cracking year everywhere and you got cracking shots Hopefully you found more than a couple of Small Pearls at Bentley as I'm really worried about the survival of the species at this site , I'm waiting with bated breath for your next report...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Fantastic Adonis shots Max you've really captured their Blueness Goldie

[Maximus]

It was good to see some Marsh frits, Wurzel, as it was in 2015 that we last saw them Now for the Small Pearls.

Thanks, Goldie


4th June continued

We arrived at Bentley Wood quite late in the afternoon and it was cool and overcast. There was only one other person there when we arrived and he was just leaving. A quick chat revealed that he had seen two SPBF! On entering the eastern clearing through the new gate (new to us) our first impression was that it appeared a bit overgrown compared to our last visit in 2015. We soon spotted the first SPBF which flew a short distance before settling long enough to get some shots of it. It warmed up slightly after this and we began to find a few more.

We saw a total of six SPBF, but I would imagine that our visit was near the end of their flight period, I wonder what the peak count was. The only other butterfly we saw was a female Large Skipper posing nicely on some bracken.

[Wurzel]

Great set of shots I (think I) saw the first one there on 27th May and then on 2nd June saw one or two so 6 a few days later isn't a really high total Hopefully they're elsewhere in the Wood as well...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely stuff, Mike. This last couple of weeks has proved to be a bonanza for butterfly enthusiasts. There have been some fabulous sights on offer, and I just hope that we don't now have to endure several successive 'poor' years as punishment!

[Andrew555]

Lovely selection of Blues Mike, and great Fritillaries.

[Maximus]

Sorry for the delay in replying, Wurzel, a total of six SPBF is terrible hopefully there were more hidden away in the wood

We had no idea what was going to happen regarding the weather when you wrote that, David! We now may have to endure a very poor year in 2019!

A very belated thank you, Andrew



Pyrenees 2018

We have recently returned from a three week camping trip to France. We left the UK on the 6th July and headed for the Pyrenees and after a couple of overnight stops we arrived at our campsite in the Pyrenees on the 9th July.
We spent a wonderful week in the Pyrenees (apart from the nightly thunder storms and gale force winds), visiting some beautiful locations and finding some stunning butterflies, many of which were new to us. The problem was that during our week of searching we had not had any sightings of the one little butterfly that we really hoped to see. We therefore decided to spend one more day in the Pyrenees and head to an area that we had not yet visited.
And to our amazement and joy that’s exactly where we found them, after an 850 mile drive from the UK and eight days of searching, we found eight beautiful examples of Agriades pyrenaicus, or the Garvarnie Blue butterfly! To say we were overjoyed would be a massive understatement!

Garvarnie Blue

Habitat shot, 1670 mtrs (approx)

More to follow at a later date when I’ve sorted some photos and checked some ID’s.

[Wurzel]

You've set my salivary glands into overdrive with those lush shots Mike, what a lush looking butterfly, not showy but still stunning, can't wait for the next installment

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Wow - those are wonderful shots, Mike. Worth the effort I'd say...

Dave

[Maximus]

Yes Wurzel, Garvarnie Blues areright little stunners We found eight males but no females even though we spent plenty of time looking, they must have been well hidden away.
Don’t salivate too much, as we were told by both French and English butterfly enthusiasts that we met during our trip, that it was not a good year for Pyreneean butterflies We were disappointed that we saw no Apollos, a species that was high on our wish list

Cheers, Dave, it's always worth the effort for an end result like that



But we did find this lone Glandon Blue (Agriades glandon), mixing it in with the Garvarnies, the only one we saw during our week in the Pyrenees.

Glandon Blue

[David M]

Fantastic, Mike. Gavarnie Blue is a species I've yet to see, and has a very restricted range in France so you did well to locate it.

Shame about the storms. France has had a fairly miserable time of things this year up till the last week of July. One hopes normal service will be resumed in 2019?

[ernie f]

Mike - love the shot of two Gavarnie Blues. Also the Glandon Blue.

I have to ask - did any of them wing-roll?

[Maximus]

We thought that we had missed it, David. The extra day paid off.

Thanks Ernie, and no, not the slightest twitch



One of the species of butterfly that we were hoping to see was the Black-veined White. This Butterfly was once found in the UK but sadly became extinct here by the mid 1920’s.
On our first full day in the Pyrenees, our first stop was in a small gravel layby along a twisty lane with flower filled verges. As we pulled in, the first thing I saw from the car was a pair of Black-veined Whites in cop on a large Scabious flower.

During our week in the Pyrenees we saw reasonable numbers of Black-veined Whites at most of the sites we visited.

At one site I found a female who appeared to be looking for an egg laying site and watched as she finally settled on the underside of an apple leaf and deposited a batch of eggs.

Habitat shot. The eggs were laid on the top of the far left hand upward curving apple branch of the fallen tree in the foreground.

It’s a lovely big, bold, strong flying butterfly and it was a delight to see it for the first time.

[Wurzel]

Lush Black-veined Whites Mike The Glandon is mighty lush too a bit like a more completed version of the Garvarine, they'd stopped the colouring in about half way through

Have a goodun

Wurzel