www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers Nick I was hoping that they would've been slightly more inebriated as that would have been something I'd not seen before and I was intrigued how it would affect their behaviour- would they just fly erratically or would they become more amorous (I love yoush...hic) or more violent (come on let's have it, I'll batter you!)?

Sorry to trick you David I was almost up to date and then I looked back and discovered some 'lost posts' so when you see Marbled Whites and Common Blues in the next few weeks that'll be why

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Some lost posts eh! I certainly don't mind being transported back to July or August Wurzel, in fact BRING IT ON! It's cold and dark outside, your Marbled Whites will feel like some much needed medication

Best

B'saurus

Cheers Rex, there's still a couple of kinda catch up posts, more drawing a line under the season, before I reel out the 'Lost Posts' So I better get started...

Introducing Bob!

Over the summer I trained my girls to inform me when there were moths in the house. We have to leave the bathroom light on so that my younger daughter doesn’t get scared and during the summer I took advantage of this and I’d leave the bathroom windows open. This brought in a nice range of moths – almost all of which were new to me. The girls started off excitedly waking me as “there a big green one ” but eventually tailed off to “there’s another one dad ” mentioned in a bored voice.

However at the start of September (the 3rd) I came home to hear off a moth that was “hiding on the ceiling” and not resting in the bathroom and this change of scenery was enough to pique the girls’ interest. When I went upstairs I discovered that it wasn’t a Moth but a Small Tortoiseshell. At the time I thought it was nice but it would soon fly back out and enjoy the remains of the year before finding somewhere more suitable to hibernate so didn’t think anymore about it. A couple of days later it was still there so I took a few photos and from then on I’d say hello in the morning as I’d pass along the corridor beneath him, still thinking that it would find its’ way out. 06-09
10-09


It wasn’t until the start of October that I realized that it would be here for the duration so I started referring to it as Bob and introduced it to all of our visitors. Bob stayed in the same place all through October and into November but I was slightly worried as the place he was hibernating was shortly to become the top of our stairs as we’re reversing them. That being said Bob didn’t even budge during the preliminary works... One Sunday (17th Nov) I realized that what with work on the stairs starting the following week I’d have to bite the bullet and strip the wallpaper from the existing stairwell ready for the fitting and eventual Lime plastering. It was hot work with the steamer cranked to full speed ahead and the steam getting trapped in the stair well. I was just reaching across from the ladder to start on the next section when Bob appeared. He flew across the void and landed close to my shoulder and started to flutter his wings imploringly at me. I was quite touched that Bob had sought me out to help so I dropped down the ladder and grabbed a crème freche pot awaiting recycling, pierced the lid a number of times with a needle and allowed Bob to crawl inside. He seemed quite content to be inside, so much so that I carried him through to the bedroom without the lid on. Once there I secured the lid and popped Bob under a cupboard and when I checked on him 5 minutes later he was calm and settled down and in the same position an hour later. At least here there will be no disturbance, no spiders to worry about (hence the pot) and I can check on him every few days. Hopefully he’ll be happy through the winter with us as my girls have always wanted a pet
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice story, Wurzel, but he'll surely not survive in the warm house over the winter, will he?

Oh for a warm house David That's the 'advantage' of living in an old cottage with original sash windows - it's freezing I check on Bob every couple of days and he's still looking very peaceful but should he wake I know a large log store nearby which has a few rooms spare, hopefully he'll be okay.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great story Wurzel. Reminds me of an episode of Blackadder when Edmund B. falls in love with his " man-servant ", Bob, played by a rather delightful young lady ( Geraldine Glaister, if my memory is correct ). Don`t recall her hanging onto any ceilings though.

Jenks.

Lovely story.

Surely living in an old cottage full of spidies your girls have loads of pets already.

Great story Wurzel. Keep them coming.

All the best, Nick.

Another entertaining read Wurzel, great stuff

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Jenks It made my night reading your comment as that was why I named him Bob - as I'm not sure what gender Bob actually is
Cheers Susie Unfortunately despite my best efforts they're not into Spiders Still my younger daughter adores Woodlice, she's forever smuggling them up to her room and trying to train them
Cheers Nick and Neil There are a few 'posts' left yet

A Warning this was written back in November...I did say that I had 'almost' caught up ...

Larkhill...end of the road and looking forward

After my last visit to Larkhill back in October various things kept me from making my stop-offs. I’d have to get to work early to prepare something or stop on the way for petrol and the way home wasn’t good either as I’d have to pick my other niece up from nursery or get home early as a plasterer or joiner was coming round to give a quote. Then there was the holiday – a week and half of not working but also a week and a half of not driving by Larkhill. Then there were the wet or windy or cold days. So what with one thing and another I didn’t get back to Larkhill in almost a month plus the clocks had changed which meant that it was dusk by the time I could pull off the road.
Eventually fortune favoured me and I made a few morning stop-offs but the season had moved on faster than expected and the golden glow had been replaced with fuzzy mists and crunchy grass. On my first visit the cackling of Fieldfares and ‘Tseep-ing’ of Redwings overhead made it me feel less than hopeful of seeing any butterflies and so it proved to be. I’m not saying that there aren’t any but the first frosts usually herald the final curtain for the season and if there are any then they’d appear at the warmest part of the day when I’m stuck at work. 7-11
8-11
13-11

Despite not seeing any butterflies it felt right and proper, important even, for me to see it through and note the first mists and frosts and if the forecast snow does appear then I’ll need to catalogue that too. To cheer myself up from my sombre mood I thought I’d have a look through some of my photos from the season and doing so made me appreciate how great a site this is. It’s a lay-by with two paths, one heading north the other west and I only ever walk about 30 metres along either one and yet it’s produced a total of 22 species this year. Of those 22 Small Copper, Brown Argus, Grizzled Skipper and Small Blue are new this year and I’m hoping next year to have confirmed Peacocks and Walls and try to add Dark Green Fritillary, Dingy Skipper possibly and dare I say it – Green Hairstreak?
In the meantime here are the ‘newbies’ and a few of my highlights from my 2013 Larkhill season...
Newbs Highlights Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice stuff Wurzel, glad 'Bob' is safely tucked up for the winter. Lovely atmospheric winter shots, mists, dew-laden spider webs, etc. Bring on spring, the sooner the better!!

Mike

Cheers Mike WRT Spring coming, the sooner the better! I just hope the Spring isn't a slow starter like last year

Waldorf Winter Fayre 07-12-2013

At the weekend we visited our local Waldorf Fayre. It makes a nice change for the children to see stalls packed with wooden toys, handmade jewellery and craft goods. Plus they get to have a go at candle dipping, watch a puppet show as well as visiting King Winter or the Gnome Garden. The nice thing for me is that the grounds of the school are surrounded by woodland with wild areas scattered at the back of the school and a mixture of hedges and trees throughout the site. I’d read about December moths either on the Butterfly Conservation e-zine or from the RSPB so I thought I better take my camera, just in case.
Once the girls had looked around, completed all their activities, played on the swings and climbing frames and eaten a winter picnic lunch (like a normal picnic but you wrap yourself in the blanket instead of sitting on it) we headed over to the Lantern Cafe/shop. While my wife looked around for some little bits and bobs I watched the girls and the wildlife by the pond.
The usual birds were all around ticking and tinkling in the trees with the occasional Nuthatch calls breaking through the soft jingling. The pond during the summer months is a haven for dragonflies and damselflies but now it was gungy and dead but a Blackbird kept me entertained. It was using the ‘eternity’ pool as a bath, dunking itself in and flicking water over its back, rather it than me as there was a definite nip in the air. I then got called over to the window as my well trained spotter children had found a moth on the window of the cafe. It wasn’t the December Moth I was hoping for but it was a Winter Moth. This hardy little moth flies from November through to January and this was is easily identifiable as a male as it had wings. The female has virtually no wings at all, just little hairy stubs and then she climbs up trees to await a visit by a male. I could only get a few photos as a family on the other side of the glass were wondering what I was doing. Once I’d held the camera screen up to the window so they could have a look it was okay but I could see their lunch arriving so I left them in peace. After my ‘new’ sighting another quickly followed. This time a strange bug and I’ve no idea what it is but the cold seemed to be playing havoc with it as it was really struggling to keep walking. Unfortunately my time was up and my presence was requested in the shop so I put my camera away and feeling a few twinges in my wallet headed in...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

PS. Finally caught up But hang on a minute, I think I missed a few posts out...

Love the photos of the Blackbird taking a dunk

Wurzel wrote:..... I just hope the Spring isn't a slow starter like last year

I am old enough to remember the winters of 1975 and 1976 that were seemingly never-ending and the good summers that followed, particularly the infamous drought of '76. Last winter was very similar and look at the summer that followed compared with the better springs of the previous few years and the following summers.
I would happily have Spring being a bit late again if it meant a decent summer to follow.

Fingers crossed,

Neil.

nfreem wrote:
I am old enough to remember the winters of 1975 and 1976 that were seemingly never-ending and the good summers that followed, particularly the infamous drought of '76. Last winter was very similar and look at the summer that followed compared with the better springs of the previous few years and the following summers.
I would happily have Spring being a bit late again if it meant a decent summer to follow.

Quite agree. When I was a child growing up in the 70s, the daffodils never seemed to appear before late March; many a time these days they're out in early February!

I'd happily trade it being cold into early April to guarantee a warm summer!

Cheers for the comments Neil and David, I'm all for a slightly longer winter as last year and we did have a better summer but it would be nice to start seeing butterflies slightly earlier than last year, things didn't really get going until May (or so it felt)

Lost Posts

Every year there are some visits that I don’t post about. Sometimes this is because I don’t find my target species or because the weather report is inaccurate. Other times it’s because I’ve observed a similar range of species as on a previous visit to the same site or it could be because during the main part of the season I just don’t have enough time to actually sort the photos and write it up. On a few occasions I haven’t posted because I’ve seen too few species or because I only saw the butterfly for a few fleeting glimpses/shots while I was out doing something else.

In other years I leave them alone and once the moment has passed they’re dutifully saved and archived. But this year I got so far behind on a few occasions that some got missed out and so for the sake of completeness I’ve dug them back out and had another look at them. I must remember to do this next season as there were a few nice shots hidden away as well as more than a few fond memories that came flowing back as I was writing them.

The first was way back at the end of June. After a failed trip for Glanvilles to the Isle of Black I headed out with my older daughter to a mainland site. It was just warm enough with only light winds but I was concerned that as we set off on the walk to the site the sun was hidden by thickset clouds. No matter, I knew that they had been seen here a week or so previously and I was enjoying my daughter chatting away on almost every topic imaginable.
Once we got there I set up Base Camp for my daughter so I could make a few forays within ear shot. It was only when I got home that I discovered what had kept her occupied as I had an endless series of videos and photos on my iPod!

I’d visited this site before so I set about walking the paths around the small field where I’s seen them previously. This was seriously trampled – in some places almost flat so I restricted my efforts t around the margins of the path as well as peering over the tops of the grasses looking out for any ginger jobbies.
Unfortunately for me the cloud didn’t burn off, the wind picked up slightly and I realized I’d left it too late. Over the course of the morning despite plenty of leg work doing endless circuits of the ‘hot spots’ I saw only two species of butterfly, a Small Heath and a worn male Common Blue and only one of these stayed still long enough to be photographed. That being said there were other things of interest around including a nice looking fly, various pipits and waders and unknown caterpillar. There were also a few moths and these offered the best photo opportunities as well as adding a bit of ‘wow’ to the day. Around the banks and ditches the grasses were crawling with Cinnabars whilst the taller and drier grasses on the flat were preferred by Cream Spot Tigers. There was a LBJ which had very narrow wings and which I think is a Rush Veneer(?) a migrant and with the benefit of hindsight a possible taster of things to come? Eventually we made the long walk back to the car, my daughter chatting away just as much as before and the time I spent with her more than made up for missing my target species.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely photos in your last few posts, Wurzel. I think your choice of photos depicting the end of the butterfly season are just great, from the Fieldfare on the Hawthorn to the frost covered berries, excellent. And i still think your Common Blue covered in dew drops is brilliant. Your larva is that of a Brown Tail moth.

All the best, Nick.

Cheers for your very kind comments Nick And thanks for the ID I can add that to my Moth Collection along side my adult Yellow Tail

Have a goodun

Wurzel

mystery bug looks like one of the bigger aphids, mystery fly is a sawfly for a place to start.

Chris

Cheers for the ID's Chris I didn't know that Aphids came that big Vince ID'd the fly as a Large Rose Sawfly in a PM so your starting place was a good one

Lost Post 2 - Woodhenge again...

This post was originally sorted back in July. The problem was I was also stopping off at Larkhill pretty much every day and so much of what I saw on this stop-off I’d already reported several times. It felt like I was posting ‘another Ringlet’ and ‘another Marbled White’ so I didn’t want to be too repetitive.
O a previous visit here I’d been lucky enough to find drizzle bedecked butterflies and Golden Skippers before that but on this brief morning visit it was fine and quite warm. So I tried my luck and looked out for something new, to no avail.
I’m glad that I did go back and check through these photos because amongst them were some showing the butterflies in different postures and positions from what I previously photographed. For instance I managed some group shots of Marbled Whites as well as finding one individual that was holding its fore wings back over its hind wings looking a little like a Bat or a Moth.
The most enjoyable to watch was another Marbled White which would flutter just over the tops of the grass and then would drop down like a stone. Once in the grasses it would shimmy up like a Pirate, leg over leg until it reached the top. Then it would repeat the cycle. Over on the other side of the filed by the spinney the slightly more scrub like vegetation held good numbers of Ringlets. Most were very annoying. I would spot one and then it would be gone, up into the trees to hide behind the leaves disappearing from view. As the time ticked by I was worried that I wouldn’t connect and they would all follow the same pattern of behaviour. However on my final attempt at an approach it flew lower into tree and I managed to spy it nestled amongst the leaves. It seemed to suss out that it had been rumbled and promptly came back on to some of the outer leaves into the warming sun. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely photos Wurzel The Cream Spot Tiger is a beautiful moth.

Mike