www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

ernie f wrote:..I have seen Red Admirals fly later in the year than this but I don't think I have seen one flying when it is just above zero degrees and there is still frost around.

Red Admirals are practically indestructible, ernie!

They will fly if the sun is out and the temperature is above freezing. I remember picking one up as dusk fell in November one year....it was still trying to fly even though it was only a few degrees above freezing and was getting dark.

Hi,

I have updated my Hampshire Butterfly spreadsheet. If anyone intends to visit this neck of the woods next year, I hope this helps in any plans you might make.
Also

I happened to hint to my wife that I might like a new phone for Xmas this year, but this is not what I had in mind!!!
Happy Christmas to you all.

That cheered me right up Ernie!

Have a cracking Christmas and a Prosperous New Year!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks for the species checklist and numbers, ernie - very interesting.

What a year Chalkhill Blue had in 2019!

Wurzel - I thought it was hilarious. Whoever went to all that trouble wrapping a public phone box for Xmas I don't know.

David - I like to keep that spreadsheet up to date but as time wears on of course there are fewer and fewer updates to it.

Also

If anyone sees Santa before next Xmas day let him know I found the hat he dropped! I didn't know Santa had gotten so big. No wonder he doesn't come down our chimney any more! Must be all those millions of mince-pies he eats while on his rounds!
Happy New Year

Cracking!

Have a great New Year Ernie!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

ernie f wrote: ↑Mon Dec 30, 2019 4:03 pm...If anyone sees Santa before next Xmas day let him know I found the hat he dropped! I didn't know Santa had gotten so big. No wonder he doesn't come down our chimney any more! Must be all those millions of mince-pies he eats while on his rounds!

Very good, ernie. Hope you have a productive 2020.

So the trick to this once-a-day exercise thing is to go places where no one else goes or to chose places that have wide paths. Gloria and I did our exercise walk at Alice Holt woods today - the wide path option. For one reason or another I have not been able to get out anyway this year until today. What a lovely sunny day! It hit 16 degrees mid-afternoon. I didn't take my camera so no pics but did encounter a Red Ad, a Comma and three Brimstone. Also heard two male Greater Spotted Woodpeckers tapping trees at one another.

On return home there was a Brimstone in our back garden and a Red Ad in the driveway.

Spring has definitely sprung.

That sounds like the plan Ernie I'm glad you managed to get out I'm just hoping that the unthinking muppets don't ruin it for the rest of us that NEED to get out into the country for our mental health Stay safe.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

ernie f wrote: ↑Tue Mar 24, 2020 4:44 pm So the trick to this once-a-day exercise thing is to go places where no one else goes or to chose places that have wide paths. Gloria and I did our exercise walk at Alice Holt woods today - the wide path option. For one reason or another I have not been able to get out anyway this year until today. What a lovely sunny day! It hit 16 degrees mid-afternoon. I didn't take my camera so no pics but did encounter a Red Ad, a Comma and three Brimstone. Also heard two male Greater Spotted Woodpeckers tapping trees at one another.

On return home there was a Brimstone in our back garden and a Red Ad in the driveway.

Spring has definitely sprung.

Good to see you return, ernie, and well done on avoiding the crowds.

I think you might be the first to spot a Red Admiral this month on here. Given how mild last winter was, I'm surprised there haven't been more.

It seems almost embarrassing to be out enjoying the butterflies, but I did the same as you and found a place well away from the madding crowds. Not that any were out today.

David - oops - you spotted my error!

They weren't Red Ads, they were Peacocks!

Tuesday June 23rd

Spring butterflies passed me by this year. Coronavirus has made me re-think so many things as I am sure it has many people – so I took the government advice and stayed at home.

Until June that is…

It was safe enough in Hampshire to go local and my annual Silver Studded Blue survey needed to be done and that is what finally gave me the impetus to get off my backside and venture warily outside.

My God, what’s that big, yellow thing in the sky? Oh, yes - The Sun – I had almost forgotten about that!

Since Broxhead Heath where I do this survey is less than around 10 miles from me – that was pretty local I thought. But I have not finished my survey yet so the results will have to wait for another post.

Virtually next door to Broxhead Heath is Alice Holt Forest – just a mile further as the crow flies (but possibly 10 or more as the butterfly flies!) so that is where I went today.

Alice Holt is popular with people but when I got to the car park there was only one other car there before me. Great – social distancing will be a doddle I thought. Immediately I came across a runner and had to dodge out of the way – then another runner, then a woman on her mobile walking along totally oblivious to her surroundings, then a dog-walker and then a cyclist! What the…?

The car I had seen in the car park was certainly not big enough for them all, the dogs and the cycle. Blast - I had forgotten about the locals!

Never mind, the butterflies were just as numerous as the people.

My targets were Silver-washed Frit, White Admiral, Purple Emperor and Purple Hairstreak. I was prepared to see none of them and just satisfy myself with the Small and Large Skippers, the Meadow Browns and Ringlets, the Large and Marbled Whites and the Commas. But it was my lucky day because I DID see them all. The Frits decided to keep dashing about and when one stopped just long enough for me to set my camera it laughed at me and flew off again before I was even able to point it roughly in the right direction. I got a fair record shot of a Purple Hairstreak reasonably low down but they often creep around, half hidden behind those pesky Oak leaves, and this one was no exception. The Purple Emperor was fooling around in the canopy and didn’t come down to play while I was there…

… but the White Admirals were something else. Settling on leaves, flowers and the ground and allowing me to get close. On one occasion, one came up to me and posed no further than a metre away from my foot. But my best photo opportunities were when they sat up on branches at my eye-level – no unpleasant bending required on my part. I was particularly startled by the way the sunlight glinted off the blue underside of one individual. I had never noticed this effect before.

Before I left there was a very early second brood Holly Blue on the ground – perhaps my earliest ever second brooder.

Since I was on a roll I decided to do another local trip – to Odiham Common – one of my local White-letter Hairstreak sites. I have been there a few years now with some limited success but last year, after repeated visits I saw none and it really did worry me that they may have become extinct at this site. Still – ever the optimist and with so many firsts-of-the-year already under my belt I gave it a try.

I set up camp in my usual spot and craned my neck up to the tops of the somewhat raggedy Elms. It didn’t look too promising. I scoured the brambles and thistles – loads of Small and Large Skips, Marbled Whites galore and one Comma nectaring directly above another (the pair forming a semicolon perhaps?). But no Hairstreaks. I was just about to leave when out the corner of my eye I espied a zig-zaggy flying object (ZZFO). I span round just in time to see it land way up on a Sycamore. I focussed my camera and took the shot of it without really being sure but when I zoomed it up on the camera screen it was definitely my target butterfly. Hopeless picture to post here but hey – I had just proved to myself they had not gone extinct here after all – they had just been avoiding me all last year – the little blighters.

Well that was it – I left Odiham Common a very happy bunny. On my return I celebrated with a glass of wine – well that was my excuse anyway.

Cheers.

Great to see you back Ernie Lovely White Admiral Shots, a great way to strike your come back and I might have to nick your ZZFO - it would fit in nicely with UFW

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Welcome back, ernie. Good to hear from you again. It's been a uniquely frustrating period but things are slowly improving and at least nature will have had a little 'breathing space' without we humans intruding in the way we normally do.

Certainly doesn't sound as though your White Admiral population has suffered. Glad you got such a great audience with them.

That's a splendid White Admiral backlit shot, Ernie! A definite for that one... They do seem to be having a good year.

Good to hear from you again, and it'll be interesting to learn how your SSBs are getting on.

Cheers,

Dave

Wurzel: The White Ads are doing fine at Alice Holt - I expect the number will build up quite soon now. I am unfamiliar with the term UFW - guess Unidentified Flying wotsit?

David M: Thanks for the welcome back. It's good to be back, although the frequency of my entries may not be quite as much as previous years.

Dave: Thanks. The SSBs are doing OK, ups and downs with the weather though. Report due in early July.

Where shall we three meet again…?
On a pile of poo at half past ten.
My apologies to The Bard.

That from Alice Holt yesterday - as was this...
The Purple Hairstreak season has started around here. Yesterday I found three Purple Hairstreaks at Alice Holt Forest, none of which were close enough for a decent shot.

Today at Binswood – another three, but one came down and posed for me. I could not resist so I took a whole bunch of this individual – many of my efforts are the same as loads of other pics I have taken of this species before but one was rather odd. I moved around to the rear end and was amazed at how a tinge of blue appeared out of the silver of its underwing.
It never opened its wings for me – I guess it was far too hot to bask – it was 8.30 am when I arrived and it was already clocking in at 22 degrees!

The Small/Essex Skipper population had exploded on the meadow, far outnumbering the meagre numbers of Large Skipper and the Marbled Whites were more numerous than in previous years too. I think the land management at Binswood has improved – or it could just be the predominantly drier weather has been a benefit – not sure. Not to mention the Meadow Browns although they are always in huge numbers at this location. But only two Red Ads, two Comma, a single Ringlet and no SW Frits or White Ads at Binswood (yet)! One possible Purple Emperor flying in the canopy but it was so fleeting I cannot be certain.

Welcome back Ernie. Glad to hear you are OK, I was wondering.

Cheers,

Neil.

Love the 'triple' shot Ernie It's great the way they all lined up so nicely for the photo I've always thought that there was something of the Bard in your prose
UFW = Unidentified Flying White

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel