www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I settled down last night to watch the programme on hand-rearing tigers thinking I would probably do an awful lot better with them than I have managed with the butterflies. I had breathed a sigh of relief when my last butterfly emerged. However, I have to admit that I have not confessed to all of my mistakes. My porch has a very large wooden door made of 400 year old Oak, as is the floor. It is a cold and drafty area and was the first place I moved the cats after Pete's warning they were developing too fast. The old oak has cracks and knots and allows entry to a range of creatures including slugs, earwigs, wood lice etc. (I even had a bat managed to get in there!) It was here I accidentally lost a caterpillar and despite an hour searching every nook and cranny I could not find it. I resigned myself that it had found some hole to pupate in and would probably be predated. Just in case it managed to survive I kept an eye open for a butterfly not wanting it to emerge and get trapped. So, I was watching the programme when I realised a butterfly was flying around the light in the living room. I quickly caught it up and removed it to the outside cage before releasing it this morning:

If only these would flutter round my light-bulbs Beautiful photos of a beautiful insect.

Mike

Some lovely pictures …..

Thank you very much to both Mikes - your compliments are very much appreciated.

I am aware that this is a fairly new page in my diary so I very much hope that those folk who kindly took the time to comment on my previous set of images picked up my messages of thanks and appreciation.

On the topic of previous images, I wonder if anyone can confirm whether the spider that killed the White Admiral in my last post is a crab spider? Is this a particularly lethal type of spider as I noticed that in one of the other shots there is a different type of spider which didn't seem so intent on killing the second butterfly??

This afternoon I found some time for a repeat visit to Cosham. There were still only about 6 males flying about high in the canopy but a little further along the track I was lucky enough to see a pristine female nectaring on privet. I am not quite sure why I am posting these images as I am very unhappy with all of them. The result looks flat and dull and not properly in focus I suppose they serve to illustrate the difficulties I still experience in such situations. She didn't make it easy for me either, twisting and turning, quite high up, and quite some distance away so not one photo shows off the beautiful colours or captures that amazing sheen. Consequently, the shots were taken at full zoom, using the screen rather than the viewfinder and with my arms outstretched (very shaky position!). The sun was very bright, bleaching the sky and the white flowers but adjusting the exposure compensation to highlight the butterfly just accentuated this effect. Is there a way to address this stark contrast of colours? Spot metering has been mentioned to me in the past as a way of ensuring that the butterfly is properly exposed but if I understand it correctly the sky will still be bleached? Anyway, looks like a third visit is on the cards at some point
As I was leaving the site a very fresh Ringlet flew past me and out into the road straight into the path of a van which knocked it into the gutter. I managed to snatch it up before a lorry thundered over it but although it was still alive and made some sign of recovery before I left, I fear its future is bleak

Pauline wrote:Is there a way to address this stark contrast of colours?

One approach is to use the 'auto bracket' function on your FZ38. You can set this to take three exposures in quick succession: under, normal, and over-exposed. You can set how great the steps are: 1 stop is usually sufficient. If you are really clever ( ), you can replace the bleached sky from an over-exposed shot with a better sky from one of the others. I explain how to do this, using Photoshop, on my website at http://home.btconnect.com/mike.flemming/layers2.htm

My FZ200 has a function (HDR mode) that will automatically combine the three exposures to produce a well-balanced result (sometimes!). It's actually best for reducing over-exposed highlights.

If you get a DSLR (hint) and shoot in RAW mode,then there is usually enough spare dynamic range in the RAW image for you to correct dark areas without them going too 'blotchy'.

Mike

ps you could also try fill-in flash, which can work well in these situations.

Hi Pauline, the spider with the WA is definitely a crab spider, I saw a very similar one with a Pearl-bordered Fritillary in its jaws at the Wyre Forest last year. I believe you are right about once the victim has been bitten it is finished, spiders inject venom when they bite so even if you had 'rescued' the WA all you would have achieved would be to deprive the spider of its meal, the WA would still have died.

I have recently been using fill in flash whenever I take a photo of a butterfly from its shaded side, especially against bright backgrounds, like Mike says, it can give good results.

All the best,

Neil.

I'm glad that you did post the images Pauline as the second on in particular is brill - you captured something of the spirit of the butterfly I'm also glad as I don't think I'll have time to "go for Whitters" myself this year as Large Blues are calling me

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I appreciate those suggestions Mike and your very clear advice (your 'hint' made me chuckle - I am sure it will happen at some point ). I shall read up on that in the manual and give it a try.

Thank you too Neil. I am not sure what fill-in flash is . Is that just the ordinary flash on the camera or does it involve carrying more kit around?

You're very kind Wurzel - I agree with you that no. 2 is the best of a bad bunch as it goes a little way to showing the behaviour and colours, but hey, surely I can do better than that - or maybe not Good Luck with the Large Blue Wurzel

Whilst I was checking out the WLH I saw the most gorgeous female Marbled White. She had the most beautiful markings on her underside which sadly I was unable to get on camera:
A lovely fresh Comma was a delight to see:
....and just to catch up on my 'firsts' a Small Heath which I saw 'a long time ago' - or so it seems!
My final 'first' was a Meadow Brown hunkered down in the grass at 6.00pm one evening when I was looking at SS Blue but I am not about to post another rubbish shot just yet

Fill-in flash just uses the normal pop-up flash on the camera. Simply set the flash so that it always fires, even if it's bright and sunny. Some people have suggested that flash is, in fact, most useful in bright sunshine, since it reduces contrast and puts some light into the shadows. It can be very good for portraits in sunshine. Don't get too close though, or the flash may be over-strong.

Glad to see you've included a Small Heath - I think they are attractive, feisty little butterflies.

Mike

Thank you again, Mike. Still so much to learn and so many things to try out. Today I missed another butterfly shot purely and simply because the camera can't respond quickly enough. By the time I'd switched it on, adjusted the exposure compensation and zoomed in the butterfly was gone

I'm trying hard to keep up with my 'firsts' as I don't like to get behind with my posts but it is not easy with everything emerging so quickly - and today I saw my first Small Skipper bringing my total to 35 species so far (not including the 3 hand-reared species).
Is it an indication that the butterfly has just emerged when these droplets of fluid are produced? I have to ask this but what is it and why do they do it?
A couple of Large Skippers by way of comparison:

Cracking Small Skipper Pauline , I reckon that you're right about that milky fluid being indicative of it being newly emerged - it's called merconium I think I saw a report of a Gatekeeper in Wiltshire today so things are really flying onwards now.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely shots of the Small Skipper Pauline, ( no sign of them here yet) also the Marbled White, I love that butterfly, it always seems to pose for pictures I hope to see some when we come on Hol's , keep the pic's coming Goldie

Just catching up with your lovely reports and images Pauline, wonderful stuff

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

Thank you so much for your lovely comments Goldie/Bill, they are greatly appreciated.

I now know that meconium is 'a metabolic waste product from the pupal stage and can vary in colour depending on species' so thanks for that Wurzel. Thank you also for the map and directions

Having missed out on a couple of days at Norfolk I managed to get out for a (whole) day to Lulworth yesterday to see the Lulworth Skippers. I had seen them before at Durlston but have never been to Lulworth Cove so that's where I was heading at 6.00am yesterday. It was already very warm when I arrived with many butterflies on the wing and the lack of people did not prepare me for the later crowds . The scenery was stunning and I took almost as many shots of the view as I did of the butterflies.

The view of Lulworth Cove from just above the car park:
Higher up on the grassy slopes:
Wurzel had kindly provided me with some information about places where Lulworth Skippers could be found so I made my way out of the car park and headed up the grassy slopes. I had wanted to visit Durdle Door, a natural limestone arch along this Jurassic coastline so I followed the path along the coastline, keeping an eye out for the butterflies as I made my way up the steep slopes. Some of the magnificent views along the way:
It was well worthwhile making the effort to see more of this Jurassic coastline:
So, this is where the Lulworth Skippers live. They were in various states of wear as I had expected. The males, in particular, were quite worn but others, especially the females, were remarkably fresh.
In addition to the heat keeping the butterflies active, the sea breeze when they did perch made a sharp image difficult to obtain, especially when holding the camera with one hand whilst being positioned precariously up a steep slope and holding on with the other hand .

Another female I believe:
A very worn specimen but quite charming none-the-less:
These little butterflies seemed to be everywhere and I had a thoroughly enjoyable few hours watching them - instead of having to watch the clock as usual:
By now the place was teeming with tourists both British and Foreign and I was quite astonished at how much interest my activities generated. I did not venture far from the main path initially and there must have been in excess of 30 folk asked what I was doing and why. I began to think I should have prepared leaflets to hand out Folk who had previously walked past this butterfly suddenly became incredibly interested when there was a camera being pointed at it and many couldn't understand why it was taking me so long. One couple shouted up at me (I had moved further up the slope at this point for some peace) ' you have been doing that for 2 hours - could you tell us what you are doing? I was obviously being monitored closely as another (foreign) couple approached and said 'we have seen you taking photos of butterflies for about 4 hours - is it anything special?'. They seemed very interested and to be fair they probably thought it was a bit odd. Mind, I found it odd to watch tourists taking video of the stream by the Mill Pond and the ice-cream parlour!!!

I decided to go for a bite to eat and on the way spotted a DGF nectaring in a garden. I couldn't resist a photo even though it was taken at quite a distance:
On my return I watched several of the worn male Lulworth Skippers trying their luck with females that had clearly already been mated and were intent on making this apparent to their suitors:
The best my camera could achieve:
There were butterflies all over the area but probably the most common was the Large Skipper, most of which seemed really fresh, the females appearing almost totally gold in the overhead sun - beautiful.
I did stumble across a mating pair of Large Skippers but it was at this point that my battery ran out By the time I got to the car for my spare and returned I only had time for one shot before they separated:
However, females were egg-laying all over the slopes.
It was difficult to get a shot of the butterfly depositing the egg as it all happened very quickly but it was remarkably easy to spot the eggs. After finding half a dozen I gave up looking:
Anyway, back to Lulworth Skippers which were my main target:
(a fresh male I believe)
I don't usually take too many shots of worn butterflies but these seemed to have a charm and elegance that was irresistible, or perhaps I just wanted to portray the scene as it really was, or perhaps the unrelenting sun had gone to my head ...

- it is difficult to confuse these butts with either Large Skipper (which is much bigger) or Small Skipper (which was bright orange with no sunburst pattern). The Lulworth Skipper seemed much smaller than either of these and had an almost olive gold colouration. Small Skipper below:
There were an amazing number of other species which didn't get the attention they deserved, including worn and fresh Brown Argus, various Blues, DGF - I had almost expected to see a Clouded Yellow, but no.
Not sure what this pupa is which I spotted as I was leaving. These are just a small selection of the several hundred photos I took during the course of the day and together with the memories will provide a reminder of a fantastic day out.

Great report and photos from Lulworth Pauline, one of my favourite places I have been there the past couple of years whilst on family breaks in early September, I usually go on to Bindon Hill above the cove itself, far fewer people up there. The Lulworth Skippers are usually finished by then at Lulworth Cove but still on the wing at Durlston.

We are going to be in Weymouth next week for family hols with my daughter and grandson, will almost certainly find time to get to Lulworth

Your cocoon is a Burnet Moth , can't tell which species though.

All the best,

Neil.

Yes, Lulworth Cove has to be one of the most serene yet spectacular locations in the British Isles - the fact that it has a rare species of butterfly named after it only makes things better!!

Excellent, comprehensive array of images, Pauline. Thanks for sharing.

Glad you got the Lulworths Pauline - I beat you to site but you beat me to the post Fantastic shots of my favourite butterfly in one of my all time favourite places. Love the shot of Durdle Door which is my number one place ever the only problem is it made me feel homesick.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you for your kind words Wurzel and the directions. It certainly is a spectacular location and if you grew up around here then you were a very lucky lad indeed

I appreciate the ID Neil and I'm glad you liked my post. Wurzel actually suggested Bindon Hill also but tbh, by the time I'd been to Durdle Door and climbed a few of those slopes in that scorching heat I was cream crackered I'm sure you'll have a great time there next week - looking forward to your posts.

Thank you for the compliment David and your comment is spot-on. I could have posted several dozen more shots of the magnificent scenery and the butterflies but folk would probably have nodded off by the time I'd finished

Late yesterday afternoon I stopped by a local site and within minutes had seen my second Purple Emperor of the season. Despite thundery clouds he was flying between overhead cables and a Sweet chestnut tree. My first sighting had been at Chiddingfold Forest last week, a disappointing visit despite the PE seen at the Triangle, not least because the butterflies were few and far between and for various reasons I missed photo opportunities. My early arrival was greeted by a White Admiral which I took as a good sign but despite the warm weather he was the only one I saw. This held true for a number of species including Silver Washed Fritillary, Small Skipper and Wood White. My camera refused to respond for some reason and despite searching for the latter for at least an hour I never saw him again. I covered a large area ranging from Oaken Wood, Tugley Wood and Botany Bay. I was able to positively identify 2 DGF at Oaken Wood and Tugley Wood, but again no photos. I left feeling quite frustrated as this venue usually has a lot to offer, the few shots I took can be seen below:

Great Lulworths Pauline, but that Crab Spider and White Admiral is something else - superb

The 'Jurassic Coast' is fabulous, isn't it I enjoyed your collection of Lulworth Skippers. In my experience, the males are always darker than the females - they seem to like an olive drab 'military' look! Perhaps it makes them feel more at home on the firing ranges, East of Lulworth.

Mike