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Ian Pratt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:01 am Is this a small or Essex skipper, please?

Hi, Ian.

My guess is that this is an Essex Skipper: it is a male butterfly by the shape of its abdomen, and the sex brand on the forewings is very faint and what you can see looks parallel to the forewing edge rather than angled inwards (as in Small Skippers). Though you can't see the underside of the antennae for a definitive answer, there doesn't seem to be any hint of anything other than black there.

Happy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

Dave

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:09 amHappy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

No need for any correction this time, Dave.

100% Essex.

Allan.W. wrote: ↑Sun Jun 26, 2022 8:58 pm Thanks for that Zig-Zag ! it made my day ....................a fitting end to our first weeks holiday .........Well pleased ! Your moth is a Box tree moth ,dark form . We visited Old Lodge .....Brilliant reserve ,a bit early for some hoped for Dragonflies but did see all 3 variations of female Small Red
Damselfly + a Raft Spider ,Redstarts and Tree Pipit..................Will definately be going back !
Regards Allan.W.

Cheers as always for the ID Allan. I've seen photos of the standard Box Tree but didn't realise there was a dark form. My formal manicured topiary (just out of sight in any other snaps from my garden) may be in danger

Old Lodge is a fantastic place. I hope you saw the Konik ponies too.

I have bumped into a number of UKB’ers on my travels and especially in Emperor season and they will also have encountered Flossie the ‘Emperor dog’
She is my constant companion at this time of the year and can’t wait to get into the woods to see what we can find. She is very aware of the protocols necessary when emperoring and will dutifully sit when we encounter a subject, although the look of resignation on her face as I make her wait whilst I take a few photographs is always a delight. She has even had one land on her back, though I am not sure she was completely impressed!
Today we went to Alice Holt Forest, where unfortunately Flossie sustained an Adder bite last year and was seriously poorly. Consequently she is a little more circumspect these days but we were lucky enough to find a number of grounded Emperors and she ‘stood guard’ while I snapped away.
One I am sure Guy will appreciate.
Kind Regards
Mark

Good to see you again today Mark but even nicer to see Flossie - she never fails to impress me - Oh, and the photos aren't too bad either

A Summer Generation of Whites are Coming

A Green-veined White, (being of a similar size to a Small White), was thought to life cycle, at about the same speed as a Small White. Sorry, no matching pairs for me, today!
We left these two undisturbed, not posing them for a clearer photo, so might I get a BC point?

Kind Regards,

David M wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 4:15 pm

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:09 amHappy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

No need for any correction this time, Dave.

100% Essex.

Thank you.

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:09 am

Ian Pratt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:01 am Is this a small or Essex skipper, please?

Hi, Ian.

My guess is that this is an Essex Skipper: it is a male butterfly by the shape of its abdomen, and the sex brand on the forewings is very faint and what you can see looks parallel to the forewing edge rather than angled inwards (as in Small Skippers). Though you can't see the underside of the antennae for a definitive answer, there doesn't seem to be any hint of anything other than black there.

Happy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

Dave

Thank you.

Decided to go to Bookham yesterday. Forecast showed sunny intervals so was dismayed when I had heavy dark cloud for the whole journey from west London to there & remained stubbornly overcast on arrival.

In the first 30 minutes I'd flushed a single Meadow Brown.

With the lack of sunshine had other wildlife to watch- a female Roe Deer, Buzzard, plenty of Greenfinches 7 Goldfinches on Bayfield Plain & several Nettle Tap on a Hogweed umbel. Bullfinch was heard & away from her a female collecting nest material from the main path.

The sun did eventually show with increasingly sunny intervals. In the end recorded:

c40 Ringlet
2 Speckled Wood
c20 Meadow Brown
2 Large Skipper
5 Small Skipper
2 Red Admiral
10 Comma (2 egg laying on nettles)
9 White Admiral (1 ab. obliterae)
2 Purple Emperor
9 Silver-washed Fritillary
Purple Hairstreak (suspect blustery conditions keeping them down)
Small White
4 Small/Green-veined White

Not many Odonata with male Emperor, immature Southern Hawker, 4 Black-tailed Skimmer, male Beautiful Demoiselle & a single Blue-tailed Damselfly.

Couple of nice longhorn beetles- Rutpela maculata & Stictoleptura scutellata-both on Hogweed.

I am finding that the odonata are very thin on the ground this year. Is that the same experience of others?

millerd wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:09 am

Ian Pratt wrote: ↑Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:01 am Is this a small or Essex skipper, please?

Hi, Ian.

My guess is that this is an Essex Skipper: it is a male butterfly by the shape of its abdomen, and the sex brand on the forewings is very faint and what you can see looks parallel to the forewing edge rather than angled inwards (as in Small Skippers). Though you can't see the underside of the antennae for a definitive answer, there doesn't seem to be any hint of anything other than black there.

Happy to be corrected - I've been wrong a few times on this one!

Dave

Hi, Dave
I have just zoomed in on the image and the tips of the antennae are black. So definitely Essex. Well done.
Cheers, Ade

Mating pair of White Admiral on 24/6/2022, East Sussex.
Details of the event on my blog.


http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

A couple of dark Comma specimens yesterday and today in the Knebworth Woods.

ATB
Peter

That's a splendid ab., Peter.

My first second brood Brown Argus seen locally today (following the recent Holly and Common Blues)......and a second brood Small Copper at Staines Moor. Dave

peterc wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:12 pmA couple of dark Comma specimens yesterday and today in the Knebworth Woods.

That second one's a peach, Peter.

First Chalkhill Blues had emerged at Lydden in Kent yesterday, along with lots of Marbled Whites.

Never seen Chalkhill Blues in June before!

David M wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 8:42 pm

peterc wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 5:12 pmA couple of dark Comma specimens yesterday and today in the Knebworth Woods.

That second one's a peach, Peter.

Thanks, David. I got very lucky with that one.
Peter

essexbuzzard wrote: ↑Wed Jun 29, 2022 10:48 pm First Chalkhill Blues had emerged at Lydden in Kent yesterday, along with lots of Marbled Whites.

This post prompted me to pop down to Denbies Hillside this morning (30th). Despite predominantly overcast skies, Chalkhill Blues (all males) were around in double figures, possibly even higher as new individuals seemed to be emerging all the time. If this is just the start of their season, it could be another bumper year for the species. I noticed a wide variation in size, from not much bigger than a Brown Argus to Ringlet dimensions. Here's a taster. Dave

Hi Dave, I understand half a dozen were seen there (Denbies) on 22 June which seems incredibly early. My local site is an early one and usually produces the goods at the end of June but this year I have so far been too busy to check!