www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Bad luck on your quest for the LT, Buggy - hopefully there's still time for another go...

Dave

I did indeed Pauline, my best Purple Emperor experience to date

Always worth popping in if you're passing Goldie, you never know what you'll find

Indeed there is Millerd, Got to do something in my extended 6 week 'holiday' from work

23rd June, Back to Purple

Well it would be rude not to go back to Bookham after the experience from two days previously. It was another warm day with plenty of activity from the get-go. Skippers and Satyrids skipping and bobbing around, including a rather lost Marbled White, the first I’ve ever seen here. White Admirals again were making the presence felt as were Silver-washed Fritillaries, including my first female of the year. It was whilst walking along the path where the Emperors have been most active this year that something dark caught my eye in the grass at the side. It took a few paces for my brain to process what I’d seen but suddenly all thoughts of Emperors left my mind. I took a few rubbish record shots and then set about seeing what I could do with him, his wings seemed to be fully hardened off but he made no attempt to fly off as I coaxed him onto my finger and moved him to a sunnier spot. Here I spent half an hour with him, making the most of his apparent tameness and getting a good range of shots. The males really are difficult to get the purple sheen. Anyway here’s a tiny selection of the shedload of shots I took. I'll admit I got a bit carried away Since he seemed in no mood to fly away I put him in the undergrowth, hopefully out of sight from hungry birds and moved on, quickly coming across an Emperor engrossed in the usual unpleasantness on the floor. After a few average shots he flew off down a side path and played coy with me for some time before finding another smelly mess. He still toyed with me though, alternating between sitting on low vegetation and licking poo. It was while he was sitting on a higher leaf that I had a brainwave, I kicked the poo into the undergrowth and dampened down the spot with some of my diluted orange squash. It worked a treat, when he next came down he settled quickly and didn’t move, unfortunately so settled that he never attempted to open his wings again and ended up being at the wrong angle to get any decent shots. I was happy with what I’d got so I moved on, but not before pointing him out to some other butterflyers who had so far drawn a blank. I didn’t find any more Emperors today, just loads more White Admiral, Sliver-washed Frits and several fresh Commas. On the return journey I found my Hairstreak was still hanging around, making me thing he wasn’t actually 100% well, surely he should be in the tree tops by now. Anyway I took a load more pictures then moved him onto a leaf where he pottered around for a bit before crawling under. That was a day that turned out pretty damn good by any standard !

What an extraordinarily obliging Purple Hairstreak, Buggy. I wonder why it was so dopey - it certainly looks all in one piece. Beautiful purple, too - the shot on the bramble blossom is particularly good.

Dave

You've excelled yourself there Buggy I've never been to Bookham before - seems like a visit is long overdue!

Love the PHS shots Bugboy, in fact all your shots Goldie

Bugboy

Lovely story and excellent pictures. I think the most memorable pictures come from such a personal hands on experience. Love to have been there which I suppose needs the green heads Not that I think envy is what I feel. Very happy for you

Peter

Thank you all, it was just a case of being in the right place at the right time . Not sure when I'll have such a close encounter of one of those again but the pictures and memories should keep me going for a few seasons!

24th June, the Welsh borders

I'd been pondering whether to take a trip to see the closest Large Heath colony to me for a while. 'Closest’ is a relative term here, it would involve a train to Crewe where I change to either Whitchurch or Prees and from there I had yet to work out. According to Google maps it was an eight-mile hike but Google doesn't show public footpaths so I'm sure there are ways to cut a few miles off that. In the end I plumped for a train to Whitchurch (the larger of the two towns) and from there get a cab rather than struggle with unknown footpaths with the inevitable getting lost for hours.

It was a good plan in theory, unfortunately the day came very close to complete disaster when I arrived at Whitchurch and discovered their taxi companies aren't up to much. Of the 8 or so numbers I had, about half seemed to be old or disconnected, and of the rest only one answered and was fully booked for most of the afternoon.

To get the cheapest train ticket I'd opted for a later train and it was now around 1pm. With my return train at 6 I had 5 hours and two options: wander around locally or walk to Whixhall moss. Obviously, I opted for the latter but it meant I would only have an hour at most at the site instead of the afternoon I'd planned and with the weather a bit touch and go it certainly wasn't guaranteed I'd see anything.

Google took me along the main roads mostly without pavements, not the nicest of walks but the final stretch took me down a country track and here I started seeing butterflies, just Large Skippers and Ringlets but it gave me hope that the Heaths would be active too.

After 2 hours, I finally got to the reserve, but it's a big place and I had limited time, where to go now. I strode down a main path looking for some side paths that would take me to suitable habitat. I didn't exactly find a path but I found what looked like good habitat with patches of cotton grass so I did a bit of tentative off-roading, thanking the dry spring for making the bog not quite as boggy as it could have been.

After 5 minutes of random careful wandering I put up something, looking like a Small Heath in flight but greyer. Target acquired it was now time to get a picture to make sure the day wasn't a complete right off. It proved just as annoying as its smaller relative but persistence paid off and finally I bagged species number 58 in my quest, phew. After that I discovered another corner nearby where several were lurking. There was quite a blustery wind so whenever I disturbed one it was whisked off quite some distance before settling again and this habitat really isn't made for anything other than very careful stepping. Nevertheless I managed to capture two or three more individuals before I had to leave for the long trek home. I could have stayed longer, getting back to the station with nearly an hour to spare in the end but I wanted to give myself enough time just in case I took a wrong turn. I'm not sure if that was my most frustrating tick or most satisfying but it definitely needs a return visit, with a little bit more forward planning next time!

Dedication, Buggy, amazing dedication - and it paid off. Great shots of the Large Heath a just reward. By the way, I find Google Maps next to useless (unless you look at the photos of the landscape - which can give a feel for what somewhere looks like) and always use Streetmap as you get the OS maps complete with rights of way in detail, and you can print them off and take them with you.

Dave

Congratulations Bugboy! And like Dave says, what dedication!

A great couple of trips out, Paul. You deserved success with the Large Heath after all that travelling.
The Purple Hairstreak has given many enthusiasts a thrill this year with their unusual behaviour.
Your male PH is certainly a lovely specimen. Well done.

Trevor.

Well done, Paul.

So what are you going to do after you ticked off all 60 (or is it 59?) species? Write a book about your experiences? Your reports are a pleasure to read and probably encourages a few people to get out a bit more

ATB

Peter

Well done Bugboy, great shots as well, I thought I was doing well getting my 50th last week but you've given me some thing to think about now, ( I thought there was about 56 species) I'm doing a recount Goldie

millerd wrote:Dedication, Buggy, amazing dedication - and it paid off. Great shots of the Large Heath a just reward. By the way, I find Google Maps next to useless (unless you look at the photos of the landscape - which can give a feel for what somewhere looks like) and always use Streetmap as you get the OS maps complete with rights of way in detail, and you can print them off and take them with you.

Dave

Janet Turnbull wrote:Congratulations Bugboy! And like Dave says, what dedication!

Thanks Dave and Janet, I'm not sure dedication is a word some of my non butterflyer friends would use! It's doing things like this that would have got me sectioned 150 years ago I think

trevor wrote:A great couple of trips out, Paul. You deserved success with the Large Heath after all that travelling.
The Purple Hairstreak has given many enthusiasts a thrill this year with their unusual behaviour.
Your male PH is certainly a lovely specimen. Well done.

Trevor.

Thanks Trevor, yes Purple Hairstreaks have had an incredible year. My educated guess is that its a combination of a above average emergence combined with a dry summer meaning there's not enough honeydew to go around. Whatever the reason I'm glad I was able to join in the party

peterc wrote:Well done, Paul.

So what are you going to do after you ticked off all 60 (or is it 59?) species? Write a book about your experiences? Your reports are a pleasure to read and probably encourages a few people to get out a bit more

ATB

Peter

Haha, not sure Peter, with the Large Tortoiseshell there's 60 plus the rare immigrants. I hope my reports have a positive impact on people . You're not the first person to suggest a book but I wouldn't really know where to start

Goldie M wrote:Well done Bugboy, great shots as well, I thought I was doing well getting my 50th last week but you've given me some thing to think about now, ( I thought there was about 56 species) I'm doing a recount Goldie

Thanks Goldie, a total of 50 isn't to be sniffed at (if you add the Large Tortoiseshell there's 60 species to get including the Cryptic Wood White and the 3 regular migrants).

Cracking stuff Bugboy - there must be something this time of year as I don't recall it ever being as good for Purple Hairstreaks as this, plus it comes to something when an Emperor gets short shrift in a posting Congrats on the Large Heath, it looks like DavidM was right about them drawing to a close.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

After that marathon effort, Bugboy, it was only right and proper that your first encounter with this species was a beautifully marked specimen! Well done.

Thanks guys, it's been a rather hectic few weeks for me but I've managed to come up with the goods 99% of the time thankfully. Talking of hectic, here's the next instalment of my 2017 season:

26th June, Scotland… again! (part 1)

I’d booked this trip around the same time as I'd booked my Irish trip, weeks in advance and relying on hope and prayers for good weather. So it was with complete despair that I watched the weekly forecast on Countryfile the night before I flew up, where it seemed that the entire week looked to be a complete washout ! Only that week though, the previous week was fine and it looked like things would clear up by the weekend, just in time for my flight back .

The target species for this trip was the Northern Brown Argus and I had planned to meet up with the regional expert Iain Cowe (IAC) on the east coast border but the way things were looking, that wasn’t going to happen.

I’d booked a late morning flight so as to get a half decent lay in and arrive in Edinburgh in time to have an afternoon wander. With the forecast set to descend into farce as far as butterflying was concerned I was a little relieved to find Monday afternoon cloudy but borderline for some activity so I dropped my stuff off at the hostel and headed straight for Holyrood Park and Arthur's Seat where there is still apparently a small colony of NBA.

My plan of action was to locate some Rock Rose, which is apparently found in two areas around the southern side of the park, and then look around for some roosting Argus. A good plan on paper but like my plan for getting to Whixhall Moss two days previously, not particularly successful. In fact, I only managed to locate one tiny sprig of the stuff and not a sniff of an Argus.

I did flush, to my surprise, my first Grayling of the year though. Just a few record shots since any more than that would have had me falling to certain death down the cliff face! As the afternoon wore on the cloud thickened but it stayed pleasantly warm and Ringlets were relatively common in areas where the grass had been allowed to grow. One in particular caught my eye, my first ab. arete whom I spent some time following. Despite the poor light it was still rather active and put up a good fight against being photographed, I won in the end though! A Red Admiral was also swooping around and the occasional Small Heath fluttered around but very little else was seen.

I finished the stroll in the early evening, being watched carefully by a pair of Pheasants as I took some pictures of some moths. The final target for my camera gave me a fleeting bit of excitement when I caught a glimpse of it roosting. The silvery underside making me think for a second I had inadvertently stumbled across my target. It was now time to explore the culinary delights of Edinburgh and pray for at least one day with no rain!

Hi Bugboy, An amazing effort to see the Large Heath, really glad you succeeded in your quest. Well Done

bugboy wrote:...I’d booked this trip around the same time as I'd booked my Irish trip, weeks in advance and relying on hope and prayers for good weather...

Oh! I know that feeling...all my longer trips are booked well in advance due to having to book the time off work so I am always taking a flyer with the weather as well as flight times that can vary year on year.

Cheers,

Neil.

Incredible determination on your part to find and photograph the Large Heath

You've also had some amazing encounters with all things purple

Neil Freeman wrote:Hi Bugboy, An amazing effort to see the Large Heath, really glad you succeeded in your quest. Well Done

bugboy wrote:...I’d booked this trip around the same time as I'd booked my Irish trip, weeks in advance and relying on hope and prayers for good weather...

Oh! I know that feeling...all my longer trips are booked well in advance due to having to book the time off work so I am always taking a flyer with the weather as well as flight times that can vary year on year.

Cheers,

Neil.

I've had more than my fair share of dodgy weather on pre-booked outings this year, 3 out of 3!

Maximus wrote:Incredible determination on your part to find and photograph the Large Heath

You've also had some amazing encounters with all things purple

Thanks Max, yes determination is a word that could be used...

It's been a good year for purple all round I think


27 - 30th June, Scotland… again! (part 2)

Well after Monday afternoons wander Tuesday came and so did the rain, and more rain and more. It just didn’t stop all day so I got drenched doing touristy stuff. Edinburgh is a nice city, I’m sure it looks wonderful in the sun.

Anyway Wednesday was still looking like a possibility with no rain forecast so Iain and I decided to risk it. I met up with him at Berwick-upon-Tweed where we hopped on a bus back over the border up to Burnmouth. On the train down I had glimpsed a fair amount of blue sky before it went cloudy again but it gave me some hope that I might just get lucky. At Burnmouth it was just a short walk down to the coast and Iain began pointing out some spots where there should be some NBA. It was still cloudy and a little on the cool side so we were having to look for roosting ones. There was certainly no shortage of Rock Rose, unlike at Holyrood Park. The site itself is basically the cliff face looking out across the North Sea, these NBA really must hardy buggers! Anyway at the first spot we found none, despite some mountain goat impressions up the cliff face.

We wandered a bit further along the coast where Iain pointed out some more likely spots so up we went again. The sun was doing its best to come out, fighting heroically with the cloud to the point where we even had faint shadows occasionally and suddenly, right under my nose, there magically appeared species number 59 . And then there were four of them, clustered around a clump of vegetation. One was actually basking in the weak, barely visible sun but fluttered off before I got a snap. The other three were roosting but it was just warm enough for them to respond to our attention and one by one they fluttered off. One, as if to prove Iain is some sort of God among the NBA fraternity, settled on his head . Now we had our eye in we started to find more, some of them deciding it was just warm enough to be active and I got some open wing shots In total we probably found about ten, which given the conditions we decided wasn’t too bad at all! We also managed several eggs, all interestingly laid on the upper side of the leaf in quite sheltered patches of Rock Rose, tucked under or amongst taller vegetation. Also seen were some old first gen Small Blues, a single Grayling, plenty of Ringlet and some moths An unusual Millipede with two longitudinal stripes. Ommatoiulus sabulosus, apparently a common species but I've never seen one before. And a small colony of Razorbill, an avian lifer for me Huge thanks to Iain for his invaluable help, there’s no way I would have seen any without his expert finger pointing the way .

The rest of the week proved as wet as the forecast predicted, in fact the only sun I saw for the entire week was on the train down to Berwick!

Nice one, bugboy but what does that leave you for next year