Neil Freeman

[trevor]

HI Neil,
Lovely Orange Tip shots, all of them. As for the Holly Blues ,

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Trevor, glad you liked them

Monday 4th May - May Day Bank Holiday

With today (Monday) looking to be the best day weather wise of the Bank Holiday weekend and with Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Green Hairstreaks being reported from Warwickshire, I figured that a little run down the M40 to Bishops Hill was in order. It is possible to find all three of these species at this site but going on past experience I reckoned that I was most likely to see Dingy Skippers with a fair chance of a Grizzled Skipper or two. Green Hairstreaks can be a bit hit and miss at this site, I have seen the odd one or two here before but have also been here and not seen any, but hey ho…you never know.

With some early cloud clearing and the temperature reading 14 degrees in my car, I arrived just before 11.00 and started a slow circle around the area. Within minutes a bit of silvery movement caught my eye and I was surprised to see it turn into a nice fresh male Small Blue. This is usually a good site for these but I had not yet seen any reported from Warwickshire so I was not expecting to see any here yet, especially not that one would be the first butterfly that I would see here today. I just managed the one quick photo before it took off again and I lost sight of him,

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

During the couple of hours or so that I spent here I saw a couple more Small Blues so they have obviously just started to emerge here. If they do as well this year as they have for the past couple of years then numbers should build nicely over the next few weeks.

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

As mentioned above I thought that I was most likely to see Dingy Skippers here and sure enough it was not long before I started to see some, with maybe a dozen or so seen in total during the time I was here. These really are an attractive little butterfly when nice and fresh and before they have faded and taken on that look that gives them their name,

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Before long I was also pleased to see my first 2015 Green Hairstreak, especially so as it perched fairly low down on a hawthorn so that I could get a few photos,

Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Walking further up the hill I saw a number of Dingy Skippers and was watching what at first I thought was one of these chasing another when they flew past me and I got a flash of green from the one being chased. As they separated I watched where this one settled down in the grass and sneaking up, it proved to be another Green Hairstreak,

Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

I later saw another couple of male GHS ‘scrapping’ higher up above another hawthorn but these stayed well out of reach.

With three ‘first for year’ sightings I was already well chuffed when a little grey ‘blur’ flew in front of me and on settling resolved itself into a Grizzled Skipper,

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

It took off again and I thought that I had lost sight of it when it returned and settled again just a few feet away from me,

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 04.05.2015

This turned out to be the only Grizzled Skipper that I saw here today. Other butterflies seen were a few each of Orange-tip, Brimstone, all three common whites and Holly blue, I am not sure of exact numbers of these as I never know if they are the same ones repeating a circuit. There was also a Peacock holding a territory at the bottom of the hill.

After a couple of hours here and with all three targets seen plus the unexpected Small Blues I still had a bit of time to spare so figured I would move on to Harbury which is just a five minute drive…

Bye for now,

Neil.

[nomad]

That's an early Small Blue, great find.

[Goldie M]

Neil, I'm so jealous of your Skippers I've yet to see one , lovely photos of the Hair Streaks as well Goldie

[David M]

Lovely shots, Neil. I'm a bit envious at your Dingies given I saw none on the same date 100 miles further south!!

[Wurzel]

Cracking Small Blues Neil - looking forward to Harbury

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks all for the great comment, very much appreciated as always

Having read Pete's comments about posting photos of habitat in this post
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=8269
it reminded me that I took a couple of such shots at Bishops Hill but forgot to put them in the previous post so to start with here they are.

The first photo shows where Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and Small Blues can be found, usually anywhere in this view and all across the slope. The Green Hairstreaks were seen in the shrub line that goes up to the left of the photo.

Bishops Hill Warwickshire.

The next view is the same area but looking down the Hill showing part of a nice display of cowslips,

Bishops Hill Warwickshire.

Around 2.00pm I left Bishops Hill and moved on to Harbury Spoilbank which is only a couple of miles away. This is another reliable site for Dingy and Grizzled Skippers and I made my way to a sheltered spot where I usually first see them both here. Sure enough, within minutes I saw a Grizzled Skipper, in almost the exact same spot that I have first found one in the past two years.

Grizzled Skipper - Harbury 04.05.2015

A little later I saw what at first I thought was a second Grizzly as it was seen in a different spot a few hundred yards away from the first but comparing record shots afterward I now think that it was the same individual as the first one. This shows how much these little butterflies can move about in an area and gives a good example of why I am often wary of stating exact numbers seen.

This photo taken in second spot.

I also saw a few Dingy Skippers here but only managed a couple of photos of one individual as they were tending to settle in awkward positions, probably because by now it was getting cloudier and a breeze was blowing up.

Dingy Skipper - Harbury 04.05.2015

Dingy Skipper - Harbury 04.05.2015

Other species seen were Orange-tip, Brimstone, Large and Green-veined White, Holly Blue and Peacock.

One particular highlight here however was watching a female Brimstone as she fluttered around a small (3 foot high) Buckthorn and proceeded to settle a few times and lay eggs. I managed to take a series of photos as she did this, some of which quite clearly show the newly laid eggs,

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

Brimstone female - Harbury 04.05.2014

After spending nearly an hour here the clouds were getting thicker and the breeze was feeling cooler so I decided to call it a day and head for home.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[millerd]

Splendid photos from both those locations, Neil. Lovely butterflies. One day I shall drop into one or both as I pass right between the two spots every now and again.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Lovely photos Neil, particularly the Brimstones I love the light on them showing their different shades of yellow Goldie

[Wurzel]

Lovely Brimstones Neil I love the way that the white shows through against the light lime

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Nice images of the much ignored female Brimstone, Neil.

I still can't decide how I'd describe its colour to the uninitiated.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Dave, Goldie, Wurzel and David for the comments. Glad you all like them

Friday 8th May.

It has been back to cloudy and wet this week with some pretty strong winds and even a couple of short sharp hailstorms on Tuesday. After some more heavy rain, It did brighten up for a bit late yesterday afternoon and almost immediately there were some butterflies in the garden with a Holly blue and Green-veined White being spotted through the kitchen window. I have commented before on how I find it amazing how quickly butterflies will appear at this time of year given a brief window of opportunity on what can otherwise be some pretty horrible days weather wise

I grabbed the camera and popped out for a bit but the only thing that was staying around was one of the resident Specklies,

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 07.05.2015

Bye for now,

Neil

[Neil Freeman]

Saturday 9th May

Another dull and cloudy day for the most part but there were some very brief spells of sun from midday and it felt a little warmer than of late. I decided to spend most of the afternoon in the garden tidying up some bits that had become a bit overgrown and as usual had my camera to hand in case anything showed up.
The first visitor was a Holly Blue...and then a second...and then a third, until all three of them were spiralling and chasing each other around the garden. They disappeared next door but seconds later one of them flew back and settled

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 09.05.2015

At least two different male Green-veined Whites were fluttering in and out of the garden during the afternoon during the brief times when the sun popped out,

Green-veined White - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Green-veined White - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Green-veined White - Coverdale 09.05.2015

As usual, there were also a couple of male Speckled Wood at each end of the garden plus at least one female that came passing through.

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 09.05.2015

At one point I saw one of the male Specklies chase after a female who promptly dropped down and 'played dead' as they will often do when they are not interested,

Speckle Wood pair - Coverdale 09.05.2015

Just the three species this afternoon but enough for a few pleasant interludes on an otherwise grey day

Bye for now ,

Neil

[Maximus]

Hi Neil, great reports and lovely photos in your recent posts especially those beautiful Small Blues

Mike

[Goldie M]

Hi! Neil, lovely photos of all the Butterflies, I've got all sorts of flowers in the garden but the Butterflies have been very few and far between here, it's the wind that's so cold, hope fully tomorrow they've forecast warmer weather and less wind so there's a chance I'll see some thing else, I'm off (hope fully) to Warton Craig PBF have been seen there (fingers crossed) Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Mike, thanks for the great comments

Thanks goldie, the weather has not been much cop around here lately either. Good luck with the PBFs at Warton Crag, it looks like it may be warming up a bit from tomorrow.

Sunday 10th May

With a dull grey overcast again for most of the day it was another one spent around the house catching up on various jobs. There were a few very short spells when the sun tried to come out but they only lasted for seconds before it went in again. Nevertheless there were a couple of Green-veined Whites lurking about and noticing that one had settled I decided to try the different metering settings on my FZ200.
Not really being technically minded about cameras I have never altered these settings before, on my FZ150 I used to keep the setting on 'pattern', but I had noticed that whilst getting used to the FZ200 I had at some point altered it to 'centre weighted average'.
I was interested in seeing what difference it would make and seeing that the Green-veined White was likely to stay where it was for a bit I went down and took a series of photos, altering the metering settings every couple of shots.
The results are below, taken in cloudy conditions, one photo on each setting with all taken at -2/3 exposure compensation (my usual setting for whites). All are jpeg and are uncropped as the camera took them, just re-sized to 1024 x 768 from 4000 x 3000 originals to post on here

Pattern metering

Centre weighted average

Spot metering

It was only a quick experiment but I was interested in how much darker the results of the spot metering were compared to the other two. Given that it was a dull day it would be interesting to repeat this on a sunny day, but then again I don't suppose anything would stay still long enough for me to alter the settings and get a similar series of shots.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Willrow]

Excellent images to add to your recent posts Neil, very comprehensive and interesting, your 'butterflying year' is shaping up very nicely

Kindest Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Pauline]

I've been meaning to comment for ages Neil, so apologies. Great shots you're getting right back to the Small Blues which are great (I always find them so difficult) right through to the lovely Green Hairstreak and the other Skippers. I shall pm you a little later.

[Goldie M]

Hi! Neil, I switched to centre Weighted just to see what it was like when I went to Gait Barrow yesterday it was sunny and I didn't see Whites there but I took some more Duke photos witch I've put in my diary, seems we have to keep practising for results that suite us, it's certainly interesting and fun, I must say I think your whites look good now Goldie

[Pete Eeles]

At one point I saw one of the male Specklies chase after a female who promptly dropped down and 'played dead' as they will often do when they are not interested

That is one of the best behavioural shots I've seen this year! Thanks for uploading it to the Species-specific Albums!

Cheers,

- Pete