www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Aha, Jack you ole smoothy - excellent work
And Happy Birthday Susie. I'll be doing Wisley myself in a couple of weeks time.
Neil

Thanks, Pete and Kipper.

And bless you, Jack. You've not had your eye operation yet, have you? x

Hi Susie,
Now we've buttered you up (I've always thought this a peculiar expression), please can you send me a high resolution copy of your SWF bilateral gynandromorph (as in July 7 post) for our 2010 Annual Report - to be fully credited and printed in glorious technicolour of course
Thanks, Neil

Susie asked:

You've not had your eye operation yet, have you?

Yes I have. It's working a treat but still needs to stabilise for a few weeks before I can get a new prescription.

I can see in 3D for the first time in ages. I hope this will mean greater success next season when someone points out a butterfly. Hairstreaks gave me the most trouble last year. Do you think I could see that Purple feeding on bramble? And those White letters in Bedford Purlieus. Neil will recall how much I struggled to see the Brown Hairstreaks at Povey Cross that he was pointing to.

Jack

lmao, I can think of many replies to being buttered up but none suitable for a family forum! However, no butter required for a copy of that photograph which will be winging it's way to you as soon as I get on the main computer.

I'm so pleased your operation has been successful, Jack. It would be great, if you visit this part of the world this summer, to meet you after all these years. Good luck with spotting those hairstreaks!

Belated birthday greetings Susie, looks like you had a good day .

Vince

Happy Birthday for yesterday Susie! What a lovely way to spend the day.

Like Neil I'll be going to Wisley too over the next few weeks.

All the best for 2011,

Lee

Many thanks, Vince and Lee. I had a lovely day at Wisley and hope you do too. I hope to pop back there shortly on my own so I can get some decent pics.

Today I went a'hairstreak-huntin'. Spurred on by the challenge of getting the most northerly brown hairstreak egg I got out the map and headed up the A24 to the Sussex border path north of Kingsfold. The first field to the west of the path looked like it would have been very suitable but the blackthorn had been threshed to within an inch of its life. I gave the hedge a look and there was an egg on a lichen covered spur just a centimetre long! Result. I then crossed to the other side of the road and checked along the path as far down as the railway track and despite the habitat looking perfect didn't find a thing. Still, that one egg is another tetrad ticked off

I had a bit of a sort through some of my photos from last year this afternoon. Here's a couple to lighten a dark evening.

lovely shots Susie. i'd have them both up on the wall.

Chris

Thank you. I'm rather pleased with the first one and might even get it printed off, can't believe I missed them in all the other photos I took last year.

Lovely shots Susie and a Happy belated Birthday, now we're back in the sensible world away from high heels in the highlands.

Hi Susie,

I LOVE the chalk hill photo - superb!

Cheers

Lee

Thanks Paul and Lee. I'm really pleased with that photo but now I am on a different computer it appears really over satuated so I am going to have to adjust it. I think my photos are improving. Can't wait to get out there this coming year and practice a bit more!

Springs around the corner. Snowdrops, aconites, primroses, crocus, cyclamen, christmas box, shrubby honeysuckle and single dandelion flower and a knautia flower are blooming in the garden. The pond looks churned up so I think the frogs are back and getting upto mischief.

I've searched a few places for brown hairstreak eggs recently but not found anything. I've also looked along the downs link in Cranleigh but the section I have searched has no mature blackthorn. I'll venture further afield when the weather improves more.

Heading towards Cranleigh, you say? This is an excerpt from BC's Black Hairstreak BAP (1998) so keep your eyes open...things "lost" have a habit of being "found" if enough effort is put in - no disrespect to those who've already looked!!!

"There was also a well-known introduction to a Surrey woodland in 1952, near Cranleigh,
outside the historical range of the species. This survived as a small colony before the wood
was destroyed in 1960. However, the butterfly must have spread because fifteen years later in
1975 a colony was found in a wood 1½ km away from the original release site and soon
spread into adjoining areas to become the largest known colony in the country. A detailed
survey then found 5 colonies in the area but these have subsequently died out as the habitats
have been lost through afforestation, the clearance of overgrown hedges and agricultural
improvement (Thomas & Lewington, 1991; Collins, 1995). Until very recently, a colony
survived on a nearby abandoned railway line but the butterfly has not being seen here for the
last 2 years (G. Jeffcoate, pers. comm.)"

Gibster (currently having luck finding Brown Hairstreak eggs in Surrey - but not a darn whiff of WLH )

I should have separated those two sentences. I have been looking for brown hairstreak eggs, but not in Cranleigh, in Sussex. I've been looking for mature blackthorn in Cranleigh. Fortunately you seemed to understand what I meant, Gibster. The mature blackthorn I've been looking for is so I am able to look for black hairstreak in the summer.

There is also a patch of young elm just adjacent to Sainsbury's carpark on the downs link at Cranleigh. Could be a good place for WLH but I've not seen an adult there and can't get close enough when wearing work clothes to search for eggs.

I had a good view of waxwings which were eating berries on trees just outside the office window on Thursday afternoon. Made my day.

Talking of birds, I stopped off to watch the deer at the deer park this afternoon and right in the middle of the herd was a buzzard, sitting on the ground and being stared out by a crow. When the buzzard finally took off the crows mobbed it mercilessly.

Susie wrote: The mature blackthorn I've been looking for is so I am able to look for black hairstreak in the summer.

Hmmm...I think my girlfriend was hoping to be the one to refind Black Hairstreaks in Surrey this year. Could this be a Declaration of War? The Sussex Lady vs the Surrey Lass? To be fair, we've a rather hectic summer planned, so you'll probably have the blackthorn to yourself. The eggs are probably easiest to locate right about now though...

Susie wrote:Could be a good place for WLH but I've not seen an adult there and can't get close enough when wearing work clothes to search for eggs.

Not an astronaut are you? Or one of those folk who wear big floppy Disney character outfits in theme parks?

I read the eggs are really hard to see, even if you're an expert, and one of them I ain't! I think you're good lady stands a far better chance than I of taking the title.

No, I'm a burlesque dancer. Those brambles play havoc with my fishnets and feathers get in a most terrible state.