CallumMac

[bugboy]

Hi Callum, for my money that's a Common Blue and the Cloudy looks like a normal female standard issue one to me, sorry

[Goldie M]

Callum, that's fantastic, it deserves three greens I think your CY is the first seen this year and to get all the other BF has well ! What a fantastic time you've had I'm no expert on Clouded Yellow but some one will know. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Great Cloudy and Grayling Callum Looking forward to 'the trip home'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[CallumMac]

sorry

No need to be sorry, bugboy! As I said, I really didn't think that was an Adonis Blue but just wanted a second opinion to be sure, as I've not seen one this year (and probably won't). As for the Clouded Yellow, I was delighted with it just as a Clouded Yellow - my first since 2014, as far as I can recall. It was only when processing the photos that I started to wonder. But then, I often struggle with IDing species when it requires distinguishing between two similar colour shades - I am one of the 8% of male moth-trappers who has to identify Green Carpets and Green Pugs by their patterns alone! (Does that deserve a :mrredgreen: ?)

Thanks Goldie. Not sure I've seen a Cloudy on here yet this year but somebody must have already seen one somewhere?

Thanks Wurzel. Those two were probably my favourites too just because they were not 'in the plan' for the week. I love a surprise bonus!

[CallumMac]

28/06/2018 - Bentley Wood

Given that my route home from Weymouth to Yorkshire could be easily diverted to almost any Purple Emperor site from Salisbury to Peterborough, I was spoilt for choice! I toyed with the idea of heading straight for Fermyn, which I used to visit annually as a teenager (with mixed success at best, not having a reliable source of flight period information like UKB back then!). Instead I plumped for the much-hyped Bentley Wood, reasoning that if I failed there I could still divert to Fermyn later in the day.

I arrived at Bentley at around 9.30. Turning into the car-park there were several butterfliers watching the only empty parking space, which was an interesting conundrum! Once the occupier - a White Admiral - had flown off, I pulled in and, after a brief chat with the folk in the car-park, headed down the main track towards the Crossroads, where a couple of Emperors had apparently been recently spotted.

At this point I must thank Peter Eeles for his excellent guide to Bentley posted on the Bentley Wood thread last week, which meant I knew that PEs were a possibility almost immediately on leaving the car-park. I was fair marching towards the Crossroads but had just enough alertness to spot the large shape on the track before I scared it off. And there he was, my first Emperor in years!

He was wandering in and out of shade at the edge of the track, repeatedly returning to some pretty crusty dog muck to feed, which gave me the chance to take almost every variant of 'grounded PE' photo you can think of! There was a much fresher patch of dog muck about 50 m down the path - who knows why he picked this one instead.

By this point a couple coming up from the car-park, and a pair returning from the Crossroads, had both spotted my excitement and joined me in a little circle around HIM, so I stepped back to give them their chance at a photo and just soaked up the moment. It never gets any less exciting, does it?

I walked on to the Crossroads and turned right, hoping to find White-letter Hairstreak on some wych-elms I'd been directed towards. In the end I "something Hairstreak-ish" lift briefly off the top of one of the elms, and that was it - but on the way there and back, there were lots of nice 'commoners' and also a friendly SWF.

I had a long drive left ahead of me and reasoned that it couldn't get better than the experience I'd already had, so I decided to head for the car. On my way back past the dog muck, there was a Comma proving that there was nothing wrong with the fresh pile the Emperor had turned his nose up at!

An Emperor briefly buzzed me as I neared the car-park - perhaps the same one as earlier. On returning to my car, I learned that another Emperor had actually spent a while settled on my driver's-side wing-mirror whilst I was gone! Some folk there had taken some great photos of it, and I've been keeping an eye out for them both on here and on Twitter - but no joy so far. Still, I now have an excuse to leave it even longer than usual before I next get the car washed...

[Pauline]

Hi Callum - just catching up on a few diaries. Great shots of the PE but my favourites are those lovely images of that beautiful Clouded Yellow Like Goldie, I haven't noted any reports of them this season, not locally anyway. That GVW isn't half bad either!

[jenks]

Hi Callum,

I`ve enjoyed reading the report of your travels and viewing your excellent photos--you`ve certainly had a productive week or so ! I always face a difficult decision when I visit Bentley Wood. Do I stay in or very close to the car park in the hope that PE will fly in, or do I walk off down the switchback, turn left at the crossroad, and head to Donkey Copse. I`ve been successful in seeing HIM in all of those places in past years, it`s a question of luck, being in the right place at the right time. So although you missed out on seeing one land on your car, you still got cracking photos of one on the ground. Well done.
A trip to Bentley Wood for me this coming weekend so hope to see some purple and also UK butterfly contributors.

Jenks.

[Wurzel]

It's great that Bentley Wood paid off - I had a similar experience the very next day - though it'll probably be October before I get round to posting about it Great to see so many different types of shots of His Nibbs

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[CallumMac]

Thanks all for your kind words. Good luck at Bentley this weekend, jenks. Wurzel, sounds like we kept just missing each other - Lulworth, Bentley! Oh well.

29/06/2018 - Thixendale

Oh hoh hoh! I may have been back home in Yorkshire but don't be thinking that means the fun stopped. With only two days left of #30DaysWild I was pretty determined to finish strongly. After work on Friday I decided to divert on my drive home up to Thixendale, one of the lovely dry chalk valleys in the Wolds not far from home. The point of interest here is that it formerly hosted a population of Northern Brown Argus. I say formerly, because since Brown Argus swept up through Yorkshire, it's unlikely that there are any remaining 'pure' NBAs remaining in the county - certainly not in the Wolds. However, studies have suggested that NBAs have hybridised with BAs in their former sites rather than being pushed out, so I reckon seeing an Aricia here counts!

My colleague Andy Suggitt had given me some precise pointers as to where the Arguses might be flying. I parked up, walked all of three metres from the car, and sure enough there was an Argus nectaring on a thistle!

I watched for a while as it moved flower a couple of times.

After losing track of it over a barbed-wire fence, I decided to wander down the road and check out some other possible spots. No luck here, but plenty of other species around, including Marbled White.

I returned to the car and before leaving, was able to relocate my original Aricia for a final snap, now on Bird's-foot Trefoil.

Only one day left of the challenge... where would I go?

[Wurzel]

Interesting to read about the hybridization, so were the NBAs that you saw salmacis?Looking forward to where you're heading next, Mountain Ringlet?

Have a godun

Wurzel

[CallumMac]

Original population would have been salmacis, yes. Nowadays they will have a lot of genes from A. agestis as well. However they are still breeding on Rock-rose, even though most of the local agestis are on Geranium.

MR is a good guess - you know I love a northern butterfly - but actually there was a species rather closer to home that I hadn't seen yet this year... hopefully I'll get the pics up this evening!

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Callum,

Just been catching up on your travels to Devon and Dorset. A great series of reports, I really enjoyed reading them

Cheers,

Neil

[CallumMac]

Thanks Neil!

30/06/2018 - Fen Bog

Large Heath was the one species amongst the Yorkshire specialities which I hadn't caught up with this year, so the decision on what to look for on the last day of #30DaysWild was an easy one! I was conscious that the flight period had been underway for a while, so rather than going for the nearest site (the Humberhead Peatlands NNR), I decided to head northwards, to Fen Bog. This YWT reserve is a little gem, set in a steep-sided river valley cutting through the North York Moors. If you are unsure whether to believe the claims of grouse shooters that their version of moorland management is good for biodiversity, come to Fen Bog and see what a northern moor should really look like!

I didn't even have to leave the car-park before I started seeing fritillaries - both Dark Green and Small Pearl-bordered are in good numbers along the roadside. Everything was a bit too active for photographs, but no matter - there would be plenty of time for that! I walked down into the reserve and soon spotted this Common Lizard sunning himself on a fence beside the track.

There were lots of Common Blues flying, though most were looking a bit tatty!

With Large Heath the objective, I found myself chasing lots of Small Heaths "just in case" - and there were lots to chase!

I struck out across the bog as the track dwindled to a fairly indistinct path. Ahead of me I spotted something flying - Small Heath-ish, but somehow it seemed less orange. I watched it settle, crept up, and sure enough...

I followed it for several minutes as it repeatedly settled deep in vegetation or in dappled shade! Eventually I got lucky as it settled in a nice pose, and let me get quite close.

I lost track of it after this photo, and it turned out to be the only Large Heath I saw. Still, there was plenty else to keep me entertained. I got some nice photos of both fritillary species...

...and both Large and Small Skippers. I still haven't seen an Essex Skipper in Yorkshire, though they have certainly arrived.

Besides the butterflies, there were some nice examples of other insects of heathlands, including this smart Latticed Heath...

...and two rather nice dragonflies: Keeled Skimmer (this is a female), and Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

That's my PD up to date! I walked my UKBMS transect at Strensall Common on Sunday, but didn't take any photos - just too busy scribbling, as it was the largest count (in abundance and species richness) I've ever had on that transect! Then it was a busy week at work, so I haven't really done any butterflying in the meantime; except that my first Yorkshire Brimstone of the new generation fluttered through the garden earlier this afternoon.

[Wurzel]

Another species I've yet to see I really need to do a Northern safari (well they do say it's a it wild opp North ) one year. I didn't know that Large Heath would still be flying

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Sounds like an enjoyable day, Callum. It's always interesting to see Large Heaths from various parts of the country. Yours look a little like mine in Wales.

[Andrew555]

Some lovely sights from your tour Callum, great to see that Clouded Yellow.

[CallumMac]

Thanks Wurzel! Hard to do the whole North justice in just one tour - you might find you want to come back
Thanks David! Depending on which part of Wales you're in they might be the same subspecies - I believe we have polydama here which would be the same as in many parts of N & W Wales.
Thanks Andrew! It was a really nice bonus to my travels, and someone at BC Dorset reckons it's the first report they've had this year.

08/07/2018 - Bempton Cliffs

We drove up to the coast on Sunday, to meet up with a friend of my partner's who recently moved to the area. We initially met at YWT's Filey Dams reserve, but found this to be a bit disappointing - the dragonfly pond being largely overgrown. There were a few nice birds about though, including a flock of Tree Sparrows.

Having exhausted the possibilities here in fairly short order, we voted to move on to the RSPB's centre at Bempton Cliffs. Obviously the main targets here are never going to be butterflies - but it still comes highly recommended!

That being said, there were good numbers of Painted Ladies flying up and down the clifftop paths. Probably the largest count of these that I've had in a single day since moving up north. I managed to get a couple of half-decent photos, although for the most part the butterflies were pretty restless.

I watched this female showing quite considerable in a thistle nearby to a large patch of nettles - though I don't think she ended up laying an egg.

I know that some fritillary species will lay eggs near the hostplant rather than actually on it - does the same go for the vanessids, or was this Lady just a bit jet-lagged after her long journey?

[Wurzel]

I reckon I might have to do a few 'Grand Tours' Callum Cracking shots of the Razorbills, Puffins and Kittiwakes Interesting behaviour, sometimes they seem to do a fair amount of 'ovi-posturing', almost as if they really want to lay but they somehow know that the plant is wrong

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[ernie f]

Liked you Large Heath encounter, Callum - but I am a bird nut too and I particularly like your shot of the pair of Razorbills. The Puffin goes without saying.

Cheers,

[millerd]

Hi Callum - I see you visited Fen Bog a few days before I did - with similar results! What a splendid place with some terrific butterflies. I'm sending you a PM about something I saw up there which you may be able to shed some light on.

Interesting you should mention the Brown Argus situation up on the Wolds - I took some photos of one up at the Wolds Lavender Farm a few years back which I was persuaded was not a NBA (this was in August I think, so I assumed it was a second brood individual and therefore had to be the southern species). It does look from what you say that the border zone is very mixed these days!

Cheers,

Dave