www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hmm, I thought you were one of these people, I seem to remember reading about you working there over Christmas or thereabouts !
Well done to all those involved in anyway!

Yes that's right, Katrina. But it was a very minor role.
Doug and myself acted as Neil Hulme's skivvies, dragging the trees and saplings he felled to a bonfire.

A fantastic find there Trevor and a very positive omen for the future Now if only someone could sort out Bentley Wood...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

This weekend I had the opportunity to re-visit the Wall Browns in St. Peters church yard,
Great Cheverell, Wiltshire.
On Friday afternoon only two were seen, which set me thinking that numbers were on the decline.
Saturday dawned fine and sunny, with some high cloud and humidity. So an early morning visit was thought
worthwhile. It very soon became clear that numbers of Wall Browns were about the same as a few weeks ago.
Amazingly, quite a few more fresh males were seen as well as some showing some wear.
Despite a thorough seach, again, no females were found.
As September beckons are these fresh Wall's still from the second brood ?.

A fluke shot from Saturday.

I thought the only Speckled Wood that I tried to photograph, had escaped.
But it would seem that my camera caught it in the earliest stages of escape.

Great shots of the Walls Trevor, sorry I didn't get to make a visit while you were away as I was too Heading over there tomorrow so I'll pop in to see if you can come out to play

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely shots of the Wall's Trevor, I looked for some Wall's in the Southport Dunes yesterday but no luck, not much about at all there.Goldie

This morning I thought I would try to find the celebrity Queen of Spain Fritillaries at Piddinghoe.
After yesterday's QoS festival at the site, I thought today would be much quieter.
How wrong I was !, on arrival at about 09.45 about twelve hopefuls were already on site.

When Neil Hulme arrived the first and only Queen of Spain appeared at the same time ( how does he do it! ).
But no one present could have wished for a better behaved Butterfly, which posed for upto about 1 min.
on each landing and frequently flew to new local spots to pose.
There was no need for a photographers huddle either, everyone obtaining some decent shots.

It was good to see so many familiar faces, including Neil Hulme, Dave Cook, Mr Spock and Bugboy, some I only
recognised by face.

Finally I would like to thank the farmer Mr. Appleton who allowed the whole thing to happen.

Trevor

Great pics of possibly the most well behaved butterfly I've ever seen! A second one did actually turn up later but was swifty seen off by this this one. Still going through my load of pics...

Cracking set of shots of the QoS, glad for you that you could make the trip Still no female Wall Browns near The Bell

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Many thanks Buggy & Wurzel.

I'm pleased you managed to find the Wall Browns in the church grounds, Wurzel.
Hope you have some shots of them to post.

It seems that we all obtained some great shots of the Queen of Spain, Paul.

I'm glad you got your quarry, Trevor. One is all it takes!

Yes, Mr Hulme does seem to have a 'knack' of making white rabbits appear....most of his lifetime spent in the field whilst we mortals were elsewhere engaged is the very simple explanation for this phenomenon.

Many thanks David, seeing Q.o.S. in this country is quite surreal, and a real treat.

As the visit of the Queen of Spain Fritillaries, here in East Sussex, is the hot topic at the moment,
I thought now might be a good time to post images of those we found in the French Pyrenees.
Unlike our visitors, some were found high on mountain above cloud level.

Trevor.

Great images Trevor The second one in particular shows something I'd not appreciated before - the regularity of the spotting pattern on the hind wing

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Having had success recently with the Wiltshire Wall Browns, I thought I would take a trip
to High and Over to see how they were faring there.
I had only just arrived at ' the steps ' when I met our own Badger Bob. Together we saw
four Walls, one of which must have been a female, although we never actually saw her,
a male did, and he towed her to several hard to get to places before disappearing over
the edge of the hill by the White Horse, complete with his new wife.
Of the other Walls, there was a faded second brood male which was otherwise in good condition,
and a fairly fresh male, possibly third brood.

This afternoon I found a fresh Small Copper in my garden, never seen one at home before.

Trevor.

Glad there are some female Wall Browns somewhere Great set of shots as per usual Trevor especially your garden Copper

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, I was pleased with the Small Copper.
( A ) It was nice and fresh, and ( B ) very convenient !.

That was unusual Trevor finding a SC in your garden, they don't seem to fancy gardens too much I bet you enjoyed finding it Goldie

The fresh Wall Brown I'm pretty sure is 3rd brood looking at the image Trevor. A couple of tiny nicks out of it so it probably emerged on Monday or Tuesday. I can't imagine one entering the World on Wednesday in all the rain!! It is the first fresh one I've seen for around 2 weeks. With the 2nd brood being 10 days earlier than last year, and the 1st 3rd brood appearing on 13th September last year it was sometime this week when I was expecting to see them. With the weather still warm I wouldn't be surprised if it is quite a large 3rd brood this year in many areas. (Famous last words)!!

I spent some of this morning at BC's Rowland Wood, hoping for a Clouded Yellow or two.
This was not to be, but I did find another Small Pearl, and this one was in very good condition,
and very quick !.
I also came away with a very pleasing image of a Large White. The Butterfly was facing the sun
with wings closed, I was looking at it from the side, the result was some sun and shadow
which picked out the intricate wing structure. Best of all this Large White was pristine, and
a particularly large specimen.
None of the Whites seen today were particularly flighty, despite the strong sunshine.

Trevor.