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Wednesday 21st May 2014 - Out for the count; Small Blues & Marsh Fritillaries...

A glorious day, 19c with hardly a breath of wind, so time to do a Small Blue count at Crymlyn Burrows.

Well, I was a tad disappointed as in an hour and a half I only racked up 33 individuals (last year they peaked at 200+). Quite a few were showing signs of wear and tear, although their fellow lycaenids, Common Blues, were looking lustrous.
However, to counter my disappointment, I saw another White Spotted Sable moth - anania funebris. I saw a handful of these here last year and they're pretty scarce throughout the UK apparently.
Butterfly species/numbers were:

Common Blue 60-80
Small Heath 40-60
Small Blue 33
Green Veined White 20-30
Brown Argus 8-12
Small Copper 6
Dingy Skipper 4
Orange Tip 3 (2 females)
Brimstone 2 (1 female)
Small White 1
Speckled Wood 1

At 3pm I headed out to Welshmoor, on the Gower, to see if Marsh Fritillary numbers were on the rise. They certainly were. 100-130 were sighted in less than an hour and a half, along with 10-15 Green Hairstreaks, 5-10 Green Veined Whites, 2 Small Coppers, and singleton Large White and Small Tortoiseshell.

Almost all seen were males:
One definite female was seen - I just had to look for an individual struggling to fly!! She was the biggest Marsh Frit I've ever seen, almost twice the size of the smaller males:
The great shame is that from tomorrow the weather is set to turn appalling, so I might struggle for an opportunity to go and see if I can find this species near my home on Fairwood Common.

Hi David,

Just catching up on your diary, some great reports and photos in your last few posts

That White Spotted Sable Moth is a little cracker, never seen one myself.

Cheers,

Neil

Tuesday 27th May 2014 - The Chequered Flag (Part 1)....

I was already in Liverpool visiting a relative on Bank Holiday Monday, and given the positive weather forecast for the west coast of Scotland for the following morning I decided to drive through the night (with next to no traffic) and see if I could track down the last mainland British species that had hitherto eluded me.

A couple of hours' kip in a lay by at Ledaig, north of Connel between 2am and 4am provided the boost I needed and by 4.20 I had arrived at Glasdrum Wood. I had another little nap until 5.45am but when I opened my eyes there was no way I could go back to sleep - the scene was one of rare beauty and serene tranquility. I knew butterflies wouldn't be active this early, so I made my way up to the higher part of the site and took in the beautiful views which were complemented by the sounds of cuckoos and curlews from way down below:
Here's a view from the same spot a couple of hours later looking northwards:
The conditions were absolutely perfect - clear skies, warm sunshine and no wind whatsoever. I eventually made my way down to the famous 'wayleaves' under the power lines and at 7.10am the first Chequered Skipper of the day zoomed into view:
They were subsequently very easy to find; I saw 33 in total in a two hour stay at the site. All but 3 were located in the steep (and, it has to be said, very boggy) wayleaf area pictured:
They are easily the most approachable of our UK skippers, basking with wings wide open to soak up the sun:
They seemed equally happy in the shade too:
There were several other species around: Green Veined Whites numbered around a dozen and as I went to take an image of this one, a Chequered Skipper gatecrashed:
A similar number of Pearl Bordered Fritillaries were encountered:
This one looks suspiciously Small PBF, but I find it hard to believe they are out yet this far north. I never got an underside view so can't be certain. If anyone wants to advise then feel free:
4 Speckled Woods seen, along with a Peacock, 2 male Orange Tips and 3 Small Coppers (one of which was so huge I initially thought it was a Cinnabar moth!!):
It was tough to prise myself away from this beautiful site on such a lovely morning, but I needed to head up to Spean Bridge which is where I'd reserved accommodation and I reckoned that would take well over an hour. I took one last photo from the car park and by 9.20am I was gone:

Great stuff David. Happy memories are flooding back already.
BWs, Neil

Thanks so much for sharing that David- the best report I've read in ages and congratulations on seeing McSkipper!

As others have commented, great pictures and story, David!

I'd say that definitely is a small pearl-bordered fritillary - so clearly it is already on the wing that far north!

Guy

Very nice David - brings the memories of last year right back to me

Great stuff David, I'm delighted that you finally got your last British mainland species, super report and lovely images

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

What a lovely report and photos, David! I could feel the excitement.

That was the clearing under the power lines I've read about? It's funny what you picture in your head - I was thinking of huge pylons!

Thanks for posting, it makes me really want to travel to see those species in the UK I am yet to, of which the Chequered Skipper is one.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thank you all for your kind comments. Yes, this part of the world is pretty special on a sunny, calm morning. So much so that it's difficult to reconcile yourself with the fact that you're in Britain!!

Jason - you'll have no problem seeing Chequered Skippers this weekend at Glasdrum. The forecast is decent so fill your boots!

Padfield wrote:
I'd say that definitely is a small pearl-bordered fritillary - so clearly it is already on the wing that far north!

Thanks for confirming my suspicions, Guy. This is the first time I've ever seen both PBF and SPBF simultaneously. Very satisfying.

Tuesday 27th May 2014 - The Chequered Flag (Part 2)....

The journey north from Glasdrum to Spean Bridge was breathtaking. Prior to this day, I had never been north of the bridge at Connel and that is a great regret in hindsight. I had to pull my car off road when I saw this panorama with Castle Stalker in the foreground:
I arrived in the car park of the Spean Bridge Hotel at 10.20am and immediately got my boots back on to go and explore Killiechonate Woods which is just behind the station:
It had clouded over somewhat by now, but the territory looked good for Chequered Skippers:
The higher peaks of the Nevis range were still snow clad:
Sadly, however, despite a good 3 hours searching, the only butterflies I saw were a few Orange Tips, Green Veined Whites and a solitary Peacock. I know that palaemon has been recorded here frequently so my tentative conclusion is that they hadn't yet emerged at this more northerly site (practically all were very fresh indeed at Glasdrum 40 miles further south). I had intended to visit Allt Mhuic in the afternoon which is further north still, but the absence of Chequered Skippers at Killiechonate made me change my mind.

I went to bed in the hotel at 3pm and decided to set off home in the late evening, which proved a wise decision as it took me over 9 HOURS to get back to Swansea. Had I left the following morning, I daresay you could have added another two to that total!

So, the price to be paid is a very stiff back which almost left me unable to get out of bed this morning! I wouldn't change a thing though and would encourage anyone to go and visit this spectacular corner of our fair isle - it really is quite amazing.

I guess that after September 14th this year there is a chance chequered skipper will no longer be a UK butterfly ... Good plan to go this year, David!

Guy

Padfield wrote:I guess that after September 14th this year there is a chance chequered skipper will no longer be a UK butterfly ...

Very possible, Guy, but my gut feeling is that Scotland will vote to remain in the UK come September.

Neil - you are very lucky to have a site where both PBF and SPBF can be found simultaneously. It's such a shame that PBF became extinct at the Alun Valley site in the early 1980s because given the conservation work that has been carried out since, this habitat would suit them down to the ground, and would be a rare location where all five of our violet feeding fritillaries would thrive.

Saturday 31st May 2014 - Frustratingly cloudy.....

Off to the Alun Valley site, near Bridgend, this morning in spite of rather gloomy looking skies.

Although it never really brightened up, I still managed to see 20 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries.
I also saw my first Large Skippers of 2014:
A new batch of fresh Speckled Woods seems to be emerging too:
Species/totals seen:

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 20
Common Blue 6
Speckled Wood 4
Brown Argus 2
Peacock 2
Large Skipper 2
Red Admiral 1
Small White 1
Green Veined White 1

Thursday June 5th 2014 - Found them at last (with a bonus thrown in)!!......

Welshmoor is only a couple of miles from Fairwood Common so I naturally thought Marsh Fritillaries, which are found in numbers at the former, should also be found at the latter given the identical habitat.

My two previous visits had yielded nothing however, which puzzled me greatly. On this occasion I crossed the B4271 to a likely looking spot near Gelli-Hir Wood and sure enough, within a couple of minutes I spotted one.

The marshy ground was replete with Ragged Robin plants and soon I learned that there was more than one species of Fritillary on the wing here. Small Pearl Bordereds were zooming about in every direction I looked, making a bee-line for these flowers. Even the Marsh Frits were settling on them, and I tried waiting to see if I could get an image of both species together but they were all very active and rarely settled for longer than 10 seconds or so.

In total, I saw 30-40 SPBFs, 20-30 Marsh Fritillaries, 5-10 Small Heaths, 2 Common Blues and 1 Green Hairstreak.

Here's a view of the habitat:
The Ragged Robin blooms were a magnet:
This Marsh Fritillary had her head buried:
The SPBFs found it irresistible:
This female was a real cracker:
As ever, grass blades proved annoying:
A couple of Marsh Frits were good enough to give me unencumbered views though:
How uplifting it is to know I can see Marsh Fritillaries, SPBFs and Green Hairstreaks within walking distance of my house. Moving to the Gower was a good idea!!

Finally managed to finish off reading your reports David, great stuff, very much enjoyed and I hope your fully recovered from that stiff back momento you brought back from Scotland...all that way in just 9 hours ...that's your new 'Adonismobile' for you

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

Thanks for the comments once again, guys. Much appreciated.

Saturday 7th June 2014 - Backyard Bonanza!!...............

Although my trip on Thursday afternoon was theoretically within walking distance of my home, I actually went in the car as I'd have had to navigate my way across swathes of marshy common otherwise. Today, given that the weather at midday was warm, humid and sunny (thunderstorms didn't arrive till 3pm), I resolved to leave my car on the drive and simply walk to Fairwood Common, which takes about 10 minutes. A good omen was seeing a Painted Lady (my first of this year) on my neighbour's flowers:
What a shock I then got once I arrived on the Common.

I saw practically nothing until I reached the tree line, but that's when it all changed. This little heat-trap below provided one of the most enjoyable experiences of my life watching butterflies:
I was rooted to the spot, transfixed, as large numbers of both Marsh and Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries darted here, there and everywhere:
I suddenly saw a much bigger fritillary - my first Dark Green of the year:
This beautiful, fresh specimen hung around for 20 minutes or so, and so did I, as I watched (for the first time) these three fritillary species continually jousting in the air as they investigated one another. Every now and then, the DGF would descend for a bout of nectaring:
In amongst this maelstrom were a few Common Blues and at least a dozen Green Hairstreaks:
Two Red Admiral fly-bys and my first Meadow Brown of the year rounded things off:
In the two hours I was out of the house I saw:

Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary 40-60
Marsh Fritillary 20-30
Green Hairstreak 15-20
Common Blue 5-10
Speckled Wood 3
Red Admiral 2
Painted Lady 1
Dark Green Fritillary 1
Meadow Brown 1
Brown Argus 1

Backyard Bonanza indeed, what a a fantastic array of lovely butterflies, you're very fortunate David. Lovely DGF underside shot It would seem that Painted Ladies and Clouded Yellows are beginning to appear more regularly now, lets hope this trend continues, just like last summer!

Almost feel as if summer has truly arrived with such tourists as Painted Lady around nice stuff David

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

Excellent reports and photos, David - the DGF underside is stunning!

There's nothing like a local patch is there.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thanks again, folks. Yes, the local patch is satisfying but there are times when you have to venture further afield...

Saturday 14th June 2014 - Twin peaks......

Roger Dodge (aka Roger Harding) gave me extremely helpful information regarding locating Heath Fritillaries at Haddon Hill.....in 2011!!!

Embarrassingly, it took until today for me to make use of them, but I'm pleased to say his guidance remains spot on, as practically all the Heath Fritillaries I saw at this site were observed in precisely the area he recommended.

They weren't exactly ubiquitous (about 15 seen in total) but they were the commonest butterfly down in the dip towards the woodland at the end of the main path into the site.
Most individuals I saw in this 'theatre' were males:
I did see at least two females, including this one who was doing her best to ward off an admirer:
Sadly, I also found a newly emerged Heath that is never destined to fly due to some trauma during emergence:
At 11.35am I decided to depart and head for Collard Hill, which is only a 10 mile detour from the M5 on the way back into Wales.

Surprisingly, the slopes were very quiet, with only a handful of other enthusiasts looking for this elusive butterfly. Whilst I was surveying the territory for arion, I saw my first Ringlet of 2014 followed by a beautiful Marbled White:
I spotted a couple of Clouded Yellows on the upper slopes, and made the effort to hunt down this female during an overcast period:
Eventually, a Large Blue fluttered into view, but it thundered down a ride and I eventually lost sight of it on open ground towards the bottom of the slope. I reported it to the warden who was on site and he told me that this was the first adult sighting of 2014, which I found almost unbelievable. This species finally emerged on 14th June 2013 after one of the coldest springs on record. Last winter was, in contrast, very mild, and spring was hardly austere either - why has this particular butterfly remained retarded when practically all others in 2014 are 7-14 days in advance of 2013?

One for the experts, perhaps?