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A walk today to count Wall Brown, info below!! If I had been counting Gatekeepers I would have run out of fingers and toes. They were everywhere!!

Today I did my Wall Brown count on a circuit from home. I have been doing this since 2009. The circuit is around 4 miles in length. It was possibly too hot today for doing this, it certainly was for me, so possibly it was for the butterflies too!! I had a feeling that the numbers were well down from the last 2 years and this it proved to be, whether this is from predation or due to the dryer conditions not being so good for the grass foodplant is difficult to say. I may get time to do another count in a few days time. As far as the 1st brood goes I failed to do a count on this route unfortunately but a count on another area was very good (69). Numbers today were back to more 'normal' figures.

2009 42
2010 44
2011 37
2012 66
2013 105
2014 47

Two great mornings spent up on the Downs with the Silver-spotted Skippers. A Painted Lady and Clouded Yellow seen as well but it really was the SSS that was the star!! A mating pair were interesting in that when the female had decided she had had enough she tried in vain to push the fella away and the look on her face looked as though she really didn't want him anymore!! Great little characters.

Superb Bob!

BWs

William

That has to be the best SSS shot I have ever seen Bob - excellent!

Agreed. Any species of Skipper mating is hard to come by so this one is special.

Thanks William, Pauline and David for your kind comments. It really was a great few hours spent over the weekend with these little characters. Another pic from the session shot into the light. I've found in the past that this can really bring out the olive green colour and the silver spots.

Fantastic photos of the Silver-spotted Skippers in your last couple of posts Bob

Cheers,

Neil.

Thanks very much Neil.
I have been trying to get some female Chalkhill Blues lately but they have generally kept low in the grass, however, yesterday a few were sitting higher and I managed a couple of shots.
Today I called up to High and Over where near the bottom of the steep scarp face I spotted a Small Heath. Nothing unusual here, except when it landed it would flick its wings open a couple of times, giving a show of its top wings. I have never seen a Small Heath behaving like this before but it only did it a couple of seconds after landing and not every time. I ended up following it all the way back up the scarp face to get a couple of poor grab shots and almost needing oxygen at the top!!

Superbly captured, Bob. I've seen Small Heaths do this on a small number of occasions but usually only once or twice before they return to their normal mode.

Fantastic stuff Bob First sublime Skippers and then open winged Small Heaths Brill

Have a goodun

Wurzel

The Fleabane is in flower and the butterflies love it. At last a Clouded Yellow has stopped for some photos!!

Just seen your open wing Small Heath Bob, great stuff

Cheers,

Neil.

A few shots from the last few days of various species. During a walk this morning I was doing a Wall Brown count, only partial due to the weather going downhill, but, at one point I saw a female Wall deep in the grass and she appeared to be ovapositing. After she left I carefully looked in the grass and spotted a large ova carefully placed on some dead grass.

I'm becoming addicted to your diary Bob. Not only do you consistently produce great shots there is always something out of the ordinary in there. Great Small Heath and Wall Brown egg

Thanks Pauline. I hope its not a dangerous addiction!! Unfortunately this Wall Brown ova is a long walk away so I'm not sure if I will be able to get photos of it as it ages and before hatching. It was very pale being only about 2 minutes old so there was no detail showing. After a few days a thin black line develops which is a bit more interesting. The ones I had last year were much easier to get to and observe as they developed. I still do not really want to take them home as the challenge for me is to see it all in the wild wherever possible.

Great set of shots Bob - loving the male Wall at the end

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel again for your comments. It was a dragonfly trip today to try again for Brown Hawkers. On the butterfly front there was a mass of Fleabane that was once again attracting migrant butterflies. A very attractive Painted Lady showed off its hindwing pattern and at least 3 Clouded Yellow were there. When a male tried to approach a female it gave the rare glimpse of the top wings. She was not in the least interested though and gave him the hard shoulder. I know exactly how he feels!!
For the dragonfly pictures see the blog: http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

Wonderful shots of the Clouded Yellows Bob and I particularly like the Painted Lady profile shot too. Apart from a single fast flypast, I'm still searching out my first PL of the summer. Hope I don't have to wait much longer.

Kev

Fantastic Clouded Yellow shots Bob Despite your epathy I bet you're glad the male got the cold shoulder treatment

Have a goodun

Wurzel