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Thanks Chris,

Here is one of you in action
The Father

Wednesday 4th July

Both Chris and myself had booked a day off work and planned to go somewhere for the day, the exact location depending on us trying to second guess the weather and where the breaks in it might be.
We both fancied the idea of heading for Prees Heath and Whixall Moss as they are not far from each other and Chris especially was keen to see Silver-studded Blues and I had never seen any Large Heath before.
The forecast held a slim hope of some breaks between the rains so getting up on Wednesday morning we made a final decision to go there.

We left Solihull in heavy rain and during our drive up we had rain on and off for most of the way, arriving at Prees Heath at about 09.30am in the dry but under a grey overcast sky.

We spent a couple of hours here looking for roosting Silver-studded Blues and found a dozen or more in the vegetation between the paths and the row of trees along the old runway. During this time we had a few showers when we ducked under the trees for shelter, popping out again to continue searching the wet vegetation when it stopped.
It was gradually feeling warmer but despite this we failed at this time to find any SSBs with their wings open, around 11.30am we decided to head for Whixall Moss and maybe return to Prees Heath later in the afternoon to try for some open wing shots, depending on how the weather turned out.

*Whixall Moss will be in the next posting otherwise this one is going to get too big*

Returning to Prees Heath just before 4.00pm in the afternoon we saw our first SSB just yards from the entrance flying out of the open area to the right of the path.
This was soon followed by a couple more and continuing up the path of the runway we soon saw dozens, either basking or fluttering around patches of vegetation.
There seemed to be 4 main concentrations of them fairly evenly spaced along and usually centred on taller clumps of vegetation such as Willowherb. It was a beautiful sight seeing a dozen or more at a time flying within an area just a few feet across.
We spent another couple of hours here during which time we had a couple of sunny spells but also some light rain during which some of the SSBs continued to fly.

Also seen here were about a dozen each of Meadow Brown and Small heath plus a couple of nests of Peacock caterpillars and some Mullein moth caterpillars.
We finally left about 6.00pm for the drive home having had a great day that turned out much better than expected given that we were fearing the worst from the weather.

Bye for Now,

Neil.

Absolutley cracking shots Neil and I'd be very jealous if I hadn't just got back from Slop Bog having sen my own Silver Studs . The Small Heath is a cracker too and I'm looking forward to seeing the Large Heath shots as that is a species that I have yet to encounter. Where abouts is Whixall Moss?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Neil,

A great post and some lovely SSB shots. I particularly like the blue peppered female before the mating pair, I'm not sure if that's within the range of normal ...

I look forward to your Large Heath pictures from Whixall Moss.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

Thanks for the comments guys, they are very much appreciated

Wurzel,
Whixall Moss is in North Shropshire, a few miles SW of Whitchurch.

http://www.naturalengland.org.uk/ourwor ... 06173.aspx

Mark,
I think the female SSB is within the normal range for Prees Heath.
This population used to be thought of as belonging to the ssp. masseyi which is now considered extinct. Whatever the case, some of the males here tend to have brighter blue uppersides with narrower black borders and the females tend to show a bit more of a blue flush than some of their southern cousins.

Cheers,

Neil.

Hi Neil,

Thanks for your observation.

nfreem wrote:I think the female SSB is within the normal range for Prees Heath. This population used to be thought of as belonging to the ssp. masseyi which is now considered extinct. Whatever the case, some of the males here tend to have brighter blue uppersides with narrower black borders and the females tend to show a bit more of a blue flush than some of their southern cousins.

I should of clarified myself, It's the lack of orange markings on the hindwing that I was referring to particularly if compared to the individual above?

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

I see what you mean now Mark.

I have just done a bit more reading and although SSBs seem to be a very variable species most of the photos I have found of females so far show orange on the hindwings to a greater or lesser degree.

Cheers,

Neil.

Wednesday 4th July – continued.

After spending a couple of hours at Prees Heath as described above, we decided to move on to Whixall Moss which is only a few miles away.

We parked up in the car park by the canal bridge at SJ 493354 and almost immediately a Small Tortoiseshell was seen at the beginning of the path past the bungalow opposite.
Continuing down the path we went through the gate into the reserve and through a short wooded stretch that was literally alive with Ringlets fluttering about amongst the long and still very wet grass.
The weather by this time was still overcast but the showers had stopped and it was feeling quite warm.

Coming out of the trees onto the moss trail, within minutes we saw a couple of Large Heaths flying around a few yards into the moss itself..

These remained frustratingly out of reach for photographs as there was no way that we were going to try and follow them into the moss as it was obvious that going off the paths would be very foolhardy, in fact I believe that to do so requires a permit here.
Following the recent weather the actual paths were very soft and muddy and we really had to be careful where we walked.
We slowly walked the length of the path through the middle of the moss seeing more than 30 Large Heaths but only managing to get a few record shots at maximum zoom.
During this time the clouds occasionally thinned a bit with the sun even popping out a few times and we noticed how quickly the Large Heaths would disappear and reappear according to the cloud cover.

Looking down a side path off the main trail we noticed a Large Heath slowly fluttering along and settling every few yards.

Approaching this individual slowly we finally managed to take some better photos as it perched a few times along the path before taking off into the moss.

The photos below are all of this one individual which looked nice and fresh and knowing how difficult this species can be to photograph due to the habitat I was well chuffed with these
I am afraid I am not familiar enough with this species to tell if it a male or female.
There were also good numbers of Large Skippers and Meadow Browns around the paths nearer the edges of the moss.

Also seen were some medium sized Dragonflies but these were very active and did not come close enough to ID.

We did manage to ID a number of Damselflies including some delicate looking Emerald Damselflies that almost disappeared against the background vegetation when they took off.
After our earlier spell at Prees Heath and now seeing Large Heaths here we already considered our day a great success. The day got even better on our return to Prees Heath as described in the previous post

Bye for now,

Neil F.

Lovely photos, and I'm very envious (having never seen them!).

Cheers,

Dave

Hi Neil,
Those first two shots of Large Heath (better focused around the head area), particularly the second, are exceptionally good. It's a species which falls to pieces rapidly and is very difficult to approach. On top of that they are often half buried in clutter when you do get close enough. Some of the best I've seen - congratulations.
Neil

Amazing photos Neil. I'm not that keen on the small heath but I would love to see a Large Heath. I shall live in hope ....

Cracking shots Neil of a species that seems quite out of reach for me

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Those are particularly good shots of Large Heath. I suspect that the cloudy conditions made them far easier to approach than they are normally.

The underside markings are very striking; in fact I don't think I've ever seen them so pronounced.

Excellent stuff and thanks for sharing.

Thank you all for the kind comments, they are very much appreciated

We were very lucky with that particular Large Heath, as well as settling a couple of times in a position that we could actually approach, it was a well marked individual that looked like it had not long emerged.

A definate case of just being in the right place at the right time

Neil.

Hi Neil,

A couple of super posts and pictures

Thanks for sharing.

Kind regards. Mark

Thank you for your comments Mark

I have just had a busy weekend of jobs to finish around the house and family 'stuff' so have not had chance to get out anywhere, a couple of faded Speckled Wood in the back garden being the only butterflies that I have seen for a few days.

To lift my spirits a bit I have just been going through my many photos from last Wednesday and decided to post a few more that I like

First, some more from Prees Heath,
Edit: I have replaced a duplicate shot with the two below that show that, despite my earlier comments regarding males at Prees Heath tending to have narrower black borders, these two show that not to always be the case.
It wasn't until I looked closer that I realised that The pair below are a different pair to those previously posted.
And from Whixall Moss a different Large Heath to the individual posted before.
These photos are cropped from shots taken from a few feet away at maximum zoom due to not being able to get any closer without going off the path, not a good idea in that habitat.
They are not as good as those previously posted but without that bit of luck I would have been happy with these.
And a Meadow Brown to finish, the first female that I have see so far this year.
Bye for now,

Neil F.

Super pictures

Debbie

Some of your Large Heath are definitely tending toward ab. lanceolata!

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote:Some of your Large Heath are definitely tending toward ab. lanceolata!

Yes, they defitinely err toward the 'teardrop', don't they.

I think these are the best images I've ever seen of Large Heath, and nfreem has coupled that with capturing some extremely beautifully marked specimens too.

Not a butterfly many of us have as a priority for photography (unsurprising given that a: it never opens its wings at rest, and b: its habitat is one most of us would prefer to avoid), so to produce something of this quality is all the more praiseworthy.

Thanks for the comment Debbie

Pete Eeles wrote:Some of your Large Heath are definitely tending toward ab. lanceolata!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks for the observation Pete, I noticed the elongated eyespot on the second individual but not being very familiar with this species do not know what comes within the normal range of variation.

David, you are making me blush seriously though, there are some excellent photos of Large Heaths on the species-specific gallery on this website.

I noticed earlier that I had uploaded a SSB photo in my last post that I had already posted...oops!
I have now edited that post and replaced that photo with a couple of others that show some variation in the black borders of the male SSBs at Prees Heath.

Cheers,

Neil.