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Wurzel wrote:You don't want to know what they were drinking

I think I already do, Wurzel.

Shades of His Majesty, I assume?

Cheers David It certainly seemed that way
Metalmarks

“Almost a month early!?” When I checked my records for this year and the last this is what it worked out as. Caution is needed with this date though as although I’m in no doubt that they were out early so was I. As far as I was aware my first of the year at Bentley Wood was one of the first emerged at that site.
One thing that interested me this year was the contrast in colour between those found at Woodland sites and those from the ‘grasslands’. My first in woodland was much darker, almost black when the light caught it. Those on grass at my Duke site seemed paler by comparison, a bit like the difference between milk and dark chocolate. My Duke site held good numbers and also threw up the full gamut of wear and tear from tired and faded to one late Duchess resplendent and glowing orange. I guess when there are so many Dukes flitting around you it’s hard to reconcile this thought with their fragility and scarcity. All in all another good year.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great photo's Wurzel as usual, no Butterflies here yet, much to cold, it's great to see your Duke photo's because I'm planning my visit to Gaits Barrow, just sent for my permit Goldie

Good to see those lovely Dukes, Wurzel. Only a couple of months before they'll be about again.

What great little butterflies. It is a species that I would love to see. I wonder how long it would take them to spread up here!!

Cheers Goldie Good luck tracking the Duke and Duchess down
Cheers David - I can barely wait
Cheers Nick I'm not sure of the northern most range but they are around at Gait Barrows? I'd hazard a guess at 25 years (no sceince, no knowledge just a punt! )

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel, doing some catching up again, great Duke photos

Interestingly, the Dukes that I have seen previously at Prestbury Hill have tended to be lighter like your 'grassland' one whereas those that I see posted from Sussex often look darker like your 'woodland' example.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Neil Interesting obs I'll have to keep my eyes peeled this year to see if I pick up any differences

The Hairstreaks I did manage to see four of the five UK Hairstreaks this year but as I was only lucky enough to get photos of two of them I will have to fill the subsequent pages with them to make up the numbers.

35 Green Hairstreak, 18-04-2014 Sidbury Hill

I reckon that the Greenstreaks had a great year. Obviously this could just be personal bias as I had a great year with the Greenstreak. It seems that my days of dearth are finally over and the Green one and I have made peace and come to an understanding. They will appear before my very eyes and I won’t go around the countryside cursing their name and smashing branches into Hawthorns *!

However self-satisfaction aside I still feel that Greenstreaks put in a very good showing. At my regular sites for this species (get me “regular sites”) they were well up. The only reason I didn’t see any at Martin Down ad more to do with not visiting than them not being there. In fact it went one better than that for me with my first ever Larkhill Greenstreak. I had a feeling that they would be on site as the habitat is almost right – not at the bottom of a slope but everything else ticks the boxes.

As with most species this year I didn’t have to wait as long for them this year as they were over three weeks earlier than in 2013. This still wasn’t as good as in 2012 when they were reported in March but was still nice and early. This could be why I’ve struggled with them in the past – I’ve waited too long.
*NB this is a total fabrication for comedic effect. 36 Brown Hairstreak, 09-08-2014 Shipton Bellinger

I was a little worried about the Brostreaks at first this year. I paid an early visit to Shipton, almost a fortnight earlier than last year and they played hard to get at first, with both a male and female staying out of reach of my lens. Perseverance paid off and as I was leaving a fresh male landed low down. I thought then that my luck was changing but on my second visit despite walking as much of the site as possible and hanging around a large Ash I managed only fleeting glimpses of a male right at the top of the tree. It wasn’t until my third visit and third time lucky that I got the proper Brostreak experience. By the end of a three hours at Shipton Philzoid and I had found at least 11 individuals the majority of which were at the hotspot but there were others scattered here and there on the way to pique our interest. Plus I had the pleasure of watching one female ovi-positing and photographing the egg when she was complete.
Because of this I think they had a great year in 2014 as despite my earlier tribulations over the three visits I saw more than I ever have. I can’t wait for next year now. 37 Purple Hairstreak, 06-07-2014 Bentley Wood

I didn’t do too well with Purps this year. I struggled to find His Nibbs managing only glances and it was the same with the other Purp – the Hairstreak variety. They were one of the few species that broke the mould with my first sighting almost month later than last year. Mind you they were probably about I just couldn’t find any. Bentley Wood is a large site and when I did see them there were only a couple so a pretty disappointing year for me and the Purp which was tempered only by seeing them at a new site whilst visiting the Worcester contingent of my in-laws. I’m not sure if my views would be reflected by others? I think one season I need to forsake all others and concentrate all efforts just on Purple Hairstreaks.

38 White-letter Hairstreak, 21-06 Bentley Wood

As they are our most under-recorded butterfly it was tricky for me to make the correct judgements for this species. I saw more than on my first ever encounter but it wasn’t exactly a vintage year with only 4 or 5 seen on one visit and all were up high and they were about a fortnight earlier. Judging by other reports they seemed to have an unspectacular year but whether this was because they were flying under the radar I can’t tell? Also I sometimes wonder if we butterfliers work on trends. I remember a couple of years back there were lots of shots of Whitters from a particular site where they regularly came down to Thistles. The following year many more people went to the site including myself and there were plenty of reports form that year. Yet this year the trend wasn’t set and so there didn’t seem to be that many Whitter encounters. Just a thought of course...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel, your close up of the Green Hair Streak is fantastic, I love it, I think it's one of my favourite Butterflies because it's so cute I've yet to see the other's (hope fully this year) I'll have some traveling to do for the Brown HS but that's Butterflying

We've got the other two locally it's just finding where they are that's the problem, like you I seemed to have mixed my times up because when I've gone to said sites , no luck, not to worry try, try, again they say, all the best Goldie

Cheers Goldie I'm hoping to find more Greenstreaks at Larkhill his year. The timing issue seems to be getting wore by the year things re either early or late and rarely fit in the time frame given in the books The best bet is to check the local branch websites and make a move as soon as you can once the initial sightings have been recorded

Have a goodun

Wurzel

hI Wurzel,

You have an image of a MALE Brown Hairstreak .
At my favourite site only the females oblige for the camera.
The Purple Hairstreak, however can be seen from my patio ( with binoculars).

Lovely shots!
TREVOR.

Cheers Trevor Shipton has been quite reliable for male Brostreaks - I've photographed them there for the last three years. Saying that this year now I probably won't get a sniff of one!


The Blues - Part 1 39 Small Copper, 03-05 Martin Down

My first ‘fuzz’ was 22 days earlier this year which is probably a mixture of them emerging earlier and me getting out and looking earlier. In terms of numbers this is a tricky one to gauge as it has a long flight season and is also one of the ‘common’ species. By that I mean that it isn’t restricted to a particular habitat or geographical location. It’s one of those species that you don’t set out to specifically see, they’re a welcome bonus. Therefore a good way of trying to judge their fortunes is to recall how many different sites I’ve seen them at. On this basis I believe the Small Copper had a good year as I found them at 10 different locations.

They also had a good showing in their final brood and so made great subjects for me into September and beyond. From the various sites Blue Badgers also featured prominently this year with almost 40% of the individuals seen showing some form of blue. I’m not sure if this is statistically significant or if it is an observation mirrored by others but what felt like a gut guess was evidenced in my sighting notes. 40 Small Blue, 15-05 Cotley Hill

I felt that this species struggled this year as they were only present at two of the five sites I found them at last year. Also when I did see them there weren’t so many. Also despite being 10 days earlier I didn’t see any second brood individuals in 2014.
Of those that I did see not many had the full complement of spots on the under wing. I’m wondering if this is more don to me either developing a slight mania for seeing variation in spotting or suffering from visual disturbances or whether this is a usual form of variation? 41 Silver-studded Blue, 15-06 Slop Bog

My first Silver Studs were a good fortnight early this year at my usual first site the wonderfully named Slop Bog. Possibly because I saw them earlier this year they weren’t in such large numbers as they were only just getting going and I only saw two females on my first visit. I would have loved to have gotten back to Slop Bog just so I could have my usual experience; meandering through the heather, the sun beating down and the Silver Studs drifting up and over the heath from beneath at each footfall. As it was there were reasonable numbers but not to the scale as previously encountered later in the season. The early start didn’t seem t the detriment of the Silver Studs as I also found a few whilst busy with my first Graylings at Godshill at the end of July. These were mainly females who were getting on a bit which was to be expected at they emerge later than the males. Because of this reasonably long flight period and despite not experiencing them at their peak I reckon the Silver Studs had a good year on the whole. 42 Brown Argus, (05-05 Duke site?) 16-05 The Devenish

I think I saw my first Brown Argus at my Duke site almost a month earlier this year than last but it was a fleeting view and I couldn’t be sure if the silver flash was a Brown Argus or whether it was a moth of some description as it was gone before I’d really noticed it. However I had a definite BA two weeks later (and a fortnight earlier than last year) at The Devenish. After repeated visits to this site over the course of the season I was really pleased to see so many BAs here and they lasted right through until the end of the season. And this seemed to hold for the other sites that I visited and so I think that they had a slightly better year this year than last, which if I recall was also slightly better than the year before. One real observable piece of evidence for their up-turn in fortunes was that I saw the return of the Brown Argus to Five Rivers – for me the undoubted Brown Argus highlight of 2014! 43 Common Blue, 15-05 Marshie site

As with most species the Common Blue made an early start to 2014 with the average fortnight ahead of schedule with my first at my Marshie site. In fact the individual I saw had probably been out even earlier than I recorded as his wings had lost their lustre, they looked thinner with the under-side markings showing through and the margins were looking very threadbare.

When I consider how well they fared in terms of their numbers I’m not disappointed in my reckoning that they held their own. Last year they seemed to be bouncing back after a successive run of poor years and so were living up to their name; Common, and so it was this year. I found them across the board at almost every site that I visited – it could have been a full house but they were replaced with Silver Studs at Slop Bog and Godshill! In fact I saw them in some unusual places this year; around the ruins of Corfe Castle, by the tap at Downshay, on the running track during Sports Day (if it hadn’t of distracted me I’m sure I would won the 100m relay) and half way up a cliff near Newquay. There was also, as like last year, a male that was confusing itself with a Small Copper as it was hanging out around Aberystwyth Police Station and two females seemed to love a debris strewn bit of verge on the edge of a building site in Ffosyffin that was only a metre square. Hopefully they will have another prosperous year in 2015 and I look forward to the odd places they will hopefully turn up at. Have a goodun

Wurzel

HI Wurzel,

RE. Small Blue. I note that we visited Cotley Hill 5 days after you on the 20th May.
The main reason for the visit was the Marsh Frit. But we did'nt have to look too hard to find
the Small Blues,enough to keep the camera happy.
We didn't explore the hill itself , as there were enough Butterflies in that area to the left of the main path
at the base of the hill. What a superb site !.
As for fidgety Brimstones, at least they are good practice for Wall Browns etc.

All the best,
TREVOR

Nice reminder of some species that we ought to be seeing very soon, Wurzel.

Just catching up again Wurzel, great reports and photos

I too saw more blue spotted Small Coppers last year than ever before. In fact most of the ones that I saw had some degree of blue spotting, even if only slightly. The ones with no hint of spotting at all were definitely in the minority around my patch.

Cheers,

Neil.

Hi Wurzel, beautiful photographs and a thoughtful report as always. Can I single out for special praise the Small Copper perched on a Hawthorn berry? That's my Pin Up Poster favourite!

I too see good numbers of Coppers who are fully paid up members of the Blue Badge Club but these last two years I wondered if I was going mad in that I seemed to see fewer in the first generation but more as the season progressed ?

I think what I will do this year is try to keep a note of how many I see , where I see them and when.

Best wishes,

Hoggers.

Cheers Trevor Perhaps I missed their peak emergence
Cheers David We just need the Jetstream to **ger off a bit and things could really get started...
Cheers Neil I'm glad it wasn't just me
Cheers Hoggers for your kind comment I reckon you cold be onto something there - I'll try and remember to note down when and where I see any Blue Badgers - the problem is that I get so easily distracted

April 2015

A bit of positive visualisation... Have a goodun

Wurzel

HI Wurzel;

If you have Camberwell Beauties in Salisbury i'm moving in !!

TREVOR.

Love the photos Wurzel, nothing here yet it's been too cold, milder for the Easter weekend so I'm hopeful Goldie

Cheers Trevor I'll keep my eyes peeled - there was one nearby two years ago...get those Tea crates ready
Cheers Goldie I hope the Easter Bunny brings you butterflies along with the Chocolate eggs

The Blues – Part 2 44 Chalkhill Blue, 18-07-2014 The Devenish

The local Chalkhills really took their time for me but I was adamant that I wanted my first Chalkie to come from The Devenish so I was prepared to wait. Possibly because the slope they are found on there is West facing rather South facing they were slightly later than at most other sites. Saying that, my first was still 6 days earlier than in 2013 so the overall pattern for most species was continued. In terms of numbers I was slightly disappointed this year as though there were plenty to see at the three sites that I normally see them at they didn’t seem to be in such a high numbers as previously. Instead of a cloud at Stockbridge there was more of a ‘selection of puffs of smoke’ that would arise from each footfall.

This is another species which I need to spend some quality time with this year as I’d love to gets a lot more photos of some of the aberrant forms. I’ve previously found a male with the spotting missing and this year I got a few shots of a male with orange spotting on the upper hind wing margin and I’d like to build up my ‘collection’ (yet another species to obsess over ). 45 Adonis Blue, 25-05-2014 Marshie Site

So not only did my Marshie site hold a fantastic number of Marsh Frits and Greenstreaks along with Walls and Small Blues but it also yielded my first Adonis Blue of 2014. In fact on that one visit I think it produced possibly 6 firsts for Philzoid and the first Large Skipper for the county. Again the Adonis Blues were about a fortnight earlier than last year.

I felt that the Adonis, unlike their cousins the Chalkies, had a good year with a slight increase in their numbers. There were certainly more at The Devenish this year and my Duke Site was crawling with them. In fact they were so numerous here perhaps my opinion has been swayed? One thing I did notice was that the first brood seemed more numerous than the second – though this could because I didn’t witness them at their peak the second time round? 46 Holly Blue, 15-04-2014 Llanachaeron

This year felt like a better year for the Holly Blue as they seemed to be ever so slightly on the up. For the past couple of years I’ve felt like they were struggling yet this year whilst I saw them at probably a similar number of sites there seemed to be a few more about. But only a few so perhaps they are on the upward trend of the parasitic cycle. Like most other species they emerged early in 2014 by almost 3 weeks. Large Blue, 22-06 Collard Hill

I can’t really comment on whether this species was earlier or later than normal from personal experience as this was the first year that I saw this species. In fact this was third time lucky as I have spent the last couple of years umming and ahhing about whether I should drive into Somerset to see Large Blues. For some reason I had gotten it into my head that Collard Hill was miles away – yet actually it took just about an hour to get there.

I had read that the site abounded with them and all you had to do to photograph them was turn up with your camera. It didn’t turn out like that however as Collard was almost bereft of the Large One – so much so that the official Blog carried a warning of their low numbers. When Philzoid and I did risk the visit we were rewarded with only two females from almost an entire day of searching. Both only provided closed wing shots but I was able to observe the low, fast and flurried flight revealing the almost purple colour from the upper wings. Saying that the closed wing view is still a cracker and the contrast between the white/powder blue of the ground colour and the large, sharp black spots is stunning.

It seems that the Large Blue had a reasonable year despite the poor showing at Collard as good numbers were reported from Daneways this year so perhaps next year I should try there instead (hopefully it’s roughly the same distance as the trip to Collard)? Perhaps the dry and cold start to the year didn’t do them any favours?

My 2014...

First up the lows ...

• I had a poor showing of a couple of species this year including Large Whites and Purple Hairstreaks.
• I missed out on photos of His NIbbs (who was playing hard to get), White-letters and Purple Hairstreaks.
• In general I had difficulty with catching up with stuff at times it was a trying year and was quite hard work at times?

Enough maudlin on with the Highs!

• My favourite outings were visiting my Marshie site and going for the Map with Philzoid.
• Starting the year with plenty of visits to Five Rivers with my daughter and bucket loads of Small Tortoiseshell.
• Wall Browns - a great year for me with this species
• Finally ‘ticking’ Large Blue.

Targets for 2015

• Having gone for and succeeded with Large Blue this year in 2015 I really want to finally go for and photograph Heath Frits.
• To spend a lot more time with Chalkhills.
• To get more shots of the Purple varieties.
• To try and get a Foreign Visit in....

Have a goodun, 2015 that is!

Wurzel
p.s now I can start my 2015 posts proper - only 8 or 9 behind now!