www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

It's a really good spot for them, Buggy - you saw far more females than I did as well. There must be something in the local gene pool to bring up the blue-splashed ones so regularly. My vist to Chobham was nothing like so productive as it was windy and quite cool as you might expect on a more exposed site - yours was a good choice!

Dave

Cracking set of Silver-studs Bugboy, some of those females seem to have a air bit of blue on them a la Miller could this be the for a simailar reason as all the blue female Common Blues?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great SSB's Bugboy. The mating pair shot is a cracker. I visited some recently and fell hook, line and sinker for them!

Blimey Bugboy, you've got about since my last look at your diary. Some great photos of the Black Hairstreaks, which are having a bumper year. Also loved the SSB's. I saw my first ones this weekend and they were splendid.

Kind Regards
Kev

Great series of SSB's and Black Hairstreaks Bugboy. Love the shot of the Female SSB on the Heather flower.

Gary

Yup Dave, that was exactly my reasoning for choosing Fairmile over Chobham, a nice little compact site
Who knows Wurzel, but it is a rather small site so it wouldn't take many generations for such a variation to become fixed in the population.
Thanks Andrew, I was well chuffed to find that mating pair posing for me so well
Haha, I do get about a bit Kev
Thanks Gary, They look out of place on anything other than heather to my eyes

17th June, Essex Heaths

I’d umm’d and aaah’d about Sunday. The forecast seemed pretty dire, no rain but plenty of cloud. In the end I had a lay in and ended up doing some odds and ends and a visit to the farmers market at the end of my street. It was while out when the cloud seemed to start breaking and I decided to take a risk and head off to see some Heath Fritillaries in one of the Essex colonies. My heart began to sink on the way though, the sunny spells became just a distant memory and I arrived at my destination under a thick blanket of cloud. Still I was here now and it wasn’t exactly cold so I just had to hope It find something roosting.

It didn’t take long, rounding a corner as I approached the area they inhabited last year I saw the first of my quarry, and to my surprise not even roosting! I took plenty of snaps, not entirely sure if this was just a fluke and would be my only sighting, and it gave me both uppers and unders. It was while I was getting my camera out my bag for this one that I saw the only other person with a camera. I presumed another enthusiast when he asked if I’d seen anything interesting. I pointed out the Fritillary which he looked mildly excited about, then turned back to me and asked if it was rare…? I said very, which garnered a little more mild interest then he wandered off without taking a snap. I guess he wasn’t here for the butterflies after all !

Once I got my eye in though the Fritillaries started popping out all over the place, often in little gangs, and I was glad I made the decision to go. Most of them seemed to be fresh animals with several emerging as I walked around. Although the sun never appeared during the couple of hours I was there, on occasion the cloud would thin and wake some up who would try and bask in the barely noticeable extra warmth. One pair roosting on the same seed head awoke during just such a spell, and turned out to be a male and female, much to the male’s excitement, or at least as much excitement as he could muster under the cloudy conditions. All I can say is that although the rumours about them only being active during sunny weather is true, don’t let a cloudy day put you off, they make no real effort to hide away (I counted around 40 in the end) and make perfect targets to aim your camera at. My afternoon turned out far better than I anticipated. Just be very, very careful where you walk, even better, stick to the paths!.

I absolutely love that last shot Buggy for so many reasons. Another species I have yet to get a half decent shot of and I don't think that will be rectified this season!

Lovely pictures which are really saturated in the overcast light. Just imagine how washed out the'd have been if it had been sunny.

Wonderful shots, great message too. I spend far too much time looking at weather forecasts trying to guess which will be the right day. Just go and see. Yes, I will do more of that.

Great stuff Bugboy with soem really cracking dark amrked individuals The first time I saw Heaths there wasn't a bit of sun all day but that was great as they sat still and I could get all manner of shots. Last time it was sunny and they were bombing around all over the place (well if you can call their bumbling flight 'bombing' )
On the other hand don't bother going for Large Blues unless there is the hint of some sun as I discovered on Sunday

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice Heath Frits Bugboy. Useful to know they like cloudy conditions too. I was at that spot last year and it was very special.

Kind Regards
Kev

Lovely to see those Heath Frits, Bugboy, although given an imminent trip to the French Alps, I fear I'll almost be sick of the sight of them by mid-July!!

Thanks Pauline, quite pleased with that one myself
Thanks Peter, I do like bright cloudy days, Adonis Blues I find take on an extra glow in that light. I too spend far too much time watching weather forecasts, even more pointless when you take into account just how unreliable they are in this country!
Thanks Wurzel , 'bumbling' is the perfect description of those cute guys, hope you managed your Large Blues in the end, they don't seem to enjoy blazing heatwaves either...
Thanks Kevling, I wouldn't say they 'like' cloudy conditions as such, more that they are just much easier to get up close to
Thanks David, oh to be be sick of the sight of a Heath Fritillary....

Well I'm back after a weeks traveling with some very intermittent and dodgy internet access but plenty of butterfly pictures to trawl through. You'll have to wait and be patient for them though, I still have a few days before I left to get through first and if I don't start now, Wurzel will come racing past me and we can't have that now can we. So without further ado lets go back to 9 days ago...

18th June, 2 sites, one day…

I’d not yet been to Box Hill yet this year and with Millerds reports of the Dark-greens out now as well as Marbled White the place was definitely well overdue a visit. It’s normally the place I see my first Ringlets too so I had three targets for the morning half of the day.

The day started rather cool, cloudy and rather subdued as I started the hunt down on Burford meadow, which sits in the shadow of Box Hill, where I’ve had good success with the Fritillaries in previous years. There’s a patch of Red Clover in the centre that seems to act like a magnet to them so all you have to do is hang around there and they come to you! Well, not this year, the Clover it was seem had an early year and was all brown and withered and going to seed.

In the conditions the only thing flying were Meadow Browns so I filled the time awaiting things to liven up chasing them as they flitted and hid in the long grass. They were mostly, as you would expect the standard versions but one I noticed had a few more hindwing ocelli than in normal and I spent a good amount of time following her around until she settled long enough to get some snaps. I’ve never seen a MB with such a collection of spots, enough to give any self-respecting Gatekeeper a run for it’s money! Ten o’clock arrived and the merest hint of blue sky started to push through the cloud, so I started up the slope, almost immediately finding the first target of the day flitting around, Ringlet. A few Large Skipper were also waking up and the moment the sun peered out a break in the cloud, clouds of Marbled Whites magically appeared out of nowhere. The Marbled Whites all looked very fresh and were clearly emerging as I walked through them, as shown by a freshly emerged one who was clearly no more than half an hour old if that! I dragged myself away from them as the clouds breaks grew, searching for target number three and on the main path up the slope I was rewarded by a bright orange flash zooming pat me. Up here the breeze was irritatingly brisk forcing him to land either deep down in the grass or perch on a swaying flower, so my photos were rather hit and miss but I managed a few. After he zoomed off looking for his next conquest I decided to try and get out of the breeze by going to the little valley where Zigzag Road zigzags. Here there was much the same collection of butterflies but by some topographical wizardry the wind was also present, blowing in almost the opposite direction. I managed a few snaps but decided to retrace my steps and have another look round the Meadow before taking in another, nearby site for the afternoon. Obviously I couldn’t resist a few more snaps of a perfectly posing Marbled Whites. I had another brief DGF encounter before reaching the bottom of the slope but much of the butterflies were now fully warmed up for the days events.

Not long after entering Burford Meadow again I saw a couple of large orange butterflies whooshing around, occasionally swirling around each other and giving chase before vanishing of into the distance, only to return minutes later to repeat the entire thing. It was still early enough in the day for a patch of flowering bramble to stop them in their tracks from time to time, just not long enough for me to get close enough. A Brown Argus did catch my attention for a while. It was a passing cloud that gave me the chance to get what I wanted as one of the large whooshing orange butterflies decided to settle in the grass and allowed me to get close enough to train my zoom lens on him. I swear I could see him huffing and puffing as he sat there! Well with the day now warming up it was time to hit the second of the days destinations, no prizes for guessing where that might be!

I got the LB in the end Bugboy but it was hard work Cracking set of shots, love the Large Skipper on the Orchid

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Those Heaths from your previous post are gorgeous, Bugboy - I especially like the Little and Large shot!
Are you going to make Irton Fell/ Fleetwith Pike this year?

Yep. "Little & Large" and "Skipper on an Orchid" does it for me too, Bugboy. Great shots.

Hi! Bugboy, love your Heath shots, the Marbled White do it for me though, I just love that second shot of it on the Bramble Goldie

That part of Box Hill really comes into its own at this time of year, and you made the most of it, Buggy. Those DGF just don't keep still for long, though!

Dave

Thanks Wurzel, glad you got them in the end. Like many species, they're not easy in this heat!
Thanks Janet, I am rather proud of that shot. Unfortunately I missed the Irton Fell flight period this year. I booked the second half of June off for them but they chose the first half this year to fly at Irton
Thanks Goldie, there's always shed loads of them at Box Hill
You're not wrong there Dave, some great species to catch up with . I do like watching those Fritillaries scooting around like idiots even if it is rather frustrating with your camera hanging rather limply around your neck

18th June, 2 sites, one day… part 2

Well obviously I was heading to Bookham for the afternoon. White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillary were hopefully on the menu.

Walking through the open areas didn’t produce much at all, that first brood Small Copper really seemed to last for a week and then vanish but once I got close to the woods White Admirals started to appear quite regularly. I’d seen my first of the year whilst chasing Black Hairstreaks with PhiliB but with hopefully so many about I’d get the chance for some snaps this afternoon. It didn’t take long with one settling on the path, always keeping one step to far for the macro lens but then it hadn’t reckoned on my zoom! They were indeed everywhere, mainly floating around the tree tops but often coming down and significantly more than in previous years settled on the paths. Also on the path was a rather nice Red Admiral doing his best impersonation of a Purple Emperor. My first Hutchinsoni Commas showed themselves and I saw my first Silver-washed Fritillaries of the year, predictably they didn’t settle though. Another Red Admiral posed well before I turned to retrace my steps but it was definitely a day for the White Admiral!

Superb Heath Frit's Bugboy. And I love a fresh White Admiral.

bugboy wrote:... Unfortunately I missed the Irton Fell flight period this year. I booked the second half of June off for them but they chose the first half this year to fly at Irton ...

I believe that early June or even late May is fairly normal for Irton Fell, this is by far the earliest site for them due to the lower altitude with the colony higher up at Whin Rigg flying a couple of week later.

Doing a bit of catching up and just seen your last photo of the double Heath Fritillaries...superb, that really is one I wish I had taken

Cheers,

Neil.