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More grayling at st cyrus nnr on Thursday.
15 to 20 on the wing.

i went to see the Emperors again today.

at 11:53 am one came down to the track to have its photo taken.

this is the same time of day that i saw the first one a few days ago.

16 Species at Hutchinson's Bank yesterday.

Surprised to see a fairly fresh Small Blue- a late or early one?

Quite a few fresh Brimstones, a Painted Lady & 2 Silver-washed Fritillaries in a wooded area close to the recycling centre & 6 Dark Green Fritillaries in the cutting & along the bottom track.

Ringlet by far the most numerous butterfly followed by Meadow Brown & Marbled White.

The working week went from a Peacock using a piece of log as a windbreak on Monday to a Purple Hairstreak diving into a bush and under a leaf moth-like to avoid the intense heat at 1:40pm yesterday.

Not surprisingly there's a good number of parasitic wasps about. They don't stay still (my excuse). I'm fairly certain the larger one was Ichneumon extensorius but not sure of the other one - very small, certainly shorter than a Marmalade Hoverfly say and much thinner.

This week's jumping spider I think is Salticus scenicus although it appeared a bit greyer than others I've seen. Certainly, much smaller than the Fencepost JS. I think that's a fruit-fly it's caught - stunningly red and distinctively shaped eyes.

Talking about fruit flies, the dogwood which always seems to attract insects has had a beautifully marked dumpy little Anomoia purmunda fly on it. It always seems to hold its beautifully marked wings away from its body, I assume as a short kid might use his elbows in the playground. This one had distinctive green eyes.

Saw my first Volucella zonaria of the year (had to zoom a bit, sorry) but best thing this week was finding an extensive nettle patch on my walk to work which is now teeming with Small Tort caterpillars of differing sizes.

Managed to catch up with Purple Emperor this morning. Savernake Forest, Wiltshire

I'm still hoping one of those beauties will catch up with me, Stevie !

Nothing unusual in my very local fields today, but did see a single fresh Common Blue (male), 4 Peacock, 2 Red Admiral, 5 Large White, 3 Speckled Wood, 1 Holly Blue along with very large numbers of golden skippers (many now a bit faded), Gatekeeper, Ringlet and Meadow Brown. Also a Silver-y and decent numbers of grass moths.

Stevieb wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 11:43 amManaged to catch up with Purple Emperor this morning. Savernake Forest, Wiltshire

First class stuff, Steve. I recognise those green railings!

David M wrote: ↑Sat Jul 09, 2022 7:50 pm
First class stuff, Steve. I recognise those green railings!

Mountain Ringlet at Glasdrum NNR 05/07/2022
Counted 47 on the transect that follows the 500m contour, and a few more on the ascent.
Also got Clouded Buff and Wood Tiger moths

Essex Bertie wrote: ↑Sun Jul 10, 2022 5:05 pmMountain Ringlet at Glasdrum NNR 05/07/2022

Nice sighting, EB. I didn't know epiphron could be found there.

Agreed - I've spent many a happy hour at Glasdrum, but never even looked for Mountain Ringlet. Shame on me and now on my list!

Cheers,

- Pete

i spent the afternoon in the Bedfordshire Chilterns. i saw my first Chalkhill Blue of the season

and the first confirmed Silver Washed Fritillary ( thanks bugboy ! ) as well as several Emperors.

Great to get out this last Sunday (1st time in 3 weeks) because of an old back/disc injury that had flared up, i just couldnt get out "Butterflyin"!
Visited Darland Banks, here in Kent. Plenty of both male an female Chalk hill Blues on the wing, some 2nd brood Common Blues(some of the females were small in size)...An hooray, finally sighed my 1st Small Copper of the year too!!

Back injury forced me to take a week off work, which meant following/observing approx 6 different broods of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars in my garden. This is the 1st time ive ever watched any kind of caterpillar activity, an i must say it was intriguing for sure. Ive shot 100s of images of these "cats" (various Instars) so will be posting some more pics soon enough. No images are cropped. Cheers Paul.

A fresh looking (probable female) Small Copper. That same Small Copper.

Small Tortoiseshell Cats (shot all the Cat images in my garden) where they resided on 2 large clumps of Nettles.
These Cat images were shot on the 1/7/22...Im pretty sure these were 4th? or maybe 5th? Instar (but happy to be corrected).

Magpie moth in my aberdeen garden tonight

Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:36 pm Agreed - I've spent many a happy hour at Glasdrum, but never even looked for Mountain Ringlet. Shame on me and now on my list!

Cheers,

- Pete

Glasdrum has a good Mountain Ringlet colony, but it's not a straightforward climb as there's no track above 100m and there's a steep tree belt to scramble through. I've never gone up or down the same route! The road at the end of the loch is a good marker to keep aligned with. Great views across to the islands

Essex Bertie wrote: ↑Wed Jul 13, 2022 2:03 pm

Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Mon Jul 11, 2022 4:36 pm Agreed - I've spent many a happy hour at Glasdrum, but never even looked for Mountain Ringlet. Shame on me and now on my list!

Cheers,

- Pete

Glasdrum has a good Mountain Ringlet colony, but it's not a straightforward climb as there's no track above 100m and there's a steep tree belt to scramble through. I've never gone up or down the same route! The road at the end of the loch is a good marker to keep aligned with. Great views across to the islands

Yeah, I remember having similar experiences as you, Pete. The last time I tried to get up there I fell/rolled all the way through that forested belt and cut myself to ribbons trying to grasp Bracken stalks to slow me down. When I reached the bottom I stumbled into the car park and there was a young couple there who could barely believe the sight that confronted them. I was majorly dishevelled, clothes torn, covered in blood and limping with a twisted knee. Their disbelief was matched only by my own when they asked me if there was a good track up the mountain from the car park!!!
Ade

a lovely hot day in the Chilterns

i saw this handsome Chalk Hill Blue

Peacocks are becoming abundant.

As I'm off to Leeds for the weekend, here's my foreshortened weekly grab-bag.

Always good to see a Chrysotoxum hoverfly. It was one of the tricky five - I'll plump for C. verralli but ideally needs a better snap.

Chalkhill Blues now out on the Common. Hazlebury Common, Wiltshire

Potential Immigrants.

Surely there'll be some interesting immigrants in this hot spell? Long-tailed Blue a certainty but [Continental] Swallowtail, Queen of Spain and Southern Small White must be on the cards.

Ordinary - I presume they are 'ordinary' - Small Whites are having a bumper year here in north Scotland.

Jack