www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I have to agree with the others Phil - it is a refreshing and innovative approach no doubt helped by your landscape background. Lovely!

Thank you very much David, Neil, Wurzel and Pauline,
Regarding BBC Breakfast report 06:50 on May 4th 2014 The River Mole Survey of Flood Damage to the main flood channel.
This stretch of the River Mole was local to me. I grew up around here.
Basically, the part of the River Mole (lower reaches) filmed on the BBC Breakfast report, appeared to do its job quite well in regard to carrying the water away quickly after the winter floods further upstream. The main flood channel was generally, not good for fish. It was too uniform in low water conditions to stop cormorants rampaging through fish stocks. The cormorants might otherwise have kept to the local reservoirs, as was the case many years ago, or so I was told.
When the river was in spate, many of fish left for example, Roach, Bream, Perch, Pike, Chub & Dace along this stretch of the Flood Relief Channel, were literally thought to have got washed into the River Thames and could be found on an average year, when the Thames hadn't flooded as well, near the Molesey Weir, on the Thames in the Summer.
When designing these "flood channels", it was thought there needed to be more of a fish friendly approach including more areas where the fish can shelter, when the river was in spate and more attempts to slow the water a little to reduce bank erosion but still keeping the potential to carry water away quickly. A good test for a newly designed flood channel was to wait 5 or 10 years and then see if there were many or any Roach and Bream present in mature sizes, as these species suffered most from a "forced migration downstream" during floods.
It looked to me, like most of the bank erosion took place a short distance downstream of the weir at Esher.
The lower stretch of the River Mole flooded more frequently 35 years ago, despite the ever changing river course. Back then it was a wildlife haven and the weirs were fully automatic. I think the Environment Agency might do better in the future, when similar flood channels were designed.
Turning my attention to Butterflies. Regarding the picture below taken on May 5th 2014. I knew it looked pretty but Oil Seed Rape on the river banks? Was that a good plant to have here? I would suggested that it might not be the best apart from its aesthetic appeal. Any more information on this would be much appreciated.
Updated April 30th 2020: Oil Seed Rape was a brassica, so might have been good for Small White butterflies and Large White butterflies, to help complete their life cycles. In all I saw, Small Whites, Large White, Brimstones, Peacocks, Green-veined Whites, Holly Blue and Orange Tip butterflies,
Best Wishes, Philip

5/6/2014 Red Admiral. Mid-Canopy & Ground Level, Surrey Woodland.
I went for a walk in the woods after work and enjoyed a ten minute "relationship" with this Red Admiral. It was very inquisitive and even landed on my T-Shirt.
I thought about trying to get a "selfie" but the butterfly flew off when I moved
Below is a link to a short video clip which I have edited. Any "improvement comments" are most welcome.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niiJKoO ... e=youtu.be

best wishes,
Philip

Just looking at my new, free butterfly recording app for "smart phone". Looks great. I can see some benefits in using this already.
Also, I have just invested £15 in a tripod for my camera which should help reduce camera shake when taking video clips when zoomed in from a distance (it might not always be easy or appropriate to use it).

Nice way to illustrate your reports Phil, lots of good info included

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

8/6/2014
Thank you very much, Bill.
I thought some of you might yawn when you read this because I was a few months late in relation to first sightings but
today was a very special day for me. I went looking for Silver Studded Blues on Fairmile Common in Surrey but instead saw my first ever Green Hairstreak and recorded 5 different Green Hairstreaks.
Here was one of my pictures. I thought it could have been better, but still quite a nice composition with contrasting colours of the heather: Another picture of a different individual: I was just not good with "Blues". There was "sometimes" a bit of grass that got in the way!
I thought this one was a Common Blue (please correct me if I am wrong and I will edit my post again!) Best Wishes, Philip

I don't think there will be too many yawns Philip it's great that you saw your first ever Green Hairstreak(s) must have really made your day
Great PD - keep posting.

Mike

13/6/2014
I spent some time at Bookham Common in Surrey. It was great to see my first Silver Washed Fritillary of the year as well as lots of newly emerged Limenitis camilla . They are out about half a month earlier compared to last year which probably means the Purple Emperors will be out earlier too. Here is a "space saver" compilation...
I was practicing using my new lightweight tripod that I bought on ebay for £15. It is hard work. I prefer to use the viewfinder for a "quick snap" rather than the LCD screen which I find takes longer to find the subject. I managed OK with the LCD screen at mid canopy level with the Limenitis camilla & SWF but I would have been on my knees using the viewfinder as the tripod is only 1.25m high.
I am almost 2m tall & the Purple Emperor I want to photograph lives near the top of 20m high Oak trees. Zooming in to something about the size of a single oak leaf aprox. 30m away creates image stabilisation issues so I think I really need a tripod which I can set up at about 1.8m high. Here is another compilation of butterflies I saw today... Here was my youtube video link. I have assumed that the Limenitis Camilla showing territorial behaviour are male (otherwise I couldn't tell the difference between male & female). Please correct me if I was wrong:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46lWGd-xISs
Best Wishes

16th June 2014
If you haven't done so, please do look at my White Admiral video from 13th June. To merge the video clips, prune out the worst bits and add some text and moving still images, for me this takes about as long at home as it does in the field taking the footage, just to get it up to what I considered to be a reasonable standard. I have edited it again and reposted it.
I had another day off work today and went back to Bookham Common in Surrey just to see how hard it would be to find the butterflies with cloud cover (in fact, the direct sunlight did not appear at all for the whole time I was there). It was half an hour before I saw my first butterfly. I stood in a woodland clearing for 15 minutes and just waited. A Red Admiral eventually fluttered down from the mid-canopy and briefly landed on my shoulder before it returned from where it came from. I smiled and said "thank you". Fortunately there was no one else around to hear me talking to the butterfly !
I decided it was best to move on and head to some of the more slightly more open areas of the common on the woodland edge. I found a couple of "dopey" Meadow Browns, Ringlets and large skipper. On Friday I was distracted by the White Admirals when following a Ringlet so today I relaxed and spent some time taking pictures.
It is nice to catch the Ringlets when fresh, they just look so much better. This one had quite big eye spots: The White Admirals were not posing for photos near the ground but I did get some footage of a shy Roe Deer.

Kind Regards

PhilBWright wrote: It was half an hour before I saw my first butterfly. I stood in a woodland clearing for 15 minutes and just waited. A Red Admiral eventually fluttered down from the mid-canopy and briefly landed on my shoulder before it returned from where it came from. I smiled and said "thank you".

What a magical moment that must have been. I love doing that, stopping still, I've been "checked out" by Peacocks, Commas and Small Tortoiseshells this year. Silver Washed Frits and Purple Emperors do it too.

Lovely reports, Phil.

Best wishes,

Lee

Thank you very much Lee, it was magical for me.
June 17th 2014 was my birthday and the first sightings of Purple Emperor came on this day in 2014 at Bookham Common (my local patch) with thanks to Rob Hill.
I still don't think I was quite ready for the Purple Emperors this year, if I want to improve on my pictures & video footage from last year.
I was kind of hoping that the first sightings of the Purple Emperor would come from somewhere else other than Bookham Common, now I will probably have to put up with the descending hoards of "butterfly tourists" in even greater quantity than last year. I might pop down to Bookham at the weekend and take pictures of some of them!
I am cheering for Pauline & Wurzel to take some good pictures of the Purple Emperor and "wave the flag" elsewhere Best Wishes

PhilBWright wrote:I think I really need a tripod which I can set up at about 1.8m high.

You could try a monopod or a combined monopod/walking pole. I find that they give just enough stability to make using longer lenses feasible and they are a lot less hassle than a tripod! You can, for example follow a moving butterfly from a monopod.

Mike

Belated Happy Birthday Phil. Cheers for the vote of confidence - I shall try my best but don't hold your breath!! Actually, my local site for PE's is one of the later ones usually but what I can do for you is promote Chiddingfold Forest (both Botany Bay and Oaken Wood, both of which are usually early for PE and relatively prolific. Of course, you might just find me amongst the hoards of 'butterfly tourists' at Bookham

June 18th 2014
Hello,
Thanks for the contribution Mike, a monopod, I had not thought of that. A very interesting idea.
Thanks Pauline. I managed to sneak down to Bookham Common this evening after work and can confirm the early emergence of Purple Emperors (not that the early sightings were in doubt, anyway). I had the ride to myself apart from one dog walker and two cyclists. With all due respect to Rob Hill, (he took some amazing "in flight" pictures with his hand held camera and special lens) I knew where Rob Hill took his pictures from and I set my tripod up in the same place where the grass was slightly trodden down . I also swatted a few mosquitoes that I think Rob might have missed !
The clouds fizzled out and I was still taking pictures of a Purple Emperor after 7.00pm in the canopy before I gave up. I have loads of video clips to sift through, edit and sort. I will probably compile a new Purple Emperor video in the autumn when I have more time. I have not replayed all the footage yet, if I did try and sort it all now, I would just end up very tired for work. Just to encourage you a little, this was about as good as it got picture wise. My camera only has a 50x optical zoom but a 200x digital zoom and this is about as close as I can get at 200x from approx. 30 meters away from the butterfly (allowing for a bit of cropping of the image): Best Wishes

That's still an impressive shot form that distance Phil , you're whetting our appetites for your video

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank Wurzel,
June 19th 2014 "If anyone can, Philip can" !
I have ordered a new camera. Seeing my first Purple Emperor of the year can have that effect/affect on me
I will probably let my son use my old camera. I don't like flashing new bits of kit around and was not interested in advertising brand names (my personal preference) but I was sure that those interested will study the "picture properties" of my photos.
I just hoped that I was smart enough to get the most out of my new camera It should arrive in a week or so.
Best Wishes

21st June 2014 Bookham Common, Surrey.
Mine was the first car in the Common car park just before 8.00am and parked next to the sign saying "no parking between dusk and dawn".
The Common was very beautiful at this time in the morning. hardly anyone around and I still wanted to beat my personal record of seeing a Purple Emperor before 8.00am.
It was just a little bit "nippy".
The plan was to start off walking some of the slightly lower woodland rides in the morning where there were a few more willow trees & try and spot any newly emerging Purple Emperor's before they flew up the hill. Also I have the added interest of seeing other butterflies away from the "Master Tree". I had however stopped at my parents house for breakfast for a cup of tea so was a little late.
8:02am -White Admiral, 8:04am -Silver Washed Fritillary. Soon I saw loads of Limenitis camilla in the Oak Trees. When the sun is low in the sky in the morning, the butterflies start off in the canopy warming up. I even saw a meadow brown at approx. 8 meters above ground level in a tree! I saw my first confirmed sighting this year of a Purple Hairstreak. This was not photographed but I had a feeling there were many around. I took some interesting (for me) video footage of a Red Admiral taking minerals from the gravel track at the high point of the common & some Speckled Woods "harassing" each other. This ended in nothing noticeable to me and they both looked rather tired at the end of it. One Limenitis Camilla showed some interest in the horse manure but I didn't think it was really fresh enough!
In all I saw 26 White Admiral & 8 Silver Washed Fritillaries (all male) amoung other butterflies. I was practicing sneaking up on WA's & SWF's just using the optical zoom on my old camera (50x max) and not using the "lazy" digital zoom (200x). I was reasonably happy not to have seen any Purple Emperors.
I left the Common late morning after spotting my first "butterfly tourist"
Best Wishes

22/6/2014
I spent some time at (yes, you guessed it) Bookham Common yesterday with my son.
We saw 4 or 5 Purple Emperor in a couple of different locations. This didn't mean that there were loads around but I had learnt (mainly from last year), where to park my car & look . I would guess a slightly staggered emergence this year was quite likely. I thought I saw a female Purple Emperor Iast year as late as 18th August, quite along time after the last properly (or officially) recorded sighting.
I was helping my son use my old camera which unfortunately I never fully understood myself! We arrived on the Common, late Sunday morning at around 11:30am and fitted in quite nicely with all the other "butterfly tourists". I was still interested in Red Admirals taking minerals from the gravel track. Up to 3 individuals at once at one location in-between the dog walkers and cyclists thundering past on one of the main rides.
Here are some of my son's pictures (that's me, holding my stomach in !): Best Wishes

26/6/2014
Good morning. I was hoping to get some time off work today to look for Purple Emperors but my request to change my holiday leave at short notice was declined
Instead can I play "spot the purple hairstreak" with you?
This picture was taken on 21st June at Bookham Common. At first I thought that I had not captured anything but I do have a "record shot"
There are actually lots of these butterflies around now but mostly under-recorded in the oak canopy.
Best Wishes

Had a lie in this morning, as the weather was quite cool (only 15°C by 10.00am) and I needed a rest! I did however pop out yesterday (Saturday 28th) for an hour and a half in the morning to see if I could see much before the cloud and rain arrived by 9:00am. Headed for some early morning "sun traps":
6:42am 07:41am BW's