www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I have dig out a few of the aberrations I've photographed over the past five years. If anyone knows the names of any of these abs. I would love to know.
A very dark male Dark green taken on the 15th may 2011.

Two Grizzled Skippers taken on the 12th May 2012. An ab.intermedia and ab.taras.

A paired female Ab. taken on the 14th June 2013.

Chalkhill Blue taken on the 26th July 2013.

A dark PBF taken in Roland wood on 21th April 2014. This one looked more like a Marsh Fritillary or Speckled Wood when flying.

A Grizzled Skipper taken at Martin Down on the 18th May 2014.

Not sure if this Meadow Brown is an Ab. but the Orange band on the lower wing is more prominent then usual.

Those are a great selection of abs. A few stabs at putting names to some:
The DGF may be ab. suffusa
The third Grizzled may be ab. fasciata
The meadow Brown looks good for ab. postfulvosa

As for the Blues, I wouldn't know where to start, there's so many

Thanks bugboy

Thanks for sharing those, Gary. Great sequence!

Hi Gary
Nice selection of abs. I particularly like the female Adonis and that spectacularly orange Meadow Brown. A quick name change as well

Hi Gary,

What a start to your diary, I bet there isn't another PD that has began with a couple of species like that... and then followed closely by a great series of abs. Lovely stuff

I photographed a Meadow Brown similar to your ab. at Fermyn this year but the orange on yours looks even more clearly defined than on the one I saw, page 73 of my diary about halfway down.
viewtopic.php?f=29&t=5424&start=1440.
Yours is only the second one I have seen with that amount of orange on its hindwings.

Cheers,

Neil.

What a terrific selection, Gary. The female Adonis is particularly striking (I wonder what the upperside looked like), as are all the Grizzled Skippers.

The DGF looks like a female to me - and though these are often much darker than the males, your one is exceptionally dusky.

Dave

The DGF could well be a female after checking the other blurry photos. It was a lot darker than any of the other DGF at the time. Male or Female.

Nice collection of shots Gary/Blue Could your Chalkhill be ab.post-obsoleta? I'm not too sure about the DGF as I've seen females that dusky before so it might well fall in the normal range of variation - cracking shot though

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Seasonal Greeting all.

I just had an early Christmas present. I went for a walk around one of my stumping grounds and I saw this yellow thing fly past me. A male Brimstone on a sunny December 23rd morning. Couldn't wish for more.

Well done with the Brimstone. I took my camera in to town this morning, everything seemed right for
the odd Red Admiral sighting,but nothing!.
I hope you'll share some more of your images this winter.

Look forward to seeing you around again next year.

All the best.
Trevor.

Gary.N wrote:

I just had an early Christmas present. I went for a walk around one of my stumping grounds and I saw this yellow thing fly past me. A male Brimstone on a sunny December 23rd morning. Couldn't wish for more.

I'm pleased for you but sad in equal measure. Butterflies shouldn't flying about on 23rd December.....this unprecedented warm weather is not doing nature any favours. I fear there will be a high price paid if it continues through January.

Yesterday, Bob took me out on a nice but cloudy and cool day to show me the Wall Larvae. And he found 3 for me and a Speckled Wood Larva. Thankyou Bob .
I could not miss today weather. Bright blue sunshine. Makes a change from the last couple of months. And it was a good chance to use my new camera len. So I went Brown Hairstreak Egg Hunting, which was a first for me. I found two within an hour, without having to look to hard.
Then on my way home I stop off to look for PBF Caterpillars and someone had already found one (She know who she is).

That's some lens Gary, the detail in that egg !.
Any Large Tortoiseshell hunts on the horizon ?.

See you around,
Trevor.

Haven't had chance to look for them yet. But I start my transect next week so who knows I may get lucky again.

Glad we found some Wall larva for you Gary. Like the BH ova and the PBF larva. Will have to look harder for these!!

I had a really nice sunny day at Abbot's today.
I saw my first butterflies just after 11am. 2 Orange-tips. One a female and she was laying eggs.
I spent an hour or so taking pictures of the eggs and the moved on to a different part of the wood.
That when I found some fellow butterfliers and they had in there sights a couple PBFs.
Then to finish the day the was a nice Green Hairstreak.

A fine set of imagies Gary, a trip to Abbots wood definately beckons for me in the coming weeks!

Lovely stuff Gary, I certainly left too early.

A late afternoon trip on Saturday to Abbot's. The sun was trying its best to brighten up the end of the day and it warmed it up enough to bring out a few friends. A number of Grizzled Skippers and a very good number of Pearls.