September 2016

[Philzoid]

Took advantage of the good weather to go to Sheepleas today. Saw six Red Admiral; one Speckled Wood; around twenty Meadow Brown (all females); one Small copper and one wing-damaged Clouded Yellow :-

A final hurrah for this year I expect

Phil

[Allan.W.]

Hello all,
Things are really starting to wind down now here in Kent,i,ve continued to look for Small Coppers (away from Dungeness),at various likely looking sites , about twelve in all now ,and have managed to find at least 3 Coppers at every site ! bar one. 2 more weeks and I think that,ll be it for the Kentish Coppers(for this year) ,hope I,m wrong,they,ve given me some memorable ,never to be forgotten moments this season ,I,ve also started looking for Coppers in egg and caterpillar stages and without trying too hard ,have been quite successful
and am currently rearing and watching two "pet" Copper caterpillars,and once seen, the distinctive feeding patterns of the larvae on the foodplants leaves are pretty easy to find in the wild,as are the empty egg cases ,(especially if you own a pair of"Pappilio" close up butterflying binoculars (best £85) I,ve spent for ages),I,ve also come across some oddties
as well in my travels ,namely a smart "Radiata" in Orlestone forest, but probably the most interesting was at a great plant site on the edge of Littlestone golf course an absolutely tiny
male blue spot ,which had a wingspan of between 12-15 mm,i,ve never seen one quite like it,took a couple of shots but ,with nothing to give it scale ,it is just another Small Copper !
Don,t know about anyone else but I,ve really struggled with Speckled woods this season,and have probably seen more this season in urban areas than the wider countryside, still a few fresh looking Male Common Blues on the wing , the odd Meadow Brown,whites ,Comma,Red Ad and Peacock.............its going to be a long winter without them.
The other evening my niece rang to say she,d got a Moth the size of a bat on her living room curtain ! did I want it !! she sent me a pic; YES!!
a lifer ,something I,d always wanted to see ,Convolvulous hawkmoth, I went around and retrieved this beauty,and later released it in our garden .
A footnote to this is, that there have now been quite a number of Convolvulous Hawk sightings with at least a couple at Dungeness,Hythe, and New Romney. Regards Allan W.

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Folks,
This last week I left Marseilles, France, behind me, and flew back to see family and friends in my homeland of Leicestershire.
For once therefore I can join you in putting in a report from this last week of butterflies seen in the UK, in Leicestershire / Rutland.
Ably guided by my birding friend, Mark Ward, we paid a visit to the Rutland Water nature reserve at Egleton.
I was surprised to find that even at the end of the season, there are still 8 species of butterfly on the wing.
We saw :
Red Admiral : 75+
Comma : 15+ (both these species in abundance on Blackberry bushes)
Small Copper : 4 +
Small White : 2 +
Large White : 1
Green-veined White : 6 +
Small Tortoiseshell : 2 +
Speckled Wood : 6 +

Unknown dragonfly

Unknown Caterpillar

Comma

Speckled Wood

Comma

Cheers,
Chris

[Catteraxe]

HI Chris,

I'm pretty sure your dragonfly is an immature Migrant Hawker. I took a similar shot last month as below.

Cheers,

Kevin.

[Chris Jackson]

Thanks Kevin,
Its rare that dragonflies remain immobile long enough for me to get a photo
Chris

[Allan.W.]

Butterflies getting thin on the ground now, still a few Coppers about though, hoping for a bit of bright weather for the weekend and,hopefully an hour or two at Dungeness.In the local woods , a late Common Blue ,a few Commas ,Red Ads, a huge Sloworm crossing the ride,was nice, still plenty of Common Darters about,and Hornets ,seem to be everywhere at the moment. Best moment for me was the Wall Brown female that turned up quite unexpectedly, my first in the local woods since 97' ,add to that the Small Heath
that Dave Brown fund in the same woods this week ,after a (near) absence of ten plus years ,maybe things are looking up here for next year. My two "pet" Small Copper larvae have been joined quite unexpectedly by a third which must have come in with the foodplant,getting quite large now,don't know whether they,ll pupate ,and hatch this year (4th brood)
or curl up in the leaves for the winter,we'll have to see . regards Allan.W.

[David M]

A fresh Comma seen outside my workplace early this afternoon. First I've spotted for over a month.

[Allan.W.]

Hello Chris (Jackson).
Think your caterpillar is " Knotgrass" Acronicta rumictus. Regards Allan.W.

[Chris Jackson]

Hello Chris .... Think your caterpillar is " Knotgrass" Acronicta rumictus ... Regards Allan.W.

Thank you Allan, I've had feedback elsewhere also that this a "Knotgrass".
Cheers, Chris