May 2012

[Neil Hulme]

Congratulations Trev. Nice taras. Nice shot. That'll be your butterfly of the year then .
Best Wishes, Neil

[Trev Sawyer]

Thanks guys...
Yes Neil... A couple of shots you took in Sussex and a conversation we had at one of the UKButts photo days really fired me up and I've wanted to see one ever since. Tried unsuccessfully last year and began to think I'd missed my chance again this year, so I was delighted to find one in such good condition. Grizzled Skippers have always been my favourite butterfly and the beautiful taras aberration is a real jewel of an insect. Once seen, never forgotten.

Trev

[Willrow]

Haugh Woods, Herefordshire. Pleasant few hours yesterday strolling around this lovely mature woodland, it has Butterfly Walking Trails that have been created by virtue of Forest Enterprise and Butterfly Conservation working closely together for the good of both Lepidoptera and commercial timber interests. The woods is reknown for it's Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Wood White and I was rather surprised to find that the latter species seemed to outnumber the P-b Fs, I've never seen such good numbers of Wood White at Haugh before, that's not to say that the Frits were low in numbers, they were well represented, which is most encouraging after our dire spring.

As noticed by others around the country Speckled Wood were rather noticable by their absence, only 6 seen, normally the woods have them in their many dozens, a weird year then for our Speckleds. I saw a rather nice collection of six Greater Butterfly Orchid, it really is worth reading up on this lovely orchids relationship with our butterflies and moths.

If there is a more beautifully coloured spider than the green Micrommata virescens then I hav'nt yet seen it, they enjoy low vegeteation in damp places, and this one kept retreating under the leaf until I gently tickled it with a bit of grass stalk and it then quickly re-appeared (sneaky is best ). My original ID was the green variant of Misumena vatia I'm most grateful to ChrisC for pointing out my silly mistake (tap on the wrist - must not rush ID's )

I can highly recommend a visit to Haugh Woods, it's how all our woods should be treated, and right now it's at it's very best.

Bill

Classical woodland butterfly country, home to Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Wood White among others.

Pearl-bordered Frits seem to love Dandelion and other yellow flowers, and of course Bugle is a great favourite.

The Greater Butterfly Orchid is a woodland treasure, but can also be found in other suitable habitat.

In the heat the Wood White were constantly on the move, this one did take a five minute break and allowed a quick snap.

[Debbie]

Lovely pictures and the spider is a fabulous colour

[ChrisC]

i think your spider could actually be micrommata virescens. one on my wish list
a vey jealous
Chris

[Willrow]

My original post is now edited, many thanks Chris, very well spotted

Bill