www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks again Neil and Pauline. It was just wonderful getting a few pictures this late in the season of such colourful creatures!!
I managed another walk yesterday in some of my main Wall Brown areas to see how the 3rd brood is going. This year is the best I have known for the 3rd brood with butterflies showing up in areas that normally only has the first 2 broods. On the walk I saw 6 Wall including one female. I have now also had 2 in the garden, the first time I have had the 3rd brood show here. Also yesterday there were plenty of Small Coppers, a few Brown Argus and Common Blue and a late Adonis Blue. Speckled Wood also put on a good show.

A walk down Pevensey Levels today for an outside chance of 3rd brood Wall Brown. This is not a traditional 3rd brood site but following a pretty good 2nd brood it was worth a look. Not only did Nigel and I find 4, all females with 2 egg laying, we had a total of 10 species. Not bad for October!! Fresh Small Tortoiseshell, Comma and a Clouded Yellow were the standout species. Plenty of Red Admirals were also about including the one below.
More at http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.co.uk

Lovely Red Ad photo Bob, I had a very fresh one sit on my shoulder for a good 10 minutes the other day. Glad you had a nice and productive day out there today.

B'saurus

Hi Bob,
I just love that Red Admiral shot. It's one of the best RA underside images I've seen, and just so evocative of a warm, sunny autumn day.
BWs, Neil

Thanks James and Neil. It was almost worth the pain of pulling a neck muscle as it was at a really odd angle. I really ought to get that Lumix!!

Certainly is a lush Red Admiral Bob With Low Pressure returning I wonder if the promised Heatwave will happen and how the Walls will fair?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Following on from a few entries on the thread 'Decline of the Wall' I had another short search for Wall Brown larva today. Only 2 found today, near to each other, and they have now grown to around 75% of being fully grown.

Yesterday I went for a stroll around the Sussex BC reserve Rowland Wood where straight away I found an excellent male Brimstone. Later I came across a somewhat tatty Peacock.
I have now loaded some of my better pictures from the last few years on Flickr. You can hopefully find my photostream on flickr.com/photos/128888346@N02/
as well as my blog http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.co.uk

Love that last Brimstone image, Bob.

Excellent stuff!

Hi Bob,
Ditto. That last shot is a cracker. Winter is now on the run.
BWs, Neil

Superb Brimstones Bob!

BWs,

William

Thankyou David, Neil and William. It's good to get back into the butterfly mode!!
I've just returned from another look for Wall larva. I was pleased to find 2, one was the same as yesterdays but the other one was tiny, only around 1.2cm, which is the size I was finding at the end of January. The other one was over 3cm, so 3 times as large. This one I found feeding on the grass and I will post images later when I have loaded them on the computer.

Lovely Brimstone shots Bob, I'm still looking Goldie

Hi Goldie. You will get them very soon now!!
As mentioned in my earlier post today I found the larger Wall Brown larva on the grass feeding. This is the picture, which also shows the eating pattern on the grass. This is often what you see first when looking for these larva.
This afternoon I was out again and in the warmer weather I saw at least 6 Small Tortoiseshell, of which I got this record shot.

There have been very good numbers of Small Tortoiseshell showing this year. On the bank where I look for the Wall Brown larva I have seen at least 6 flying together. Mind you, the Great Grey Shrike that has been in the area may have reduced some of them. I was there again today hoping to improve on my shot of the Shrike, failing again, however, I did have a quick larva hunt and found 4 in total. At least 2 were new ones well away from my other finds. One was in the middle of his breakfast and it was interesting watching his mouth parts munching merrily on the grass.

Superb observations and dedication, Bob! I may not always comment, but am utterly absorbed in your Wall observations and keep a close eye on them!

Cheers,

- Pete

Thanks Pete. A lot of the inspiration has come from yourself!!

27/3/2015.
A 45 minute search this morning resulted in 9 Wall larvae. The most I have found in one session. I started in an area away from my main search area and in the first 2 tussocks I found one in each. 2 larvae found in probably less than 1 minute!! After that it did get a little harder and some tussocks back in my main search area drew a blank where I had seen them only a week ago. Whilst searching 2 Brimstone and up to 6 Small Tortoiseshell seen along with a couple of moth larvae. Great views as well of the Great Grey Shrike that is still munching away on the odd Tortoiseshell and Bumble Bee!!

I had the pleasure of showing the good old 'Downland Boy' around my Wall larvae site today. This allowed a bit more search time whilst he was photographing some. Due to this and the fact that there seems to be a few about I hit my all time record of finding 14. One was still very small, only about 1.5cm but all the rest were getting towards 3-3.5cm which is just about fully grown. It won't be long now before the painful pupa hunt gets going.

Smashing Moth Bob, not seen that one yet it's really impressive Goldie

Following my count of 14 Wall larvae last week I've had a couple more searches with less seen each time. Does this mean that they have started to pupate? Almost certainly some have and although I have had a couple of tentative pupa hunts I normally wait until an adult has been seen on site before I really get going, and get very frustrated!! A couple of days ago I found this fully grown larva resting in the early morning. I couldn't find it yesterday so it may also have pupated. I was pleased yesterday to find my first Marbled White larva of the year. Very small at just over 1 cm. long. I didn't photograph this one as I do have a selection of images from last year of larger larvae.