www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks Wurzel, glad I am being of some help . I willed a Green Hairstreak to appear but it wasn't to be sadly . The Pallid was a lifer for me
I recommend Ronda David, probably gets quite touristy in season but it wasn't too bad when we were there
Thanks Essex, they were doing some building work when we were there so you couldn't get everywhere but to get to the bottom we went through the old city

Spain, March 2019 part 6

22nd March
Just two days left in Spain but hopefully still some lifers to get. The winds in the southern tip of Spain were still near gale force, averaging at around 45mph, so we set our destination north again, this time to explore Seville. I’d had a look on google maps the night before and there were some parks that seemed worth exploring. We made good time and arrived before the morning had warmed up properly. Pigeons and Parakeets were the main occupants of the park but as the day wormed up it became rather clear that butterflies weren’t going to show up, indeed insects in general were notable in their almost complete absence. We visited three parks (although the third in the north of the city would seem just to be an abandoned Orange orchard). In total I saw just 3 or 4 Large White, a Red Admiral and a couple of Geranium Bronze. The lack of insect life was also obvious in the birdlife, hardly any insectivores was heard or seen, Wrens, Warblers, Tits all absent. I only came away with pictures of Parakeets in the end. On the plus side it is a nice city to wander round and get lost in so in that respect it wasn’t a completely wasted day

Spain, March 2019 part 7

23rd March, the final day (a quest for paths)
The final day of our trip had arrived and once again we had to do a bit of traveling in order to stand a chance of finding some butterflies. I wanted to have another go at finding the Great Malaga Path, this time where it goes through Marbella where the weather forecast promised at least some sun and the hilly country might give some relief from the strong winds still blowing along the southern coast.

For once we did find the path, actually signposted too, something it would seem the Spaniards take a rather relaxed attitude to . Only 5 minutes worth of the path though, the bit that leads from the beach up to the first main road, from there it’s up to you to work out where the path continues, so we wandered up until we found a narrow footpath that seemed to lead off into the hills. It wasn’t too long before I came across some small Lycids flitting around some wild Rosemary and Lavender. I couldn’t work out what I was looking at, having no experience with these continental blues and they were mostly old and faded. The one fresh one that allowed me to record him stayed open winged so I still wasn’t too sure (I know others reading this will know straightaway what they were). Still whatever they were, they were a lifer for me. A second darker butterfly was also here which I did manage to identify straight away. After seeing them several times in the towns and failing to get any pictures of one, I finally had a Geranium Bronze at my disposal and allowing me some nice naturalistic images to boot . Further on up the path where it got a little bit shady Speckled Wood turned up in decent numbers and in good nick too. My friend had wandered off up ahead whilst I dawdled around with the Blues and when I caught up with her she was getting a local history lesson with a local amateur historian. Whilst they continued chatting, perched on some ruined buildings, I explored a nearby damp area next to the stream that was running alongside the path. Large & Small Whites and Speckled Wood flittered around here, enjoying the Cape Sorrel and Periwinkle that grew here but, no new species though. A male Brimstone flew past without stopping, but a male Cleopatra did. Unfortunately in my haste to grab a shot I didn’t check my camera settings (which were set to closeups of Whites) so the resulting images were somewhat underexposed and needed a lot of fiddling with on my computer and so not as good as I hoped, oh well. We had been confidently told by our new historian friend that the path continued up into the hills. This proved to not be entirely true, it simply ended at a patch of fenced off waste ground next to the Spanish equivalent to a housing estate with no obvious way through . As we explored various options that looked like routes (all ending the same way) I noticed some Blues flitting around a steep slope. More Black Eyed Blues, males and mostly uncooperative. I was about to give up when I saw something a bit different land. A nice fresh specimen which helped to answer my earlier dilemma, no mistaking that underside pattern. A slight thinning of the cloud cover prompted her to open, what a lovely understated butterfly a female Lang's Short-tailed Blue is. Before leaving one of the Black Eyed males sort of opened up for me too. Sunny spells had become a bit of a premium now but we still had a good few hours of the day left so after a quick look of google maps, we made our way back to the car and went in search for the path again, driving round to the other side of the estate. Here we found a nice map full of paths and trails we could spend a whole week exploring… we had 2 hours and a mostly cloudy sky. Once we’d figured out which path to explore we set off, with me keeping a close eye for roosting butterflies. Patches of Buckler’s Mustard grew here and there and finally, climbing up a slope I managed to find a couple of snoozing male Provence Orange-tip. I made the most of this pair as they snoozed and also when a brief sunny spell stirred them from their slumber. At the end of our walk it opened out into a rocky slope where I found my last two butterflies of the trip, a Small Copper and a Clouded Yellow. And so endeth my first foray into the world of continental butterflies, it won’t be my last !

Those little Provence Hairstreaks were everywhere by the look of it, Buggy! what an engaging species it is.
I went to Ronda many years ago in early June - unfortunately the clouds were down and it was cold and drizzly so I missed all those splendid views and certainly didn't come across any butterflies. I always wondered what it looked like...

Cheers,

Dave

More cracking reportage Bugboy Those POTs are stunning and you did really well to get open wing views of LST - something I found nigh on impossible to get when I was in Portugal Now your trip report has come to an end we need the weather over here to buck up a bit so we can see our own butterflies rather than living vicariously through yours

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely photos you've posted Buggy, it's been a pleasure to see them all Goldie

Awesome stuff BB. Glad you had a successful trip, love those POT's!

Hi Buggy. More amazing pictures. I love the shots of Cleopatra with the wings open. Closed wing shots just don't catch the character of the butterfly.

Your unidentified blues are Langs short-tailed. They're a bit worn but I don't think there's any doubt over the identity.

Guy

Padfield wrote:
Your unidentified blues are Langs short-tailed. They're a bit worn but I don't think there's any doubt over the identity.

Indeed. You can just about make out the u/s markings on the first individual.

I've shared your joy throughout this reportage, BB. It takes me back to 2011 when I embarked on my first overseas trip to the Cevennes in France. Now that you have experienced the joy I'm sure you'll be back on the continent fairly soon.

Many congratulations with those Provence Orange Tip shots. They're tricky subjects (certainly the males are), so that image of the pair with wings open is particularly noteworthy.

Sadly, you're now stuck with 10-12 species for the next few weeks!

Thanks everyone for the comments and I'm glad you all enjoyed my reports. As Guy stated in his PD, it is easy to do on a budget, especially since it is out of season. £300 each for flights, car rental and accommodation and another £250 each on spending money (including petrol) for 9 days.

April 2019 part 1

April 6th
There was a good chunk of favourable weather waiting for me upon my return from Spain, unfortunately I had to spend every part of it at work and so I had to wait until the first weekend of April to get back out into the wilds of the UK. Even then the weather wasn’t playing ball (well it is April after all) and to find any sun I had to travel into the wilds of Sussex. With an easterly breeze and Orange-tips top of my hit list I was after a west facing site with a good supply of Cuckoo flower, North Stoke it was then. What started off as a cloudy day ended with an encounter that will probably be one of my highlights of the year, but more about that later. I had to wait for an hour or so for the sun to break through the cloud so I contented myself with the birdlife. A Pheasant scampering through a sea of Cuckoo Flower made for a nice shot displaying why the Orange-tips do so well here And the Swans I captured flying around on my last visit back in February have decided to start a family, the Pen was sat tight whilst the Cob was on guard, keeping a close eye on me, the fluffy neck and slightly raised wings a clear signal I shouldn’t get any closer if I wanted to avoid a trip to hospital! Thinning cloud gained me a distant sight of species number 6 for the year on my UK list, a Green-veined White. I was wandering around some nearby woodland paths, admiring the Primrose show when the clouds cleared and by the time I got back to the meadow, Orange-tips were already on patrol. It was still early enough in their day for them to need to make pit stops so shots were achieved of species 7. I took another wander through the Main swathe of Cuckoo Flower, expecting to find more here but instead there were a couple of Peacock and a Small Tortoiseshell gorging themselves silly. There were perhaps half a dozen OT’s on the wing, all males, and all doing their best to stay on the wing even when cloud obscured the sun. Whilst following one of the males he kindly sniffed out a mating pair of Green-veined White for me. The sunny spell only lasted an hour or so and all the butterflies quickly vanished, but not wanting to waste the rest of the day I went for a wander further afield, exploring some footpaths I’d noted on previous visits. I watched a pair of Buzzards courting in a nearby field, one coming close enough to grab some shots before the path reached the River Arun. It was whilst wandering along here that the afore mentioned highlight happened. Some movement from the opposite shore caught my eye, I didn’t quite see the animal in detail, just the top of a head crossing the river towards me. My first reaction was ‘Oooh Otter’ but surely it had already seen me, why would it be making a beeline for me, not a very Ottery thing to do. I quickly fiddled with my camera settings but looking up again it had disappeared… only to reappear a few feet in front of me…. It wasn’t an Otter! As the Crow flies I was about 10 miles inland, as the Common Seal swims it was probably closer to 15 miles. It looks like a youngster and I suspect it was a bit lost and hungry, the river was very high and murky so fish would likely not be easy to find. I actually thought at one point it was going to get out onto the back to get closer to me. I contacted a friend who deals with sea life stranding’s etc although whether it needed help, or if it did anything could be done I can’t say, but I hope it worked out it needed to go downstream.

Whilst all this was going on I had a pair of Peregrines courting above and some Stonechats making a racket behind me! I’m glad I went out for the day 10th April
4 days later it was time to make the most of the predicted wall the wall blue sky on my day off and set off to Mill Hill to find the Grizzled Skippers. The wall to wall blue sky took an age to appear, the cloud cover finally disappearing after 1. I was there from 9.30 though but it wasn’t until a brief sunny spell an hour later that I finally found my target and first butterfly of the day. It was 2 hours of further wandering before I found another one, along with some fellow butterfliers also looking for them. As the day wore on and brightened I think I managed to get four individuals, judging by my images. The afternoon sun did help to increase the species count too, a single Brimstone wandered by and a fresh female Green-veined White stopped at virtually every flower. Peacocks appeared in growing numbers as the afternoon wore on, almost certainly many were those second brood insects from last year, at first squabbling over prime territories but later feeding on the Blackthorn blossom. I had a couple of Red Admiral flybys on the upper slopes where I also came across a particularly large Small Tortoiseshell gorging on the Ground Ivy flowers and a single Comma Despite looking for, and being told they had been seen by others, I still could find any Speckled Wood though. Still, the Grizzlies were good value for money

I think I recognise some of those Grizzed Skippers, buggy! I think I saw four as well, including an egg-laying female.

Pleased to see you got your OT's Buggy but the shots of that seal are just magical. Do hope he was OK.

Crickey Bugboy you've been busy Love the OTs , pretty 'jel' of the GVW as I've still not seen one this year and the Grizzlies are brill The best shot has to be the Grizzlie number 5, the back view of it buried in the nectar - it looks like a totally different beast

Have a goodun

Wurzel

No excuse for slacking with the in-flight Orange Tip shots after all the practice you got with their frisky cousins in the south of Spain, BB!

Quite a wildlife fest you've reported on there....it's not often you get a seal popping up on UKB!

Great series of reports from Spain Bugboy, I don't usually comment on continental reports because I haven't got much of a clue about most of the butterflies but I do like their version of Speckled Wood, like you say, very much like a Wall Brown.

A great selection from back home too, especially the Orange-tips and that seal

Cheers,

Neil.

Lovely selection from your North Stoke visit BB, nice to see a report from an area I've never been to.

And excellent Grizzlies from Mill Hill.

Cheers

Thanks for the comments. It feels like I've had a very busy April, I've barely had time to get on here recently so I'm way behind everyones diaries... including my own

April 2019 part 2

18th April
Warm sunshine and a day off coincided perfectly this week and before the Easter weekend brought flocks of people to my local patches I thought I’d have a look round and see what was about, I still had a few spring species yet to tick off, most notably Speckled Wood. On Walthamstow Marshes it was oddly quiet at first and it took about half an hour for the first butterfly to show up, the bright orange of a basking Comma looking very gaudy against the fresh green Hawthorn leaves. Flitting and nectaring nearby was a my first Specklie of the season (UK edition that is). After this things did slowly start to liven up, but not as much as I was expecting or hoping for. A handful of Whites began their patrolling, Orange-tip’s obvious in their absence, and I didn’t see any Holly Blue. Nyphalids were also rather hard to come by with just the odd flyby here and there. Only a few Specklies were seen and given they were all in tip top condition I’d say they have only recently started to emerge here. An hour or so passed by before I encountered another decent wave of photographic opportunities. The Brimstones had awoken from their traditional lay in and were now racing up and down the hedgerows. Despite this being my local patch I’d yet to locate any Buckthorn over the many years of wandering it. I finally corrected this when I saw a female Brimstone paying particular attention to a small tree. It was in an overgrown corner of the site, surrounded on most sides by nettle and bramble but I managed to find a relatively pain free route to discover it was an Alder Buckthorn littered in eggs . Nearby, a few Nyphalids were somewhat less active than the majority I’d seen up to this point. The final species to turn up were the Orange-tip, who like the Speckled Wood I think had only just started to emerge here. Next it was off to Tottenham Marshes. Here, as is usual, Small Tortoiseshell appeared in decent numbers. In the heat they were mostly keeping their wings firmly closed After getting a few snaps of them I made a beeline for the narrow, sheltered strip of grass that never fails me, where I stumbled into a butterfly war zone . Several Peacocks in an almost constant squabble over territory, although surprisingly just one Comma was present. Whites, Brimstone and Orange-tip also became victims of the Peacocks brutality, regularly getting sucked into the battles as they ‘innocently’ fluttered by. I was mostly a spectator here in the heat, which I suspect was several degrees above what my app was saying, so I wandered off to see what else I could find. A few speckled Wood loitered in the shadier patches, avoiding the sun where ever possible and a couple of male Brimstone were busy feeding on some Kingcup. Elsewhere it was much the same collection of Whites and Nymphalids, some a little worse for wear... an hour or so passed by and high cloud had turned the sun a bit hazy so I made my way back to the war zone, hoping things had calmed down a bit and would be more willing to sit still. If anything it was even busier, the single Comma had brought in reinforcements with half a dozen now present to do battle with at least seven Peacock (I was watching 3 beat up a Comma when another 4 practically clattered into my head). The hazy sun did however create the occasional lull and plenty of photographic opportunities. I caught site of my first Holly Blue of the season (just a passer-by) and managed a record of my first Large White of the season. Some more very fresh Speckled Wood dropped in occasionally and I hung around hoping to see if any of the Orange-tip would slow down too, but that didn’t happen, only managing a few distant record shots . 20th April
My weekend off had arrived and the fine weather had decided to hang around, so taking my cue from Millerds report of Green Hairstreaks out and about down Denbies way I set off to find some for myself. I did intend to get there early enough to find them warming up but a mix up with the trains (totally my fault for once) meant I got stuck and ended up arriving a good 2 hours later than planned to find them full of beans. Nevertheless they threw a good range of poses for me, not least because it seemed too hot at times for them so there was a lot of fidgeting as they temperature regulated themselves. The walk from Westhumble was, as is usual at this time of year, filled with Speckled Wood (once again, mostly fresh) and Orange-tip, the former happy to pose, the latter not a hope in the heat ! Although I spent most my time with the Hairstreaks I did take a wander along the hillside, seeing a handful of very active Grizzled Skippers plus two newbies for the season, a Small Heath and a couple of Dingy Skipper . Brimstones and Orange-tips were also present in decent numbers but as one would expect, neither were stopping for anyone.

The plan for the afternoon was to wander round the cooler woodland habitat of Bookham but this was oddly barren of butterfly life. In the few hours I was there I saw a couple of Peacock, the odd White and a few Orange-tip. I very nearly left without taking a single picture when a female OT stopped near me to lay a few eggs as I was leaving. 21st April
The following day it was off to Essex and Hadleigh Country Park, the main target here being Orange-tip… if I managed to get there early enough . I remember coming here last year for OT during the unseasonably warm spring to find them racing around almost from the get-go and today was a similar situation. I had about a 20-minute window from seeing my first few basking to being a mere bystander, I’m happy with what I got though Once they became impossible to pin down, I switched to the other species that were around which consisted of just three, Peacock, Speckled Wood and Green-veined White. Mid-morning found me staking out a small, rather lonely patch of Bluebell. A Peacock was busy gorging itself and passing Orange-tips would occasionally stop off for a quick refill. Just before leaving for a stroll around a new site, another season first dropped by, a female Small Copper . She quickly found a dock leaf and laid a single egg before promptly flying off out of sight. The new site was one of the woods where Heath Fritillary are found. I was after some larvae and after a bit of wandering I found what looked like a likely spot, a recently (but not too recently) coppiced area whose floor had copious amounts of Cow Wheat coming up. I didn’t find any of my targets though . The very nature of the search meant it was a bit of a long shot, I was obviously only able to pick my way around the edge of the area, I certainly wasn’t going to risk partially destroying the colony just to find one. Elsewhere in the wood I just had a few flyby encounters with Brimstone and Orange-tip and the odd Speckled Wood.

I still had most the afternoon to play with so I wandered back to have a look around two tree Island. Here lots more Peacock were staking out the paths whilst Whites and Orange-tip fluttered here and there. The odd Small Tortoiseshell flew by and also a single Red Admiral, the first one I’d seen since February showed up but was quickly seen off by one of the Peacocks. Before leaving I decided to have a quick look at the lagoon where the winter waders flock at high tide, hoping for some hatchling Avocet. I got a bit of a shock when I got to where the hide used to be, it was burnt to the ground, completely reduced to ashes ! Still I was here now and I had a small gang of Small Tortoiseshell flying around the nettles here to keep me occupied. It seemed to be mostly females but one male had cottoned on to the fact if he hung around here, he’d guarantee himself some females. Unfortunately for him he’d not cottoned on to the fact the females where all here for a different reason and he was just being even more of a nuisance than your average male butterfly ...well that was a slightly longer post than I'd initially intended

Wow BB, what can I say the Grizzled Skipper shots make me Jealous Goldie

I'm a bit out of breath after reading all those exploits Bugboy Brilliant set of shots especially the in flight make OT cracking that is How do you arrange the photos into the four images view like that - does it take less memory? Any tips would be most useful

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Goldie M wrote:Wow BB, what can I say the Grizzled Skipper shots make me Jealous Goldie

Thanks Goldie, I'm quite sure you'll find your Grizzlies soon

Wurzel wrote:I'm a bit out of breath after reading all those exploits Bugboy Brilliant set of shots especially the in flight make OT cracking that is How do you arrange the photos into the four images view like that - does it take less memory? Any tips would be most useful

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, that in flight OT was pure luck but I have to admit I do rather like it . I use a free to download program called PhotoScape X. The images a stuck together by the program and saved as a single jpeg which you can then resize like any other image so I presume it does. It can edit RAW images as well. It's very user friendly and does all the other standard photo editing stuff you'd expect. PM me if you want any more info

Cheers for the info I've downloaded the program and I'll try and have a play with it but as things are almost in full swing now it might be a while

Have a goodun

Wurzel