Bugboys mission

[bugboy]

22nd May (part 2)
As with my last visit to Abbots Wood I moved on to Malling Down for the afternoon. A large bank of cloud had descended upon my arrival which calmed the Common Blues down a bit, the Adonis though remained quite flighty and still required stealthy stalking. There was also a Beetle which at the time I thought was some sort of Dung Beetle but I now think it's a Tenebrionidae, perhaps Bolitophagus reticulatus

After a while the cloud drifted off and along the sheltered foot of the slope there was much the same group of species as before, mostly still in good nick.

As I was leaving I noticed some Small Blue near the gate that takes you past the allotments, I don't recall ever seeing Small Blue here before and I've certainly never noticed any Kidney Vetch here. Nevertheless there were three males jostling with a Brown Argus for prime grass blades.

This aged Holly Blue also gets a mention simply on account of how thin on the ground they seem to have been for me this year .

Green Hairstreaks bookended my day, I followed this female around as she looked to lay eggs. I never saw any eggs actually being laid but I did manage an accidental upperside as she took to the air mid shot... nearly in focus too !

So it was back to work for the next six days but the following weekend was to become another highlight of my year, so I may get a tad self indulgent...

[trevor]

Very nice Adonis, Paul, and a mrgreen for the Green Hairstreak
action shot showing the upper side. Never seen a photo of this, only
illustrations in books. It's good to know there's a camera out there that's
quicker than they are !.

Great stuff,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Great reports Bugboy - cracking Pearls/Smalls and the comparison shots are great As for your dearth of Holly Blues - it's cos Dave has been whispering them all over his way

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Your getting some great shots Bugboy, of lots of species keep them coming Goldie

[David M]

That Holly Blue has seen better days, BB! Love the Green Hairstreak in-flight shot. Those images can only ever occur accidentally.

[bugboy]

Thanks Trevor, nothing other than pure luck that shot
Thanks Wurzel, yes, that Dave and his Holly Blue hording ways
Thanks Goldie, I had another 4 new species for the year yesterday, in less than ideal weather. I'm still 2 weeks behind in my posting but don't worry, I'll keep posting
Thanks David a pleasant accident though

1st June Norfolk…
Well, what could I possibly be doing in Norfolk… at the beginning on June… on a sunny day? Time for a slightly self-indulgent post…

I’d sweet talked my now regular chauffeur a few weeks previously into the idea of this road trip, and it’s only a two-hour journey from north east London so easily done in a day. We arrived shortly after 9, to find the car parks at Strumpshaw already packed and gaggles of photographers enjoying the already active Swallowtails. My only other time seeing Swallowtails was on a rather cloudy day three years ago when I saw four or five all day. This time proved to be far better with 15+ seen over the course of the day. The first couple of hours were spent at Strumpshaw, then stopping off for a pub lunch before heading off to Hickling for the afternoon and finally a brief stopover back at Strumpshaw again before heading home. All in all managed to take close to a thousand images, nearly as many as my 9 days in Spain, so whittling them to a select few to post has been excruciating! I could whitter on about with more details about what I did and saw but let’s face, it’s all about one species so here they are .

Outside Strumpshaws visitor centre there was plenty of action..

The hill past the Doctors Garden was rather busy too..

Meanwhile back at the visitor centre it hadn't slowed down

At Hickling it had clouded over and, with no specially planted areas they were harder to come by, but oh so worth it when they were found

Just the one lone Swallowtail and a few attendant photographers were at Strumpshaw at 6pm (plenty of room to park the car though) but still worth the 10 minute stopover before heading home

What a fantastic day

[trevor]

I retraced your steps at Strumpshaw almost exactly on Monday the 3rd.
It was something of an occasion seeing all those Swallowtails nectaring,
and just watching them in action.

Trevor.
PS. Good to see you today, hope the visit was worthwhile.

[ernie f]

Wonderful Swallowtails, Bugboy. Some magazine cover quality in there too.

Also, looking back - a topside shot of a Green Hairstreak. I tried all season to get that but without success.

[Janet Turnbull]

Suitably envious, Bugboy! Your pics are fantastic and I especially like the ones from Hickling.
We are here a fortnight later in exactly the same spots and having stayed 4 days in case of poor weather we've enjoyed sunshine every day! But far fewer Swallowtails. However, since I have not previously seen our ss Britannica I'm still thrilled (must book an earlier holiday next time!)
Janet

[Wurzel]

A fantastic set of images Bugboy My cup runneth over with

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Sounds and looks like a fabulous day out, BB. In years gone by very few UKB members have posted images of britannicus Swallowtails but this year quite a few have made the effort to go and see them. They're always good to see. I find the Norfolk race more attractive than the continental gorganus variety.

[Neil Freeman]

A cracking selection of Swallowtail images Bugboy I particularly like the ones from Hickling, as you say, harder work but so much more satisfying for that.

Cheers,

Neil.

[kevling]

Bugboy,

A little behind on your diary, but worth the wait, Cracking SPBF from Sussex and I particularly like your short of the Green Hairstreak in flight. Very unusual to see it's top side in a photograph. I think we must have been following each other about, as I was in Sussex the same week visiting Malling Down amongst others places and then at Strupshaw Fen for the Swallowtails (of which your photos are excellent).

Regards
Kev

[bugboy]

Thanks for all the comments I'm glad you found your Swalllowtails Janet, like David says, a far superior beast to gorganus which looks like a washed out version to our one . I believe the nominate race in northern Europe, P. m. machaon looks more like britanicus

June 1st (Brucie bonus post)
Although there were plenty other other butterflies around, they sadly barely got a look in with all the Swallowtail activity. At the visitor centre the Swallowtails were joined by numerous Brimstone, the occasional Orange-tip and, so I heard on the grapevine, a Clouded Yellow.

Out in the meadow there were a lot of Common Blue, the only one I payed more than scant attention to was this striking female.

Along with the Swallowtails, the fens are also home to many species of Odonata, some of them rather rare and localised. I only got a fleeting glance at a Norfolk Hawker, it had seen me first, but there were lots of the more approachable Scarce Chaser (anything but scarce in this part of the world)

At Hickling I pretty much doubled my years tally of Red Admirals, with several looking freshly grown.

I was then stopped in my tracks as I tried to return to the car park to meet up with my chauffeur. A cob Swan casually walked out from the reeds at the side of the path, took one look at me and hissed aggressively, and was followed onto the path by his four cygnets who set up camp. Fearing a messy end to my day I found another path to return to the car park

[Wurzel]

That is a striking Blue Bugboy
"Fearing a messy end to my day I found another path to return to the car park " - a wise decision as they can be really aggressive, you only have to watch Hot Fuzz to know that

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Wonderful, BB. You clearly had an excellent visit, and that additional wildlife enhances the experience still further.

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel and David it was indeed a memorable day

3rd June
I gave myself the Sunday off from butterflying after the highs of Norfolk, apart from anything else I had 950 images to sift through! Anyway, by the Monday, which I had sneakily booked off a few days previously, I was ready to go out again and find another new species for the year, a more leisurely day looking for the Heath Fritillary at Hockley Wood in Essex. There’s certainly no need to chase these friendly little critters, especially since it was a more cloudy day. Also, no need for a crack of dawn start, being relatively close to them as I am.

Although all the books suggest this butterfly is very much a sun worshipper and will only be active in bright sun, a warm cloudy day is probably a better day for photography. They may be not particularly active, but there are still plenty hanging around in small gangs, just waiting for a break in the cloud.

The occasional breaks did happen from time to time leading to feeding and the usual flirtatious shenanigans.

A very brief visitation from a Holly Blue gave me just a single chance of a shot. A shame since I'd have liked a better look at him since he seems to be missing most of his underside spots

Having got my fill I decided to head south to see if the White-letter Hairstreaks were out at Hadleigh Country Park. They weren’t but wandering wider afield I did find my first Meadow Brown of the year.

Also seen were a few extremely frisky Common Blue, a tatty old Brown Argus and a Small Heath settling down for bed

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Essex "I had 950 images to sift through" that is the only draw back to a fantastic day butterflying but still worth it in the end A cracking set of Heaths I've seen them in the UK twice - the first time was solid cloud and I mostly got undersides, the second was mostly sunny and most of my shots were of topsides so 'a bit cloudy' seems the best all round

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Wow, you really are hard at it, BB! How many images did you use up for all those Heath Fritillaries?

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, I reckon that end of day total image count is a record for me, I did manage to whittle it down to just a mere 270 though
Thanks David, it looks like I was a few shots shy of 400 pictures of those Heaths by the time I left Hockley

5th June
Another day out, this time somewhere new for me, the 'legendary' Wrecclesham. After hearing about it for so long I thought I’d see what all the fuss was about and see if the Glanvilles were still on the wing. Millerds precise directions lead me straight to the unassuming patch of waste ground. It didn’t take long for the target to appear, a slightly aged one fluttering around and feeding on the Bird’s-foot Trefoil in the mostly overcast conditions.

Thinning cloud and sunny spells soon made the trip wholly worthwhile with several more, mostly fresh individuals found, all relatively easy to approach with the regular cloud cover giving me ample opportunities to record the glorious underside .

It’s a rather small site with not much variety in the habitat so even with such a scarce insect at my disposal, I’d find it difficult to spend an entire day here. After an hour, with plenty of shots in the bag, it was time to move on and explore the wider area.

Google maps sent me on a few wild goose chases, green spots either clearly marked private or simply impossible to reach but after an half an hour I found a cattle pasture with a style access point next to the river Wey. Lush nettle growth instantly put Small Tortoiseshell in mind here. The sunny spells had all but vanished now and at first all I found was a single Small Heath and an interesting dead tree which to me looked rather like a giant fossilised duck head with antlers and a Triceratops style neck shield.

After not too long though I hit the Small Tortoiseshell jackpot (a sad statement for the state of this species that I get excited whenever I come across this once 'common as muck' species ), a trio of very fresh emergents plus 3 larval webs, at least four females had concluded this field to be the perfect nursery.

Still with most the afternoon going begging I continued back towards Farnham train station looking for a patch of greenery I’d noticed that morning. A bit of digging on the internet found that it is known locally as Brambleton Park and is an old landfill site that nature has been allowed to reclaim. It was now completely overcast and half an hour’s exploration threw up just three subjects, a Small Copper who had clearly lead a very eventful life, an ovipositing Brown Argus and a Mother Shipton.

It would be very interesting to explore this space in brighter weather, there’s a rich variety of plant-life here so I imagine insect life must surely be as equally as varied. Quite an eventful day all in all and another place to escape the from the big smoke to .