www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

nick patel wrote:silly butterfly getting in the way of my photograph!

Good spot that, Nick. Did you find them by accident or is it a known site for them?

Every year I make a point of doing an annual Grayling count at one of my local patches, Parc Penallta, which is approximately 6 miles north of Caerphilly (South Wales). Yesterday was the optimum weather conditions for Grayling, hot at around 23C and hardly a breath of wind. Parc Penallta was created about 20 years ago on the remains of coal-tip waste, today it is hard to tell what it once was, the flora is an incredible mix that would keep any botanist happy for an age, at present it's alive with masses of Lady's Bedstraw Galium verum and Common Centuary Centaurium erythraea in particular. The bare dry patches that show through on the southern facing slope and upper areas you would think were created with Grayling especially in mind, and I've previously gone on record as saying that Parc Penallta is the Grayling capital of Wales...yesterday I stopped my count at 300+ - and I had not covered certain parts of the Parc that I know from past annual counts support additional good numbers. This could be their peak numbers for this year, but then again maybe not, I intend to recheck if we have similar weather conditions over the next week, if yesterday was'nt their peak then the numbers could be quite simply staggering when they do peak

This at least doubles up on any other Grayling count I've done at Parc Penallta over several years, I'm very interested to know if other Grayling sites anywhere in the UK have recorded similar success...is it a Grayling year

Bill

David M wrote:
Good spot that, Nick. Did you find them by accident or is it a known site for them?

a mate of mine found the site the day before, so i went back with him the next day to try and see them for myself and wasn't disappointed, plus extra pleasing to find this was a new site for them

Evening all,
Had the pleasure of visiting Denbies Hillside,Surrey, this afternoon,where staggering numbers of Chalkhill Blues have emerged, with every step they were flying up from around my feet. In the warm but dull conditions that have plagued the eastern half the country for several days now,they were quite placid,allowing a close look. By the evening, often two or three roosting to a grass stem. The first very early 2nd generation Adonis Blues have emerged here as well-i would recommend a visit this weekend!
Enjoy your butterflies
Mark.

Willrow wrote:...yesterday I stopped my count at 300+ Bill

Hi Bill,
you just wait, if myself and Karen go there we'll probably find they've disappeared for the day Great to know they're doing so well. The spot should maybe registered as a site for this species map, unless of course you feel it shouldn't be advertised to protect the colony.
Michael

Watched a male Large White, I was trying to photograph, find a lurking female yesterday evening... Initially, I thought her body position was the typical rejection pose that females seem to adopt... ...as the male continued to be excited.... ...then, he took his chance, as the female was not rejecting him....
...and flew away with his prize! All in 30 seconds....must have been a real charmer......

Nice work Nick.

A cracking day out at Marks Hall Estate, Coggeshall, Essex produced the following on Sunday 24th July (A whopping 20 species)

1 x Purple Emperor
4 x White Letter Hairstreak (sharing same canopy as Emperor)
2 x Purple Hairstreak
1 x Silver Washed Frittilary

Other species seen in good numbers: Lg White / Sm White / Green Veined White / Sm Skipper / Lg Skipper / Essex Skipper / Brown Argus / Common Blue / Red Admiral / Peacock / Comma / Meadow Brown / Ringlet / Gatekeeper / Speckeld Wood.

Amazed to see no Sm Tortoiseshell or Painted Lady (Where are they this year?).

Regards Kevin Ling

Michaeljf wrote:you just wait, if myself and Karen go there we'll probably find they've disappeared for the day

There's a hell of a lot of Grayling there to disappear even from you Michael... (I've sent you an email regarding this location).

Bill

Michaeljf wrote:

Willrow wrote:...yesterday I stopped my count at 300+ Bill

Hi Bill,
you just wait, if myself and Karen go there we'll probably find they've disappeared for the day Great to know they're doing so well. The spot should maybe registered as a site for this species map, unless of course you feel it shouldn't be advertised to protect the colony.
Michael

That's not a colony.......that's an epidemic!

Excellent day today.

Aston Rowant this morning.
At least a couple of dozen Silver Spotted Skippers, loads of Chalkhill Blues and Meadow Browns, a few Small Coppers and Brown Argus and some 'tatty' Marbled Whites.

Oh yes, nearly forgot, one hummingbird hawkmoth.

Bernwood this afternoon.
All the usual suspects plus a Brown Hairstreak in the meadow.

Loads of photos to sort through. I will put some on my personal diary either later tonight or tomorrow.

Cheers,

Neil.

Day off work today, and spent some of it in my Sheffield garden in the sunshine. Very pleased to see my first garden Red Admiral of the year on the Buddlea.

What continues to please me and surprise me most is the increasing success of the small meadow I seeded last year. Only one Gatekeeper this time last year, there are currently five or six this year. Following on from my pleasure at attracting a Common Blue to the Birds Foot Trefoil in May (nearest know colony 4 miles away), and my first Small Copper on the Common Sorrel two weeks ago, I spotted my first Meadow Brown today.

I know not many people would be so excited to see a Meadow Brown, but what keeps me wondering is where it came from? I live at least 2 miles from the open countryside, and can't think of any nearby parks with long enough grass for them to reside. The mysteries of butterflying!

Fingers crossed he or she finds a mate and I have a colony of Meadow Brown's next year!

Indeed it could be a good Gralying year.
the numbers in Shropshire were in the hundreds if not thousands yesterday.

DavidM wrote:That's not a colony.......that's an epidemic!

Nigel wrote:Indeed it could be a good Gralying year.
the numbers in Shropshire were in the hundreds if not thousands yesterday.

That's the type of feedback that's needed. Let's hope that this trend is general for Grayling right across the UK, thank's for your input Nigel.

Epidemic is probably an apt description David!

Bill

Well, I'll put that theory to the test tomorrow as I'm staying in Swansea and will hopefully see 'hundreds' of them on the hillsides at Craig-Cefn-Parc.

By the way, is it just me or does Nigel's first Grayling have an abnormal lack of white coloration on the unh?

I was not aware until I photographed some small skippers today that they have what appear to be eye-lashes above their eyes. Is this correct and what is the purpose of the lashes?

This pic was taken a day or two ago at Clamerkin NT,Newtown,Isle of Wight of a Small Skipper and there are no eyelashes.
A very interesting observation and I too would like to know opinions.

Went to Botany Bay Chiddingfold yesrerday. weather overcast, no one there ...great My joy was short lived as the butterflies were not putting in an appearance also. befroe getting ot the triangle I saw one meadow brown and 3 gatekeepers all tring to look as inconspcuous as poss. When I got to the triangle my target species came into view. Like an old spluttering biplane I expected it to go to ground pretty soon, but it just kept going and going for what seemed like an eternity before eventually settling on a thistle ia a characteristic pose. The open wing shots were less successful AtAround two O'clock the weather was warming up but it was time to leave. On the walk back activity picked up considerably, so much so there was one flying arond my car at the forestry gate entrance

Philzoid wrote:The open wing shots were less successful

I had a look at the EXIF data on your photos and notice that you had set 'normal' program with an ISO speed of 80.

This resulted in a rather low shutter speed of 1/160s, which is insufficient to freeze wing movement. The light was probably fairly dull at the time but you could try setting a higher ISO speed. The small sensor of a Coolpix will give a grainy image if you go too far but ISO 200 should be OK, which would increase the shutter speed to 1/400s. Ideally you want to push this up to at least 1/1000s for in-flight shots but a Wood White flaps more slowly than most, so you might get away with less!

The other possibility is to use flash but it may result in an unnatural appearance; it depends on how well your camera manages the flash.

I hope this is helpful and I haven't been teaching you to suck eggs.

Mike

Mike

Hello,

27 July 2011
Approaching would should be the peak period for the Chalkhill Blues on Mill Hill with hundreds, perhaps thousands fluttering around, it was dire that I only saw a fleeting view of one male in half an hour on the one acre transect. It was cloudy and there were very a low frequency of any butterflies about on the lower slopes around midday and these had to be disturbed. On and over the lower slopes there were frequent white butterflies probably Large Whites, 3+ Meadow Browns, 3+ Gatekeepers, 2+ Red Admirals, one Marbled White, 1+ Speckled Woods, four Common Blues (two of each gender), a probable Brimstone Butterfly, one Treble-bar Moth and frequent pyralid moths Pyrausta nigrata and at least one Pyrausta pupuralis. It was so disappointing, that I quickly left by the quickest ridge route where I encountered a definite Brimstone Butterfly, one Comma, 2+ Gatekeepers, on the vegetated path, and another male Common Blue and Meadow Brown on the meadows south of the Reservoir.

cf. At the turn of the month in 2003, Chalkhill Blues were up to 735 an acre, with 3000+ plus seen on the slopes (five acres).

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2011.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2011.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: July 2011
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/July2011.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
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