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More lovely Dukes Pauline I hope they're doing okay now the weather is breaking, i went for a walk this afternoon and the wind made it cold enough for a coat

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel. Your comment cheered me as my day didn't get any better. Looked out of the window to see one of the local Sparrowhawks had brought down one of my favourite Doves, which was already beyond help. Nature can certainly be cruel:

Hi Pauline,
A couple of years ago I found a pile of feathers in the garden, when I went to investigate
I disturbed an injured Sparrow Hawk. The Cat had caught the Hawk which had caught the pigeon !.
The bedraggled Hawk did manage to fly off. That's nature I suppose .

Best wishes,
Trevor.

That's pretty gruesome, Pauline, and I'm glad I saw it after rather than before my tea!

Sparrowhawks are beautiful birds, but they are ruthless killers, for sure.

Thanks for your comment Trevor. You are absolutely right of course and in nature nothing is wasted. Last night one of the badgers had the remains as part of his supper and this morning the Starlings and Blackbirds are hoovering up the feathers for soft warm nests:
It distresses me that they take so long to actually kill their prey David - trouble is if you don't get there fast the bird dies of shock rather than injury. It is hard when it is a bird you know and which related to you

I am determined to catch up so I am trying to race through those dormant winter months. December and most of January were miserable months given the rabbit losses mentioned previously and subsequent efforts to find a companion for my little buck Magnet (below)
The companion came in the form of Hope, a sweet little doe:
With both rabbits settled it was time to turn my attention back to butterflies. It felt long overdue and so at the end of January, Hazel and myself set off for Wisley. It was a smashing few hours in great company. The weather outside was glorious too and I saw my first 2 British butterflies, a Brimstone and a Small Tortoiseshell. Below are some of the shots from that day which include a selection of eggs and larva, although I have no idea what they are. I was surprised that I could find only very small larva given that eggs were plentiful (even watched some being laid on the fruit and food stations). The mystery was solved when I engaged a 'keeper' in conversation and he explained that the larva are collected up every couple of weeks and returned from whence they came. The butterfly names will be added at a later date when I have had time to look them up from last year.

The Photos from Wisley are, top to bottom

Great Egg Fly - H. bolina
Morpho
Owl Butterfly eggs -Caligo sp.
Owl Butterfly eggs - Caligo Sp. forming up.
Julia - D. Julia male.
Morpho
Papilio eggs probably P. lowii
Morpho
Small Postman - H. erato
Greta oto
Greta oto - larva on Cestrum
Owl Butterfly larva mid instars
Heliconius Doris on Pentas

Thank you so much for that Martin - it will save me quite a bit of time

On my travels yesterday I found 2 things of interest but know not what either of them are. The first is this larva - not even sure if it is a butterfly or moth?
The other was this rare fungus on Noar Hill, pointed out to me by a Director of Environmental Studies who has written a paper on it which he has promised to email to me. Apparently, the orange parts only appear for 3 days; consequently very few photos of it exist. Wish mine was a bit better. I would return for a second attempt except it is unlikely to be there now - just the swollen branch left behind:

Hi! Pauline, we get Sparrow Hawks a lot in our garden because my Husband feeds the Birds but to loose one of your Doves is very sad. Nature is very cruel but take comfort in the fact the other animals have benefited
from your loss.
That Fungus is really interesting I hope you get the e-mail from the man, let us know . Goldie

Thank you Goldie - appreciate that. I will certainly keep you informed if I learn anything else about this rare fungus on the Junipers at Noar Hill as I don't yet know whether it is a threat to the trees or the insects. I am hoping not.

I only had one other significant outing in late January and that was to see the Waxwings which had arrived locally:

How well groomed your local Waxwings look - those crests are very splendid. You photos have brought out all the key features very well, including those red sealing-wax tips

Thanks Mike. I'm trying to improve my bird photography but to be honest, it's a bit hit and miss Nevertheless, I was quite pleased with these as it is only the second time I have seen Waxwings, so too good an opportunity to miss.

Now, back to the present - at least temporarily. Yesterday dawned grey and cold so I was surprised to see a Holly Blue fly across the garden at 8.30am and land on a bush:
With plans for a final visit to North Stoke the forecast was disappointing but we decided to press on, with precious few expectations of seeing anything at all. When we arrived there was no-one to be seen other than a single solitary dog walker but undeterred we began to scan foliage. The Red Admiral larva discovered by Vince earlier had disappeared, their leaves broken and black, so hopefully they had pupated but a GVW accidentally disturbed was unsurprisingly co-operative given the low temperatures:
Peacocks seemed to be the first to wake up and several of these were spotted early on together with a single Red Admiral which was cruising around and settled quite some distance away and fairly high up. However, it is only one of very few I have seen this season so I could not resist a shot:
By now it was warming up nicely to the point where we both had to strip off our top layers. Orange Tips and GVW were now plentiful and it was a delight to see and photograph a mating pair which was a first for me:
By now the wind had picked up considerably so attention turned to looking for OT eggs. Surprisingly, there did not seem to be many on the Cuckoo Flower but both orange and newly laid white eggs were eventually found:
Several Holly Blues patrolled the area intent on a mission which didn't include stopping for a photo shoot but at the end of the track several Speckled Wood were more amenable, all in nice condition, but however hard I try, my shots do not show it them as well as Neil's:
As lunchtime approached it was time to make tracks but just before we left a couple of Small Coppers were spotted, one particularly brightly coloured. Wurzel and others with sharp eyes will notice something sinister lurking in the background but I can assure viewers that no butterflies were harmed during the taking of these photos
The only sign of a Tortoiseshell we saw was a couple of very worn Small varieties:
Although we saw a total of 10 species which exceeded my expectations, the Brimstone was noticeable by its absence, not a single one having been seen in 2-3 hours.

Undoubtedly the same Coppers Vince and I were watching on Tuesday, I recognise that piece of wood that one is perched on

Cracking Small Copper Pauline, I'm glad it evaded predation Those Waxwings from a couple of posts back were also mighty fine

Have a goodun

Wurzel

A nice selection of spring species there, Pauline, but for once butterflies are eclipsed by those glorious waxwing images. What a stunning bird!

I love that Holly Blue photo Pauline it's so cute and unusual, Goldie

Hi Pauline,

Some more great images in your recent posts. I like the Waxwings, never actually seen these myself, but for me the stand out photo is that Holly Blue on the red berry...very unusual shot

Oh yes, thanks for the comment on my Speckled Wood photos but I do get a lot of practice with these

All the best,

Neil.

Morning Buggy, I am amazed that you can recognise not just the butterflies but also a piece of wood I was only able to locate the RA larval tent because I was with Vince when he found the first one and I quickly spotted another 2 close by. As it was such an exciting find I enclose a shot which actually seems quite boring unless you knew the significance - that it contained a 5th instar larva indicating that this species can overwinter as larva as well as adult:
Hi Wurzel - there were actually 2 spiders on that bit of wood and they seemed more interested in each other than the butterfly which was quick off the mark each time a spider approached.

Thank you David - they are truly spectacular aren't they. They turned up at a local shopping mall of all places and were only yards from the shop fronts as shoppers went to and fro. I had to make 2 trips as by the time I got there on the first visit it was tipping down with rain. Every cloud has a silver lining ......... I took shelter in a nearby shop and came home with a gorgeous pair of boots!!

Thank you Goldie. I'm afraid I had to move that Holly Blue to a safer location (away from the hens) so I put him in a quiet sheltered corner on some apple blossom. When I checked later in the day he had flown off

Thank you for your generous comment Neil. If you ever get the chance to see Waxwings just go for it as they are amazing.


More recently I persuaded Andy that it would be a good idea to take some shots of Purple Hairstreak eggs at Browndown. I had 'my' PH eggs from the branches blown from my Oaks (pictured earlier) but the only shots I had were from scavenged twigs rather than whilst they were still on the tree. Given the large number of butterflies I had seen there in the summer and the egg-laying taking place I had imagined this would be an easy task but that was far from the case. We also found a few empty eggs indicating that they had already started to hatch. In the end, we found a total of 4 eggs, the 'score' being 3-1 but I shall not be revealing which way round that was The images below might seem familiar being similar to those in Andy's diary but as is usual the quality of his shots are superior.

Purple Hairstreak at exactly 3 weeks old looking remarkably like one of the brackets on the Oak:

I had some difficulty locating that larva, Pauline. It's superb camouflage for sure!