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Cheers Wurzel, once I got my eye in I was seeing them everywhere

Saturday 23rd June.

A couple of hours yesterday afternoon wandering around my local spot at Castle Hills near Solihull produced loads of Meadow Browns and Ringlets along with good numbers of Large Skippers. The weather was warm with a high overcast that made it feel quite muggy and most of the butterflies were very active, but occasionally a cooler breeze could be felt which slowed them down a bit and gave me a few opportunities to take some photos.
Some fresh looking Small Skippers were also scattered about around the site in lower numbers, no Essex seen so far but given that it looked like the Smalls have only just started then I would expect them in another week or so.
A few Small Heaths were seen, some looking well past it but some looking in decent condition,
A few Speckled Woods were occupying their usual spots along the shadier parts of the site through the wooded areas between the meadows,
Having seen Marbled Whites reported from locations not only further south but much further north to me, I was keen to see if they were out here yet. I was pleased to see that indeed they were with a couple of dozen seen scattered around the meadows here, mostly fresh looking males but with with a couple of females also spotted.
I also saw my first summer brood vanessids with a couple each of Comma and Small Tortoiseshell putting in an appearance,
Given the low numbers of Peacocks around here in the spring I was also pleased to find some final instar larvae scattered around the nettle patches by the side of the paths,
Other butterflies seen but not photographed were a few faded Common Blues and flypasts of a couple Large Whites,

Bye for now,

Neil

Beautiful, intense colours in those images, Neil. I like the female Ringlet but that Comma takes 1st prize - what a beauty!

Hi! Neil, I just love those Marbled Whites, your shots certainly do them Justice Goldie

A lovely new Comma, Neil, and some great Marbled Whites. Summer Commas are one of my favourites, and that one is beautifully marked.

Dave

Terrific Dragon Fly selection Neil, I really like the female Black-tailed Skimmer. Nice capture of the one in flight as well.
And great stuff from Castle Hills.

Thanks for the great comments David, Goldie, Dave and Andrew

Thursday 28th June – Fermyn Woods.

Back in the winter months, when I was having thoughts on what butterflies I would like to see this year, it dawned on me that I had missed out on the Purple Emperor for a few years, my last time being at Fermyn Woods in 2015. This was because I had been focusing on other species that fly around the same time and had booked time off work for breaks elsewhere in the country and I simply cannot be everywhere with my limited time and opportunty.
I had therefore decided this year to book a couple of days off work, one this week and one next week, in order to cover my options for what I thought may be the best time for a visit to Fermyn Woods. There is always the option of a weekend visit but to be honest I find that popular sites like Fermyn can become a bit too busy for my liking at weekends and I find that I do not enjoy the experience as much.

So it was that I set out yesterday morning (Thursday 28th) for the drive over to Fermyn which for me is a fairly straight run of about 90 minutes on a good day. I was aiming to get there for about 08.30am but heavy traffic on the M6 past Coventry and then a long tailback on the A14, apparently caused by an accident, meant that I didn't arrive at the gliding club parking spot until about 09.10 with just half a dozen cars already parked up. Even with it being a weekday I had expected to find more cars there but perhaps people have been tempted down to Knepp with the reports of 300 plus sightings by Matthew Oates and Neil Hulme.

Anyway, I set off down the main ride which has changed a lot since my last visit with the forestry work that has been undertaken here this year. I must admit that I have never lingered long in this part of the woods during my previous visits here, much preferring to walk through to the Lady Wood/Souther Wood complex which I have always found to be more productive. I had also noticed on my last visit in 2015 that this ride was becoming rather shady with many of the trees beginning to meet overhead so, although it looks drastic at the moment, perhaps longer term this work will be of benefit. I spoke to a few people on my way through and opinion seemed to vary between those who saw a longer term benefit and some who were outraged at what they described as 'the carnage'.
Wandering through to Lady Wood, I took the left hand fork at the first junction and it wasn't long before I started to see the first Purple Emperors. Some early mist and cloud had lifted and with the temperature rapidly rising these first sighting were either high up or of individuals flying rapidly along the track at about waist height without stopping.

I had seen that Black Hairstreaks had been having a good year but with their short fight period I had thought that this was a species that I would miss this year. I was therefore pleased to find a few on a small flowering privet along this ride, four or maybe five and very worn and tatty but an unexpected and welcome bonus nevertheless.
Whilst I was watching these hairstreaks, I spotted a Purple Emperor flying down the track towards me and as it drew level it settled down in the grass on the opposite verge. I started sneaking over towards it but before I got there it took off again and settled a little higher up on a small oak where I managed to get my first Emperor photo of the day.
I then slowly wandered on down to the southern end of the woods, seeing more Emperors skimming along the rides without settling. I headed to a spot where I had seen grounded Emperors in previous years which is at a t-junction where a side track joins the main ride and arriving there I found another enthusiast in the act of photographing a grounded Emperor. I stood back until he was finished and then he invited me over to take a few shots myself.
We started talking and it turned out that he lives fairly close by and had been here the day before and baited this spot the previous day and again that morning.
As we were were talking an Emperor began circling around us and than landed on my top where the other chap, who had introduced himself as Gary, kindly took a couple of photos with my camera. I suppose this cannot be called a 'trousering' as it was not on my trousers but I reckon I can claim to have been 'bellied' .
I spent an hour or so at this spot with Gary during which we had three or four different Emperors repeatedly coming to ground. As it got hotter and hotter they would sit there with their wings clamped tightly shut so we took turns in trying to shade them with our shadows to see if they would open up. Sometimes they would open their wings briefly and give us the chance for a photo, but not for long and as midday approached they were less inclined to open up, possible because the air temperature was now very warm despite our shadows.
As well as the groundings, they would often fly off a short distance and settle on a nearby shrub or tree and extend their proboscis onto a leaf.. I seem to remember reading somewhere that they do this to clean their proboscis after taking up minerals from whatever dodgy substance they have been feeding on.
By midday the activity was tailing off and I decided to have a slow wander back up through the woods. This time I took the other track and again saw a number of very active Purple Emperors which appeared to be sticking to the parts of the ride that were in dappled shade. By now they were very skittish in the heat and difficult to approach so I spent most of my time watching rather than trying to take photos.

Heading back through Lady Wood, I bumped into Dave Williams and his brother Steve from West Midlands BC and stopped for a chat. They told me that they had spent some time during the morning with a certain Mr Hulme who had baited a section of track with his magic mixture, and there were still a couple of PE skimming back and forth along this stretch.


By now I had drunk all my water and used up my camera batteries (beginners mistake – I had gone out with my spare battery only having about a ¼ charge ), so I wandered back to the car and left just after 2.00pm. To be honest I had planned on leaving around then anyway as I reckoned it would have got a bit too hot plus I also wanted to be back through the M6 around Coventry before the traffic built up later in the afternoon.

I reckon I saw maybe 25-30 Purple Emperors during my morning here which ties in with what others I spoke to thought, including David James, the Northants Butterfly recorder who was there doing a site survey of the Lady/Souther Wood complex.

There were also plenty of other butterflies seen including loads of Whites, Large Skippers, Meadow Browns and Ringlets with Speckled Woods, Red Admirals, Commas, Small Tortoiseshells, White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries all seen in lower numbers.
I also saw a few Purple Hairsteaks and what I think were White-letter Hairstreaks a couple of times high up. The only one of these that came anywhere close was a Purple Hairstreak that I managed to get a shot of with my camera held at arms length above my head.
All in all a great few hours at a location that I really should visit more often given that it is not really that far from me.

Bye for now,

Neil

Hi Neil
So sorry to have missed you! I was there all day (report coming). I must apologise for the dreadful stink I left lingering on the rides, but it turned out to be my most successful mix yet.
BWs, Neil

Congrats. on your all four wings purple shots, Neil.
Your experience with the Emperors and the heat, was repeated in West Sussex,
wings tight shut, then making for the foliage, and very fidgety.
One shot I took might interest you, which I have captioned. It shows the wing
texture well, courtesy of the very bright sun and the angle of the Butterfly.

Great report,
Trevor

Absolutely brill stuff Neil - two Hairstreaks and Purple Emperor And a quadruple purple to boot
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Neil, yes, a shame I missed you. I had been further down towards the southern end of the woods and didn't start meandering back until early afternoon.

Thanks Trevor, I'll have a look at your PD.

Cheers Wurzel, The Black Hairstreaks were a pleasant surprise. There was a potential for three hairstreaks if a WLH had come lower but it wasn't to be.

Neil.

Some wonderful envy inducing purple action there Neil

Thanks Bugboy, it was probably the only chance I will get to see decent condition Purple Emperors this year so I was pleased with the results

Sunday 1st July.

The only spare time that I had over the weekend was a couple of hours each on Saturday and Sunday afternoons and with this being during the hottest part of the day, I just didn't fancy going out anywhere in the current heat.

On both days, from early in the morning, the butterflies in the garden were in hyper mode, particularly a couple of male Large Skippers that were buzzing about like mad chasing anything that came into their zones.
Half a dozen Ringlets were bobbing about almost constantly amongst the long grass and brambles and just occasionally stopping for a refuel,
All three species of common White came passing through and were occasionally tempted to stop at some lavender,
Also seen were a couple of well faded Speckled Woods and the first summer brood Holly Blue.

I see this hot weather is forecast to continue for a while yet. Looking at the state of a lot of the vegetation around here I am beginning to wonder what effect this will have on foodplants and therefore some of the later broods.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Hi! Neil, lovely shots of the Emperor's I hope to be at Fermyn this coming Sat , hope their still around Goldie

Cracking set of shots Neil I've started to wonder/worry about the later broods too and also whether there will be any butterflies left in the autumn having burnt out now Fingers crossed...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fabulous shots from Fermyn Neil - all of them .... and that Large White is not too shabby either!

Thanks Goldie, I have seen reports that plenty of Purple Emperors are still being seen at Fermyn this week so you should be good.

Cheers Wurzel, I really am not used to saying this these days but we really need some rain soon to re-invigorate the vegetation. I am old enough to remember the drought of 1976 and the crash in butterfly numbers that followed in subsequent years.

Thanks Pauline, I must admit I was chuffed with those PE shots from Fermyn

I actually have a bit of time to try and do a bit of catching up and UKB seems to be running very slowly tonight...not sure if it just me but other websites don't seem to be affected.

Garden Moths.

I have been running the trap on average twice a week with the actual days varying depending on the overnight weather. Despite some really hot days the clear nights have led to some cool overnight temperatures and sometimes it has been quite breezy.
With six months of the year now gone I had a look back at last year which was my first full year of running the trap and compared notes.
Last year, up until the end of June I had a total of 170 species made up of 103 macro and 67 micro.
This year to the same date I have had a total of 129 species made up of 80 macro and 49 micro.
I have had 9 macro species and 5 micro species new in my garden this year but have missed quite few that I saw last year.
This shows that I am well behind still this year, mainly due to the late spring this year when things were slow to get going and despite the recent recent hot weather I have not caught up yet. It will be interesting to see what the second half of the year brings.

Anyway, a few photos below of some of my favourite moths to the trap.
Back in May I posted a photo of a caterpillar which I found in the garden that I was pretty sure was that of the Old Lady moth.
About a week after I found it, it spun a loose cocoon between the dock leaves that I had been feeding it and knowing that it should emerge this summer I placed the cocoon straight into a cage. I didn't take any photos of the cocoon because all you could see was the back of a couple of leaves and I didn't want to disturb it just to take a photo.
A couple of days ago it confirmed its identity by emerging as a nice example of an Old Lady Moth, a large and impressive species.
After taking a few photos I released it into the garden where it flew off with this species typical lazy flapping flight which seems to accentuate its size.

Bye for now,

Neil

UKB was running a bit slow for me last night as well Neil. Got there in the end though.

Fantastic to see that Old Lady moth - well done on rearing it through. As you will well know (but other readers might not) they are quite rarely seen as they don't tend to come to light traps. However during the summer of 2014, when I spent a lot of time 'dusking' in Oxfordshire field margins for my PhD research, I formed the opinion that they were actually a very common species in that part of the world.

Fantastic Emperor shots Neil. And great moth selection, I like the Lozotaeniodes formosana and Old Lady.

I'm pleased to learn the problem wasn't at my end - I just gave up eventually . I also quite frequently get error messages and get blocked out so I try to keep my posts as short as possible. With that in mind I love the moth selection Neil and would be delighted to see that Blood-vein. I was surprised to read about Old Lady Callum as they seem to pop up everywhere here including my bedroom!!!

Great set of Moffs Neil Lozotaeniodes formosana is certainly an attractive Moff

Have a goodun

Wurzel