www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks Dave, yes that little spot is amazingly reliable. If I lived locally I'd be there every day I think!

10th October (part 2)
The wind had picked up considerably by now but my usual route around the horse field afforded plenty of shelter and fresh Red Admirals popped up regularly, mostly flying out of reach, but a few hung around to feast on the Ivy and made for good targets. This one has the extra blue scaling in the black dots along the hindwing border, as also noted by Millerd in his recent posts, making in an ab caerulocellata. However having looked through my back catalogue, I’ve seen that this is rather common and like Neil Freeman, I’m reluctant at best to call it an ab. Much like bialbata , it seems quite contradictory to call such a commonly occurring variation an aberration. Regardless of that though it made for a very good subject . Leaving them to their feasting I moved onto Mill Hill proper where I found the hillside to be completely devoid of butterflies, not so much as a fleeting flyby. Considering the recent deterioration of the weather though I wasn’t particularly surprised by this, plus it was rather windswept now the wind had picked up. Things did improve somewhat when I made my way to the sheltered paths along the northern edge that border the farmland leading up to the top car park. Once again sheltered patches of flowering Ivy gave me a reason to stop and point my camera and I added another species to the days tally, a couple of Peacock had joined the Red Admirals, the freshest of which must surely be a second brood insect. In the wooded area at the top some Speckled Wood were to be found, bringing me to a respectable seven species for the day. Nothing else was seen here so I made my way back down the path, stopping of once again to watch the Red Admirals and Peacocks. The walk back along the slope was unsurprisingly uneventful again but near the bottom car park species eight was waiting for me . It was still quite early so I did go back the Southwick for a second go with the Clouded Yellows, but by the time I arrived it had clouded over quite a bit sending everything to an early bed. On the plus side it did give me an excuse to leave early and miss the London rush hour. All things considered, if this was going to be my last day butterflying of the year, it was a rather successful one .

If that is the end of your butterfly year, Buggy, that's a great way to finish. I think there must be a few second brood Peacocks around this year - let's hope they have time to feed up successfully. At least their fat reserves won't need to last as long as those of their first brood relatives which took to their beds in July and August!

Cheers,

Dave

That's certainly the way to end the season Bugboy - finish with a flourish What was that Peacock doing out so late - the dirty stop-out

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks guys, It wasn't quite the end of my season in the end, although the next few outings definitely made me work for my quarry! In recent years it's becoming pretty standard to find a few late Peacocks suggesting second broods down here are becoming a routine event in small numbers.

15th October
Ok so in my last post I may have suggested it looked like being my last chance to do some butterflying for the year. When those pictures were being taken it did indeed look like that may be the case, the following week that I had booked off with mass LTB emergence in mind looked like being completely rained off from start to finish. As the week got closer though, there did seem to be a few windows in the rain appearing, and since I’d booked the week off with the sole intention of cramming in as much end of season butterfly chasing as I could, I spent the week carefully picking my way through the hotchpotch of weather, with varying degrees of success. Monday the 14th was indeed rained off but the following day was more a case of heavy showers but with a good chance of sunny spells.

Newhaven was the destination since if the butterflies didn’t show I’d still have plenty of birdlife to keep me company. The morning was a rather drab and dreary affair with occasional drizzle so it was all birds, many of whom were having a good old preen after the morning rain. Above me a flock of Curlew circled before settling in the creek and a passing Peregrine caused a small amount of commotion. By the afternoon the cloud finally started to break up but the rather strong breeze tempted me to wander over to the nature reserve surrounding the fort where I finally found myself a few butterflies in some of the more sheltered areas. Only three species in total, a handful each of Speckled Wood and Red Admiral plus a single Small White who didn’t stop. Not the best weather in the world but a lot better than mooching around inside all day!

Great shots Bugboy especially the Peregrine in flight - you can really see those yellow legs

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I admire your persistence, BB. Taking a week off in the hope that there may be a few drier interludes shows great resolve!

Lovely bird images. I don't think I've ever seen a flock of curlew. If I'm lucky I get to see the odd individual around Swansea or in Pembroke.

Thanks Guys. I booked this week off back when the LTB's were busy laying eggs so I was hoping for a bit of an Indian summer David. As we now know the wetaher had other ideas and I was left to make the best of a bad situation instead. Still things could've been worse

17th October
The 16th was another washout but the following day looked to at least be dry for a good portion of the day, although sun looked to be at a premium, so I didn’t really expect much in the way of butterflies. I decided to go back to Two Tree Island to see if I could get any more shots of that Kingfisher but I was quite surprised to find not one, not two but three Red Admirals avidly feeding on the Ivy in the cool overcast conditions. Other than a split down the length of a forewing of one, they all seemed to be in good condition. After half an hour I moved the short distance to the hide that overlooked the Kingfisher’s home. All I saw was the flash of electric blue as she darted off to the far secluded corner and out of sight. A little Egret was busy hunting something though. I moved on for a bit, hoping the Kingfisher would return to her perch, and discovered the Brent Geese have returned for the winter in good numbers. A return to the Kingfisher haunt found more Egret coming in to sit out the high tide and a lone Redshank wandering around in the shallows. With the tide being in there was quite a bit else to see too. An hour later I returned for a final attempt to catch the Kingfisher and once again all I got was the flash of blue vanishing into the far trees. The Egret's had multiplied a fair bit though with over 30 dotted around in the trees surrounding this patch of water whilst a couple were causing trouble on the water’s edge, maybe I had stumbled across some sort of Little Egret fight club I stayed for a bit longer watching the local birdlife do it’s thing, a Little Egret threw a comical pose as it's larger cousin flew by I should have been a keeping a closer eye on a rather large dark cloud that snuck up on me though, I got completely drenched to the bone on the walk back to the station .

More cracking shots Bugboy - it seems to have been a good autumn for Red Admirals Were those birding shots taken with your telephoto - they're brill

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel Yes they do seem to have a good end of season rally don't they. Yes they were all taken with my big lens, and so were the Admiral pics who refused to come close that day.

19th October
The 18th wasn’t too bad a day and had my walking boots (only 6 months old) not decided to spring a leak I would probably have gone back out but I ended up shopping for some new ones. Anyway the weekend was now upon me, just two days left and both a bit iffy, but armed with nice new walking boots at least my feet would (hopefully) stay dry. In keeping with the theme of my week off I went back to Newhaven where my new footwear was put to good use, rain clouds passed overhead one after the other whilst blue sky could be seen tantalisingly close inshore and further west. The rain, which wasn’t particularly heavy, just persistent, didn’t put the birdlife off though. The clouds however were very persistent and after an hour I decided to try and reach the distant blue sky, heading over to Southwick. On the train I spied the first butterflies of the day, Red Admirals and Painted Ladies feeding on Buddleja by the side of the tracks. Even though at Southwick I finally had the luxury of some sunny weather, butterflies were hard to find. A wander along the length of the site didn’t turn up so much as a single Small White. It was only on the walk back that I caught sight of a Red Admiral flitting around some flowering Ivy. I couldn’t get particularly close but as I stood and watched I realised there was actually five Red Admirals here, not always visible due to the amount of bramble between me and them but with the help of my long lens I managed a few shots to take home with me. I was in two minds as to whether to return to Newhaven or go straight home from here but in the end I plumped for another wander around Newhaven, this time around the fort, not least because this was where Neil had found a fresh male LTB the week before. The sun had arrived here too, although it was getting rather low in the sky now, but there were still a few Red Admiral flying, a nice fresh one being the pick of the bunch!

That last Red Admiral is particularly whole and nicely marked, Buggy. As Wurzel mentioned they do seem to have had a better year in 2019.

Fascinating shots of all those waders too - I might make a start on telling them all apart now with your helpful labels!

Cheers,

Dave

I'm with Dave - cracking images especially the final one - the blue extends into the next spot along as well - nice I need to get me a telephoto

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Dave, I'll try and remember to label my birdy pics more often, I forget not everyone on here can tell what is what
Thanks Wurzel, we can have a chat about lenses in a few weeks over a pint
20th October
I wasn’t sure whether I was going to go back out the following day, the weather looked no better than the 19th and the wind was also set to pick up a bit but when I got home Saturday evening I saw reports of Ring Ouzel a few miles up the coast from Newhaven which is a bird I’ve yet to see. Maybe one of the many Blackbirds I’d glanced at but taken little notice of the previous day was an Ouzel? Anyway the weather was in some ways marginally better, much less rain, but the sun was at a premium and the wind was indeed stronger and was now coming from the north, making the day noticeably cooler. Bird life was much the same (no Ring Ouzels about though). But butterflies were nowhere to be seen apart from a single fleeting Red Admiral flyby, oddly flying determinedly north into the strong breeze. After an hour I headed over to the fort where I knew I’d find a bit of shelter from the wind. A few birds were around but very few sat for a picture (and I didn’t see any Ouzel again) but the most noteworthy thing over here were the amount of Red Admirals seemingly coming in from the sea and flying north, mostly without stopping. Occasionally one would get blown sideways but as soon as it could, it would power on northwards. Only a couple settled within but barely long enough to grab a single distant shot but from what I could make out they seemed to be freshly emerged insects. I later found out there had been similar sightings of this along the south coast and there is supporting evidence that insects in general have a preference for migrating into the wind.

And there endeth my rather rainy, windy week of butterflying. Of course it goes without saying that the weather started to settle down after this with several nice days taunting me whilst I was at work!

Ring Ouzel used to be one of my 'Bogie Birds' Bugboy and like you I often wondered if I'd been staring at one and not realised - but when I finally saw my first it was a strong reminder of the old adage 'when you see it you'll know it' Interesting that butterflies migrate into the wind - I;d of thought a tailwind would have been more beneficial ?Great shot though Only a couple of weekends to go

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, looks like I'll have to wait another year to try and catch sight of one now, time to switch to the winter visiting birdies, never seen a Waxwing or a Hawfinch... or a Snow Bunting...

22nd October
Well as you would expect, my return to work signaled a calming down in the weather, less wind and rain and more sun, such is that law we all know so well

All my holiday had now been booked and used up so I had to squeeze in any last chances for butterflying to days off, or in this case my half day. I had enough time to shoot off to Two Tree Island to hopefully find some sunlit flowering Ivy. The amount of Ivy here means that the area has a long flowering period, from Sept right through to early November so It’s a good place to find late season butterflies as several of my previous posts show.

It didn’t take me long to come up trumps today too, three Red Admiral and a Comma enjoying the first patch of Ivy I found A little wander around found that most the other patches had now gone over or were in shade. A few birds distracted me for a bit but I spent the greater part of the afternoon watching the butterflies I’d originally found, finding a new and pristine Comma had replaced the earlier one. I’m going to be slightly self-indulgent with the images here since this is the last time I managed to get out and so these are likely to have been the last butterflies I will see this side of Christmas . My diary is now up to date... for now !

I know this was a few weeks ago, but any butterflies in mid to late autumn should be treasured, especially this year.

As you know, Two Tree Island is a great place, even when there are no butterflies.

A great end of season selection there, Paul.
I think we all got used to the calm, sunny Autumn's of recent years.
This year the weather collapsed just as things were getting interesting!.
Have a great Winter break!.

All the best,
Trevor.

That's a great end to the season Bugboy That Comma looks like it was having a bit of bad hair day

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I know I shouldn't, but I absolutely love these autumnal posts where the principle attractions are birds rather than butterflies.

That said, Commas and Red Admirals in mid to late October are always welcome so keep posting them if you see them, BB.

Thanks Essex, it won't be my last visit there this winter I'm sure
Thanks Trevor, you're right though, we have been spoiled. At least we had time to catch up with the first emergents
Thanks Wurzel, I expect it'll be a few months now before I see one of them again
Here you go then David, this was a very Autumnal/Wintery day

16th November
Now it looks like we are definitely in the grip of the ‘off season’, my jaunts out and about switch as usual to birdlife (but off course keeping an eye out for any hibernating lepidoptera I can find). Today's trip was very much for the former though, a few hours down at Barnes Wetland Centre.

It was rather quiet, no Waders around as far as I could see or hear but enough of the usual suspects were around. The main attraction during the winter here are the Bitterns with up to six visiting most winters and it’s probably one of the best places in the country to get decent views of them. News on the local grapevine was that three are currently in residence, skulking around in the reed beds, here’s one doing it’s best skulk (nothing skulks like a Bittern skulks!) Elsewhere I found a pair of Jay sorting themselves out after a morning bathe Some other bits and pieces And a second Bittern (or maybe the same one) being slightly less skulky.

That’s another great place, having been there a couple of times. I agree, my best ever views of bittern were had there.