www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers Neil Daneways was a brilliant place to visit - I'd definitely recommend it
Cheers Pete I was chuffed with that one
Cheers Dave I definite Dusky Maiden that one

Week Beginning 18-07-2016

It was a funny old week, the final week of term and yet so many things seemed to be going on, plus the weather wasn’t exactly decent – the story of the last few years and so I only made a couple pf stop-offs. The first was on Monday 18th on the way home. I checked out the now ‘usual’ stop along the Westbound path and encountered all the species that I expected to see – Smessex Skippers, Blues and the last members of the current brood of Small Heaths. There were also a few Common Blues around and some pretty faded looking Marbled Whites. But it was a pretty quiet stop and so I headed on home with a banging headache. Tuesday came and went and I was so busy tying up loose ends and getting everything tidied up that I didn’t get to stop, plus my head was banging which then accounted for nothing on Wednesday as a migraine struck. I sometimes get a couple a year but I thought that I might make it without one this year – no such luck. Thursday came and went in a blur as I was still catching up from Iceland plus there was marking from the cover from Wednesday. The joys of teaching – even when you’re off ill the work still mounts up.

Finally Friday came and for possibly the first time this week everything fell into place – weather, weather, health etc. So I stopped in the car park and checked out the Northbound pathway. The usual suspects were all present and so I moved further up to the large patch of shrubbery about half way up. I was almost there when I found what I was hoping to see – Hedge Browns – and a reasonable number of them – spread across the top and basking in the early morning sun. Most seemed to fall within the usual range of variation but a couple did stand out – one was an excessa and the other was a very, very dark individual almost two tone in appearance. Not wanting to be late for work on the last day I quickly retraced my steps and carried onto work. This will be my last visit here until September now…hopefully the later end of the season will be more butterfly packed than so far,

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! Wurzel, I'm still playing catch up, It's depressing here at present Butterfly wise, I keep hoping some thing will happen and we'll see some, although I love the Speckies I'd enjoy seeing some thing else besides them They've done very well this year and every where you go here, there they are.

Hope you've a better September , I'm still living on hope's Goldie

Cheers Goldie There's a bit more of the season to go yet so hopefully things will still turn up - you just need a day with reasonable weather - fingers crossed

The Devenish 22-07-2016

On the last day of term we generally have half a day and after saying good bye to all those staff leaving we head home. It’s become something of a tradition of mine that instead of rushing straight home, cracking open a bottle of something alcoholic and sinking into the sofa with a weary sigh I instead call in at The Devenish and 20 minutes or so. It often gives me my first Chalkhill of the year and as I drove the frustrating and torturous route that’s was I was manifesting, repeating over and over in my mind that I would see a Chalkhill.

I parked and quickly made my way through the paddock and Orchid Meadow to head straight up the Down giving everything else short shrift and focusing solely on my goal of seeing and photographing a Chalkhill. There were a few other species about – Hedge Browns were almost rampant on the brambles that lined the path up the Down and Meadow Browns were seemingly everywhere with the odd Marbled White fluttering by and looking well past it. Gone is the glorious vibrant two tone colouration to be replaced by a drab dish cloth grey and lighter grey.

I scanned across the steep slope looking for anything blue and there being buffeted by the wind was a ghostly looking blue. Boom my first Chalkhill! I watched it flutter around in the breeze waiting for it to settle. When it did I traversed across the Down, leaning in towards the hill to keep my balance and then cautiously approached. Footstep, click, footstep closer, click, footstep even closer click, lower to knees, click, lean forward, click. The technique worked for once and I was in really close to my subject. As I‘d taken a few photos I watched it through the lens and realised that it was a slight aberrant as the arc of spots on the hind wing underside were practically non-existent. It flew a brief way and opened up so by using the same cautious technique I was able to get topside shots as well. I reversed and made my way back down the Down and headed straight home. Once the chores were done, the girls were in bed and tea was dealt with I finally poured myself a large drink and sank into the sofa with a weary sigh. I clicked the TV on and the first thing I saw? A @$&*ing ‘Back to School’ Ad Jeez!
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nicely marked Chalkhill, Wurzel! A great way to start seeing the 2016 emergence. Back to School is now upon us of course Where did the summer holiday go?

Dave

Beautiful first photo Wurzel, it almost looks like a painting

Cheers Dave Where indeed, back to work today and so the season is drawing to a close for me
Cheers Katrina I was mighty chuffed with that shot

September 2016

There's still life in the season, so long as the weekend weather is good
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely shots wurzel of the Chalkhill, I didn't miss that this year thank goodness
My Daughter's in the same boat has you, back to school Goldie

Cheers Goldie Yep back to work again - no respite now until July 2017

Godshill 23-07-2016

Well it didn’t really start at Godshill. It started over at a place called Dinton as I had to pick up my daughter from a friend’s house where she had had a sleep-over. As the traffic had been a nightmare the day before and it’s bad form to pick up late I arrived in the village earlier than expected and so with 20 minutes to kill I parked at Little Clarendon House and took a five minute stroll across the grounds towards the lake. As I moved through the grass Meadow Browns erupted and the odd white fluttered by. As I approached the lake I could see small blue Damselflies and more pleasing a GVW taking salts from the edge of the lake – something I’ve wanted to capture for a while. Once K was picked up, all the usual chores were completed and I was just finishing applying a layer of paint it suddenly dawned on me that it was actually the start of the holiday, there was no work to do for Monday, there was no work on at least five successive Mondays! Elated I carefully cleaned the paint brushes, folded the dust sheets and headed out with my camera. Due to the late running season and a week in Iceland I was running behind schedule and so I drove over to Godshill my usual choice of site for my first Grayling.

As I arrived the sun headed behind the clouds but I carried on down the hill amongst the heather as I could see blue skies on the horizon. Whilst the sun was hidden the Grayling were likewise and so I mooched around in new areas noting many Meadow and Hedge Browns and a fly-by Peacock and Red Admiral. The cloud cover made photographing Dragonflies easier and I also found several, tied looking Silver-studs, with the females looking a lot less care worn then the males. All the while I kept checking the heavens and as the sun started to come out for longer and longer periods I’d manoeuvred myself round to the usual piece of track which is indicated on Alan Thornbury’s site guide with a massive arrow. I took a stroll down the track once and as I was wondering if I was actually a little early a butterfly took off. The flight was different from a Meadow Brown – with a few more glides intermingled with a stronger more powerful flight. The butterfly landed and disappeared from view – so a Grayling then! I managed to relocate it as I must have gotten too close so it flashed me the warning ‘eye’. Despite this it was content for me to get down and crawl ever closer until I was to use a crass American term, right up in it’s grill. I crawled backwards and then straightened up leaving this Grayling in peace yet only a few steps away a second took off, glided, fluttered, glided and fluttered and landed. I’m always struck by the difference in patterning that this species shows and this individual definitely was at the darker end of the variation spectrum being a mixture of greys and black with hardly any brown present. A real contrast to the first which was a warmer combination of cream, browns and subtle shades in between. I then carried on my wandering taking a convoluted route back towards the car park. On the way various Grayling (I think I counted 7 in total during the few hours I was on site) played hide and seek with me and I was also able to catch up with various Dragons too. When I reached the stream I settled down for 20 minutes or so to marvel and the antics of the Dragons – I could see 5-6 species of Dragon and a couple of different Damsels too. It was interesting to see the different behaviours and the hierarchy of the stream system. The Keeled Skimmers and Common Darters stayed well clear of the stream when the Emperor flew into their airspace – they vanished, landing on the deck in the grasses at the waterside. The Broad-bodied Chaser on the other hand would go hell for leather towards the Emperor seemingly trying to knock it out of the sky. I realised that I’d not taken any shots so enraptured was I so I set about tying for a few here and there. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to capture anything from watching a female Emperor laying her eggs but it was a delight to observe. Somehow I dragged myself away and made my way up the hill and cut across the cricket pitch feeling relaxed and mellow – what a great start to the holidays proper.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Not a Butterfly, but that last shot is stunning.
Great Graylings too !

Trevor.

I agree, great shots especially the fifth Grayling shot!

One of the few species that lets you get right “in its grill” … when you’ve found it . Very nice Grayling shots Wurzel . Its camouflage works well on the dried cop-pat .. not so good in the grass (or on Shingle like the ones I saw in Dunwich)

Phil

Some lovely looking Dragons mixed in with the butterflies there

Just catching up Wurzel, I love the Grayling shots, mine always seem to blend in with the lime stone at Gait Barrow . Goldie

Still running a bit behind on your diary then Wurzel, not that I can talk of course, Mine is still back in the spring! How you manage to maintain such an epic diary along with your job and young family is beyond me. You certainly have my admiration. Lovely Grayling and dragon shots btw.

Please could you PM me and let me know what super strong blend of coffe you're taking, I could really do with some

BW's

James

Cheers Trevor They were mesmerising
Cheers Katrina That one posed nicely for me, unfortunately on a cow pat
Cheers Philzoid That's the choice you have - nice view of the butterfly on a grotty background or you a nice background just where's the butterfly?
Cheers Bugboy I could get in Dragons - of they weren't so quick
Cheers Goldie A Grayling blended in with the background is the classic Grayling shot
Cheers Rex It's not the brand/quality of coffee, it's the huge quantity

Broughton Down 29-07-2016

It felt like an age since I’d last gotten out; the weather had been so-so and there had been painting and trips to the tip so for the first week of my holiday I’d been pretty restricted to being home. Finally I couldn’t bear it anymore and sun was set to shine for once (well intermittently) so off I heeded to look for Silver Spots at Broughton Down. On the journey I uneasily watched a large bank of cloud which whilst still a hell of a way off was moving in the direction of the site I was visiting. It was the usual story – back to racing the oncoming cloud.

I rapidly parked car i.e. abandoned it and was onto my first butterfly of the day before I’d even gotten out. A Red Admiral was feeding on dog muck in the middle of the path and I kept half an eye on it while I put my boots on, grabbed my hat and set my camera up. The a few shots taken I set off. I scanned across sky and could see the cloud rolling in and so I ran up the hill pausing only slightly at the top to catch my breath before carrying on running down the tree tunnel, through the small wood and then breaking out on to the top of the Down. The sun was still shining started and so I hurriedly looked around and my first impression was that there seemed to be Meadow Browns all over the place. A golden blur caught my eye – yep a Silver Spot. A few shots later it was off but I didn’t mind as that sighting meant that I was still on track for my 49 species target so now I could relax and enjoy the sights and sounds, including several more Silver Spots. My Zen approach was slightly disrupted as I was somewhat distracted by the appearance of a Painted Lady among the other species. I did my best to watch it but it was feeding frenetically, flying from one stand of flowers to another, taking the briefest sips of nectar so I could only get distant views. Having devoted more than enough time to the Lady I set off again and walked all the way along to the fence and through to the small mound. There was the odd red Admiral, numerous whites and Brimstones and also the odd faded DGF to add to the flavour, most of which were busying themselves on the Agrimony. A DGF landed on the other side of the fence and rather than go round I focused through the gaps in the wiring and a good job as it was soon offski. I worked my way back along the various rabbit trails and again saw Silver spots here and there. Not as many as last year possibly but still good numbers and many more and in a much, much smaller area than over at Stockbridge. Most often I would see them veering off the path and into the grasses to disappear from view, only to reappear and repeat the process again a few steps later. The Painted Lady also did her best to thwart my efforts of getting any shots of her again as well. But then I came across something that I’d been hoping to see for the last couple of years – a pair of Silver Spots in cop. So as I was doing aright for Silver Spots I thought that it would be okay to devote some time to the Painted Lady that was still knocking about. Again it was a frustrating process as the butterfly would spend a miniscule amount of time at any given flower and then just as I’d think about approaching it would be off. IN the end I found myself clicking away with each step in the hope of capturing a shot. This brazen move seemed to pay off and in the end somehow I managed to get in close enough and the Lady stayed still long enough for me to achieve my goal. Then it was back to the Silver Spots and they were a joy to watch. I was so mesmerised by their actions and habits that I found myself back at the point where I’d initially started and so I carried on onto the really short turfed area. There seemed to be even more Silver Spots here taking advantage of the opportunity to bask in the intermittent sun. Actually looking back on it perhaps there weren’t more it was just that they were much easier to see here without the long grass and vegetation to hide in? I witnessed a courtship but it didn’t come to a second pairing as a third individual kept butting in and after a few attempts the original male gave in and the female had had enough and so disappeared off to get some peace. On my next repetition of the site a started seeing a few more females and also a lovely fresh Brown Argus. I carried on through the gate and had a brief explore at the furthest reaches of the site, adding more DGFs and a Holly Blue to the day list. The Painted Lady seemed to be following me about and in the end I did my best to ignore her, as she was proving to be a bit of a timewaster. And so I made my final walk back and decided to concentrate on the species that I’d come to this site specifically for. Last year I made three trips here, to this site but I get the feeling with the dodgy weather this season this could be my one and only this year. Still hopefully the pairing that I witnessed will come to fruition along with many others and there will be plenty of Silver Spots here next year.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

I don't think your Dark Green Fritillary is faded, it's a beautifully marked female.
I've seen some like this, so much so, they could fool the unwary into thinking they were a different species.
Painted Lady colours come to mind.

All the best,
Trevor.

Great shots of the SSSK's Wurzel, they bring back good memories for me of Kent.
I also took a shot of DGF at Arnside Knot, mine also looked faded but Trevor say's they tend to be so I feel better about my shot now. Goldie

Nice Silver-spotted teddy bears, Wurzel. Well done with the mating pair too - I don't think I've ever found a pair with both partners so fresh.

Dave

Hi Wurzel
Great selection of Silver Spotted Skippers. Especially that mating pair, very nice .

A very good selection there Wurzel and looks like you had perfect lighting for them as well, some very nice colour saturation, especially in the SSS.