www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers Goldie I better got on and start it, I've only got three and a half weeks to get it sorted out

Have a goodun

Wurzel

HI Wurzel,
Good to meet you yesterday, thanks for coming along. I am now a little more confident
of finding some of the more exotic Wiltshire sites.
Even the immediate area around Great Cheverell has some interesting looking sites.

Best wishes,
Trevor.

No worries Trevor Just give me a shout nearer the time and I'll dig out my trusty OS Map You're right about the area around Great Cheverell I'm certain it'll hold some cracking butterflies.

The Devenish 29-08-2016

After what felt like an age but was really only a few days I managed to head back out for some proper butterflying – not just keeping my eyes open when out and about. The Devenish had been slightly disappointing this year with very little in Spring and also very few Chalkhills during the summer so I was hoping for a late showing to bring me back round to this site. So I headed out hoping to find some late summer Blues.

I found my first butterfly pretty quickly and it was the usual suspect in the usual place – a Specklie guarding the gate at the tunnel of trees that leads to Orchid Meadow. Unlike in the Spring this one was amicable enough to hang around and pose for a few photos as I made my way down the tunnel. Once I broke out and climbed over the gate on the other side of the tree tunnel I scanned around to work out where to head first. Straight away I could see a few whites fluttering about so I set up camp near a likely looking set of flowers and waited for them to flutter in my direction and eventually a couple did just that. After this I made my way up to the Down side proper. There were butterflies still around and the second brood Adonis seemed to be putting in a much better showing than the ‘spring’ brood. The first male that I came across featured and extra ‘cell spot’ if that’s what it’s called. Also here were another couple of Adonis, a couple of Common Blues and a nice Brown Argus. I skirted my way along the side of the down gradually working up and across diagonally, walking on the sides of my feet occasionally or trying to stick to the rabbit trails. Eventually after flushing a few tired looking Meadow Browns and the odd white I’d reached the far side of the reserve. There’s a ditch running down the Down here on the other side of which is the treeline which demarcates the boundary. Checking in here is always worthwhile and so it was again today with yet a Brown Argus (a male?) and another which was definitely female as it attempted to lay. I then wandered about the top hoping for a Clouded Yellow as I’ve seen them here before but the only white available was a tired Small and so I started to work my way back to the other side of the Down when I was stopped in my tracks. A tiny sliver flash had crossed the path of my vision, normally this would register as ‘brown Argus’ but there was something different about this one, it was much more silver if that makes sense? When I approached it I could see that it was a Brown Argus but a nice ab (Snellini or some such?) with the black spot on the forewing ringed in white and the underside was quite heavily bedecked in white – much more so than usual it appeared. I spent some time watching it bumble around, took a few shots and then stood back and enjoyed it for about five minutes or so. Once there I wandered about the short, closely grazed turf which was springy underfoot but there were only a couple of Adonis about here – both females. So I thought it best to check them out as I’d already encountered two abs over the visit. Sure enough one of them was seriously spotted on the underside with a line of spots running from the cells spot vertically up to meet the usual arc of marginal spotting. She was actually in very fine, almost ‘mint condish’ and so I battled the strong breeze blowing over the top of the down to get some shots. It wasn’t easy; I’d approach stealthily, line up the shot and then the wind would pick up and the butterfly that had been perfectly posed on the flower head would start rocking forward and backward like one of those Woodpecker-esque pencil toppers (the ones that ‘peck’ their way down the pencil?). After clicking way for what felt like an age I moved on hoping that there were at least a couple of good shots on the card. I then spent some time down in the Orchid Meadow with the three species of Whites, 2 Red Admirals and yet another Brown Argus. They’ve had a terrible season but might just be rallying now, fingers crossed. The Red Admirals kept out of the range of my lens – either high up a tree or too far back in the tall flowers but a Comma was a bit more accommodating, but not that much more. After saying good bye to the Specklie I headed home thinking that there may be the possibility of maybe one last trip here this year?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote: Sure enough one of them was seriously spotted on the underside with a line of spots running from the cells spot vertically up to meet the usual arc of marginal spotting

What a stunning underside! Lovely, Wurze.

Best wishes,

Lee

Really great shots Wurzel, they bring the Summer time back
I love the ab, I don't think I'd have recognised the difference in the Butterfly, much more to learn obviously Goldie

Cheers Lee It was a good afternoon for abs with three in the space of 20 minutes This site seems to have more than it's fair share of aberrants
Cheers Goldie I know what you mean about having more to learn - a reckon I might just about know everything about butterflies if I could last another 3-400 years (and then that would only be British species ) but even with a super healthy diet and exercise I can't see that happening

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Just catching up with your diary again Wurzel...that second Green-veined White photo is a cracker

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Neil Sometimes they let you get in so close, but then on other occasions you can't get within a mile of them

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Mottisfont 30-08-2016

I was really settling into ’relax’ mode having reached one of my targets for 2016 and seen the most butterflies ever in a year when I made a visit to Mottisfont in late summer with my family. Our first port of call was the Walled Garden where the girls ran round, my wife enjoyed the warm sunshine and I mooched about the Lavender borders. The Whites were numerous with three species present but for some reason they behaved more like the Spring forms – racing around, nectaring briefly and never stopping either long enough or close enough for any decent photography. In the end I contented myself with locating both Common Blue (3 males) and my first ever Brown Argus in this part of the site. After an appalling first (and second?) brood it was heartening to see yet another Brown Argus bolstering the later brood. From here we moved onto the Parkland, a bit more adroitly than normal due to the new rules prohibiting picnics at the Walled Garden. After a Specklie and Emperor Dragon joined us for lunch I was left to my own devices for a bit so I set to mooching again. I checked out more Lavender but this time the thin strips running perpendicular to the house. In previous years I’ve been lucky enough to find a Cloudy in amongst the Whites but no such luck today. Instead there was a Small Tort sticking out like a sore thumb. From here we followed the usual route – ice cream, look in the crypt, feed the fish, cross the bridge and wind our way to the ‘mud play area/climbing’ area. Again there were a couple of Meadow Browns, assorted Whites and the odd Specklie but these all stood out less amongst the Fleabane than the solitary Peacock. It was a right cracker, even if it did refuse to open its wings fully for me. And so eventually we made our way home – my wife nicely relaxed, the girls tired, happy and with damp and muddy feet and myself contented after an easy day butterflying.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely shot of the Small Tortoiseshell on Lavender, nice background hue.
Pity the Butterfly has some damage.

Have a great Christmas,

Trevor.

Love the Peacock Wurzel, we saw very few this year, hope fully next year will be better for them. Goldie

Cheers Trevor I was chuffed with that shot even if the wings were a bit ragged - still it' s a natural pose
Cheers Goldie Peacocks did seem less common this year, hopefully just a blip

Also - Have a Fantastic Christmas one and all

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Larkhill 06-09-2016

Changes to the timing of the school day have meant that my stop-offs are going to be harder to do. I start earlier so my morning stop-off may be quieter as the butterflies mightn’t have come out of roost and in the afternoon I can be back early enough to pick little L up from school. Hence I’ve not made nearly as many stop-offs; something which I remedied today.

I gave myself a full 15 minutes to make up for all those weeks when I’ve been unable to stop previously. There didn’t seem to be a lot going on either of the paths so I concentrated my efforts on the patch of Golden Rod. It’s probably about 4 metres round so there was a lot of frustrated pleading from me to the butterflies; “just come a bit closer”; “no don’t land there” etc. They must have been listening as eventually I was able to get shots of all five species present on the bush.
There were 9 Small Torts which kept moving around and so were very difficult to count. Also they’d flutter further into the patch and disappear from view once they’d settled. Nine is actually the best estimate and the lowest count that I could be sure of. A single Meadow Brown stayed a bit too far back but the Red Admiral behaved much more like a tease – fluttering into range and then moving away again before I could fire off any shots. It must have tired or found some good nectar because after a while it settled just long enough for me to get a couple of shots off. I then turned my attention to the whites and as luck would have it both Small and Green-veined stopped for long enough and close enough for a few photos. Job done I headed home wondering when I’d be able to stop again.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Love the shot of the small tort Wurzel, in close up it seems to have some pollen from the flowers on it, lovely!

Have a great New Year Goldie

It's always nice to dip into your diary for a look back to glorious summer days! From your recent comment in Goldie's diary, I assume you have a 'thing' about hedges I'm not too sure about 'hedge sparrow', though, since the bird is not really a 'sparrow' at all and has a beautiful song that no sparrow could aspire to.

Mike

Cheers Goldie It was possibly using the pollen as foundation? Happy New Year to you.
Cheers Mike I think Hedge Sparrow is a local name, mind you I also grew up knowing that a Pied Wagtail was actually a 'Polly Dishwasher' - how it got that name I don't know Happy New year to you.

Happy New Year!

Let's hope that 2017 brings with it a period of cold weather lasting into early February and then a warm spring before a great summer and autumn, fingers crossed...
Have a goodun

Wurzel

It's certainly cold here Wurzel, deep frost last night but a lovely cold day today with sunshine, love it. Goldie

Cheers Goldie Hopefully it'll do the butterflies the power of good - so long as come the spring it doesn't hang around like last year...

January 2017
Have a goodun

Wurzel

That Pearl AB. certainly helped to boost the petrol companies profits last year.
With people from all over travelling to photograph it. I didn't .
Still we may get one at Abbot's wood one day.

At least the daylight hours are on the mend now !.

Trevor.

Cheers Trevor You never know if the variation was genetic the butterfly from last year could have passed on the genes responsible and there could be one or two more this year - fingers crossed Yep the nights are starting to draw out now

Larkhill 07-09-2016

I reasoned that this was to be my last stop-off of the year and so I was hoping to go out with a bang – plenty of Red Admirals on the Golden Rod or perhaps my first Larkhill Cloudy? As it was when I pulled up in the car park it was all very disappointing. The Golden Rod was becoming more and more bereft of flowers and was totally bare of butterflies. A quick scan along the Westbound path didn’t yield anything either. I strolled back to the car slightly annoyed that here I was with time to spare and there were no butterflies. Just as I started cursing a butterfly flew across the path and dived down into the long grass around the base of a shrub. I thought it must be a Meadow Brown by it’s behaviour so I was surprised to find a Specklie cowering in the bushes. It’s not one of the usual species that I find here so I was actually quite pleased to see it. It spurred me on and so I tried up the Northbound path where a Red Admiral nipped off the Michaelmas Daisies as I approached. On the way back another Larkhill oddity landed and briefly posed for shots – a Comma. Again not something I’m used to seeing at this site. Time was ticking away and so I had to make a move for home. The stop-off today kinda summed up the year – despite some highlights generally disappointing and so instead of the year here ending with a bang it finished more with a resigned sigh…

Have a goodun

Wurzel