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Hello Trevor.

Not a bad morning is a bit of an understatement If I had seen a PH with it's wings open, a SWF and four White Admirals then I would be over the moon!

I echo Old Wolf's sentiments Trevor All of those species and luscious shots while I was stuck at work

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Good to see you back again, Old Wolf. Hopefully you'll show us what Beds. and Cambs. have to offer.

Look on the Bright side, Wurzel. You're not going to get sun burnt, bitten by insects, soaked to the skin
half a mile from the car, or lose your best lens. Work has it's compensations1.

Today I went after two ' white ' species!.

Trevor.

I was pleased to see a clear blue sky from my bed early this morning.
I was less pleased when I went into the garden with my coffee, and saw how windy it was.
My plans to find some Purple Emperors were put on hold, but the day did get better!'
Firstly I went over to Abbots Wood, where I eventually found seven White Admirals,
and most of them paid a visit to the various bramble patches, either to nectar or bask.

I then went over to Hollingbury park for the White Letter Hairstreak, the theory was
that the wind was blowing from the east, and the WLH site faces west, so the trees
should act as a wind break. It was certainly calmer close to the trees.
Surprisingly only three WLH were found, but at least both sexes were seen, and
were quite fresh. I hope Ben had more luck after I left.

Trevor.

This is starting to get a little unbearable now Trevor To make matters worse I'm going to be effectively trapped in Salisbury all day Saturday as it's the Armed Forces weekend Still I'll have ll your PE shots by then to make me feel even worse

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fantastic shots Trevor, they make me long for Kent Goldie

trevor wrote:Good to see you back again, Old Wolf. Hopefully you'll show us what Beds. and Cambs. have to offer.

Thanks for the welcome and yes, When I get the time I will be updating my diary with the highs and lows of the year so far very soon.

p.s. lovely shots of the WA and WLH. I am very hopeful that I will be adding a WA to my list of firsts this year. Two seconds through a viewfinder does not count as I will disclose in my diary soon

Many thanks Wurzel, Goldie & Old Wolf.

You will have to wait a little longer for any Purple Emperor images, Wurzel,
they failed to show at Chiddingfold today.
But the day had it's compensations. A surprise find, shortly after arrival, was a roosting Wood White.
White Admirals were seen in good numbers, and early on in the day posed nicely for the camera.
Several, fresh, Red Admirals spent the whole morning flying locally and sometimes basking for
ages in one spot, and occasionally caused a little excitement by doing a fairly good impression
of an approaching Emperor.

It was pleasant to spend part of the morning with Dave ( millerd ).
Trevor.

Nice White-letter Hairstreaks, Trevor, and it's nice to see some White Admirals starting to show It can't be long now before 'his nibs' puts in an appearance

Mike

First of all thank you for your consideration in not filling your PD with shots of His Nibbs quite yet Trevor Mind you the consolation was pretty great a lovely bevy of WA shots Fingers crossed I can bag me some of those tomorrow

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Trevor,

Loving the WLH photos. They always seemed so elusive to me until a couple of years ago, when I shot a sequence with my iPhone, they were so close. Still waiting for my first White Admirals of the year, so your photos have whetted my appetite.

Regards
Kev

Some envy-inducing stuff there, Trevor, particularly the Whites (Admiral and Letter Hairstreak). I doubt I'' get as close to those myself this year.

I went over to Knepp this morning. I arrived too early for the Purple Emperor,
but not too early for the Purple Hairstreak, as one was found on arrival. A further
eight were found by myself and others within the range of most cameras.
Other butterflies of interest were Marbled Whites and Fresh Ringlets.
Personally I only saw two Purple Emperors today, and both were flying.

Trevor.

Doing well with those Hairstreaks Trevor

Brilliant Purps Trevor After reading Pauline's PD I reckon I know where you're heading tomorrow

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You may have missed out on grounded Emperors, Trevor, but those are mint fresh Purple Hairstreaks.

Beautiful.

Many thanks everyone, the Purple Hairstreaks were particularly well behaved that morning.

Despite pandering to his every whim, and taking gifts of the finest cuisine,
His Majesty has yet to grant me a full audience.
Either it's been no show on the days I've been, or when he did show on Thursday
he was not wearing his finest regalia.

However I'm determined to catch up with the b****r.

Trevor.

Good luck with your further escapades with His Nibbs Trevor - hopefully a few will have woken up at Bentley in time for this weekend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Tilshead was alive this morning.

An early morning visit to this vast grassland site revealed 100's of Marbled Whites,
outnumbering all other species. My attention was soon drawn to some large Fritillaries,
flying very fast, and later searching the flora very slowly and thoroughly for females.
What I was after was positive identification of the species, of the sort that Dave Cook
saught when he discovered the Black Hairstreak far from known colonies.
This confirmation came when two males dived into the grass, and as I approached
I could see a third butterfly that had caught their attention, drying it's wings down low.
They were Dark Green Fritillaries. I was hoping for something more exotic, after all this
vast site is rarely visited, and is left to manage itself and it is this sort of habitat where
discoveries are made.

Trevor.

Cracking stuff Trevor Tilshead is a cracking site, I had a suspicion that it would hold a few DGFs as they're all over the Plain

Have a goodun

Wurzel