Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

What a lovely family day out Wurzel, sounds like the butterflies were the icing on the cake.
Can't blame the cheeky cat for trying it's luck, I'm sure it was just as ungrateful to the next family.

ATB

James

[Wurzel]

Cheers Rex It was a great day. We've encountered the Cat before and it did the same exact thing last time, we've only got ourselves to blame for being suckered in a second time and I daresay we will be again
Cheers Kev I love Sports mode the only draw back is that the light always seems quite harsh when I use it Specking of which...

Enford stop-off

It’s gotten to that time of year again when I start making stop-offs on the way home. This early in the season it’s generally for 5 minutes or so as there isn’t too much about and most of the stuff that is about is rather frustrating in that it keeps on patrolling, never ceasing and always on the go. I generally set the camera to Sports mode clock away at roughly where my target is and then hope that maybe one shot comes off. Two years ago I got really lucky in that a male OT stopped for long enough for me to make a close approach now I stop-off in the vain hope that history will repeat itself.

05-04-2017

Having spent all day inside either work, a coach or the Living Rainforest I felt like I needed a break and so I stopped very briefly on the way home. On the way I spied a couple of Brimstones and when a cautiously pulled round a sharp corner I was rewarded for my slow speed with a male OT. At the lay-by I grabbed my camera, locked the car and then took a couple of steps back to see what would fly into view. After a very short time a Brimstones flew by and upset an OT which must have been resting low down in the foliage. This was how it continued for most of the time I was here – a Brimstone would fly by and be intercepted/intercept and OT, there would be a bit of argy-bargy and then they would continue off on their way.

Eventually I tried a different ploy and set off back up the road following a single male OT. Every now and again he would revisit an area and fly slowly around it before carrying on his way almost as if he was teasing me; “I might land here…oh no I’m off again, where will I land?” When he did come down it was up high on a steeply sloping part of the bank. I had to climb up one handed, hang onto a branch of a small tree and take my shots with the other hand. When he set off again I kicked off against the side of the bank like an abseiler and jumped back down to the road. I tried to keep up with him but got waylaid when a small blue butterfly fluttered down from a stand of Ivy. It didn’t hang about either but I could confirm it as my first Holly Blue of the year.

There is a Holly Blue there honest – not quite a Dave Miller shot!

06-04-2017

Almost immediately I pull in I spy a male OT patrolling and a smaller white. They approach each other from opposite sides of the lay-by, meet and spiral upwards locked in some form of mortal combat only to separate again and continue on their way. Frustratingly the white stayed high so I couldn’t make a positive ID. Oh well there was another OT to distract me. I tried the same tactic of following one like yesterday to even less effect although it was a Specklie that fluttered down today and not a Holly Blue.
Back at the lay-by I was revisited by the white and this time sports mode gave me just enough detail to ID it as my first Green-veined White of the year. Hopefully sometime soon I’ll be able to spend some quality time with the species I’ve recently added tot eh yearly tally in order that I can get some decent shots but until then the grab/record ones will have to suffice.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Love the Green veined White Wurzel great shot for Spring Goldie

[NickMorgan]

Good to hear that you are seeing a reasonable number of butterflies. Any you are remarkably up-to-date with your diary!

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Hopefully I'll be able to catch up with a few more but I'm in Wales for the next week and the weather doesn't look favourable
Cheers Nick As I'm so up to date I think I might have a little break

Happy Easter (or equivalent seasonal greeting)
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Good luck in Wales Wurzel, it's been awful here weather wise but it's early days yet, hope fully next week will be better, HAPPY EASTER, Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Yep, good luck in Wales Wurzel. I am off next week too...no particular plans but some work on the house to do and hopefully squeezing in some butterflying, weather permitting.

Cheers,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie and Neil After the weather we had today that luck is even more important

Blues Part 2

46 Chalkhill Blue, 22-07-2016 The Devenish

This actually emerged at roughly the same time but other than this it was quite a disappointment as they were well down and in some cases they were non-existent. My first was from The Devenish and it was an aberrant with hardly any markings on the hind wings, one of which was slightly stunted giving it a very slightly Swallowtail appearance. After this I really struggled to find them at the Devenish on subsequent visits and I didn’t see a single one at either my Duke Site or Broughton Down. There were also very few at Martin Down and towards the middle of August when I visited they were outnumbered by Adonis Blues from their second brood.

47 Adonis Blue, 29-05-2016 Marshie Site

I found my first Adonis a week earlier this year at my Marshie site. This is much further West than The Devenish (where I found my first of 2015) and so bears out an idea that I’ve mentioned before. Whilst Wiltshire is generally a week or two behind the South East in terms of emergences when things od start to happen in this part of the county it happen in the West first and then works it’s way back along the valley eastwards.
Overall Adonis seemed to have a good year. I found them at all the expected sites and the second brood in particular seemed more numerous. They definitely did better than their cousins the Chalkhills.

48 Holly Blue, 06-05-2016 Work

This species had an amazing lie-in this year being almost an entire month later! But when they did appear they were on the upswing towards a ‘Boom’ moving rapidly away from ‘Bust’. It must have been a good lie-in and I remember particularly picking K up from Stagecoach in the spring and spying 3 individuals along one piece of hedge. The second brood was also strong and ever so at Shipton Bellinger where I was lucky enough to find my second pair of mating Holly Blues (I thought at the time it was my first). Perhaps I should visit here in the spring as I’m still struggling to get those classic open wing shots and there were so many here I might be able to pick a few up – failing that I think I need to encourage Dave Miller to go on tour with his ‘HB Whispering Show’!

49 Large Blue, 26-06-2016 Daneways

What a species to finish with. My number 49 and taking me to my largest ever yearly total. It’s actually very difficult to make comparisons for this species as I viewed them at Daneway Banks instead of Collard Hill. Hence I can’t tell if they were 6 days later or on time from a more Northern site? The general consensus is that they had good year and this seems born out by the good numbers that Philzoid and I found. It was fantastic to wander and see them across the site, it’s definitely on the schedule for next year.

The 2016 Season

Lows
The year was hard going again hit by a cold snap just as things were about to get going which out everything back. Then even though the summer was much better – warm and dry – the butterfly numbers didn’t really pick up and at times it was hard going finding the species.
The worryingly low numbers of Dukes, Small Pearls, White Admirals and golden Skippers.
I wasn’t able to pick up a new UK lifer this year; too much time spent working and there was a poor showing from the Long-tailed Blues. I also got a poor return from the family holiday to Lisbon.

Highs
Trips to new sites paid dividends as I finally made it to Hutchinson’s Bank to reacquaint myself with Glannies and also the marvellous Daneways.
I had a good year with aberrants – with representatives from Brown Argus, Adonis Blues, Chalkhills, Brown and Green Hairstreaks and the unforgettable Pearl-bordered Fritillary.
Finally finding a site with regular Orange-tips
The biggest personal high was reaching 49 – my best ever total over a year.

Targets for 2017…
1. Add to my UK list – possibly Blackstreak or a British High Brown Fritillary.
2. See if I can equal the 49 total.
3. Get decent shots of White Admiral, Wall and Purple Emperor to make up for the lack of them this year.
4. Hopefully witness an upturn in the fortunes of butterflies.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Vera Jones 07-04-2017

Somehow I’d made it! Don’t ask me whether it was the caffeine, the red wine, re-watching Red Dwarf or the fact that I’d been out and seen some butterflies as I couldn’t tell all I knew was that I’d gotten to the end of term. True I was falling to pieces – mouth ulcers, heart palpitations, I’d forgotten what a full nights’ sleep felt like but I was still (barely) alive. And so to celebrate I called in for half an hour or so at Vera Jones Mill on the way home.
With the changes made to timings of the school day I hadn’t been able to get here yet this year so I had high hopes of bagging some OTs. Instead of cutting straight across the fields and down tot eh Fen I made my way round the edge of the field and down. This ends up at exactly the same stile but there’s more of a chance of a butterfly on the way. This time it was a Peacock which flew up from the ground and disappeared from view. Slightly further down I tried for a few inflight shots of an OT with limited success and the Peacock made an appearance this time flying close and fast over my head before alighting very high up amongst the blossom.

I then made my way over the stile and onto the boardwalk taking it towards the right and so more quickly to the Fen. As I made my way through the gate another Peacock took flight from the edge of the raised stony path and as I watched it I spied the familiar flash of orange of a male OT. Unfortunately it was right on the other side of the Fen and probably as far away from the boardwalk as could be so I settled for making my way out across it and kept wandering forward and backwards across every time an OT hove into view. I’m not really sure how many there were but I saw at least three males all at the same time. Eventually they started coming a little closer and then closer still until I was finally able to kneel down and lean out over the Fen to get a few shots.

Chuffed that they’d played ball I set off to continue along the boardwalk for the rest of its circuitous route through the more wooded Fen. I stopped just as it was about to make the curve back towards the stile and watched as a Peacock explored and adjacent field and two male OTs sparred with each other completely oblivious to the female that fluttered by underneath them as they spiralled upwards locked in combat. They broke apart and one of them set off possibly looking for the female and the other went off to harass a passing Small White. After this little spectacle I realised that I hadn’t taken a single shot and so carried on round with the path to the start. Once there I was able to enjoy another spectacle as three males Brimstones chased down a female. Well I say ‘chased down’ it was more like three males mooching about until a female went by and then they set off. As they left a smaller white flew up and landed again about a metre from where it had taken off. I cautiously approached it as the flight seemed like that of a Green-veined White (though I’m not sure why I thought his?) and that’s what it appeared to be. It took off again and flew between the wires of the fence back into the field but landed again so now I was able to get a topside shot of it.

I finished up with another quick check of the Fen. Again there was a maximum count of three male OTs but I also found a good little spot. The raised stone path runs across the Fen at right angles to the boardwalk and turns into a path through the surrounding fields. Quite near the end there was a patch of particularly damp patch of Fen with a nice collection of Cuckoo Flower and I found that the OTs seemed to like this spot so I waited and watched and then one landed I got my shots.

All in all a fantastic start to the holiday!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

Top class images there Wurzel. Spring captured to perfection.
Butterflies are brilliant for relieving stress !!.

All the best,
Trevor.

[Neil Freeman]

... Then even though the summer was much better – warm and dry...

I keep reading this about last summer but that was not my experience here in the midlands, lots of cloud and a cool breeze from the north/north-west most of the time which made for a very challenging year. I actually saw more butterflies in the now legendary 'washout' year of 2012. Mind you I didn't go further south than the midlands until September last year so my perspective is skewed a bit.

Great 2016 roundup Wurzel and some great spring images in your last report

Cheers,

Neil

[millerd]

The underside shot of the Orange Tip on the cuckoo flower is an absolute cracker of a photo and quite possibly my favourite ever of this species. I tried to emulate it today, but got nowhere near...

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor It was a cracking half hour and I drove away from the site like a new man
Cheers Neil Sorry about 'rubbing it in' - we can often forget that what we experience in one part of the country can be really different from elsewhere and sometimes we need to step out of our local bubble
Cheers Dave I've been trying for one like that for a while now and it seemed on that day fate was smiling on me kindly

Duke Site 08-04-2017

With both Greenstreaks and Grizzlies being recorded at other sites around the country I wondered if there might be some already out at my Duke site? It was worth a chance and so once little L had finished her dancing we got into the prepacked car and away we went.
On the journey there I counted 11 Brimstones, a female OT, a male OT and an UFW. Things were looking good and I practically jumped out of the car when we arrived. But I was greeted by a strange site – all the fields that before were a sea of long grasses punctuated with islands of shrubbery were uniform – short and green. Also the path/hotspot of previous years was ripped and gouged by tank tracks. This might be a good thing, a clearing back of the old stifling plants and a breaking up of the compacted hard path as it will give new plants light and soil they can penetrate. At least this is what I’m hoping…

I set up base camp by the clump of Hawthorns adjacent to the Cypress tree and took my first wander around. I don’t recall coming to this site this early so perhaps I shouldn’t have been surprised again to set it looking so sparse with the vegetation low to the ground? A Peacock was spooked but there were no small fluffy grey Grizzlies nor any piratical Greenstreaks so I made my way up to the Duke hotspot from last year. It was quiet here too with the occasional Brimstone. We moved basecamp to this area so that I could check out a couple of other areas on the other side of the trees. Again it was quiet and over the course of my sojourns I saw a Small White, a couple of male Orange-tips, another Peacock, a Comma and many Brimstones. None of these stopped long enough for a photo so I headed back to the girls slightly dejectedly. We decided to try our luck at The Devenish and so packed up and made our way back to the car stopping just long enough for a Peacock (possibly the original) and a Small Tort.

On the journey over I noted a Holly Blue in Tidworth and the odd Brimstone but to be honest I was mulling over why there were no Grizzlies? Once in the car park we were greeted by a Brimstone and a Holly Blue which weakly fluttered from one tree to another on the other side of the path. I was hoping to watch it land but a Blackbird came hurtling down the path at the moment and I can’t work out whether it took the HB or whether that it was sent careering off course due to the wake from the Blackbird. Either way it was gone so I’ll have to wait a little longer for my Holly Blue. Instead a Comma landed and posed nicely for us all to admire.

In the Orchid Meadow the girls set up camp in the shade and so I made my way up the Down. A Peacock fly overhead as if to encourage me and in the scallop at the very top near the fence a Specklie tried to hide in amongst the nettles. Again all was quiet and so I wandered along the top of the Down and was able to find a Small Tort and then another by the time I’d reached the opposite side of the reserve.

Having worked my way back to the girls we watched a male OT patrol for a bit and then packed up to head homewards. We climbed the penultimate gate into the small field when a Red Admiral buzzed me, then a Brimstone hove into view flowed by a pair of male OTs in quick succession. K pointed out a butterfly landing in a nettle patch further up the Down. It was the Red Admiral and so I set off to see if I could finally bag me some shots. As I approached I slowed down, positioned my camera ready and I was just about to ‘click’ when an errant Comma buzzed it and they both went spiralling upwards. I manged to follow them for a while but then they flew into the direct sun and I lost them. As I looked down a saw another Small Tort bumbling around looking a lot like a female searching for somewhere to lay. A few quick shots and a few of the Comma which had returned to Lord it from the Red Admirals spot and then I headed down the hill. The original Comma was there to wave us adieu as well as a Green-veined White.

So a case today of the right weather and being in the right place just unfortunately at the wrong time. The good weather has lulled me into expecting too much too soon. Whilst this is the type of weather I’d appreciate in May we’re still only just into April so I think I need to give it a few days yet…saying that I wonder if anything’s about at Martin Down yet?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Wurzel

Nice shot of mating Dotted Bee-flies; the first I've seen! This far-from-common species is extending its currently restricted range - but still a notable sighting.

Plenty of cooler sites are yet to get going for butterflies - the best is yet to come.

BWs, Neil

[Goldie M]

At last Wurzel, I got an Orange Tip Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

...Sorry about 'rubbing it in' - we can often forget that what we experience in one part of the country can be really different from elsewhere and sometimes we need to step out of our local bubble

No worries Wurzel, I think we all do it a bit.
Although the internet can be a wonderful tool and a valuable resource, I think that is very easy to forget that seasons can vary a great deal around the country. Flight times and even numbers of broods of some species can be markedly different even here around my patch to those both further south and also further north than me.

Going by your last report, it seems like your Duke site is another good example.

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

Some gorgeous vibrant images there Wurzel, still getting used to seeing in-season butterflies popping up on your diary though lol

[Wurzel]

Cheers Neil The anticipation is stating to get to me plus I've developed a serious bout of 'METisis'
Cheers Goldie Yay for the OT
Cheers Neil The weather has taken a turn for the not so good round here so things have slowed down noticeably - I my turn to be 'rubbed in' now
Cheers Bugboy I better get a move on and catch up else I'll be behind again before I now it Right where was I...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Martin Down 09-04-2017

After a pretty poor return from visits to both my Duke site and The Devenish and with the weather set to peak I headed out to Martin Down in the hope of some butterflies just waking up and before they got too solar charged. There was a hazy feel to the morning as I parked at the main car park and made my way through the ‘island of scrub’ to investigate the ‘Skipper Scallops’. However after much mooching around and a single Peacock flying high over the scrub tops it became apparent that I was too early either in terms of time of day or emergence maybe even both. So I changed tack and set out to the half way point at Bokerley via the little patch behind the Butts. Skylarks were going crazy and their songs were interspersed with those of Yellowhammers, Chiff-chaffs and my first Whitethroat. I made it all the way to the patch behind the Butts before I saw my first butterfly; a Specklie appeared on a Bramble patch and stopped for three photos and then was gone.

I carried on to the half way point, reached it and then turned back to wind my way along the top of the Dyke. I’d worked my way to just about level with Butts where the Dyke levels out and so left the path to carefully work my way around the clumps of vegetation. Obviously not carefully enough as I almost tod on an Adder and it slithered off before I could get a shot off. Heart still pumping I made my way even more carefully towards the path to carry on along the Dyke. Something small and brown flew by and landed on a Dandelion. As I edged closer O thought I’d lost it but it was still there, the green triangle I thought was a leaf wasn’t, it was my first Greenstreak, a two spotter (I’ve started already, I can’t wait for the Hedge Browns). I spent some time with it cursing the less than brilliant light conditions as though I got my shots they didn’t really shine out like they can on a bright blue sky day.

Leaving the Greeny in peace I carried on only to be brought to a swift stop as a female Brimstone looking like a ghost of a male hove into view.

From the Dyke I cut back in and headed to the scrub island to re-examine the scallops. Unfortunately there were still no Grizzlies or Dingies so I made one final pass. The final scallop saw me disturb a Comma so I checked the scrub just in case and one of the leaves didn’t look right? It was a Brimstone backlit – I’m pretty fond of this type of shot.

After this in the afternoon we headed out to Mottisfont for an afternoon picnic. As we queued for the car park (it seems that everyone had had a similar idea) a Holly Blue planted itself perfectly in a Holly next to the car just to annoy me. Later despite almost perfect conditions my tally came to only a single OT upon entry along with another Holly Blue. A third provided a distant photo op at the Walled Garden and finally by the stream and mud park two a piece of Green-veined Whites and Specklies. Apart from the distant HB none gave any opportunities of a shot but never mind at least I got my Greenstreak!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

Very nice Green Hairstreak. Hoping to call in at ' The hill ' on my way home Monday,
should be a few there by now. Winter woollies at the ready for next week!.

All the best,
Trevor.