www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

bugmadmark wrote:My first is this butterfly which I assume must be a Common Blue - but it has orange spots on the upperside of the wings. All of my books show the butterfly as having no ornage spots - except for an Irish form so Id be please to learn more from the expert here! It appeared to be ovipositing on what I beleive is a birds-foot trefoil?

Definitely a female Common Blue - orange spots are quite normal! - see http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... mon%20Blue

Looks like Bird's-foot Trefoil to me, but not 100% certain.

Cheers,

- Pete

The female blue is a common blue. Like most blues, these are very variable, ranging from almost entirely dark brown to blue all over - but the females always have the orange lunules on the upperside. In East Anglia, this rather blue form, with a strong blue patch near the apex of the forewing, is often the dominant one.

Guy

Sorry Pete - I was on the previous page and didn't see you'd answered this!

I am shortly off to Strumpshaw Fen with Mike Rubin. We'll look out for that Common Blue.

Oh, and we might just see some big yellowish butterflies with tails on the hind wings. Now I've forgotten what they are called

Jack

Thanks for this - I had guessed it must be a Common Blue on the basis that the butterflies book doesn't indicate that Adonis Blues even occur in Norfolk. Probably due to the lack of chalk in this county? Mind you what we lack in chalk - us Norfolk boys make up for in other ways.

I think Strumpshaw is possibly a couple weeks too early for any reasonable numbers of Swallowtails - but then I'm not sure of how many you might expect to see normally at its peak. I may go back in 2 or 3 weeks. The reserve has clearly done a lot of good work to make the site accessible. The Blues were seen on the compacted gravel/sand path that leads upto Fen Hide. Plenty of damsel and dragonflies on the approach to this hide and along the grassy path by the River Yare. I spent most of the day walking round this trail looking for the Swallowtail only to discover that their is a place towards the end as you come back towards the car park which has been beautifully duck-boarded out and even fitted with a seat. It is here that the Swallowtails are supposed to frequent. I must say I can't say I noticed a lot of the Milk-Parsley but Im sure it's there. There certainly were no butterflies. On the walk back to the carpark just over the railway line (down Tinkers lane) one of the private houses has a beautiful front border full of flowering garden plants and a sign saying - if you see a Swallowtail please feel free to walk up there path and take photos. Having recently hit my 40s I have decided the world is full of miserable selfish people (except those on here of course ) (its a mid life thing I think). The owners of this property are clearly more than generous! Next time.

I must say that Strumpsaw is a lovely reserve to walk around - albeit hardwork getting a buggy with a 2 year old, nappy changing stuff, a tonne of camera equipment(I need a decent camera bag but cant decide what to get!), identity guides/binoculars for the kids to use etc round the grassy paths. Still it builds stamina and my 10 year old still got some nice photos too. Its great seeing my kids take an interest in this and watch them begin to accurately identify the more common species!

Oh I also thought I should apologise as the images I uploaded to the sightings were non butterflies - I got carried away!

Mark

Meet the new kid on the block.
Green-veined White.

jackharr wrote:
Oh, and we might just see some big yellowish butterflies with tails on the hind wings. Now I've forgotten what they are called

Jack

Clouded Yellows ?


Charles

Clouded Yellows ?:lol:

Of course Charles. Disguised as Painted Ladies. How I wish I could shoot that m--th recorder who passed on unverified info second hand (Clouded Yellows) and suckered me into thinking that I must have been wrong having thought I had been seeing Painted Ladies.

Only one Swallowtail seen in Norfolk today, that at How Hill. As another person had suggested, probably a couple of weeks too early.

Jack

well i feel a right nana... i called the local radio station & they informed the public that the Clouded Yellows were on their way !!

Charles

Painted Ladies everywhere today, crossing the roads every few hundred yards. On the way home I stopped off in a lane near Iford Manor where I saw 26 in 10 minutes, heading north and occasionally stopping to nectar on umbellifers, something I don't see too often amongst butterflies.

At lunchtime I went over to Odd Down to check up on the Small Blues, which are doing well there and out in numbers - at least 18 present, chasing each other around the site, basking three to the square foot, landing on people's parked cars and checking out their reflections in the wing mirrors. Indeed they were more numerous than the Painted Ladies there. The only worry is the almost total absence of the foodplant - I only saw one flower-head, where there were dozens present last year, and not much sign there would be more to come.

Matsukaze:

Odd Down....Small Blues....The only worry is the almost total absence of the foodplant

Small Blues at Totternhoe seem to congregate a significant distance from where the Kidney Vetch grows. It doesn’t make sense but maybe the same odd behaviour happens at Odd Down and the Kidney Vetch is hidden away in some undiscovered odd corner

Are you finding the Small Blues by the P&R or a little closer to Bath where the OS map marks Odd Down?

Jack

Totterhoe yesterday: Small Blue all over the site - tho' they congregate in sheltered places where they are very numerous; under the cliffs or in sheltered corners of the meadows. I saw plenty where they were not close to a food source and plenty on Kidney Vetch itself, which is widespread and locally abundant in some of the grassy and meadow areas. Only saw 2 Dukes - both a bit long-in-the-tooth but significantly different. One is definitely more washed-out; the question is - did it start-off with such a pale colouration? Is this a normal variation?
(answers on a post-card please... ) (Nikon D300 Tamron 90mm + Kenco 1.4TC; Monopod.
2 at ISO 320 - 1 at ISO 400 (f4.5 to 6.3 between 1/125 - 1/200
- it was a difficult day with varying overcast cloud and lighting )
N

padfield wrote: In East Anglia, this rather blue form, with a strong blue patch near the apex of the forewing, is often the dominant one. Guy

Fished out this example from the Devil's Dyke Newmarket in 2007 and this more extreme N
They appear highly variable; tho' I have walked the Dyke many times, this is the only time I have observed this more extreme example of the trend to blue in East Anglia. Usually they are more like Mark's with a darker blue against stronger brown with highly saturated orange spots on the hind and often fore-wings. ...as in above from nearby Fleam Dyke in 2008
or this beauty from yesterday in Totternhoe Common theme is chalk grassland...

Great shots Nick - thanks for sharing! Makes identification that little more challenging for us novices - so these help no end!

Ive had several people in my office tell me they have seen lots of Painted Ladies flying around the Cambs area on their drive home. I've yet to see one here in the City and out where I live - but with the sun out this weekend Im hoping there will be a few!

Mark

Hi Nick, I looked at your common blue (10_06_07_Blue_2.jpg and 10_06_07_Blue_1.jpg of your images) and I was looking at British and Irish Butterflies by Adrian M Riley and it looks like the one he photographed, female common blue form caerulea you'll find it here: http://www.enterprise-io.co.uk/british_ ... rfly_5.htm if you look through the images on Adrian's site

NickB wrote:One [Duke] is definitely more washed-out; the question is - did it start-off with such a pale colouration? Is this a normal variation?

It seems to be so entirely lacking in any orange pigment, even in the hairs on the neck, that I suspect it started out aberrant. I've certainly never seen a grey-scale Duke before, and I've seen some pretty knackered ones at the end of the season. Very interesting.

Guy

Today at Jersey once again lots of Painted ladies, also some Common blues and Small heath.

Cheers

Sezar

Two Large Whites today is about it, still waiting for those Painted Ladies! Very warm and sunny though fantastic day.

Some great photos being shown in this thread - good stuff!

I popped out today to try and see if I could find migrating Painted Ladies in profusion - but things have definitely settled down and only saw ones and twos.

What did surprise me was seeing my first Meadow Brown of the year. In May! I think we need to rewrite the books!

Cheers,

- Pete

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary now flying at Priddy Mineries.
(More on my blog)
Denise

We most naturally put these early emergences down to milder winters, but could it also be due to rubbish Junes?

Recently, out here at least, June and July have been pretty grim affairs and it is possible that precocious butterflies have fared better than the later emergers, gently nudging the gene pool springwards. Europe has just seen one of its hardest winters for decades and yet Tim Cowles (Lyon) reported large skipper in April (I got my first large skippers on Monday this week) and has already found an active colongy of white-letter hairstreaks!!

Altitude butterflies are generally late this year, as alpine vegetation couldn't even think about growing until well into the spring (because of the snow cover). But at valley level many things have been up and about on time or early even in Switzerland.

Guy