www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Lovely SPBF, still need to tick that one off but I suspect I will have to leave that lifer for next year, need to save some for next year!

Some nicely taken images of the fritillaries David, you (like myself) reap the benefit of having both mentioned species within a mile or so of our homes...now how fortunate is that

Hope you have a sizzlingly good June

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Sunday 7th June 2015 - Encouraging.....

Got back from Abergavenny at about 1pm so I decided to take a trip out to the further reaches of Fairwood Common to check out Marsh Fritillary numbers.

I'm pleased to say that numbers were respectable, with 40-50 Marsh Frits seen in just over an hour, along with around a dozen Small Pearl Bordereds too.

I managed to see my first female SPBFs of the year:
I was keeping a keen eye out for female Marsh Frits and once I arrived in prime 'Marshie' habitat, I simply dug my heels in and waited:
Usually, the alarm bells start ringing when you see a Marsh Frit struggling to fly. So it proved as I followed this female to her place of rest:
Whilst watching her struggling amongst the grasses, a male suddenly appeared and made attempts to court her. Clearly, given her rather faded condition and behaviour, she had already mated, and she kept walking away from him. He persisted, so I offered her my fingertip and she readily climbed aboard.....before I could pull away though, the male climbed onto my finger too:
Even whilst on the back of my hand, she remained keen to make a getaway:
Other species seen were 15-20 Common Blues, and solitary Large White, Green Veined White, Small Heath and a Peacock so tattered that it was surely in danger of celebrating its first birthday!!

Nice pics of SPBF and Marsh Frilillaries, David. It's also nice to have gorgeous butterflies on your hand

HI David,
You are very lucky to have a site, where Marsh and SPBF occur together.
Your images do justice to both species.

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

Lovely captures David, Fairwood is proving very productive for you and conveniently good for after work visits...enjoy

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Great report and photos David

As with Bill, I am very envious of you having both Marsh Frits and SPBF so close to you

Cheers,

Neil.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. Yes, we're lucky with Fritillaries here but not much else

We still haven't had a day in the seventies since the second Easter week and everything appears to be approximately 10 days behind last year.

Tuesday 9th June 2015 - Slow turnover....

Another sunny but cool 'summer' day. 16c at best with moderate winds.

I took a trip to Crymlyn Burrows thinking that Dark Green Fritillaries and Large Skippers might be about, but was disappointed to find that there was no sign of the former (even the Marsh Thistles have yet to show themselves), and only a solitary example of the latter in over an hour's searching:
In fact, numbers of all species were a bit suppressed. Yes, there were plenty of Common Blues and Small Heaths, but Small Blues were well down on the stratospheric numbers recorded here two years ago, with only about three dozen seen:
Totals seen were as follows:

Common Blue 50-70
Small Heath 40-60
Small Blue 30-40
Brown Argus 8-12
Green Veined White 3
Orange Tip (all males) 3
Speckled Wood 1
Large Skipper 1
Dingy Skipper 1

During the afternoon, whilst watching the one-day cricket international between England and New Zealand, my neighbour shouted me to come and look at a strange butterfly on her patio. I grabbed my camera and waiting for me was my first Painted Lady of the year:
This specimen seems to have an element of reducta about it, as the hindwings are far more bereft of black markings than is usual. Still, I hope that this is the first of many given the recent influx reported in southern regions of the country.

Cheer up David...we're not too far off High Brown & Dark Green Fritillary now, lots still to look forward to.

Very interesting Painted Lady I assume Eve drew your attention to it?

BW's,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Sunday 14th June 2015 - Slow going....

Saturday was atrocious here in Swansea, and Sunday dawned little better. However, by midday the sun was breaking through the clouds so I decided to pay a first visit of the year to the Alun Valley High Brown Fritillary site near Bridgend.

Work commitments and poor weather have seen me practically absent from this glorious location thus far in 2015, but 5 minutes after arriving I was delighted to bump into fellow UKBer, Willrow, who himself had come down here on the spur of the moment.

It remained mainly cloudy but although butterfly numbers weren't great, we both saw encouraging signs for the rest of the summer (if only the weather would buck up).

Six Painted Ladies was probably the most notable statistic. Looks like we're having something of an influx. Long may it continue:
I also saw my first Meadow Browns of 2015:
A few Dark Green Fritillaries were about too. They are clearly at the beginning of their flight period given their lustrous condition. Here's a male which posed nicely during a cloudy interval:
We also got really lucky with a freshly emerged female who was taking her first tentative steps in her short life:
Vanessids seem to be re-emerging too. Five Red Admirals seen along with three Peacocks and a Small Tortoiseshell:
It was also nice to see a dozen or so Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries still going strong. Some individuals looked quite fresh so this site could well be one of the few in the UK where you can see 4 different Fritillaries by the end of June: Dark Green, Small Pearl Bordered, High Brown and early Silver Washed!
Other species seen were Green Veined White, Common Blue, Speckled Wood, Large Skipper and this male Brimstone which could be in line for a longevity award (and still looks in reasonable nick):

Thanks for the feedback everyone. This year is turning into one that requires additional effort and hours in the field to get any kind of reward.

Sunday 21st June 2015 - Still wearing my fleece....

Yep. Midsummer's Day and I never once removed my fleece in nearly 4 hours at the Alun Valley site in Glamorgan! Just 16 degrees with blustery winds. In a week's time I will be in the French Alps and it can't come soon enough (if only to walk around in a T-shirt again!)

I arrived in the morning when it was very cloudy, thinking that these might be the conditions in which to locate a few torpid Fritillaries.

Well, prior to the sun emerging at around midday, I did disturb half a dozen or so, but they all zoomed off pretty rapidly out of reach of my camera lens!

I managed to see several fresh Ringlets though, one of which was kind enough to pose awhile:
At least 40 Frits were seen in total, but most were males intent on flying incessantly in search of freshly emerged females. They are highly adept at weaving their way through the bracken but, of course, their reluctance to settle was frustrating.

I positively identified about a dozen Dark Greens, including this male imbibing from a thistle:
I also spotted a couple of female DGFs. This one was abnormally dark:
This heavenly spot was well frequented, with many fritillaries popping in to either inspect it or take nectar:
This is the hardest time of the flight period to separate male DGFs from High Browns. The former are still in good condition meaning that it is almost imperative for them to settle in order to reach a conclusion. In total, three High Browns came to earth sufficiently long for me to be sure of their identity. This one only stopped briefly, which was a shame as he is slightly aberrant, with much greater black suffusion near the body:
Other species seen were Meadow Brown (a dozen or so), Large Skipper (approx 10), Speckled Wood (half a dozen), Painted Lady 4, Small Tortoiseshell 3, Red Admiral 2, Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary (2 females).

Well done David, considering the conditions 3 certain HBF is good going, all we need is a spell of more settled weather, that wind can play havoc with such active species and the enthusiasts who pursue them

BW's,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Beautiful DGF female, and High Brown. The nearest of the latter are 100's of miles from me, the former
are very local. I have been told of a good way of telling the two apart when they fly together, as in
your case. DGF's are attracted to mauve or purple, ( only yesterday i saw DGF's nectaring on Knapweed
and Red Clover ) where as a High Brown is more likely to nectar on Bramble Blossom.
Of course no theory like this can be 100%, but i am sure there's truth in it.

Have a great season,
TREVOR.

Trevor, I often use precisely that behavioural aspect to home in on what I suspect are High Browns. Of course, this species will happily nectar from the marsh thistles just as Dark Greens are prone to do, but they certainly have a fondness for bramble blossom which isn't shared with anything like the same zeal by DGFs.

Tuesday 23rd June - A long overdue exercise in self-indulgence....

Pleasant, sunny conditions on offer today, and with me now being off from work, I couldn't resist the opportunity to spend an entire day out in the field (though rather too much was also spent in traffic jams, irritatingly).

First stop was Daneway Banks which by 9.20am was bathed in sunshine. Here's a view of the inn at the bottom of this glorious site:
I was a little disappointed to find that the marjoram which was attracting female Large Blues last year had yet to flower, so I wandered off to the upper easterly part of the site and that's where I found 7 of the 8 individuals seen (the other one was basking in the field immediately below). I wonder if the lack of wind encouraged them to fly higher up?
I also saw my first Marbled Whites of the year. Whilst not quite abounding in the same four figure numbers as on my last visit here in 2014, they nevertheless were about in the low hundreds:
Amongst the forty or so Large Skippers seen was my first female of 2015:
Plenty of other species about too - Meadow Brown (100+), Ringlet (40+), Common Blue (30+), Small Tortoiseshell (approx a dozen), Large White, Small Heath & Small Blue (2 of each), and singleton Painted Lady, Dark Green Fritillary and Green Hairstreak.

By 11.30am I needed to move on.....

M40 Compensation Area

Black Hairstreaks are devilish subjects and they drove me insane in the four hours I spent at the M40 compensation area in the recesses of Bernwood Forest.

The morning had been cloudy, but the sun arrived just as I did at 1.30pm and there were only 4 other individuals seeking to punish themselves similarly.

As ever, there was plenty of activity up in the trees and within an hour I had a painful dose of 'Hairstreak neck'. Occasionally, one (like this male) would taunt me by moving slightly lower down, usually to nectar on the emerging wild privet sprays:
This female got down to 8 feet:
Then, at about 4pm, this female descended to eye level to check out the blackthorn, behaving in just the manner everybody craves with this species - docile, approachable....the only problem was that she was in a terrible state, with significant wing damage:
I watched her for a good 10 minutes (though she never actually laid an egg) before she did something I wasn't expecting....she fluttered off clumsily and settled on an ox-eye daisy!!
All told, I estimate around 30 Black Hairstreaks were seen, but the adjacent forest hasn't yet welcomed the arrival of White Admirals or Silver Washed Fritillaries yet. However, I did see one other species I wasn't expecting in the form of two Dingy Skippers in the meadows of the compensation area:

Fine report David, I'm so pleased to know your well earned trip went well with a nice range of species seen and some spiffin images taken also - just hope your 'hairstreak neck' gets better before your hols

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Thursday 25th June - Eve of holiday marathon....

With a cloudy forecast, I hesitated at travelling to Shropshire until virtually the last minute. However, given that Large Heath was my target I figured that they'd be about in serious numbers at Whixhall Moss, meaning that I would almost certainly disturb some and may even be able to get close to this normally highly skittish species.

By 10.25am I was there, although it took some finding. Four years ago I got lost and ended up at the adjacent Bettisfield Moss. However, with the help of a gentlemen on a barge trip, I managed to get to the car park and onto the vast expanse of bog in this isolated borderland.
The first hour remained very overcast, but in spite of that I still saw about 10 Large Heaths, usually having walked past where they were roosting. They tended to shoot away and land again about 25 metres away. If I saw where they'd actually come down, I was able to home in on them. Here's a male:
A female:
This female actually lay on her side on the grass during a particularly cloudy spell:
It then started to progressively brighten up, and Large Heaths suddenly became much more active. In just short of two hours, I saw 61 in total so I dread to think how many would be observed on a warm, sunny day here - probably multi-hundreds.

There weren't many other butterfly species - a handful of Large Skippers, a Small Copper and three fresh Brimstones (2 males and 1 female). There's plenty of Buckthorn growing here so Brimmies ought to be out in force very shortly.

Walking down the track towards the entrance threw up 3 Speckled Woods and a Ringlet, but it nearly sent me to hospital - I almost trod on an adder basking by the gate. I saw it rear at me just as my foot was coming down and I immediately pulled away a couple of metres whilst it carried on hissing at me. After 30 seconds or so, it calmed down and I took a few shots of it:
At half past twelve, I made the short trip to Prees Heath and spent an hour in the company of serious numbers of Silver Studded Blues. I reckon well over 100 were seen (including half a dozen or so females). They were fluttering round the clumps of heather like sapphire jewels and it was a real delight to the eye.
Prime habitat:
Other species seen were Small Heath (20-30), Meadow Brown (10-20), Small Tortoiseshell 4, Ringlet 2 and a solitary Painted Lady (they seem to be cropping up everywhere right now).

Saturday 18th July 2015 - The wrong shade of purple.....

I confess that I could have made the pilgrimage to Fermyn Woods on Saturday 11th. However, after the exertions of an 11 day French Alps trip which only saw me back in the UK late on Thursday 9th, I was simply too fatigued to get my backside out of bed at 5.30am on that date, and instead left it till a week later.

I figured that whilst Purple Emperors were unlikely to be seen grounded, they would nonetheless be observable in flight at canopy level. Well, they were, albeit just three of them, but it is clearly true that these insects are far more prone to come to terra firma early in their flight period.

The last Emperor seen DID flirt with a patch of damp bridleway, glowing irridescent purple all the while, but the other two were observed flying high amongst the trees with no sign whatsoever of even a low 'fly-past'.

The day was not without alternative rewards though. Purple Hairstreaks were about in serious numbers:
I reckon I saw the greater part of 100, with a huge concentration in the largest oak in the 'square' a couple of hundred yards from the side road entrance.

I even had the rare privilege of seeing a female basking on the ground. I only got one decent photo which is entirely due to a bloody Ringlet that wouldn't leave her alone causing her eventually to fly up into the shrubs:
Given my long absence from any kind of UK butterflying trips, it wasn't surprising that the visit provided a few 'firsts' for 2015. After Purple Hairstreaks came Hedge Brown:
Within a few minutes, a pair of Small Skippers came into view:
Whilst White Admirals weren't exactly common (20-30 seen in total), they were nevertheless a welcome addition:
At first, I wondered whether Fermyn actually had Silver Washed Fritillary as a resident. Eventually, I saw three or four in the main rides, but a detour into a wider ride replete with bramble growth showed that they were about in serious numbers. In total, I would say I saw at least 60. Here's a male:
Several females were seen as well, but I was quite surprised to encounter two valezinas, as I thought these were restricted to the south of England:
Peacocks and Commas (including a Comma ab. suffusa) made a welcome reappearance with decent numbers seen, and half a dozen or so Red Admirals and a solitary Painted Lady were recorded.
The full list of species seen (in descending order of abundance) was:

Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Purple Hairstreak, Large Skipper, Silver Washed Fritillary, Hedge Brown, Large White, Comma, Green Veined White, Peacock, Small Skipper, White Admiral, Small White, Red Admiral, Small Tortoiseshell, Purple Emperor, Painted Lady.

Purple Emperors are rarely easy. However, they DO seem to like descending to the ground at Fermyn. They tend to do this earlier in the flight period though, after which they're much harder to spot.

Still, one possibility of a later visit is that you might see Empresses going about their egg-laying activities. One guy I met on Saturday had seen three flying around the sallows in Souther Wood, which is a 10 minute walk from Fermyn.

Sunday 19th July 2015 - Local duties....

After a marathon driving stint on Saturday, I could barely muster the energy to drive to the Alun Valley site on Sunday morning. I arrived there at 10.45am and spent till just gone midday on Old Castle Down to see if I could spot any female HBFs in the throes of egg laying.

I did see half a dozen or so, but they were all busy nectaring, along with several Silver Washed Fritillaries and a few very faded Dark Greens.

On my way back home, I stopped off at Kilvey Hill to see my first Graylings of 2015:

Good to see you made it to Fermyn David, that sure is some count for Purple Hairstreak

David M wrote:I was quite surprised to encounter two valezinas, as I thought these were restricted to the south of England:

So did I, and I've asked literally dozens of people if it were true over the years, I spoke to two guys during my recent visit and they mentioned that they had spoken to a guy who had actually seen a couple, now you have confirmed it

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Hi David, interesting report from Fermyn and great photos. You may not have seen a grounded PE but you did better than me with the Purple Hairstreaks

David M wrote:... but I was quite surprised to encounter two valezinas, as I thought these were restricted to the south of England...

Even the latest edition of Thomas and Lewington still repeats this, complete with a dotted line on a map to show the range. They have been seen in some Warwickshire woods for a few years now, on the very first page of my PD which was started in 2011 there is a photo of a valezina that was taken at Snitterfield Bushed near Stratford upon Avon. I am not sure how far north they may be found but they can certainly be found at a number of places in the midlands.

Cheers,

Neil