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Thursday 7th April 2011

I had the day off yesterday and after an appointment in town had the sunny afternoon to myself

I did get my first Orange Tips, but all at a distance. The first two males and a Small or GV White were on my way home at Ealing Broadway station.

On arrival home there was a Peacock and my first confirmed Green Veined White in the garden.

I opted for Horsenden Hill, still after a close up Orange Tip sighting and was there between 15.00 and 16.00. I didn't see one in the end (they have been recorded up there this year though) but did see 6 Peacock, 4 Comma and 3 Speckled Wood. I did see a male Orange Tip driving back through Perivale.

Back at home the Peacock was still there along with a Holly Blue and a Speckled Wood.

I went straight over to the cemetery between 16.50 and 17.30. 1 Peacock, 4 Speckled Wood and best of all 2 male Holly Blues. I say that as I had my best ever photo opportunity for them I followed one male up and down the verge and he kept settling. The evening sun looked gorgeous too.
I got so engrossed at one point that I tripped over backwards over a displaced grave stone/cover. My field bag went one way, my camera went another and I ended up on my back. As I lay there for a few seconds wondering if I had hurt anything I realised the camera hadn't landed lens down, luckily.

Back at home my first confirmed Small White, a male, was basking in the garden (on Butch) in the evening sun.
Quite an afternoon; my first Orange Tips, Small White and Green Veined White. If this weather continues I may go looking for Green Hairstreak at the weekend!

Saturday 9th April 2011

I had to nip into town this morning but still managed some sightings:

York Rise, Tufnell Park, NW5
1 Small or Green Veined White

Primrose Hill Road, Primrose Hill, NW3
1 Comma
1 Holly Blue
1 Small or Green Veined White

In the garden as we returned:

2 Holly Blue
1 male Orange Tip
1 Peacock
1 Green Veined White

After that I was free for the afternoon and I wanted to see if I could find any Green Hairstreaks, so I set off for Swyncombe Downs in Oxfordshire (SU678915). Driving through the nearby village of Ewelme I saw 3 male Orange Tips, 2 male Brimstones and a Speckled Wood.

I didn’t find any Hairstreaks despite a thorough search but I’ll go back in a couple of weeks. (EDIT - it seems from reports from most everyone else I was unlucky!). There were loads of violets everywhere, a few bluebells and cowslips and the odd honesty plant. I was there between 15.00 and 17.00 and my entire visit was sound-tracked by the constant song of Skylarks. Occasionally one would rise up in front of me singing away – quite beautiful. Red Kites were flying overhead too.

Other sightings:

1 Small Tortoiseshell
1 Peacock
5 male Orange Tip, 1 female
6 male Brimstone, 1 female
1 female Green Veined White

Plus this lovely moth:
Lastly, I came across two eggs on the ground, this one intact and another that had been cracked but was otherwise intact. Any ideas on what they may be? Size was perhaps 5 or 6cm long by 4cm wide.

Sunday 10th April 2011

Rather than go out for the day today I opted for several trips to the cemetery while also having the camera to hand at home.

Throughout the day at home, 3 Holly Blues (2 different females), 4 Speckled Wood and a male Orange Tip were seen in the garden. A Sparrowhawk was also flying overhead for a while, circling above Brent River Park. The two female Holly Blues were noticeably different, one looked like spring brood and the other was much darker, more like summer brood.
Cemetery trip 1; 10.00 – 10.30

I wanted to see if I catch any butterflies waking up and basking, but it was already warm in the sun. Sightings:
4 Speckled Wood
1 male Small White
Cemetery trip 2; 12.00 – 13.00

Things had really woken up by now and the sun was pretty hot. Sightings:
12+ Holly Blue
1 male Green Veined White
7 male Orange Tip
3 Small or Green Veined Whites
15 Speckled Wood

I observed some behaviour I’d never seen before in Holly Blues. Firstly a courting couple where the male was flying behind a perched female with the male flying side to side behind her; almost fanning her. She took off and he followed up into a tree where I lost them, perhaps to pair.

Secondly, a male flying so low to the ground I thought it was a very early Common Blue. It was a male Holly Blue – who then started nectaring on a daisy! This may be common but I’d never seen it before.
Cemetery Trip 3; 15.00 – 15.30

A bit quieter by now but further odd Holly Blue behaviour - this male was wandering around on the ground:
Sightings:
4 Holly Blue
3 male Orange Tip
3 Small or Green Veined Whites
6 Specked Wood

Cemetery Trip 4; 16.45 – 17.15

I was after the lovely evening sunlight, which didn’t disappoint.

Sightings:

4 Holly Blue
4 male Orange Tip, 2 female
1 Small or Green Veined White
6 Specked Wood
It was lovely to see so many butterflies so close to home today. Apart from the Holly Blue behaviour already noted, it was strange not to see a single hibernator today.

One last point, most of the Speckled Woods I saw today looked rather more orange, than yellow…

You are taking some really lovely pictures, Lee.

I think fresh spring tircis does often look quite deep and 'orange', but it is never the bright orange of aegeria, which is more the colour of a wall. Funnily enough, I was noticing the depth of colour in our speckled woods last weekend (Switzerland is more or less on the cusp, but nominally tircis).

Guy

Thanks Guy I was particularly happy with the 2 female Orange Tip at rest pictures.

I agree, I had my first aegeria experience in France last year and they are quite different. You're right, the spring brood does seem do be a deeper shade though, especially compared to the last brood of last year, which seem quite pale by comparison.

So do you see both ssp in Switzerland, as in they overlap and fly together, or is it dependant on locality and where you get one you don't get the other? I guess there is an intermediate form too - isn't the Isles of Scilly race inbetween the two?

Cheers

Lee

In intermediate areas you sometimes see what seem to be mixed individuals, though they still lack the real brightness of aegeria. Here is one from Switzerland:



I've seen similar things in the Channel Islands and even on the south coast of England (Sussex).

I have no idea if that is really some kind of hybrid form, but I've only seen it relatively near the overlap area. The boundary line doesn't run West/East(dividing North from South) but North-West/South-East (dividing North-East from South-West), so as you go eastwards you find tircis relatively far south.

Guy

Thanks Guy.

It's a funny split isn't it - I imagined it may be climatic but it can't be as there would be some very warm areas south east of that line. Incidently, that line is pictured in Tolman as a (quite wide) shaded area.

Your picture looks exactly like the female ssp insula pictured on this very site:

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/species. ... es=aegeria

Cheers

Lee

A trip to the cemetery when the sun broke at lunchtime yielded this female Orange Tip laying eggs and another looking for egg laying sites. I'll try and keep an eye on the eggs.
Other sightings:

8 male Orange Tip
2 Green Veined White
2 Small White
1 could have been either
6 Speckled Wood
1 Peacock
1 Holly Blue

Meanwhile at home, there were 3 Speckled Wood in the garden. 1 female and 2 males. The 2 males had a dogfight for ages and then after one had flown off the female appeared. The remaining male flew over ready for a fight but then his behaviour instantly changed as he flew round and above her. She settled, he followed. She seemed to lay on one side, then the other while he faced her, presumably showering her with his scent scales. She then flew up with him in pursuit and I think they settled on an upstairs window, where I lost them. Hadn't seen that before!

A Holly Blue also fluttered about.

This afternoon I gambled on the weather (and lost ) and set off for Yoesden Bank in Buckinghamshire, still in search of Green Hairstreaks with the added possibility of Grizzled and Dingy Skippers.

I didn't see a single butterfly - the closest I came was an Orange Tip egg on a garlic mustard plant. (Does that count as a sighting? I mean, should I report immature life stages with my adult sightings?)

Still, I did see 2 Jays, heard a Chiff Chaff and the distant drumming of a woodpecker. With no sun and no leps I focussed on what else I could see. The chalk bank was covered in Cowslips in bloom, violets and I think Wood Anemones were also frequent:
No idea on this one but it is pretty:
Lastly, I'd never seen a jet black woodlouse before and this strange fly (wasp?) was sitting where a Green Hairstreak may have sat when the sun was out.

That looks like a St Mark's fly to me, Lee. I tend to see these flying in groups a little later in the year (St Mark's day is 25th May). They are quite obvious because of their long dangly legs.

The first flower is wild stawberry (I think) and the second reminds me of bugle but may be something else.

Thanks Susie.

Must be a good site for them in that case as there were loads of flies with dangly bits chasing me all the time I was there!

Cheers

Lee

They are completely harmless.

Phew! Thanks for the flowers too.

Cheers

Lee

Looks like a Pill woodlouse ( I could be wrong) and i agree with Sue with it being one of the bibio fly species.
Chris

Thanks Chris

Cheers

Lee

Some years ago, i was racing down a hill on me bike, when i hit a swarm of St Mark's Flies. I managed to swallow one, and ever since i've felt sorry for Hirundines.

Nasty!

The weather looked more promising today and there were 2 Speckled Wood and a Holly Blue in the garden by 09.30.

Between 12.30 and 15.30 I went to Denbies Hillside in Surrey (TQ141503), still in search of Green Hairstreaks.

As it was, I had to work hard today; inbetween the lengthy cloudy spells I trudged all over the hill, up the edges and around all the scrub. After about an hour I eventually found this Dingy Skipper . My first of the year and really not living up to its name.
I explored areas at the site I hadn't before and went further along the valley path to the right. Eventually the sun came out and suddenly there it was, low to the ground and looking magnificent.
It soon clouded over again and although I could see another sunny spell coming, with little wind it took ages to arrive.

But it was worth the wait - the day then got even better
At one point I was sitting on the slope taking it all in when a Bee Fly buzzed up next to me and nectared on one of these, not 6 inches away.
Denbies sightings:

1 Green Hairstreak
1 Dingy Skipper
4 Grizzled Skipper
1 Peacock
2 Speckled Wood
4 male Orange Tip
4 male Brimstone, 3 female
2 Small or Green Veined White

I also had a possible Large White but I wasn't sure so am not recording it.

Back at home, a Small or Green Veined White and a male Orange Tip rounded off the day nicely. Superb!

possibly common milkwort for your plant Lee.
Chris