www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Thanks for the kind comments guys, as ever, much appreciated.

Egg Hunting

With sunny winter days and no butterflies to search for on them, I always go for the next best thing, their eggs. Where I am there are strong populations of Brown and Purple Hairstreak (though you wouldn't know it from the number of adults I manage to actually photograph) and a friend has White Letter Hairstreak in his garden. I succeeded in finding eggs of Brown Hairstreak - the best numbers ever in fact, two singles at two different sites, 6 at another site, 11 at another and 12 at yet another - happy days!

Sadly I haven't yet managed two find the fabled 'twoer' (two eggs laid next to each other on the same growth scar), this is about the closest I've got...
Purple Hairstreaks were incredibly scarce this year as adults (I can normally easily find 30 adults in the right place on the right evening), so it was no surprise that in a brief search I found no eggs, but I will be back!

Nevertheless, I did manage some White-Letters.

Superb finds William, and excellent photos to boot, as usual!

Cheers,

- Pete

Welcome William, your photo's are great roll on next year and more shots from you Goldie

Hi William, great ovum shots! I've had two unsuccessful hairstreak egg hunts over the weekend, Browns and WL so I am VERY jealous of your pics. I won't give up though!

Thanks for all the kind comments guys, much appreciated! I can't really take any credit for the White-Letter eggs as they were in a friend's garden where he had already found them - I'm not complaining, though some of the fun of tracking them down is lost!

Bugboy - don't lose the faith, egg-hunting is absorbing and frustrating, but when it is successful, thrilling. I found no Brown Hairstreak eggs in the spot where I found 11 this year - butterflies are capricious creatures

BWs,

William

William wrote:Bugboy - don't lose the faith, egg-hunting is absorbing and frustrating, but when it is successful, thrilling. I found no Brown Hairstreak eggs in the spot where I found 11 this year - butterflies are capricious creatures

BWs,

William

Oh no, I won't lose faith. The Brown hairstreak egg hunt was based on a 1 female sighting in an area where they haven't been recorded in many years and the WL was just a quick search, may go back another day and do a proper search for the WL. I never have a problem finding Purples when I put my mind too it. I enjoy the challenge even if I come away with nothing.

Happy New Year everyone! Fortunate to start the year with a bang this morning, with a Red Admiral looking for somewhere to hide from the weather at Exeter St David's station of all places

HI William,

Great find at St. David's Stn. This will make the Red Admiral once again a 12 month a year species.
I have seen RAs.in every Winter month over the years, and I expect we will see some more later in February
if it's mild.

Wishing you a Happy Butterflyingly 2015.
TREVOR.

Can't get an earlier sighting than that! Sometimes you just need to be in the right place at the right time...

Thanks guys, hope I'm in the right place at the right time again with Brown Hairstreaks this summer . I managed to find another Red Admiral today (this time in native Somerset), flying in the weak sunshine, may this be the start of a long run of luck!

BWs,

William

Excellent find William - I hope your long continues right through 2015

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel - same to you!

Hibernation Station

A couple of wintery immature stages from the last few weeks.
A Brown Hairstreak Egg against an unusually sunny, blue sky. I've had lots of luck with these this winter, finding them in 5 different grid squares near my home!
Small Skipper Larvae in their trademark hibernation cocoons, looking forward to seeing these develop!

It's not all cold and grey though, I managed to find another Red Admiral today, basking on a dead tree at a local spot - roll on spring!

Hi William,

your photo of the Small Skipper larva is quite remarkable. Well done.

All the best, Nick.

Well done, William. Those cocoons with tiny Skipper larvae within must surely be a first on UKB?

Nick - Thank you very much, a great compliment after all the magnificent immature stage photos you have been posting!

David - You are most kind, though I believe the maestros (Pete and Vince) got there first

BWs,

William

William wrote:You are most kind, though I believe the maestros (Pete and Vince) got there first

Were they wild images though?

It Begins!

Having gotten off the mark on New Year's Day and had few subsequent sightings (apart from a rogue Speckled Wood in the sitting room yesterday - not sure of its provenance!) I was champing at the bit when I saw a nice weather forecast for today. Unusually, the predicted forecast was delivered, and my garden was the place to be, with 3 Peacocks, 1 Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Commas, and more bees than you could shake a stick at - spring is here at last!

The Commas in particular proved very photogenic...
Buoyed by this discovery I decided to make a short trip down the road that I'd been planning for some time. Turns out I timed it just right (Thanks Pete!) and I was rewarded with 2 very nice webs of Marsh Fritillary larvae. It was a great joy to see these for the first time, very active in the sun, wriggling around investigating grass stems and basking happily. My advice to anyone looking for them: watch where you're walking! At this time of year they're very small and very easily missed!
Continuing the larval theme, I checked on the Small Copper larva, who has survived the winter (thanks again Pete!) and seems to be just waking up. If you look in the photo below, you can see the silken pad on which he spent the winter just below him!

What an excellent start to the year, Will! Look forward to hearing how the Marshies and Small Copper are coming along!

Cheers,

- Pete

Great stuff William and some lovely photos, I particularly like the second Comma

Cheers,

Neil.

The Comma Butterflies look lovely.