www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Superb Purple Hairstreak images, Peter.
I found a spot near me where they regularly came down low in the early morning.
Unfortunately I discovered them a little too late for fresh specimens, maybe next year.

Trevor.

Stunning shots Peter I can almost see the 'insect' that the tails and blue spot are trying to be, like you say great cryptic patterning Love the mid air Purp

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You have presented us with 'Hairstreak Heaven' there, Peter....although I agree that the Brown Argus is as mint fresh as you're ever likely to see.

More stunning images, as we've all become accustomed to in your PD Peter . I'm glad you found WLH closer to home, when they do come down in numbers they really do absorb time don't they. I've lost whole days at my Essex site just following them around a small strip of bramble

I have had a break from posting for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was Flickr changing the rules and making me delete a few thousand shots. (OK - I could have paid - but I thought I'd wait and see what they do in the longer term). So I watched as many of the pictures earlier on in my diary were erased - which I'm sure made Flickr management feel better. But it screwed-up this blog for me leaving holes and error messages...but I guess thats showbiz in the Internet age.

And so I sulked for a while and ignored Flickr....but nobody noticed. And now Flickr have stopped fiddling and I am posting a few there and deleting some old ones to stay under the curfew limit - and will do that unless somebody has a better idea.

And in the meantime I have taken a few pictures that friends have liked so I thought I'd post them here as well - not in a strict, logical diary form but just as a few pictures every so often. Perhaps then if Flickr decides that they'll reduce the free allowance to a new, lower limit the impact will be less and the frustration more bearable.

So my 'New Year' pledge is to post irregularly, in random date order and if at all possible make mistakes in the write-up. There I should manage that one.

So in no particular order. I'd like to post a few pics from my visit to Lincolnshire at the start of the mass emergence. It was my first time with Marsh Fritillaries in the UK, and came about from plans I made last year with a friend from Nottingham to make a joint visit. It was a good year to have picked - this was from May 15th which was a couple of days into the emergence and when numbers were already in the 500-1000 range. A remarkable day. And I have seen reports that the numbers grew to many thousands.

Marsh fritillary by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Marsh Fritillaries in Lincolnshire by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Marsh Fritillary by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Earlier in the year this Orange Tip from the garden is a personal favourite. I love OTs and this has been a great year

Orange Tip by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

And a couple of days before the Marsh Frits I visited Ivinghoe to get my annual 'Duke' fix. It was a perfect day.

Duke of Burgundy by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

This year has been a good one for Wood Whites in my local forest - Salcey in Northants. This was the first I have seen sampling horse poo. I say sampling, it would have taken a small earthquake to move it on...flowers ceased to be a draw and I was able to get in quite close.

Wood White on horse poo by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

And today there was a great deal of action from the 30 or so that I saw.

Wood White by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Two Wood Whites - getting along by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Still dotting about, I made a trip a couple of weeks back to Worcestershire to photograph Pearl-bordered Fritillaries. This was a favourite Having seen similar shots I was delighted to take my own.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

And just for the change in subject - here are a few Beautiful Demoiselles, also from Salcey. I wasn't aware that there was a stream, I must try and find it...

Beautiful Demoiselle - immature by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Beautiful Demoiselle - female by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

Is that random enough?

Some epic images there Peter, particularly the Orange Tip.
Just returned from Strumpshaw Fen, with Doug, had a great time.

Time to buy your Tesco Tuna in brine, as a gift for His Majesty.

Good to hear from you again !.
Trevor.

Welcome back Peter, I'm glad you've got over your sulking and are back to posting some of your marvelous images . I was actually just wondering the other week where you've been, looking forward to many more over the summer

Thanks Bugboy, nice to hear that. I find winter a challenge at the best of times so probably good that I hid.
Trevor, I must get over to Strumpshaw Fen, I will add it to my list. Your shots look good. I must admit the Hawk moths would have made it for me too.

Sorry about you enforced break Peter and glad you're back; when I read about your frustrations with Flickr I noticed that when read from a quick glance their name looks much more like what they is Still you're back with a vengence - a cracking set of images which as I scroll through burn the back of my retina with their colour and sharpness - beautiful

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Art Frames wrote:I have had a break from posting for a number of reasons. Not the least of which was Flickr changing the rules and making me delete a few thousand shots....

Grrr. Similar thing happened to me a few years ago when Photobucket suddenly changed the rules and I lost numerous images.

Took me weeks to re-edit my diary.

So my 'New Year' pledge is to post irregularly, in random date order and if at all possible make mistakes in the write-up...

With images like those, Peter, you can post in any way you like!

Love all of the images, but the Orange Tip on blossom stands out.

Grrr. Similar thing happened to me a few years ago when Photobucket suddenly changed the rules and I lost numerous images.

David, you are more patient than I am. I did delete a bit and then thought...'Oh dear maybe life is too short' (in a shorter way ... using a phrase that rhymes with Photobucket)

But sorry you got burned too.

Good to see you back Peter with more lovely images especially that Orange-tip!!(PS Sulking has never got me anywhere either )

If you can make it to Strumpshaw next week, go for it! ( weather permitting ).
They are mostly fresh at the moment, but that won't last.
We went later in June last year, and the Swallowtails found were all worn.

All the best,
Trevor.

I regard all 'cloud' storage as ephemeral - even if they don't 'go under', they can always hold you to ransom with price increases! Good to see you posting some more excellent images

Mike

Never seen this before. A Speckled Wood egg laying.

Egg-laying Speckled Wood by Peter Willmott, on Flickr

I was happily trying to get the two Wood Whites both in focus in the shot above when I saw a brown blur at knee height and took my eye from the camera and saw this. I managed 3 shots, as she was motoring along and stopping for seconds. I checked to see what I'd got but by then had lost the Speckled Wood who was presumably laying outside of my ambit. I'd have loved to have another chance with the shot (and improved the angle) but I'm pleased to have seen the sequence, and got the egg too.

5-10 minutes later I turned back to the Wood Whites who were in the exact same spot. That helped me to get them from the other direction and to take my time. And without them I'd have missed this.

Art Frames wrote:...I did delete a bit and then thought...'Oh dear maybe life is too short' (in a shorter way ... using a phrase that rhymes with photobucket...

I can imagine, Peter.

I've since gone into 'safety' mode (i.e. not prepared to trust third party websites).

If you go through life treating most people/organisations like idiots/incompetents you won't go far wrong!

Brilliantly captured shot of some very interesting behaviour Peter This could explain the 'bumbling' behaviour that I've seen Specklies doing in the past

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I have not posted in a long while but having logged on to see your Emperor shots I found there were not as many sightings as I expected and thought maybe you'd like to see some from my most recent encounters.

These were taken at Bucknell Wood in Northants on the 11th and then the 13th of July. The first encounter followed some high altitude sightings as I walked back to the car. I was with my wife and we were treated to about 10 minutes of watching (and a couple of hundred pictures).





The second visit was with a good friend in a slightly different spot in the same woods and that encounter was a little longer and enabled me to shoot some video as well as swap lenses and to capture some 'very purple' images.





I have a short video which I hope to upload here once I 'rediscover' how. Age and technology - a fine combination....

This short video may be of interest...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rmY_Nyx9wI[/video]

Purple Emperor - HD 720p

What a fine specimen of his royal purpleness