www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers Wurzel - it was good to see Philzoid again. Perhaps it won't be too long before the two of us meet up as I have the feeling BH might be early this year

Those Hawk moths are so impressive aren't they David. You wouldn't believe how many shots I took of them - just in case I never see another

Thank you Goldie. I hope your visit to Kent goes according to plan but it's really, REALLY hot down here. I am spending most of my day trying to cool off the animals with wet sheets, hosepipes, frozen water in bottles etc etc. They are really feeling it

D'you know Allen, I was about to say the same thing about YOUR PH! Some great behavioural shots there and your description regarding the acorns reminded me of the Small Coppers last year which I photographed on the acorns. Funnily enough, it was when I was taking shots of the PH the other day that I saw my very first Small Copper of the season. No photo as he was fighting with a Skipper and Small Heath!!!

Hi Maurice - why haven't I seen you yet this season?????? Great to hear from you tho and thank you for that ID - much appreciated Hope all is well.

Thank goodness the temperature has dropped a few degrees - not enough imo - as it enabled me to get out to a local site today for an hour. An hour in which I saw 15 species. I did not photograph them all and I'm not even going to list them - so you'll have to trust me on that one . There were masses of Gatekeepers. In fact the whole place was teeming with butterflies and it was difficult to find a flower head with just one insect!
There were lots of Skippers egg-laying so I took a few shots but didn't go on to explore the eggs for 2 reasons - firstly, been there, done that and you've all seen my shots; secondly, it was still really hot and I didn't want to expose the eggs to the hot sun ..... and as these eggs are in no way attached to anything it is very easy to lose them so please be careful if you try it:
A few more shots:
....and then it was back home for some lunch and a nice glass of ice cold Pimms in a small corner of the garden :

Nice shot of Comma and Small Tortoiseshell, Pauline. Your garden looks very lush given the heatwave. I'm sure it's the perfect place for a Pimms!

Keep me posted on Shipton Pauline Great shot of the Comma and Small Tort, a nice twofer Pimms sounds like a great idea though a G&T would be even better

Have a goodun

Wurzel

David, Wurzel - if you are ever in my neck of the woods you would be very welcome to join me - a selection of beverages is usually available

Sometimes, if you can't find what you are looking for, you just have to make do with whatever is available ......... and I was very happy with what was available today . I could have watched the Small Tortoiseshells all day:
....and then on the exact same day as they emerged last year a Chalkhill Blue appeared. He didn't stop for long and he covered a good half of the site in not very many seconds so these are record shots only. In a couple of days the place will be teeming with them:
Oh yeah, nearly forgot these:

Well Guy, I've already started searching for those eggs without any hope or expectation . Needless to say, if I can't even tell male from female (and I've seen a few weaving in and out of various sallows but I assume they both do this?) my chance of success ranges from slim to zero I'll give it a few more shots tho' - who knows? ..... and whilst I'm looking I come across other delights such as these:
as well as a few more tatty PE's!

Hi Pauline,

Great selection of moths there, always good to see Elephant Hawks .

I am still waiting on my first Buff-tip in my garden...any chance of sending a couple up this way

All the best,

Neil.

Thanks for the offer Pauline Great shots of the Chalkhill and great to see they're out

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Neil - I'll swap one for a Blood-vein? Great shot of the LW btw

Great to see them out Wurzel - you're being very kind cos let's be honest, they're not very good shots Remember it's me you're talking to

Just a quick update on the Sallow Kitten and a few shots of him searching for an appropriate place to pupate:

Brown Hairstreak has emerged in Sussex!!!! Wow! I had predicted they would be early (in my diary) given that the larva I was monitoring had gone off to pupate very early but I hadn't expected it to be QUITE this early

Gosh, isn't it hot!!! Today there were 10 species of butterflies in the garden - I am not overly obsessive about counting them but I do believe that might be the highest daily total. They included SWF and Small Skipper which I don't see often but they were all singletons except for the Whites and the Commas. Many were looking for shade so the only shot I took was this Brimstone who had found some - although I don't know what that smudge is on him:
Yesterday, in a bid to escape the heat and find some breeze, myself and a friend ended up here:
There was hardly any breeze, it was just as hot as in the garden (so I couldn't resist a paddle and even the water was warm) and the butterflies were frantic. The second brood Common Blue is well and truly out here:
This afternoon I had to make a choice between the football and the butterflies - it was a tough choice but the butterflies won and in a bid to improve on those Chalkhill shots I set off to my closest site. I did a bit better but not by much. Only a few more had emerged which surprised me as in this heat I thought there would have been loads. Wurzel, I think I should get you to mark my photos for technical ability, composition, subject matter etc etc. Marks out of 50 would be fine - I think I'd score these at about 20 -22. As much as that I hear you say!
Spotting a couple of DGF gave me an opportunity to try to improve on my previous shots of those too. Getting close to this species is something I find almost impossible. The only real opportunity I had was when I watched the female egg-laying but I wasn't about to disturb her in any way. Without my specs I didn't stand a cat-in-hell's chance of finding the egg but I have marked the spot and will check at some point:

I couldn't grade your photos Pauline as ;
a. It's the weekend and I have too much marking already
b. It would be like the Padawan assessing a Jedi Master


Have a goodun


Wurzel

Flattery will get you nowhere Wurzel

Following reports of the Sussex BH (it still seems ever so early to me) I thought I would check out the vegetation at Noar Hill. This is never an early site for BH, reports from SB usually appearing first. As I expected, the Hemp Agrimony is mostly still very much in bud and I would reckon it will be at least another 10 days before the site 'looks ready' - even then it would still be considerably earlier than recent years.

I am actually regretting having visited the site having been bitten by ants, horse flies and managed to secure about 50 tick larva somehow. I managed to get most off but I guess I will be finding them for some days now . I also discovered this poor mole and wondered if it was a casualty of this prolonged heat - the wild life must be finding it so difficult to get food and water:
I remember the first time I took a photo of a dead animal - shrew I believe it was - Mark told me I was macabre! Thing is, I only took one other shot today and that was this one:

Yesterday I saw what I initially thought was a male Marbled White being rejected by a female but as I approached that was clearly not the case. I watched their behaviour for about 15 minutes but I am still unclear about what was happening. My shots of moving subjects leave a lot to be desired but I have tried my best to show the interaction which seemed quite repetitive. The butterfly seemed to be very interested in the abdomen of the worn specimen which would occasionally flutter its wings rapidly before settling to nectar, sometimes appearing to hold off the other butterfly by grasping its leg or antenna. A couple of times another male approached only to be chased off by the original who returned to 'butt' the abdomen. This probably sounds very confusing so I will just post the shots and hope someone can throw some light on it:
and a close up
....holding onto antenna?

.....and gripping leg
I've never seen this behaviour before in Marbled White's or any other species so I am curious as to what is happening.

I've never seen this behaviour before in Marbled White's or any other species...

Oh?

Jack

That is unusual behaviour Pauline Is it something to do with a pheromone mix up?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely Small Torts Pauline. And very interesting Sallow Kitten sequence.

That's fascinating behaviour by the Marbled Whites, Pauline, and that sallow kitten larva is something to behold; it's absolutely gorgeous.

With those Marbled Whites I wonder whether the 'sniffee' had recently mated with a fresh female and the 'sniffer' could still smell her on him?

Thank you all for your comments although I have to confess Jack, although it is good to hear from you, I haven't a clue what your comment means I think that all your suggestions about pheromones and recent mating activity are both plausible and feasible but if that were the case it leaves me wondering why I haven't noticed it before. A couple of weeks ago there was a fair bit of mating activity and huge numbers of MW in a smallish area but I have never seen that type of interaction before. I can't believe that my powers of observation have suddenly improved so much (tho' I do try!) that I have suddenly just noticed it. I think I'm just going to have to leave it as 'fascinating behaviour' until and/or unless myself or others observe it in the future. I thought it was worth flagging up tho' not least because it was so prolonged!

I'm glad you found the Sallow Kitten interesting - I do too. This is my final update on the much larger Puss moth larva. Last night I noticed both of them turning a brown/purple colour and becoming quite restless - a sure sign that they are ready to pupate (in just the same way that the Sallow Kitten's colour darkens and becomes more vibrant). I introduced some bark and they were both on it in just a few minutes. I took a couple of shots but by the time they had decided exactly where they wanted to pupate it was getting dark so I had to wait until this morning when the deed was already done!
I had to look really hard even just to find this one:
...and the second Sallow Kitten pupa which is just as well camouflaged but obviously much smaller: