Pauline

[essexbuzzard]

Yes your Silver Spotted Skippers pictures are excellent, Pauline. A species I have a great love for.

[Pauline]

Hi Mark - they're so very charismatic aren't they? They are definitely my favourite Skipper - I'm pleased you like the pics

Thank you Andrew. I was pleased with the BH shots as they demonstrate behaviour not often seen.

Thank you David. I certainly hope numbers of both those butterflies increase - time will tell what effect this season has had on them.

Cheers Wurzel - I did in fact look further than the hedge exploring various tracks as I made my way up from the village. Perhaps I just didn't look hard enough but then I only had 90 mins or so. I see from Paul's report that a successful day was had, including females and a Wall Brown!!!

I think it is very unusual Trevor - thanks for the compliment. Would you believe it's raining here

[Pauline]

Today another short visit to Noar Hill. I arrived, rounded the corner and was met with:

As I was taking the shot I noticed out of the corner of my eye another Hairstreak behind. My first thought was WLH as I had found a worn one at almost the exact same place last year, but no, it was of the Purple variety:

Try as I might I couldn't get them both in the same shot!

A pristine second brood Small Blue was spotted but still no second brood Dukes found:

The only other butterfly of note was this Ringlet with an odd ring!

The Ash trees here really seem to be suffering with Ash die-back. I wonder how long it will be before they all succumb:

[Pauline]

This morning I had the first Hummingbird Hawk-moth of the season in the garden. I struggle to tell if they are male or female - possibly even more than I struggle to get any shots of them I usually have several each year so I hope one of them decides to make use of the Bedstraw supplied just for them. I must remember to check it:

The wings just go too quick!

Looking around the garden last night to see how many more plants had died (did I mention it's raining ) I noticed a Comma about to pupate on a Sallow which only had 2 leaves left. Thankfully this morning the Comma had pupated. The Silver-y moth had also gone to find pastures anew:

[Wurzel]

Lush Brostreaks and Hummingbird Hawk Pauline Shipton did come up with the goods in the end despite the heat

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Wurzel - I'm pleased you had a really good day, just a bit sorry I won't be around to read your report

[Pauline]

I was keen to know whether there were any female SSS out at Oxenbourne but I couldn't get out until 3.00pm today and the wind, well, it was blustery to say the least. Unsurprisingly the site was deserted and the Skippers who had been so keen to perch up off the hot ground a few days ago were now hunkered down out of the wind. This made my task of counting them a little easier as I did a quick circuit of their favoured area. To cut to the chase on just one side of the path there must have been at least a dozen (really ) including a definite 2 and possibly 3 females. I was literally almost tripping over them, sometimes taking a step and 3 would fly up This might not sound like a great deal but it definitely is for this site and is certainly the most numerous I have seen them here in recent years. Don't forget, their suitable environment has shrunk to an area not much larger than my garden!!! (OK, I exaggerate a little but you get the gist ). Most of them were very fresh including one little chap which I almost stood on in the middle of the path so I moved him somewhere safer. A couple of courting pairs were seen, but alas, they took off and I lost sight of them:

[bugboy]

Some nice fresh looking butterflies Pauline. As for Dukes, that's one species I fear for the most with this drought, and I do hope none are wasted on a second brood where there's likely to be precious little if any foodplant left for them. I reckon every single one that's survived will be needed next spring. I hope I'm wrong though

[Old Wolf]

Even though I am probably beginning to sound like a stuck record....amazing pictures.

There are so many in you recent selections of butterflies I have never seen and it is great to browse through them

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of shots Pauline Especially like the SSS on the finger, that’s one I need in my collection I’m trying to get caught up on my PD so I’ll try and get the Shipton report written and up before October

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely SSS Pauline, I went looking yesterday, too windy, still I gave it try, Goldie

[Pauline]

Cheers Buggy - I share your concern which I expressed a couple of weeks ago and not just for the Duke's. I guess time will tell.

That's the sort of stuck record I'm happy to listen to over and over again Wolf - thank you for your very kind words.

Thank you Wurzel. I am keeping my fingers crossed (again) that they're not lost from this site.

I'm pleased you like them Goldie - I'm certainly enjoying all the shots you are posting

[Pauline]

Looking out of the window it's hard to believe that only 48 hours ago I was praying for rain and now we have it in torrents. Until the drought I hadn't realised that I have 120 potted plants around the garden and watering them with a watering can was an impossible job. Jaffa is not too keen on the hose and seemed intent on stopping me using it:

but the Doves certainly enjoy a spray:

Several times in the evening I popped up to Noar Hill just to see how the butterflies were coping so a few more general shots from there. It's not possible to tell from this shot but this Holly Blue seemed quite a bit larger than usual making a change from the many tiny Common Blues I have been seeing this season:

I was surprised during the dry spell to find so many fungi in the garden. There were some very pretty ones in the rabbit run - silvery-white, small, delicate looking, pointed cap, but I disposed of them just in case. This is another - quite large, leathery and substantial looking. I'm sure I have a book somewhere ......

[millerd]

Just catching up, Pauline - some nice Hairstreaks shots from Noar Hill. Now I'm home I must try and get down there. Hopefully the rain will have refreshed and revived things a bit.

Dave

[Pauline]

Cheers Dave - speaking of Noar Hill .......... I've been stuck in for what seems like ages thanks to a load of domestic issues (not least my car!) but today I escaped briefly late afternoon. It was about 4.30pm when I arrived at Noar Hill and a male and female BH were already down nectaring. The female flew up immediately but I saw another a few minutes later. In total, in the first 15 mins I saw 2 male and 2 female. All were very skittish still, spending only seconds on each plant, not helped by the other species who were constantly disturbing them. A few shots which didn't come easy:

Rotten shot but see what I mean?

[Wurzel]

Still a great set of shots Pauline. The behaviour of the Brostreaks that you describe seems a little odd - I was always under the impression that the golden hours were between 1am and 3pm and also at Shipton the same male was down for an hour at least on two thistle heads, is there something different about Noar Hill?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Wurzel. I have been thinking long and hard about the questions you raise. Firstly, when I was new to butterflies, a few well-known and knowledgeable folk informed me that Brown Hairstreaks were just a 'morning' butterfly and it was no good looking for them in the afternoon. You and I both know that this is not true. However, I think there are still too many generalisations made that somehow become set in concrete. It is fair to say that many male BH come down to nectar in the morning and some females come down to egg lay in the afternoon..... but many do not perform within the hours we have set them. Butterflies also behave differently at different sites where there are differing environments. (This is all based on just my personal experience).

Being so close to Noar Hill I have been visiting at different times of the day and sometimes 2 or 3 times per day to try to monitor the behaviour of these butterflies in this prolonged heat. As I have already posted, getting any shots has been difficult as the butterflies have only been settling for a few seconds at a time (all male except for one female). Today, for the first time, the males have been staying down for prolonged periods and most are looking worn and faded. There were 6, possibly 8, down in one small area. A single female came down, flew around a blackthorn, almost touching down but not quite, and then returned to the trees. I can only assume that this skittish behaviour is down to a combination of high temperatures and the need to get on and mate. The males (as I predicted) emerged early but were forced to seek shade, only diving down for moisture and nectar when desperate. The females have now emerged and mating is paramount so yet again we have seen little of the males. Their work is now done and they can afford to be a bit more relaxed. Now it is the turn of the female and I think we shall see most of the egg-laying next week. I am not sure that Shipton is so different. There are not the numbers of butterflies there that there are at NH (and many species have been bothering the BH, eg, Common Blue, Comma, SWF, MB and especially the flies and wasps) but I think my single visit to Shipton co-incided with that period of intense heat when they were seeking shade. By the time you saw them the females had emerged (by all accounts) and presumably mating had occurred so the males were more relaxed. These are just my thoughts so please feel free to comment but in the meantime I shall post some shots from the last couple of days:

[Wurzel]

Great set of shots Pauline Also interesting reading about the behaviour. I reckon you're onto something but at the end of the day I also think that this butterflying is a funny old game and butterflies are anything but predictable

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

That's a good day with the Hairstreaks. I got my first fix of them yesterday, a nice fresh female just finishing drying her wings, a frustratingly short encounter but a good start

As far as their behaviour is concerned what I will say is what I often say to newbies who often quote from books, "the butterflies don't read the books!"
I also think there's a lot of chinese whispers that goes on in butterfly books, with many using previous books as sources. So something which may have been true at one site 60 years ago gets quoted as gospel everywhere through a succession of editions. You can't beat personal observations, if you see a butterfly doing something a source say's they don't do, then who's wrong, you or the source!

[millerd]

An excellent selection of Hairstreaks, Pauline. I think Bugboy is right about all the received wisdom in books - it's quite possible that you could trace some of these "facts" back through the literature to one single observation made by one elderly Victorian Gentleman in the 1840s! Anyway, I shall be heading down to Noar Hill very soon...

Cheers,

Dave