www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

That is a lovely dusky Speckled Wood - the velvety look is almost tangible.

Dave

Glad you got your Small Tortoiseshell Pauline

Great photos, I'm liking the ones against wooden backgrounds, especially the Red Admiral.

Cheers,

Neil F.

Thank you David - they're lovely when they're fresh aren't they.

Thank you Neil - I think they all favoured the wood probably for the warmth and I thought it made an acceptable background.

Despite my intention to continue this diary until the end of August events seem to have overtaken me. My car is off the road until mid-week, I have had an influx of sick animals and the thunderstorms have been impressive but not conducive to finding butterflies. This will therefore be my last posting until next season and any photos I should manage to take will be 'carried over'.

I would just like to thank everyone who has given me so much support, encouragement, help and advice (both publicly and privately) in my efforts to improve my photography skills. I shall continue to work on this and over the winter attempt to consolidate everything I have been taught. I shall certainly still keep in touch with the website and I am already looking forward to next year. Enjoy the rest of the season.

your diary has made lovely viewing Pauline. good luck with the car and the animals.
all the best til next year.
Chris

All the best until next season Pauline.

I am already looking forward to you posting again

Neil F.

Many thanks Pauline for sharing your experiences this season and for supplying so many quality images to the Species Albums .

Cheers,

Vince

Pauline

Looking forward already to seeing your resumption next year, it has been a pleasure following your diary

Phil

It has been the worst winter imaginable. Shortly after closing my diary for the season the birds in my aviaries contracted a virus from a flock of Doves living at a local pub. This virus turned out to be PMV1, i.e. Newcastle's Disease, which is notifiable. Like many others in the neighbourhood I also keep poultry so the authorities were very concerned. I was quickly 'closed down' by Defra for a period which was to amount to almost 5 months. The disease can take 8 weeks to run its course and the restrictions are held in place for a further 8 weeks minimum as this is also the incubation period. I was issued with a license allowing me to leave and enter my property but the gate was kept chained and not even the postman was allowed entry. I felt completely isolated. A ministry vet visited for 2.5 hours to complete paperwork and inspect my bio security arrangements to ensure that they met requirements. 8 bowls of a specific disinfectant guarded each entry point and clothes had to be disinfected or discarded. Over the period, some 40 of my birds died. Some quickly, others not so quickly and bodies had to be incinerated in accordance with procedures. The experience has left me emotionally drained but with a better understanding of the difficulties farmers can be faced with.

Given these restrictions and the extra work they entailed I was unable to get out with my camera as intended. I had hoped to consolidate all I had learned over the season and hone my skills but it was not to be which will be apparent from later photo postings. Instead I had to be content with what I could see from my windows - being an old property the windows are small and leaded and much of the glass is beveled making cleaning them difficult and photography even more so. So, before I get to this season's butterflies a small selection of the many winter visitors.

I have been pleased to host a small gathering - 3 male, 2 female - of Blackcaps which have stayed around far longer than usual this year:
One morning I woke up to find this handsome chap looking at me, only a few feet away on the other side of the glass where he stayed until a Magpie jabbed at him with its beak.
and this charming little chap:
Last but not least, the badgers:

Hi Pauline,
Welcome back. Sounds like you've had a dreadful time of late. Hopefully you can put all this behind you now and immerse yourself in a wonderful summer.
Best Wishes, Neil

Pauline, Sorry to hear about your avian problem, hope to see you out enjoying the butterflies now that season is starting to look good.
best wishes
Colin

Hi Pauline.

Really sorry to hear about the Newcastle's virus; fingers crossed you never get a repeat episode.

Hope you have a great butterfly season.

Kind regards. Mark

Good to see you're back, Pauline, though sorry to read about your dreadful experience over the Winter.

Blackcaps have been late-stayers in our Oxon garden, too, but a pair of Sparrowhawks are making a nuisance of themselves by using our bird-feeders as a fast-food outlet and leaving sad remains lying around by our pond. Perhaps we should encourage Magpies to see them off!

We are very pleased that the leucistic (pure white plumage) Starling has just returned to our garden, for the sixth successive year. Let's hope she has another successful breeding season.

Mike

Hi Pauline,

Good to see you posting again and very sorry to hear about your problems over the winter.

Looking forward to your posts through the coming season.

All the best,

Neil F.

Pauline

Just to add my own welcome back and sorry to hear about your problems during the past winter - here's hoping you have a season to remember!

Phil

So sad to hear of your traumas, Pauline. Our own chickens were on borrowed time a few years ago when the avian flu outbreak was at its peak, to the point where I agreed with my friend that any edict to have them destroyed would see me take them up north and give them away rather than cull them.

Oddly enough, we too had a dove with Newcastle's disease. Poor thing was unable to fly and brain damaged but it had a happy enough life living amongst our chickens for a few years. It's head was permanently twisted by 90 degrees and it was badly unco-ordinated but it was just about able to feed itself so we simply left it as none of us like to 'cull' creatures unless it's absolutely necessary.

Crazy thing is that our cats never went near the bird even though it was a sitting duck. It was as if they could sense something was badly wrong so they gave it a wide berth at all times.

Sorry to read you've had such a traumatic winter, Pauline. I hope the coming summer is better for you.

Good to see you back Pauline, here's hoping for happier times ahead

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Pauline,
i am really sorry to hear of all your heart ache as i know how much you care for your animals. I just hope that everything in the future brings you happiness.

All the best, Nick.

Thank you all for such a warm welcome back and your messages of sympathy and condolences. You really do not know just how much your kind words have meant to me and it is good to feel I am back amongst friends once again.

It is certainly a worry Mark that this virus could return as apparently it is endemic in the wild bird population and 'flares up' every few years in a similar fashion to myxomatosis. The Department of Environment were already aware of the situation at the pub where the infected birds are living in a barn used to store pub furniture. A cull has been attempted but has only been partially successful. They consider the birds to be far enough away from any area preparing food from the public - about 10 paces by my reckoning. The barn had dead and sick birds littering the floor and the RSPCA were also involved but their resources were limited. Naturally the birds come into my garden which is only a couple of miles away because of the food availability.

Quite a few of the remaining birds have been left with the symptoms you describe David - classical text book neurological problems. I find myself recently questioning their quality of life but like you I am reluctant to do anything too hasty.

I would love to see some photos of your white Starling Mike. In my garden I have seen a white Crow and a white badger and a white squirrel over the years. A photo of the badger:
Update on Wrecclesham - I had a brief look at this site whilst passing the other day. I was disappointed to see that all the bushes along the bank by the bridge had been chopped down. Last year these could be relied upon for Green Hairstreaks. The area is obviously being managed for other creatures as sheets of corrugated metal can now be found along the length of the bank. The fence has been completely broken down in a couple of places so no need to climb if you approach from the back of the allotments. Heavy plant and machinery on site doing some work but more evidence of night time activity - beer cans, hold-alls, broken dog harnesses etc. Only 2 foxes seen in the 10 minutes I was there and a few Orange Tips.

Thank you all again for your understanding and support - reading your diaries and seeing your smashing photos has just about kept me sane over the winter. Tomorrow I shall begin with the Dukes.

Pauline wrote:I would love to see some photos of your white Starling Mike. In my garden I have seen a white Crow and a white badger and a white squirrel over the years. A photo of the badger:

Interesting photo! Your Badger is an albino, which results from a defect that prevents the production of the pigment melanin. This is indicated by the pink eyes and residual colour from other pigments. Leucism is different, in that there is a total absence of pigment in the skin, resulting in the pure white colour, but the eyes and other parts are normally coloured.
There are more photos of the same bird, taken in previous years, on my website at http://home.btconnect.com/mike.flemming/birds2.htm

Mike