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Cheers Dave, Debbie and Nick for your very kind comments

After spending the morning at my younger daughter’s pre-school I had to head back to work for two whole lessons! As I was travelling over my lunchtime and it was apparent that I wouldn’t be back in time to join my team mates for 5-aside against the year 10’s I pulled into Woodhenge for 10 minutes.
This site at around this time last year had Meadow Browns, Marbled Whites and Small Skippers. Today I found a very small moth and four butterflies. I know it was pretty windy and the sun was a bit hit or miss, and I was there for a very short time, but I had kinda hoped for a few more than four. I am really starting to worry now because there just don’t seem to be the numbers of butterflies.
The micro moth was a tiny yet intricately patterned moth... Two of the butterflies were Small Heaths that whizzed by along the tops of the long grasses and would then dip down and disappear. Then I was visited a couple of times by an Adonis Blue, my first of the year, and looking pretty tidy/fresh. The path I was on must have been recently mown as the grass was very close cropped and I knelt down to get an eye level view of the longer grasses. The Adonis would skim across the top of the grass heads and then as it reached the path it would plummet to earth, dropping like a stone to land in a crumpled, yet attractive heap. Twice I was privy to this unusual behaviour, it was almost as if the tall grasses offered the flying insect some form of upthrust? Finally with time ticking on and tutor time beckoning I had to head back onto the road but not before stopping to get a contrastingly worn Common Blue taking on some much needed fuel. So tomorrow looks pants but I might be able to swing a few visits next week during the evenings weather permitting (Slop Bog hopefully and the usual Five Rivers) and of course Sunday is Father’s Day – so I’ll keep my fingers crossed for some nice weather and possibly I can get out before family commitments at lunchtime?
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Back along at work, when we actually had some warm and dry weather (can you remember that far back?) I thought I better make the most of it so I was out every lunch time I was able to (revision sessions aside). There weren’t many different species about, maybe the occasional Holly Blue or White and of course the Orange-tips which seemed to be everywhere and for a very long period this year.
I was almost getting blasé about the ubiquitous nature of the Orange-tips that I stopped trying to get more of the usual shots with Orange-tips perched on various different flowers with their wings in various states of closure. Instead I started trying out one or two new things. The most obvious thing was to try out a few flying shots, in fact this would be advantageous because as the temperatures rose the Orange-tips reverted to their more usual habit of patrolling back and forth. It was a pretty easy thing to do I merely clicked my options wheel round from “macro” to “sports”, found a patrolling male Orange-tip and clicked away with autofocus whirling. I only tried it about 10 times and most were terrible as it was very hard to follow the moving butterfly as it flew towards or away from you through the viewfinder. But of the 10 tries I was pretty happy with two of them, so I’ll have to try this technique out again. I missed my chance when looking with Wood Whites as I didn’t set the camera up right, and also they were my first Wood Whites so I concentrated on the classic shots, but next time... Have a goodun

Wurzel

Interesting! I think my camera has some kind of sports setting too - never thought of using it. I suppose it would work best on a butterfly moving linearly as with your Orange Tip - I particularly like the second shot.

Cheers,

Dave

millerd wrote:Interesting! I think my camera has some kind of sports setting too - never thought of using it. I suppose it would work best on a butterfly moving linearly as with your Orange Tip - I particularly like the second shot.

Cheers,

Dave

Me too, though I haven't seen any Orange Tips for a couple of weeks so I may have to experiment with a different species!

Cheers Dave and David - it it easier if they cross your path than if they fly towards or away from you.

Father’s Day at Martin Down was a mixed bag really. On arrival it felt warm and the sun was shining but the wind was still quite strong and it buffeted the long grass in great swathes. Along the path I found a pair of Brimstone and the female kept landing so I could get up close and personal. I’ve noticed the maroon hairs on their bodies before but never the bluish coloured hairs. Also I was surprised how the light was refracted from the female making it look so green. The male was much more active and I tried out the sport mode again but the wind didn’t help as I could just about follow the butterfly, just get autofocus to lock in and the wind would catch it and it was gone! Still the wind was actually beneficial in other ways as it gave the girls something to do and I left them flying their pocket kite so that I could get up to my hot spot. Once there the wind was actually whipping along the ditch instead of skimming across the tops, but the bottom area was quite productive with four Small Heaths, a good looking Common Blue and several Brown Argus (one of which looked nice and fresh) mobbing anything that came within a wing flap of them. Also there was another blue butterfly which was much worn. I’m presuming it was a Common Blue but it had black spots along the hind wing margin – are these caused by wear and the under wing markings showing through from below? It was also posturing with its abdomen revealing what I take to be its genitalia. Once it had “flashed” it then tucked it away again back into the furry abdomen. From there I wound my way back to my family who were still kite flying and we tried to get it all the way back to the car. On the way back I did take a slight detour with little L to visit the “secret area” as she called it. This is the island of Hawthorn in the middle of the down and as we walked up the tiny path to the centre there were three or four Small Blues – some looking more like Small Browns than Blues. Although worn some individuals still had traces of blue scaling which would normally suggest “male” although in this case they might have been the remnants of the blue background colour. Once at the end of this small path it opens up into a large cleared circular area which is noticeably warmer than the surroundings as it is sheltered in all directions from the wind and acts like a suntrap. Whilst here a couple of Brown Argus and Small Blue flitted around along with a Meadow Brown. But time was almost up so we headed back to the car, lowered the kite and went for lunch.
Tomorrow I’m considering an after work dash to try for Silver Studded Blues at Slop Bog so hopefully the weather will play ball...
Have a goodun

Wurzel

A couple of weeks back I managed to make a couple of visits to a Wiltshire Wood to find Marsh Fritillary. My first was during one of those rare warm and sunny days and the single individual that I managed to find was almost turbo charged. So much so that I only managed to fire off a couple of shots and then struggled to relocate it. It’s flight was different from other Fritillaries in that it was more jinking, less direct and lacking any glides. Also it appeared more reddish than orange and much darker. Two bits of jizz to remember for future years. It would take off quite slowly and then rapidly accelerate as it flicked left then right a few times before suddenly dropping and disappearing from view. A few days later I visited the same site and in the cooler temps it was much easier to locate and approach. I noticed that it had a tendency to feed on the small yellow flowers (Tormentil?) that poked up amongst the longer tor grasses. If this was the same individual then the few days had seriously taken their toll on it as it was obvious that some scales were lost and it was heading towards living up to it’s old name of Greasy Fritillary. With the evening sun nipping in and out of the clouds I had an opportunity to photograph the same individual and note the affect that lighting has on it’s appearance. I’ve experienced for myself the affect that lighting can have on birds – drastically distorting your interpretation of size, hue and sometimes even shape but I was quite surprised the difference that it made to this butterfly. First up when it was nice and sunny... Very nice with the chocolate browns blending almost with the oranges and yellows. Now when the sun went in... Quite a difference – what were warm browns become almost black and really contrasting with the other markings.
Due to the cooler temps I also managed to get in a lot closer than on my previous visit and when I did I was rewarded with some shots of the “stained glass window variety” that I like to get with Fritillaries. Also I managed to capture some nice nectaring behaviour. The butterfly would start nectaring and would cling to the flower head, legs gripping from underneath the petals. I appeared quite alert at this stage and then it would really go for, pulling the flower towards it at the same time as thrusting it’s head in as far as it could. I always thought that when they fed butterflies were quite gentle, delicately probing with their proboscis, but that illusion is now shattered from watching this butterfly. A stunning butterfly, if only it had a longer flight time so we could have more time to enjoy it...
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fascinating photos. The variation in colour produced by changes in lighting likely explains the wide variety of images of this butterfly you see in books. It looks like I'm not going to see Marsh Frits this year, sadly. This is where I envy you your west country base, Wurzel

Dave

Sorry to rub it in Dave If it's any consolation you're much closer to Heath Frits than I am

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel. Nice pictures and interesting points .

I took some pictures of Marshies at Hod Hill this year and noticed that some individuals don't have a distinct contrast between the yellow and orange cells making me think my photographs were not up to scratch. Perhaps it is as you say, to do with the light although it is also a variable species with respect to the layout and size of the cells.

After poring over your first two pictures taken days apart I'm fairly certain it is the same butterfly.

Also with this insect's 'table manners', I suppose if a butterfly is hungry/thirsty it'll just dive in, a bit like drinking your first pint on a hot day ...guzzle it down

Cheers Philzoid

I too spent ages looking at the marings of the two butterflies but I couldn't work out whether they were the same individual though I had my suspisiions that it was so it's nice to have an independant corroberation

WRT to the nectaring on a hot day the beer doesn't even touch the sides! With the Marshie it was like it was getting the very dregs from the glass, I could almost here that annoying nosie that you get from the last bit of a milkshake when using a straw!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Woodford Valley Recently I managed to pop out along the Woodford Valley but as I’ve been to other places with more butterflies recently I never got round to posting about it. It was a damp and cold day – aren’t they the norm at the moment - so I wasn’t hoping for much really just a chance to do a bit of a recce for future visits. I drove along the winding roads looking for interesting looking areas and took a left up a little road which soon ended into a grassed footpath. As I pulled in Yellow Hammer greeted me with their songs a Kestrel hovered over head and a Buzzard imitated this further off up the down.
The road went from tarmac to stones to grass with low hedges on both sides and longer swards of grass overhanging the track. As I wandered I leaned in and snapped at what I found; first a delicately marked fly, then a small Tiger Beetle species and a Cockchafer bejewelling the grass heads. As I rounded the corner a very pale butterfly flipped from one side of the track to the other and when I approached it I noticed how weather worn and faded it looked – almost a white rather than a blue! So one lone butterfly but then that was actually one more than I had expected. This looks like a fantastic little area which may be worth some more exploring...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

possibly Platystoma sp. for the fly (don't know how many we get over here or anything else about them but thought it interesting so had a quick search)
looks like Malachite beetle

Chris

Cheers for the ID Chris

I finally managed to make it back to home turf for my first ever Lulworth Skippers. I grew up in Poole and so most summers were spent either wandering the heath lands or cycling the Purbecks and I visited Lulworth and Durdle Door hundreds of times with my parents. I always vaguely remember seeing strange orange Butterflies that looked like they had knackered wings and ever since I’ve gotten into Butterflies I’ve kicked myself for not paying them more attention as now I know what they were – Skippers and probably Lulworths !

Still now I knew what to look out for they should be pretty easy to find. I strolled down the main street past lots of grockles, took a left and headed up the stairs with the sign post depicting the butterfly I’d come to find. I was a bit disorientated at first as the path seemed to be heading inland and into a wood but eventually it came out onto the coombe. I ambled along and there were certainly butterflies around; Small Heath, Dingy Skipper and Meadow Brown all put in single appearances and then I came to a stile, hopped over and was in Skipper heaven. The path wound on down and really close to the cliff edge so I hung back and settled myself down next to some tall blue/purple flowers and poured myself a coffee. Within minutes of settling there were Skippers everywhere. At least 4 or 5 Large Skippers and all around were smaller, darker Skippers. When I could crawl close enough the crescents or their tattered dark colouration allowed me to “tick” off a new species. The females and tatty older males were easy enough to differentiate from other skippers but there were one or two males that were very orange and with only the very faintest if traces of the crescent. What’s strange is that when viewed as a thumbnail the crescent is much more obvious than when looking at the larger image? Still I’ll label them as male Lulworth Skipper until I’m told otherwise by people more knowledgeable than me I then started watching more closely and they demonstrated some different behaviour for me. When the sun would go behind the clouds they would almost drop into the grass and then crawl lower in, disappearing from sight, only to return when the sun did. Large Skippers seemed to be the local bully boys forcing their smaller cousins off of their nectar source and the Lulworths seemed to get round this by group feeding with the same plant housing 4 or more individuals. I was also privy to some more intimate moments - excuse the blurred photos here but they’re kinda action shots. I took a further walk and saw my first Marbled White of the year as well as some more Small Heaths and plenty of Dingy Skipper – some of which appeared very pale? But my favourite shot of the day is of one of the Lulworths nectaring for all it was worth, so much so that’s it’s legs were dangling over the side of the petals! Over the next hour I took my fill of this delightful species – which for me is all the more special I suppose as it is a fellow Dorsetian and living where it does (on the edge of precipices) it certainly lives up to the Dorset motto “Who’s afeard?”.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

A splendid set of photos of another lovely little butterfly. I remember the first time I saw them: on a hot July day a few years back down at Durlston - there were dozens of them.

My turn to be envious

Dave

Some lovely photos of the Skippers Wurzel

Chris

Cheers for your kind comments Dave and Chris! It was great getting back to the homeland, I did stop short of getting down and kissing the ground though

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Those photos are really good Wurzel and nice compositions

Good morning Wurzel,
Yet more firsts; well done!
I haven't managed to venture out recently so have not chalked up any recent firsts. I did however stop off at Fovant, in your neck of the woods, to see what I could find and only found a battered common blue and a passing small white, but saw my first whitethroat, so not all bad. Can't help but echo people's concerns on butterfly numbers this year.
Very much enjoying your posts, even though I get more and more envious each time you tick off another species!
Flutter on!
CJB

Nice report and photos Wurzel, a pleasure to read

Wurzel wrote: ......I strolled down the main street past lots of grockles....

Hee Hee, I have not heard that word since a mate moved to Dorset years ago and started using it

Looks like we may be having a family break down there later in the year so there will be some more grockles heading your way

Cheers,

Neil F.

Hi wurzel, just to let you know, I've heard Silver studded are out at slop bog.

Chris