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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Tue May 22, 2018 8:37 pm
by Andrew555
That's great Wurzel.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
What a lovely Speckled, great pics.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Wed May 23, 2018 7:22 am
by Goldie M
Lovely shots of the Speckie Wurzel, I love to watch them defending their territory, chasing off any thing that flies near it
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
That's great until one lands near that you want a shot of only to be chased off
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Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Thu May 24, 2018 7:26 am
by Wurzel
Cheers Neil
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I thought you might like the last post
Cheers Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I noticed that purplish banding as well, I've not seen it often I wonder if it's a 'fresh' thing?
Cheers Andrew
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I got there in the end
Cheers Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
It's always the way and sometimes they just suddenly appear out of the blue and hassle your current photography subject. Mind you Small Heath are even worse for it
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Thu May 24, 2018 10:07 pm
by Wurzel
Enford Stop-off 02-05-2018
After a day stuck in work with the weather such that a lunchtime trip out was off the cards it was with some relief that when it came to go home the sun was out. Unfortunately no-one turned up for the afterschool revision session and so I set off for home taking the back route. As I drove along through the winding lanes I spied the odd Brimstone but it was as I approached my usual stop off pint before Enford that I saw a smaller White, I pulled in and strolled back up the road to where I’d seen the white. It was still in roughly the same place so I was able to get a few shots of a lovely Green-veined White.
I pulled in a second time at my more usual pull in and a 2 minutes stroll back up the road produced another GVW and a pair of sparring Specklies. Things are definitely starting to move as I saw 4 butterflies in as many minutes soon they’ll be all over the place…
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Thu May 24, 2018 10:13 pm
by millerd
Wurzel wrote:Enford Stop-off 02-05-2018
...but it was as I approached my usual stop off pint before Enford...
Have a goodun
Wurzel
A Freudian slip, Wurzel?
A lovely GVW too - the males are stunningly white when fresh.
Dave
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Fri May 25, 2018 1:02 pm
by Goldie M
I second that Wurzel lovely Butterflies Goldie
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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Sat May 26, 2018 7:22 pm
by Andrew555
Good to hear Wurzel, lovely shots.
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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Sun May 27, 2018 10:29 pm
by Wurzel
Cheers Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
More a case of wishful thinking, a pint at the end of the day would be balm to the soul
Cheers Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
They do brush up nice
Cheers Andrew
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Things have really gone on a pace now, they're motoring along
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:40 am
by Wurzel
Star Wars Day at Work 04-05-2018
03-05-2018 Work
As the week progressed I got a little frustrated with the slow rate of change in the weather but Thursday lunch was bright enough and warm enough mostly for there to be some butterflies. However I hadn’t anticipated the breeze which was really blustery at times. Cutting through the housing estate and heading to the half way point of the back path yielded nothing even though I kept my eyes peeled. After the usual walk to the end of the path and back I’d seen one definite Large White and four other unidentified whites and not one of them stopped.
04-05-2018 Work
Finally Friday had arrived and not a moment too soon. As the pupils left my room at lunchtime I grabbed my camera and headed out to see what I could see and maybe even photograph – although if it was anything like yesterday all I’d be doing was looking.
I took my secondary route, up through the pits. As I reached the unmown area just prior to the pits a Small White flew towards and then past me. “Here we go again” I thought. Still I carried on wandering round the pits and then a Specklie took off from under my feet and flew into the adjacent field owned by the Primary School. I’d not expected to see a Specklie over this way but I stepped more carefully from then on. A good job that I did as there was a second Specklie. This one didn’t fly off not to be seen again but flew only a few metres away landing at a decent height in the hedge so I was able to get my shots.
After this I walked the length of the hedge and back but didn’t see any other butterflies though there were a few St Marks flies around and I also found a pair in mid cop. On my return the Specklie was still in roughly the same area so I wished it farewell and headed back in to get the job finished. Stroll on the Bank Holiday!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 7:56 am
by Goldie M
Hi! Wurzel, nice Speckies, it's about the only Butterfly I see at present in great numbers when I go to Hall-Lee-Brook, last week when I went the Tractor was out again cutting the Grass
![Sad :(](./images/smilies/icon_sad.gif)
It's a good job they keep to the Tree's, Goldie
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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Mon May 28, 2018 6:04 pm
by Wurzel
Cheers Goldie
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Specklies are one of the 'safe bet' butterflies
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Mind you hopefully the next set of butterflies will start emerging up your way soon and then you'll be onto NBAs etc
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Tue May 29, 2018 10:08 pm
by Wurzel
Coombe Bisset Down 05-05-2018
As my wife was booked onto an aromatherapy course in one of the little villages on the outskirts near Salisbury I was given the dual duty of chauffeur and childminder for the afternoon. So with part one of duty one completed I loaded the girls back into the car and we set off along the high hedged windy lanes. Nearby was a site that I’d only visited once before some years back – Coombe Bissett Down and so with ‘Iron Maiden – Two Minutes to Midnight’ (their choice not mine though I heartedly approved
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
) blaring from the open windows turned off up the hill towards the site.
Only it wasn’t the correct turning. Instead I was following a route that I’d last taken almost 30 years towards Great Yews a Scout camp. I’d love to have carried on and inspected the old camp but my memory isn’t that good and it certainly isn’t the chalk downland I wanted to visit. So we pulled a U-ey and started back down the hill but very slowly as here, away from all the hustle and bustle down a largely ignored road there seemed to be butterflies everywhere. I inched the car along with the windows open and pointed out butterflies to the girls as we went past as if we were on a safari. A male OT went past, a Green-veined White rose almost vertically up the side of the hedge, a pair of male Brimstone started a scrap right in front of us and I stopped for fear of them colliding with the windscreen. Then a Holly Blue jinked by and in my rear view mirror I could see a/the male OT returning whilst ahead another male flew towards on a collision course. They met and spiralled upwards. The loser shot off over the hedge the victor settled down for a victory drink whilst just further on a female OT nectared – the reason for all the strife? The girls were enthralled by this greener, lusher and miniature Serengeti but all too soon the spell was broken as another car came up the hill and passed us by.
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We got back on the main road and took the next left turn which was the right one this time (if you follow me) and then we stumbled across the next memory related problem. I remembered reading that there was a particular hotspot right at the far end of the reserve which was particularly resplendent in wildflowers and therefore butterflies too So we sailed up the hill past the car park looking to our right down across the down for said field. Only it wasn’t there anymore and neither was there anywhere sensible to park or anywhere to get over the barbed wire reserve boundary. So noting another Holly Blue we pulled another U-ey and drove back to the car park.
By now I’d wasted a good amount of my allotted child caring time and it would soon be back to Duty 1 and the pick up so we made haste down the Down starting along the largest and widest terraced ramp. It was really well grazed by sheep from the look of the height of the sward so we climbed back up the steep bank to look for one of the more roughly grazed terraces. This proved better straight away as a Peacock and Brimstone other did a fly-by. In the surprisingly hot sun I was worried about the girls getting burnt and so I found them a shady little nook under a large Hawthorn and they set up camp so that I could investigate further.
It was hard going with the heat making everything solar charged and OTs , GVWs and anther Peacock all flew by without stopping. The Peacock itself did a U-ey and circled me a couple of times before landing wings closed – too hot possibly? I took a few shots and gave it a wide berth and it stayed put while I carried on towards the bottom of the hill. Something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye a familiar and welcome green flashed at me from amongst the foliage – my first Green Hairstreak of 2018. I fired of a few shots as it flew this way and that but none came out so I waited for it to settle so I could make an approach. It was very gittery but eventually I managed to get in close enough for a few shots I was happy with.
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It was all going so well and then I heard “Wurzel” being screamed across the valley and so in a flash I was sprinting back to the girls. Normally the call of ‘Wurzel’ just means the battery has gone flat on the iPod, they want to know where the chocolates are or one of them needs the loo but this time there was real fear and anguish in the call. I was actually a little bit scared.
“What’s up, why’s K crying, why are you crying?” I asked a blubbing little L.
“K’s really upset there’s a lost lamb and it’s crying for it’s mum”
I’d been called away from my commune with nature, my meditation to play Shepherd! On the next terrace down there was a gate, on one side was a Ewe with one Lamb and on the other was another Lamb bleating mournfully. It seems someone had opened and closed the gate behind them properly but the sneaky/stupid Lamb and snuck through and not couldn’t get back. So I managed to herd it down and towards the gate, corral it in the triangle of a kissing gate while I opened up the main gate for it to gambol through. Job down, tears stopped, mother and baby reunited. But I’d lost all of the remaining time and so we had to make our way back up the hill on the hurry up! Hopefully there will be other meetings with the Green One.
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We arrived back a little early for the pick up and so I checked out the meadow on the other side of the road. It was a sight to see and I scanned across from left to right counting 57 Whites in the single continuous gaze. Judging by the tiered vegetation that is probably less than half of the number actually present in this one little bit of field. Stunning
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 7:34 pm
by Wurzel
Noar Hill 06-05-2018
Possibly like the butterflies I was caught out by the unseasonably warm weather. This particular weekend date wise is usually when Philzoid and I make our first trip to Bentley Wood looking for Pearls. This time however there was nothing in the book and wandering into the clearing to meet Philzoid things seemed a little quiet...too quiet. We checked all the usual likely spots; the bottom of the clearing which threw up a Peacock, the damper area in the middle of the clearing on the other side of the brook and also the far side but despite notching up an OT, GVWs and Brimstones, a couple of Specklies and another Peacock there wasn’t a Pearl in sight.
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I tried some of the (un)ususal tricks; spotting a Tiger Beetle, Specklie and Tree Pipit all good omens usually, wandering past aimlessly and suddenly staring at a patch of leaves, pouring a coffee but nothing coerced a Pearl to emerge for us. It seems that the cold snap had knocked back their emergence. Even my final trick of announcing loudly “right we’re off let’s make a move to the next place” didn’t produce the goods. So where next? We could try my Duke site which is a late one and so possibly wouldn’t be that productive or we could go rally cross and see what all the fuss was about at Noar Hill? Noar Hill it was and so off we set.
We did it in quite good time despite being taken through Winchester city centre, a few horses en route and a Mobility Scooter
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
in the middle of the a single track road in the middle of nowhere!? Philzoid took the lead for the final furlong and before we knew it we were parked and walking up the hill, a male OT coming down to greet us.
Not having visited here before I didn’t know what to expect and it felt quite strange having reached the top of the hill to suddenly be heading down into a dip. We met someone else looking for Dukes in this first large hollow who communed that they’d all be hiding away from the lunchtime sun. Within 30 seconds we’d located our first and second Duke, one a piece. Our thoughts of doom and gloom and wasted journies were evaporated by this cracking little butterfly. After a little bit here we’d counted at least 5 Dukes three of which took part in some aerial argy bargy and proving what vicious little critters they can be. Another enthusiast appeared overhead at the top of the hollow as the Greenstreak that had been giving him the run around dove down towards us. It was a real flighty blighter but I managed a few record shots.
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We then started working through the hollows alternatively clambering up the steep sides, enjoying the cooling breeze at the top before trying not to fall down into the next hollow. The second one we visited held a beauty of a Duke which kept its own little territory, a hollow within a hollow. He posed brilliantly but in the heat open wing shots were at a premium.
The next hollow held two more Dukes and then we ended up wandering along a fairly level track at the top of this one noting a few GVWs, a Peacock and an OT on the way. A Holly Blue flew up around a tree which was covered in little golden moths that had antennae three times the length of their bodies. (A.metallica!
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
)
What felt lie the furthest hollow held another two Dukes and not much else so we started to work our way back. The final hollow that we intentionally visited held 5 Dukes and someone with a super-slow-mo camera. Unlike us he was dead chuffed when the Dukes would take off as that was exactly what he was after. It worked quite well. He’d get a lock on, we’d get our shots and should we inadvertently disturb the butterfly or it decided it fancied a change he’d get his shot. Our second Greenstreak of the day also put in an appearance here.
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I was thoroughly enjoying myself in this Duke Haven and I now understood the hype. However we soon encountered the darker side of Noar Hill when we came to leave. It is a very disorientating place with hollow after hollow appearing to be the ‘one we visited first’. On the way we saw a further three Dukes but actually I was more interested in actually finding the way out. Eventually we tagged along with another couple who were going back to their car and we came out about 100metres further along the road from where we’d taken the track up to the site. I was very tight for time so thanking Philzoid and wishing him luck I set off homewards – making it back with three minutes to spare and knocking 6 minutes off of the SATNAV’s e.t.a!
What a cracking day…might need to return here next year and I’ll bring a bloody big ball of string a la Theseus!
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 8:34 pm
by millerd
Lovely Dukes from Noar Hill, Wurzel.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
The lack of topside shots is more than made up for by the cracking undersides. Have you ever noticed that the underside of the abdomen clearly shows a remnant from its days as a caterpillar - a set of projections that would have been the "false" legs of the caterpillar - at least that's what it looks like.
Thoroughly worth a visit, and yes it's a maze to the uninitiated! If you ever discover a particularly good pit and decide you must revisit it next year, you'll never find it again...
Dave
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 8:47 pm
by Pauline
Smashing post Wurzel - just what I needed to cheer me up. Great shots too. Glad you enjoyed 'my' hill but if you ever get that close again please drop in for a cuppa!
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Wed May 30, 2018 10:31 pm
by Maximus
Great Duke shots from the Noar Hill triangle, Wurzel
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
When it's that hot undersides are par for the course, but Duke undersides are stunning in any case
Mike
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 4:01 pm
by Goldie M
Great shots Wurzel,
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
even if I'd seen them at GB I couldn't have got so close. So I can enjoy yours
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Goldie
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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Thu May 31, 2018 8:38 pm
by trevor
Great report from Noar Hill, almost felt like I was there myself.
When I was there, several years ago, I was glad to have Pauline as a guide.
Hope you get to see the Great Cheverell Walls.
Trevor.
Re: Wurzel
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 11:54 am
by Andrew555
Cracking Duke shots Wurzel.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I too experienced some 'navigational issues' at Noar Hill.
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Re: Wurzel
Posted: Fri Jun 01, 2018 12:17 pm
by Wurzel
Cheers Dave
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I'd noticed the underside looked a little 'bumpy' but now you mention it it does look like the back end of a caterpillar, almost as if they didn't quite finish metamorphosising
![Cool 8)](./images/smilies/icon_cool.gif)
On my next visit as well as a ball of string I'm also taking a few 'corner flags' to plant in particularly good hollows ready for my third visit
Cheers Pauline
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Will do as coffee/tea is my main fuel
Cheers Mike
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The Noar Hill Triangle has a good ring to ti, I think they definitely need to change the name
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
I agree their undersides are subtlely beautiful
Cheers Goldie
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You can return the compliment when you get onto NBAs
Cheers Trevor
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I think a guide is definitely the way to go at this site
Cheers Andrew
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
I was thinking about leaving a breadcrumb trail the next time I visit but the birds would have them hence Theseus seemed a better option though hopefully there isn't a Minotaur roaming about the various hollows
Have a goodun
Wurzel