Re: Bugboys mission
Posted: Thu Sep 01, 2022 4:06 pm
Thanks Goldie. I remember reading about your regular visits to Gaits Barrow. I probably could have made there in the end, especially since I had a spare hour. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but generally completely useless!
Definitely not for the likes of us eh Wurzel, obviously far too ‘common’ for HIM this year
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And now by a slightly awkward twist of fate, my travels take me to Large Blue country
July 2022
Saturday 2nd. Time for my annual foray into Gloucestershire for the Large Blue. I’d booked the train earlier in the week when the weather forecast had looked ok. However as often happens, the forecast had evolved somewhat since that time, evolved in a downward spiral to rather horrid weather. When I arrived at Daneway Bank it was rather damp and gloomy. Roosting butterflies were all I was going to find. At the far end I clambered up the slope and started rooting around in the Thyme to see if I could find some eggs. I didn’t but I did spend a bit of time watching some small red ants, wondering whether they are THE ants… It was a whole hour before I stumbled across what I was looking for, a nice-looking specimen though so worth the wait. I’d bumped into a couple of other enthusiasts (they’d made plans in advance like me), one of whom had never seen a Large Blue before, so she was very happy to see this one even if it was just sitting around in mild mizzle .
The three of us wandered around a while longer but the mizzle soon turned into drizzle which then turned into proper rain, so we made our way to the pub (such a civilised site) to dry off, my finding of the Blue earning me a hot chocolate of gratitude .
They only had the morning free, leaving me to continue watching rain. It lasted a solid two hours but at least I was somewhere dry where I could eat and drink
Eventually things started to improve, and I ventured out again. The Blue was still, unsurprisingly, where I’d left him. I loitered around as the clouds broke up at a painfully slow rate but eventually it was bright enough for his wings to open, which he did and immediately took to the air and charged off down the path! "You little (insert mild expletive)". Being a male though he soon came charging back and settled to reveal no black spots on the uppers. Other species were responding in like, Marbled Whites being by far the most numerous species I found a second Large Blue near the top of the far slope which decided to dart off down the slope out of sight without letting me see any uppers. A couple of bird species distracted me for a while. A pair of Siskin were rather active at the top of the Fir tree’s, the male doing some tuneful display flights And a family of Redstart were being rather noisy, well the fledglings were anyway! Annoyingly it had brightened up too late to make the most of the sun and with not a great deal of time left two more Large Blues appeared. One escaped the camera, the second didn’t and from the way it was showing interest in the Marjoram looked to be a female.
Definitely not for the likes of us eh Wurzel, obviously far too ‘common’ for HIM this year
On one of my early visits some years ago I got speaking to one of the recorders at Arnside Knott who was saying the numbers of HBF there were on a slow downward spiral. No idea whether this is still the case. I'd be interested to know how much of an impact high numbers of DGF may or may not have on the HBF. I don't know how much of a cross over in their ecology there is where both species are present (I'm sure it's been well studied though) but I do remember reading or hearing somewhere that SWF larvae can out compete DGF.Neil Freeman wrote: ↑Thu Sep 01, 2022 7:58 amI popped into Gait Barrows a couple of times when we were up there this year, it is just down the road from the B&B we used and convenient for a stop off on the way back from elsewhere. Unfortunalty the weather was dull and cloudy on these occasions and all I saw was a couple of Speckled Wood. I also noticed how overgrown much of it had become since my last visits here a few years ago and some locals told me that High Browns have crashed there recently.
Cheers,
Neil.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now by a slightly awkward twist of fate, my travels take me to Large Blue country
July 2022
Saturday 2nd. Time for my annual foray into Gloucestershire for the Large Blue. I’d booked the train earlier in the week when the weather forecast had looked ok. However as often happens, the forecast had evolved somewhat since that time, evolved in a downward spiral to rather horrid weather. When I arrived at Daneway Bank it was rather damp and gloomy. Roosting butterflies were all I was going to find. At the far end I clambered up the slope and started rooting around in the Thyme to see if I could find some eggs. I didn’t but I did spend a bit of time watching some small red ants, wondering whether they are THE ants… It was a whole hour before I stumbled across what I was looking for, a nice-looking specimen though so worth the wait. I’d bumped into a couple of other enthusiasts (they’d made plans in advance like me), one of whom had never seen a Large Blue before, so she was very happy to see this one even if it was just sitting around in mild mizzle .
The three of us wandered around a while longer but the mizzle soon turned into drizzle which then turned into proper rain, so we made our way to the pub (such a civilised site) to dry off, my finding of the Blue earning me a hot chocolate of gratitude .
They only had the morning free, leaving me to continue watching rain. It lasted a solid two hours but at least I was somewhere dry where I could eat and drink
Eventually things started to improve, and I ventured out again. The Blue was still, unsurprisingly, where I’d left him. I loitered around as the clouds broke up at a painfully slow rate but eventually it was bright enough for his wings to open, which he did and immediately took to the air and charged off down the path! "You little (insert mild expletive)". Being a male though he soon came charging back and settled to reveal no black spots on the uppers. Other species were responding in like, Marbled Whites being by far the most numerous species I found a second Large Blue near the top of the far slope which decided to dart off down the slope out of sight without letting me see any uppers. A couple of bird species distracted me for a while. A pair of Siskin were rather active at the top of the Fir tree’s, the male doing some tuneful display flights And a family of Redstart were being rather noisy, well the fledglings were anyway! Annoyingly it had brightened up too late to make the most of the sun and with not a great deal of time left two more Large Blues appeared. One escaped the camera, the second didn’t and from the way it was showing interest in the Marjoram looked to be a female.