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Lovely shots William and good to see the Large Blue ding better at Collard this year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Ah William! two lovely macro-moth images, the framing simply does wonders, not that I'm implying such superb creatures need improving

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Thanks for the kind comments everyone - it's nice to occasionally cross over to the dark side with a few moths, and there are few more impressive than Elephant Hawks!

Catching Up

Before I post a few Alpine pictures, some catching up on all the big 'summer boom' of emergences before I went away!

Whilst up in that general direction, I managed a (very brief) trip to Bishop Middleham Quarry, to catch up with my first Northern Brown Arguses - lovely little butterflies, and easily found in the area that Pete suggested, the upper part of the quarry, around the Rock Rose, Bird's Foot Trefoil and Forget-me-not.
My new thing in the evening is to go hunting for sleepy browns - the only time I can ever get a photo of them!
Orange Tip Larvae have all now disappeared off into the bushes to pupate.
I did manage a rather poor photo of one eating its newly-shed skin.
The Common Blue larvae on the Bird's Foot Trefoil are growing fast!
Almost as fast as my rescued Brown Hairstreak larvae, which have now pupated!

Lovely images and general report William

Your image of the Meadow Brown among meadow flowers really hits an accord with me...positively painterly

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

I'm fond of those shots too. Keep 'em coming, William.

Stunning images William Are the Northern Brown Argus more aggressive than their 'soft southern' cousins?
Have a goodun

Wurzel

All charming photos - I particualry like your first Marbled White photo with the contrast between the upright fresh butterfly and the drooping petals.

Thanks for all the compliments, Guys, when Browns perch low in the grass, it often makes for a nice atmospheric photo, I just press the shutter !

As for the Northern Brown Argus, Wurzel, I see few of their southern cousins in my part of the world, but I thought they were rather more placid, peacefully bumbling around on the Rock Rose and Bird's Foot Trefoil, lovely little butterflies!

BWs,

William

Foreign Fling - Lycaenids

From the 5th to the 11th of this month, I was lucky enough to spend a bit of time in the verdant Alpine meadows of the French Alps (with a little stop over in the Loire Valley). As ever when visiting this part of the world, I spent most of my time utterly lost for words, the sheer quantity and variety of butterflies, in such an incredible setting are always enough to reaffirm the wonder that runs through this absorbing hobby, quite amazing!

I managed 91 species of butterfly during my self-propelled 6 days, and even managed to find a few interesting ones - more by luck than judgement. If anything in the Alps, it's difficult not to, such is the seething mass of biodiversity that you encounter at every turn, if you haven't gone - go!

Mazarine Blues were fairly regularly encountered at most altitudes, right up to 2200m.
Chalkhill Blues began to appear towards the end of the trip.
I was delighted to find a single male Alpine Blue puddling with the previous Mazarine Blue, occasionally stumbling upon 'proper' Alpine species like this was a real thrill.
Other blues seen were Small, Turquoise, Eros, Common, Silver-Studded, Short-Tailed (in the Loire), Brown Argus, Northern Brown Argus, Geranium Argus, and Damon. Sadly I didn't manage to catch up with the legendary Glandon - one for another trip!

If the Alpine blues are good, the coppers are even better, my favourite, by a long chalk has to be Scarce, the combination of this species' stunning colours and willingness to pose make it a real delight (they're also anything but Scarce )
The males, with their brilliant orange upperwings can often be spotted from some distance.
I think Purple - Edged were pretty much over by the time I arrived, but I did find a nice mating pair
Also seen were Sooty Coppers (a few territorial males here and there), Green Hairstreak (3 at about 2000m) and White - Letter Hairstreak.

Cracking shots William especially the Alpine Blue - a real fuzzy littel wonder!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Delightful William...and no I don't mean your delightful William (though I suppose you could be )...I mean those images

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Your style of photography is very unique and artistic William and is one of the reasons I return to your diary again and again. Your recent images of exotic butterflies are lovely but the photo which captures my attention and is my favourite of them all is the Chalkhill. Beautiful - wish I could emulate that.

Wonderful photos. The female Scarce Copper is my favourite!

I agree with Pauline's comments about the artistic qualities of your photos William, a lovely style that stands out from the crowd

Cheers,

Neil

Scarce Copper is one of my favourite butterflies, and yours has a particularly beautiful underside.

I'm surprised you didn't see any Glandon Blues though. They were pretty common where I went (well done on the Alpine Blue though - a delightful species).

Thank you guys for the kind words - the style of the photos was more out of necessity than any particular artistic disposition, I, like David and Guy, experienced the heatwave in the Alps, which meant things were difficult to approach for close ups, nevertheless, I was delighted with how some of them turned out

David - Collins suggests that Glandon colonies are small and often over-looked, and since much of my butterflying was done on family walks, I probably walked straight through suitable habitat without seeing the blues, hopefully I'll be able to go back with a bit more time some day!

Foreign Fling - Whites (or whitish things)

One of the big targets of the trip, for me, was to finally get a photo of an Apollo, and to put 3 years of hurt behind me . Having seen them in the Cevennes in 2012 (many distant fly-bys) and again in the Alps in 2014 (more distant fly-bys), it was a case, I hoped, of 3rd time lucky!

With this in mind, the first place that I visited, was the site that I had seen Apollos at last year, pursuing them hopelessly round a meadow in a woodland clearing as they skimmed effortlessly over the flowers. They are stunning butterflies just to watch in flight, with an amazing mixture of glides and powerful wingbeats that are clearly audible when they fly quickly past. For me, they are perfectly suited to their upland habitat with its stunning scenery, and certainly deserve their name, with all its divine connotations.

In the end, it was third time lucky, and my visit co-incided with the only cloudy spell of the trip, meaning that the Apollos were marginally less active, and I could finally get those photos! The first one I spotted, was perched on an Oxeye Daisy, and being courted by a frantic Black-Veined White.
After moving on, I enjoyed several more, still active despite the cloud, before another posed, basking on a rock.
Having finally settled my score with the Apollos, I was delighted, but it seems I have not yet lifted my curse, the only Clouded Apollo that I saw zoomed past me and was halfway up the mountainside within 30 seconds - one for another time!

On our brief Loire stopover, I did manage to find a couple of Scarce Swallowtails, sadly without the camera, but whilst walking in the Foret d'Orleans, gorganus posed beautifully!
A good variety of whites was also seen: Black - Veined, Green-Veined, Small, Large, Wood (in the Loire) and Mountain Green-Veined at higher altitudes, a new one for me. I was particularly pleased to catch up with a couple more species of Clouded Yellow: Moorland and Mountain, the former very obliging and seen at a mixture of medium to high altitude sites, and the latter, generally above 2000m, far less so. Pale, Berger's, and 'our' Clouded Yellow were also seen - a full house

Really enjoying your alpine pictures, William. You have a brilliant eye for composition.

Guy

Foreign Fling - Fritillaries

Fritillaries are a family with an aura of rarity in the UK, I'm always excited to find Silver-Washed Fritillaries feeding in the hedgerows on the patch, and make special trips to see some of the others.
It was exciting to see them in real abundance in the Alps, with 20 species: Silver-Washed (a couple in the woods), Dark Green, High Brown, Niobe (all common in flowery places), singletons of Queen of Spain and Spotted, Marbled (a couple in the Loire), Lesser Marbled (easily the commonest one, in damp, flowery meadows), Titania's (playing second fiddle to Lesser Marbled, and common in the same habitat), Shepherd's, Mountain (firsts for me, and sadly very difficult to approach), Pearl-Bordered (quite a few at higher altitudes), Weaver's, Glanville, False Heath, Heath, Provencal, Meadow, and most excitingly, 2 Asian Fritillaries, a couple of tatty but beautiful specimens at two different sites.

Great Asian Fritillary, William, and your False Heath image is a real beauty. I've personally never seen one so dark.

Hi William,
Sadly, I have far too little time to catch up with as much UKB activity as I'm used to; but it's always a pleasure when I find a few moments to look at your atmospheric images, which beautifully capture the magic of butterflies beyond even the most well-crafted mugshot. Nobody does it better!
BWs, Neil