Neil Freeman

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks David. It is indeed a peculiar year in many respects and I suspect there are a few surprises in store yet.

A bit of catching up to do now, I have been a bit busy over the past couple of days with moths, more to come on these in due course.

But first...

Thursday 3rd June.

With a free day on Thursday, I decided to have a run down to Bishops Hill to see Small Blues. The forecast was for light cloud and sunny spells all day with temperatures rising to a slightly cooler but still pleasantly warm 19-20 degrees so in theory it looked to be a perfect day.
Well, I arrived just before 10.00 under horizon to horizon dull overcast, although with the temperature on my car already showing 17c I figured it would not be long before I started to see something.
Sure enough, as soon as I walked into the first part of the site I spotted a couple each of Small Blues and Common Blues. During the following couple of hours, during which it remained stubbornly overcast, I saw good numbers of both species with a conservative estimate of 40-50 of each with possibly a few more Small than Common.

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Small Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Common Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Common Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Although the Small Blues were my main target, there were some lovely female Common Blues present and I ended up spending just as much time with these.

Common Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Common Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Common Blue - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

This is usually a good site for Dingy Skippers but I only managed to find four examples here today and only managed a couple of record shots. I am not sure if they are late, or even if they have gone over yet, or maybe even collapsed here. This year is certainly raising some questions.

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Grizzled Skippers are also hanging on here but only in small numbers these days so I was pleased to find one this morning.

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Brown Argus is another species that I have occasionally seen here, usually only in ones or twos, so was again chuffed to find one here today.

Brown Argus - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

I also spotted a cracking little micro moth, Commophila aeneana, which is apparently a local species in Warwickshire and a first for me.

Commophila aeneana - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Around midday, a few holes finally appeared in the cloud and the sun peeked through so I decided to hang around for a bit longer. It didn’t last long however and by 1.00pm dark clouds had thickened up again so I decided to make a move for home.
I hadn’t quite finished yet though as walking slowly back towards the gate and scanning the vegetation, I spotted a pair of Small Blues in cop, a nice final touch.

Small Blues - Bishops Hill 03.06.2021

Not quite what the forecast had indicated but at least the conditions slowed things down a bit and I added four more species to my tally for this year so all in all, a good trip.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Brilliant Small Blues Neil, some lovely fresh ones in that collection Cracking looking moth as well - it that the same species as the Orange Conch? It's great when the butterflies put on a grand finale like the x-rated Small Blues you found

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

...Cracking looking moth as well - it that the same species as the Orange Conch?

It is indeed Wurzel, although I must admit I am not a fan of many of the new common names for micros. To me a conch is a kind of sea snail. I suppose it is strange really, I have no problem with common names for macro moths, most of which have been in use for years, nor the old established names for some micros such as Small Magpie or the Plume Moths, it is just that with so many micros, the new common names that are being bandied about these days just don't sound right. I know that I am not alone in this with many old hands simply refusing to use them.

Garden Moths – Things are looking up.

I mentioned in my last garden moth update that May had been a poor month for moth trapping, but that an improvement in the weather forecast over the bank holiday and for the following week looked to be heralding better conditions.
With clear nights over the bank holiday weekend itself leading to overnight drops in temperature, I decided to hang on until the night of Tuesday June 1st which looked to be more promising with light cloud holding the overnight temperatures up to around 14 degrees. The result was my best night so far this year with 41 moths of 22 species, made up of 25 of 18 macros and 16 of 4 micros.
The macros included no less than 10 new species for the year (NFY), these being Knot Grass (2), Flame, Coronet, Least Black Arches, Flame Carpet, Common Marbled Carpet, Seraphim, Mottled Pug and Common Swift plus a new record for the garden (NFG) in Orange Footman, This is a species that is apparently spreading rapidly northward and interestingly I have since heard of a couple of other records of this species from other gardens within a few miles of my house.

Orange Footman - Coverdale 01.06.2021

Spectacle - Coverdale 01.06.2021

Spectacle - the obligatory head on shot.

Knot Grass - Coverdale 01.06.2021

Coronet - Coverdale 01.06.2021

The Flame - Coverdale 01.06.2021

The micros were mostly Light Brown Apple Moth (8) and Tachystola acroxantha (6), those two Australian adventives that are now extremely common in some areas.

I don’t usually run the trap on consecutive nights but the conditions on the following night (2nd June), with good cloud cover and warm overnight temperatures, tempted me to go for it again. This resulted in 63 of 28 species (30 of 22 macros and 33 of 6 micros) with another 7 NFYs which included a NFG of Buff-tip. I had been hoping for one of these ever since I started trapping in my garden (2016) and a couple of members of the Warwickshire Moth Group were amazed that I had not had one yet. In fact, there are quite a few supposedly common and widespread species that I have yet to see here, but on the other hand I have had a number of records of scarce or rare moths for here which all goes to show that you never know what might turn up, even in an urban garden like mine.

Buff-tip - Coverdale 01.06.2021

The other NFYs included Waved Umber, Spruce Carpet, Flame Shoulder and a Marbled Minor agg. This last one being one of three closely related species that cannot easily be separated and are usually recorded as aggregates.

Waved Umber - Coverdale 01.06.2021

The remaining two NFYs consisted of a Pebble Prominent, only the second one I have recorded here, the last one being in 2016, plus a Small Elephant Hawk Moth, again my second record here (the last one in 2018).

Pebble Prominent - Coverdale 01.06.2021

Small Elephant Hawk Moth - Coverdale 01.06.2021

Once again the micros were mainly LBAMs (11) and T. acroxantha (17) but this time I had a couple of NFYs in Eudonia mercurella and Celypha lacunana (2).

That brought me up to 44 macro species and 18 micros for a total of 62 species so far this year. This compares with totals of 105 (74+31) last year, 71 (50+21) in 2019 and 91 (60+31) in 2018, showing that I am well behind the average for these years. This is mostly down to the lousy weather in May which has held things back, but also simply due to the fact that the same weather has meant that I have not run the trap so often.

Anyway, things are looking better now so fingers crossed that the weather holds for a bit.

Bye for now and stay safe.

Neil.

[Wurzel]

An interesting collection of moths Neil - the one that stands out for me is the Pebble Prominent - really love the blend of colours on that one I know what you mean about some of the common names - I still don't really like Gatekeeper

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

I know what you mean about some of the common names - I still don't really like Gatekeeper
Wurzel

Hee hee! I'd never have guessed Wurzel. Gatekeeper is a weird one for me. They were Hedge Browns in my youth and yet Gatekeeper actually pre-dates that name. I tend to swap between the two depending on my mood

Thursday 3rd June – Clearwings.

Anyone reading this diary may remember that last year I started using pheromone lures in my garden to see if I could attract any Clearwing Moths. This resulted in five species being recorded in my garden, these being Current, Red-belted, Orange-tailed and Yellow-legged Clearwings plus Lunar Hornet Moth.
I was keen to carry on this year and had added two further lures to my set, the FOR lure for Red-tipped Clearwing and the CUL lure for Large Red-belted Clearwing although the latter has apparently not been seen in Warwickshire for some time. Still, you never know and if you don’t look, you won’t find.

Anyway, with a few Clearwings starting to be reported and a decent warm day ahead, I put the FOR lure out on Thursday (3rd). I kept my eye on the trap and was rewarded at just after 2.00pm by seeing a Clearwing in it, my first of the year and my target species, a Red-tipped Clearwing. After taking a few photos I released him and put the lure back in the freezer for another time.

Red-tipped Clearwing - Coverdale 03.06.2021

Saturday 5th June.

This morning, with another warm day ahead, I decided to try with the CUL lure and also the MYO lure. The MYO is for Red-belted Clearwing but this species is also known to be attracted to the CUL lure which is primarily for the closely related Large Red-belted Clearwing. I was curious to see what would happen (if anything) with these two lures out at the same time and so I set the two traps up about 12 yards apart and kept my eye on them as I pottered about.

Pheromone traps in the garden, FOR to LH rear and CUL in RH foreground.

I went in for a sandwich about 12.15 and when I went out again just before 1.00pm I found no less than four Red-belted Clearwings, all in the CUL trap.

Four Red-belted Clearwings in CUL trap.

Red-belted Clearwing - Coverdale 05.06.2021

After taking some photos, I released them and took the CUL lure inside and put it way away for another time. I left the MYO trap where it was and half an hour later there were three Red-belted Clearwings in there, almost certainly three of those that I had released not long before. This is not exactly a scientific comparison between two lures as both of them would have been affected differently by nearby bushes and differences in the flow of the gentle breeze around them, but it does show that, in the right circumstance, the CUL lure can be just as effective as the MYO for Red-belted Clearwing.

No sign of Large Red-belted but, as stated earlier, this one is a long shot here and probably one for me to try in the field sometime.

Tuesday 8th June.

After a mostly cloudy couple of days, today (Tuesday) was forecast to be warm and sunny and guess what, they were actually right. I put the FOR (Red-tipped) and VES (Yellow-legged) lure out just before midday and an hour later had a Red-tipped Clearwing in the FOR trap. I potted him so as not to count him again and about 30 minutes later, a second one turned up.

Red-tipped Clearwing - Coverdale 08.06.2021

Red-tipped Clearwing - Coverdale 08.06.2021

I then took that lure in and just left the VES out, but no luck with that one yet.

With some more decent weather forecast over the next few days, I will probably keep trying with the VES lure and probably also try the TIP one for Current Clearwing next.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil.

[trevor]

We never know what's hanging around in the vicinity of our gardens.
Without your lures you would probably never have seen any of those
Clearwings, yet they could have been nearby all the time.

I must say they are very beautiful.

Stay well,
Trevor.

[Chris L]

Nice Bishops Hill photos and narrative Neil. I was in the vicinity of the place a month or so ago for a partial sunshine forecast day that produced dark cloud and rain. I might make a visit in the next week or so. Thank you.

[Wurzel]

Cracking looking little moths those are Neil - I must remind Philzoid to dig out his lures the next time he's coming over this way

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Those female Common Blues are mightily impressive, Neil. Is it me or do they seem to get bluer by the year?

Good to see that the moths are returning in force to your trap. I never tire of seeing Buff Tip; they are such eye candy that they may as well be a sweet.

As for the clearwings...great advert again for investing in a pheromone lure. Lovely creatures.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments Trevor, Otep, Wurzel and David, much appreciated

Monday 7th June.

On Monday morning I decided to have a wander down to my local spot by Wagon Lane Park to see how things were doing there as, with the scabby weather we had most of last month, I hadn’t actually been there for a while.
Although the morning had started off nice and sunny, it soon started to cloud over and with the spring stuff finally coming to an end around here, there were very few butterflies to be seen.

I was pleased to find a couple of fresh male Common Blues which confirmed the small colony here is still present.

Common Blue - Wagon Lane 07.06.2021

Common Blue - Wagon Lane 07.06.2021

A tatty Small Tortoiseshell was still hanging on in there.

Small Tortoiseshell - Wagon Lane 07.06.2021

The only other butterfly seen during my circuit was a single Small White.

Later, back home in the garden I spotted a female Brimstone fluttering around the Alder Buckthorns stopping occasionally to lay. I took a few photos which confirmed, by some subtle wear on her hindwing, that she was actually the same female that was here laying on the buckthorns last week.

Brimstone female - Coverdale 07.06.2021

By now the sun was occasionally breaking through again and I watched her for a while as she alternated between the buckthorns and one of my bowles mauve plants that has just about survived the frosts that we had earlier in the year.

Brimstone female - Coverdale 07.06.2021

Brimstone female - Coverdale 07.06.2021

The eggs that she laid last week have now turned yellow and so some leaves now have both newly laid blue/green ones alongside week old yellow ones.

Brimstone egg - Coverdale 07.06.2021

A little later I spotted a new Speckled Wood male basking in the weak sun that was showing through a layer of light cloud.

Speckled Wood - Coverdale 07.06.2021

He could have been one of the first of the next brood or given how this year has been progressing so far, he could possibly be a late early brood, I suppose either is possible this year with the way it has been going so far.

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil.

[Pauline]

An excellent report and images of those Clearwings Neil and lovely moths as ever. I think that Dingy a couple of posts back might be egglaying - the droopy antennae sometimes give it away with some species but the general position of the butterfly on the bft is also a clue.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Pauline. Well spotted with the Dingy Skipper, her abdomen certainly looks like it is bent under, possibly to lay an egg. I must pay more attention.
I reckon your antennae would droop if you bent your abdomen under like that too

Wednesday 9th June.

A return visit to Blythe Valley Park this morning under cloudless blue skies produced a few more Common Blues than last week but still not great numbers. Out of about a dozen seen, most were fresh looking males with just one female seen so it is still probably early days for them here.

Common Blue - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

Common Blue - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

The female stubbornly refused to open up in the warm sun, despite me trying the old trick of shading her with my shadow.

Common Blue female - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

From what I saw of her in flight, she looked to be a fairly dark individual which would explain her reluctance to open up with darker butterflies usually heating up faster in the sun. Thinking about it, I wonder if that helps to explain the apparent increase in (brighter) blue females over the past few years when we seem to have had more periods of hot and dry weather. Perhaps they are more suited to those conditions? it is certainly true that most of the brighter blue females were reported from the south to start with although over the past few years the trend seems to be moving north.

Other butterflies seen included a couple of male Orange-tips plus one female.

Orange-tip - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

Orange-tip female - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

I watched a female Peacock fluttering around some nettles where she appeared to be laying but I think she was just going through the motions as I couldn’t find any eggs. Given her age by now, I reckon she had probably already laid all her eggs by now but was still following her instinctive behaviour.

Peacock - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

A couple each of very flighty Burnet Companion and Mother Shipton moths were spotted but neither species are around in numbers here yet.

Part of the River Blythe runs through here, hence the name of the site, and a good number of Beautiful Demoiselles, along with lots of Common Blue Damselflies, could be seen dancing in the dappled shade of the trees and shrubs where the path runs alongside this small river (more like a stream here really).

Beautiful Demoiselle female - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

Beautiful Demoiselle male - Blythe Valley 09.06.2021

A pleasant hour or so but still low numbers of butterflies. Without any premium species around my local sites, It looks like we are into our June Gap here.

Need to go and finish some packing now, off to Wurzel Country (Dorset) in the morning for a week

Bye for now and stay safe,

Neil.

[millerd]

Posting Orange Tips on 10th June seems a bit strange, but they both seem in reasonable shape too. It's been an odd spring.

Those beautiful demoiselles are so aptly named - they are exquisite creatures and those are great shots of them!

Cheers,

Dave

[David M]

Quite a surprise to see Brimstones, Small Tortoiseshells, Peacocks and Orange Tips entering the second week in June, Neil.

That Tortie might perhaps be a full year old and may live to see the next generation.

[Benjamin]

Cracking moths in recent posts Neil - really enjoy seeing your highlights. The clearwing moths are particularly beautiful - I must try the lures next year.

[Pauline]

That's a great shot of the Brimstone egg-laying Neil. Still remember a similar Speckled Wood shot that was an absolute cracker. Takes some skill and patience.

[Chris L]

Great photos and narrative as ever Neil. I sense in your words the same sort of mood I feel with regards the current state of play, given that I am not too far away from your neck of the woods. It is not that easy to see butterflies where we are right now is it.

One has to admire the tenacity of that Small Tortoiseshell hanging on in there. I liked your comment David about it possibly being a year old now and potentially seeing the next generation. Sad too.

[Neil Freeman]

Many thanks for the comments Dave, David, Benjamin, Pauline and Otep and apologies for the delayed response, we arrived back home this afternoon from a cracking week down in Dorset. We did have Wifi on site but it was temperamental and kept dropping out so I didn't bother trying to go online much.
Lots of catching up to do now.

Dorset 11th – 18th June part 1.

This was a family holiday that was originally planned for June last year but was postponed due to last year’s lockdown. Jane and myself plus my Mom and also our oldest son Chris were booked in for a week staying in a caravan at Durdle Door Holiday Park. I must admit that having seen some of the news stories last year of hordes of people descending on popular spots like this, I was wondering what it would be like down there. I needn’t have worried as, although it was busy at times, especially over the first weekend when it was scorching hot, it was easy to get away from the crowds and there were times that Chris and myself had the grassy slopes above the beach to ourselves.
During the week we visited both Weymouth and Swanage and did some other touristy stuff to keep Jane and my Mom happy but also managed to squeeze in some good butterflying with Chris seeing a number of species for the first time.

But first…

On the way down on the Friday (11th) we stopped off at the car park at Fontmell & Compton Down. During the previous few days, I had been checking out the sightings on the Dorset BC website to see what was flying down there and I noticed a couple of curious reports of Glanville Fritillaries reported from Compton Down and a little more digging turned up a news article on the Dorset website with a few more details. It seems that there is a Glannie dumper at large as well as a Marshie dumper, or maybe the culprit is the same person?

https://www.dorsetbutterflies.com/category/news/

Anyway, given that we could easily take the alternative road from Shaftesbury to drive right past this site, the opportunity was just too tempting. We arrived at the car park with it feeling reasonably warm with 50/50 cloud cover but there was an ominous looking bank of dark cloud heading our way so we (Chris and myself) wasted no time in heading off down the bridlepath where the reports indicated that the sightings had been made.
On the way we soon saw Adonis, Common and Small Blues, Dingy Skippers, and a couple of Brimstones. A Painted Lady, my first this year also flew past us but didn’t stop. We had just reached a spot where a path goes down onto the down itself when we spotted an orange looking butterfly skimming along a few inches above the surface of the main bridlepath. It settled and proved to be a Glanville Fritillary, a first for Chris and the first one I had seen since visiting the I.O.W. a few years back. It settled a few times on different spots on the track enabling us to take some photos before it decided to take off over the hedge and was lost to sight.

Glanville Fritillary - Compton Down Dorset 11.06.2021

Glanville Fritillary - Compton Down Dorset 11.06.2021

Glanville Fritillary - Compton Down Dorset 11.06.2021

Glanville Fritillary - Compton Down Dorset 11.06.2021

I must admit that it seemed a bit out of place and part of me felt that it shouldn’t have been there, but on the other hand it was good to see a species that simply wasn’t on my radar for this year.

We then took the lower path back towards the car, seeing more Adonis, Common and Small Blues plus Small Heaths but by now the dark cloud had arrived and it had gone dull and decidedly cooler.
Chris was well chuffed as the Adonis Blues were also a new species for him and we still had a whole week ahead of us with some more targets in mind.

Over the following week we ended up seeing 19 species of butterflies, some of them in large numbers with both Chris and I myself taking loads of photos.
As usual, I will post more details and photos of these over the next few days as I get time to sort through them.

To be continued,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Cracking reports recently Neil I know what you mean about seeing the Glannies - but then if you're travelling that way anyway you may as well have taken a look. I saw about 8 on a nearby hill in Wiltshire and the 'population' has been there for a few years now and it was odd but then I would have visited the site for the Marshies, Greenstreaks and Adonis anyway so I may as well have looked for the Glanvilles as I was there There is a school of thought that the dumper from this hill was spreading the population for better or worse Still nice to see though Looking forward to some Lulworths possibly

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Katrina]

Lovely to see your photos of the Glanvilles, however they got there