Bugboys mission

[Wurzel]

Cheers for trying Bugboy I'll get there one day even if I have to drive all night (I'm sure there's a song in that )
Cracking fisher King

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those kingfisher shots are right up there in this forum's panthaeon, Paul.

I'm now minded to take a walk as soon as conditions improve to see if I can find any locally (I've seen them in quite a few spots over the years round here).

Nice to see the Swallowtails too. I must get round to seeing britannicus again very soon.

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, my next mission is to pin down his Queen!
Thanks David. They are normally very shy, I count these bold ones as one of the few pluses of city life!

December 2022

Tuesday 27th. Train strikes galore are keeping me very much on home turf at the moment, so my final outing of the year was another few hours chasing Kingfishers . Although there was no shortage of sightings, they refused to sit anywhere suitable for photography today, so other stuff did get a look in.

At one stage, the opening of a sluice connecting some reservoirs on the Wetlands caused a feeding frenzy from a small gang of Cormorants which attracted the attention of a trio of Herons.

[bugboy]

Summer 2022

July. Summer advanced, as did record breaking temperatures but at the start of the month I was unfortunate to end up looking for Large Blues under leaden skies and had to shelter in the pub for 2 hours whilst it tipped down, but I still managed to find a few when the sun eventually appeared. I decided to return a week later under slightly better conditions to find a few more.

Those July Stalwarts, Chalkhill Blues and Gatekeepers predictably turned up in their respected preferred habitats.

My search for Purple Emperors was more frustrating, it didn’t sound like a vintage year for them anyway, at least at the sites I can get to, but I managed a few glimpses in the treetops at Bookham.

The other summer Purple one seemed to be less numerous than in previous years too, but the summer heat did bring some down to re-hydrate on morning dew.

I think I missed to main peak of Silver-washed Fritillary, but they were still regulars whilst searching for other summer woodland species.

I’d seen my first Lulworth Skippers at the beginning of June but they were still going strong a good six weeks later, and of course you don’t need much of an excuse to spend a second day on the coast of Dorset on a summers day!

Near the end of the month I made the discovery that after all these years I could actually get to Chiddingfold Wood. I made use of this discovery by catching up with the Wood White second brood. Hopefully come this summer I might be able to catch up with HIM there too.

Edit:
Going through photos I realised I'd missed out the Silver-studded Blue, which considering the awful season (at least on their Surrey Heathland sites), is perhaps not a surprise. Last year I made two visits to Fairmile Common where I found very few and only males.

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of images Bugboy - love the Great White Heron from before and my faves from the butterflies have to be the Lulworths - I only managed to get 'back home' once this year so it was great to see yours

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots Bugboy, love the Bird shots as well Goldie

[David M]

A fine smorgasbord, Paul.

Shame the Emperors weren't terribly co-operative, but that seems to have been the case for two or three years now.

You got compensation with the Large Blues, which I imagine are far better to approach after damp weather rather than in constant warm sunshine.

[bugboy]

Thanks for the comments

Summer 2022

August. Moving into late summer, the effects of the summers heatwave was starting to show, bone dry, straw coloured fields, trees dropping leaves and a godawful Brown Hairstreak showing, my end of season total was a measly three!

I’d come across my first Graylings back at the end of June in Cumbria, a few more in Dorset in Lulworth territory but my main dose was at my usual site, Chobham Common where they emerge much later than at their northern sites. They do like Silver Birch trunks here!

Silver-spotted Skippers seemed to fair well in the hot conditions, at least numbers hadn’t taken a hit, although on an afternoon at Denbies they did struggle to find nectar sources and were forced to double up on the remaining flowers along the top path.

Aside from searching for adults, I also managed to fit in a few extra visits to Norfolk in an attempt to find a fully grown Swallowtail larvae. During their main flight, Millerd had located some eggs and newly hatched larvae. I found some fatter 2nd instar later in July and on my final visit at the beginning of August I finally managed to locate the big fat monster I was searching for! I must say it's very strange walking around an almost deserted site after becoming accustomed to the hoards found there at the start of June.

The Green-veined White has only had a passing mention in my highlights so far so here’s a few snaps I took in August. They seemed to have a mediocre season, not being a fan of hot dry conditions they probably took a bit of a hit over the summer.

[Benjamin]

Enjoyable read as always Paul, but the caterpillar hunting trips to Norfolk stand out for me. I’ve only found the mature cats in the wild abroad and actually they were a little too common to get the full pay off that a long search on home soil would deliver! So glad you hit the jackpot before giving up for the year!

[bugboy]

Thanks Ben, the find was made even more satisfying because it was located during one final search at the end of the day before making my way home!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Autumn 2022

September - October. It’s fair to say the butterfly season, at least in the south of the country, ended on a bit of a high and a fortuitous week off (booked months beforehand) meant I was able to enjoy it as much as my bank balance would allow!

Clouded Yellow became rather abundant with a notable showing of helice females. Amorous males helped with obtaining the normally elusive uppersides.

Off course the Long-tailed Blues put on a marvellous display and drew sizable crowds down of Costa Del Worthing for the best part of two weeks.

I managed to drag myself away from Sussex for one day and caught up with the Kent Queen of Spain Fritillaries which had set up homes on various spots in the county. It was interesting how different lighting conditions caused the quicksilver spots look completely different: the three below are with flash, reflecting sun and looking into the sun. This brought my final tally of species for the year to 57 species.

Like the Green-veined, the Small White has also had just a passing mention so far so here’s some images I took in October.

[Wurzel]

Those are fantastic images of the Cloudies and Long-tails Bugboy Hopefully we'll have a a reasonable showing of them again next year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel, yes lets keep our collective fingers crossed

Autumn 2022, the last hurrah!

November. When I was a kid (many years ago now) finding a butterfly beyond September would’ve been a red letter day and off course this is still the case across most of the country, but 2022 really did drag out the season if you knew where to go. In my case I found Lancing Ring to be particularly productive and as a final encore, helped me wrack up an impressive eight species during the month. Aside from the six pictured I also found Speckled Wood and Holly Blue.

Not long now before these species start waking up properly again

[Allan.W.]

Excellent shots there Bugboy ..................you,re Clouded Yellow pics are exceptional ! as are the Long Tails and Queens
Seeing you,re shots using a flash ..................great idea ,never even occured to me ,but having seen your pics and Neils (Hulme ) Emperor shots using flash certainly gives food for thought ! Roll on next season !
Allan.W.

[Goldie M]

Absolutely Fabulous shots Bugboy, I can't pick what I like the best Goldie

[David M]

...When I was a kid (many years ago now) finding a butterfly beyond September would’ve been a red letter day and off course this is still the case across most of the country, but 2022 really did drag out the season if you knew where to go...

Very true. Early October usually represented the end of the butterfly year when I was actively looking for them in the late seventies. These days, I expect to see them in November and am confident of seeing them in February.

Your reflections on your season have been a delight, Paul. The rich colours in each post have made me even more eager for winter to shuffle away and for these insects to return once more.

I think your 'Autumn' post really sums up how things have changed. Who would have believed 40 years ago (even 10-15 years ago) that helice Clouded Yellows, Long Tailed Blues & Queen of Spain Fritillaries would be on the menu of an English September/October?

[Wurzel]

That is definitely worthy of the title 'Hurrah' Bugboy! Whilst it's great that the season lasts so long and exotics are turning up sometimes it does make me wonder what we'll lose out on in the future But for now it's nice to revel in your brilliant shots

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Allen, the use of flash was originally forced upon me, it was a mostly gloomy day with very poor light levels a lot of the time.
Thanks Goldie
Thanks David, hopefully not too long to wait now the days are gradually lengthening
Thanks Wurzel, it is a double-edged sword

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


January 2023

Sunday 8th. Train strikes, a bout of Flu which had me bedbound for a couple of days and rubbish weather have all combined to stop me from going on one of my countryside excursions for quite a while now. The local nature reserves have helped to fill the void and have provided a few memorable moments. Last week some Shovelers were doing their thing on the Wetlands

Yesterday however I forced myself to endure some sustained squally downpour’s in order to capture the main target for my several repeat visits to Walthamstow Wetlands. The supporting cast included a very casual Fox who barely blinked at the attention it drew as it went about marking its territory, some Shelduck having a bit of a turf war and another cormorant feeding frenzy, I think the sluice gates must open at a regular time as these guys suddenly appear en-masse out of nowhere.

The main target? Well it’s Mr Kingfisher of course who I can pretty much guarantee seeing at the moment.

And it’s always nice when he chooses to perch right in front of the hide !

[bugboy]

January 2023

Tuesday 10th. Another damp, grey day off so once the mornings deluge had passed through it was more of the same down the road at Walthamstow Wetlands. Cormorants feasting again (I think the unfortunate fish are mostly Perch),

watched on by an excited Heron

Here's Squawky McSquawky the Common Gull

The ever present Kingfisher was playing hard to get today

[Wurzel]

More cracking birding images Bugboy I love the third Kingfisher down from the second from last post Always keep an eye on the Common Gulls as there may be a Ring-billed in there somewhere

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...And it’s always nice when he chooses to perch right in front of the hide

Aha, so that's how you get so close!

Never get tired of seeing this bird. The 'electric' colours are jaw-droppingly eye-catching.