Padfield

[Pauline]

Some very interesting shots recently Guy but quite often I really struggle to see your images which is a real shame. Either they don't load or I only see a bit of it. Have you any idea why that might be and what I can do about it as I feel I am missing out!?

[Padfield]

Hi Pauline. Sorry about that! All the pictures are drawn directly from my server. If they show in part, it means my server is not down (which it occasionally is). Therefore, if pages stop loading before all the pictures are complete the problem must lie with (a) the speed of the server, (b) the speed of your internet connection or (c) a communication problem between the UK Butterflies interface and my server, so it thinks the page is complete when it isn't. As a provisional workabout, you could try refreshing the page (that usually works for me when this sort of thing happens on web pages) or, if there is a particularly tempting image that stubbornly refuses to load completely, right click on it and choose 'open image in new tab' (or equivalent in your browser). That should open the image without going through the UK Butterflies interface.

Do let me know what happens, and thanks for alerting me to the problem.

Guy

EDIT: As a test, try loading this page: https://www.guypadfield.com/cardinal.html

That draws a lot of pictures directly from my server. It loads completely for me, in a relatively short time. If it doesn't for you, it suggests your internet speed is at fault. If it does load properly for you, it probably means the problem lies with the UK Butterflies/guypadfield.com communication.

[Pauline]

Wonderful images Guy - no problem seeing these ones

[Padfield]

Thanks Pauline!

Nearly a month, and I haven't posted anything in this diary ... Sadly, I've been very busy, and only able to dash off quick replies in other threads.

The white-letter hairstreaks in the local meadow began flying, high in the canopy, from about mid-June but I didn't get a proof shot until 24th June:



I got another - also at 60 x zoom and heavily cropped - the next day:



Although there are plenty of thistles and brambles in the meadow, I haven't seen any come down yet. The weather has also been largely awful until this weekend.

Yesterday, I discovered another colony, also in Woodbridge but in a different part, near the river, and this afternoon photographed four different females coming down to bramble - but still rather inaccessibly. Here are three of them:







I also photographed this female purple hairstreak, oviposturing on sweet chestnut:









I don't know what the function of oviposturing is, but a lot of butterflies do it, often on the wrong hostplant.

Other nice species since my last post include Suffolk marbled whites ...





... thousands of Essex skippers, which seem to outnember small skippers in Suffolk ...





... white admirals near Tunstall ...





... silver-studded blues on local heathland ...



... including a female with quite a lot of blue on the hindwings ...



... and a proliferation of cinnabar caterpillars, covering every ragwort plant in local woods:



And finally, some soldier beetles dancing the Conga yesterday, with absolutely no regard for social distancing:



Guy

[Pauline]

Hi Guy

Just wanted to say that I thought those shots of the PH were really interesting and I would have been pleased to take them. It probably was ovipositing but maybe you need to get out there with a step ladder!

[kevling]

Hi Guy,
Glad to see you got closer to your White Letter Hairstreaks. Some nice shots obtained.
I enjoyed your Purple Hairstreak ovipositing too. By coincidence, I was out walking local this morning and observed a Purple Hairstreak coming out from an oak, flying across the adjacent field briefly, before returning to a neighbouring Sweet Chestnut. I was not aware they used this species.
The Marbled Whites topped 100+ this year and every knapweed in the park seemed to have skippers on. More Essex than I normally see.

Kind Regards
Kev Ling

[Wurzel]

A fantastic collection Guy Especially like the female Silver-stud with the blue scaling on the hind wing - not seen one with the blue there before or to that extent - it looks like the studs go though the wing

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Good to see you've found a location where you can get reasonably close to White Letter Hairstreaks, Guy. Wish I could say the same....the ones here never descend lower than 20 feet.

Love the ovipositing/posturing Purple too. I'd settle for just seeing one perched in a tree, let alone behaving like that.

[Padfield]

Thank you Pauline, Kev, Wurzel and David. I'll get out some cloudy day and search for any possible eggs on the chestnut - before the leaves fall and the branches spring up even higher ...

I cycled out this afternoon to bramble rides in local woods. The sun was in and out but it was warm and peacocks were nectaring in their dozens - I don't think I've ever seen so many - several hundred at least in the course of the whole walk:



Hutchinsoni commas were zooming around too, looking huge and golden.





Also present were red admirals, meadow browns, ringlets, gatekeepers, small, large and green-veined whites, small and large skippers, a single purple hairstreak and lots of small coppers:



But the prize sighting was reserved for right at the end, when Minnie was heading resolutely back to the bike and I thought I'd seen everything I was going to see. At the far side of a bramble bush, half hidden by peacocks and foliage, I spotted a male silver-washed fritillary:





That was it - it was up and away and then the sun went in. Many readers of this page will be unaware what a delight it is to see a silver-washed fritillary - or indeed, any fritillary - in Suffolk. Its fortunes have been up and down in the county, with Mendel and Piotrowski reporting in their 1986 atlas that there had been no reliable sightings since the 1950s and Richard Stewart not even giving it a mention in his Millennium Atlas. Much more recently, it has been seen in quite a few woods and is regarded once again as a resident. I shall be back to these woods as soon as weather and time permit to look for more.

Guy

[Padfield]

Hardly a better photo, but I had a brief encounter with another (identifiably different individual) male silver-washed fritillary today, not far from yesterday's. It was nectaring in the shade, in a cloudy moment, so constantly moving:



The sun was out 50% of the time this afternoon, keeping things warm, occasionally permitting better shots of things. This red admiral was taking full advantage when she could:



Guy

[Padfield]

I was privileged this morning to be shown a fledgling turtle dove a friend has been monitoring over the last week or so. It was very well hidden and I'm sure I wouldn't have spotted it on my own, even though it was visible from a track I have walked along recently in search of butterflies:











While we were watching, the mother (we presume) landed on a dead tree nearby:



A very special treat.

Guy

[Pauline]

As you say Guy, a real privilege to see that. I'm very envious but your wonderful images are some small compensation. It's like having a glimpse into some secret world

[Wurzel]

Fantastic shot of the Turtle Dove Guy - cracking looking birds I went out for a walk on Sunday and was astounded with the numbers of Peacocks - like you I found them everywhere - brilliant!

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely reportage on the Turtle Dove, Guy. Sadly a bird very much in decline in the UK.

[kevling]

Nice to see you found some Silver Washed Fritillaries Guy. They are certainly on the increase in Suffolk with a good number of new locations in the last two or three years. I too saw one at a new site near my Ipswich home last week.

Kind Regards
Kev

[Padfield]

Thank you Pauline, Wurzel, David and Kev. I'm sorry I post so few similar replies on your respective threads! It's just a matter of time at the moment. Yes, the turtle doves were very special. I don't think I'll have an opportunity like that again - at least if I have to rely on my own birdwatching skills. How my friend picked up that fledgling I just don't know. It's great news that silver-washed fritillaries are spreading in Suffolk, Kev. Long may it continue.

Since that last post I have found three white-letter hairstreak eggs, all in very similar positions near buds. Apologies for the picture quality ...

Egg 1:



Egg 2:



Egg 3:



Last night finally allowed clear enough skies - and no moon - to see comet Neowise. It's faint, and didn't become a naked-eye object until about 23h00 last night, but it's the best we've had since Hyakutake in 1996!

Here's a wide-angle shot, early in the night:



The comet is that small, faint dot and streak between the front and hind paws of the Great Bear.

Here is another shot, with the tower of St Mary's Church in Woodbridge illuminated on the right:



Finally, a couple of urban shots - the first over the Old Rectory in Woodbridge and the second from Fen Meadow:





I won't win any prizes for those shots - but hey! Comet!

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

You’re right, Guy, it’s a comet, and I haven’t seen it yet, I will look tonight. It was still too cloudy last night down here. Visible in the northern sky, I believe.

Your young turtle dove is a delight, never seen a juvenile like yours. A very special bird in our part of the country. But it is in big decline and, even here, numbers have gone through the floor.

But while we lament the decline of these lovely doves, we must remember that other birds, such as buzzards, little egrets and Cetti’s warbler, have increased. Nothing stays static in nature...

[Padfield]

I hope you managed a glimpse, Buzzard. At these northerly latitudes, the sky is still too light to see the comet with the naked eye until relatively late - and the sun skims round the north not that far below the horizon, so it never gets as dark as we'd like. I was sent brilliant piccies taken by a friend in Switzerland, ten degrees further south - it looked magnificent in the clear, Swiss mountain air! If you know your stars, it is still between the fore and hind paws of the great bear, but now closer to the hind paws. Once these stars are visible, scan between them with binoculars and you can't miss it. It is, of course, getting daily less bright, and we are currently in a moonless window, so you need to catch it soon.

Back to butterflies ...

A female purple hairstreak was flitting around the bramble and bracken today, briefly offering me a glimpse of her upperside:



When she dropped to the ground I could see she had a parasitic acarian attached:



To the best of my knowledge, these don't do any real harm, but it might have explained her erratic behaviour.

Far fewer butterflies were on the brambles today, in sometimes sunny, sometimes overcast but always cooler weather. I did see a lot of what I thnk are forest cuckoo bees, Bombus sylvestris:





Guy

[Wurzel]

I reckon you're right with the bee ID Guy - always tricky even though we have so few 'Bumble' bee species It certainly seems to be the year for Purps coming down low

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

I'd swap you 10 High Browns for just one elderly female Purple Hairstreak posing like that one, Guy! I just can't get close to any this year.