www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Yes,HF are locally common on the Continent. But nothing quite beats seeing there rare treasures on Brittish soil!

essexbuzzard wrote:Yes,HF are locally common on the Continent. But nothing quite beats seeing there rare treasures on Brittish soil!

Can't argue with that, EB. It's the same for Swallowtails, Mountain Ringlets, Large Blues, High Brown Fritillaries & Lulworth Skippers too!

Yes, these butterflies can be easily found in France, but seeing them in the UK means so much more.

Lovely shots Essex of a butterfly I have still to see , maybe this year I can connect with it.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Willrow wrote:As well as the butterfly images your orchid shots are delightful also essexbuzzard!!!

What a nice thing to say EB

Those Heath Fritillary images are making me drool, its such a great time of year...can't keep up with it all though

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

Heath Fritillaries and your photography brilliant as usual mate!! We had over 70+ Heath Frits on our fieldtrip at Greenscoome Woods, Luckett on Saturday 7th June!
Cheers,
Lee Slaughter.

Thanks for your comments,everyone. I agree,David,nothing beats seeing our species on home soil!

Wurzel,what are you waiting for? Cornish HF are probably peaking now,with the Exmoor and eastern colonies not far behind.

Thanks Willrow. I'm quite into my flowers as well as butterflies!

Lee,goes without saying,thanks for your help. I'm so glad the HF field trip was a success. The site is looking good,isn't it? This site is a little known Cornish treasure!

MARSH FRITILLARY DAY! TUES 3 JUNE.

The three main species i wanted to connect with on this trip were all Fritillaries-Small Pearl-border,Heath and Marsh. I saw Heaths on my first day-and the others on the second day!

Staying near Penzance,i usurally have to drive to mid Cornwall to see Marsh Frits. This is no problem,a small price to pay to see these special butterflies. But just days before i came,i got a tip-off about a site much closer to 'home'-on the Lizard! It took a while to find this site,but it turned out that i had been driving right past it for many years-without even knowing! This area of damp fields and standing water was outstanding and,in 3 fields,we saw one to two hundred Marsh Fritillaries,and we didn't even enter the main breeding area where most of the foodplants were,for fear of treading on egg laying females. Males,females,mating pairs,egg laying females-they were all here. The day was warm but mostly cloudy,but every now and then,the sun would break through,and the adults would rise from the tussocks,ten visible at a time in every direction!

Smaller numbers of male Small Pearl-bordered Frits were seen,as were Speckled Wood,Small Heath and Common Blue. Cuckoos,ravens and buzzards were among the birds. A truely memorable day!

Lovely Marshies Essex Cheers for the advice as well, I was thinking of going this weekend but my wife got wind of the distance (200 mile round trip) and so has said no way , getting sideswiped by the van last week didn't help my cause either . Still next year we're having a weekend away on Exmoor Sorted.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Excellent image of the ovipositing MF, EB. I've yet to see this in spite of being surrounded by this species.

Surrounded by this species? Wish i was! All i can say is be carefull where you tread,as the females are hard to spot,tucked under the scabious leaves.

CORNWALL DAY THREE

With our butterfly aims acheived in the first two days, we turned to other things during our spare time. Today,it was bright and cheerful,but also very windy and cold-just 13C! We spent most of the day walking the coast path near Mullion Cove,stopping to enjoy Cornish crab sandwhiches for lunch. Not many butterflies were about,given the cold,but we found some lovely heath spotted orchids and a few green winged orchids near the cove. A hunting buzzard was hovering when, suddenly,a peregrine shot out of the sky like a bullet,narrowly missing the buzzard,which simply glided away a little further along the cliff. Would have scared the life out of me!

The cliff-tops were alive with flowers. Stonechats were on the tops of gorse bushes. Ravens patroled the cliffs,some with juveniles in tow. Near Church cove,a wren was feeding a fledgeling,which came within a couple of yards of us. Lovely to see. Also at Church Cove,several brown sand martins were hawking flies. Most of todays sightings were of fairly common stuff,but it was an enjoyable day in magnificent surroundings.

CORNWALL DAYS 4 AND 5

Our last couple were spent simply enjoyig west Cornwalls coast and countryside-as well as the best of Cornwalls food and drink!

A valley near our B+B was full of wild rhododendrons. Madron Carn is a good hill-topping site for Red Admirals. I always see them here,and this was no exception. A telegraph pole had a great-spotted woodpecker nest,with a juvenile poking its head out.We also visited the Hayle bypass,where the bank has many southern marsh orchids.

Golden ring and broad bodied chaser dragonflies were seen,as well as Large and Small Whites,Small Copper,Speckled Wood and Wall. At the Hayle Bypass,i saw my first Large Skippers of the year.

A very enjoyable few days had sadly come to an end.

Smashing reports Mark and beautiful photos of the stunning scenery. I had a holiday in Cornwall years ago and would love to go back. My mouth was watering at the mention of the crab - my favourite

Great reports and some lovely photos, I particularly like the first female Marsh Fritillary and the scenery shots, great stuff

Cheers,

Neil.

Pauline,thanks for your comments. Glad you and Neil like the pictures!

THE BROADS


On the 11th,we headed up to Strumpshaw Fen to see the Swallowtails,and the Norfolk Hawker. Good numbers of hawkers throughout,but Swallowtails were few and far between,unlike last time i visited in May 2011. After a good spring,this was dissappointing,and i only managed to grab a few record shots-they wont win any prizes! They were already looking a bit worn,too-unlike the pristine adults i saw near Malaga in March. That said,it was good to catch up with them on home soil and there was a supporting cast of loads of Small Torts,plus Meadow Browns,Brimstones,Red Admirals,Large Skippers,Speckled Woods and my first 2014 Ringlet.
In the doctors garden was another Swallowtail and,in the rough field next door,a worn Brown Argus.

They may just be 'record' shots to you Essex but a Swallowtail always looks impressive to me

Have a goodun

Wurzel

IRTON FELL

I havn't seem the Mountain Ringlet for several years so,with good weather forecast,we went up last Thursday. We arrived at Irton just as the overnight cloud was beginning to break up and,once out on the fell,we soon stared to see Mountain Ringlets. At this low level,many of the adults were showing signs of wear,so after enjoying the first few,we headed higher up. Here the adults were fresher. This is a great advantage at this site-it gradually rises to higher ground,where adults emerge a few days later. We took some photo's here,and as well as the Mountain Ringlets,a multitude of Small Heaths were present. By lunchtime,temps has risen,and we were surrounded by mountain butterflies in all directions,and they were not stopping for pictures now! So we enjoyed the scenery for a while,and headed down.

We then drove to Wast Water and looked up at the fells where we had been walking just an hour or two before.

Then,having read Neil F PD(take a look at his superb pictures!),we headed to Latterbarrow,i site i knew nothing of,to search for the Northern Brown Argus. We found two almost staight away but,unfortunately,a large cloud suddenly apeared,blocking out the sun untill 7pm. This was unfortunate,but at least we had seen them and,up till then,the weather had been perfect,so we can't complain. A super day.

It's a beautiful location isn't it, EB?

Well done on the NBA. I didn't know this species could be found on Irton Fell.

Thanks for your feedback,David. The NBA were at Latterbarrow nature reserve,about an hours drive south from Irton fell. I should have made that clear,sorry to all!

Loving your diary Mark and soooo envious of all you are seeing. The Swallowtail - your 'record' shots .... well, I would be happy with them any day of the week. Keep posting

Thanks Pauline.I've had a busy season so far-long may it continue!

On the way back from Cumbria,i decided Black Hairstreak time was running out,so i headed to Glapthorn Cow Pastures. With records tailing off and with the season running so early,i feared i may be too late. But i needn't have worried. I got talking to other visitors,who kindly pointed me to the best area. A very nice female was on the brambles,with several males coming and going. A Hutchinsonii Comma was holding teritory,and Meadow Browns and Ringlets were abundant. Large Skippers were feeding with the Hairstreaks,a couple of Black Hairstreaks were still feeding when the last shaft of of sunlight dissappeared from the bramble patch at 7.15 in the evening.