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Wind Wind go away!

Down here on the south coast the strong and 'constant' wind is making butterfly photography rather difficult. It's also been a bit dull and cloudy for a good part of 'almost' every day here. Nonetheless I've been out & about trying to make the most of the wonderful WLH bounty we're having this year.

The vast majority of them are looking rather worn now - at least the ones I've seen. For a change I found some on bramble, but I'm definitely seeing more of them enjoying thistle. Hopefully I'm not overdoing the WLH photos - I'm rather fond of this little butterfly.
I've not been neglecting other species, Here's a small selection of some other "usual suspects" I've seen locally.

Essex Skipper.
Gatekeeper.
Small Skipper.
Marbled White.
All the best,

James

Superb White-Letters, James - particularly that third one, one of those species I've only ever seen from below unfortunately

BWs,

William

William wrote:Superb White-Letters, James - particularly that third one, one of those species I've only ever seen from below unfortunately

BWs,

William

Thank you William it took me several years to finally see some close up, they are great at being inconspicuous. Once you find them they can become quite addictive, well I'm hooked anyway! Now if only I could get some decent photos of the Purple Hairstreak. Like you I've only ever seen them from below.

ATB

James

Cracking Whitters Rex - I've seen some this year but none to photograph and none that close

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi James, I get your frustration with the wind, either cloud or blustery breezes or both together have been almost constant features for me this year. The best weather is often frustratingly when I am at work.

Great photos recently, especially the WLH

Cheers,

Neil

Singing the Chalkhill Blues.

Thank you for your kind comments Wurzel and Neil, I'm sorry it's taken me so long to respond.

It would seem I'm a little behind with my diary so I'll have to "do a Wurzel" and play catch up.......

Last week the wind finally died down for a bit and luckily I had an afternoon free so I decided to scale Windover Hill to see what I could find. The Silver Spotted Skippers I was hoping to see didn't really materialise but there was plenty of other Butterflies to enjoy, like some fresh Chalkhill Blues. I took plenty of photos even before I made it to the top of the hill, including a few unusual ones of a Chalkhill Blue against a background of chalk. I thought that they looked a bit strange with an almost unearthly look to them.
Of course I saw more than some splendid looking Chalkies up there and my next post will include a few of them.

Thanks for looking.

All the best

James

HI James.
You beat me to Windover Hill by a week, and yes, it was windy. But the Butterflies were fabulous.
Love your Chalkhill shots.
I will now look into my crystal ball and predict that i will bump into you in the next week or so .

All the best to you and family,
TREVOR.

Thank you kindly Trevor, I suspect we will meet again in the near future, there's still a good bit of the season left to go.

All the best

James

Hi James,

Lovely images all, but that first one is simply stunning!

BWs, Neil

Thank you very much Neil, I hope we'll be able to meet up again soon - it's been a while.

Take care

James

I agree with Neil Rex, that is a splendid Chalkhil shot

Have a goodun

Wurzel

It seems we're all behind with our Diaries James, love your CHB's Goldie

Goldie M wrote:It seems we're all behind with our Diaries James, love your CHB's Goldie

Thanks Goldie better late than never I suppose.

Wurzel wrote:I agree with Neil Rex, that is a splendid Chalkhil shot

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, I hope you had a great time on your holiday. I can't wait to see your photos when you get back.

Slightly UN-Common Blue.

Earlier last week I popped over to one of my local spots about 15 minutes walk away hoping to see a few fresh Common and Chalk Hill Blue's. It was a bit overcast and I was eaten alive my mosquitoes, I had roughly 7 or 8 bites on my back! At least the conditions slowed the 'usually frenetic' Blues down a tad.

After a good look about I came across this slightly unusual female Common Blue. She had some minor wing damage but she was still beautiful. She looked like she might be a bit of an ab to me, especially on the underside. See what you think.
I also made a brief visit to Friston forest last week and saw this surprisingly fresh looking Ringlet! Near Friston Forest I have my local Grayling spot, they were being as difficult as ever to get an attractive photo of but it was just a joy to watch them gliding up and down the scarp. Whilst chasing the Grayling I was momentarily distracted by this lovely Small Copper. I didn't get out a lot last week but when I did it was really productive and at least the wind had dropped off a bit... AT LAST.

Best Wishes

James

That is a nice common Blue with an eye catching upperside and underside! All the other pics are offcourse equally stunning and I'm glad other people are mentioning this years persistant wind, its not just following me around !

Thanks Buggy, the strong wind has been a real pain this year, thankfully we've just had a few calm days just to remind us what it's like.
The weather looks like it might be very unsettled again this week, and just when I was thinking about looking for some Brown Hairstreaks too.

Your generous comments are most appreciated.

All the best

James

A couple of Russian seamen and some bird from India!

I was back up on Windover Hill at the end of last week, unfortunately the return of the strong breeze scuppered my attempt to try for a better Grayling photo. However I found a sheltered corner where some very nice Red Admirals and Peacocks were busy nectering.
Best wishes

James

Nice shots of the Admirals and Peacock James, I always think they look very regal when their wings are closed Goldie

Butterflysaurus rex wrote:...A couple of Russian seamen...

I must be slowing down, it took me a minute to get that

Lovely photos James.

Cheers,

Neil.

Goldie M wrote:Nice shots of the Admirals and Peacock James, I always think they look very regal when their wings are closed Goldie

Thank you Goldie, they do don't they. It made for a nice change, I normally try and photograph their topsides but they were nectering too high up so I thought I'd attempt to get a photo of their (much neglected in my case) under sides.

Neil Freeman wrote:

Butterflysaurus rex wrote:...A couple of Russian seamen...

I must be slowing down, it took me a minute to get that

Lovely photos James.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Neil, I had real trouble thinking up a title for this entry and for some strange reason this popped into my head. Perhaps I ought to see a psychiatrist.

All the best

James

Lovely selection of pictures in your past few posts James. It's often difficult to get the full beauty of a Red Admiral underside but you definately managed it