August 2016

[Jack Harrison]

Goldie:

Brown Hair Streaks have been sighted at Gait Barrow

That is amazing. The area might even see the return of Wood White (I believe occurred there 100+ years ago)

Jack

[Goldie M]

Yes Jack ,I do hope so isn't it great news Goldie Can I just add that their eggs have also been found !

[Allan.W.]

Hello all,
The last couple of afternoons,after work,i've been making the most of the warm,bright weather,and visiting another area,of the Dungeness peninsula,namely the Gulleys
at Dengemarsh, an excellent birding area,at certain times of the year,but equally a quality butterfly site, at the moment and for several weeks now the Common Blues ,have been flying in very high numbers, and I have seen 100+ on 3 or 4 occasions,,on Monday it was very warm,with a breeze,and as the Blues were going to roost they sat obligingly with their wings open,catching the last of the evening sun, strangely yesterday (Tuesday ) probably warmer still,and not a breath of wind ,all they seemed to be interested in was nectaring,mainly on the Birds foot trefoil,that grows in abundance, but practically none sat open-winged, also a few pristine Small Coppers (9) on the wing,a few Brown Args, two meadow Browns (last men standing !) my first Clouded Yellow of the year,a few Wheatears moving about,a couple of Yellow Wagtails,and 2 Raven making a bee-line for the power station,we seem to be quite lucky down here in Kent,particularly in the Dungeness area,because here the Small Coppers and Common Blues,luckily,seem to be bucking the national trend.
Regards Allan.W.

[Hoggers]

Another radiata at Dungeness today

This one had a nice set of blue badges too:

Best wishes,

Hoggers.

[P.J.Underwood]

Nailed it -at Denbies Hillside,but only one seen!

[Hoggers]

David Walker ( the warden at Dungeness Nature Reserve ) sent me an email this afternoon with photos of two lovely Small Coppers that he found there today: an extensa

and a radiata

Conditions for producing aberrations must be very good at present as they are turning up frequently

So well worth a look this holiday weekend

Hoggers

[sahikmet]

At Aston Rowant today, few butterflies but managed to see silver spotted skipper, small tortoiseshell, and a number of small blues. Cheers. Sezar

[MikeOxon]

Small Tortoiseshell aberration

While walking at Aston Rowant NNR this afternoon (26th August), my wife, who is a much better spotter than I am, noticed an unusual Small Tortoiseshell. After a slightly difficult pursuit through the vegetation, I managed to get a few photos. The upper surfaces seem to be an almost uniform deep reddish-amber colour, completely lacking the usual yellow markings and with the veins less visible than usual.

Aston Rowant NNR, Oxon - 26th August 2016
Olympus E-M1 with Leica 100-400mm lens - 1/1600s@f/11 ISO640

After consulting the database on this site, the most likely aberration description seems to be ab. erythrophaea (Fritsch 1913) in which "the yellow costal patches and the yellow patch on the outer edge of the black spot of the inner-margin, are only feebly yellow, instead they are a warm scarlet-brown"

I've not found any illustrations of this form but would welcome any comments.

Mike

[Allan.W.]

Found this little stunner at Dungeness this afternoon. Regards Allan.W.

[Jack Harrison]

That Copper is indeed an absolute stunner.

I have asked this type of question before: genetic or environmental?

Jack

[lee3764]

Found this little stunner at Dungeness this afternoon. Regards Allan.W.

P1070045.JPG

P1070048.JPG

Brilliant aberration Allan! I think it is ab: ' radiata + caeruleopunctata'.
Any more Long-Tailed Blues by any chance?? Remember us from Cornwall at Kingsdown Leas in September 2013? Still great memories of that butterfly that you found at so kindly called us over!!
Cheers & hope you are keeping well?
All the best,

Lee & Lisa Slaughter & boys....(Cornwall).

[Allan.W.]

Hello Jack ,and Lea and family,
Jack,i wish I could answer your question, but I,m unsure, all I do know is that, we are really lucky here in Kent,to have this fantastic site( ie Dungeness NNR),this year it has been alive with different abberations,i believe that at least 3 (4) Radiata have been found this week alone,Blue spotted are really quite common,i also found a really bashed and battered Extensa, the only thing I can say is that with the number of Coppers on the wing at one time , which probably runs into hundreds, you are bound to get a few oddities , thanks for your comments !
Hello Lee and family,yes of course I remember you all ! Thanks for the comments re Radiata I posted ,my 3rd Radiata this season ! The Coppers are just fantastic here at Dungeness (see Hoggers diary) ,I reckon I saw about 60+ this afternoon,several blue spots ,a worn Extensa . We were in you neck of the woods a few weeks back ,lovely county,
but I wasn,t fortunate to come across a Gynandromorph Silver Stud !! ps Thanks for your comments Don,t think any Long tailed Blues have been reported locally (yet !) been looking half heartedly at Dungeness ,every time I go (loads of pea present ) but nothing so far,going to have a look at Reculver tomorrow .
Regards Allan.W.

[Hoggers]

Hi Allan, good to see you at Dungeness this morning : that radiata is stunning! As far as I know it's the fourth radiata found there this week. Take into account other usually very rare aberrations that have also been appearing recently ( like extensa and that weird one that you identified for me ) there appears to be something very curious going on at Dungeness! Even more curious, all of the radiatas have been female.
I had a look for it where you indicated but no luck - the weather was against me and I gave up when it began spitting.

I will try again tomorrow if the weather's ok as seeing your radiata would end my holiday on a high!

See you soon

Hoggers

[Allan.W.]

Hello all,
Re-found yesterdays Radiata,this morning( at Dungeness ) whilst on my early morning jaunt,very difficult to keep tracks on ,as she was constantly worried by the feisty males ,each time brushing
them off, I was really hoping to get an underwing shot ,and I was able to glimpse the underside ,which appeared different to the norm,still plenty of Coppers on the wing,despite the windy ,changeable weather, several Common Blues, single Brown Argus, and a few Meadow Browns. Bumped into Hoggers , who was just starting his visit ,and tried to put him onto the Radiata,but I don,t think he managed to re-find it (yet !), good luck tomorrow !!,good to have a chat again. Regards Allan.W.

[Rivoldini]

Two of these were seen on the same day. One at Gateshead and this one at Trimdon, County Durham.

[Allan.W.]

That( Schmidtti ) Rivoldino ,is stunning !! the one we all hope to find , Well spotted ,great find !! Regards Allan.W.

[Rivoldini]

Thanks Allan, I have not come down to earth yet.
Ron

[P.J.Underwood]

I am sure I did not imagine it! Today at 2.30pm approx.I was at the southern end of Hankley common,near Kettlebury hill. I was talking to some other people and their dog disturbed a Swallowtail from the heather.Down in this bowl it is always very hot,being sandy heathland.We watched it for about two mins and then it flew off.I asked myself what was it doing there.Everything was wrong.However,not far away,we have fishponds and wetlands from tributaries of the River Wey.We also have butterfly breeders around.
Please tell me I wasn't dreaming!
P.J.U.

[bugboy]

I think it's perfectly feasible for a gorganus to have drifted over from the continent given the current warm spell that's also originating from that part of the world. They're not particularly fussy about habitat like our own subspecies.

[P.J.Underwood]

As a clue-it seemed slightly darker than the Norfolk ones.Hankley Common is actively used by the army for training,and often on returning from overseas they,with their vehicles, are often seen playing their war games.They don't use live ammunition however.
P.J.U.