www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I like MrSp0ck's theory of the high temperatures, summer 2018 is certainly hot.
The handsome chap was about again today and being a bit overcast, obliged and sat still allowing a clearer photograph.

Wow! That's quite an ab...

On a different note entirely, today (18th July) Bugboy and I set out to count second brood Wood Whites along the track from the Oaken Wood entrance to the Chiddingfold complex to the one at Botany Bay. Their leisurely habits make them an ideal species to tally pretty accurately in this way, and the amazing total was 122 butterflies. The weather was mostly cloudy, but warm and bright, and it was notable that when the brightness increased even a little, more butterflies appeared. Consequently we reckon the total would have been at least 30% higher with more sunshine. Reports will follow in diaries at some point.

Dave

Hutchinsons Bank is a warm site, as anyone who has been on a very warm day will know, so might be why we seem to get the ab more often.

We should try and get all the info on this Gatekeeper ab.

its been seen 3 times at Hutchinsons Bank, Croydon and is 2 male to 1 female in sex breakdown.

the 2018 Wolfson sighting is also a male.

so its so far a 3:1 ratio, so it looks like its much rarer in the female, which was the first record 1993 from the data we have.

The Grizzled Skipper taras ab seems to be common also this spring, it certainly was at Hutchinsons Bank.

There might be a few second broods of things that dont normally do so this year also.

Late morning jaunt to Kilvey Hill in Swansea saw the following:

Hedge Brown 30-50
Speckled Wood 20-30
Common Blue 10-20
Green Veined White 5-10
Meadow Brown 5-10
Ringlet 5-10
Small Skipper 5-10
Small Copper 4
Large White 2
Wall Brown 2
Grayling 2
Brimstone 2
Painted Lady 1
Red Admiral 1
Small White 1

That is one stunning AB; Wolfson ,great find the collectors of yore would have had the cheuque books out for that one !!
So glad we,ve got the digital camera . ! Again Great find.!
Regards Allan.W.

Lovely Gatekeeper, Wolfson.

It looks like I have a Common Blue colony in my garden, having seen 3 different specimens (2 males & 1 female) in the last two evenings. I planted some Bird's-foot Trefoil in the spring which must have helped .

Anyway, while finding loads of Purple Hairstreaks low down on my local patch, I saw a hairy caterpillar walking across a track but I am not sure what it is. Does anyone have any ideas?

ATB

Peter

Possibly Ruby Tiger (happy to be corrected. ) Regards Allan.W.

At Dungeness this afternoon there were large numbers of Common Blue on the wing we probably saw between 40-50 ,most very fresh ,on the Copper front ,still loads about but the majority are pretty worn,but probably still 50+ on the wing ,found a male still on his territory ,
and going into his third week. Just the one Marbled White ,still good numbers of Gatekeeper ,Meadow Brown ,a few Small Skips ,whites ,Small Heath
A single Small Tortoiseshell ,2-3 Peacock,but the best of the day were two fresh Painted Ladies ,and a Clouded Yellow !
Regards Allan.W.

Sorry ,the Brown Arg ,pic should have looked like this ! Regards Allan.W.

Early trip out this morning ,for a couple of hours at Temple Ewell reserve ,near Dover ,I was on site at 6.40 am .and butterflies were already about in numbers ,posing on the grass stems in the rising sun ,The Browns were also up early ,and fewer now of Marbles ,getting up onto the downland proper ,hoping for an early (ish) Silver -Spotted Skipper,but I wasn,t prepared for the numbers of Chalkhills on the wing...…. hundreds
in 40 odd years of Butterfly watching,i,ve never seen such numbers,as I dawdled about 20-30 got up at each step , it was very difficult in places
not to step on them ! A fantastic sight (and site !) it will live long in my memory ,amongst the numbers I found 5 pairs ,and witnessed up to 6 males
all trying to couple with an emerging female ,with wings still curled . I found a fresh male with a couple of red spots on his hindwings ,which I don,t recall seeing before .
On the SSS front no luck I,m afraid ,apart from one possible flybye , and no cloudies…………. Think I,ll go back next weekend !
Regards Allan.W.

Good general numbers of butterflies seen at Castle Meadows, Abergavenny, on Saturday 21st July:

Small White 50-70
Hedge Brown 20-30
Common Blue 20-30
Meadow Brown 10-20
Peacock 10-20
Green Veined White 5-10
Red Admiral 5-10
Ringlet 5-10
Comma 5-10
Small Skipper 5-10
Essex Skipper 5-10
Small Copper 4
Large White 3
Painted Lady 2
Holly Blue 1

While walking one of my Knebworth transects today I spotted a slightly pale Small Skipper which is probably an aberration.

ATB

Peter

I went to Denbies this evening for some roosting blues, of which there were many - including an early second brood male Adonis.

Best wishes,

Lee

Just under three hours spent at West Williamston in Pembrokeshire this morning. Lots of butterflies about in glorious sunshine and 23c temperatures:

Hedge Brown 100-150
Common Blue 40-60
Small White 30-50
Meadow Brown 20-30
Silver Washed Fritillary 20-25
Comma 10-15
Small Copper 10-15
Large White 10-15
Small Tortoiseshell 5
Peacock 5
Red Admiral 2
Green Veined White 2
Speckled Wood 2
Small Skipper 1

Two second brood Dingies seen today. The first was at Laverstock Down at about 8:50, the second was at Shipton Bellinger at about 2:30ish.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Whites north Scotland

Large White is not common in this part of Scotland (Nairn and adjacent Moray coast) and some years doesn’t even put in an appearance. I suspect – but have no definite evidence – that it is merely an “immigrant” and temporary resident. 2018 seems to be a good year for Large Whites. Today, 27th July, I found several caterpillars on Nasturtium in Findhorn and collected seven (I thought I had taken six but one was hiding). I would normally expect most if not all to be parasitized. Now have the ichneumon parasites followed the butterflies north? It would not surprise me if they haven’t and my seven caterpillars might be “clean”. Time will tell.

Small White, although never as scarce as Large White, is also having a good year. As I type this, out my window this I can see one or two on the Bowles Mauve.

The really abundant “white” here is Green-veined. They are in huge numbers. I have a few GVW eggs/caterpillars and the problem is to find enough foodplant (eggs laid on Dames Violet). I have offered Nasturtium but they don’t seem enthusiastic. Wild foodplants such as Hedge Garlic are totally desiccated. I would anticipate that 2019 will be a poor year as this year’s summer offspring runs out of food.

Jack

Two second brood Dingies at Laverstock today.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Back on the 21/7/18, i took a chance and visited Queensdown Warren, in the hope of some early signs of Silver Spotted Skipper.
Despite a thorough search at this site, i couldnt locate one!
I guess it was a little early in the season...so i might return there today, to see if they are on the wing/active?

I did sight a fresh female Chalk Hill Blue though, so it wasnt all bad.

Location - Queensdown Warren, Kent.

Cheers Paul.

Back on the 30th. June , I recorded my first Chalkhill Blue of the year on a site near Biggin Hill airport in Kent .
Very slowly to begin with , numbers gradually increased , until last Thursday when I recorded 234 including the first female
who had already been paired and several other males trying to get in on the act .
Last evening , like many areas in the SE , we had two violent thunderstorms with torrential rain .
Late morning I returned to the site to see what effect the storms had had on the Chalkhill Blues .
The weather was warm and sunny , but with strong gusting winds , not unusual for this site .
From the car to the end of the site I counted 133 , and retracing my steps , counted 128 on the way back to the car .
That shows a near 50% reduction . I intend to give it a couple of days and visit the site again .

A return trip to Queensdown Warren, Gillingham, Kent, yesterday afternoon was successful, for Silver Spotted Skipper.
Despite the very strong winds, im guessing to have sighted 10+ of the little jewels.
It was certainly hard going in the wind, as soon as you saw one, it took flight...but was carried further away than normal, in the wild wind!!

I also sighted a 2nd brood male Adonis Blue...but this butterfly was much smaller than the normal size.

Plenty of the other usual species seen too, but as i say, the wind was a factor!

As a note...I seem to be seeing good numbers of females - Chalk hills, Common Blues.

Some photos, cheers Paul.
I managed to coax this one on my finger tip (briefly!)
Last image is of that very small male Adonis Blue, i dont recall ever seeing one this size!