www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Neil,

Super shots of the Brimstone eggs, especially the second image

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

Thanks Mark

Just been looking at your diary, lovely Holly Blue photos.

Cheers,

Neil.

Saturday 4th May

The local weather forecast was bang on today with a cloudy morning and some hefty showers giving over to some decent sunny spells this afternoon
I have been feeling pretty lousy the past few days, hayfever I think. It’s bl**dy ironic, all winter I have been sound as a pound but as soon as the weather bucks up I am all aches and bunged up head. Even so I was determined to drag myself out to have a look around my local spots.

I first went round to Castle Hills by Solihull where I had photographed my first Orange Tips last year on April 13th. Walking along one of the footpaths across this site, it was not long before I saw a couple of Peacocks, pretty tatty looking they were as well. These were soon followed by a couple of Commas and then an Orange Tip heading towards me along the hedgerow.
This was then followed by a Green-veined White and in the following hour or so I saw a few more Orange Tips and GV Whites. As is the usual case with these they were patrolling almost ceaselessly along the hedges and settling only briefly.
The usual trick of watching one until a cloud came over, marking where it settled and the waiting for the cloud to move to get a photo did not work today due to not having a butterfly in sight at the right time.
Nevertheless, I managed some photos, not my best but fairly happy with them as record shots of the first OTs and GVWs I have photographed this year .
I then continued on to one of the footpaths I had checked out last week by Catherine-de-Barnes and saw another few Peacocks and Commas plus a couple of Holly Blues.
No Orange Tips or Whites at this site and another day without seeing a Speckled Wood
By this time my constant sniffling and sneezing was wearing me out so I headed home to rest up a bit, need to conserve some walking power for the Bank Holiday.

Bye for now,

It's crazy how you haven't yet got Speckled Woods, Neil, particularly given that Orange Tips are now emerging.

I'm sure if you find a sheltered, woody path you'll see them, particularly this coming Monday, when conditions are forecast to be ideal.

Hi David, I am hoping for some Specklies soon.

I have had them in my garden every year since I have lived in this house, some 18 years now. They are usually out by late March or early April, last year first one was was March 25th.
Having said that we did have some snow lying on the garden unusually late this year, we have had colder winters and deeper snow in recent years but not had it lying so long and so late as it did this year.

Cheers,

Neil.

Sunday 5th May

A quiet day at home today. The weather was fairly good, warm with early cloud clearing through the day and some nice sun during this afternoon. If I wasn't still feeling so bunged up and lethargic I would have gone out somewhere but instead contented myself with watching what came through the garden.

This afternoon there was a steady procession of Whites passing through, mostly Green-veined but with a couple of Small and one Large mixed in plus a few Holly Blues. None of these stuck around long and the few that settled did so only briefly before carrying on their way.

I also had my first Orange Tips in the garden this year, one of which happened to settle on some Forget-me-not just as a small cloud covered the sun so I grabbed my camera and took a few photos. As usual, when the sun came out again he obligingly opened his wings for a few seconds before taking off again.
I am hoping to get out somewhere tomorrow, weather is looking good just need to decide where to go.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Always looks particularly attractive when a male Orange Tip is shown feeding on a blue flower.

Well done, Neil. Hope you manage to shake off your woes and get out and about tomorrow.

Thanks David, I am sure that I will manage to get out somewhere tomorrow, the forecast looks too good to miss

Neil.

If staying in ill meant getting those shots then your suffering is more than worth it! Good luck tomorrow hope you get onto to something good!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, glad you think my suffering is worth it

Monday 6th May

I had decided last night that no matter how I felt this morning I was going to go somewhere so I was happy to wake up feeling much less bunged up and achy

My Son Chris was working today and not wanting to leave my wife Jane at home on her own on such a lovely day, I decided to do a bit of a circuit around some sites in South Warwickshire. Since having her stroke a couple of year backs, Jane still has limited use of her right arm and leg and can only walk short distances with a stick or frame. I therefore planned a route around some places that I knew she could manage, taking a couple of collapsible garden chairs so that we could sit down when need be.

First stop was Snitterfield Bushes near Stratford-upon-Avon. Arriving here mid-morning we had a walk through the woods seeing a number of whites, Brimstones, Orange Tips and Peacocks.
Later this month there should be a good display of Bluebells here but they are currently mostly in bud with just a few starting to open up. There were however some lovely expanses of Primroses under the trees, some of them mingling with Violets in a beautiful combination of colour.
Most of the butterflies seen were very mobile in the warm sun and I did not bother trying to get any photos, apart from the Peacocks, which would do the usual thing of take off, fly round a bit and come back to a favourite perch. Peacocks have certainly been about in good numbers all over the midlands this year so for that alone I am posting another picture of one
I had seen that Grizzled Skippers had been reported from here over the past couple of days but despite carefull checking of known spots we drew a blank so decided to carry on to the next stop.

Second stop was a short way down the M40 to Bishops Hill at Bishops Itchington.

Arriving here we walked into the site and met a couple who told us that they had been there a while and not seen any Grizzled or Dingy Skippers, just Peacocks Brimstones and Orange Tips. We carried on into the site and whilst Jane sat on a convenient bench reading her Kindle, I wandered up the hill.
I did not find any Skippers but I did see my first Silver-Y Moth of the year and the hillside was covered with an impressive carpet of Cowslips
I wandered back down the hill and was only about 10 feet away from Jane when a little greyish blurr cought my eye. It was a Grizzled Skipper , a male that stuck around and posed on various bits of vegetation for 10 minutes or so before I lost sight of him.
I also had an interesting conversation with a chap who was photographing some bees that have the fascinating habit of carrying off bits of grass and twig through the air. Apparently he is a member of Buglife and is in the process of writing a book on British Bees.
He has given me his business card so will I check out his site, could be one of interest to Wurzel.

Edit; It was Red-tailed Mason Bees he was photographing. I have just checked out his flickr page, looks like there is a bit there to look through.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/

After leaving here, instead of going back up the M40, I decided to go cross country towards Warwick. This would take me past Harbury, another site where Grizzled Skippers have just emerged.
Pulling over by the site at Harbury Jane decided to stay in the car reading her kindle while I had a quick look around the site. A quick circuit of 30 minutes or so came up with 2 Grizzled Skippers, one of them a female I believe by the shape of the abdomen and the fact that she was lurking around lower down in the vegetation.
By now it was getting on a bit and Jane was getting tired so we headed back home.

All in all a very enjoyable day with loads of Butterflies seen everywhere, mostly Whites, Brimstones and Orange Tips that wouldn't settle, Peacocks that would, a fair number of Holly Blues that didn't and my first Grizzled Skippers of the year
It was also one of those days when the most enjoyment was from just looking and taking in the day, in fact I only took 30 odd photos all day. Heres hoping for a few more like this.

Bye for now,

Neil.

So glad you had a productive day, Neil.

Beautiful days in early May are arguably the most precious of all, given their relative rarity combined with the extent of plant/animal life potentially on display.

Thanks David, it was certainly a good day, one that felt like a proper Spring day at last

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers for the link Neil - I had a look and it was great, I think Chris C might also be interested as he seems to have a range of Arachnids on there.
Glad to see you got your Grizzled Skippers

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:Cheers for the link Neil - I had a look and it was great, I think Chris C might also be interested as he seems to have a range of Arachnids on there.
Glad to see you got your Grizzled Skippers

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Mr Falk has been on my contact list for almost a year and the bee book isn't imminent so you have a while to save your pennies but if it's anything like his hoverfly book it'll be worth waiting for.

Chris

Tuesday 7th May - The Specklies are back and all is well in the garden

The Speckled Woods have finally shown up in the garden

Returning from work this afternoon and going out into the back garden, the first thing that struck me was the amount of Orange Tips fluttering through, a couple or three at a time and on one occasion I could see four different males at once.
I soon ignored these though as I spotted a brown shape flitting about, a male Speckled Wood that was trying to chase off anything that came near his spot. I grabbed the camera but he was far too full of energy to sit still and I only managed a couple of distant record shots.
About 10 minutes later however I spotted what I at first thought was the same individual but this one settled for longer and a closer look proved it to be a female.
Thats two different Specklies within 10 minutes, just 37 days later than my first in the garden last year.
In fact I think I gave them a bit of a talking to like you do with your kids when they are 'at that age' and late home...'Where do you think you have been 'til now then? I've been worried sick' ....hmm, thats probably sounding a bit strange

Around 6.00pm it clouded over a bit and I spotted a female Orange Tip settle on a plum tree, looking like she was going to settle for the night. The sun popped back out however just enough for her to change her mind and go looking for another spot.
Well, I'm a happy chappy now the Speckled Woods are out at last, the garden just wasn't the same without them

Bye for now,

Neil.

Nice to see the boys are back in...er...your garden

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, I like the song reference, I saw them(Thin Lizzy) a few times back in the day, an excellent band to see live.

Edit; for the memories http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxioAqOz_hk

Friday 10th May

A wet and windy morning gave over this afternoon to a better afternoon with some sunny spells occasionally breaking through the grey cloud cover.
I had a few errands to run but managed to nip out into the garden a few times in between and catch some of the brighter spells.

Orange Tips certainly seem to be doing well after a late start and a number of times this afternoon I could see 3 or 4 males at once flitting about between mine and my neighbour’s gardens.
The cooler weather made them a bit less flighty and they settled regularly which gave me some good photo opportunities.
There were also a fair number of whites passing through and I managed to photograph all three common whites this afternoon albeit the shot of the Large White is not that good. This is something that I only managed to do on the same day once last year.
The Speckled Woods were out again this afternoon with 2 different males laying claim to each end of the garden.
One of them is a little damaged and finding him a bit later settled on one of my bird feeders I am thinking he lives life dangerously.
At one point a male Orange Tip settled on top of a dandelion stem and stayed there whilst a big grey cloud came over. I took the opportunity to pick the stem and held it while my son Chris took some photos. We then swapped over so that I could take a couple of shots myself.
Afterward I couldn’t resist placing him onto a cowslip growing in my lawn, just in time for the sun to pop back out again.
This is actually the first time that I have ever done this, I normally believe in taking photos of butterflies with minimal interference and personally feel that once you start ‘posing’ your shots then the natural element is lost. I know that people have differing views on this and I cannot deny that I like the result, it is just something that I do not feel entirely comfortable with.

Bye for now,

Neil

Lovely photos Neil, especially the male Orange-tips, such a delightful butterfly. At lunchtime today i watched a female Orange-tip lay six eggs, in under five minutes, all on Garlic Mustard, wonderful.

All the best, Nick.

Your Orange Tip pics are great Neil - I am green with envy. If you had seen me chasing one today (unsuccessfully) you would have laughed.

Cheers

P.

Lush photos Neil! You're really making me miss my garden

Have a goodun

Wurzel