www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Some lovely photos in your recent posts Trevor, especially some of those Blues

Cheers,

Neil.

I have to agree with everyone else Trevor - some brilliant shots of the blues recently! Lovely blend of detail and context, and as I haven’t spent much time doing similar this year, I feel I can almost get my fix from your reports.

Thanks Neil. Pleased you enjoyed the Blues, it's also one of the best sites I know for them.

Cheers Ben. Thanks for your complementary comment, and for your dedicated work with
the early life stages of the Purple Emperor. We are owed some good sessions with them
this season after the tricky years of 2020/21. I see you and the other experts are predicting
an earlier flight this year. Can't wait!. .

Early yesterday morning I drove over to Horseshoe Plantation for a quieter session with
the grassland species. Surprisingly the only Adonis I saw was a pristine female but she gave me the slip.
It was something of a novelty to find a brown female Common Blue. A mid life Grizzled Skipper
was one of only a few seen by me this year.

This afternoon I went for a wander around Rowland Wood. To say that the place had a June gap
feel about it would be an understatement, all I saw was a very old Dingy Skipper, and a fresh
male Large Skipper. A bonus was in the form of a Dragon Fly, a female Broad Bodied Chaser.
Obtaining a image of it was a real challenge as it proved difficult to get close enough for
a shot without sending it up.

Trevor.

Hi Trevor,

Thoroughly enjoyed yore reports of the blue fest at Tilshead. Sounds an amazing place. Cracking photographs too.

Kind Regards
Kev Ling

Thanks Kev. Tilshead is one of the best places I know of for ' Blues '.
And even better the site is flat, no scrambling up steep slopes!.

Trevor.

Cracking shot of the Chaser Trevor I reckon they're called that not because they chase after prey but because you end up chasing them around for shots Bring on the silly season indeed as I have a huge number of Brownie points accrued - the most I've ever had - so hopefully the weather plays ball this year

Have a goodun
Wurzel

Large Skippers and fresh Small Tortoiseshells!

Summer is surely here.

Cheers Wurzel. Fortunately that Chaser was wedded to that particular perch,
and kept returning to it after I spooked it a couple of times. It was a devil to get close to.

Summers on hold around here at the moment, David.

Trevor.

Good to see Large Skippers finally starting to show up, saw my first one last weekend and a second at work yesterday. It's not often I see Meadow Browns before them though!

Cheers Paul. I saw my first Large Skipper on 22nd May. No meadow Browns yet.
According UK butterflies facebook, a few high summer species are starting to appear,
including SWF and DGF.

Trevor.

When I arrived home yesterday afternoon I was delighted to see two Small Tortoiseshells,
a male and female, nectaring on the Sweet Williams in my front garden.
Last year about this time those same plants attracted a fresh ST, so this time it was great to see two.

Trevor.

Hi Trevor, we’re starting to get a few Tortoiseshells here now, too.

Fabulous set of Blues images from Wiltshire, Trevor. Excellent!

The Sweet Williams were having a similar effect in the Doctors Garden yesterday. From the the various reports and what I witnessed yesterday it looks like the ST are having an excellent season

Cheers Mark. Hope ST numbers are on the up at last, pleased you enjoyed the Wilts Blues.

Thanks Paul. I doubt my Sweet Williams will attract the same species as those in the Doctors garden!.
But Small Torts around here do give a similar thrill when they visit.

Cheers both,
Trevor.

I postponed my planned visit to Ditchling Common, for the Black Hairstreak, yesterday due to a poor forecast.
Indeed the weather played ball today, it was warm and part sunny, but the BH kept us waiting!.
Paul Stevens found the first BH of the day, but no one obtained an image as the butterfly was at an impossible
angle, laying on it's side on a tall piece of bracken at head height.
The next ' grounding ' came at 10.47, and the finder kindly shouted out, just two images were obtained
before it was off. Then came the long wait, interspersed with tantalising fly pasts, and a welcome Large Skipper.
I was responsible for the third and final find, when I spotted a fresh male BH resting on the bracken at 2.45pm.
I am pleased to say that all the hopefuls present had their patience rewarded by this specimen, which flew up
a couple of times, but always landed again in a better position, to suit all cameras and phones!. It entertained
us for a full 10mins.
It was great to meet faces old and new, including Neil Hulme, Andrew Burns, Garry Linney, Paul Stevens,
James Arnott, Colin Knight, and the two Ladies who stuck it out, Louise Kahan and Cherinee Vipa, who
could not get her camera to focus and was given help and advise by those with knowledge of those
big , heavy things with long lenses!.

A great day!
Trevor.

Here are the images from today, I couldn't load them with the text for some reason!.

Cracking set of images Trevor - I had a sneaky peek from 'Face-the-book' but these are even better Great to see the Small Torts

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a nice Hairstreak, Trevor. I failed to get any shots of them up at Whitecross Green the other day, but came good at Epsom yesterday (courtesy of Bugboy), so what would have been a is just the one

It's getting ever closer to That Time...

Cheers,

Dave

Fine images of a fine butterfly, Trevor.

Great work!

Many thanks all. We had to wait a long time for the last BH, but it was
great to meet faces old and new, and end the day with a perfect specimen.

This evening I called in at Fairmile Bottom on the way home.
Alas no Dark Green Fritillaries or Marbled Whites were seen.
The Orchids were fantastic however with many Common Spotted to savour.

It would seem that the ' silly season ' has started with reports of DGF and
a couple of White Admirals today. I can feel a few early mornings coming on!.

Trevor.