www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Dave,

Good to see you are managing to see some butterflies This last weekend was a washout around here and it seems that the few sunny spells have been when I am at work.

I remember those wildflower beds in Birmingham being on the T.V. a while back, good to see they are still there.

Cheers,

Neil F.

It's certainly hard work finding butterflies at the moment so great news about your latest haul

Have a goodun

Wurzel

20th September

The sun shone today and at last it became quite warm. I found myself able to go out of the office for an hour and used the time to have a walk in Bedfont Lakes Country Park. On the first bit of wild ground I came across, I spotted a flash of orange, and soon tracked down a Small Heath, and then a second. There was a third very drab-looking butterfly with them, which turned out to be the most worn Small Copper I think I've ever seen. I wandered on a bit, and several whites appeared, none of which were close enough to identify for certain. A Meadow Brown erupted from the path and flew up into a tree, and then I glimpsed a flash of blue amongst the predominantly yellow flowers. This proved to be a very fresh-appearing male Common Blue. Whether this is a late emerging second brood individual or one from a new third brood, I couldn't say. I also found a very worn member of the same species, with barely a blue scale left. After a bit more walking, I turned around and headed back to the office. I encountered another two Meadow Browns and one more Small Heath away from where I'd seen the others earlier, and managed to spot a nectaring Green-veined White without disturbing it first. After such a spell without seeing anything much, it was good to find five, probably six or seven, different species still flying (in some cases, only just!). However, it was disappointing not to see a single Red Admiral on the masses of flowering ivy present, nor any Commas either.

Dave

21st September

An afternoon walk across Denbies hillside today didn't produce many butterflies. It was warm but almost entirely overcast, which probably didn't help. There were maybe a dozen Meadow Browns, a male Chalkhill Blue and a couple of female blues.The one below I would say is a Common Blue - the other I think was an Adonis. I think if the sun had come out a bit more, I might have seen one or two others.
I watched one Meadow Brown meet its end in a spider's web - the spider was a very attractive yellow, fairly large and parcelled up the butterfly in no time... Dave

A grisly shot to end the post with Dave but the Meadow Brown looks pretty faded and on it's last legs anyway I suppose I was watching a tattered old white this afternoon that just just dropped from a flower if was feeding on,it literally fell of its perch I suppose it's getting to that time of year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

22nd September

More overcast until the sun came out half an hour before sunset... Nevertheless, it was warm again, and certainly enough so for a solitary new Red Admiral to be enjoying the second flush of flowers on a buddleia round the corner from me. Though there have been far fewer of this species around here this year (in common with most places I think), I have rarely been without at least one. There were one or two whites about too during the day.

Dave

Wurzel wrote:A grisly shot to end the post with Dave but the Meadow Brown looks pretty faded and on it's last legs anyway I suppose I was watching a tattered old white this afternoon that just just dropped from a flower if was feeding on,it literally fell of its perch I suppose it's getting to that time of year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

It did rather flop into the web, and made very little attempt to break free. Your comment about the white above reminded me of the photo I posted earlier of the individual in the middle of Birmingham - it could barely fly and lacked at least a couple of legs... I suppose we don't notice these things when lots of fresh new butterflies are there to replace them.

Dave

millerd wrote:
.... Though there have been far fewer of this species around here this year (in common with most places I think), I have rarely been without at least one...

Hi Dave,

I have only seen a handful of Red Admirals this year, no more than maybe a dozen in total. So different to last year when must have seen hundreds.

Cheers,

Neil F.

24th September

Nothing ventured...

Though it was five o'clock, the sun still shone after I finished work, so I decided a walk round part of my local patch couldn't hurt. I hoped there might be the odd Speckled Wood or Red Admiral, but the shadows were right down over the ivy, the buddleia and the pathside verges and shrubs, and aside from two or three whites still flying at high level, I saw nothing.

Nothing, that is, until I walked randomly across the middle of the last piece of meadow just before getting back home. This at least was fully lit by the lowering sun. Suddenly, right in front of me near the ground I saw a Clouded Yellow. Too late, I let my shadow fall on it, but amazingly, it flew only a little way before settling again. It proved to be a brand spanking new male, which I was then able to admire from both sides at close range: absolutely beautiful in the strong golden light which enhanced its colour noticeably. On 4th August I saw my first Clouded Yellow of the year not far from this spot - a female which I suspected was laying eggs (though I couldn't find any in a brief search afterwards). Could this pristine male butterfly be the offspring of that female? The timing is pretty well spot on, the location close enough to the earlier sighting, the distance from the coast far enough to make a recent immigrant not very likely. Despite sunshine elsewhere, this is the first sun here since last Friday, so the conditions were probably just right for a butterfly in waiting to emerge.

Who knows? Suffice it to say, I was pleased to see it and appreciated the luck involved in coming across it.

Dave

Great find Dave and lovely photos. Well done.

All the best, Nick.

So, the new home-grown brood has started to emerge?

Great news Dave, my area is a couple of days behind yours so this weekend I might be able to find some local ones. Lovely shots especially the backlit one:D

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great stuff Dave

My turn to be jealous, its been dull here this week when I have finished work so I have not seen anything since the weekend

Cheers,

Neil.

Lets hope this signals the start of a new emergence of CY. If so,it would be a great way to end the season.

Great pictures,too.

Thank you all for the kind remarks about the Clouded Yellow - very much appreciated. It was one of those special moments of the butterflying year that happen with no planning whatsoever.

26th September

This instead was one of those days with rather more planning and a target involved - which didn't work out quite as well as hoped. I went down to Kingsdown Leas to see the Long-tailed Blues - I certainly saw one, just the one, but came away without a photograph. The LTB bit of the venture I have posted in the specific thread for LTBs in Kent, so I'll not repeat it: viewtopic.php?t=7099&start=10000
I did see a number of other butterflies whilst ambling back and forth or gazing hopefully at the foliage.

The commonest butterfly at the site was the Adonis Blue - I saw at least five males and three females with different degrees of wear - none were new, but one male at least was in reasonable condition. It is notable how their colour darkens and intensifies with wear despite the scales becoming increasingly patchy. The females had worn fringes, but their overall impression is different from that of a Common Blue - difficult to pinpoint. I think these four are all Adonis except the last, which may be a Chalkhill. I saw only two Common Blues, one of each sex: the female was a markedly blue specimen. I came across two Chalkhill Blues as well, again one of each sex - the male was surprisingly fresh for the end of September, though far from new. There were a couple of Small Coppers - one very worn and the other much brighter, and several Speckled Woods that looked very pale to my eye. It seemed odd to see them on an open clifftop path rather than along woodland tracks and rides in semi-shade as I'm used to. One Red Admiral flew across at high speed, and at one point I followed a Wall down the path for a while as it landed, waited for me to get within twenty metres, and then flew on a bit further. I never did catch up. It was strikingly orange and fritillary-like from the distance it insisted on keeping, so may have been a third brood individual. Finally, I did count two each of Small and Green-veined Whites, but didn't see any Large Whites - or Clouded Yellows for that matter.

Not a bad day, but I confess to some disappointment after seeing how things were more exciting and productive on the LTB front earlier in the week. Oh well - you can't be lucky every day.

Dave

28th September

Up in the Rugby area today with all the boys, so with a quite warm and fairly sunny day in prospect we spent several hours at Ryton Country Park. We almost immediately came across the first of several Speckled Woods, which were meandering along the wooded paths and seeking out the generous portions of squished and fermenting blackberries on offer. One particular area with lots of bramble near the gate from the Park into Ryton Wood had attracted two or three, but more especially was playing host to perhaps as many as a dozen Commas - I had six in view at one time and was aware of others. One individual demonstrated the variability of the comma mark on the underside, displaying little more than a straight line - more like an "l" than anything. Whilst here enjoying the sight of these lovely late season butterflies, we also spotted a Small Tortoiseshell, a Peacock (heading into the woodland), a couple of Green-veined Whites and a male Brimstone. This latter butterfly settled in the yellowing autumn foliage, camouflaging itself sufficiently for a large fly to land on it apparently unaware that it wasn't a leaf. Close to here, there was also some established bushy blackthorn (and some new plantings, which didn't seem to be doing particularly well, sadly). Knowing that Brown Hairstreaks are found in the Park, I had a quick scan of the bushes for eggs, and for the first time in my life actually found one! One of the boys then pointed out that the branch had an unobtrusive marker tied to it, as did another one nearby. Lo and behold there was an egg on this one too. We picked out about a dozen markers in various places around the Park after that, and each flagged the existence of a Brown Hairstreak egg - I assume Warwickshire BC have been surveying the area.

Dave

Nice egg pictures - now you've got your eye in you'll be finding them all over the place! I've found eggs in far more places than I've seen adults.

Your aberrant comma looks like iota-album:

http://www.nhm.ac.uk/research-curation/ ... xonID=8458

One for the species-specific-album?

Guy

Great reports Dave I like the world weary blues and at least you got to see the LTB - if Climate Change progresses at predicted you might have more luck next year on the photo side of things I love the autumnal colours of the Comma and an ab too

Have a goodun

Wurzel

padfield wrote:One for the species-specific-album?

Definitely

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Dave, I nearly went to Ryton myself this afternoon but didn't really have time. Its 30 minutes or so each way and as I only had a couple of hours spare I spent them closer to home rather than spend half of the time in the car.

millerd wrote:

.... I assume Warwickshire BC have been surveying the area.

Dave

Yep, both Ryton Country Park and the adjacent Ryton Wood Meadows reserve are being monitored.

Cheers,

Neil.