Butterflysaurus rex

[millerd]

Excellent LTB shots, James, and I join the others in explosions of Fingers crossed there will be some more...

Dave

[Butterflysaurus rex]

A fabulous find , a fabulous series of shots and it couldn't have happened to a nicer gent . My only problem is that I could be here for the next hour adding 'Mr Greens' to the post to fully express my envy

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel, I've no doubt, if you lived down this way on the south coast you would definitely be in amongst the Long-tailed Blues. This first wave of migrants was probably more difficult to see, I didn't see any in 2013.
Anyway a Mr Green form you is always a very big compliment . There's no doubt about it, I have been extremely lucky. As you know there are no guarantees, even if you put a lot of hours into it.

I second Wurzel I only wish I didn't live so far a way then I could be in on the search Goldie

Hello Goldie, living on 'or near' the south coast does have it's perks . Travelling long distances to see certain butterflies is a sad necessity these days. All we need is limitless time and lots of money, if you know how to acquire these please write your answer on a postcard and send it to Butterflysaurus rex...............

Hi James, living in the midlands and having used up all my spare holiday from work for this year now it is unlikely that I will get to see this species any time soon, even if there is a large influx/emergence. I am however glad that people like yourself get to see them and post such great reports with fantastic accompanying photos

Keep it up,

Neil.

Thanks Neil, your diary has been so spectacular this year I would say that your spare holiday has been very well spent! My year has been so up and down that I've been living through your diary vicariously. I'm willing to bet that I've not been the only one either. So if you're getting the same kind of enjoyment out of my diary it's very nice to be able to pay you something back.

Excellent LTB shots, James, and I join the others in explosions of Fingers crossed there will be some more...

Dave

Hi Dave, I'm keeping everything crossed too. I can't get enough of these little beauties. while the 'Pea growers of the world' stand united against the Pea Blue, I say please come over here, you are most welcome. In fact bring all your friends, the more the merrier.

Thank you all for your very generous comments.

Best wishes

James

[bugboy]

LTB mating in Britain X2 I think all the previous comments cover everything I might have to say . Just hope the weather improves in time for the british bred offspring!

[Butterflysaurus rex]

LTB mating in Britain X2 I think all the previous comments cover everything I might have to say . Just hope the weather improves in time for the british bred offspring!

Hi Buggy, well if good luck comes in threes I'm due another mating pair quite soon . Seriously though no one was more surprised than me. I don't know what it is about me, but when I'm around the Long-tailed blues just seem to want to get it on! Maybe I've been eating too many peas.

All the best

James

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Unusual Adonis day.

Even though I had already begun my search for 'immigrant's of the pea loving variety' I simply couldn't resist a day looking for some Adonis Blues with Badgerbob. Bob was already at our local Adonis hotspot and he'd already found a mating pair! This is a good start I thought! We'd not been there for long when Bob saw something unusual. Sure enough on closer inspection it was an ab obsoletaTutt, I was delighted because it was my first ever sighting of an aberrant Adonis Blue. Thanks Bob

Adonis Male, ab obsoletaTutt

We both chased this butterfly around trying to get some decent photos, Bob did better than me photographing this individual as you can see on his Blog here. http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.co.uk/s ... -results=7

Despite our best efforts we lost him as he did the old 'vanishing trick' that butterflies are so adept at.

After that bit of excitement we had no choice but to resume our search for Adonis Blues of the more 'usual' kind. By now the weather was hot and humid and the butterflies were very active making photography difficult. Undeterred we widened our search to the lower slopes where we both spotted what appeared to be our aberrant friend once again. However we soon realised that this one was different, it appeared darker on the underside making it particularly visible in flight. To our surprise we'd found a second even more unusual ab!

Adonis Male, ab Krodeli Gillmer

Adonis Male, ab Krodeli Gillmer

This time 'with Bob's help' I managed to get some better photos. Thankfully this individual was more accommodating allowing us more time to photograph it.

It was a brilliant day in great company.

Many thanks to Colin Pratt and Rupert Barrington for the correct ID's.

ATB

James

Thanks for looking.

[David M]

Beautiful insect and a great find!

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Beautiful insect and a great find!

Thanks David, it was a real treat seeing those I can tell you, like having a double ice cream cone with two flakes!

ATB

James

[Wurzel]

Great finds Rex I've never found any aberrant Adonis despite looking

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Great finds Rex I've never found any aberrant Adonis despite looking

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, it will happen one day, I'd never seen one before that day, but to see two in one day was a bit special.

Many thanks Mr Hulme.

Yesterday I was lucky enough to be in the right area at the right time. Thanks to Neil I finally got my chance to photograph a newly emerged female Long-tailed Blue! Thankfully some other friends arrived to join in the fun. Another great day in great company.

All the best

James

[Neil Freeman]

Hi James, nice Adonis ab. and great photos of it.

Great photos of the LTB too

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Hi! James, I'm jealous of you lot down there your having all the fun with these unusual Butterflies, and lovely photos as well Goldie

[David M]

Stunning specimen! Hopefully there'll be quite a few more before the end of the month. It's at times like this that I wish I didn't reside so far west!

[trevor]

HI James,
Good to see you yesterday, and the others present. I have met all of them at different times but never
all in one place. I think i can say a super day was had by all. It was one of my best experiences of
the year. As for Mr.H. he is certainly right at the top of his game.
Lovely open wing shot too.

All the best.

Trevor

[bugboy]

It would seem this LTB was a very popular lady yesterday

[Maximus]

Great stuff and great photos, James, lovely LTB's

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Hi James, nice Adonis ab. and great photos of it.

Great photos of the LTB too

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Neil, I've been a bit spoiled with my sightings recently, it's been great to end my season by seeing a few unusual butterflies. Anything that makes the winter feel shorter is fine by me.

Hi! James, I'm jealous of you lot down there your having all the fun with these unusual Butterflies, and lovely photos as well Goldie

Hello Goldie, it certainly is a fun way to end the season. Needles and haystacks spring to mind when looking for LTB's.

Stunning specimen! Hopefully there'll be quite a few more before the end of the month. It's at times like this that I wish I didn't reside so far west!

Thank you David, She was a stunning sight, I certainly would like to see another one before it's all over. You do live in a lovely part of the world though David, that must be more than a small consolation.

HI James,
Good to see you yesterday, and the others present. I have met all of them at different times but never
all in one place. I think i can say a super day was had by all. It was one of my best experiences of
the year. As for Mr.H. he is certainly right at the top of his game.
Lovely open wing shot too.

All the best.

Trevor

Thanks Trevor, it was a great day wasn't it. With all of the effort, time and research Neil puts into his butterflies I'm sure you'll agree that he really deserves what he finds out in the field.

It would seem this LTB was a very popular lady yesterday

Well when you look that good you're bound to grab all the attention. I don't think the others would disagree if I said that we could have watched her all day, inevitably she got fed up with us and gave us the slip. It was great while it lasted though.

Great stuff and great photos, James, lovely LTB's

Very kind of you Mike I don't doubt that if you saw an LTB the resulting photos would be terrific. Your diary has been jam packed with fantastic photos this year, you must be very pleased with your achievement, I certainly would be.

My best wishes to you all.

James

[Wurzel]

Nuff said

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Nuff said

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I've collected so many mr greens from you Wurzel if I cash them all in do I get a prize? I need a nice new pair of binoculars "hint hint".

ATB

James

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Belting Blues at Beeding!

Since Neil Hulme's discovery of a Female Long-tailed Blue at Beeding on Friday the cool weather "thankfully" kept her sitting tight. This has been great news for me and lots of other UK LTB hunters because quite a few of us have now had the chance to see and photograph this beautiful 'and pristine' female. Despite the heavy rain on Saturday (at least where I was) I decided to chance my luck and head over to Beeding anyway. It turned out to be a very good decision (thanks Mark Colvin ) as I approached Shoreham the rain had stopped and it started to brighten up a little. I arrived to see a group of friends busy taking photos (always a good sign) and 'I suppose' thanks to the poor weather there were only six of us there! It gave all of us plenty of time to take some photos without the pressure of a large crowd.

Saturday 24th of October.

Sunday 25th of October.

Having left the Female at roost Bob and I decided to travel to Beeding the next morning. It was already quite busy by the time we arrived - it would soon get a lot busier! The promised sunshine was slow to appear making the female LTB reluctant to fully open her wings. This was the best shot I could manage but I was delighted to get a glimpse of the topside, this females wings were even more blue than the last UK born Female I saw.

Soon after these were taken it had warmed up enough for her to take flight, after spending a few more moments in the grass she ascended up into the bushes where we lost sight of her.
After this Bob and I decided to call it a day, this proved to be a poor decision. We were half the way home when my phone rang, it was my friend Gary telling me that "long distance enthusiast" Mark had spotted a pristine Male! So we rushed back just in time to see - and photograph it before it too flew out of our reach.

Thanks to this last photograph I am over the moon, I have now seen and photographed the full set of adult migrant and UK born Long-tailed Blues!

Since the first LTB invasion in 2013 - until now I have managed to see and photograph:

UK born mating LTB's 2013

Migrant mating LTB's 2015

I've also seen a large colony of LTB's in excess of 20 butterflies.
And finally thanks to the help of some friends I've photographed 2 newly emerged females and finally a fresh male! Thankfully I've managed to share all but one sighting with some friends making this all the more fantastic.
Thanks to a combination of good luck, hard work, and good friends I've achieved more than I ever thought possible with this species. I really must give special thanks to Neil Hulme and Bob Eade for their help enthusiasm and encouragement.

Thanks for looking

James

[trevor]