www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Judging by the background vegetation that is a real minimum butterfly The Elderberry wine sounds delectable Ernie

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks for your feedback, ernie, and yes, it does look parched by you, so hopefully you'll catch a bit of the heavy rain forecast so that the colour green can belatedly return to your landscape.

I'll keep my eyes out for further Brown Hairstreak news.

Wurzel - There are a lot of mini Common Blues around but this was one of the smallest I have ever seen.

Dave - Yep - got that rain at last - its been coming down most of the day but no big thunderstorms. Don't have to water the garden for a few days now.

So, much needed rain today here in Hampshire but of course it limits going out butterflying. Instead I decided to tidy up my pictures and delete a few as I was running the risk of busting my back-up hard-drive limit!

I got to the folder containing my Dark Green Fritillary pics and found two from a few years ago that I had labelled as aged butterflies as they were a bit faded out. But I got to wondering, could they instead be of an ab - perhaps "pallida"?

Here are the pics...
Does anyone have a view? Are they of an ab or is it just fading due to old age? Thanks in advance.

Interesting shots Ernie It's a tricky one as they do fade with age but the margins are only very slightly worn, there's a good covering of hair on the thorax and abdomen and no noticeable tears or damage to the wings which you see with aged and tired DGFs. I'd be inclined to go for an ab with this one but then others might not agree. It would get my vote

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Playing catch-up again Ernie - and I noticed your mini Common Blue. I have seen several really tiny butterflies this year and was wondering if it has to do with the extreme hot weather or if they happen anyway.

Is there such a thing as semi-pallida?

They DO have a symmetrically washed-out look, but whether that qualifies them as an ab I'm not sure.

Hi! ernie, I was at Southport yesterday and was surprised at the size of some of the Common Blues they were so tiny Goldie

Wurzel, David - Re the DGF. I have looked on this website's abs and on the specialised website for UK aberrant butterflies and I admit to being no wiser. It looks a bit like the photos shown but mine does not appear to have a green wing edge.

Janet, Goldie - Re Small Butterflies. I guess it must be the long spell of heat that has caused it. Just when I think I have seen the smallest Common Blue I have ever seen, a few days later I see one even smaller! Just how small can they get I wonder?

I have been waiting in for a delivery today and by coincidence it rained most of the day so I wouldn't have had a great time butterflying anyway.

Instead I continued my trawl of old pics. Today I thought that I would collate some I took before I got into butterflies. I came across this one from a photo I took over 10 years ago with an analogue optical camera. I had to scan it in.

Do you recognise it?
Yes, correct - it's a Mourning Cloak. I saw it while I was in America.

I have never seen a Camberwell Beauty in the UK and its unlikely I ever will, so this is the only pic I am ever likely to get of this species.

That's much better than my shot Ernie

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks, Wurzel. Of course at the time I didn't know for sure what I was taking a picture of. I knew about some of the UK butterflies of course and had heard of the Camberwell Beauty but you don't expect to see the same species in a country so far away (even if it was on the east coast of the USA).

In a similar vein - I have also never seen the British race of the European Swallowtail. But during my last visit to America in 2006 I got these pics...
These are of the Eastern Tiger Swallowtail. Not precisely the same species as ours but not far off by the look of it.

That is a very similar looking butterfly to 'our' Swallowtail Ernie I haven't got one of those to match

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Noar Hill - 11th Aug 2018

If I thought the end of the Brown Hairstreak season had finished early at Noar Hill I could not have been more wrong. I visited again today and found an absolutely fine, fresh female (only my second here this year). She landed on the hedgerow beside the last entrance gate to the reserve. Blackthorn is one feature of this hedgerow and although she was not actually egg-laying in any of the pics I took of her, nevertheless she must have been thinking about it.
This brings my total at Noar Hill this year to 17; increasing my personal annual record for this species.

Also one of the many Speckled Woods allowed me to get within a couple of cm of its face with a camera.
Also seen – Red Ad, L&S&GV White, MB&G, Small Heath, Common Blues still in abundance after the rain of the last two days and four Holly Blue (3m+1f). Plus Mint Moth and a Carpet Moth of some kind. No pics.

Non-butterfly Snapshot of the day

The Hazelnuts are just starting to ripen at Noar Hill now.

That's great news Ernie and great shots too I was wondering when the ladies were going to make a showing

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! ernie, I've yet to see the Brown Hair Streak although I've seen their eggs, does that count Goldie

Wow Ernie - those Brown Hairstreak pics are stunning!

Thanks, Janet, Goldie and Wurzel.

I am having a bit of difficulty with my camera after dropping it. It seems to want to focus off-centre so now I have to compensate by moving my camera off target, focussing and then moving back on target. Its annoying, but it was the way I got these latest brostreak shots.

Another day not butterflying. Persistent showers and drizzle for the most part. So here is a past pic of another American butterfly that can sometimes be found in the UK. Yet again I took this in the USA.

Monarchs, Camberwells and Swallowtails! You sure know how to make the most of a drizzly day, ernie!

Good to see fresh looking Brown Hairstreaks in action. If only the weather would clear up in south Wales I'd go and track some down myself.