www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I am loving that female Meadow Brown from Slop Bog Wurzel . I have made a point of looking for examples like that since I started seeing some like it over the past few years and there seems to be more of them around these days...or is it just because I am looking for them now?

A nice sequence of SSBs too , another species I have missed this year.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Bugboy There's lots of good habitat round there - on the way through you could stop off in the New Forest or work your way down from Bentley Wood possibly
Cheers Goldie I had the same problem hence having to break it up into three posts (as well the huge amount of time it took to sort them all out) A nice problem to have TBH
Cheers It could be that you've got to adept at spotting them Neil but maybe they're becoming more common? The continental forms are quite like that so perhaps their patternation is changing in line with the climate?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

At Work with the Smessex 04-07-2019

With the weather turning “Hot, hot, hot” I was a bit worried about whether a lunchtime trip would actually produce any actual photographs as the butterflies , I thought, would be turbo charged. However I headed out anyway keeping my eyes peeled on the walk therefor anything that might be of interest. I didn’t see anything until I actually got to the first overgrown part of the Pits. As I wandered through taking the same path that I’ve worn over all of my visits this year the Meadow Browns and Ringlets flew up from their hiding places in the grass and just as I was coming to the little patch of mown grass, a bit like a reverse oasis, a tiny sandy coloured blur shot out of the sward and something in my brain made me automatically switched me to ‘stalk’ mode. I think it was the fact that instead of the standard orange gold colour that suggest a Small this was a more sandy gold which in my mind suggest Essex. I followed it as it flew slightly panic-y across the open field and watched as it landed, relieved, on the edge of one of the margins. I got in a bit closer and then knelt down and sure enough there were the tell-tale ‘ink dabs’ – my first definitive Essex of 2019. I spent a bit of time with it reacquainting myself with the salient identification features; sandy coloured fringes, yellow gold ground colour, ink dabs, drum stick shaped antenna tips and smaller straight androconia. After this I wandered over to the large Bramble and checked it out but it was quite quiet for a change with only a single Large Skipper and 4 or 5 Smessex. The little patch on the other side where the vegetation is just recovering from a very intensive hair cut looked more lively with butterflies zipping between the flowers that grow in sparse clumps here. Amid the Meadow Browns and Ringlets a golden skipper stopped long enough for me to confirm it as a Small. Then a flying chequer board drifted in from the main field. Possibly the first Marbled White on the site (I can’t remember if I’ve recorded them in the past) made its appearance and then flew nonchalantly right by and carried on disappearing into the hedge on the far side of the Primary school. I realised that I would soon need to be in front of a class and so made my way back noting a total of 8 Smessex on the return journey – I’d loved to have stopped for longer to determine if there were more than the singleton Essex – maybe tomorrow…
Have a goodun

Wurzel

The first shot of that Essex is my fav I think, I love it when you get the sun glinting of the body hairs and longer scales near the body

If anyone had any doubts that your first butterfly was an Essex,
then your fourth image ( from the top ) is all the confirmation needed.
I have never seen the ' ink dabs ' so clearly illustrated.

Great stuff, as usual.
Trevor.

Cheers Bugboy Mine too - when the light catches them like that you can really see why they're classed as 'the golden Skippers'
Cheers Trevor I managed to get that one just right - mind you I almost put my back out trying to achieve it Another 'Peril of Butterflying' to add to the list

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great series of Small and Essex Skippers Wurzel I struggled to get any decent photos of either of these this year, it always seemed to be windy when I saw them and when they settled they tucked themselves low down in the grass.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Neil They did seem to have a bit of a lie-in this year and then the heat meant that they were extra hard work Worth the struggle though

Have a goodun

Wurzel

October 2019
As we enter into October it's good to start looking back through your shots - the Favourites thread is coming!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Is it that time of year already!. Just as things are hotting up around here.
Where has the season gone?, seems like yesterday that I was chasing Orange Tips.

Off to Wilts. on Thurs.10th October, for our first teenager's birthday.

Great Spotted Frit. image.
Trevor.

Cheers Trevor I know what you mean - this year has disappeared, it feels like only yesterday that I was watching Greenstreaks or Pearls and only like last week that I was setting off for the Winter Social - and now here we are with the next Social only 7 weeks or so away Mind you the good thing is that it'll soon be spring

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's how I see it, Wurzel. Last winter it was only three months between the winter social and the first butterflies of 2019 (and there were one or two in December as well). If that time passes as quickly as the summer seems to have done, then I can probably survive it... Perhaps we should all go out armed with copies of Pete's book seeing what we can find.

By the way, when you kick off the Favourite Images thread shortly, are you going to include the Long-tailed Blue as a species on the list in its own right, or will it still be relegated to the section with vagrants and rare migrants? It deserves better than that!

Cheers,

Dave

Cheers Dave I'd love to head out with my copy of Eeles but during the down part of the season it's my one opportunity to try and get up to date - I almost managed it this season though this season isn't looking good, I might be caught up by about May 2020 Plus I have to do all those household jobs that I put off while the butterflies are about With regards to the LTB - technically it's still a vagrant as it isn't included in the '59' so I suppose that's where it should still be placed To be honest as it begins with 'L' I've still got a bit of time before I have to worry about where to fit it in

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! Wurzel, Love the way you've caught the light on the Skippers, just Brill!!!!! Goldie

Cheers Goldie They do sparkle nicely when fresh - I like to look back on them during the periods of drear we're experiencing at the moment as they brighten my mood somewhat

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Work 05-07-2019

Yesterday I struggled to classify the Smessex into either Small or Essex so my intention this lunchtime was to try and do a better job. I did the usual walk through the grasses at the start of the Pits and a few Meadow Browns and Ringlets took to the air. A Small White added a different hue to the otherwise golden brown affair that my lunchtime walk was taking as did a non-stop Marbled White on the other side of the huge Bramble.

So now I set about Skipper ID in the little sparsely covered patch on the other side of fore mentioned huge Bramble. It was trickier than I’d reasoned as the butterflies would hear or somehow sense my approach and would vamoosh away into the longer vegetation that was encroaching on this little cleared area. So I tried a different tack and stood on the side lines and watched one of the taller plants. When a skipper flew in I’d click step in until I was able to get a proper look at the butterfly. In this way I manged to rack up 2 definite Essex and 3 definite Smalls. These tallies might not sound like a lot but none too shabby for a period of 7 or so minutes and these were only the ones that landed on this particular flower. I reckon a 2:3 ratio was probably about right and so I then set about looking for Skippers in other places around the patch. I then saw one Skipper make a bee line for another, taking off from its perch which it was holding like a territory. It landed near the second and then without a ‘please or thank you’ spun its abdomen round and advanced on the immobile female Skipper. After the slightest of wing flutters that wasn’t really a very convincing rejection the female accepted the males advances and the two locked together. It was a very brief courtship! After a watching the two locked together I realised that whilst the ‘stake out’ technique got me my positive IDs it had taken a large slice of my time and so I set off back to the lab on the quick march. I did see some more golden Skippers on the route but as I was rushing all 9 of them will have to remain as Smessex.
Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great account of the courtship (or lack of it!) and pairing of those Small Skippers, Wurzel. The undersides of the two are noticeably different in shade, too and as neither seems worn this could be a very useful distinction when you can't see an upperside.

Cheers,

Dave

Great shots of the mating Small Skippers, Wurzel.
A sight I've not seen myself, but I did see the large variety in cop last year.
They made a change from all the Black Hairstreaks that day!.

Don't work too hard,
Trevor.

Cheers Dave I had noticed that some of the Smessex that I saw very a lighter shade but hadn't really twigged that is could be sexual dimorphism - mind you one couple does not a rule make but it's definitely something to keep an eye out for next season
Cheers Trevor I'll swap you all my Smessex Skipper in cop shots for one Black Hairstreak Trevor I'll try not to work to hard but my line manager might have other ideas

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hope you'll make an appointment with Sussex next year for the Black Hairstreak.
There's no excuse, you have all the coming winter to build up masses of brownie points.
What is more, the route from Salisbury to Ditchling common is easy.

All the best,
Trevor.

PS. The BH pose for the camera like supermodels!.