millerd

[millerd]

Thursday 17th June heralded a distinct change in the weather. For a start, there was no proper sunshine to speak of, but it remained quite warm and muggy. I had a look at my local patch, and found three species that seem to tolerate cloudy skies - Meadow Browns...

...Red Admirals...

...and Large Skippers...

More associated with sunshine, I also found several fresh male Common Blues.

On my walk back, I also found after a bit of searching nibbled leaves, a Brimstone caterpillar.

Friday 18th was even less promising weatherwise, and I didn't venture out. Saturday 19th was more of the same damp gloom, but I had a short walk locally through very wet grass. A few butterflies appeared, Meadow Browns...

almost unmarked on the under hindwing

the eyespot has just the faintest of pupils

...and Common Blues: One bedraggled male...

...and a rather scruffy blue female.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Some cracking Silver-studs Dave, a lush DGF and interesting Meadow Browns. The thing I'm trying to work out is - why is the female so bedraggled looking - was she a late emergence form the previous brood compared to a very early emerger in the case of the male that looks in much better nick? Or has she just had a harder life?

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel. I had another bite at SSBs and DGFs a few days later too - everything started to happen at once! I can't work the Common Blues out at all this year. They were two to three weeks later than last year and have been in excellent numbers (40+ in a day is pretty good here, and so far I've seen more of them on my local patch than any other species) and I'm still seeing nearly fresh males six weeks on from the first ones.

Sunday 20th June was slightly warmer (though only fractionally sunnier) and a few more things were flying locally despite the continuing somewhat adverse conditions. The first butterfly of the day was a Speckled Wood peering down at me from a tree.

A Small Tortoiseshell really did look as if it had been caught in the rain.

Half a dozen Red Admirals were seen in various spots, undeterred by the dullness of the day.

Today, none of the Common Blues I saw actually opened up, but there were some nice undersides on display.

a merged pair of forewing spots on this male

For once, I decided to get some shots of the Small Heaths - they do get ignored for the most part, and do display some variation.

Female Meadow Browns had now joined the males, bigger, brighter and (if this is possible) even floppier than they are.

low light levels prompted this one to open its wings

a double eyespot on this boldly-marked individual

Monday 21st June became infamous - the maximum temperature for this day, the Summer Solstice, was lower than it was on 21st December last year, the Winter Solstice. It was cold, grey and wet as well, and no amount of dedication to the cause could entice me out.

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 22nd June was better weather (how could it have been worse?) with at least some sunshine between lengthy cloudy spells, and it was distinctly warmer. I decided to visit one of the "classic" Black Hairstreak sites, Whitecross Green Wood in Oxfordshire. The butterfly can be found in several places around the wood, and I spent a few hours searching and hoping that a sunny interval would coincide with me being near one of them. There are usually plenty of other butterflies flying here too, but aside from frequent Speckled Woods I didn't see much. However, this species included a number of new and nicely marked examples.

I had just recalled that in previous years I had seen my first Marbled White of the season here, when like magic, one floated into view. It posed well under cloudy skies.

Then there was the target species. For a while, this view of a worn male Black Hairstreak was all I had managed.

I then got my eye in a bit and tracked down some egg-laying females largely hidden in the blackthorn foliage.

At last I found one that had paused in such activity and had emerged into the open a bit.

Better results than I'd managed at Epsom, but only by a whisker.

I had time for a quick scoot round part of my local patch when I got home, and though I didn't see much the walk was notable for the first bright example of the new summer brood of Commas.

Dave

[millerd]

Wednesday 23rd June was a return to weather more appropriate for the season, with some warm sunshine. After the last few dreary days, I made full use of the lengthy daylight hours and visited multiple sites for various seasonal specialities.

First of all I went down to Bookham where I expected the first White Admirals to now be flying, a full three weeks after the first ones I'd seen there in 2020. I was rewarded with a selection of lovely new examples, which unusually for the species actually cooperated with the camera somewhat. As well as nectaring on the brambles as is traditional...

...they were also sucking at the sticky leaf surfaces where presumably honeydew had been washed down from higher up by the recent rain.

I also found one looking down at me imperiously from of all places a holly tree. No wonder they shred their wings so readily...

There were also a variety of other species around, including Silver-washed Fritillaries, Red Admirals, Large Skippers, Speckled Woods, plus a single Small Tortoiseshell and a Painted Lady.

A great way to start the day...

Dave

[millerd]

Next stop on 23rd June was just the other side of Cobham, at Fairmile Common for another burst of Silver-studded Blues. Just males today, not even a hint of females though the males were diligently searching too.

Dave

[millerd]

That left the rest of the aafternoon of 23rd June for a proper look at the Dark Green Fritillaries at Box Hill, plus a few Marbled Whites as well - a traditional midsummer combination here that I find irresistible. When I wandered out onto Burford Spur, it was late enough in the day for the Fritillaries to have started their evening round of nectaring and basking, rather than the mad dashing about that they indulge in during the heat of the day.

DGF are sociable creatures...

room for two...just!

...though they always give way to Marbled Whites and other smaller butterflies.

about to be "bounced" by the incoming Marbled White

However, they were probably just in the majority today: all males, and all very new.

The handful of Marbled Whites were fresh too.

Dave

[millerd]

On Thursday 24th June, I was out again, this time down at Denbies Hillside (Thursday being one of the days the coffee van is there - always a bonus!).

As at Box Hill, Marbled Whites and DGF were flying, but the ratio entirely the other way round - there were many more of the former than the latter. Neither species was as cooperative as they had been the previous evening.

However, the most notable feature today was the huge number of Small Heaths. I performed a rough count as I walked across the main slope along one path, and reached around 230, and therefore estimate that over the whole site (including the main hillside, Steers Field and the area east of there) at least a thousand were likely flying. I did manage to photograph one of the multitude...

...which turned out to have a companion caterpillar (Knot Grass?).

It was good to see several Small Tortoiseshells...

...and a Painted Lady put in an appearance as has happened at most places I've visited this year.

There were a few Large Skippers...

...and the first new Small Skippers.

I also found this curiousity which had me baffled as to species because of the broad dark borders to the blue wings of an apparently male butterfly.

Guy Padfield and Bugboy reckon it's probably a worn Adonis, so I'll go with that!

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of reports recently Dave - it's been hard to keep up Still trying to find my own White Admirals as we seem to be in a vicious cycle of the best of the weather being mid week or at the weekend when I'm busy with the family Looking forward to your report from your Northern trip

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[David M]

Looks like there's plenty going on round your way, Dave.

You've pretty much got every angle covered for the White Admirals. They can be frustrating to photograph but you've done an excellent job there.

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - I'm falling behind a bit, so I'm still a week away in the PD from the northern adventure, and there are still some more southern trips to cover first!

Thank you, David - I think I may have overdone the White Admirals a bit there, but it's not often a series of lovely new ones pose as well as that right in front of you. They're not like that for long!

A bit of time at the end of the day on 24th saw me out locally very briefly - long eough to find a nice new Comma...

...my first Essex Skipper of the year...

...a fresh female Large Skipper...

...and a very new female Meadow Brown which was kind enough to open up to display an attractive upperside to match the colourful underside.

Fresh females (especially early in their season) are definitely overlooked and underrated.

Dave

[millerd]

For once I stayed on my local patch on a warm fairly sunny day on 25th June, and had a go at one of my intermittent counting exercises. I notched up over a hundred butterflies of fifteen species - the highest this year so far in both respects. The breakdown:

Meadow Brown 32
Small Heath 24
Common Blue 22
Brown Argus 9
Small Skipper 6 (the first ones of the year)
Red Admiral 5
Comma 4
Large Skipper 4
Essex Skipper 1
Large White 1
Small White 1
Small Copper 1
Painted Lady 1
Small Tortoiseshell 1
Peacock 1 (a very late sighting)

A selection:

The first Small Skippers:

Less common views of a female Large Skipper:

A very new Small Heath almost provided a view of its upperside...

...but remained sluggish and allowed some other close shots.

The one Painted Lady I found turned out to be egg-laying.

Never a dull moment here really - there's always something of interest.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Brilliant stuff recently Dave I would have commented sooner but we've had the dreaded 'O' word in Lovely Silver-Studs and that shot with the three DGFs is a corker I can't work out if the Common Blue is the ab. flavescens (if that's the right one) or whether it's just worn?
The year is rattling by - soon be Brostreaks

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Cracking female Meadow Brown in your previous post Dave. One of those with extra orange that are becoming more common in recent years.

Cheers,

Neil.

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - the "O" word sounds Ominous... I wondered about ab. flavescens too, as it turns up quite often here, but that blue is a bit faded so borderline perhaps. You're right though, the season is now at its zenith as the Big Purple One made its appearance today - finally - which only leaves a handful of things still to appear. That all went quickly and because of the weather it seems to have been a bit of a struggle this year.

Thank you, Neil - I had a feeling you'd appreciate that Meadow Brown as you've posted a few cracking examples in the past!

Saturday 26th June had a forecast that seemed to predict a reasonable day over towards the east of London, so I set off round the M25 towards Essex. Starting in bright sunshine, I went through drizzle, proper rain and cloud dark enough to put the lights on, then even fog at one point. However, there were bursts of brightness between fogbanks and after turning onto the Southend Arterial Road (one of the first dual carriageways I believe) I could see more brightness ahead. With Southend not far ahead, I drove into full sunshine, which persisted for most of my visit.

The main object of the day was a look at the White-letter Hairstreaks that are easily found on the edge of Hadleigh Country Park just a few minutes walk from Leigh-on-Sea Station. Along a sheltered short stretch of footpath, with scrubby elms behind flowering brambles on both sides, they can be seen well into double figures. Today was a pretty good day for them - most were fresh, both sexes were represented and virtually my first sighting was a mating pair: something I had not encountered before.

Almost all were at around eye level, with a good number pretty close to the path: sorting the photos has been a very protracted exercise! Here is a selection.

male

male

female

male

female

female

male

male

female

male

female

There were some other species around too, and one or two other interesting aspects of the WLH - I'll cover these in a separate post.

Dave

[trevor]

Congrats on your WLH mating pair. I would imagine that is a pretty
rare capture, normally performed high in the trees.
As for the rest of your WLH shots, some of the best I've seen.

Great stuff,
Trevor.

[millerd]

Thank you Trevor - the WLH pairing is certainly not something I've seen before, even at this site where good numbers of both sexes can be seen low down together. A lucky find, really!

26th June: Hadleigh (continued)

I walked beyond this little WLH enclave out into the country park, following the path up to Hadleigh Castle and back. I discovered one curiosity: Looking back from the middle of the castle between the two ruined towers down the line of the wide path that runs up the hill towards them, the entire length of Southend Pier is framed near enough exactly between them. Considering the castle dates from the 11th Century and the pier is a wee bit younger, that's almost spooky...

But back to the butterflies. I found further WLH on the way up to the castle - the hedgerows contain more scrubby elm, and there is a lot of bramble as well. However these were only in ones and twos and mostly in the trees or at awkward angles to the sun. Another feature of the area I remembered from other years is the presence of a surprising number of quite fresh female Holly Blues. They appear to lay solely on bramble buds here in the spring and have evolved locally so their emergence coincides with the right level of development of these buds - which is relatively late.

Also seen were a few Marbled Whites, Commas...

...and both Small...

...and Essex Skippers.

One further oddity was this Meadow Brown. I thought I'd smeared something on the camera lens at first, but it really did look like this.

Finally a couple of different angles on the WLH. I have seen the terrific shots of this species from above where the tail streamers and general configuration perfectly mimic a false "head" at the tail end. I was unable to achieve one of these views, but when an individual turned round at the last minute I found myself with a shot of a male showing the two bright red spots at the anal angle of the upper hindwings - for all the world like warning taillights!

Another butterfly (a female) was rolling its wings, holding the hindwings relatively far apart, revealing a series of quite bright red spots on their upperside borders. I know that the closely-related Black Hairstreak has these spots, particularly in the female, but all the illustrations of WLH I've seen show the anal spot but nothing more.

I shall have to study some photos of pinned specimens to see if this crops up, since photos of live examples are almost impossible to find.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of shots Dave Those Whitters are sublime butterflies - I wish I had a site where the regularly came down low The 'O' came and went with threats of returning next year

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Hi Dave, although the colour seems genuine in the first of those two female images, to my eye's the second picture looks like the red is coming through from the underside, stain glass window style

[Neil Freeman]

Jealous of your WLH photos Dave I very rarely see them anywhere near ground level around here and one species that I have no decent photos of. Mind you, that is probably because I usually see them when I am out looking for other species and haven't yet made them a specific target, something I must rectify sometime.

Cheers,

Neil.