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END OF THE SEASON-OR IS IT?

DESPITE the good weather so far this autumn-or perhaps because of it? the butterfly season seems to have come to an early end this year,with nothing much left apart from the odd Comma, cabbage white or Red Admiral. Commas in particular seem to be scarcer this year,with very few feeding on blackberries. I am still hoping an autumn generation of Clouded Yellows and Walls will emerge in October,if the weather holds.

So it's time to head west,and visit the Exmoor National Park. I have been coming here for many years,and it never looses its appeal. With splendid scenery and plenty of wildlife,this is a lovely place to get away from it all.The contnuing good weather also helps!

On Wednesday,we parked at Horner woods,and walked up through the woods,on to the lower slopes and right up to Dunkery Beacon,at 1705 feet,the highest point on Exmoor. A tumbling stream runs through the woods,often there are dippers here, and in the clearings were Speckled Woods. Higher up,there were ravens,buzzards,a sparrowhawk,kestrel and a family of stonechats. At the very top,it was quite windy and cold,so after enjoying the view right over to south Wales and,in the other direction to Dartmoor on this clear day,we headed down. Much of the heather had gone over by late September,but there was still some in good colour,with yellow western gorse as a contrast.Near the tree line,several groups of red deer were grazing,including two stags.

Once back at the bottom,we stoped for a delicous and well eared Exmoor cream tea at the Horner tea gardens (other tea gardens are avalable!). While we enjoyed it,and the warm sunshine,a Comma and Small White were seen.

Hi Mark,
I love the cream tea selfie. Great report as always.
BWs, Neil

While on Exmoor,we also drove up onto the high moor,taking the road from Minehead and Porlock,up over the moor and down to Lynton and Valley of Rocks.

On the high ground,several groups of beautiful Exmoor ponies were found,including foals-everybody say ahh-some of which were still very small. It's amazing such young ponies can survive the cold,wet Exmoor winter-let's hope the weather is kind to them.

The views where Exmoor meets the sea,at Lynmouth,are spectacular. At the Valley of Rocks,lots of wild goats were seen-both on the rocks themselves,and at the botton. It's a good job goats are so sure-footed,as those grazing the cliff-tops had a sheer drop of hundreds of feet if they make a mistake!

Thanks Neil. I will be keeping an eye on Sussex sightings over the next few days,in case there is a good Clouded Yellow emergence. Love your report from Mill Hill,great pictures of Walls there. Congratulations.

CLOUDED YELLOW CATERPILLARS

WHILE i was in Dorset in August,i watched a Clouded Yellow laying eggs,and i couldnt resist taking a few. But when this happens,what do you do,if you watch the female,you loose sight of where she layed the egg,but if you take your eyes off the female,she is half-way down the slope when you look up!

I collected four eggs. I don't do much rearing,but when i do,i normally keep my caterpillars in the shade,to stop them developing too quickly. But although these Clouded Yellow eggs hatched after about a week, the tiny caterpillars grew at a snails pace and by mid September,they were still very small. Aware that this is a species that cannot survive our winters and has no dormant stage,they were in danger of running out of time. So i decided i needed to speed things up,and i put my net cage in full sunshine. The result was immediate and,ten days later,the three surviving cats are fully grown.

I took this picture on Saturday. Any day now they will pupate.

Stunning scenery shots Essex, almost as good as some in Dorset I wouldn't have thought that a bit of sunshine would have made that much difference when it comes to speeding cats on but it certainly seems to do so - could it be due to increased enzyme action?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I think thats probably it-this is really an exotic species after all,and only able to survive here during the warmer months.

Last week i mentioned that i was hoping an autumn generation of Clouded Yellows and Walls would emerge. Well i'm delighted to say they have. With a couple of spare afternoons this week,i headed down to Canvey Island. Today especially, there was lots of wery warm sunshine,and temperatures topped 20C-probably for the last time this year,sadly.

At Canvey West RSPB, there are several grazing marshes and fields,some full of clover and various hawkweeds. Flying over these fields were several mint-fresh Clouded Yellows. Males were zig-zaging around,wereas females tended to spend more time feeding. They were all a great pleasure to see,and confirmed the butterfly season is not quite over.

Several Walls were also seen at Canvey West,but a nearby site is probably even better for them. So i also visited Canvey Wick brownfield nature reserve. In the 1960s,this was to be developed for oil storage tanks,but them the oil market calapsed, and the site was abandoned. The spoil heaps and rubble,while not attractive to look at,have developed just the thin,broken turf the Wall prefers.

Ten to 15 Walls were seen,and as it declines in the general countryside,such brownfield sites could become invaluble to the Wall's survival in future,at least at a local scale. Wall sightings,especially in October,are always wecome.

Several other kinds of butterflies were seen at the two sites. Surprisingly,3 Peacocks were feeding on Michlemas Daisies, and several Red Admiral were flying south,migrating. A very nice Painted Lady was great to see. Large and Green-veined whites, Small Coppers,Common Blue,Brown Argus and Speckled Woods were also enjoying the warm autumn sunshine,as,indeed,was i!

A few more pic's to follow!

A few more pictures as promised!

I love that Small Copper on the berry, all the Photo's are great Essex but that one is super Goldie

Thanks,Goldie. I am so pleased the warm weather lasted just long enough to keep the season going into October.

Meanwhile,late last week,my three Clouded Yellow cats pupated. They last about two weeks at this stage,so this would give an emergence date of around 16 October. Hopefully there will still be just enough warmth left to allow them to migrate south.

Unfortunately,they attached themselves to the side of the cage,ignoring the sticks i had provided,which spoils the photograph a little;

Great reports of the Cloudy and your visit to Canvey Essex That's a nice range of species to still be seeing and great shots - it's gone very, very quiet over this way what with the low pressure systems sprawling in

Have a goodun

Wurzel

CHRYSALIS UPDATE

Last weekend,my Clouded Yellow chrysalis's had still not hatched,though they have changed colour slightly. They have taken slightly longer than i hoped,and this is a little concerning,as it is now too cold,cloudy,windy for flight most days. With warm weather,i would like to let the adults go on Sunday. There are also very few nectar flowers left in the countryside.

This is how they looked on Sunday,when it was warm and sunny outside;

However,the first one hatched on Monday,followed by another on Tuesday. I took the picture below yesterday (Wednesday).

I can only hope they find some way of feeding up and migrating south,before the last warm weather vanishes. At least they have a chance,had i not collected the eggs,they would presumably developed more slowly,and perished in the wild at the caterpillar stage.

I would like to think i have helped these in some small way!

[b]Hi Mark......You have helped them! They would probably have perished in the wild. You have also learnt a bit about the natural history of the Clouded Yellow too! Well done to you mate!
All the best,

Lee Slaughter (Cornwall).[/b]

You've certainly given them an advantage, EB.

The weather is still mild right now and these critters are powerful flyers, so there's a chance for all of them, which wouldn't have been the case had you ignored them.

Thank you for your kind and reassuring messages. All the more welcome,as i was beginning to doubt myself. You are right, Lee,i have learnt much and have enjoyed doing this.

A Comma and two Red Admirals seen at work today,plus a kite,two kestrel and a buzzard.

Here are a few more pictures of my released Clouded Yellows,which all turned out to be female. Plus red admirals feeding on Hedera 'Paddy's Pride' at work,which i took earlier this week.

Stunning images Essex Is it just me or do some if the markings appear more 'block' like than dotted - particularly in the first emerged?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

WHAT A WEEK!

This week has seen sunshine,fairy light winds and record-breaking temperatures! Almost 24C was recorded in London,and also on the north Kent coast,with 21C exceeded over quite wide areas of the country. The pevious highst late October temps i can find are the extraordinary reading of 22.2C at Cape Wrath,north-west Scotland on 22nd 1975 and 22.6C at Portsmouth in 1969.

The wet then warm weather has resulted in a great crop of fly agaric mushrooms in my local woods this week. However, by time i got there with my camera,some new residents had moved in!