www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Good to know there are decent numbers of PBFs flying at Eyarth, Janet. They still look pretty fresh too so maybe they were a little behind the more southerly emergees.

Thanks Wurzel - I'm chuffed it was an ab. It was certainly as fresh looking as the rest.
Andrew555 - it is a lovely site and seems very quiet - we saw only one other person all day!
David M - I wonder if Eyarth is generally thought of as a 'late' site?

We booked a trip to Ireland - our first ever - to look for Cryptic Wood Whites. Thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Malin Head with friends, who now know about Green Veined Whites of which there was no shortage - but failed in our mission for the CWW. Aside from the GVWs, on the day we left, I spotted a single tired Small Tort which appeared to be one of the overwinter survivors, three or four Speckled Woods, an Orange-tip and a Large White. On the drive back to Belfast for the ferry we stopped off at Ness Country Park near Londonderry, and Alan spotted our first Small Copper of the year, which had suffered a bird strike but seemed happy enough on the daisies. I was delighted to see some Stonechats and also finally managed to get a shot of the elusive Greenfinch (although I thought it was a Sparrow at the time! ) Wagtails a Swallows perched on the power lines whilst on the ground was a small bird none of us could identify

25th May: Rixton Clay Pits
Waking up to a sunny morning we went along to Rixton Clay Pits - it stil only costs 12p each way to cross the Ship Canal, although there were two people taking advantage of the queue to collect for the Lifeboats - not that I have ever seen one on the Ship Canal
The Common Blues were out in force at Rixton and my eye was taken by a brilliant flash of red which turned out to be a Cinnabar moth Another moth - Initially I thought it was a Mother Shipton but I'm not sure if it is There were four different coloured Damselflies and a Four-spot Chaser

That's an unusual male Common Blue, Janet, with the black spots around the hindwings. Interesting.

I know your moth is not a Mother Shipton - I think it is a Burnet Companion, though having failed to recognise one earlier this year, don't take my word for it!

Cheers,

Dave

millerd wrote:That's an unusual male Common Blue, Janet, with the black spots around the hindwings. Interesting.

I know your moth is not a Mother Shipton - I think it is a Burnet Companion, though having failed to recognise one earlier this year, don't take my word for it!

Cheers,

Dave

Dave - I believe you are right about the moth - I should have looked at BC's website first instead of Collins Gem! It is a Burnet Companion.
The spots on the Blue make it look almost like a Silver Spotted, but the underwings are normal Common Blue as far as I can tell. I wonder if it is an ab. I shall have to go back to Rixton and see if there are any more! - Janet

Hi Janet, a nice selection of recent images. Your unidentified bird from your previous post has me stumped as well. It's clearly a fledgling but of what I'm not entirely sure, perhaps a Grey or Yellow Wagtail

Your male Common Blue with the black spots is an ab nigromaculata.

Your Damselflies are a Blue-tailed Damselfly, a Large Red as you say, a male Azure Damselfly, and what looks like one of the Emerald Damselflies although the colour at the base of the abdomen and thorax does look a bit odd.

Cracking reports Janet - really like the Common Blue ab. I reckon that your small bird is either a very young/recently fledged Pied Wagtail (http://www.arthurgrosset.com/europebird ... b25186.jpg) or a juv Grey. Yellow Wagtails have much more yellow and look like the females.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

millerd wrote:That's an unusual male Common Blue, Janet, with the black spots around the hindwings. Interesting.

It is very interesting. I see this occasionally in Adonis Blue but I don't think I've ever seen it in Common Blue.

Thank you Bugboy, it's good to have a name for my Blue ab. It's turned dull today so I haven't been back to check if there are more.. also David M and Wurzel - I reckon the consensus is for juv. grey wagtail, especially as there were other greys in the area but I didn't see any yellows.
Janet

Yep Grey was the way I was going - it was great looking through my old bird books and googling stuff

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I hadn't looked in on the Moss for a couple of weeks and was pleasantly surprised how lush and green it has become. There were few butterflies, it being rather a dull day, although I came upon a Small White who was searching among the nettles for a suitable egg plant. Nearer Sinderland Brook I found a solitary Banded Demoiselle and a huge black flying insect apparently stuck to a goosegrass, dead. It was approximately 3.5cm long, measured against my phone.

The Cinnabar moth in my previous post appeared to have very pale upper wings and at first I couldn't place it - so here's another view. My companion has a similar photo so it wasn't just my camera. Another ab or just faded, I wonder.

That is one ferocious looking insect Janet It it some kind of Sawfly? Not sure about the Cinnabar as the wings look paler as does the underside though I could be mistaken

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I reckon that black beastie is a Birch Sawfly. Did it have a white mark on the base of the abdomen?

It's definitely a Cinnabar, nothing else in the UK has anything close to that patterning. Difficult to say whether the pale colouring is just wear and tear or it's a genuine ab. There is a quite well known ab. in the Cinnabar where all the red is replaced by yellow.

Not quite sure what has made your cinnabar moth pallid, Janet, but a cinnabar it certainly is.

More mysterious is your dead fly. I can't say I've ever seen one quite like that.

Bugboy - its wings are closed over but in the photo it does look as though they are covering a white mark. So it could well be a birch sawfly. Massive critter!

Today's ramble saw a dozen of us out in the White Peak and how difficult it is to chase butterflies whilst leading a ramble! I reckoned I saw a large fritillary zooming down the hill - just the one and I couldn't go after it. I also thought I saw a small fritillary on a flower but it was spooked before I got a photo. Perhaps neither was what I thought - or hoped. There were still quite a few Orange-tips around - I counted nine in Biggin Dale and a few more in Beresford Dale. A very frayed and battered Small Copper in Biggin Dale and a lovely fresh specimen in Wolfscote Dale were happy to pose. And the only moth of the day which may be a Common Carpet

Interesting to see the chronological variation in those Coppers Janet

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That first Small Copper has character, Janet. I dread to think how many skirmishes he's been involved in.