www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Cheers Wurzel - I really hope you find one or 2. As you know, I have commented in the past that I have fallen down so many rabbit holes I should have been called Alice. Well, now it feels as if I have fallen down one of those holes and landed in some magical place dominated by yellow butterflies. I am even dreaming about them!!!!!!

You are so very kind Mark. There is plenty of clover in this field but in the adjacent field there is a different crop:
Is this Lucerne by any chance? I have also seen them egg-laying on the Sainfoin. There are a whole load of Blues in this field also and having seen Guy's post I have been taking particular note but the nearest Pea that I have seen is half a mile away in someone's garden:
There is also a lot of moths here including many Silver-y moths:

I am usually long gone by now but what a lovely way to end my season. How can I disappear when there is still so much going on. After quite a vigorous Pilates session this morning I decided to take another look at the Clouded Yellow for 30 mins ........ which stretched into 90 mins and after some subsequent gardening, I am now struggling to put one foot in front of the other No Matter! I only saw about a dozen and no Helice today but I reckon there have been between 4 and 6 Helice in that field. It seems clear they are dispersing (to where I do not know) as I saw several flying out of the field today and didn't see any return. Some are still looking quite fresh but a couple are clearly very worn. There are a few Whites around which, from a distance, tended to confuse me a bit. A Brimstone also flew by but only served to demonstrate how different this species is from the Clouded Yellow. A few more shots from today:

More beautiful photos Pauline, well done. I too, would have kept visiting the Clouded Yellows. You need to grab these opportunities while you can, they will keep you going over the winter. Hopefully you will be up to a visit tomorrow too!

More lovely Clouded Yellows Pauline

The moth in your last two photos in the previous post looks suspiciously like a faded Dewicks Plusia to me. Quite a few of these have been attracted to the Ni Moth (Trichoplusia Ni) pheromone lure this year, far more than have been attracted to light traps. No doubt numbers have been boosted by migrants but it is suspected they are now resident in many southern counties and possibly some midlands ones.

https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/trichoplusia-ni

https://www.ukmoths.org.uk/species/macd ... a-confusa/

Cheers,

Neil.

Some more mighty fine Cloudy shots Pauline - they almost spring out of the screen Was the Pilates your way of warming up ready for Cloudy chasing

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you Sarah - exactly so, especially as it has been raining solid here for 2 days now! Ah well, at least I'm catching up on some housework

I am very happy to take your word for it Neil as you have a wealth of expertise. Having seen one earlier in the season and now aware of their presence I should be more alert. The only excuse I have is that they were very worn. Thank you so much for letting me know.

Cheers Wurzel - after Pilates I was ready to crawl after them on my hands and knees!

What a glorious (and sustained) late season gift this has been, Pauline. Those helice are absolutely beautiful but even the regular ones seem immaculate, and that warm yellow almost radiates into your soul.

If we get a mild winter we may have quite a few in spring next year. Wouldn't that be a tonic?

It's not something I'm ever going to forget David - really special. I shall be keeping an eye on that field.

I never know when or how my season is going to end. This year it has been exceptional with that field of Clouded Yellows which has kept me posting for longer than usual.
However, it is now time to turn my attention to general maintenance, both internal and external, and there is always plenty of that to keep me busy. In recent years I have commented that it has been a strange year weather-wise and this one has been no different. I am sure the extremes of climate create difficulties for butterflies and other wildlife, as well as ourselves. The year has also been exceptional on the personal front and it is that which has prevented me from exploring some new sites – something I like to try to do each season. To make up for that I have reared several species, learning quite a bit along the way.
I was disappointed not to have see the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary this season, but like some other species, it now seems to be outside of the distance I am easily able to travel for a while.
My favourite group are the Hairstreaks but it seems to be getting more and more difficult to see some of them. I do not think this was a very good year for the Brown Hairstreak or the White-letter Hairstreak. I appreciate this happens from time to time but I feel a little concerned about the future of the Brown Hairstreak in my area.
It has however been a great season for migrants. I have seen the gorgeous Clouded Yellow (including Helice) on many local sites and was able to watch one of them egg-laying. Likewise the Painted Lady which I am almost in danger of taking for granted! Hopefully I will get to see a LTB before long but at the time of writing this there has been no opportunity yet in terms of time.

Part of the excitement of each season for me is knowing that I shall almost certainly see something I haven’t seen before, without knowing exactly what that might be. One of the highlights of this season for me was being shown a Purple Emperor pupa which I didn’t post at the time (thank you). However, there appears to be no reason why I shouldn’t post it now, only to demonstrate the amazing camouflage. Still on the subject of the Purple Emperor, I had a wonderful couple of hours at Chiddingfold, where I saw 5 PE on the ground, including 2 at a time! One insisted (and persisted) on landing on me which always feels like a privilege.
Another highlight was photographing the 2nd brood Duke of Burgundy. Sadly this was over-shadowed by a court case that I instigated to protect my domestic animals; very stressful and very time-consuming.

Yet another highlight was finding my second ever Valesina in perfect condition. Monitoring her daily for over a week also gave me an insight into how her behaviour differed from the normal form of SWF. That is the beauty of butterflying for me – always something new to see, learn and experience.
This is the first season in a while that I have not purposefully put out my moth trap. I did however discover that by leaving a heat lamp on in my duck shed overnight I was able to see a small selection of the moths flying around here. I am still excited at finding that migrant moth Dewicks Plusia, at Old Winchester Hill and the Jersey Tiger moth which I recently spotted and had not seen before. I should add that I’m extremely grateful to those of you who keep me on the right track with their ID’s, especially Neil F.
I have put together a few montages which hopefully summarise my season through the photographs. The butterflies selected for this only represent a selection of those I saw, all at local sites. I hope they are of some interest.
See you next season all!

Stunning montages Pauline. The emerging sequences particularly appeal to me and really are superbly done - great work.

A fantastic finale Pauline I would give you more than one for the Helice but I finally tracked one down yesterday Hope things go well for you until next season

Have a goodun

Wurzel

As ever, Pauline, I absolutely love your final montages.

At the same time, I absolutely hate your forthcoming absence from these pages.

I wish you well, and hope that whatever you need to attend to over the next 6 months or so, you do successfully.

Roll on 2023.

Brilliant montages, Pauline, what a finish for the valesina, one I've yet to see. I see that you've had a bit of a Clouded Yellow fest too, fantastic, what a way to end your season apart from a south coast trip I would imagine Hope all goes well for you this winter.

Thank you so much Ben, Wurzel, David, Mike for your very, very kind comments on last season's summary. I guess it is about time to do my usual 'catch-up' on the few subsequent outings between then and now. It has been such a dreadful winter (my birds continue to die with TB) that I kept no records or notes so I shall try to keep it fairly brief and it will likely be out of date order. However, you were absolutely right Mike. I just could not resist a late trip to the South coast and it seems I was just in time. I set out with no idea as to where I was going but once on the seafront a group of folk with cameras was very conspicuous - this was just as well as I thought I could follow the Tamarisk but it was everywhere!! It was good to catch up with some of the usual gang and meet a few new folk including Gary - hello again Gary if you should read this. As usual I was against the clock but I need not have worried as a pristine LTB was already posing as I arrived. As the weather warmed up a few more became visible but none quite as immaculate as the original male. A fabulous couple of hours.

Early Autumn I was entrusted with a single pupa belonging to the Deaths Head Hawk Moth, the last of a reared batch, the remainder of which had already emerged. I had never seen this moth and when it emerged a couple of days later I was fascinated, not just because of the massive size but at how vocal it could be. These moths are more reminiscent of small animals, furry and able to emit a loud squeak when alarmed. These photos really don't do it justice:

Good to see the results of your trip to Worthing.
If I remember correctly we had an LTB ready and waiting for you when you arrived,
and a fresh one too! Worthing was a great experience for all who visited.

Great stuff,
Trevor.

So good to see you back, Pauline, and with a fabulous mosaic of Long Tailed Blues along with that fascinating sequence of the Death's Head Hawk Moth.

Sorry to hear about your birds. You've had a real stressful time with them these last few months. We've had to get rid of our chickens due to the bird flu epidemic. Seems strange not to have them pottering about in the garden. Luckily, we found someone to take them (there's no way we'd have had them euthanised).

You do realise you have set a precident Trevor and I shall now expect that at all sites Seriously, I was sorry to hear your news and hope you found what you were looking for.

A lovely welcome David. Thankfully I only have 5 chickens so much easier to manage but have lost 20 of my indoor birds to TB - it is only a matter of time before the rest succumb

I could not resist a few more visits to the 'Clouded Yellow' field. Not to take yet more shots (tho' I couldn't resist a few) but just to enjoy the sheer gorgeousness of it all. A few below including one of many of the (Dewicks Plusia?) moths - a female perhaps looking at the size of the abdomen.

Just picking out random events now. Shortly before Xmas I decided to do some tidying in the garage. I turned over an old table and found it to be covered in spiders and webs. Most of you know just how much I don't like spiders especially after having been bitten by one so it was with some dismay that I noticed a very attractive moth in the middle of all of this. At first I thought it was dead but then it moved so I carefully extricated it and put it somewhere I thought was more appropriate. It really was a very pretty moth so I took a few shots and tried to identify it. Well, you all know how good I am at that too!!!!! It was so distinctive that I felt sure this would be easy to identify so when I felt fairly certain I contacted Neil for confirmation. Alas! Wrong again. At least this time I had been spared the public humiliation and Neil promptly identified it as a Herald moth - very appropriate in the run up to Xmas. Thanks again Neil.

Hello Pauline ,
Your Dewicks Plusia (in your last couple of pics ) is a ................Silver y ...................nice Herald ,very attractive moths.
Allan.W.