www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Hi Pauline
That's definitely a hoverfly but I'm not sure of the species as I'm at work and don't have access to my ID books. These can be tricky to ID down to species level in certain cases. I'll try and find a name for it when I get home unless someone has already got an ID for you.

Thank you for your efforts Paul. I have just read that there are 6000 species so you would have your work cut out pinning it down. Collin's isn't a bad little book for identification but it doesn't tell you anything much about the behaviour of the insect.

Yesterday I was pleased to see my first Meadow Brown of the season and also some wonderfully fresh Common Blues - brand spanking new they were, both male and female
There really wasn't anything common about these butterflies at all - they were beautiful.
I found several orchids which were very pretty but my level of ignorance is starting to embarrass me. I have no idea what they are.
There are some really lovely grasses about at the moment - not just wiggle-woggle grass - with different shades of pink, beige, green, grey. They provide a great soft, subtle backdrop for photos and look fantastic in the breeze.

Really lovely shots Pauline and apologies as I totally forgot about the hoverfly ID but there's always tonight.

All the best.

Hi Pauline. Those are bee orchids - Ophrys apifera, I believe, but there are dozens of species in this genus and I'm not an expert. They are beautiful and fascinating flowers and make lovely photographs, as you have shown!

Guy

Guy is correct to say that there are lots of Ophrys orhids but, here in Britain, the Bee Orchid is the only one that is widespread and certainly what yours is! It's a lovely plant of chalk grassland, not uncommon in Southern Britain but always a delight to find. Those are nice photos of icarus too, to avoid using its 'common' name, which does seem a bit of an insult!.

Of course, in Switzerland, as in the case of butterflies, there are loads more orchid species to be found, including the Ghost Orchid, which causes a great stir here, when the odd one is found in England - usually just after it has been declared extinct!

Mike

Hi Pauline

As promised I've identified the hoverfly which is Xylota sylvarum which has a golden patch of hairs on the end of the abdomen as shown well in your flight shot. It is very similar to the much rarer Xylota xanthocnema but your hoverfly has dark patches on the apical half of the hind tibia i.e. the back half of the mid section of its hind leg is almost black. In the rarer species this section of the hind leg is all yellow.

Your hoverfly is common in England and Wales and often feeds on the surface of leaves as in some of your photos.

All the best.

A quick apology for misidentifying the red beetle which Mike correctly identified as the Black Headed Cardinal Beetle.

Thank you for the compliments Paul and also for your efforts. I appreciate you taking the trouble over something quite so common and widespread - and with so many species I am surprised that more are not misidentified. I am wondering if we have previously met on perhaps 2 occasions, the last being Chiddingfold perhaps 1-2 years ago when you were planning a holiday? I suppose it could easily have been a different Paul.

Thank you again Guy for your comments and identification. I just had to check out 'my' snake again after the information you provided and sure enough he was in exactly the same spot - and this time I got a much better look at him. He is huge!
Thank you for the comment on my photos Mike and the ID. I can see that I shall have to get a book on plants - tho' I suspect I may already have one amongst the hundreds and hundreds of books I never seem to have time to look at!

Yesterday I caught a glimpse of my first Small Skipper bringing my species total for the year to a respectable 30 given the weather we have had. Unfortunately he was off before I could grab a shot and he was the only one I saw. I was at a local site that I haven't visited since I took the photos of the PE on Mark's toe last year and although the Essex Skippers haven't emerged here yet there were plenty of Large ones to keep me amused:
The Large Skippers were competing with bees for some space on thistle and I watched amazed as a Large Skipper repeatedly landed on top of the bee as though trying to dislodge it. I could easily have gotten a photo if it had not been for dog walkers at this inopportune moment. There was also a rather lovely Mother Shipton's moth making the most of the sunshine although this angle seems to show a very angry subject:

Hi Pauline

Not sure if I've visited Chiddingfold. Is it a place for Wood Whites or close to Botany Bay I think it is known as? where Purple Emperors fly. If so then yes I think we may have met.
If you saw someone with a rather large video camera over their shoulder then that would be me. I remember talking to someone whilst watching a Wood White beside the path that had a damaged wing showing a bit of its upper side.

Keep up with the great photos, enjoyed the Mother Shipton and the Skippers.

Hi Pauline, some lovley photos, the blues are gorgeous, not common and I like your Grass Snake. I nearly trod on an Adder the other day on some heathland near us, while looking for SSB's. I should have been more stealthy and got a photo, next time...

Mike

Pauline wrote: I just had to check out 'my' snake again after the information you provided and sure enough he was in exactly the same spot - and this time I got a much better look at him. He is huge!

The Grass Snake is our longest snake and not poisonous. The Adder, which does have poison fangs, is shorter and fatter, with a characteristic zig-zag dark line down its back - be careful not to step on one of these .

Pauline wrote:I suspect I may already have one amongst the hundreds and hundreds of books I never seem to have time to look at!

I have that problem too Unfortunately, it's one thing to have the info in a book on the bookshelf and quite another to have it in one's head

Mike

Botany Bay is indeed the place I was referring to Paul. Perhaps we may meet again this year but apologies in advance if I don't recognise you. I still maintain we should all wear name badges in the field Thank you for your help and kind comments.

I appreciate the warning Mike. There are supposed to be a lot of adders around here but I have been lucky/unlucky enough to encounter only one in all the years I've been here.

Thank you Mike - I'm glad you like the photos. Did you note there's been a Swallowtail spotted at Hayling? But then you've already got your gorgeous shots of them

As I sit here having my coffee break the garden is teeming with birds - mostly Woodpeckers it seems. Over recent weeks I have counted 8 adults in the garden at any one time (4 in the back and 4 in the front) and now the young have arrived it is chaos. There are 4 youngsters that I can see and I have been trying in vain to get a photo of all 4 together on the feeder without much success so far:
I am looking out at patches of lawn that I will need to repair later as the badgers have dug it up. Several come each evening and once I get my photography sorted out I hope to do better than this:
I am feeling quite pleased with myself as my insect book is now sat by the pc and this morning I have made 3 identifications - nothing rare but it's a start: Garden carpet moth, Clouded Buff and Blue-tailed damselfly. Butterfly photos later but for now just one of my 'favourite' butterflies
Mike's photography hints on his website relating to dodging and burning will no doubt be just as applicable and useful to a dark butterfly on a white flower as indeed they are to a Magpie so the sooner I try them out the better.

I saw the first one on Thursday. Just one. Well, I think it was one. I wanted to be sure and take a photo. I returned on Saturday and this time there were 3, possibly 4. With some difficulty I managed some photos and on my return accidentally deleted them all from my camera I could have sobbed but that wouldn't have done any good so I returned today. Today there were at least 6/7, more likely 10/12 and a couple of females by the look of it. More details and photos to follow when time permits.

The first hour was hard. I'd left Liphook bathed in sunshine and arrived at a site with overcast skies and a cool breeze. No sign of WLH for the next 45 minutes when the sun eventually managed to break through. Within seconds, the first WLH appeared. I remembered from last year that these butterflies warm up by lying on their side on a leaf facing the sun. What I hadn't realised was that they frequently turn over, warming one side then the other, doing this as many as 4-5 times before they exploded into action. So, the only photos I got for the next 20 minutes were butterflies in a prone position.
Once they were sufficiently warm they would immediately take off and a chance meeting with another male resulted in a predictable dog fight. That seemed to set the pattern of activity - flat butterfly followed by dog-fight. All this was taking place way up high on the upper branches of the Elm and I felt I was pushing my little Lumix to the limit of its capabilities as I zoomed in on the maximum setting. What a difficult butterfly to photograph. This photograph, unlike the others, has not been cropped.
There was no incentive as yet for the butterflies to come lower. Nectar sources on the ground were scarce and I noticed that as they lay on their sides the butterflies were obviously taking in something that gave them incredible energy (perhaps I should start licking leaves )
I have never seen WLH as fresh as these. Some of them actually glowed and glistened in the sun and looked as if they had been sprinkled with gold dust. Those which were clearly a few days old had lost that sparkle and were of a more uniform 'flat' colour. It was frustrating to be able to observe this and not be able to record it as they were constantly moving and still at a great distance. I am including some photos which I hope illustrates these details despite some lack of focus.
A further difficulty in photographing the WLH is its tendency to stand sideways so that only profile shots are possible - at least in this instance given the positioning of the branches and the layout of the land, but this still didn't disguise the wonderful gold sheen.
At one point I thought I was about to encounter a mating pair as the two butterflies sidled up to each other but on realising they were both male decided to occupy different branches. In attempting to get both in focus I managed neither.
As the morning became hotter, rather than getting livelier these butterflies slowed down and began to seek shade from the sun on lower branches, under leaves - generally they were less inclined to fly and fight. This provided a few opportunities for closer shots.
I sadly realised that my time was up and I needed to return home but hopefully more opportunities to see and photograph this very special butterfly will be available soon.

Lovely report Pauline I have to be "lucky" to see White Letter Hairstreaks and so never get the really cracking shots others, including yourself, seem to get. Are you allowed to reveal where you saw these brill little beauties?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Pauline

Love the WLH shots and descriptions.

I definitely remember meeting up with you at Chiddingfold. Did you have a couple of dogs and a husband or partner in tow when we met up?

Keep up with the diary, I'm really enjoying it. I love the badgers, what I wouldn't do to have a garden that attracted them. Nothing but cats in ours I'm afraid and the occasional fox.

Thank you Wurzel. I should have said that as well as being fragile this site is also on private land. Sorry.

Thank you for the compliment Paul. The person you are referring to is my friend Barbara and her husband Paul who live on the edge of the woods. I do not have dogs and would not have a husband or partner in tow - tho we do have the same coloured hair. I do not have many photos of myself and the last one was taken about 4 years ago. Folk would possibly say this looks nothing like me and when I am in my old clothes, bitten and scratched and looking like I've been dragged through a hedge backwards, they are probably right
Butterflies later when I have tried to capture a poorly squirrel.

Hi Pauline,

Firstly what a lovely picture of yourself.

Great to catch up on your diary and to see your superb pictures.

Debbie

I agree it is a lovely photo. Nothing wrong with the real you being bitten and dragged through a hedge backwards. I'm sure we all look like that when out in the field.

Now you've straightened that out I'll keep my eye out for you when in your neck of the woods but unfortunately that may not be for some time as we're heading north this year with a trip to the Outer Hebrides later this month. Hoping for some interesting birds and bees.

Hope we will meet up some time though.

Good luck with catching the squirrel.

Here's one of me in the more traditional "Dragged through a hedge" type pose with a Purple Emperor on my shoulder.
I prefer to be the other side of the camera.