www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

millerd wrote:Congratulations on that LTB, James, and I like your photo. A really natural pose. This species is one I have yet to photograph. As long as a few females have come across on the hot southerly winds recently, and the weather remains reasonably kind, it is possible there might be some offspring in late October. Fingers crossed!

Cheers,

Dave

Most kind of you Dave, the pose is most definitely natural, it's what I look like when I'm going for the last biscuit in the tin. Try as I might I have not seen any female LTB's yet, this lone male with Katrina and Trevor has been the only one so far. The females are more attracted to the pea so I've been looking there as often as I can hoping to spot a female or even some eggs. It's seems like the numbers that have made it across so far have been very low. Perhaps there's still some more to come? If so some offspring might emerge before the weather turns too cold.

Wurzel wrote:You're not playing by the rules now Rex - you can't 'happen across' an LTB without catching your PD up, it's just not fair

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I simply can't seem to help being a rebel Wurzel, it's just the way I roll. I'm glad Katrina was there, with the two of us tracking it I might well have lost it if I'd been there alone. In fact if I'd not bumped into Katrina and Trevor I would have carried on home. So I must thank them or I wouldn't have seen it at all.

Best Wishes


Ghostly Dingies.

Unusually rather than seeing Grizzled Skippers first as I normally do each spring my first Skippers of this year were of the Dingy persuasion. And it made for a nice change that a couple of these were pale forms, the first one I found was quite pale but the second was positively ghostly in appearance. I saw it under heavy cloud and even in those dull conditions it really stood out, in bright sunshine it must have been quite dazzling.

I also saw a nice Green Hairstreak on the same day just before the sun went in.
Thanks for looking

James

Good to catch up with you again today James, I do hope no LTB's showed up after my departure...

bugboy wrote:Good to catch up with you again today James, I do hope no LTB's showed up after my departure...

If any LTB's did show up after you left we were far to busy to notice! It was great to catch up with you again Yesterday, perhaps one day I'll meet you somewhere other than tidemills. Having said that if you keep on finding things like that at tidemills you really must visit here more often.
I hope that fantastic Red Backed Shrike you found made up for the lack of LTB's. It was certainly no consolation prize, thank you very much for helping us re find it. I had a fantastic afternoon thanks to you.

I have no doubt that you'll find a Long-tailed Blue one day.

Best wishes

James

Autumnal adventures

Before I carry on with my diary I thought I'd post up some of my recent adventures over this past week. On Tuesday I joined Badgerbob for a 3rd brood Wall Brown extravaganza! The day certainly didn't disappoint with plenty of male and female Wall's seen. Bob and I were both hoping to see an egg laying female. After following several likely candidates for a bit one female eventually obliged and laid us an egg.
After a very enjoyable mornig we decided to give Tide mills a try hoping we would get lucky and find a Long-tailed Blue. We arrived to find Bugboy who had already been searching for most of the day, he then told us he'd found a juvenile Red Backed Shrike! And that is was allowing unusually close views. So the three of us went to look for it, thanks to Bugboy's formidable spotting skills he relocated it for us. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the company of this splendid bird. We watched it hunt a variety of prey items and cough up an occasional pellet.

This morning a friend called to tell me he was going to Tide mills to see the Shrike so I joined him there (and the small crowd) for another look at this cracking bird. For now it seems to have taken up residence.

Wednesday Today Late yesterday afternoon I went on a Dragon hunt and was pleased to see quite a few Dragonflies including...
A Male Southern Hawker. And a mating pair of Migrant Hawkers. I'm still seeing a few Speckled Woods in reasonable condition. And Some very fresh Commas. And loads of fresh Red Admirals too. It would seem Autumn still has a few surprises and treasures to yield up as we move towards the end of September. It will be interesting to see what October could surprise us with.

Thanks for looking

James

Fantastic shot of the Wall on the flower James, love it. Goldie

Cracking series of shots Rex -I don't know where to start with the RBS? Walls? But what raelly got me was the final Red Admiral - the blue on the hind wing is really eyecatching

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Goldie M wrote:Fantastic shot of the Wall on the flower James, love it. Goldie

Thank you Goldie, it was so hot that it was a struggle to get any photos of a Wall so I was relieved when a couple came out ok. At least the eggs don't move.

Wurzel wrote:Cracking series of shots Rex -I don't know where to start with the RBS? Walls? But what raelly got me was the final Red Admiral - the blue on the hind wing is really eyecatching

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, I have Bugboy to thank for the fantastic Red Backed Shrike, and it was my lady who told me there was a really nice Red Admiral on the tree in the garden. The morning sunlight really did bring out the blue didn't it.

Thank you both for the very kind comments.

James

That Shrike really is doing the business isn't it, I did a google search for RBS tide mills and he's all over the internet

You did well with those Walls in the heat, I love them and hate them in equal measures! Love those Dragons as well

That Wall on the scabious is a smashing shot: it looks very fresh and to get a view of the underside of the forewing is really unusual. The ones I saw today were all quite tired and all males as well.

Dave

Great shots of the shrike, James.

bugboy wrote:That Shrike really is doing the business isn't it, I did a google search for RBS tide mills and he's all over the internet

You did well with those Walls in the heat, I love them and hate them in equal measures! Love those Dragons as well

The Shrike certainly made a lot of people very happy! People came from far and wide to see it. When I returned there on Friday quite a few people had lenses that looked almost a meter long and then there was me snapping away with my macro! Has to be one of the tamest birds I've ever seen. Yes Wall's can be almost impossible when it's hot, such lovely butterflies though, especially the females. I've been waiting quite a while to get a Southern Hawker shot like that, as you know they invariably sit in amongst the most untidy locations possible.

Brilliant day with you last week, see you next year??

millerd wrote:That Wall on the scabious is a smashing shot: it looks very fresh and to get a view of the underside of the forewing is really unusual. The ones I saw today were all quite tired and all males as well.

Dave

Most Kind of you Dave, it was a relief to see I actually got something when I looked at my photos on the computer. I rally wanted a female Wall to go with my egg photo.

Gary.N wrote:Great shots of the shrike, James.

Cheers Gary, I feel obliged to the bird for letting me get so close. Glad you had a good weekend.

Thanks for the great comments everyone


Back to springtime

2016 was such a bad year for Grizzled skippers that even my local hotspot 'which can buck the trend when numbers are low elsewhere' really struggled to produce many this year. What is more they were unusually late, most years I expect to see Grizzled Skippers before the Dingies emerge but this year it was the other way around. When I eventually did find some Grizzlies I really appreciated my time with them. Here's hoping that next spring will see them thrive once again.
On my way to my Grizzled Skipper hotspot I couldn't resist a photo of this obliging female Broad Bodied Chaser Dragonfly, showing a little bit of wing damage probably caused to the dreadful weather we had this spring.
Thanks for looking

James

Cracking shots of the Grizzlies Rex They did have a bad year and I like you saw a Dingy before Grizzlie - but only by about 5 minutes It would be nice if we could have a 'normal' season in 2017

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:Cracking shots of the Grizzlies Rex They did have a bad year and I like you saw a Dingy before Grizzlie - but only by about 5 minutes It would be nice if we could have a 'normal' season in 2017

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you Wurzel, I agree something resembling actual 'seasons' would be very helpful indeed. Fingers crossed for a much better year in 2017.

The Golden Skipper.

The butterfly that heralds the start of the summer season, when these appear you know it won't be long before we'll be seeing some of the other summer butterflies. At least by June 'after a chilly and unsettled spring' we started to get some reasonably good spells of weather.
During a local trip out in June I met up with Badgerbob who kindly showed me where he had found some Emperor Moth larvae.
As the disappointing summer continued I didn't take as many photos as usual but there were still a few surprises and high points to come.

Thanks for looking

James

Good to get some memories from a few of our trips out during the season James.

badgerbob wrote:Good to get some memories from a few of our trips out during the season James.

Indeed it is Bob, as you know I felt a bit down this year (for several reasons) and if it wasn't for you & a couple of other friends my year would have been a total write off.

Another Autumnal adventure.

I had a very enjoyable time at Tidemills this morning with some friends. No Long-tailed Blues were seen while I was there unfortunately, but I did find a splendid male Clouded Yellow. And Bugboy's Red Backed Shrike was still there! Today the Shrike caught a huge lizard but retired to the middle of a bush to eat or cash it. It would have made for a great photo but this bird likes to dine in private. Thanks for looking

James

Nice to bump into you and Bob again today and glad you got a good snap of that Cloudie before my blundering spooked it! There were at least 3 fresh Cloudies there today, I found another male (the underwing spotting is clearly different to your one) and a female as well

You certainly managed a great shot of the Yellow James. Good to see another final shot of the Shrike too.

bugboy wrote:Nice to bump into you and Bob again today and glad you got a good snap of that Cloudie before my blundering spooked it! There were at least 3 fresh Cloudies there today, I found another male (the underwing spotting is clearly different to your one) and a female as well

It was good to see you there again, and to have a butterfly waiting for you as soon as you arrived! Clouded Yellows are fabulous creatures, just imagine if they were as rare as a Long-tailed Blue in the UK, we'd all be going berserk traveling around trying to see them. I always feel a bit disappointed when we don't have a Clouded Yellow year.

badgerbob wrote:You certainly managed a great shot of the Yellow James. Good to see another final shot of the Shrike too.

Thanks very much indeed Bob, I'm glad you arrived just after I found it, made for a very nice start to the day. It appears that really will be my final shot of the Shrike as it looks like it's moved on to pastures new. All I can say is heaven help any small vertebrates or insect life wherever it turns up next!

Best wishes

James

Wow that Cloudy is a stand out specimen Beautiful

Have a goodun

Wurzel