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Cheers, Wurzel - the Brown Argus are having a better year here than the Common Blues. They are more consistent, whereas the Common Blue numbers seem to fluctuate from year to year.

The weekend of 10th/11th June was really hot (reaching 31 degrees both days), and largely sunny. I did go out locally on 10th, but it was an uncomfortable walk and I saw nothing pf note. In fact most butterflies were hiding from the heat. On 11th, there was more cloud (some of it quite ominous-looking), and I went down to Fairmile Bottom again to look for the Silver-studded Blues. They were indeed out now, in ones and twos in several different parts of the site; however, I saw no females, only males.I became quite absorbed in the butterflies and had rather overlooked the gathering storm clouds. I made my excuses and left, luckily getting home before the weather hit in a big way, with thunder, lightning, torrential rain - the full works.

The forecast for the following day promised something similar - a sunny morning with storms later. I would have to see how this would affect the trip I had planned for the next couple of days.

Dave

millerd wrote: ↑Wed Jul 05, 2023 8:45 pm ...the Brown Argus are having a better year here than the Common Blues. They are more consistent, whereas the Common Blue numbers seem to fluctuate from year to year.

Interesting observation Dave. Around my patch the Brown Argus are more inconsistant, they either do well or I don't see any or maybe one or two at most. So far this year they seem to be doing well but that is only based on the first brood, I haven't seen any summer brood yet. Common Blues can be up and down too but I always find them where I expect to.

Cheers,

Neil.

Wonderful shots of those Silver Studded Blues, Dave, all nice and fresh!
I'll miss them this year, Midhurst is worth avoiding, road closure and nasty diversion.

Your shots will do for me!
Trevor.

That first image is a cracker Dave - what with the angles of the Gorse thorns in background and the vivid colour is looks like its exploding out of the screen The rest of the images are none too shabby either

Have agoodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Neil - the second brood of Brown Argus began to appear here today, and already outnumber the Common Blues which had a couple of days start on them. Things may change of course.

Thank you Trevor. I have a choice of locations for SSB not too far away, and the fresh ones are always little gems. There will be more to come shortly, plus some females (which have a charm of their own ).

Cheers, Wurzel - Silver-studs are a very photogenic butterfly and are adept at striking a good pose in their somewhat prickly habitat. They also seem far better at avoiding sharp edges amongst the gorse than White Admirals are amongst brambles.

Another day, another blue butterfly. I had planned a trip to Somerset for a while, and had booked a night in a Glastonbury hotel well ahead of both the festival and the solstice to ensure I could get a room. However, the weather forecast looked a bit unfavourable for the target species - the Large Blue - as hot sunshine was promised for both 12th and 13th. I'd see them certainly, but probably not with their wings open.

In the event, I arrived at Collard Hill on 12th June with perhaps 40 minutes of cloud still to burn off, and that did the trick. Overall, I saw perhaps a couple of dozen Large Blues, a mix of hill-topping males zooming up and down the slope and females lurking low in the grass seeking out thyme clumps for egg-laying. However, that initial bright but cloudy spell allowed a few good shots.The other notable sight here was the huge number of Marbled Whites. There are always a few, but they nearly outnumbered the Meadow Browns, and there were plenty of those.

It became pretty warm in the afternoon, and knowing I'd be back the following day I went down the hill and checked in to a blissfully air-conditioned hotel. After a bit of quite literally chilling-out, I decided to make the most of the long June evening and visit another relatively close site for a completely different species. That will be a separate post.

Dave

Cracking set of Large Blues Dave I ventured to Collard this year and was surprised that it wasn't as hard a place to work as I remembered I'm looking forward to your 'evening visit' post - I'm hazarding a guess at either Small Pearls or Heaths? As I have to travel for Small Pearls now it would be handy to know if there is a Heath site in that locale as then I could do all three sites in a day - a massive saving in petrol/CO2

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Yes, Collard is not such a bad spot, Wurzel - the slopes are a bit steep in places, but it's not hard to see the butterflies. I'll just have to try and go on a day that isn't hot and sunny!

Having rested a bit, I headed a few miles north of Glastonbury to Wells and a little way further to Priddy Minories. (As an aside, I can no longer view Wells in the same light after seeing "Hot Fuzz" multiple times: it was filmed there... ) I had hoped that by late afternoon my target species here might have calmed down a bit and be sitting around nectaring, but the heat of the day had if anything increased, and the Small Pearls that abounded here (I counted at least a couple of dozen) barely settled for more than a moment. The other issue (which I had not taken into account) was that the heat and humidity had generated some impressive cumulonimbus clouds not very far off. The rumblings of thunder interrupted my frustrated attempts to get decent shots of the butterflies, and just as a few were beginning to sit for more than a second or two I looked up to see this.Remarkably quickly the cloud expanded in my direction from the east, though the sun in the west still blazed down and the butterflies took no notice of the impending storm whatsoever. I decided that it was probably best not to get caught out in open countryside in a big thunderstorm, so regretfully I headed back to the car. Once back at the hotel (where not a drop of rain fell) I confirmed by looking at the weather radar that I had done the right thing: a major storm had passed across precisely where I'd been and had then drenched Bristol.

Anyway, excuses aside, I did get a few shots of the SPBF (and even one of a Large Skipper, which were also around in good numbers).Thinking about it, this may now be my nearest colony of the species now that they seem to have disappeared in Sussex and in Bentley Wood. At least their emergence harmonises nicely with that of the Large Blues, so a joint venture works very well.

Dave

13th June was as expected, very hot and sunny; perhaps the peak of the hot spell down in the West Country. Even getting back on the hillside at Collard by eight o'clock wasn't good enough, as the Large Blues were already as active as they had been the day before. Once again, there were plenty of them, and by just standing in one spot and chatting for a minute or two, you would be bound to see several pass by quite close and appreciate just how deep blue they appear in flight and how, well, large they actually are. There were quite a few visitors today who were seeing them for the first time, and I realised that an old hand like me can pick them out in flight relatively easily.

There were no open-wing shots today, just a selection of butterflies tucked down low, close to the thyme clumps.However, in the middle of a conversation with a chap who was new to the species, I spotted a flurry of blue wings just a metre or so along the path. It turned out to be a male butterfly trying to barge in on a mating pair; he soon gave up his attempt at interrupting them and we were able to have a close look at a couple of butterflies that weren't going anywhere soon. I think it made this chap's day! To be honest, they weren't very well placed for any good shots, being so far down in the grass, and also at one point both butterflies independently tried to get the best angle to the sun resulting in them gyrating round a grass stem. Nevertheless, I managed a few.Before leaving Collard, it is worth noting that as well as the Large Blues, there were huge numbers of Marbled Whites, far more than I'd ever seen here in previous years. They may even have outnumbered the Meadow Browns - and there were a lot of those! Dave

Wednesday 14th June was a long hot sunny day on my local patch, definitely not ideal conditions for butterfly photography. 29 degrees and 13 hours of sunshine.

Despite these conditions, the recent downpours had created lots of patches of damp ground (in fact the River Colne had overflowed onto the rockhard ground creating unlikely puddles in places, and was still unusually high). This benefitted the few male Holly Blues remaining from the first brood, and several were puddling in the shade.It appears that Meadow Browns don't mind the heat (as well as being happy on damp bright but essentially cloudy days - very adaptable), and I counted over 120 out of the roughly 200 butterflies seen altogether today. None submitted to photography though.

One or two individual butterflies posed briefly: A Brown Argus......and a Common Blue......out of a dozen of each species seen flying.

One species that likes to pose prominently whatever the weather is the Large Skipper, and one male in particular chose a great vantage spot.This one wasn't so showy.A Speckled Wood stopped in the sun for a moment or two before retreating to a shadier spot. I also chanced upon a mating pair of Common Blues, the first I'd seen here this year I think. They were right out in the open, and considering the length of the grass and other vegetation hereabouts, this was something of a miracle. Dave

As a postscript to the day, I thought a visit to Epsom Common late in the afternoon on the 14th might find a few Black Hairstreaks low down enjoying a bit of late nectar from the bramble blossoms.

A few there were indeed, but not on the brambles; instead they were still very active in the heat dancing around the tops of the bushes and settling only occasionally (and frequently behind you...). It seems the honeydew on the leaves was preferable to bramble nectar. This was the best I could manage......but I resolved to return a few days later, but very early in the day instead.

One bonus was my first Small Skipper of 2023 (which may possibly have been the first one seen in Surrey this year - no one I spoke to there had heard of any others). Dave

The problem with Wells is all the Crusty jugglers
I did the same combination of sites, but in reverse a couple of days prior to your visit Dave and is certainly works out well I've seen reports from some that managed Small Pearls, Large Blues and Heaths in a day - something I need to investigate further Cracking looking Large Blues and I'd have been pleased with all of those Blackstreak shots

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2023 9:48 pm I've seen reports from some that managed Small Pearls, Large Blues and Heaths in a day - something I need to investigate further

A few years back I managed Heaths on Exmoor and then Small Pearls, Dark Greens, High Browns and Silver-washed in the Heddon Valley, all in one day.
I also saw Large Blue on the way back home but that was the next day.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers, Wurzel - at least my drive to Priddy wasn't interrupted by any swans...

My next trip to Epsom would be better (coming up in a couple of posts time).

Neil Freeman wrote: ↑Tue Jul 11, 2023 7:29 am A few years back I managed Heaths on Exmoor and then Small Pearls, Dark Greens, High Browns and Silver-washed in the Heddon Valley, all in one day.
I also saw Large Blue on the way back home but that was the next day.

I remember you recounting that day, Neil, and was very envious! I also wondered if you could conceivably have taken in one of the Somerset Marshie sites on the Exmoor fringes and the Sand Point Glanvilles (which were still in existence then) only leaving Pearls for a full set of Fritillaries in 24 hours...

Back to the present (or what passes for it in this diary which has nearly slipped to being a month behind!).

Thursday 15th June saw more hot sunshine, and the notion of the "June gap" felt quite real. On my local patch, with the exception of the Meadow Browns which were increasing rapidly in population every day, both numbers and variety had diminished to a trickle. Holly Blue females made a valiant attempt to maintain interest, continuing to lay on the goats' rue which was taking over largish portions of the meadow area.A single relatively fresh male Common Blue flew in the same area, just to confuse things, but sought out notable vantage points, taking advantage of a relatively windless day.For once, I actually attempted to get some shots of the ubiquitous Meadow Browns, and two of them actually played ball.I then found a couple that were somewhat preoccupied.Not much later, I noticed a male pursue a female down into the grass, and not reemerge. When I found them, the female was perched calmly up on a bit of grass, and the male was a little below here, rapidly fanning his wings. I remembered that the species' courtship includes this wafting of pheromones, and sure enough after a few minutes, without further preamble, the male pounced on the female and they coupled. I managed to record the process on video as best I could given the camera's limitations, but it is an interesting watch. Here are the pair afterwards.With not much else to look at, I had a go at a distant shot of a brightly lit newly emerged hutchinsoni Comma on a dark background.Could do better, I think...

Dave

Towards the end of the afternoon of 15th June, I walked the fifteen minutes down to Staines Moor for a change of scene, and to see if any Small Coppers were around. There weren't, but as I wandered in semi-shade along the edge of the stream that runs along the western border of the moor, I soon became aware that I was regularly disturbing Large Skippers. I'd been seeing ones and twos on my local patch to the north, but I now counted 17 individuals: there may well have been more as I was conservative in my tallying, and they constantly interacted where the males' territories overlapped - which they all did. In amongst all this high speed action, I somehow managed quite a few shots of perching butterflies, though most are affected by the yellowness of the sunlight towards evening. I had no idea such a sizeable contingent lived here, and it was a joy to see them. Dave

Interesting to read about the fanning of pheromones Dave - I'd forgotten about that I reckon that Comma shot is mighty fine - my distant ones always end up blurry and out of focus Cracking Large Skippers - especially the last one, I can just imagine it saying "good evening' in Stephen Fry's voice

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I see what you mean about that Large Skipper, Wurzel! That little group of species seem to have more personality for their size than lots of others.

Friday 16th June saw the continuation of the hot spell, and my local walk was somewhat brief and uneventful. It did include the first Small Skipper of the year here, however.There wasn't much else......but better things were promised for the following day, thought it meant a bit of an early start.

Dave

I'm looking forward to the next post Dave as I'm writing it up myself at the moment so I'll be able to make sure that I don't miss anything out

Have a goodun

Wurzel

On Saturday 17th June, I had agreed to meet Wurzel at Epsom Common at around half seven to try and catch the Black Hairstreaks just waking up. Wurzel had been up rather earlier to drop his daughter off at Heathrow, and I was also providing Dad's Taxi Service for my son who needed to be at work at seven. I picked up some much-needed coffee on the way, and arrived to find Wurzel blearily peering at the world.

It was already warm, but the sun was a bit intermittent, which was probably a good thing. It wasn't long before we started to find the target species, and after a while they became easy to find. However, though some descended to sensible heights (mostly worn males), the fresher females seemed to remain somewhat higher up. We were joined by a few other Hairstreak enthusiasts, and everyone was able to get views of this relatively elusive species. A selection of shots from the morning:Though we concentrated on the Hairstreaks, other butterflies seen included Meadow Brown, Large Skipper, Small Skipper, Marbled White......and Whie Admiral.This was my first sighting of the year of this last species, and my efforts to photograph it involved getting rather too involved with the greenery, and three ticks discovered later were the penalty.

Overall, it was a very sociable and productive morning, giving Wurzel a better experience than his previous one with the species, and well worth the early start. I even had time to carry on the few extra miles to Box Hill and see a few more Marbled Whites there.

Dave

Great report from Epsom, Dave. Especially pleased for Wurzel after his visit to
Ditchling when the BH played hard to get. I had seen good numbers only days before!
A for your shots of the lovely fresh female BH's, good to see them on leaves,
instead of bracken, as is usually the case at Ditchling.

I do wonder how long the Epsom colony has been there, it is obviously established .

Trevor.

Some amazing shots Dave of lots of species, I've yet to find a Large Skipper Goldie