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Garden

Cheers Dave it was definitely a case of luck rather than judgement and was also pretty distant. I found my first White Letter last year, again totally by chance but it was well worn and I’d really like to get some shots of fresh individuals next year. Still I might be able to pick up some inside information at the Social...

Cheers David the Hairstreaks shot was a total fluke! Black Hairstreak is a target of mine too but probably for 2014, good luck next year with it! I’m after my first Large Blue and Heath Fritillary in 2013 as well as trying for close shots of fresh White Letters!

Cheers Jenks I too am hoping for a more bountiful 2013! It seems that you’re the man to follow for Black Hairstreaks...in order to get my BLH I might have to start stalking you!

On Friday I had a day off from work and the kids so as well as spending some time with my wife taking her shopping I made the most of the reasonable weather by spending my lunchtime out in the garden. It was actually quite warm in the sun but I didn’t see a butterfly while out there although I was determined to make the most of this lull in the weather, the calm before the storm. So I decided to try out my lens to see “how low it could go”, not limbo but macro!
In order to find some wee beasties I checked out the wild area at the top of the garden under the Apple tree as here there is a good layer of leaf litter to provide the micro habitats for the micro animals. I managed to find some interesting most of which I’m not too sure how to identify including a couple of bugs/beetles and a miniscule green wasp/hoverfly/fly. The smallest thing I managed to find and photograph sensibly was a Springtail looking for all the world like a big headed cow grazing on the dead leaves. Finding them wasn’t the problem that was just a matter of turning over a few leaves and looking for the tiny little dots. No the real problem was focusing which wasn’t the fault of the camera but me –I couldn’t hold the camera still enough to get a crisp clear image. I might have to look into buying one of those small tripods – Gorilla grips, are they any good?
Still I was chuffed with the performance of my lens at such close quarters and even when I zoomed back out to get shots of a Hoverfly I managed to just squeeze in another fluke shot of some tiny mite. So this is what it’s come to, scrabbling around in the dirt to find something to photograph ...it must be winter
Have a goodun

Wurzel

The Blues

Quite an emotive name for this group of butterflies as this is what I suffered from when I started reflecting on their fortunes over 2012...

18 Small Copper 12-05 Martin Down

After finding two individuals at Martin Down I didn’t see any others for a few months despite checking all their usual haunts. I was so worried for this species I even started a thread so that hopefully others would be able to reassure me by all of their sightings. That didn’t really happen for the first brood possibly because the weather was so bad
Then came the second brood and I was heartened to see an upturn in their fortunes with sightings at a range of sights including grasslands and on the coast. They are always a joy to see with their stunning livery of contrasting colours and feisty behaviour. Of all the blues they are second in my affections only to the irresistible Brown Argus. However as glad as I was to see them I was still concerned that instead of three or four sightings on one visit there would be only ones and twos so overall I think that they didn’t have a particularly good year. 19 Small Blue 27-05 Martin Down

It’s difficult for me to judge how well this species did as I only encountered it at a few sites. Also with the cooler, wetter and windier weather arriving just as they were emerging I was almost at risk of missing them entirely. So I made one of my frenetic evening trips out to Martin Down and was lucky enough to find good numbers of these miniscule butterflies settling down for the night into their communal roost. One small area with 5 or 6 tall grasses had 9 individuals in it and I didn’t know quite where to point the camera first. Then almost 2 months later and again at Martin Down I found a few individuals from the second brood. It felt like they had an okay year round my way and I can’t remember any reports of particular problems for this species. 20 Silver-studded Blue 05-07 Slop Bog

From my perspective this species seemed to hold its own this year. They seemed to emerge slightly later at Slop Bog than last year but in terms of numbers they were about the same. I’d had a few failed trips where I’d rushed over in the evening to no avail. However it was a case of third time lucky before I found some to photograph. It turned into a cracking evening warm and sunny with the light giving everything a fantastic glow. It caught their wings beautifully perfectly showcasing the oily sheen on the brown females and highlighting the wing margins on the males. I’ve only ever seen this species at two sites (Arne and Slop Bog) so my earlier statement of how well they’ve done needs to be taken at face value and I need to consider broadening my horizons next year. 21 Brown Argus 03-06 Five Rivers

These little beauties are my favourite Blue and possibly my favourite butterfly overall. There’s something about the contrasting chocolate brown and bright orange twinned with their feisty attitude that endears them to me. I was concerned when I didn’t find them straight away at Five Rivers but with a bit of patience they arrived, somewhat later it felt than previous years. They weren’t in great numbers but I did see them at a couple of sites. Then they seemed to follow a similar pattern to the Small Copper as there was a large gap in my sightings until the second brood suddenly appeared and I saw them at a couple of sites yet again in small numbers. It seems that they have maintained their range but their numbers were well down. Hopefully they’ll be able to bounce back next season. 22 Common Blue 19-05 Middleton Down

Like pretty much everyone I was seriously worried about Common Blues this year. In fact changing the name to “Uncommon” Blue seemed like a sensible suggestion. All the sites that I visited which are normally crawling with Common Blues were seriously lacking however I judged the paucity of this species from observations from my local patch. Last year on a good visit I could expect to see a couple of pairs on all of the 6 bank areas, whereas this year the same parts of the site had only one pair. The more open grasslands where normally I can find roving bands of common blues had only singles on several different occasions. I am hoping that this will just be a temporary dip and they will show an upwards swing next year. Hopefully enough eggs were laid and we get an end to the year which favours the survival of the larvae.
One thing I did notice is that this year I didn’t find a single “brown” female blue. In previous years I’ve had some individuals that are quite tricky to correctly identify from their upper wings as they had no blue at all, not even scales close to the body. Yet this year I have seen nothing but “blue” females, and most of them are pretty much all blue. I’m not sure whether this is down to some selection pressure favouring the blue females this year or whether it’s just a skew in my observations as “blue” females stand out more and so I’m more likely to see and photograph them? 23 Chalkhill Blue 28-07 Lulworth

After seeing my first ghostly blue bombing over the downs at Lulworth I thought that there would be plenty at Martin Down. However there seemed to be a dearth of them on my first visit there for this species a situation which didn’t seem to change on subsequent visits either. They were about but in 10’s rather than the 40 or more that I’ve grown used to. So I don’t think they did well at this site. Could this be down to the turf level? Or was it because they emerged later and at a slower rate this year because of the cooler, damper weather?
However when I visited Stockbridge Down they were everywhere. Each dog turd had 7 or 8 males crawling over it. A female would flutter up from the grass and a mob of males would seem to emerge from the soil and submerge her under a mass of pale blues wings. I did vainly try to count them at one point but it just proved too hard so instead I sat in the sun on the springy turf and drank in the sight before me along with my coffee! 24 Adonis Blue 15-06 Woodhenge

Again another species of Blue which I felt had a hit and miss season this year. I struggled to find Adonis Blues at Martin Down as they didn’t seem to be there in any great numbers for brood 1. Saying that however my first of the year was from Woodhenge, a tick for me at this site and there were more than a few at Lulworth. I also thought the males were particularly turquoise and metallic looking this year for first brood individuals. I remember last year that they were nowhere near as “bright” and in fact I seem to recall they were almost pastel blue? Perhaps this year with the cloudy, dull weather they needed to boost their brightness so as to get noticed more. The second brood were even harder to find with only one or two at Martin Down and none at Stockbridge. So overall not a vintage Adonis Blue year. 25 Holly Blue 24-03 Longdown Farm

Finally something positive! It felt to me that Holly Blues had a good year this year as I saw more in 2012 than in previous years, managing to get shots of my first definite male (open winged) and females from both early and late broods. Having seen my first at the end of March I then saw them at a range of sites including my garden, Martin Down and Shipton Bellinger. My favourite site however was along the river path into Salisbury. I was just strolling along with the girls and happened to look over the fence at a small, low growing Ivy bush and there was a summer brood female waving her wings at me in greeting. She then strolled around some of the bushes and once she had my attention started ovipositing. The whole thing happened about 6 inches away from me at eye level and was totally unexpected. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice commentary again there, Wurzel, along with some excellent images.

I particularly like the very blue female Common Blue as well as the two cute looking Small Coppers.

Cheers David It was quite depressing writing up my reflections for the "Blues" this year as it felt that so many of them had a badun It was moments like those two Small Coppers that stopped me sinking into a pit of depression

I've been working with the "Enrichment" group at work and they've been messing around with digitial cameras (which will be great next spring - I'll be being paid for getting butterfly shots ) with the hope of producing cards, posters and calendars so I had to have a go myself to "model" the process for them. With a month to go until 2013 and so I'm ready for releasing one a month here's the front cover...obviously not a patch on the official one which as many people as possible should order Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a great report you are doing there Wurzel and having just read the Blues section I have to say I largely agree with your findings. Small Coppers and Common Blues definitely down, on the previous year, whilst Chalkhills at Denbies …an invasion of epic proportions would aptly describe their numbers . Sadly the same couldn't be said for Adonis, especially second generation, lower numbers than I can ever remember. I would also say that Brown Argus and Silver-studs were also slightly down over my neck of the woods (Surrey)

Great photos as ever ..... I particularly like the bronze look of the female Silver-stud, something I've often seen but never been able to capture on camera anyway as good as that

Hi Wurzel,
I too have seen mostly blue Common Blue females this year,i wonder if this is a response to the cold weather this year? Blue females tend to dominate northern colonies,so could this explain their apperance in the south during poor springs and summers?
Just a thought.

Cheers Philzoid for your kind comments Looking forward to the session at the session at the weekend

Cheers Essex You've got me wondering now about the reason for bluer females in cooler climes - something to look into...

The “Aristocrats”

I know that this is an artificial grouping housing the Riodinidae and only some members of the Nymphalidae but due to their common names they seem to fit. Also this year review whilst enjoyable to do is very time consuming and if I included all of the Fritillaries and Browns in this as a single instalment I might not get any sleep for the next week or two.

26 Duke of Burgundy 06-05 Bentley Wood

I was slightly worried for this little butterfly when the gorgeous spring weather (those heady 2-3 weeks in March) gave way to the cold deluge but at the one site where I saw them they appeared in good numbers with sightings on 3 different occasions. On the first sighting there was one Duchess (is that the official term or is it just a female Duke?) and it posed a problem in sexing it. I’ve now leant that the wings of the female are more rounded and lobed and it’s taken a lot of looking through books and Apps but I can now start to see the difference in, typical though now I’ll have to wait for 6 more months before I’m able to use this new knowledge, by which time I’ll have forgotten it!
On my second visit there were two different individuals and then by the third there were at least 6 or 7. Doesn’t sound particularly impressive but last year in the same area I saw a single Duke and I seem to recall sightings of singles only from the recording book the previous year. So to have a couple of these little beauties buzzing around your feet was a joy which I have difficulty in describing. What the Duke lacks in bright and lurid markings it makes up for with panache and charisma. Hopefully next year will be even better for them in my neck of the woods. I can’t wait! 27 White Admiral 01-07 Bentley Wood

It’s difficult for me to say how well I think White Admirals did this year. Personally I found more at Bentley Wood than I’ve ever seen with 5 or 6 on one visit so I’m inclined to feel that they had a good year because of this. On the other hand however I didn’t see one at Garston Wood this year and when I visited Alice Straits the locals there were disappointed by their numbers. So overall I think they held their own but by virtue of doing well in some places but not as well in others. For me next year the main task in terms of White Admirals is to try and capture the classic closed wing shot. I tried this year with mixed results and whilst I got some shots I was happy with the classic field guide closed wing shot eluded me. 28 Purple Emperor 15-07 Straits Inclosure

For me this was a cracking year for Purple Emperor. After a couple of distant sightings and shots, observing some male posturing and bravado at Goose Green and not finding any at Alice Straits I tried my luck for the third year on the trot at Bentley Wood. I’ve written several times about the wondrous time I had on that day so to avoid reiterating here were a few highlights which may seem like an odd collection of memories...
Dog turd in a bag,
Cheering on urination,
Gathering round dead rabbits,
Bated breaths
The buzz of excited chatter
Stunning colours
Mesmerising.
I was washed away by the festival feel and only wished that I could have retired to a tent with a few beers ready for the same thing the next day!
In all seriousness though they did seem to start later and last longer this year. On the one visit to Bentley we had at least three males come to the ground along with an Empress (again is that the correct term or is she a female Purple Emperor?) which is 4 times the number I’ve seen on previous years. What I feel was different this year was that we didn’t have the strong winds that we’ve had the last couple of years. I remember someone telling me that they’ll just grimly hang to the tree tops during really bad weather and the wind can rip them to shreds. Last year I remember some quite strong winds during just before or during their flight time but we didn’t get those this year so could that account for, what seemed to me, improved numbers? Incidentally my older daughter called me into the living room the other day while watching one of the Tinkerbell films to get me to tell her younger sister that she HAD seen the butterfly that was in the film and there was Apatura iris.

29 Red Admiral 16-02 Front Garden (last one so far 18-11- back garden)

It seemed to be a good year for Red Admirals with sightings spread over 10 months of the year! After the first in February things quietened down with only the odd sighting here and there. Then from mid July on their numbers started to pick up and I even managed unwittingly get a shot of one on my camping holiday with what could be eggs. But it was the tail end of the year that provided the wealth of Red Admirals. Local Ivy bushes and Buddleia were crawling with them. On the town walk the tiny Ivy there had seven on it along with a couple of whites and a Comma and even my garden homed 5 at one point! Interestingly they seemed to focus round one plant first before moving on mass to the next. So in my garden it was the Ivy arch by the greenhouse first, then the smaller bushes along the left hand fence, followed by the single plant on the right hand fence and then nectar all dried up they just basked. If there were other species they too would be on the same plant and it reminded me of the feeding behaviour of mixed Tit flocks during the winter. Finding food can be hard work so the last thing you want is to arrive to a tree that’s been stripped bare of all edible materials. So if you join up with other birds/butterflies then you can keep an eye on where they’re feeding and not waste effort trying the same patch which won’t yield anything (it’s a workable hypothesis at least ).
The milder and drier autumn certainly seemed to give the Red Admirals a bit more of a chance to feed up before their hibernation or return flight to the continent? I’m not really sure where they go so that’s on my list of things to find out over the winter. 30 Painted Lady possible seen 17-08 Lodmoor – defo 26-08 Five Rivers

A couple of years back I remember seeing Painted Ladies all over the shop, then for the last couple of years including this year I’ve only managed to have a couple of sightings. However it seems pointless deliberating on how well they’ve done as the mass irruption years seem to be cyclic with a roughly 10 year period so we’re only about a quarter of the way through. The odd thing is that on both occasions that I saw them this year I set out with a feeling that I’d see them. Usually on the journey I think ahead to which species I might see so as to prepare myself for what to look out for. My first sighting could have been from Lodmoor as something that was a bit like a reversed Red Admiral, orangey but too light to be a Comma, bombed up the path. Unfortunately it didn’t stop and it was gone before I got a chance to confirm its identity. On the second occasion I planned to go straight to the large Buddleia bush at Five Rivers for Red Admirals, Peacocks, Small Tortoiseshells and possibly a Painted Lady. Once at the site there indeed were a few Red Admirals, two Small Tortoiseshells, a Peacock and my first definite Painted Lady of the year. What was more pleasing was that I was able to get some shots of the closed wing which was a first for me. My second definite was from just up the road at Old Sarum and was slightly darker than the individuals that I’m used to. I also noticed this year that some have blue “eyes” in the circles along the margin of the hind wing; that’s what ‘s great about observing wildlife, there’s always something new. 31 Small Tortoiseshell 21-03 Pewsey

This is another of those once common species that seems to be on a decline. There were very low numbers first brood this year and happily those numbers picked up when the second brood arrived. I felt that this was probably because during the cooler, wetter spring they focused on getting by and breeding and so were less obvious to us buttefliers. They had work to do and so got on with it under difficult circumstances and they did alright at that if the higher second brood numbers were anything to go by. Still even with an increase they didn’t get to the numbers that I remember seeing as a kid. Even with the second brood they were outnumbered 2 or 3 to one by Red Admirals. It is often said about common butterflies that “if they were rarer then we’d appreciate their stunning colours/markings more”. Hopefully that won’t be true for Small Tortoiseshells, I don’t need for them to become rarer to appreciate them, and I hope that they don’t. 32 Peacock 28-03 Someone’s garden!

My first of the year was photographed in one of my neighbours front gardens. I had to do a run to the shops and took my camera with me just in case and there it was. I do find it ironic that the first butterflies that we see in the season are actually the last from the previous and they look slightly under dressed and shabby compared to the new growth that they are feeding on. Peacocks always seem to me to be an ideal indicator species because they are large and striking and so therefore easy to identify and count. This year I saw them in the same places and in the same numbers as last year so I feel that they held their own. 33 Comma 25-03 Five Rivers

Commas seemed to do really well this year with sightings from pretty much everywhere that I went. My garden produced up to 3 at any one time and wherever there was a Buddleia a Comma would soon appear. Because of this I went through a time when I didn’t pay them much attention, “oh look another Comma” and I think that in the end I almost stopped noticing them. I did notice that I rarely saw them in groups and the majority of my sightings were of singles so a bit of a loner the old Comma. Then during the autumn they were on hand to cheer me up once the majority of other species had disappeared and to offer a bit more variety from the ubiquitous Red Admirals. I sometimes feel sorry for the Comma as it’s almost the poor relation of the group as it’s not the largest, the brightest, the smallest or the rarest but what it lacks in these respects it makes up for in reliability – it won’t let you. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Wurzel,

Another great report.

Wurzel wrote:On the first sighting there was one Duchess (is that the official term or is it just a female Duke?) and it posed a problem in sexing it. I’ve now leant that the wings of the female are more rounded and lobed and it’s taken a lot of looking through books and Apps but I can now start to see the difference in, typical though now I’ll have to wait for 6 more months before I’m able to use this new knowledge, by which time I’ll have forgotten it!

Duchess is good by me ...

As with many words in the English dictionary, if they are used frequently enough they become accepted.

Kind regards. Mark

Cheers Mark From now on I'll use Duchess and Empress - if I can identify them that is

About a week ago I took all of year 7 to Bristol Zoo so that they could consolidate work on Classification. It was freezing cold and threatening to rain so I spent most of my time in the Butterfly House. Wisley Gardens it is not but there is some variety there. However before I get to the butterflies I thought that I ought to at least get the shots that I took of some vertebrates out of the way. I know that I shouldn't be taken in by the "hype" and that others have differing views to myself on Zoos but I do think that Bristol is one of the better ones, at least its trying. The next couple of shots weren't of an exhibit but it's so attractive it might well have been. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote:it’s taken a lot of looking through books and Apps but I can now start to see the difference

The most obvious (and memorable) difference is that the females are leggier 'Duchesses' have 6 walking legs whereas Dukes have only four. Interestingly, in your first photo, she seems to have her front legs raised and is only standing on the back four.

Mike

Cheers Mike I tried using the number of legs last time but she craftily hid the front 2 along the second pair so it looked like she had only two pairs which in book isn't playing fair!

Fritillaries

34 Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary 26-05 Bentley Wood

Having seen Pearls in the Eastern clearing at Bentley I waited a few weeks before checking there again for Small Pearls. So when I thought it would be about the right time to find them I took an evening visit to Bentley. The Eastern Clearing was bathed in the evening sun and despite hearing Nightjars and seeing a Slow Worm, Pearls, a Comma and a Duchess there were no Small Pearls like I was hoping for. A few days later in the same place and there were Small Pearls in abundance and that’s one of the wonderful things about butterflies, the fact that just a few days wait can see huge differences in numbers and diversity of species! They were easier to differentiate from the Pearls this year than I remembered as they were much brighter and also much livelier, flitting forward and back across the clearing from one nectar source to another. The remaining Pearls, worn and faded, reminded me of old men sitting one on a park bench moaning about the “youth of today, always rushing here and there!”

When the Small Pearls occasionally did stop I tried to get some of the classic closed wing shots reminiscent of identification guides. I noticed that they appeared much more orange and brown this year. Over the two previous years they’ve seemed to have much more contrasting blocks of colour on the underside of their wings with some seeming almost red. Perhaps this was just down to the lighting as on previous years it’s been slightly duller?
Despite emerging later than last year I feel that they had a good year as they were certainly easier to find and photograph this year compared with the last. I think that they held off their emergence which then coincided with the second short spell of good weather and they were around in good numbers. So all in all a good year for the Small Pearls, though I suppose the proof of this will come next May... 35 Pearl-bordered Fritillary 06-05 Bentley Wood

They seemed to be a few weeks later this year than last in this neck of the woods and that was also a fair bit later than a lot of other sites. In fact I made a visit to Bentley at roughly the same time as last year and saw a single solitary Speckled Wood and that was it for butterflies!

Once they arrived though they seemed to do well at Bentley Wood and I saw them on the next few trips in reasonable numbers, if not more than in previous years as I restricted my search to the Eastern clearing and one other area. The best time was the first time I saw them this year as they were really fresh and in mint condition. Having wandered around the Eastern clearing in the cold and damp we hadn’t seen anything and had resorted to trying to find moths to photograph! Luckily RobS had carried on looking and a shout brought us to a mini emergence event of our very own. We scanned around the area of brush and dead wood looking for the gorgeous orange beauties and keeping score like a football match. I think Rob won 3-2 in extra time in the end so I’m looking forward to a rematch next season. 36 Dark Green Fritillary 08-07 Bentley Wood

It was difficult for me to say how well they did this year but I would hazard a guess that they probably did on a par with last year at the least and possibly slightly better. The difficulty in judging their numbers was that unlike last year they didn’t seem to emerge all at once. Instead they emerged much more gradually so when I visited Martin Down expecting them to be everywhere there were only 20 or more not the hundreds or so I was expecting. Whether this was due to the fact that the Knapweed didn’t seem to out in force I’m not sure? Also due to the indifferent weather I didn’t get out as early looking for them as I did last year although I do recall reading in the sightings book at Bentley that two were seen at about the same time as last year.

On that my visit to Martin Down I was lucky enough to find three arguing over a dog turd. Eventually two of them bullied the third away and then they settled down to take minerals. This gave me an excellent opportunity to get up really close to them. When I looked back over the photos later I thought that one of them had been savaged and lost part of its abdomen but on closer examination it was holding it up between its closed wings so forming a v shape with its thorax. This is a posture I’ve not seen before and I’m used to see the side view of the abdomen below the wings.

Despite not seeing as many as I’d hoped for on my first visit to Martin Down I did chance upon them on the cliffs at Lulworth later in the month which was a new site for me. I also saw plenty five weeks after my first sighting back at Martin Down so it seemed that they emerged over a longer period of time hence my earlier estimation of how well they did. 37 Silver-washed Fritillary 30-06 Bentley Wood

Again as with pretty much all the Fritillaries it seems this year “rain stopped play” and they emerged later than expected. Yet when they did they seemed to be bursting to get going. So much so that I made early morning visits to Bentley in the hope that they would be more sloth like while they were solar charging. It certainly paid off as I managed to find them basking on Bracken, their ginger colour not camouflaging them for an instant. When the females emerged a few weeks after the males I was able to see and photograph a Valezina for the third year running. These really are stunning butterflies sometimes appearing coppery with other times the purple blue showing more prominently.

In terms of numbers it felt like they held their own this year maintaining their numbers. One of my favourite times seeing them was at Alice Straits as they seemed to be everywhere. At one point we found a pair mating and they were clinging to someone’s chest! Once they separated the male shot through presumably to find another female leaving the recently impregnated female to her own devices. She took a tour around us before settling on my daughter’s hat. She was so settled we even managed to transfer the hat from the head of my daughter to the head of Philzoids daughter without disturbing her. Eventually the female seemed to recover and took off. Which got me wondering – how quickly after fertilization are females ready to lay eggs? 38 Marsh Fritillary 26-05 Wiltshire Wood

I tried a Wiltshire Wood for Marsh Fritillary this year instead of Hod Hill and from the two visits I made things looked dire for this species. My first was almost a whole month later than last year (and those from 2011 were a few weeks later than the firsts of the year), a single on a glorious sunny day (yep we actually had a few of those though it didn’t feel like it). It was a striking sight with the red/orange squares really showing well as it landed after one of its jinking flights.

On my second visit I again only saw one individual. This time I made an evening visit and the light was fantastic. When the sun was out it appeared brown and then when the sun dipped behind a cloud it turned black. Another advantage of visiting in the evening was that in the cooling air it was less active so I was able to get up to within a few inches of it while it was feeding from Tormentil (at least that’s what I think it is?) and I wasn’t too impressed by its table manners!

Whilst I only saw singles from my site I have to bear in mind that they have never been in great numbers here anyway. Also reports from other areas of the county were good. So overall things seemed okay for the species – just dire for the one particular site that I visited, with only singles perhaps that will be it for the Wiltshire Wood? 39 Glanville Fritillary 09-06 Wrecclesham

I didn’t check out my mainland site this year in order to not put undue pressure on it in terms of trampling and also so I didn’t let slip where it was. Instead I visited Wrecclesham for the first time which means that it’s difficult for me to judge how well they’ve done this year in real terms as this is an “artificial” population which was first released 10 years ago. Speaking to people that had visited the site before all said that they felt the numbers were down here on last year. So if this is the case what could have caused the decline? It could be that perhaps not as many were released this year to “top” the numbers up, perhaps the bad weather kept the breeder indoors when he could have been planting Glanvilles instead? Perhaps the population is actually stabilizing and these are minor fluctuations while it reaches the correct sustainable level? Possibly the isolation has led to an accumulation of damaging genes in the gene pool or could it be that the population has lasted for as long as it could have lasted? I’m not sure which could be the correct reason(s) for their apparent drop in numbers at this site. Hopefully it was just a blip due to the weather and next year they will be back in full force as I really enjoyed them. I know that perhaps some view this as “cheating” but I am of the opinion that they are a boon to the natural populations on the Isle of Wight. Why go to all of the trouble, expense and why produce all that excess CO2 to travel to the Isle of Wight to try and find Glanvilles, then stomp around their delicate habitat and still not possibly see them when you can travel a shorter distance, walk around a waste land and photograph buckets of them?

My single trip this year produced mating pairs, top shots, under wing shots as well as an aberrant. Probably my favourite Fritillary, though I have yet to see Heaths?! Have a goodun
Wurzel

(Taken at Bristol Zoo and researched using the first couple of websites that came up on google)

Half of what I say is meaningless
But I say it just to reach you
Julia

This is a member of the Nymphalidae family in the sub family Heliconiinae and is the only member of its genus with 15 subspecies. It was named in 1775 by Fabricus as Dryas iulia and has the common names of Julia or the Flame among many others. The female does appear slightly duller with more black on the wings and in this feature it can be highly variable.
Its normal range extends from Brazil north to Florida and Texas and in good years it may reach as far north as Nebraska. It was thought to be toxic to birds but as it doesn’t feed on pollen but on nectar this isn’t the case and so it has a relatively short life expectancy of several weeks in the wild.
It can be found in deciduous woodlands but prefers the clearings and more open areas on the edges. When feeding it demonstrates behaviour called “trap-lining”. This is where it flies along a set route of nectar sources each day. This might be useful if it displays the same behaviour in captivity as you could just sit and wait along the route for it to come to you. It is popular in captivity as without predation it is long lived as well as flying during the day and is spectacular in appearance. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Browns

I often feel sorry for the Browns because, despite a few notable exceptions (Marbled Whites and the rarer species), I often seem to overlook them due to their ubiquity. Other reasons for my ignoring them is because I’ve gone somewhere expecting to see a particular species and so the fact that there are browns around merely serves as a distraction or as having taken an age to line up a cracking shot of something else a Brown will appear and spook it! This year was shaping up to be the same but by developing my Gatekeeper obsession and with my new lens allowing me to get closer than previously I developed a new respect and appreciation for these butterflies, as Confucius said “Everything has beauty, but not everyone sees it”.

40 Specked Wood 30-03 Pewsey

I remember reading on the forums that people were worried about the number of Speckies this year. However for me I think it may have been that the first brood weren’t as noticeable as the subsequent broods. At first I only saw a few and they weren’t in great numbers but once we started to get some of the slightly better weather towards the end of the summer they seemed to be around in very good numbers. Could it just have been that the first brood were under recorded as people didn’t fancy venturing out in the appalling weather that we were having? I certainly wasn’t sharing the concerns that others felt as I was seeing at least a couple of Speckies at every site I visited. On one visit to Garston Wood, just before the sudden influx of Red Admirals, it was the only butterfly that I saw all afternoon and I saw and counted 6 individuals so there were probably a lot more around. So in this neck of the woods at least they seem to have held their own. 41 Wall 16-05 SPTA

I remember when these were considered pretty common butterflies and I could easily see them flying around my Granny’s back garden. Now I struggle to find them. A couple of years ago one just happened to land in my lap (not literally, just figuratively) while on a camping holiday and last year I hiked all around Pennington Marsh until I managed to track a solitary female. So in terms of numbers they’ve seem to have done the same this year as the last two years – with only a single sighting! What has caused this dearth of Wall Browns? I think I need to find a good site for them (Long Knoyle rings a bell?) before I attempt to make anything but an historical comparison of their numbers.
The single I found this year was another total fluke perhaps if I went looking for them they’d be everywhere? I was stopping off on my way home from work as I’d seen a likely looking haunt for Green Hairstreaks on the SPTA. While I was walking back down the dusty tank tracks something caught my eye, a totally unexpected Wall Brown, which then led me a merry dance back and forth across the path settling only long enough for the occasional grab shot. 42 Marbled White 27-06 Old Sarum

I feel that the Marbled Whites did pretty good this year. I saw them in good numbers at the usual sites and roughly at around the same time although there did seem to be slightly fewer of them at Five Rivers than I recall from last year. However at Woodhenge they were probably more numerous. I took to stopping off on the way to work instead of on the way home this year for three reasons. Number one (and most important) was because then I got less hassle from my wife, number two was because the butterflies were easier to approach having not warmed up sufficiently and reason number three was that it allowed me to stick to my motto of “don’t race to work, race to get home”. There were one or two draw backs like trying to explain why your trousers were saturated with dew from the knees down but on the whole I was happier with the shots from the morning than from the afternoon shots when the butterflies could be fully solar charged and so pretty active. 43 Grayling 03-08 Godshill

A good year for Grayling? It was difficult for me to tell as I’ve only seen them at one particular site so I guess this is another species which I need to try and locate at a few other sites. However I think that if they did as well at others sites as they did at Godshill then they had a great year.
At first I thought I wasn’t going to have any luck with them as I took an evening visit and saw only one Grayling the whole time I was there. Two days later I was back at the same place, this time in the morning and there were plenty. The first of the day was so battered that its upper wings were visible, then there was my favourite which seemed to sense how I wanted it to pose. Once I got to the “triangle” at the bottom of the hill they were everywhere it seemed and at every couple of steps there would be a Grayling. Again I was struck with how variable they can be with some almost white right through the greys and browns to others that appear almost black. 44 Hedge Brown/Gatekeeper 15-07 Straits Inclosure

At first I was worried as they weren’t that easy to see but as soon as I’d seen my first at Straits Inclosure they seemed to be everywhere. What was strange was that having spent the day with patrolling Silver Washed Fritillaries, seen Purple Emperors holding their territory and finally got the closest I’ve got to the classic White Admiral under wing shot the final butterfly shot of the day was of a “lowly” Hedge Brown and it was the most exciting butterfly of the day for me!
My obsession with Gatekeepers returned refreshed and reinvigorated this year, most probably because of the timing of my camping trip back to Dorset. Whilst the girls were enjoying just being on the campsite I had a few lines of line grass and a single hedge to check for butterflies. However this small area produced Red Admiral (with eggs), Peacock, Large and Small Whites, Meadow Browns, a single Smessex Skipper, Comma and plenty of Hedge Browns. So I settled down to try and photo as many of the individuals as I could with special attention being paid to the Hedge Browns.
Once back home they were at almost all of the sites I visited from Martin Down to Godshill, Five Rivers to Shipton Bellinger. I even had three in my garden at one time, which is a bit of a record and three times the usual amount to see at any one time. So over all I feel that Hedge Browns had a good year despite the slow start. 45 Meadow Brown 13-06 Five Rivers

These were a good fortnight later than last year and they certainly seemed to take a while to build up to their usual high numbers but they got there in the end. So not too bad a year really for Meadow Browns with them still in reasonable numbers but perhaps not as many as usual? Having really started to take a bit more notice of these “common” butterflies I noticed three things in particular about this species this year. First was the glorious petrol like sheen on their fore wings when the light strikes them just so. It’s just a Brown butterfly one minute and the next instant it’s a technicolour marvel and this really highlights the dark band of scent scales on the males. The second thing I noticed was how variable the females can be in terms of the orange on their hind wings. All the books have the females with drab, monotone brown hind wings whereas I found some with orange blocks that took almost all of the hind wings. Finally sticking with the females, I noticed the golden wing scales on their forewings that looked absolutely stunning when they caught the sun.
So a couple of things to look out for again next year, I wonder what else I’ll notice? 46 Small Heath 19-05 Middleton Down

I don’t know why but despite them flying up whenever and wherever you put your feet down I have a gut feeling that they weren’t quite as abundant as last year. I can recall seeing them everywhere I’m just not sure that I was seeing them in the same numbers? I certainly didn’t see as many at Five Rivers this year as I usually do but on the other hand there were about the same at Martin Down as previous years. Nope I really can’t call this one. The problem is that I got so used to them being around over the last couple of years that at times I’ve stopped noticing them. For other species like the Blues or Fritillaries which are more obvious or which you’re used to seeing at particular sites and not expecting many of it’s easier to go with a general feel. You’re dealing with the difference between 20 and 30 say, but with species like the Small Heath it could be in the hundreds so a difference of 10 isn’t going to be that apparent apart from a nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right. I could and indeed hope my gut is wrong but the proof will become apparent next season. 47 Ringlet 27-06 Old Sarum

These seemed to emerge at around about the same time as last year and they seemed to be in very good numbers. In fact at times they seemed like the most common butterfly species and they almost replaced Meadow Brown as the “spookiest” butterfly. By this I mean that it spooked the other butterflies I was trying to get shots of the most times. I’d just be lining up for the shot and a Ringlet enters from stage left, and in a fraction of a second there is no shot *$@#!
Was it a good year for Ringlet because they got their timing right? Were the few weeks of sun in March followed by the rain conducive for their larval food plants? They certainly seemed to have a cracking year with sightings across most sites throughout their flight period. On individual really stood out but was a right pain to capture on film as it were. the spots were very heavily “eyed” I’m just gutted that I didn’t get a better shot as unfortunately it was a warm afternoon and it was very active and intent on feeding. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great review on the Browns Wurzel.

Have to agree with your findings overall. Specklies:- no problem with numbers this year, but Gatekeepers were down in the sense you described for the Small Heath. I saw hardly any ‘False Hairstreaks’ during my quests for Brown Hairstreak at Bookham this August . I missed their distracting presence, something to keep the interest up whilst waiting for a Brostreak to put in an appearance. Elsewhere too, they didn’t seem to be as abundant as they were in 2011.

Meadow Browns were the opposite, can’t ever remember seeing so many with best numbers in August and September

Another cracking report Wurzel and some interesting observations

I too had no problem with seeing Speckled Woods with 4 or 5 seperate individuals in my garden at once on a few occasions plus reliably showing up at most local spots.

Gatekeepers were down a bit in numbers around by me but Meadow Browns were everywhere in massive numbers, as were Ringlets during their shorter flight period.

I agree that Small Heath seemed to be down, popping up in most places but nowhere near as many as last year.

I only saw Wall Brown and Grayling during my week in Dorset, Grayling especially seemed to be doing well.

Cheers,

Neil F.

This has been a most enjoyable out of season commentary, Wurzel.

Now that you've 'nailed' Gatekeepers and Green Hairstreaks, I wonder which species are going to become your targets for 2013?

Cheers Philzoid for your kind comments - it's interesting to see how some do better in different areas than others.

Cheers Neil If my planned house buy goes ahead (never count your chickens before you've exchanged contracts) I'm going to have to do without a garden next year How will I find my Speckies so easily then?

Cheers David "Now that you've 'nailed' Gatekeepers and Green Hairstreaks, I wonder which species are going to become your targets for 2013?" It's like you've read my mind David - I'm intending to fill up on food and wine and then settle down to some reflection on 2012 and forward planning for 2013 with a bottle of Port or Jack! I'll keep you posted with what I come up with

The Clipper, Parthenos sylvia (Cramer, 1776)

This is a Nymphalid with 2 other species in genus and the species itself has about 30 different subspecies which are all found in South and South East Asia. The different sub-species represent a “cline” which is a gradual change in a phenotypic character or feature across the range of a species or population. The phenotypic change is the colour of the wings and ranges from Green (India) to Blue (Malaysia) through to Brown (Philippines). Despite these changes it doesn’t show sexual dimorphism with the female looking very similar to the male just being larger in size.
It is a tropical forest dwelling species which favours tree lined rivers. It beats its wings between the horizontal and just below which gives it a very fast flight which it also alternates with short glides. It regularly lands from its strong flights when it swoops to the ground to drink before returning to its original perch. If disturbed while drinking it has been observed to fly up to about 3 metres before resettling back on the deck – something worth remembering when trying to get photographs in a busy butterfly house! Have a goodun

Wurzel

My 2012...
With the Christmas spirit almost completely drunk and my species review completed I thought that now would be as good a time as any to complete my review of 2012.

First up the lows...
As for most butterfly enthusiasts 2012 will be remembered negatively for two things in particular. The first I’ve mentioned time and again in my review of the butterfly groups – and that was the low numbers of most species. It felt like few species did well in 2012, with some holding their own and a lot did badly, the Blues in particular along with Small Heath, some of the Whites and Purple Hairstreak (this last one is a personal feeling).
The second “thing in particular” was the weather. It was terrible and still is. We had a heat wave at the end of March which lulled us all into a sense of false optimism and raised our expectations to great heights from which the fall was severely bruising! There were one or two periods of reasonable weather and it felt like the butterflies knew something that we didn’t as they seemed to cram all their activities into these brief respite windows.

From a personal perspective and apart from those already mentioned I had only a few “lows”. I was disappointed to miss out on the Large Blues at Collard as I just didn’t find a window of time what with work, family and making trips for other species to try for this species for the first time. I was gutted to have missed out on the Monarch but again I couldn’t find an opportunity to get down to Portland plus I’d used all of my brownie points!
However the biggest low for me was the immense amount of time and effort that I vainly put into to trying to find Green Hairstreaks!

Enough maudlin on with the Highs!
And for such a poor year there were actually many, many highs! In terms of lifers my “high” was Lulworth Skipper. I still can’t work out why I didn’t try for this species before as with it lasting until into August there are plenty of opportunities to try and get photographs of it. Enjoying the natural spectacle of Lulworth Cove and its skippers with the machine gun fire and RPG’s for accompaniment has got to be one of my abiding memories of 2012. The best trip was to Wrecclesham and Botany Bay with Philzoid and our daughters where not only did we find plenty of Glannies, as well as enjoying excellent company but an afternoon jaunt to Botany saw me get my first ever Wood Whites. The small triangular clearing was an amazing place with Orange Moth, Longicornis bees, three species of Skipper and the ethereal Wood Whites loosely flapping in the breeze. A brilliant day and site! Every year I look through the forums enviously at the one that got away – and for the previous two years that was the Purple Emperor – seen both years but not photographed! Well 2012 was an improvement high as finally His Nibbs graced me with his presence. He must have had word with Her Grace as well as not only did I manage to photograph three different males but also an Empress! Perhaps my personal favourite moment was the evening when I discovered two Grizzlies on my local patch. I wasn’t expecting much, if anything to be honest, so to suddenly find two roosting Grizzlies on my local patch where they haven’t been recorded was just fantastic! Targets...
All of the reminiscing and reflection on 2012 has left me itching to get out and get butterflying again but unfortunately the best I can do is start to think ahead and lay the groundwork for next year. So here are my targets for 2013 (any assistance gratefully received )

1.) Finally visit Collard for Large Blues as its just down the road from me.

2.) Continue going “local” and try for a few more visits 5 Rivers next year as after a strong start they kinda petered out as the season finally got underway. I might possibly try to find new patch in the local area to check out?

3.) My main target for a Lifer is Heath Fritillary and I’ll probably try to make an overnight drive to East Blean and get a bit of kip in the car park as its over 3 hours drive away. But it will be an adventure! I would also like to see High Brown Fritillary but I think I might have to leave that until 2014...

4). Species I feel I need to get improved shots of are definitely White-letter Hairstreak as I’ve been lucky enough to photograph them without really trying and the price I’ve aid is that they’ve been worn or distant. Some really close, fresh shots would be great. And after the strife and torment of 2012 I really need to find a local and reliable site Greenstreak!

Have a goodun, 2013 that is!

Wurzel

Prepona laertes

This is a member of the Nymphalidae of the Blue or King Shoemakers and originates from Central and South America. It was previously called Potamis leartes (Huber 1811). I’m not really sure which “subspecies” this is there is great variation and there are a huge number of forms and subspecies. However most of these subspecies are now considered to be “synonyms”.

I’d not come across this word before in a Zoological context so I did a bit of Googling synonyms. As far as I can work out in informal terms a taxonomic synonym is where the same species is given two different names and one is superseded; so some of the many subspecies could actually be the same species. It comes around because of new insights into their ranking in a taxon or the discovery of an older name which will then have priority. These are subjective synonyms and are due to the wide range of variation seen in the species. A common example is Apatasaurus replacing Brontosaur.

Back to the butterflies...they dwell in tropical forests and have a strong and rapid flight. They also have a habit of settling on projecting branches (good to know for photography) and are not easily alarmed (another usueful fact to remember). They feed on animal dung and fermenting fruits and this later food source along with its attractive appearance and its habit of settling mean that it is very popular among collections. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Wurzel wrote: Targets...
All of the reminiscing and reflection on 2012 has left me itching to get out and get butterflying again but unfortunately the best I can do is start to think ahead and lay the groundwork for next year. So here are my targets for 2013 (any assistance gratefully received )

1.) Finally visit Collard for Large Blues as its just down the road from me.

2.) Continue going “local” and try for a few more visits 5 Rivers next year as after a strong start they kinda petered out as the season finally got underway. I might possibly try to find new patch in the local area to check out?

3.) My main target for a Lifer is Heath Fritillary and I’ll probably try to make an overnight drive to East Blean and get a bit of kip in the car park as its over 3 hours drive away. But it will be an adventure! I would also like to see High Brown Fritillary but I think I might have to leave that until 2014...

4). Species I feel I need to get improved shots of are definitely White-letter Hairstreak as I’ve been lucky enough to photograph them without really trying and the price I’ve aid is that they’ve been worn or distant. Some really close, fresh shots would be great. And after the strife and torment of 2012 I really need to find a local and reliable site Greenstreak!

Have a goodun, 2013 that is!

Wurzel

Wurzel, you could always try south Wales for HB Frit. I'd happily show you where they're to be found.

As for Heaths, aren't the Exmoor ones considerably nearer for you?

Personally, I'm determined to track down Black Hairstreaks, and if the weather's kind, maybe whizz up to Scotland for Chequered Skipper and the artaxerxes form of Northern Brown Argus.