www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

"pictures of a dirt path with some unrecognisable orange smudge"...ditto
They are mighty fine Dave - especially the final one That second Small Copper is a lovely looking specimen 8)I'll PM you about Sidbury

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Paul and Wurzel - I'm going to keep trying till I finally get one in focus!

Sunday 19th May started with low cloud, but I had faith in the forecast that it would quickly burn off - in fact, in the half an hour or so between leaving home and arriving down at Denbies that's precisely what happened. Other higher "fair weather" cloud built later, but it was pretty well a perfect butterfly morning.

I was pleased to find that the Adonis Blues were out across the hillside, lots of fresh males and one or two females (though the latter are relatively unobtrusive and I probably missed a few). Also seen were Green Hairstreak, Common Blue, Holly Blue, Brown Argus, Small Heath, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper, Small Copper, Brimstone and Peacock - I was told that a Large Skipper had also been seen but I failed to find it.I also found another nice (and cooperative) Mother Shipton......and several of these white orchids.However, inevitably the star performers were the Adonis. First, the only female I was able to photograph:Not as striking as some she was still pretty fresh, but was already delving into the ground cover looking to lay on the horseshoe vetch. In fact, I realise there was another female I had managed a shot of - but she was otherwise occupied.That left the various males. There is a bit of variety amongst them, something you realise when you see a succession of new butterflies.However there was one more that rather stood out, with prominent black spots in the hindwing margins. Some of the males had hints of this, but none with such strong markings.It may qualify as ab. puncta.*

Dave

*(I notice that the Adonis/Chalkhill hybrid polonus also has this feature, but I think the rest of the butterfly is wrong for this form - though May/June is when such a hybrid would likely appear.)

After returning from Denbies on 19th, there was a bit of time in the long May afternoon to have a quick look locally again. For some reason it turned into a bit of a Holly Blue bonanza, but there were a handful of other things too......including a handsome new male banded demoiselle. I don't usually get near enough before they whizz off.I counted 17 Holly Blues altogether, the majority being females about the business of laying. Dave

I love the last Holly Blue Shot with the trees in the background

Thank you, Katrina - with so many Holly Blues to play with, it's good to see the more experimental shots coming off and being appreciated.

Monday 20th May promised more sunshine, so I chose to head north this time and once again the early low cloud did indeed dissipate (though it took longer than it had at Denbies the day before). I chose to visit the old chalk workings at Pitstone, somewhere I've not been for a couple of seasons. It seems to have been upgraded:Interestingly, as well as appropriately highlighting the Small Blues, the sign also mentions Duke of Burgundy. I haven't ever seen one here (or any spot nearer than Incombe Hole) and didn't see one today - I wonder where the info came from?

However, I did see Common Blues, Green Hairstreaks, Brimstones, Dingy Skippers, Grizzled Skippers, a Peacock and a Red Admiral - and a wide selection of Small Blues. These seemed to include more females than I usually see, so maybe their season was just a bit further advanced. A few shots of the supporting cast first.As hinted at in the first Grizzly shot, there is a great deal of kidney vetch on this site, all along the chalk banks and under the hawthorn scrub, but mixed in with the grass across the wide areas of meadow as well. Consequently the Small Blues could be found everywhere - once your eye is attuned to this most diminutive of butterflies. Sorting out the large number of photos taken has been quite a task, though with my camera frequently refusing to focus on something so small and often very dark (as fresh females often are), there were plenty of deletions...

I'll start with the male butterflies, and leave the females for a follow-up post. They are surprisingly variable, ranging from a pale grey to an almost midnight blue - all with the characteristic sprinklings of silver scales. Dave

20th May, Pitstone continued: female Small Blues.

As mentioned earlier, females of the species were easy to find today, and most seemed quite fresh. They are very dark, uniformly almost black (unlike any other UK butterfly I can think of). They also display an iridescent sheen at certain angles to the light. I managed a few underside shots too, and I think all of these were females.This next one definitely is, as she was looking to lay in the flower head.The same individual features below as well. All in all, it was very difficult to tear myself away from the site, but I felt I should at least try and visit one more spot while I was in the area. I had originally intended to go to nearby College Lake, but had forgotten that it is closed on Mondays - so I carried on up to Ivinghoe Beacon instead.

Dave

Cracking set of Adonis and Small Blue shots Daved - the variation amongst the Small Blue is great but I can't let myself get waylaid by more spot counting The Adonis are only just starting over this way so hopefully we'll get some fresh ones I think the white flowers are White Helleborines (Orchids) and they don't open up but look like they're still in bud

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Wurzel - it has been a bit of a Blues Festival in these recent posts, but fresh ones are hard to resist... Thanks for the orchid ID - I thought that's what they were, but I'm rarely sure about this subject. However, I found some bee orchids on my local patch the other day (I recognised those!) which was a welcome surprise.

Ivinghoe Beacon was my next stop on 20th May. Having parked in the NT car park, I toyed with wandering across Steps Hill to Incombe Hole, but decided to go for the shorter option of investigating the gully near the beacon itself. As expected, there were a few Dukes in residence - looking rather worn now but still full of energy in the sunshine and shelter of their little niche.There were no other butterflies down in the gully, but along the walk back to the car I saw Brimstones, a few Red Admirals and a single Brown Argus. I then headed for home, but realised that there would be still time for an afternoon browse of my local patch as well.

Dave

In the end, 20th May notched up over 12 hours of sunshine, and 22 degrees was reached locally. My afternoon walk therefore saw lots of butterfly activity to add to my morning excursions on the chalk of the Chilterns. I counted a respectable 60 butterflies from 13 different species:

Holly Blue 18
Small Heath 9 Common Blue 8 Brown Argus 4 Peacock 4 Small Copper 3 Brimstone 3
Orange Tip 3 Large White 2
Small White 2 GVW 2
Speckled Wood 1
Red Admiral 1This individual was disturbed from the ground and ended up well above my head, silhouetted against the light. All I could capture was this outline, which looks as if it was taken after sunset (it wasn't! ).

Looking back, this appears to be the last Orange Tip I saw close to on my local patch this year. Here's a bit of context for it, with Hithermoor Lake in the background.I did see a few more in Wiltshire a few days later, however.

Dave

You are becoming a master of those in context shots. Any tips. Do you use any special settings ?

Katrina wrote: ↑Thu May 30, 2024 7:02 pm ...those in context shots. Any tips. Do you use any special settings ?

The particular technique I use only really works if the butterfly is well-settled (that last Orange Tip was down for the night and the Small Copper a few posts back had found a favourite spot and was staying there!). I get the camera to focus on the butterfly as normal from my usual close-in position, with it centre frame. Then I move back, trying to keep the butterfly targetted with the auto-focus until it is positioned suitably with the habitat in the background of the shot. I generally take several shots while I can with variations on the theme - and then probably delete the majority on the computer later! I tweak the better ones if necessary with some cropping to improve the composition. I don't use any other particular settings, just adjustments to the exposure compensation as required (which I do anyway), and perhaps a bit of fiddling with the zoom.

Anyway, Katrina, I'm glad you like the results!

There were then three whole days of thoroughly indifferent weather when I didn't see any butterflies at all. When Friday 24th May arrived, and with it some sunshine again, I headed back out onto my local patch. Sometimes it's good to have a short hiatus like this, as the season evolves in the meantime and things can feel different - the emphasis changes. I ended up seeing around 70 butterflies, with representatives from 11 species today. Here is the list, as a comparison with four days earlier.

Holly Blue 14
Common Blue 13
Small Heath 12
Brown Argus 9
Red Admiral 5
Small Copper 4
Peacock 4
Large White 3
GVW 3
Small White 2
Speckled Wood 2

Taking the Holly Blues out of the equation (they are almost a given!) the increases in the summer species are the most noticeable change, rather as you might expect. They are also fresh at the moment, and make excellent targets. Brown Argus:Small Copper:Common Blue: I'll put the rest of the sightings in a separate post.

Dave

The rest of what was seen locally on May 24th was more typical spring fare (though without Brimstones and Orange Tips).

Most of my Large White sightings are of butterflies relatively high up and only settling almost out of reach - like these two.At least GVW are more amenable, like this female...Peacocks are finally running out of steam, their wings becoming ragged and their fat reserves shrivelling to nothing.There were a couple of Specklies, one male and one female, nowhere near each other, but with curiously matching wing damage. A shame, particularly in the case of the female as she was very fresh otherwise.This time, I didn't overlook the Holly Blues, despite everything else on offer. Apart from anything, when looking for new Common Blues on the grassland areas, I was persistently distracted by female Hollies trundling between goats' rue clumps or investigating birds'-foot trefoil.However, there was even the odd male puddling for minerals......and individuals of either sex nectaring on the newly opened bramble flowers. Dave

Cracking Dukes, Coppers and Blues Dave You were talking about those Holly Blues pootling about today - nice to see the visual aid to the tale If only the weather had been as convivial as the company today

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Wurzel - it was a good day yesterday, despite the weather collapse mid-morning!

Another "blank" day followed on 25th, and though 26th May was better, I didn't get to see much on my usual local walk.

The Brown Argus were all fresh, and showed subtle differences. The first one sported a fine set of orange lunules......the next was more subtly marked, with a hint of the sheen new dark-coloured butterflies sometimes display......on this one, the lunules were even fainter, and were yellow rather than orange......and then on this last one they were almost non-existent, rather like those of the Northern BA I've seen up at Arnside. They were all male butterflies.

There were a few fresh Common Blues as well, indulging their particular passion here for the grass vetchling flowers (which look like miniature sweet peas).Not surprisingly, considering the numbers of adults there have been around this spring, I came upon a nest of Peacock larvae.Nearby on the nettles was this fly - whether or not it was one of the butterfly's predators I couldn't say, but it was keeping very close...A couple of Small Coppers were around - I hardly ever see the same selection on consecutive visits, so have no real idea how big the overall population here is. They are widely spread, with no particular concentrations: males set up territories, generally widely spaced, and wait for wandering females to pass by. There is little or no sheeps' sorrel, so ordinary sorrel and dock must suffice as food plants.I had another go at Small-Heath-in-flight shots again......I shall keep trying!

Last of all, I spotted a white butterfly at a distance that I couldn't readily identify without an enlarged zoomed photo. I was surprised to find it was a female Orange Tip, having not seen any here for nearly a week. It may well be the last one for the 2024 season. Here is that very blurry ID shot for the record... Better weather was promised for 27th, and another excursion westwards beckoned.

Dave

A mislabelling of a file has meant I missed out a day. 25th May was not blank at all, and was the outing I had strangely filed away as 27th May. Is this what they call a "senior moment"?

25th May - Back to Cotley Hill - coming up soon - starring Marsh Fritillaries and a varied supporting cast.

Dave

25th May, and my second visit of the season to Cotley Hill in Wiltshire. The main target for the day was Marsh Fritillaries, and this time I was not in any way disappointed. They were easy to find, and some were pretty fresh as well. The weather mix of sunshine and cloud made things easier by making them a bit less active and more inclined to pose on vegetation with their wings open.

One of the benefits of this location is the variety of other species to be seen as well, so I'll kick off with some of these. The Marshies deserve a post of their own - and there was also an unexpected coda to the visit which featured no Marshies at all and will become part three.

Dave

Cotley Hill, 25th May: Marsh Fritillaries. It was very hard to sort through choose between the hundreds of shots of this species. I get to see them so rarely that when presented with a hillside boasting a good number of this attractive and variable species, it's difficult to hold back... I also bumped into John W. from Sussex (there were surprisingly no other Marshie fans there at all) - good to see you and catch up! I've found this one of the easiest species to induce onto a finger, so there were a few shots of that nature. At least you can keep the insect from being blown around by stray breezes! Out of all these, one in particular stood out as a little different, being particularly dark and heavily marked. Dave

After almost a surfeit of Marsh Fritillaries (though in reality it is impossible to have too many... I returned to the car - but then remembered to first have a look at the bit of path (probably a piece of old road before the roundabout was built) next to the pull-in.

This was like stepping back a few weeks in time. I initially saw a couple of Brimstones, a Peacock - then Orange Tips, both male and female. Having pretty well given up on seeing any more this year, it was great to watch them patrolling up and down the path and stopping (surprisingly frequently) to nectar.However, the last word came from a Grizzled Skipper. Quite a day, dominated by the Marshies overall. Dave

Such variation among those Marshies Dave definitely worthy of their own post I particularly like number 4 (that thick, almost band of black is very striking) and number 13 (the coloured blocks almost make blocks of colour rather than the usual chequer board)

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers, Wurzel - the Marshies were an absolute delight that day, and the Hill delivered well with respect to other things too.

Back on the timeline again, 27th May was a mixed bag weatherwise, sunshine and showers, quite breezy but reasonably warm. I stayed local and I think I did well not to get wet, looking at the horizons all around.Only six species put in an appearance today - white butterflies of all types seemed to have vanished:

Small Heath 12
Common Blue 9
Holly Blue 6
Brown Argus 5
Red Admiral 2
Small Copper 2

However, there were some nice examples to be seen.The same butterfly with a bit of context.A fresh male which from this angle shows the merest hint of where tails would be (if Common Blues ever had tails...).Brown Argus were pretty fresh too......as was this Small Heath which I rescued from being blown around by the wind.One of the Small Coppers was a familiar one.More Red Admirals are appearing, and are tempted by the large numbers of bramble flowers now coming into bloom.I keep thinking there will be no more Holly Blues worth photographing, but they persistently prove me wrong. Mostly females......but there was one male still around.With relatively high numbers of Small Heaths flying today, I continued my quest for satisfactory open-wing shots...One further species was represented - but only as a caterpillar (or rather a nest of caterpillars).I also discovered a patch of bee orchids. I remember finding a single example about ten years ago, but nothing since. Even on a relatively average sort of day here, there is always something to see.

Dave