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You're too kind David .

Skippers

July and August are peak times in my butterflying calendar, and the two tend to blur into one. With this in mind, I'll break from the chronological order and go by species or family from here on in.

I had to wait a while for my first Golden Skippers of the year in 2013. I remember in 2011, I saw my first Large Skipper on the 30th of May, but in 2013 it was the 3rd of July! Nevertheless, once they got going, Large Skippers had a pretty decent season on my patch.
They're by no means common, and a count of 7 is good for me - consequently I was delighted to spot 10 in one evening at a local spot.
I returned early the next morning, in the hope of getting some dew covered photos - and I was not disappointed. As the mist rose off the pond near where I find my local Large Skippers, I spent a happy half hour photographing the butterflies - the first rays of the sun picking them out in all their furry copper - coloured glory.
Small Skippers emerged hot on their heels, and proved equally obliging for the camera, they flew right through the summer to late August, and had the best year on record in my area. 2012's peak count was 11 butterflies at my favoured site compared to 2013's 33 - 3 times as many!

Some fantastic images William My favourite by a long way is the dew bedecked Large Skipper, one of those "I wish I'd taken that" shots

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thank you Wurzel - I had a wonderful time taking it - they are lovely little butterflies.

Lovely photos William. I especially like your female Large Skipper, beautiful, and the close-up of the Small Skipper is excellent. Great work.

All the best, Nick.

Thanks Neil - much appreciated .

A really lovely diary you've got going here William, I'm hooked

Thanks B'Saurus - the same can be said for your diary - I'm very jealous of the mating dukes .

Thanks very much William
I couldn't believe my luck, I'd only been there for 10 minutes or so when I saw the male dancing around a female, a few moment later and I saw my first ever pair of mating Dukes

You know what they say - you make your own luck .

Lovely Skipper photos William, the dew covered Large Skipper especially

Mike

Thanks Mike - it was a wonderful sight 'in the flesh' .

Lovely photos as always - keep an eye open for Essex Skipper locally which flies where the foodplant is allowed to stand uncut over the winter - arable field margins, extensive road verges and perhaps the sea walls. It will not be common in your part of Somerset but I think it does occur here and there.

Thanks Matsukaze - I've kept my eyes open for them, but had no luck. I saw them for the first time this year on the coast path in Norfolk - in habitat exactly as you described - lovely little butterflies.

Clouded Yellows

With christmas drawing near, and the weather terrible outside, I thought I'd bring forward my Clouded Yellow posting to cheer myself up. Before 2013, Clouded Yellows were one of those near-miss butterflies, whenever I saw them (on holidays abroad) they would be zooming off, hypercharged down some dusty track. Fortunately though, all this was to change in the August of this year.

It started on the 1st of the month, when I made the decision to have a mega, whole day patch walk, taking in some new sites, and hopefully, some new butterflies. This proved to be an excellent decision, and I was treated to multiple Painted Ladies, Small Coppers, Common Blues, Marbled Whites (normally quite rare in my area), a Purple Hairstreak (which came tantalisingly close to the camera), and several Silver - Washed Fritillaries.

These however, were not the highlight of my walk, that prize went to the stunningly fresh male Clouded Yellow that I found feeding on thistles. This was my first patch record, and what a way to do it - the butterfly posed wonderfully, occasionally interacting aggresively with the numerous small whites.

Tragedy later struck, when my memory card malfunctioned, and all my photos of this beautiful insect, and I was left with no record of my encounter.

Undeterred, though somewhat frustrated, I set out two days later, and was delighted to find 3 of males feeding on ragwort in a scrubby local field.
After this generous slice of luck, it seemed the flood-gates had been opened, and I found Clouded Yellows wherever I went, on my transect, and even in my garden.
Remembering the propensity of Clouded Yellows to associate with their foodplants, I went and checked out my local clover field (only 5 minutes from my home). Sure enough, there were Clouded Yellows galore, and for the rest of the summer, I had Clouded Yellows 'on tap'. This continued until the field was cut, the acres of bobbing clover heads disappearing along with the Clouded Yellows.
I was very suprised with this photo, I was initially following one Clouded Yellow (the one in the foreground I think), and when it landed, I moved carefully over to it, in the hope of getting some photos, only to find it sat on top of another! Why this happened, I'm not sure, perhaps they were increasing their surface area for basking (it was taken during a cloudy spell). Certainly, it appeared to have nothing to do with courtship, as, when the sun returned, one flew off, showing no interest in its 'bedfellow'.
I rather like this one for its autumnal feel.
And finally, one of my favourite images of the year.
Merry Christmas one and all - and my 2014 be filled with Butterflies .

William, I've just got home after a nightmare commute to London in the foulest of weather and seen your Clouded Yellows: you've cheered me up no end!!

Thank you!!

Best wishes

Hoggers

Fantastic sequence. The warm, yellow colour just adds to the mind's image of lazy summer days.

The two helice photos in flight are glorious as well.

Brilliant posting William, summer's here again and we also have a Christmas feast of Clouded Yellows

Merry Christmas to you and your family,

Mike

Thanks guys - some of my favourite days this year were spent photographing those beauties - merry christmas to you both .

Nothing "dodgy" about those in flight 'Helice' shots William, they are not easy shots to take. I think you've taken some marvellous CY photos there, I would be delighted with all of those If I'd taken them