www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Monks Wood, Cambs

10 Black Hairstreak seen this afternoon, Females out now and Phil saw one male that was already rather tatty. Hope the coming week will be good. They are still perching above my head at the moment and doing the typical tilting thing One of mine and one of Phils

Yesterday (19/6/16) saw me go in search of the Marbled White...of which 10+ were sighted throughout the day (windy conditions didnt help).

Other species seen were - 10+ Brimstone(at least 3 females egg laying) Speckled Wood, Holy Blue, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Brown Argus, 1 Small heath, 1 Red Admiral, 2 fresh Small Tortoiseshell, 6+ Meadow Brown.

Location - Darland Banks, Kent, cheers Paul.

Female Common Blue. Image is not cropped. Male Common Blue.

We bumped in to lots of these caterpillars yesterday at Dungeness, as well as Hoggers himself, which was another pleasure.
Didn't bump into any Small Coppers though, I only need to see one, is that too much to ask? These things are part of our calendar, part of our diary.
Oh, sorry I must be feeling a bit sad with the way these are going.
I am sure you will know what the caterpillar is, I have tried books and stuff already.

thanks


richard

I think this is your caterpillar Richard http://ukmoths.org.uk/species/malacosom ... a/larva-6/

Hi Rosalyn

I knew it must be a moth caterpillar, my problem was that there were thousands to chose from.

Thanks very much for saving me a day or so of frustration.


richard

Hi Richard, To be honest I just googled caterpillar with blue stripe

Quick visit up to Haddon Hill this afternoon produced 30 - 40 Heath Fritillaries still on the wing, a few starting to look a bit worn but the majority still in good condition.
Roger

The first hutchinsoni Comma I've seen this year: my local patch near Heathrow under cloudy skies this afternoon. Dave

Hello all'
My poor ole' butterfly season plods along,with very little to report in my neck of the woods(Kent), just can,t seem to be out and about ,at the right time(weather wise), at the local woods,butterfly numbers seem well down, on my transect walk ,I saw one butterfly on the first walk,and two on the second,its just rain for most of the time,anyway a couple of pics from Dungeness last weekend,and a couple of views,one Birds foot trefoil growing along the power station fence,(with a few Common Blues,up and down),another near the old water tower,the plants are the nationally scarce(although you wouldn't think it at Dungeness !) Nottingham Catchfly,didn,t see any second brood Small Coppers,although Hoggers,managed 8 I believe on the same day,lots of good plants to see,luckily for me! and the shingle flora is just beginning to look really stunning,Hoping for better weather this weekend(and perhaps a Copper or two........please !)
Regards Allan.W.

No work today (23/6/16) so, in between the rain showers, i was on garden watch/patrol!

3 butterfly species seen, and a surprise Moth.
1 large White (fly through, so no photo) 1 fresh looking Comma, an 1 fresh looking Holly Blue (these were seen in the back garden).
In the front garden, found on the lavender, this looks like a Silver Y Moth.

Location - Kent (my garden)...Cheers Paul.

Image is not cropped. This comma also basked on the garden plastic slide! unusual crop for this image. Fresh Holly Blue. Silver Y Moth on lavender.

The Black Hairstreak numbers are reaching a peak at Monks Wood in Cambs and it will soon all be over for this year.
Today I counted about 20 (16 male & 4 female) during a 2 hour visit this afternoon.
The females were all seen ovipositing along a 50m section of ride.

That last image is stunning!

Hi Richard and Jackie, I don't know if you can easily return to Dungeness or not but if you can (and it's not raining! ) I give you my Copper- Backed guaranteed that you'll see a Small Copper (or two!)

Last sunday (when we bumped into each other just as I was on my way home ) the second brood had begun to appear that very morning and I had managed to find only 8,but today I counted 27 Walk along the power station perimeter fence then in to the Bird Observatory moat (I pointed it out to you ) There be Coppers here! Best wishes,

Hoggers

Minimum of six White Admirals on the wing along the Sweet Track, Shapwick Heath NNR, Somerset today. Also nearby in Loxleigh Woods my first Silver-washed Fritillary of the year.
Roger

Visited Morden Bog, Dorset yesterday (24th) where despite the poor weather we managed to find a few very fresh Silver-studded Blues also a fly through Clouded Yellow.
Roger

Today (25/6/16) i sighted my 1st "garden" WLH's of 2016...(see my "garden WLH's in Kent thread" for the background story)

Other species seen were Comma, Red Admiral, Large White, Holly Blue...and the 2 dueling WLH's!.

Location - Kent (in my garden)...Cheers Paul.

Silver studded blues out in force on the Great Orm, although the weather was not good to them at all while i was there.

First Purple Emperor of the year seen at Knepp Castle Sussex today by Matthew Oates https://twitter.com/ntmatthewoates/stat ... 9445063680
Kind Regards
Mark

Sunday (26/6/16) called for a visit to East Blean Wood(which is approx a 90 mile round trip for me).
On the way there, i saw some rain, and began to wonder if i had made the right choice???...But as i arrived, the rain was gone, an the sun began to shine.
I would think that there must have been 20+ Heath Fritillary on the wing.
Other species seen were - Red Admiral, Large Skipper, Meadow Brown...and a superb fresh Purple Hairstreak, that dropped out of the tree canopy towards the end of the day. I rarely get to see/photograph a mint PH like this, so i was very pleased to capture some nice images of it.
The PH opened its wings slightly at one point, but soon closed them up again...I just wasnt that lucky to capture an open wing shot, maybe next time?!

Location - East Blean Wood, Kent. Cheers Paul.
Im amazed at the different colours this PH displays, between the 2 images. My camera battery flashed red half way through, so i had to run back to my bag to grab another battery...i was sure the PH would be gone, but it was still there on my return, so i shot some more images.

Hi Paul,
WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOW!!!!! That (first photo) has to be the best male closed wing shot of a wild Purple Hairstreak I've ever seen and I'm fairly certain I've seen every Purple Hairstreak photo on the internet - not joking about that Such a stunning colouration, grey is my favourite colour because of the butterfly. Heaven is on earth after seeing that. I can only hope my local colony here in Brighton performs well. Fantastic news of your garden sighting of the male White-letter Hairstreak, another favourite species of mine, I've been lucky to have seen one in my garden previously, I hope to have a visit this year from them. I've now seen my first adult White-letter Hairstreak of 2016 here in Hollingbury, back on the 27th of June.

Best wishes,
Jamie