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In rather cool conditions yesterday on my local patch, a male Orange-tip kindly obliged to pose for a few photos. Note the dark spot on the forewings shaped like a comma and pupilled as well. I don't know how unusual this is but not something I have noticed before.

ATB

Peter

Hello Peter,
If you look on the "British Butterfly Abberations " site. there is a specimen similar to yours (although not identical) and called AB; Pupilata,very unusual,nice find ! Regards Allan.W.

Had a very swift visit to Dungeness this morning,just under an hour (then on to domestic duties!),but was very pleased to find
16 Small Coppers on the wing,several males in pitch territorial battles,for their metre of shingle,watched one unsuccessful attempted pairing,and found one Blue spotted individual,little else on the wing,except a couple of very battle worn Small Torts,both females and sunning themselves on the low nettle patches,but I,m guessing ,that all their egg-layings done,and they,re just enjoying ,last days in the sun. Had a quick visit from a single male Orange-tip and Holly Blue,in our back garden,and later in the day tried to find a few roosting O-tips along the local canal bank,but no joy.Posted a couple of shots from a couple of days back. Regards Allan.W.

peterc wrote:... Note the dark spot on the forewings shaped like a comma and pupilled as well. I don't know how unusual this is but not something I have noticed before.
ATB
Peter

I remember this was remarked on in my diary a couple of years ago. I have to say that I see quite a few like this around my patch here in the midlands, certainly common enough for me to think of it as within normal variation. Maybe a regional thing?

Cheers,

Neil.

Neil Freeman wrote:

peterc wrote:... Note the dark spot on the forewings shaped like a comma and pupilled as well. I don't know how unusual this is but not something I have noticed before.
ATB
Peter

I remember this was remarked on in my diary a couple of years ago. I have to say that I see quite a few like this around my patch here in the midlands, certainly common enough for me to think of it as within normal variation. Maybe a regional thing?

Cheers,

Neil.

After finding a similar marked one today I've flicked through my back catalogue and I have apparently seen them before , so it would seem although it's a listed ab. it's certainly not an uncommon one.

Been a fairly drab Easter weatherwise, but I managed to find an hour's slot on Saturday afternoon to take a look round Castle Meadows in Abergavenny. Orange Tips numbered 20-30, including this event where a female was giving a male the butterfly equivalent of a 'V' sign:
A male Large White was seen nectaring on erysimum bowles mauve in Linda Vista Gardens:
And this persistent Small Tortoiseshell wouldn't leave this Peacock alone. The pheromones within the vanessid range must all smell fairly similar:

bugboy wrote:

Neil Freeman wrote:

peterc wrote:... Note the dark spot on the forewings shaped like a comma and pupilled as well. I don't know how unusual this is but not something I have noticed before.
ATB
Peter

I remember this was remarked on in my diary a couple of years ago. I have to say that I see quite a few like this around my patch here in the midlands, certainly common enough for me to think of it as within normal variation. Maybe a regional thing?

Cheers,

Neil.

After finding a similar marked one today I've flicked through my back catalogue and I have apparently seen them before , so it would seem although it's a listed ab. it's certainly not an uncommon one.

Thanks Paul and Neil. Yes I agree it is probably within the realms of normal variation although a similar one by Vince in 2008 on the aberrations list is unclassified. I will certainly keep a look out for more of these in case a pattern emerges, whether it is regional or not, for example.

ATB

Peter

Allan.W. wrote:Hello Peter,
If you look on the "British Butterfly Abberations " site. there is a specimen similar to yours (although not identical) and called AB; Pupilata,very unusual,nice find ! Regards Allan.W.

Thank you, Allan. Yes I had noticed that my specimen might be ab.pupillata but the variation is so small that I queried if it is significant enough to be classified as an aberration as such. The comma or moon shape of the discoidal spot is probably insignificant too

ATB

Peter

The cooler weather seems to have held things up up bit but a lunchtime outing to Butser Hill showed that Grizzled Skipper numbers are building nicely as saw at least seventeen including this couple gorging on fox poo - the lower one has got a particularly pale ground colour and is very hairy! Nice Green Hairstreak too.

A pretty grim Easter holiday weekend in all honesty after the way we've been spoiled lately.

On Monday afternoon however, the blanket of cloud in Swansea finally broke up slightly so I ventured to Welshmoor for an hour to see if any Green Hairstreaks were about.

Sadly, they weren't. The cloud evaporated sufficiently for sunny spells of 5 minutes in length to develop, and this is usually all one needs to observe rubi as it is a very visible species within its known territories.

That said, I received recompense by way of yet another Holly Blue, this time a female pottering about the scrub in the prime Green Hairstreak territory. She was fairly docile given the intermittent cloud, but as is often the case with this species, I couldn't get the right angle to photograph her, as she insisted on resting slightly above head height and positioned either side on or head down:

The first Pearl Bordered Fritillaries out in Sussex yesterday .

An unusually fresh-looking Comma here in Crawley today. It's a male which was holding territory in a sunny corner, but surely too early in the season for it to be newly emerged.
There are Orange-tip eggs everywhere and I thought I had found an early larva a few days ago, but it turned out to be a moth.


Vince

Vince Massimo wrote:An unusually fresh-looking Comma here in Crawley today. It's a male which was holding territory in a sunny corner, but surely too early in the season for it to be newly emerged.Vince

And if it were newly emerged it would surely be a hutchinsoni. Maybe he just had an extra long lay in

A bonus day here on the Gower as the previous night's forecast had been cloud till late afternoon!

I thought I'd chance a return visit to the hotspot where I saw 50 or so Holly Blues a fortnight ago.

Alas, the blackthorn blossom that drew them in hordes has all but gone:
This is how it looked on 8th April:
There were probably about 15-20 active in this area so they're still going strong. They get good shelter here - here's a view from the opposite side looking back towards the limestone outcrop beyond:
Again, there were a couple of female Red Admirals hovering close to the ground in a mission to find egg-laying opportunities:
Speckled Woods were particularly numerous, with 30+ seen, whilst Orange Tips weren't far behind. Other species seen in small numbers were Brimstone, Large White, Small White, Peacock & Green Veined White.

First Duke Of Burgundys flying at Heyshot Down West Sussex .

Eight Dukes at Noar Hill and one solitary Wood White at Chiddingfold Forest this afternoon.

Amongst the Dukes and Duchesses at Noar Hill on Saturday 22nd was what looks like an ab. (possibly ab gracilens?) A couple other photos in my PD.
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Dave

A visit to the Merthyr Mawr dunes near Porthcawl in south Wales saw 15 Grizzled Skippers:
Disappointing numbers of other butterflies. Vanessids seem to have almost vanished (just 2 Peacocks seen). Whites were pretty sparse, and only Orange Tips kept my spirits up with 5-10 seen.

For the first outing for quite a while, I failed to see a single Holly Blue!

My first photograph and only second sighting of a Holly Blue