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Hi Bugboy,

I love those aerial shots of the Brimstones and GVW, nice work.
Had it not been for a family emergency, I would have been at Ivinghoe beacon & Dunstable Downs myself over the weekend on the look out for Dukes. They are obviously not peaking yet.

Regards Kev

Thanks Kev. Hope everything is well with the family.

Weather's looking to improve again a bit by the end of the week so I may well try again for the Dukes next weekend, that would tie in with my first sighting there last year (16th)

8th May, Hutchinsons Bank.

It's good to see everyone else seems to have made the best of our summer before it ended (I hear its still summer up north!)

So after spending the week out chasing butterflies it was time to do a little bit of housework and award myself some brownie points, but I still managed an afternoon trip to south London. Unfortunately, due to the rather extreme (for the time of year) temperatures most things seemed to be hiding away, the few butterflies I did see were super charged on solar power and only three species sat long enough in front of me to be recorded. Dingy and Grizzled Skippers were both zooming around and a few Peacocks were active. Three Commas seemed to be having a constant battle over a patch of hedgerow and three Small Heath were busy fighting nearby. Along one of the shadier paths a Holly Blue tormented me by following me up and down, settling briefly here and there and occasionally threatening to bask on a leaf…an empty threat each time!

Weather's looking to improve again a bit by the end of the week so I may well try again for the Dukes next weekend, that would tie in with my first sighting there last year (16th)

That's just what I'm going to do if possible weather permitting Goldie

A Holly Blue is the worst tease of the butterfly world Bugboy Hope the weather reporters get it right again this weekend as I've been racking up the Brownie points ready!

Have a goodun
Wurzel

9th May, Abbots Wood.

With pictures of Pearl Bordered Fritillaries flying out of Abbots Wood at a rate of knots over the previous few days It was time to get myself some action, and with the weather deteriorating, also at a rate of knots, sooner rather than later would be wise so it was another early start down into Sussex.

It was a brighter start than I was expecting, and warmer too so my hopes were high that I’d find plenty on the wing. I wandered along the sunlit dappled paths, having regular Orange-tip fly bys. I find it quite comical how they have to stop and investigate anything pale, just in case it is a female. I followed one on his quest and as he stopped off to investigate a white leaf it fluttered back at him. She wasn’t interested and for once he got the message, leaving her where she sat long enough for me to grab a few shots. She hung around for a feed before vanishing off into the wood. With more OT passing to and fro I set off to the Pearl hot spots, having a good idea of where I was going, when coming out of a side path I saw a familiar hat. I’d seen it the night before with a Peacock perched on top of it. Underneath the hat Katrina, along with her sister, was also looking for the Pearls so off we went, getting slightly lost in the process as we chatted and missed the turning.
When we did arrive Trevor was already there with two other chaps and as we walked over to say hello, male Pearls flitting low over the ground, he pointed to a mating pair perched on some Bluebells. They weren’t in the perfect position but I’m not that fussy, I’ve never seen a mating pair before anyway. As I took some pictures another male stopped by to see if he could lend a hand to proceedings, it took a while for him to realise he was actually a spare part! After a bit I decided to wander off to the previous year’s main spot so said my goodbyes and picked my way through the Bluebells back to the path.
There wasn’t a whole lot going on there when I arrived, I wandered around for a bit and staked out a good patch of Bugle. Two males were active and I disturbed a female who did settle often for me but it wasn’t teaming with them like it was last year. Nevertheless, I made the most of what I had and came away with plenty of pictures, the hazy sun helping to enhance the colours. The female and one of the males were quite heavily marked, possibly abs. which I suspect was most likely due to the cold April they would have had to endure as mature caterpillars or pupae. enough pictures yet....I got a bit carried away...
As the day wore on clouds thickened but the temperatures remained high enough to keep the males active.

Other life disturbed in my ramblings included this little Common Lizard, I called him ‘Stumpy’ since he had lost his tail which was only starting to grow back And a rather handsome Ichneumon. It was only when it started spitting that I finally decided to go home, stopping occasionally to look for Orange-tip eggs, I only found the one, a freshly laid one.

Another superb day by the look of things, Bugboy.

That's a most unusually marked PBF by the way.

Melanism in Boloria spp. is quite common. Early broods of Boloria dia often show extensive blackening and I've seen similar in high altitude euphrosyne. I was actually looking out for it this year, as we had snow while the pearlies should have been laying down their pigment in the pupa, but I haven't seen any so far. Those are definitely melanistic individuals, Buggy. It wouldn't surprise me if, as you say, the chilly end to April was responsible.

Guy

Thanks for the comments. I was actually wondering whether the cold April would produce more abs. than normal with our early emergers and single generation species this year.

12th May, part 1 Abbots Wood.

Whilst Millard was elsewhere finding a Pearl Bordered Fritillary ab. to end all abs. I went back to Abbots Wood to have one final browse of the slightly melanisitic ones there. I wanted to try and get there early enough to find them still a bit drowsy from the night and not bombing around like loons, not easy when I’m relying on public transport but today the weather helped. It was a warm but overcast morning and getting to the main clearing around 10.30 I found them lazily flopping around and trying to bask in the non-existent sun. By the time I left around lunch time the cloud was thickening and they had started to roost again. The non-existent sun also meant I struggled with light levels all morning leading to having to use narrow DoF on most my pictures, oh well.

The first thing that settled in front of me was a very attractive Grizzled Skipper with a generous dusting of pale scales at the base of the forewings…ab? Other than that a passing male Large White was the only non PBF that was seen all morning, so here’s a selection of what was about, some beginning to look a bit aged now but plenty of fresh insects still emerging from the looks of things. One moth appeared, I think it was a Lesser Treble-bar As I was leaving I checked some of the Garlic Mustard flower heads and where I only found the one egg two days previously, today virtually every one had an Orange-tip egg which bodes well for next year.
There was very little invertebrate life around in general but lurking in amongst the Yellow Archangel I did find a little bush cricket nymph Next stop the south coast in search of Walls...

12th May part 2, South Downs Way, Eastbourne

The plan was to move on to another site for the afternoon, looking for Walls down near Eastbourne, so hoping the sun would appear I left Abbots Wood and got the seaside at around 2 under a very warm hazy sun, a complete change from the moring.

There were quite a few Dingy Skippers skipping around, some extremely dark. I’ve decided after watching them this year that they are ‘skippiest’ of the Skippers! A few Small Heath were also active And after some searching I finally found some Walls lurking along the same path I’d found them on last year, a few infuriatingly annoying hyperactive males. It’s my own fault really, I was attempting to get close to them mid-afternoon on a warm day. A Speckled Wood made an appearance whilst I was killing time, waiting for the Walls to calm down and showed them how to behave when you have a camera pointing at you... The Walls paid no attention though... As the shadows grew longer, Wall Brown Alley began to get shaded out so I followed them as they moved down the slope, discovering an Orchid, Early Purple Orchid I think, and a small colony of Small Copper in the process. Now any other time I would have been very happy to have 5 or 6 Small Copper to choose from but I was after the one male Wall that was trying to defend his new bit of territory against anything orange that flew near……. there were a few Small Heath around as well, to further infuriate the Wall, and so by default me! As 5pm approached I decided I should make a move to get home with a long train journey ahead of me but there was still plenty to see, a male Stonechat singing away in plain view of me across the path Another Wall doing what they do best... A female Orange-tip, another Small Copper and finally a funky looking Bloody-nose Beetle. They move like wind up toys !

I'm glad it's not just me who struggles to get near to a Wall... They are the most frustrating species of all I think. Those two Dingies shown how variable they are - shades of grey to delicate pinks. Nice shots, Buggy.

Dave

No I think its universal Dave, they're just little gits in general I think!

13th May part 1, Dukes

Today I had two target species, one in the Chilton’s and then another down in south London. Itended up being quality rather than quantity and it wasn’t until I got to south London late afternoon that I actually broke into double figures.

So first off it was Ivinghoe Beacon for some Duke of Burgundy. The weathermen had promised the cloud would burn off before lunch, but the weather itself had other ideas with a very overcast and windy morning. Nothing whatsoever was flying as I walked through Aldbury Nowers nature reserve and I thought I was going to have a completely butterflyless morning until I noticed a snoozing Orange-tip by the side of the path. I stayed with her for a little while since she was definitely not going anywhere, what a little beauty. I brief chink of sun tempted her to wake up briefly but it was gone before she knew it. So on to the Beacon. Still no sun and not overly warm meant not a single butterfly was seen. I searched around near the car park for half an hour before wandering down to the sheltered path where again I found….nothing.

For ten minutes I peered closely at the shrubs and turf, hoping to spy a snoozing duke when just as I was leaving a small brown butterfly fluttered past and landed in the grass near my feet. Just like last year my first Duke was a Duchess. She was almost certainly on her maiden flight, her flight was rather weak and as she crash landed in the grass her wings were still very supple. Every time she tried to flutter to a new spot she seemed to find an even windier perch and struggled to sit in the gale that was whistling along the path. She readily crawled onto my finger so I was able to move her to a more sheltered position where she could relax a bit and bask in what was now thinning clouds. When I left it had clouded over again so I popped her carefully into the undergrowth, hopefully out of sight from hungry birds. Walking back to the car park I nearly trod on another Bloody-nose Beetle On my return I easily relocated the Orange-tip. She had moved onto another flower head, presumably during one of the sunny spells that were now occurring. I didn’t notice until later there was an egg underneath her. She instantly came to life when a large gap in the clouds appeared and she fluttered of to feed and bask allowing me a nice variety of shots So two butterflies in 3 and a half hours! Next stop Hutchinsons Bank

Lovely shots of all the Butterflies Buggy , your so lucky down there, up here we're still waiting for most of them to appear I went to Brockholes yesterday because Copper's had been seen there, I got a fleeting glance of one, so may be things will get better, I don't think the weather will though over the next week. Goldie

You certainly made the most of the PBF's, good stuff. I've also found Wall Browns difficult to approach when it's sunny, they're a bit of a nightmare. Lovely Duchess and female Orange-tip, very hard won by the sound of it!

Thanks Goldie . Things will keep getting better from now on, just have to keep getting out and about
Thanks Maximus they did feel hard won but like I said, quality over quantity so still worth the effort. As for Walls, exasperating.... makes it all the more rewarding when you finally do mange to bag a good shot though

13th May part 2, Hutchinsons Bank

So a train/tube/train/tram ride later I arrived at Hutchinsons Bank close to 4, thinking it was too late and I’d tried to fit in too much in one day. On the plus side it was much warmer since the clouds had decided to clear. Checking out all the usual Glanville Fritillary hotspots seemed to confirm my fears, although there was enough butterfly activity to stop me getting to bored: Dingy Skippers and Brimstones were abundant and adding a bit of variety were various Whites, orange-tips, a Grizzlie and a Peacock. I decided one more walk along the cutting before calling it a day and there it was, my first Glanville of the year, looking as gorgeous as I remember from last year. It was a good little poser in the evening sun and I only lost it when it disturbed a second and I lost sight of them as they tussled of into the distance A successful day with both targets seen but on balance I’ll probably do just one or the other next time!

Sounds like a great encounter with the Glanvilles Buggy - I haven't been there before but a visit very soon is quite likely

That is what I call a fun packed, well spent day Buggy !
Lots of species, in difficult conditions just adds to the satisfaction.
The Glanvilles are on my list, given suitable weather.
Thanks for the Moth ID.

Fantastic set of shots Bugboy Two trips is always worth it of the experience but a bit of a head ache when it comes to the sorting later! That's one of my excuses anyway Lovely Glannies, I just hope the weather is good next weekend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great collection there Buggy, weather's really gone worse here , cold today had to put some heating on Goldie

Your duchess on the cowslips photo is superb! It's been great catching up with your diary.