Maximus

[Maximus]

Thanks David, the open wing shot was lucky

Thanks Trevor and Pauline To put your minds at ease... When we made our visit to Chiddingfold we parked at the Botany Bay entrance. We noticed that some resurfacing work had been carried out around the entrance area. As we walked down the track the resurfacing ended quite soon, and when we crossed the bridge it was the normal sandy track as it was last year. There was no sign of any resurfacing anywhere else, should be good this year for HIM

Thanks Kev, the open wing Wood White was tried for, but must be put down to pure luck

Hi Goldie, glad you like the Dukes

[Willrow]

the open wing shot was lucky

Methinks your being very modest Mike...some great recent images, allied to interesting comment!

Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Wurzel]

Fantastic Wood White shots Mike, especially the open wing shot, absolutely cracking

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

HI Mike,

PBF. ab. it is then !. Thanks for the input.

All the best,
TREVOR.

[Maximus]

Cheers Bill

13th May


As today was our 26th wedding anniversary we decided to celebrate it (in style ) by visiting two sites, one in Wiltshire and the other in Hampshire. Setting off early we arrived at the first site to find no other cars parked in the layby. As we were about to hop over the style into the site we were greeted by an easy going male Orange-tip..

..photos taken, we headed up the path and immediately found some lovely Green Hairstreaks some of which were battling with each other before settling back onto their chosen perch..

.. it wasn't long before we spotted the first Marsh Fritillary..

..and as we walked onto the hillside we found Marsh Fritillaries everywhere. It's quite amazing how the patterning and colouration of the wings differ between individuals. Getting a shot, however, was not always easy as the males were very hyperactive.

We also saw several mating pairs.

..and also saw our first Brown Argus of 2015.

Satisfied after a fantastic morning at this lovely site, by 1pm we decided it was time to make a move to the second site of our choice ...

[trevor]

HI Mike,
From your description of the Marsh Fritillary site, i'd say you were at Cotley Hill. We went there last
year, and the only word to use is ' fabulous '. Probably the most species rich day of 2014.

Best wishes,
TREVOR.

[Goldie M]

I'm so envious of what you saw Lovely photos as well and a happy Anniversary well spent Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Great report and photos Mike, hard to pick out any favourites but I particularly like the Marsh Fritillaries

Cheers,

Neil.

[bugboy]

Your Marsh Frits are really wetting my appetite. I'm hopefully visiting Wurzels site in a couple of weeks to have my first ever Marshie experience (as long as the weather behaves itself). Really looking forward to it

[David M]

Lovely, striking images of the Marshies.

If the weather ever warms up here in south Wales, I hope to be seeing a few myself soon.

[Maximus]

Hi Trevor, you're correct - Cotley Hill it was and fabulous is an understatement

Thank you for the Anniversary wishes Goldie where's your nearest Marsh Fritillary site?

Thanks Neil, the Marshies were great

Hope your appetite is truly wetted bugboy, you're really going to enjoy this one Great that you saw your first Dukes/Duchesses. Now you know just how fabulous they are

Thanks David, I'm sure the weather will improve in your area pretty soon so you'll get the chance to see some Marshies too


...As we were about to leave Cotlley we got word that there was a traffic hold up in Wilton, so we plotted another route to our second destination. We headed across Salisbury Plain through beautiful countryside taking a right at the Stonehenge Visitor Centre and headed south to Salisbury, thereby missing the hold up. Here we saw reference to Larkhill and commented that Wurzel probably passed this way quite frequently on his sorties. Heading up the A30 we hung a right, passed through East Winterslow and finally pulled into Bentley Wood carpark at about 2.30pm.
We made our way to the Eastern Clearing and the first butterfly we saw was a Pearl-bordered Fritillary. They appeared in reasonable condition considering they have been out here for a while, and although they were flying like dingbats in the hot sun, with patience we got some reasonable shots.

We also saw a single Duke and single Grizzled Skipper.

We chatted to a chap who had carried out a count of PBF and had a final figure for the day of forty two.....hang on, isn't that the "Answer to The Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything" according to the Hitchhikers guide to the Galaxy

[bugboy]

That Grizzled underside is a real corker of a shot!

[Goldie M]

Hi!, Max, my nearest Marsh Ft's sight is way up passed the lakes near Carlisle, I've never been there yet the butterflies were introduced there and are doing well.
Your latest photos are great, can't get out here it's raining and it's been so cold, hope fully the weather will get warmer before long Goldie

[Willrow]

So many cracking images to view... I'm overwhelmed...absolutely super stuff Mike

Kind Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

[Wurzel]

Ah Mike if you'd hung a left at the Stonehenge visitor centre you'd have seen the small miracle that is 'Larkhill' you really missed out there - I had my first onsite Dinghy there last week Any Small Pearls noted in the book at Bentley?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Just catching up Mike. Great images recently especially the Marshies mating. Great find.

[Pete Eeles]

Our doubts are that there are twenty eight of them and that they have been laid near the mid-rib of the underside of the Cowslip leaf

And they're also not as spherical as those I've seen and photographed. No idea what they might be though!

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi Mike - this has been bugging me for a while and I had the opportunity to get some shots of Duke ova today, and made a point of taking a shot "side on", and they're not at spherical as I made out ... see below. However, I'm still not sure what your eggs might actually be - while they could be Duke ova, their number and their location (away from the edge of the leaf) would, as you say, suggest some other critter.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Maximus]

Thanks Bugboy

Thanks Goldie, hope the weather has improved for you now

Thanks Bill

Sorry for the late reply Wurzel and sorry we missed Larkhill, it's that good is it Glad you got your first Dingy there though. No 'definite' Small Pearls in the book when we were there.

Thanks Pauline

Hi Pete, interesting comment and photos of the Duke eggs. I've now seen another shot of Duke eggs laid away from the edge of the leaf. Also on The Purple Empire site, June 2014, there's a photo showing 48 Duke eggs on a single Cowslip leaf, so the number and location may not necessarily rule out Duke ova. It would be nice if they were DoB Cheers, mike.



Isle of Wight (part 1)

We have just returned from a few days break on the Isle of Wight. The main reason for our visit was to hopefully find some Glanville Fritillaries, more of that later. On our first full day the weather was not brilliant with a strong Northerly gusting wind. We therefore decided to head for Bonchurch Down which, being South facing, we hoped would provide some shelter from the elements. When we arrived at the gate onto the down it was much warmer, as we had hoped, the high Down acting as a wind break. We soon saw the first butterflies of our trip, some beautiful fresh Common Blues along with plenty of stunning Brown Argus..

...walking further along the down we soon spotted several stunning male Adonis Blues..

...we watched as a male chased and caught a female, which had probably recently emerged, and they paired. However they settled in the long grass, so shots would not have been ideal, nice to see them though. We then watched a male Brown Argus chasing a female and saw them land together. Making our way down to the spot where they had settled we were greeted by an amazing sight, something we'd never seen before...

...the little male Brown Argus was paired with a a female Adonis Blue!!!

I'm not sure how often that this occurs, but it was amazing to witness. We left them and made our way back to the car. We encountered several Wall Browns along the path but got no shots of them, they're so easily spooked! we also noticed that since our last visit in 2014 large parts of the Down had become overgrown with bramble, and the grass was much longer too. Fortunately the part where we had seen the Adonis Blues was fine, perhaps kept shorter by the rabbits, whose droppings were everywhere. To be continued...

[Pauline]

What a fantastic find Mike I have read that such pairings happen more often than we realise but I certainly have never seen one. Well spotted and great shots to boot

[Goldie M]

I agree with Pauline Mike, I also would love to see the end result From this pairing and what lovely photos as well Goldie