www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

I will, David - there's plenty more to come!

Dave, this was the only one I photographed that day (and have a few photos of you photographing her) although my notebook lists one male seen as well. That might have been after you left though, I seem to recall you were there when I arrived and left before I did. Quite early in the flight period I suspect.

Best wishes,

Lee

15th June 2014 - Further Fairmile

A week on and males Silver Studs were more in evidence, although not many as the weather wasn't great.
I also found two Beautiful Yellow Underwing caterpillars, which are as stunning as the adults. They live on moorland and feed on heather.

[quote="Lee Hurrell"
Dave, this was the only one I photographed that day (and have a few photos of you photographing her)
Lee[/quote]
I'm really glad you didn't post any of those, Lee!

Dave

20th June 2014

Another beautiful sunny evening at Howell Hill, in Ewell, Surrey.

Two of three Small Tortoiseshells sunbathing on the field margins on the way to the reserve.
Howell Hill is a top site for Small Blue, partly as it is full of its food plant, kidney vetch.
It was a pleasure to see my first Marbled Whites of the year.

millerd wrote: I'm really glad you didn't post any of those, Lee!

I promise I won't

Great Marbled Whites Lee - looking forward to catching up with the next installment

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice to be reminded of how beautiful high summer is, Lee (and we've got another 15 months backlog to view!!!)

Thanks Wurzel and David

21st June 2014 - Part 1

A quick visit to Fairmile Common for Silver Studded Blue.
I also found a Comma.

21st June 2014 - Part 2

I returned to a new site in the afternoon - Sheepleas, near West Horsley. It has a huge nettle meadow, surrounded by large wooded areas and further meadows, all with different characters and flora, depending on their past use. Surrey BC had been trying to get the nettle meadow as a second branch reserve. Unsurprisingly, plenty of nettle feeders breed here.
First up though was a pristine Marbled White on a thistle in the hedgerow.
I soon found someone enjoying the nettles.
I saw around 8 Small Tortoiseshells, a couple of Red Admirals and Commas.

A Ringlet was in one of the neighbouring meadows. These were in good numbers along with Meadow Browns.
This is one of the nearby meadows which contained many different plants to the nettle meadow.
In a clearing nearby, I came across my first Silver Washed Fritillary of the year, a pristine male. There were three males along with a couple of Dark Green Fritillary.

Great shots again, Lee. Would you believe I have never visited Sheepleas? A dreadful admission considering where it is and the number of times I drive past en route to Denbies from other sites in southwest Surrey. It looks a great spot.

Dave

Thanks again, Dave.

Sheepleas is lovely, and I've been quite a few times now. It's really close to Denbies, but you could easily spend several hours at each place.

Rather than keep bumping into each other all round the country, we could always arrange to meet there next year.

Best wishes,

Lee

Some amazing habitat in those images, Lee. You look to be quite spoiled for choice in your 'patch'.

Thanks, David. I really am spoilt in Surrey

Best wishes,

Lee

22nd June 2014 - household visitors

During the day, I was visited by this rather tame juvenile starling to my windowsill, who hung around for a few photos.
During the evening, this Heart & Dart came to light.

29th June 2014 - Juniper Bottom

Juniper Bottom is another favourite Surrey location, which forms part of the wider Box Hill complex. I usually start near the village of Mickleham and it's a beautiful walk through to Box Hill itself. It's a good site for botanists and I often see local students on field trips.
I'm not sure which orchid this is:
It's a good site for Dark Green Fritillary.
Marbled Whites and Ringlets are numerous.

Great summer shots to keep us warm on this cold winters evening Lee, just in time too as my wood burner has completed the nights burn

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Lovely to see shots of the MW Lee has I completely missed them this year. Goldie

Thanks Wurzel and Goldie

1st July 2014 - Bookham Common

Purple season and my first trip to Bookham. It's a beautiful site and will need repeated visits
There were lots of browns about. Ringlets and Meadow Browns were in good numbers, plus a handful of Speckled Woods.
I saw just the one Purple Emperor, but in flight and with no photo, but I did see a lots of different admirals.
Commas seen were nearly in double figures.
One of my favourite images of a Large White.
I also also saw Purple Hairstreak and around 25 Silver Washed Fritillary.

I will return.

I only discovered Bookham last year but it's already one of my favourite places to visit