www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

After a few hours decorating ,I decided to visit my local site ,Orlestone forest ,Kent ,having seen a few records of White Admirals ,on the wing there ,first butterfly I found ………………………. a fresh minted male White Admiral ,and over the next two hours I found 15.
also singles of Holly Blue ,Common Blue (fresh 2nd brood male ), Brimstone , my first Ringlet of 2020, a fresh Comma, 4 Small Heath a single Red Admiral,2 Speckled Woods and numerous Meadow Browns and Large Skippers, had a look for Purple Hairstreaks ,but no luck.
Regards Allan.W. [attachment=0]P1180609.JPG[/attachment

Strange Small Tortoiseshell with white markings in the black squares - seen today in Somerset.

That looks as if something got between the wings when the butterfly closed them, perhaps when it roosted overnight. This then removed scales on both wings in the same spot to give this curious appearance. Symmetrical damage caused like this is a common source of peculiar-looking markings - even raindrops can be the offender.

Cheers,

Dave

My first Silver-washed Fritillaries of the year this morning at Green Lane Wood.

Stevieb wrote: ↑Tue Jun 16, 2020 11:35 amMy first Silver-washed Fritillaries of the year this morning at Green Lane Wood.

Those are mint, Stevie. Should be an excellent second half of June with these, White Admirals and Purple Emperors now on the wing.

badgerbob wrote: ↑Mon Jun 15, 2020 9:48 am Two Large Tortoiseshell found yesterday in East Sussex. One was found early morning near Beachy Head by a local birder and then I found what seems to be a female on the South Downs near Seaford in the afternoon. This one was seen nectaring on Bramble and hung around for 2-3 hours.

It was less than a mile from the one I found in March, but going by the fact 2 were seen today I would guess it is probably more migrating over.

Great work, Bob. This species does seem to be appearing ever more regularly in the UK.

First Silver-washed -Fritillary of the year on the Sweet Track 16-06-2020
Also
White Admirals 2
Brimstone 1
Comma 1
Red Admiral 1
Small White 1
Large Skippers. perhaps 6
Meadow Brown. numerous
Plus lots of Mosquitoes and a very large Hornet.

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I saw my first ever, ever Ringlet today (knowingly) ! It even thoughtfully settled down for a photo so that I could walk up and have a close look at it, take a photograph, be sure of my identification and store species detail in my memory for future sightings. That did prove invaluable as I saw 2 more within the next 15 minutes.

As some will be aware I am quite challenged by the golden Skippers. My butterfly monitoring venue today was absolutely overrun with Small and Large Skippers. I was able to identify far fewer than those which had to go unidentified through them being so skittish. However, the 10 that did land and allow me to get close proved quite easy to identify. I felt quite smug about that. I thank those on this forum in helping me to get to that level of confidence.

David M wrote: ↑Fri Jun 12, 2020 8:30 am

William wrote: ↑Thu Jun 11, 2020 9:11 pm Some of you may already have seen this, but if not: https://twitter.com/johngifford50/statu ... 5935006723

Final instar Large Tortoiseshell larva found in Weymouth (similar general area to the sightings on Portland over the last couple of years). Potentially a significant moment!

That is a very significant find, William. Certainly worth searching that area for more as where there's one, there should be many others.

In case anyone missed this, here's the news of the year!!! https://twitter.com/WillLangdon12/statu ... 5792940032

Well done, Will!

Cheers,

- Pete

White-Letter Hairstreaks now starting at Hadleigh castle CP, Essex. Only about 10 seen, but it’s early days. Also my first Essex and Small Skippers, Ringlet and Marbled Whites of the year, but only low numbers. Should pick up in the next week 10 days.

Sunday 14th June - Old Castle Down, Ewenny, Glamorgan

59 'large' Fritillaries (4 High Brown & 4 Dark Green positively identified)
50+ Meadow Browns
A dozen or so Red Admiral & Small Heath
10+ Large and Small Skippers
Half a dozen Speckled Woods
3 Small Tortoiseshells
3 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries
2 Painted Ladies
1 Large White

David M wrote: ↑Wed Jun 17, 2020 11:27 am Sunday 14th June - Old Castle Down, Ewenny, Glamorgan

59 'large' Fritillaries (4 High Brown & 4 Dark Green positively identified)
50+ Meadow Browns
A dozen or so Red Admiral & Small Heath
10+ Large and Small Skippers
Half a dozen Speckled Woods
3 Small Tortoiseshells
3 Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries
2 Painted Ladies
1 Large White

Cracking haul that David.

Here's a selection from todays walk around Bewley Common.

♀ Ringlet in the rain this lunchtime. Meadow Browns and Marbled Whites also flying in the rain. (Bewley Common)

A first for the year on my local patch - a Gatekeeper took me by surprise and headed up into a tree before I could get any closer. This is all I coud get by way of a record.I had earlier also seen the first new brood Peacocks, no doubt the result of the hordes of caterpillars seen not so long ago. This is the only one I got a decent view of, and even then it didn't hang around for a proper photo. It seemed unusually dark.Both of these sightings seem rather early - I don't think I've seen either before midsummer's day before.

Dave

The first Purple Emperor sighting post has appeared on Butterflies UK forum on Facebook. A reliable contributor but no location mentioned yet.

White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries showing well this morning (Green Lane Wood)

After two days of rain I decided to return to the Sweet Track, the weather did not look promising but from time to time the clouds offered some sunny gaps, my optimism was rewarded, on a large blackberry patch two Red Admirals were nectaring, then a Silver-washed -Fritillary made an appearance quickly followed by a White Admiral a yard from where I stood,  a single Peacock put in an appearance, several Meadow Browns and increasing  numbers of Large Skippers present, all in all a good result  from an unpromising start to the day.

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com

Can some kind person ID this Bug and caterpillar, Shapwick Moor NNR, Somerset. Thank you.

https://jamesgibbs6929.zenfolio.com/

Siberian Orange Tip north Scotland.

Well not quite but I was surprised to see this on Siberian Wallflower when I was tidying the garden. I presume it's an Orange Tip but it is a monster at 5 cms length.

Earlier in the week (after a tip off from a birder)I found a strong colony of Small Blues just east of Hopeman on the Moray coast. The centre of this colony is probably on the inaccessible 100 foot cliff face or in the adjacent quarry..I saw circa 30 in 40 minutes.

Jack

Medard wrote: ↑Sat Jun 20, 2020 4:49 pm Can some kind person ID this Bug and caterpillar, Shapwick Moor NNR, Somerset. Thank you.

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Hi Jim,

I believe your beetle is Strangalia maculata, and your caterpillar is a Peacock larva.
All the best.
Pete