www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

A trip to the old Burwell Railway Cutting yesterday afternoon - scene of hundreds of Chalk-hills earlier this year - revealed a very dry and dusty track with little green vegetation and very few flowers at all . Only half-a-dozen Small Heath, a couple of Small and Large White, a couple of Small Copper and 3 elderly Chalk-hill ladies still hanging-on.

Very little to report of late, other than plenty of Small Whites on my travels through South London's streets. A quick outing on 2nd revealed a pristine Small Copper alongside a trashed 2nd generation individual, a couple of tatty Common Blues, a worn Brown Argus, Green-veined White and a few Meadow Browns. Haven't even seen a Brimstone yet!

Oh yeah, just one other thing to report. I rather cheekily asked Sami to marry me...and she said YES! (but only after a lot of tears and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep noises!)

A very happy Gibster.

Gibster wrote: Oh yeah, just one other thing to report. I rather cheekily asked Sami to marry me...and she said YES!

Congratulations to the pair of you. I guess you'll be honeymooning somewhere obscure where interesting subspecies are found?

Many congratulations!

Dave

congratulations to you both.

Chris

With a reasonable forecast from a couple of days back, I took an extra day off work today and went to Denbies. The sun shone, and the declining butterfly population took to the air. I saw Adonis Blue (mostly females, but a couple of males still in reasonable condition), some Chalkhill females, two or three Brown Argus, a male Common Blue, some Small Coppers, and lots of Small Heaths and Meadow Browns. Many of the latter seemed surprisingly new.

Returning home, I did a proper tour of my local patch, and found the wooded bits full of Speckled Woods, plus several new Commas, a few Whites, a Peacock and numerous Red Admirals on the ivy flowers. The grassy expanses still had a good number of Small Heaths, as many as I'd seen at Denbies, plus a brand spanking new Common Blue male. I arrived home to find a Small Copper meandering along the grassy verge, and a Holly Blue investigating the (non-flowering) ivy on the side of the house. On the same piece of burdock as one of the Commas sat a Silver Y moth, looking freshly emerged as well.

The season is indeed not (quite) over.

Dave

Gibster wrote:Very little to report of late, other than plenty of Small Whites on my travels through South London's streets. A quick outing on 2nd revealed a pristine Small Copper alongside a trashed 2nd generation individual, a couple of tatty Common Blues, a worn Brown Argus, Green-veined White and a few Meadow Browns. Haven't even seen a Brimstone yet!
Oh yeah, just one other thing to report. I rather cheekily asked Sami to marry me...and she said YES! (but only after a lot of tears and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep noises!)
A very happy Gibster.

Glad to see we got the important news first...
...and many congratulations. May you have many happy butterfly-hours together

16 September 2011
More overcast than the previous day, but there were brief snatches of sunshine through the gaps in the clouds (>18.7 °C): the approaches to Mill Hill (Waterworks Road - Pixie Path) yielded a probable Green-veined White, at least one Speckled Wood, a worn Peacock (NW corner of Frampton's Field), a Comma (entrance to the Mill Hill Cutting, SW), few Large Whites and about a dozen Red Admirals (mostly on the Ivy at the top part of the Pixie Path).

The flowers on Mill Hill were swayed in the Gentle Breeze (Force 3) from the south-east. At first there were hardly any butterflies on the lower slopes but after about four minutes, the first of an estimated 60 Meadow Browns (about 35 on the lower slopes) appeared with a few couples mating (Meadow Browns tend to fly off even if copulating), an estimated 12 Small Heaths (10 on the lower slopes) and two male Common Blues. Stemless Thistle, Hardheads and Devil's Bit Scabious were the most visited flowers for nectar. The Hawthorn scrub hosted frequent Meadow Browns, three Comma and a few Red Admirals(both on the Ivy near the NW gate), plus at least one Speckled Wood. The Triangle area of the middle slopes hosted more Meadow Browns and just the one flighty Small Copper. I saw a Small White Butterfly in Shoreham.
Eleven species

15 September 2011
On a pleasant day under a blue sky (>17.2 °C), the outskirts of Shoreham (Waterworks Road - Pixie Path - Chanctonbury Drive, passage trek) hosted nine Speckled Woods, about a dozen Red Admirals (mostly on the Ivy in the NW part of the Pixie Path), a handful of Large Whites, a Holly Blue (entrance to the Mill Hill Cutting, SW) a worn Peacock (NW corner of Frampton's Field) and a Small White.
Six species

11 September 2011
An appreciable breeze (Force 5 gusting to 6) made conditions inimical to watching butterflies on a cloudy, nearly warm (> 19.1 °C) day. Over the vegetation at the top of Chanctonbury Drive, north Shoreham, two Large White Butterflies were noted and a Speckled Wood amongst the greenery. On Mill Hill (lower slopes returning by the quickest ridge route) I recorded 60 Meadow Browns (48 on the lower slopes), ten male Adonis Blues, ten Small Heath Butterflies, four Large Whites, one male and one female Common Blues, and one Small White. All species except the Meadow Browns were seen entirely in the one acre transect area.
Ivy attracted the bees and the butterflies (especially on the Ivy on the Pixie Path near the north-west corner of Frampton's Field) notably 10 Red Admirals, two Comma Butterflies and two Speckled Woods. On Mill Hill Cutting (SW) there were three more good condition Red Admirals and unidentified large bright blue butterfly which was thought to be a Holly Blue. Another half a dozen Red Admirals, one Comma and few more Speckled Woods, Meadow Browns and Large Whites, and one Small White were seen on the Adur Levels.
Ten species

Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2011.html

Massive congrats Gibster, well done. I too wish you lots of happy years together.

All the best.

I've been lucky and already seen one Clouuded Yellow this year but have been out searching for others recently. Today I had a couple of hours at Folkestone Warren ( Kent ) in glorious weather. I didn't see any Clouded Yellows but there were at least 14 Red Admirals all in beautiful condition and a single Comma too.

Hoggers wrote:Today I had a couple of hours at Folkestone Warren ( Kent ) in glorious weather. I didn't see any Clouded Yellows but there were at least 14 Red Admirals all in beautiful condition and a single Comma too.

Lucky you. It was appalling here in S.Wales until 5pm, whereupon it's become lovely (but sadly, too late to do anything).

Gibster wrote:Oh yeah, just one other thing to report. I rather cheekily asked Sami to marry me...and she said YES! (but only after a lot of tears and eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep noises!) A very happy Gibster.

The very best to both of you, many congratulations!

I guess the race is on?

Thanks chaps, it's good news that Team UKB approve! The bad news is that Sam's found The Ring (one ring to rule them all...) so any thoughts of having two pennies to rub together have largely vanished for the moment, lol.

Sorry for the thread hijack - I just had to tell someone! To bring it back towards butterflies, we definitely WON'T be releasing hundreds of Monarchs or Pashas at the ceremony, bloody stupid idea...(although maybe Knapweed Frits at Wreccleshham...)

Cheers,

Gibster The Happy

Gibster wrote:Thanks chaps, it's good news that Team UKB approve! The bad news is that Sam's found The Ring (one ring to rule them all...) so any thoughts of having two pennies to rub together have largely vanished for the moment, lol.

Sorry for the thread hijack - I just had to tell someone! To bring it back towards butterflies, we definitely WON'T be releasing hundreds of Monarchs or Pashas at the ceremony, bloody stupid idea...(although maybe Knapweed Frits at Wreccleshham...)

Cheers,

Gibster The Happy

You won't? Oh, that's a shame. And congrats from me again.

Gibster
Good luck and well done - you seem a great couple.

A quick tour of the Cemetery this morning revealed 31 Red Admirals, 4 Comma, 3 Large and 2 Small White, and 5 Speckled Wood...
N

Gibster and Sam,
Congratulations to you both. At least you both share the same hobby, so that will ensure peace in the relationship. I hope that you will still manage to indulge in your trips, once you have paid off the mega loan for the ring, as your notes and photos add to the brillant diversity of this very interesting and enjoyable web site.

Best wishes
dave

Gibster wrote:Sam's found The Ring (one ring to rule them all...) so any thoughts of having two pennies to rub together have largely vanished for the moment, lol.

Mmmm....sounds strangely familiar!

Lee Hurrell wrote:

Gibster wrote:Sam's found The Ring (one ring to rule them all...) so any thoughts of having two pennies to rub together have largely vanished for the moment, lol.

Mmmm....sounds strangely familiar!

...yes, my preciousssss......

NickB wrote:A quick tour of the Cemetery this morning revealed 31 Red Admirals..

Egad!

I suppose I should congratulate you for the effort expended in counting them all.