www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Brilliant, Buggy - well worth the trip up there. That HBF really did pose perfectly for you - no question of the ID.

Dave

Cracking HBF Bugboy - you're racking them up this year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great work, Bugboy.

I'm not going to get up there this year, sadly, but thanks to your commentary I almost feel like I've been!

Thank you all for the comments, it was a great trip and despite the weathers best attempts at times I managed to see most of what I was after

1st August, A day at Gaits Barrow

For my final full day up north I decided to have a change of scenery, now that I’d got my targets under my belt, and visited Gaits Barrow. After seeing it mentioned so often in Goldies diary (and also the chance for more Fritillaries) I was eager to see the place for myself.

After a little bit of research courtesy of google maps I decided a one stop train ride to Silverdale and walk from there would be a good idea, taking in Trowbarrow Quarry Nature Reserve en-route. The day started off rather gloomy and I didn’t see much at all although the scenery was nice, it felt like I was lost in Middle Earth for a while... The first butterflies I saw didn’t show themselves until around 11, a few fresh Speckled Woods were warmed up enough to bask in the thinning cloud at Gaits Barrow. I continued exploring and eventually came across some cleared areas where there seemed to be some coppicing done in recent years, the area was currently over run with Ragwort and a few Browns and a single Small White were present here and I figured if any Fritillaries were around they would be here. Sadly it wasn’t to be, as the clouds finally cleared I worked the area carefully, noticing Violets poking out of the sparse undergrowth, but nothing more than Whites and Browns made an appearance. With blue sky as far as the eye could see now, I wandered off to explore further and discovered a large expanse of Hemp Agrimony. In days yonder this would have been heaving with all sorts of insects and although butterflies were there, the numbers reflected what has become a dreadful year them. In total there were a couple of Comma, two or three Brimstones, a few ringlets and Meadow Browns and singles of Painted Lady, Peacock and Red Admiral. They all posed for me though, a selection: One thing that were out in numbers here were Common Darter dragonflies, presumably having aquatic larval stages, they do rather well with a run of wet summers. Trowbarrow looked completely different on the return walk, now in full sun with a flock of Swallows enjoying the sun and here too Dragonflies were numerous. Mixed in with the Common Darters was a new species for me, the Black Darter, our smallest dragonfly. The only Butterfly that settled long enough was the only Green-veined White I saw on the whole trip. A fresh female. I’ll end this with a few other none butterflies I came across on my northern adventure

Some great adventures 'up North' and some great butterflies seen and photographed, great Scotch Argus shots Our planned trip to see the Scotch Argus is now off until next year unfortunately but like others here I feel like I have been there just reading your diary

Thanks Maximus I had a great time. Sorry you couldn't make it up this year but glad I could help slightly with withdrawal symptoms

3rd August, return to normality… Bookham, Box hill and Denbies!

So after detailing my Arnside trek I am now over about a week behind. I still had five days left from my fortnight off work and with the weather still behaving itself (relatively speaking) it was off to some of my regular haunts to see if I could get lucky with any Brownies, Silver-spotted Skippers and anything else that decided to show itself to me.

Bookham was first, I was lucky with a few early morning Brownies last year but there were none in sight today. All the other late summer usual suspects were present though, Whites, Browns and Skippers loitering around and warming up. Moving into the wood late season Silver-washed Fritillaries were active in every clearing I came to, pretty much ignoring each other, and a freshly emerged Peacock gave me an irresistible target, they never look better than at this time of year. Obviously I also needed to check on this year’s batch of White Admiral larvae: two, I discovered were MIA, presumed predated. Ethel and Evelyn are no more but here’s Eloise, Edith and Edna all still first instar from the looks of things. After this I returned back to where the Brownies showed up last year, still nothing of them but I was welcomed by another orange and Brown butterfly that doesn’t show up as often as it should. He posed well and did a bit of stem dancing, not that there seemed to be any females around to watch him strut his stuff. A couple of minutes later another one showed up, even fresher looking and he too posed exceedingly well for me! To finish my morning off I had a common Blue and a gorgeous Red Admiral Next to Box Hill to see if the Silver-spotted Skippers are out

3rd August, return to normality… Bookham, Box hill and Denbies! Part 2

Out of the shelter of Bookham woods there was a stupidly gusty wind and I wasn’t too sure I’d be getting any pictures on the open slopes of Box Hill and Denbies. The slopes of Box Hill I found to be depressingly quiet, possibly the wind was keeping everything in the long grass but I would have expected to have disturbed more than the odd Meadow Brown and Gatekeeper.

Crossing over to the meadows around Zigzag road and the relative shelter of the hedge I found several Brimstones fattening up for winter, no Small Blues today though. Then it was time to go out into the wind again and see if the Skippers were out yet. It took some searching but at the far end I caught a few fleeting glances of something small and golden being whisked along with the wind that looked distinctly Skippery. It took some persistence and a huge deal of patience and luck but I did end up with a few pictures of my target. There were only a few out as far as I could tell, they’re hard enough to follow on a good day but with a tail wind like today I didn’t stand a chance so the only ones confirmed were the few that landed in front of me as I wandered the hillside. I was in two minds as to whether to head over to Denbies since even on a still day it seems to manufacture its own wind but in the end I decided to chance it.

Just before I got to the hillside, over the road from the car park I found a Painted Lady quietly licking a stone and seemingly oblivious to all around, each to their own I suppose, it must have been covered in lovely minerals! As I suspected it was blowing an absolute gale on the hillside and the Blues I found were for the most part buried down in the turf. On the path I found one of 2016's rarities, a Brown Argus. I ended up spending just an hour here in the end, mostly watching Chalkhills getting blown ragged but in the odd brief quiet spell I did manage a few half decent shots.

Hi Bugboy...just catching up with your trip up north, great reports

I recognise most of the backgrounds and scenery in your photos from my own visits up there over the years although Trowbarrow is one place I have not got around to visiting yet.

Cheers,

Neil.

5th August Malling Down and Eastbourne Downs

Friday was another nice looking day with a decent forecast (apart from the still unseasonably strong winds) so I decided to go down to the south coast to see if I could catch the second brood Walls, stopping off at Malling Down for some Silver-spotted Skipper action.

I arrived at Lewes just after 10 and made my way up to the Down, the first thing to catch my eye was a Buddleja covered in butterflies, just like I remember how things used to be at the bottom of my garden when I was a kid. Today there were about 7 Peacock, 3 Red Admiral, 1 Small Tortoiseshell, a Painted Lady, a couple of Brimstones, and various Whites and Browns. I sent a bit of time with these (and also stopped off before leaving), before moving onto the nearby Marjoram and the Chalkhills which were enjoying themselves there. The Meadow Browns seem to be having a second surge of emergence, most of what I were seeing were very fresh and as I watched two pair up in front of me. Several pairs of Chalkhills were also hanging around, one pair in a rather literal sense! Silver-spotted Skippers were around but not in numbers I was expecting, just the occasional one here and there. I remembered Trevor posting some SSS a day or two before my Arnside trip so I would have expected them to be in full flow by now.
Also drawing my attention was a lovely female Common Blue and a Brown Argus looking very attractive on a sprig of Lady’s Bedstraw. After a few hours of wandering here I made my way back, getting a few more shots of the Painted Lady on the Buddleja, and noticed a female SSS quietly sitting on a bramble thicket, closer inspection revealed she had a male attached. I’ve never seen this species in cop so I settled down and got some snaps of them. They disengaged after a few minutes and whilst the male departed, looking for his next conquest no doubt, the female sat around for some time and proceeded to stick her tongue out at me, mind you I did have my lens stuck right u her palpi! There was one other unexpected flyby that morning... Next off to play with some Walls on the south coast and maybe even a Clouded Yellow or two.

5th August Malling Down and Eastbourne Downs part 2

At Eastbourne I got lucky much sooner than expected. Walking along the sea front, joining the various Whites which are always here, an orangey butterfly was flitting around in one of the planted areas, looking as though she was going to lay and quite remarkably she sat for me . Of course had it been a male the results would have been a few orange blurs at best. Presumably she’s found her way down to the sea front due to the recent few days of high winds, there was also a female Chalkhill blue flying along the path, a mile or so from any Down land.

Up on the Downs I found the usual suspects, a few aged Gatekeepers and Meadow Browns flitted here and there. A Red Admiral had taken ownership of a patch of nettles and Hemp Agrimony but what caught my attention was a secondary target for the day, some Common Blues. A couple of males and females were present on the lower slopes, flying with a few Chalkhills with the occasional Small Copper.. It was still quite early in the afternoon and up on Wall Brown Alley I found the males to be as infuriating as ever. Another Painted Lady was here as well, they do seem to be turning up rather regularly now, I’ve probably now seen more than I did last year.

As time wore on and the shadows grew longer the Walls were forced to bask in ever smaller sunny patches and I was able to sit and wait for them at the choicest spots. By 5 I was at last able to get close to them, particularly one male. Any other species that grass shadow would annoy me but not for him, it was a hard fought for snap which I’m very happy with !

6th August Looking for Lulworths

Another day, another lifer. I’m rapidly running out of lifers, only 6 to go after I bag this one !

Originally I had planned to see the Lulworth Skipper at Lulworth, it just seemed the right thing to do, but I was caught out by not realising just how early they emerge there. A couple of emails to a man in the know (thanks Wurzel) quickly got me back on track and a trip to Durlston near Swanage was organised for the day. The downside was that it meant an early start, leaving at 5.30am isn’t my idea of fun but to make the trip worthwhile it had to be done!

Anyway a train, bus and walk got me there by 11.30 and I quickly set about looking for the coastal path, luckily they’re generally quite easy to find, being quite close to the coast and after a little wandering, with a few Walls tormenting me, a small dark Skipper settled nearby. A close inspecting revealed it didn’t look like anything I’ve seen before so here’s my first Lulworth Skipper I can't help but think the antennae look like a negative version of an Essex.

As often happens, once you see one they start popping out all over the place, with males and females appearing as I slowly walked along the path in varying stages of life. Here’s a male trying his luck (it wasn’t his lucky day) I noticed one female obviously looking to lay, so following her I got to see some nice behaviour And here’s the result, 6 pearly eggs tightly tucked into a dead blade. Another pleasant surprise was another well behaved Wall, I seem to be on a role with this species! I couldn’t quite get her in plane with my camera, the Gorze she was perched on was threatening to prickle me in places I’d rather not be prickled in! I also found a single Small Blue but the only Skipper I saw here were Lulworth’s, making ID very easy for me! The Bus ride went past Corfe Castle so I decided to leave a bit early and stop off there to see if I could locate any here. Unfortunately, the only skippers I saw here were SmEssex, I’m not sure exactly where they hang out here or whether its and early emerging site but it’s a Ruined Castle so what’s not to like, and there were some Common Blues to keep me occupied! Another good day in another beautiful part of the country.

Well done on the Lulworths, Buggy, and a terrific spot to see them too. When the weather's like that on the Dorset coast, who needs to go abroad? The egg-laying shot (and the eggs spotted afterwards) is amazing too.

Dave

Thanks Millerd I was pretty chuffed to grab ovipositing and eggs with my first Lulworths, plus a well behaved Wall as a bonus

10th August

A repeat performance from a week ago, Bookham in the morning and then Denbies for the afternoon. It started off quite a bit more grey and dreary than predicted and there wasn’t a huge amount flying, just a few Browns and Whites, most of which were disturbed as I walked along. I spent a few hours wandering around, hoping the cloud would thin but very little happened, definitely no sign of a Brownie! I did however manage one six-legged lifer, a Short-winged Conehead. After deciding it was a no show from the Brownies I went to check on this year’s lot of White Admirals. Last time two were MIA, today another two were gone, only Edith remains. She’s moulted into second instar since last week and has also moved, her original leaf well and truly dead now. On the return walk I was quite surprised to be joined by a world weary adult. It was still overcast but slightly warmer now and with barely a flap it just gracefully floated around like a tattered piece of tissue. Things were starting to liven up by the time I returned to the open scrub, the cloud had thinned and butterflies were actually showing themselves. Last week two male Small Coppers showed up for me, today I had the pleasure of two females. A few butterflies were now feeding on the blankets of Fleabane, most notably a couple of Common Blues, a Comma and yet another Painted Lady, no trip out is complete without one of these beauties showing up lately! A few hours later It had brightened up noticeably on Denbies. Chalkhill Blues were mostly looking a bit past their best now but there was the odd fresh one lurking. A few Silver-spotted Skippers were active, mainly around the rabbit warren where the Marjoram grows thickly and mixed in with them I found a Large Skipper. A single tatty Marbled White floated up and down the slope but most notably here were the numbers of fresh Meadow Browns. The last butterfly to be photographed was at the other end of the spectrum, I wasn’t even sure what it was until it landed, a male Large White who looked like he’d had a close encounter with a strimmer. He was gallantly carrying on with life though! Maybe third time lucky for a Brownie this year

15th August Brownie search take 3

Those pesky Brown Hairstreaks are proving reluctant to show for me this year, but luckily I had an ace up my sleeve this year. On my trip to Fermyn, PhiliB had offered to take me to Shipton Berlinger when the time was right. A few emails and a last minute request for a day off work and it was arranged… another silly early 5.30 start to my day.

3 ½ hours later I was looking at my first Brownie of the year, a female lurking in some nettle spotted by Roselyn (I’d walked straight past her!) Also here was Willrow and between the four of us we managed at least four Hairstreaks. There was some discussion as to what they were up to down in the grass this early but zooming on a few of my pics they seemed to be feeding, perhaps obtaining moisture for the day’s events? Amongst the gorgeousness was this rather drab, nondescript individual… We wandered around when they all vanished late morning, taking in the other inhabitants of the site, Common Blues, Brown Argus and Brimstones all catching my eye. Brownies could be seen flitting around the occasional Ash tree... ...but then in the early afternoon the real action started, a couple of females came down to feed on some Bramble blossom. Nectar sources were few and far between here so they didn’t go far and behaved impeccably for a small group of Brownie worshippers. They were both in tip top condition bar some missing tails on one. It was this one, ‘Stumpy’, who sat in front of us first, ‘Tails’ sat further back basking and feeding. Phil kindly leant me his 210mm lens so I could get that little bit closer. A whole half an hour went by until Tails decided to flaunt herself in front of us, to a flurry of snapping cameras. Then Stumpy came back and for a couple of seconds they sat together before a little boxing match sent Stumpy off to find another flower I finally left her when I looked at my camera to see I had about two hundred pics all looking rather similar! Wandering along the hedge a little later with Phil, he noticed one flutter down. She sat basking out of reach for a while before coming further down for some more basking whilst looking for somewhere to lay. I don’t think she actually laid anything, just going through the motions and being a typical fussy female. A fantastic day and all told we probably saw about 10 or so individuals. Big thanks again to PhilB and Roselyn for the lift and great to meet another UKBer, Willrow

Great Brostreaks Buggy Also glad that the info about the Lulworths paid off and that Corfe Castle was to your liking (mind you as it featured in Bedknobs and Broomsticks what's not to like?)

Have a goodun

Wurzel

A brilliant set of Hairstreaks, Buggy. Shipton B is on my list of places to go before the summer runs out. That almost unmarked male looks really unusual - they almost always have some kind of buff marking. No doubt it was a nice pale gold underneath!

Dave

Thanks Wurzel, and much thanks for the tip for the Lulworths too, twas a great day out

Thanks Millerd , the male may just be due to his age, virtually lost his fringe, definitely been around for a a few days

17th August, could’ve gone better

Today’s Brownie hunt was the polar opposite of Mondays. Trevor had given me directions to get to Steyning shooting range and with another glorious late summer day forecast I decided to go exploring another new site. Things started off well, no need for a silly early start and I made good time, shockingly Southern Railways were on time! It was when I arrived at Shoreham-by-sea that things started to go pear shaped. I’d checked the internet the night before to discover buses run to Steyning every 20 mins. Unfortunately, Google in this case is a big fat liar! Hourly they run and it took me a while to find a bus stop that was going the right way, only to find I’d just missed the bus . I spent the best part of 2 hours stuck in Shoreham with my destination only a 15-minute bus ride away.
Things proceeded to go downhill when I finally arrived at Steyning around 1.30. My phone, which I had used to navigate Shoreham had now died and so I couldn’t get to Trevor’s directions of the site so I then spent an hour aimlessly wandering around seeing very little bar a nice (and fast becoming obligatory on my outings) Painted Lady, some Common Blues and a few others. An hour later I decided to leave, I didn't know how long It was going to take to get home, and who should I bump into but Trevor who had been there all day and had seen four Brownies…

Just to round off the day fate decided to cause some points failures in front of my Overground train when I got back to London so I was left to wander off and look for the closest Tube station to finally get home, somewhat annoyed at wasting what should have been a rather nice day!

To cheer myself up here’s some more Brownie pictures from Shipton Bellinger!

That must have been really frustrating for you Buggy but you have some really lovely shots of BH (and the Painted Lady) which must be some consolation - second from last is my favourite

Hi Bugboy
Looks like I missed you and the best of the Brown Hairstreak action on Monday at Shipton Bellinger. I guess you were one of the guys in the field next to the main track in the morning.
I had used up all my 'brownie points' (no pun intended ) on the Saturday so only had a couple of hours on Monday. The Hairstreaks all came down after I left by the look of it. You got some pretty nice shots there

That sounds like a nightmare Buggy Still at least you got loads of Brostreaks from good old Shipton the day before - little beauties they were

Have a goodun

Wurzel