Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Just wishful thinking Dilettante All edited now

Cheers for the ID Chris

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

Just catching up on your diary after my week in Devon, great reports and photos

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Paul Harfield]

I then fell into bad ways and stopped for another 5 minutes on the way home on Tuesday. However I didn’t stop for too long and the lay-by was filled with vans, travellers visiting for the Solstice and Police. It was quite surreal making my way through the melee and down the path, from hustle and bustle to the relative peace of the natural world.

My time was almost up so I headed back to the car, the Happy Hardcore getting louder all the while, when I was accosted by a bald, heavily tattooed and studded Traveller. After the initial “what you taking photographs of?” he was really interested and it seems he’d seen a few Small Blue and Common Blues over the day as well as Large Skippers (at least that was the identification we made from his description). I made my apologies and explained that my wife wouldn’t be best pleased to find out that I was having a chinwag when I should really be at home and so chuckling he headed back to his van.
The copper on the other hand was a completely different kettle of fish. He watched me get in the car with my camera and then as I went to pull away he stopped me and made me wind the window down before giving me the third degree in a short and surly and quite rude fashion

Hi Wurzel

I have to say you are a braver man than me Wurzel If my chosen stopping place was full of the like, I would have found somewhere else to stop

Your encounter with the police reminds me of something that happened to me when I was about 14. I was looking for moths, at night, with a net close to where my father had an industrial unit. He was working late and I had come along for some 'mothing'. As a young teenager I had yet to acquire a full quota of common sense and chose the central reservation of the adjacent dual carriageway to carry out my chosen pastime This was a short length of dual carriageway that served as an approach to junction 9 of the M27. Needless to say, within a very short time, a motorway patrol car pulled up and the officers enquired what I was up to. I explained what I was doing, but the response I got from the 2 police officers was one of ridicule and I was told to move on. When I recounted this story to my father he was outraged and made an official complaint to the police. As a result I had to go to the local Police station, give a statement and 'enjoy' a guided tour of the station. I have to say that I was acutely embarrassed by the situation and even worse, I can not recall seeing any moths at all

Superb diary and photos by the way

[Wurzel]

Cheers Jack Your story was great and made me chuckle away for an age - my wife didn't know what I was laughing about and thought that it was finally time to call the loony bin
Cheers Neil for your kind comments
Back to Middle Street

On Tuesday night I took an evening stroll over the Town Path to Middle Street. It was still war, the sun still shone and I was hopeful of seeing one butterfly at least. I started over at the pond as I’m convinced this should be the hotspot of the whole reserve due to the range of flowering plant found here. All it could manage were some Damselflies and lots of Cluster flies however.

From this area I moved on round to the football pitch, or more accurately the half pitch behind the true pitch which hasn’t been mowed to an inch of its’ life. There were plenty of bees here, busily collecting from the numerous Clover flowers and I saw 6 different species of larger bees. What really caught my eye was a male Common Blue. What surprised me was the state of wear that it was in. I think that what with the late start to the season and some horrible weather I’ve kind of missed the boat with the Common Blues – they’ve been and gone before I’ve realized that they’ve been! Still this chap played ball and after finding a more picturesque perching post he settled down and threw some shapes for me. The other good thing is that I’ve found some Common Blues and after their terrible season last year that has to be a good thing!

Having taken a fair few shots of the Common Blue I stood up straight to have a break and stretch my back and I saw a White fluttering about. So I did a slow approach and it seemed to be taking shelter under a leaf for the night. So I only took a few shots before slinking off to leave it in peace.

That was it for butterflies, which was twice as many sightings as I’d hoped for so I settled for some more Damselflies and moths to finish up my evening visit. These will give me another excuse for checking out my Apps

And so ended my return to Middle Street... I was hoping that the weather would hold but the long range forecast suggested that we were entering into the frustrating pattern of great weather during mid week, rain, wind and cooler temperatures at the weekend. Still that is one advantage of the long range forecast – and that is you can try and make the most of the good weather while it lasts...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

Your caterpillar looks like one of the burnet moths, not sure which one though.

Great Damselfly photos, the ones with the blue tail are unsurprisingly Blue-tailed Damselflies . I read up on these last year after seeing loads locally and discovered that the female has five colour forms, the one with the pink thorax is rufescens.

Cheers,

Neil F.

[Nick Broomer]

Lovely photos of the Damselflies Wurzel, Neils right, your moth larva is a Burnet, a Six-spot Burnet.

All the best, Nick.

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the ID Neil My APP only has details of three colour forms so I'll have so to do some internet research into the other two.
Cheers for the ID too Nick - does this mean that Burnet moths have two broods?

Lunch time

Last Wednesday I was growing increasingly frustrated by the ever gloomy weather predictions for the weekend and so to make the most of the warm and sunny weather while it lasted I took a break during the day , signed out and took my lunch out. I decided to check out the edges of the local nature reserve and started off by the play park. Unfortunately as I walked through the gate the mower was packing up having eaten all the tall grasses and butterfly habitat so I crossed the rail tracks and checked the small field out on the other side. A white did a brief fly-by before disappearing up and over the railway embankment and that seemed to be it for this area so I headed down the path into a damper and more shaded area. Here there were numerous Moths, mainly the nettle Moth but also some other micros too.

I checked the time and I had another 20 odd minutes left so worked my way back up hill and took the path to the left which would eventually come out at the start of the Wiltshire Wildlife Trust reserve. However I wouldn’t have time for that so consoled myself with scanning the edge of the marsh/fen land. Almost immediately something hove into view on the Thistle heads – a very battered a scarred Peacock, the deep colour faded from the maroon to a light red; eyes practically blinded. It seemed too knackered to worry about me so I took a few shots and left the geriatric in peace.

At the end of the path I noticed a few webs over the nettles and there were larvae crawling all over them. Some were a purple colour, others had white markings and others still were black and spiky. I’m doubtful that they are different species so they are probably different instars.

Time had almost escaped me so I had to run back to the car so as not to miss afternoon registration, stopping only briefly on the way for a white moth – something else to have a go at iding at – guess what I’ll be doing during the down season.

I must say that despite the mad dash to get back I don’t think that I’ve ever felt more refreshed and relaxed before afternoon lessons so perhaps this is a habit that I need to form?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Wurzel, the Six-spot Burnet has one brood a year and, over winters as a larva.

Your photo with lots of caterpillars that you have just posted, i would say they are Peacocks, thats going by the black spiky one to the top right of the leaf, lovely photo.

All the best, Nick.

[millerd]

The caterpillars look like Peacocks to me too, Wurzel. You've caught them just between instars, so you have dull, unshed skins on some, a brand new one just out of his old skin with pale spines and feet, and one who shed a while earlier, with dark spines and reasonably identifiable as a Peacock. I haven't found larvae any near me yet, despite having seen lots of adults this spring.

Dave

[Pauline]

Your Damselfly/Demoiselle shots are stunning Wurzel. The colours and detail you have captured are wonderful.

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the info and ID Nick
Cheers for the ID too Dave - that photo is a bit of a bargin - three for the price of one
Cheers Pauline, that's the wonder of evening lighting, and lots of luck!

Sneaky stop off

Last week having broken my rule of not stopping on the way home I went ahead and did it again . I know that I shouldn’t have but this year so far has been all over the place weather wise and the only guarantee of seeing anything is to get out in the good weather while you can and while it lasts. So conscience salved I stopped off for 5 minutes at the Devenish Reserve in the Woodford Valley.

As soon as I arrived I started the stopwatch and ran through the wood and the lower field to the side of the down. This is crazily steep but thankfully someone has cut foot holes to make an ascending path. About half way up there are a few terraces with more flowers and shorter grasses. It was here that I saw my first butterflies just as the sun peaked through the cloud. A few male Common Blues sparred with each other, tumbling down the hillside, all of which looked decidedly worn.

Something larger and browner caught my eye as I started my descent and it turned out to be my first Meadow Brown of the year. It was very flighty but luckily for me in one of its frenetic flights it plonked down just within range of my lens.

Down on the lower slope there were a few more butterflies as it was more sheltered from the wind and a brief foray turned up a few more male Blues – a few Adonis and Common Blues as well as a female Common Blue and a feisty Brown Argus. But I couldn’t stop for long as my time was ticking away.

In a previous post I noted that perhaps I’d missed out on the best and freshest Blues and my stop off today reiterated that point for me as apart from the Meadow Brown everything else looked to be on their last legs! Still this is my first proper visit to this reserve and hopefully the blues I saw battered and beaten today will have bred so I’ll have another chance to see pristine individuals later.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

A few male Common Blues sparred with each other, tumbling down the hillside, all of which looked decidedly worn.

Wurzel

Wurzel,

Had you considered this might be an Adonis Blue? It's just that though the fringes are worn, on the left hand forewing outer edge I think I see hints of chequering. Also, the colour looks the deeper shade Adonis have when worn - Common Blues seem to lack much colour at all in their later days. You are welcome tell me that this is miles from a colony and I'm seeing things!

Dave

[ChrisC]

silver ground carpet for the moth

[Philzoid]

silver ground carpet for the moth

Doh .. beaten me to it And Scoparia pyrallela for the one in Middle Street on Tuesday

You're up on me with you butterfly count with ST and MB (and I wouldn't be surprised if you're close to my moth count too ) Fantastic photos great narrative as ever

Pressure's on for a Salmacis Brown Argus (have been informed by Michael Harris of Durham Wildlife Trust that Bishop Middleham Quarry is the place to go and not Castle Eden)

[Wurzel]

You're right Dave it could be an Adonis Blue as they were present on the day. Your eyes are better than mine as I didn't see any chequering until you pointed it out I'll have to look a bit more carefully in future as I've made a few more visits there and the blues haven't improved with age
Cheers for the Moth ID Chris
Cheers for the ID Philzoid - good luck with the Salmacis - you've got the grid reference for the Bishops Site? Don't forget my Ringlet on Sunday, gotta add that to the tally
Lunchtime...

By Friday I could take it no longer. The thought of being trapped at work all day while outside there was sun and warmth and butterflies...ahhhh it was torturous! So in the end I grabbed my camera and lunch, signed out and headed over to the local Wiltshire Wildlife Trust – “Something Jones’ Mill”.

There was a hillside covered in tall grasses with a hedge bisecting it and paths leading down to the foot of the hill where the river runs through marsh, a small wood and proper Fen. The grasses held no butterflies at all, not even a Small Heath which I thought was pretty unusual and pretty soon I was on the circular boardwalk through the wood and out across the marsh before it headed back into the wood again. Again there was not an awful lot around; a few moths, a solitary Small White well out of reach across the marsh/bog.

Once I was entering the wood again a came across a flighty Speckled Wood. It would disappear only to reappear again back in roughly the same spot. I didn’t want to disturb it so I carried on into the wood. Where I shortly came across another Specklie, there was a small clear patch where teh sun shone down strongly and the Specklie was holding court here. He would nip off only to return a few moments later and he kept repeating this behaviour. I conjectured that this was his territory and he’d nip off to patrol the borders and try and entice any wandering females in for copulation. Whilst he was busy it allowed me to encroach more into his space so when he returned I was able to get some shots of him in various different poses.

All too soon I had to head back but on the way I saw at least another 4 individuals in this little wood. Once back at work I found I was more effective and focused, having had my lunchtime meditation.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Philzoid]

you've got the grid reference for the Bishops Site? Don't forget my Ringlet on Sunday, gotta add that to the tally

Yes, I've found a website that's very useful for Grid references http://gridreferencefinder.com/
Did I miss the Ringlet . I'm going to need to get to my SSB and Grayling site as soon as i get back

A nice way to watch specklies: A sunlit woodland clearing marshalled by a feisty butterfly that sees off everything that comes into its patch

Phil

[Wurzel]

It was indeed and was just the break to keep me going on a long Friday afternoon after a very long fortnight - still waiting for the verdict from the Gove Bully Boys - if guilty of "needing to improve" I'll be cast out and into penury Mind you at least I've already bought my camera

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Devenish Take 2

This time last week I made my second flying visit to the Devenish Reserve. I started off by checking the edges of the wood and found my first butterfly of the visit, a female Common Blue hiding away at the base of the trees. She must have flown in from the side of the Down, or more likely been blown in by the strong wind.

I then made my way out onto the Down proper and I headed straight to the side of the Down and made my way to the cut steps to about half way up. Here there is a little terrace of shorter turf and more wild flowers cling to the hillside. On my last visit I noticed that there seemed to be more butterflies present here. I spent the next few moments just watching the Blues chasing each other along the side of the Down. The showy Adonis Blues would be hassled by the slightly duller and therefore more envious (?) Common Blues and the Brown Argus would just attack anything that came within an inch of their airspace. I had to tear myself away and remember that I wanted to get some photos and that time was ticking away.

As I was watching a larger, brown butterfly joined in the fray – my second Meadow Brown of the year. It was very flighty which is something that I seem to forget every year and it always takes me by surprise how fidgety they are. Luckily I managed to use some of the long grass to hide myself in order to make a close approach, a bit like a lumpy Cheetah. I’m sure that I’ll soon be cursing these Brown beauties as they spook another butterfly that I’m trying to photograph but for today they were the find of the day...or so I thought.

Just as I was almost at the bottom of the cut steps on my way back to the car I had to stop as a Brown Argus, a lot fresher than the individual I’d seen on my previous visit, was twirling round a flower head and throwing all kinds of poses. Due to this engaging performance it stole the accolade of “star of the day” from its bulkier distant cousin.

This Reserve is turning out to be a bit of a hidden gem and is currently vying for my affections with Five Rivers and Middle Street. It’s definitely somewhere where I’ll have to visit properly so as to get more than just a feel for its treasures.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

....Luckily I managed to use some of the long grass to hide myself in order to make a close approach, a bit like a lumpy Cheetah....

Oh, that puts so many pictures in my mind

Those Meadow Browns do it on purpose, they wait until you are just in range to take your shot and off they go, I swear I can here faint laughter on the wind

Cheers,

Neil F.

[David M]

....Luckily I managed to use some of the long grass to hide myself in order to make a close approach, a bit like a lumpy Cheetah....

Oh, that puts so many pictures in my mind

Those Meadow Browns do it on purpose, they wait until you are just in range to take your shot and off they go, I swear I can here faint laughter on the wind

Cheers,

Neil F.

LOL! I know what you mean. They're proper teases early in the season, and when they're ragged, faded and totally unphotogenic in late August they'll happily bask all day with wings open inviting you to take a shot.