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Hi! Mike and Wurzel,
Mike,, Southport has changed quite a lot, the road that runs along by the beech as all been redone and car parks made along it to a certain point, the road then runs through the Dunes and eventually to Liverpool passing through Formby where the Red Squirrels are.

The Dunes on either side are an haven for Butterflies and if you ride a bike there's a cycle track parallel to the road, it really is great
for family's now( and Butterfly enthusiast's ) Also in the Dunes there are Lizards, CrackerJack Toads , Dragon Flies, These are near the Pond area's facing Pontin's Holiday Camp where the entrance to the beech is in my photo. I like your name for the Caterpillars it suits them

Wurzel, glad you like the Small Skippers, your description is fitting for them although they didn't move, I was lucky to spot them, I expected them to move at any minute but they stayed still like that for ages allowing me to get the shot, hope I'm has lucky with the Purple Emperor this coming Sunday Goldie

Very interesting report Goldie, my mother worked in Southport as a young woman, although curious I've never personally been there but your report suggests real big changes, perhaps I'll get there one day ...via Arneside Knott

Goldie M wrote:Also in the Dunes there are Lizards, CrackerJack Toads

What a great new name for Natterjacks Goldie I love it!!!

BW's

Bill

"When in doubt - venture out"

Glad you like my name for them Willow, my husband always laughs too but I suppose I should have given them their proper name in my posting but I for got !!!

The name all started with me nearly stepping on one once and my husband saying that it was nearly a CrackerJack toad

If you go to Southport some day you'll enjoy it I'm sure Goldie

I'm learning a whole new language from this site Goldie What with Crackerjack toads, rugby jerseys, and wiggle-woggle grass (another one from Mike ) I can't imagine what will be coming next Good luck for Sunday!

Having a great holiday up to now, got the White Admiral on the Monday has we got here on a very wet Sunday, (Postings later) been to St Margaret's today, nothing much to report except loads of MB's LW"S SW's, did see Painted Ladies and Peacocks, also got my Marble White, however at Temple Ewell, whilst looking for the Adonis and Silver Spotted Skipper , which don't seem to have surfaced yet, I did see the Chalkhill Blues in great Numbers, having said that I'm stuck on the Identification of the CHB Female has I've got two different ones it seems, maybe, just maybe, one of them could be an Adonis Female, could do with help on this, Goldie

Glad you're having a great holiday Goldie I reckon those are Chalkhills as the markings on the hind wing between the lunules and the margins are white and not blue. Good luck with the rest of your visits

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, I've not been able to post much being too busy here with the family( always some thing to do ) I'm going back to Temple Ewell, later in the week, hope fully the Adonis may be out also the Silver Spotted Skipper , fingers crossed, thanks again, Goldie

Hi ,Goldie,
Couldn't help noticing that you're down in Kent at the moment,and believe you may be visiting Dungeness for the Small Coppers,just thought I'd let you know,we were there on Saturday and the second brood is very near its end ,that said we still saw around 20-25 mostly "ghosts" but with one or two still in fine fettle,we found that the short walk,parking by the lighthouse and following the path along the power station fence towards the area known as "the moat" which surrounds a Victorian terrace of houses ,the end one being the bird observatory, walk around the moat,and also around the inner moat parking area,these should give you a fair few! we found the coppers in the best nick were along the power station fence,if you,re feeling more adventurous head out to the trapping area or the desert,if you go into the bid obs ,you,ll find the main warden Dave Walker very helpful. Also about recently a couple of Clouded yellow, we also saw 2 Hummingbird hawks, and wasp spiders are generally to be found in the rough grass area in front of the bird obs,at the base of the brambles Good hunting Regards Allan W,

Thanks Allan,I've been very busy here so may not get out to Dungeness but if we do I'll certainly hope to see the Coppers and Clouded Yellow

My daughter took us today to Dene Wood Tunbridge, she'd heard my sad story of missing the Purple Emperor
We were going to call on the way to Kent but the heavy rain put us off, I was resigned to wait a year but she said lets go and take a chance you never know!

We arrived after lunch and has we walked along the path the ferns were quite high but I looked amongst them any way, then to my utter amazement I saw this movement in the shade, I was so excited I nearly dropped the camera I couldn't keep my hands still enough to do the shots too much justice, irony really when you think I've set off looking for them, then had to cancel twice now

I think this PE is a Female, she was very still on the Fern and I wasn't sure at first if it was a White Admiral, I blew very gently on her and she opened her wings (one reason the shots are not as clear as they could be) I got too close.
I also got a couple of side shots which I think confirm she's a PE, not having seen one before I wasn't sure.

We left her in peace has I'm sure she was egg laying and has we walked further along the path I saw this small Butterfly come down onto the path, I think it's a Purple Hairstreak but the Butterfly seems rather worn, worn are not If it is I'll claim it as another first Goldie

Congratulations, Goldie! Two Purple firsts in one go! I think the Emperor is an Empress as you suspect as well. Lots of for both of those.

Dave

You hit a real purple patch there Goldie! I would have been extremely pleased to have seen both PE and PHS in one day.

ATB

James

I'm really pleased for you Goldie, what a great find It's years since I've seen an Empress and to see one on some greenery instead of the ground makes a rare change

HI Goldie,
Yes, that is an Empress, you've hit the jackpot there as they are more elusive than the males.
Well done,
TREVOR.

Hi Goldie, I am really pleased you got to see an Empress it sounds like you are having a great time down south.

Cheers,

Neil.

Thank you Dave , James and Pauline, I'm still in awe of the sight of the Empress, I've so wanted to see these butterflies for quite a while now, when I did I was star struck

Pauline, glad to hear your Fox is doing well, keep us informed, it's always great to hear about wild creatures doing well and people like you are indispensable to their welfare

We're having a great time at our daughters, out every day looking for Butterflies I'll have to put postings on when I get home, I couldn't wait with PE and PH I was so pleased.

Just read your posts Neil and Trevor, I'm so excited about the Empress, she was so special, I've seen so many Butterflies since I was here in the South my heads spinning, if I can see an Adonis are Silver Spotted Skipper before I go home it will be Icing on the cake.
If I don't I can't grumble

When I go home I'll go looking for the Scotch Argus, that's if my husband isn't sick of Butterflying by then Goldie

Excellent news that you got your Purples Goldie

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel,very busy at present, went to Sandwich yesterday ,Lydden/Temple Ewell the day before to the Nature Reserve then on up to St Margarets On The Cliff's
Whilst at the Temple Ewell site I saw the unusual sight of this Butterfly a CHB tightly wrapped up in a web of some kind, having payed a previous visit there a day or so before I was curious to know by what , I noticed a couple of Bf's tied the same way on the top field where the grass is shorter and quite a few on the Lower field ,then my husband who had the camera taking a shot of me,turned round and took a shot of the grass, I thought he was taking a shot of another CHB ,he took this pic ,(posted) it's not until I was checking the shots after wards that I noticed he'd caught the culprit on camera, not too clearly but it's doing a lot of damage to Butterflies at TE, mind you the hillside was covered in Chalkhill Blues and nature will have it's way but I can't remember having seen so many in Webs. like this on previous visits through the years and i'm wondering what the Spider is called.
Also I'm a bit concerned for the Silver Spotted Skipper and the Adonis they don't seem to have put an appearance in yet, hope fully when they do this fate won't happen to them . Goldie

Hi Goldie, the offending spider looks like Enoplognatha ovata, a quite common and very variable species of spider. It's actually in the same family as the infamous Black Widow spiders but nothing to worry about as far as we are concerned.

It's one of the countless obstacles our little scaled friends face during their life but like you say nature has its way and has an amazing way of keeping everything balanced in (sometimes rather gruesome) harmony. It's only when humans start meddling that things tend to go array!

Thanks Buggy, I wondered if you'd know what it was called because your knowledge of bugs etc is great, it must be your Special field, if I find any more curiosities I'll post them, I'm always interested when I find some thing I can't place or, don't know about

I'm tired today (old age) also giving my husband a chance to catch up on the Test Match ( aren't we doing well! ) so I thought I'd catch up on myself a bit and some postings.

When we arrived in Kent over a week a go 26th it was a Sunday and very wet and windy how ever on the Monday the 27th although cloudy and still very dull with the Sun just creeping through we decided to take a walk in Blean Woods, after we'd walked through the Trees for a short time seeing lots of Gate Keeper's on the way, we came to a patch of Blackberries some of which were still in flower,has we passed, suddenly this Butterfly swooped down and to my surprise it was a White Admiral I quickly took some shots before it flew off into the Trees, that, was my first surprise of the week ,glad to say not my last. Tuesday 28th to follow some time in the future.Goldie

Tuesday the 28th, after yesterdays dull miserable weather Tuesday was lovely but windy, we decided to go to Lydden then to the nature reserve at Temple Ewell, we didn't see much on the roadside NNR at Lydden so went on to TE.

On arriving the wind was quite strong and the Sun intermittent so we looked for sheltered parts, we knew the Butterflies would seek,
I was pleased when I saw my first Marble White of 2015 for I thought I'd missed them completely and more delighted to see the Chalkhill Blues and amongst them a few Common Blues were flying which I thought at first were Adonis so i took lots of photos just in case Goldie