www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Great to see the Specklie action Neil I saw a load in Wales about a week ago but since then I haven't seen any over my sorties in Wiltshire and Dorset. Still they'll turn up soon

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Lee, the great thing about having the Specklies in the garden is that you only need a couple of minutes of sun for one to show up

Hi Wurzel, I'm sure you will have them soon, they seem to be doing well around my patch so far

Tuesday 22nd April

With the forecast for today looking like it was going to be the wettest and gloomiest day of the week I had decided that it was going to be my 'get things done at home' day. For once the MET office's crystal ball seemed to be working well and the forecast was pretty bang on, even to the point of a (very)brief brighter spell later in the afternoon when the clouds thinned just enough for the sun to break through a couple of times for a few minutes.

Having spent most of the day indoors so far I went out into the garden for some fresh air and soon spotted a Holly Blue that dropped down onto the Forget-me-nots at the bottom of the garden and allowed me to get a couple of quick shots before he fluttered off.
Almost immediately afterwards I spotted a Speckled Wood fluttering along the border. It turned out to be a female and a closer examination of her markings show it to be yet another different individual to any of those that I saw yesterday making her the 4th female in the past couple of days
Just a brief spell in what was otherwise a wet and dreary day but it was enough for me to get my 'fix' for today

Bye for now,

Neil.

I love the Holly Blue on the forget-me-not Neil. Don't think I've ever seen that before.

I am getting more and more envious of your garden Neil - it's making me miss my old one - so much so that I stopped off at Larkhill today but it was cold, wet and raining so no fix for me Still the weekend is fast approaching...here's hoping

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a beautiful photo of the Holly Blue, Neil- stunning!

Best Wishes

Hoggers

Hoggers wrote:That's a beautiful photo of the Holly Blue, Neil- stunning!

Best Wishes

Hoggers

Yes, they're not renowned for nectaring widely, and to be doing so on a blue flower just makes the rarity value go higher.

Ni Neil, lots of superb photos in your recent postings great Holly Blues with open wings, they're not always that obliging

Mike

Many thanks all for the comments
Holly Blues are one of those species that has me reaching for the camera as soon as I see one. Of course, most times I end up putting it down again as the butterfly carries on its way...
...but every now and then

Wednesday 23rd April

At the Warwickshire BC Spring meeting a couple of weeks ago it was requested if some members could fill in some of the gaps on the map with sightings, in readiness for a new Warwickshire Butterfly Atlas in 2015. A couple of days later Keith Warmington, the county recorder, emailed me the tetrads around Solihull to look at.

This morning with a high covering of scattered clouds showing lots of small bits of blue sky I went out to have a look at around a couple of these spots.
The first place that I visited was at Bickenhill, just south of Birmingham airport and was a square that had only had one species, Brimstone, recorded so far. I parked up and followed a public footpath to a couple of meadows that I had seen on Google Earth that looked promising.
By 10.30am it was starting to warm up with some nice sunny spells although there was a bit of a blustery wind from the south-west which made taking photos a bit of a challenge.
I spent about one and a half hours here in the end and saw easily twenty plus Small Tortoiseshells, probably about a dozen Orange Tips including a couple of females, and half a dozen or so each of Peacocks and Green-veined Whites.

It was not until I looked at the photo above afterwards that I noticed the egg.

At one point I watched a male Orange tip trying it on with a female Green-veined White until she gave him the slip and flew off. I managed to get a photo, not that good but an interesting one I think.
Not long afterwards I found a pair of Green-veined Whites as they should be...
There were just the four species seen today but a very pleasant morning at a spot which will certainly be worth visiting again later in the summer.

At midday, with some heavier cloud building up I decided to head off to another spot on the other side of Solihull that had not had any butterflies recorded so far. By the time I arrived there was some light rain in the air so I just checked some Cuckoo Flower in a field and found some Orange tip eggs. Walking back to the car in a lull in the rain I spotted a ‘white’ fluttering along a hedge and settle on some nettles. This proved to be a Green-veined White which at least gave me two species to record in this square despite the now gloomy and wet conditions.

With the recent weather around here slowing the season back to something looking more 'normal', I am still waiting for Green Hairstreaks and Dingy and Grizzled Skippers to get going around the midlands. In the meantime I will continue to admire all the quality photos in other diaries

Bye for now,

Neil.

Fantastic shots Neil - quality rather than quantity I especially like the 'confused shot' - interesting behaviour documented.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, I quite like the way she is facing off to him, almost as if she is saying 'come on, get a grip'

Cheers,

Neil.

Thursday 24th April

Despite the earlier indications that today would be the best day of the week, it remained stubbornly cool and cloudy all morning. In fact it didn't really look like clouds, more like someone had just painted the sky a uniform dull grey. At least it wasn't raining although everywhere was still wet from the bucket full we had overnight.

We had planned to take our daughter and grandson to Hatton Country Park by Warwick today and set out, picking my mom up on the way. We had earlier agreed that whilst they were there, I could sneak off for a bit, and then return to collect them later.

There are a couple of spots the other side of Warwick at Bishops Itchington and Harbury where Grizzled and Dingy Skippers can be found and I headed for these on the off chance that I might find one. I have seen a couple of Grizzlies reported in Warwickshire but no Dingy Skippers yet so thought my chances were slim but hey ho, you never know.

I spent about 45 minutes at each site during which time the clouds finally started to break up and some sunny spells developed before I had to head back to collect the women and nipper. As it started to warm up a bit I started seeing A few Orange tips and Peacocks and at Harbury a female Brimstone landed right in front of me
After returning to meet up with the others and on our way home it finally decided to turn into a nice afternoon and on getting back to our house I went to sit out in the garden and found more butterflies there than I had seen so far all day. Some pics in the next post when I have sorted through them.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Well done getting that shot of a Brimble Neil, I've still not managed to photograph one properly this spring! I've not even seen one land.

Also I love your Orange Tip photos too

All the best,

B'saurus

Thanks Rex, I've only seen a couple settle myself, one male a couple of weeks back and now the female. I was lucky to manage to get a photo of each time

Thursday 24th April – back in the garden again

Non-stop rain today (Friday) so a chance to catch up on some more house ‘stuff’ and to look through my photos from the garden yesterday afternoon.

After returning home yesterday around 3.30pm the sun finally came out properly and it turned into a nice afternoon. I went out into the back garden and immediately saw a couple of whites fluttering around.
One was a Green-veined white that I recognised by a slightly crumpled rear edge to its right forewing and that I had photographed a few days ago on the Forget-me-nots. Despite some heavy rain over the past few days it looked to be in fairly good condition still and just goes to show how tough these delicate looking creatures really are.
The other one was a Small White but I can’t say I recognised this one
As well as the whites there were a couple of Peacocks and male Speckled Woods hanging around and basking between short flights when they tried to see each other off...
On one occasion I saw a Specklie try and barge onto a leaf with a Peacock and for a few seconds it looked like they were arguing over a prime basking spot...
Whilst I was watching these butterflies another pair of Peacocks arrived with a male trying unsuccessfully to court a female before she flew off with him in pursuit…
This meant that for a few minutes I had 4 Peacocks, 3 Speckled Wood, the 2 whites plus an Orange Tip all in view at the same time
As well as the Forget-me-nots which had been attracting the butterflies I also have some Spanish Bluebells and a Lilac shrub, both of which have been in the garden since I moved into this house nearly 20 years ago. These have both started flowering this week and have also begun to get attention from the butterflies...
By about 5.00pm things were going quiet with just a couple of Specklies holding their territories against the occasional White or Orange Tip. I was just thinking about going back inside when I noticed an Orange Tip drop down and settle so I crept up slowly and took a couple of photos.
After a couple of seconds he snapped his forewings down behind the rear wings and looked like he was going to stop for the night until one of the Specklies noticed him and came to chase him off

My apologies for posting another load of photos of the same species again but to be honest this was an hour or so that just gave me so much enjoyment

Bye for now,

Neil.

They may be of the same species, Neil, but a Peacock and Speckled Wood appearing in the same image isn't one I think I've seen before (and you've managed it twice in a single post!)

No worries about posting lots of the same species - if we stuck to the post it once we could only have 60 in a year They're cracking shots and as Dave said a Peacock and Specklie in shot twice is a very unusual sight.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Many thanks for the comments David and Wurzel

I just couldn't resist adding the shot below from the same session to make it a hat trick
Cheers,

Neil.

Great hat trick Neil, nice to see the Speckled Wood and Peacocks together

Mike

Thanks Mike

Saturday 26th April

Another day of mixed cloud and sunny spells but with an underlying coolness that could be felt whenever the sun went in. I had seen that a couple of Green Hairstreaks had been reported from Ryton a few days ago and so decided to take a drive over to see if I could find any of these or maybe Grizzled Skippers.
I arrived at just after 2.00pm in a light shower of rain and after parking up walked through the wood to the meadows. I spent a couple of hours here wandering along the edge of the wood, paying particular attention to the spots where I have seen Green Hairsteaks in previous years but without success. Most of the time there was a blustery wind blowing and the butterflies that I did see, mostly Brimstones, Orange tips and Peacocks would get whisked off if they ventured too far from the shelter of the hedges.
This did have its advantages however as it meant that the Brimstones and Orange tips in particular would only fly short distances and then settle again,
I always find Peacocks easier to take photos of due to their habit of returning to favourite basking spots,
No doubt due to the conditions, the Brimstones were behaving more like the later summer ones do and settling often to nectar on dandelions rather than constantly patrolling. One male spent about five minutes settled in a nice position whilst the sun was behind a cloud which enabled me to get my best photos yet of a Spring Brimstone
Later I found another different male settled in a similar position
I also met Steven Falk again, the chap that I met last year at Bishops Hill where he was photographing Red-tailed Mason Bees. He was at Ryton to take more photos for the book on Bees that he is writing and tells me that this book is now about 2/3rd done.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/63075200@N07/

Around 4.00pm a large black cloud came over and the heavens opened with a heavy rain shower, proper stair-rod stuff . With some more black clouds heading over I decided to make a move for home.

I did not see any Green Hairstreaks or Grizzled Skippers, in truth I think that it was a bit too cool and blustery. I also noticed that the hawthorn flowers were still in bud which is a good indication of where the season is at around here, I usually see the Hairstreaks and Grizzlies here when the hawthorn is starting to blossom. I reckon that, weather permitting, a return visit in a week or so should be about right.
It was however a very pleasant couple of hours and I was well chuffed with my Spring Brimstone photos

Bye for now,

Neil

Some lovely shots there Neil, especially the Brimstones

Mike

Thanks for your comment Mike, very much appreciated

Monday 28th April

After a dull and drizzly end to the weekend yesterday I was back in work today with a pile of stuff to catch up with after having last week off. One of the disadvantages of having a few days off when everyone else is in is that there is invariably a pile of work waiting for me which today meant that I spent pretty much all day in a windowless office with only a couple glimpses of the outside world .

By the time that I finished this afternoon and got back home it had turned reasonably warm with some nice spells of sunshine so I did the usual and went out into the back garden to unwind for a bit.
After the dull and blustery weekend, it looks like a bit of warm sunshine today has brought some more fresh Orange tips out with at some points me seeing 3 or 4 at a time .

Today was the first time this year that I have seen female Orange tips in the garden and at one time there were 3 different males and 2 females all in view at once including a pair in cop.
There was also a steady procession of ‘whites’ mostly Green-veined but with at least one ‘Small',
The Speckled Woods were there again as usual with at least 2 males and a female fluttering about ,
Another enjoyable hour or so in the garden that was appreciated that much more today after a bit of a 'Monday' at work.

Bye for now,

Neil.