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Thanks Chris, here's some more 'nose to the ground' shots

19th October, Bookham again

My weekly trip to Bookham was somewhat cloudier than the forecast suggested. There was a little bit of sun in the morning but after lunch, despite my phone apps insistence to the contrary, only the merest hint of blue sky was seen. I did however have quite a productive few hours.

After stopping off to re-locate my Brown Hairstreak egg from last week I made my way over to the Small Copper egg site. I couldn’t find the little larvae from last week, but feeding evidence would suggest he’s still around somewhere, lots of little windows Since I’d easily managed to re-locate my Brown Hairstreak egg, and It didn't look like I was going to see anything flying I decided to look for more. I’m rather pleased with myself in bagging 9 in total including my first ever double . (I did desperately search long and hard for just one more to get into double figures but it wasn't to be) I also managed one Purple Hairstreak egg Back at the Small Copper eggs I found the little larvae had made a reappearance. I did a proper count this time and on just two small Sorrel plants there’s 46 eggs. Interestingly when I compared the leaf with the larvae on to pictures from last week, there’s new eggs on it. Had the sun been out I may well have still been seeing adults! There were a few other inhabitants seen whilst egg searching, a Heather Ladybird, Chilocorus bipunstulatus a few Hoverflies Helophilus pendulus, and this unknown species of Beetle.

Amazing egg count, Buggy. And three different species, too. How low down was the PH egg - I've rarely thought of looking on lower oak branches as I spend so much time looking up (and more up) at the butterflies... I think I have a blind spot locating sorrel for the coppers, too. I haven't seen anything that looks like that in my local mini hotspot.

Dave

Well done on finding all those eggs, bugboy.

Where about roughly did you find the BH eggs at the common? I am just curious if any of those you found were at the northern end, in Banks Common.

ATB

Peter

millerd wrote:Amazing egg count, Buggy. And three different species, too. How low down was the PH egg - I've rarely thought of looking on lower oak branches as I spend so much time looking up (and more up) at the butterflies... I think I have a blind spot locating sorrel for the coppers, too. I haven't seen anything that looks like that in my local mini hotspot.

Dave

Hi Dave, thanks for the comment . The Purple Hairstreak egg was about chest height, four or five feet off the ground. It's on the same tree that I found a few in last year. With these guys the height isn't the crucial aspect for the female, what she's looking for is Oak that catches a lot of sun. This particular tree is positioned on the north east side of one of the main paths so it's south side catches the sun all the way down to ground level. Like their Brown cousins, egg laying takes place in the afternoon ensuring that when she finds sunlit branches, it is catching the sun at warmest part of the day so the resulting springtime larvae have the best chance to get to the right temperature for feeding, it's all very clever!

As for the Copper eggs, I got lucky in catching the female in egg laying mode a couple of weeks back but also, as I'm sure you're aware from your own visits, this part of the Commons is grazed by cattle so the Sorrel, which at this time of year is just a rosette of leaves at ground level, is quite visible. If it was ungrazed the Sorrel would be well hidden down in the turf.

peterc wrote:Well done on finding all those eggs, bugboy.

Where about roughly did you find the BH eggs at the common? I am just curious if any of those you found were at the northern end, in Banks Common.

ATB

Peter

Thanks Peter. Not far from Banks Common, a little bit to the south, with a single one found near Bookham train station

26th October, Tide Mills

With Trevor’s recent posts and a good forecast predicted I decided on a trip to Newhaven to see what was still active there. It was pleasantly warm when the sun came out but it took an hour before I saw a butterfly, or rather two. A couple of male Cloudies appeared almost simultaneously either side of me. Neither was willing to sit still and both vanished as quickly as they had appeared but at least I now knew they are still about.

Not too long later I stumbled across one basking and when it took flight I could see I had my third for the day, a female, and noticeably rather small, no bigger than an orange-tip at best. She didn’t go far though and settled a foot or two further on where she began ovipositing on some Birds-foot Trefoil. This mild weather obviously fooling her into thinking there’s time for another brood (and perhaps there may be if it’s anything like last winter!) After bothering her for some close-ups I moved off to find a Dartford Warbler being scolded by the local Robins. I followed him, hoping for some shots but they have the annoying talent of being bold as brass yet staying well hidden. Just managed a few shots that are just about Identifiable. As I finally lost him in a bramble thicket I noticed something scurrying along to my side on the path and a little Weasel stopped to see what was going own, given me the once over before slipping off into the undergrowth (I think it was wondering whether it could take me down and stash me away for the winter!) I stopped off for a little while to watch a flock of about 40 Redshank with a few Dunlin sneaking around amongst them and inspect some Sawfly larvae which were all over some of the Hedge Mustard. The male Clouded Yellows continued to appear randomly whenever the sun decided to come out and just as I was thinking about making a move one of them found my final photographic target for the day, a very freshly emerged and like the earlier female, rather small male Cloudie. At this point the sun had gone into hiding, and being still a little dopey and amenable to being handled I was able to coax him gently onto my finger and get a few aesthetically pleasing snaps before returning him back to his leaf and leaving him to finish hardening his wings off. Only the one species seen today, but they don't seem to think summers over just yet!

More cracking Cloudies Bugboy Somehow work curtailed my activities this season and therefore I'm glad to be so far behind with my PD

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel never mind, there's always next year and hopefully we'll have a cold winter and warm spring this time to give the numbers a good boost!

2nd November, Bookham

I wasn’t original planning on going out today but then I woke up to wall to wall blue sky. A quick check of the forecast said this would continue all day so I quickly changed plans and headed out to see if I could extend my butterfly season into November.

It really did feel surprisingly warm at Bookham and turned out to be a glorious afternoon. Shortly after arriving I disturbing a pair of Roe Deer close to the station, who didn’t seem that fussed by my presence, and then a Peacock flew past and settled on a fence post. Taking a slow meandering wander to the Small Copper nursery I stumbled across another two Brown Hairstreak eggs, they really are popping out before my eyes this year! On the Sorrel leaves, there’d been a lot of hatching going on although there are still some unhatched, perhaps the cool weather is slowing down the development inside them? Although the leaf that had all the action on my last visit was all quiet, with the larvae presumably all nestled down in the turf snoozing away until next spring, on a nearby leaf I found two larvae busy making windows. Leaving these little ones to carry on fattening up for winter I went over to Banks Common to see if I could find any more Hairstreak eggs. Whilst wandering along the rear hedge line I disturbed a small fluttery thing which could have been a Copper but it as it flew off into the low sun. In the end I only managed the one Brown Hairstreak egg here. On the return the same fluttery thing appeared again, only this time it didn’t vanish into the sun and I found myself in the company of possibly the last of his kind still on the wing this year! His flight suggested he was coming to the end of his days, more like a small moth than the usual darting erratic flight and he was very easy to follow. Despite this when his wings caught the sun they still had that iridescent golden sheen we all love. Heading back to the station, passing the Small Copper nursery I realised they were at the base of a small stunted Blackthorn and sure enough, a cursory browse threw up another Brown Hairstreak egg that had been under my nose for weeks now, bringing this year’s total to 13. Throughout the afternoon I disturbed several Darter Dragonflies but the only one who settled for me decided my arm was a good place to bask. It was too an awkward place to get a picture but when he moved onto a fence he let me get nice and close, I love how the light picks out each separate facet of those huge compound eyes. I pretty good day since it’s less than a month to the winter social meet up… and of course, only 52 days til you know what!

It just shows how a bit of sunshine can keep the butterflies flying. Good to see a Small Copper amongst them (and all the baby Coppers as well...)

I wonder if it'll be like 2014 when I saw two butterflies in Otterbourne just before the social itself and nine the following day at home (the last day of the month). We can but hope...

Dave

Great glinting Copper shot Looks like the cold weather is on the way - that's if the Met get it right for once...remember all those 'Bar-BQ summers'?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great effort to make those observations at this time of year, Bugboy.

There can't be many people that get to see a November Peacock!

Thanks David, it may well have been from a second generation brood. I found a larval web here at the end of August about to moult into their final instar which would have meant adults emerging late September!

Now winter looks like it’s arrived I guess now would be a good time for a brief review of my 2016 Butterfly year.

Well this year’s season kicked off with a Comma, seen (but not photographed) on the 22nd March and by the 3rd of April all hibernators were ticked off.
Obviously, I had a few specific targets for the year, a few more lifers to tick off and trying to improve on my lifer snaps from last year. The first of these I had the chance to address was the Green Hairstreak and I was very pleased with the resulting photos, a massive improvement on any I got last year. At this point I had already ticked of 17 species.

I made several visits to the Chilton’s again to get as much Duke of Burgundy action as possible. I fell in love with these wonderful little characters last year and I think a season without these from now on will be few and far between for me! With the rest of the usual southern spring emergent’s in the bag (bar the Wood White) by the end of May, species number 25 was my first 2016 lifer. What was also my first long distance outing of the year, deep into Wurzel country on the Hampshire/Wiltshire borderlands of Bentley Wood, the 6th June saw me hopping on a train after the Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. After a slow start to the day one was finally located and by the end of the day I had filled my camera with various shots and had the rare privilege of finding one for a certain Mr. Hulme. We were able to stand and watch this pair meet and mate On the downside, it would seem this population is barely hanging on and I was also to find that the local population of Marsh Fritillaries had all but gone extinct, certainly if any were around they weren’t seen by either Neil or I.

Five days later came not just my highlight of the year but probably the Highlight of my butterfly life. A trip to Norfolk to see the wonderful Swallowtail. It was touch and go weather-wise but on day two of the trip it was just warm enough for a few to become active and I fulfilled a lifetimes ambition to see a wild Swallowtail, an unforgettable experience! Two weeks later, after much debating as to whether it was worth the trip due to the mess of the summer weather, I took the plunge and went across to the other side of England for an almost lifer. Gloucestershire for the Large Blue. I’d seen this once before many years ago but all I have left are 10 undated slide scans. Thankfully, despite the weathers best attempts at ruining my day with a huge hour long thunderstorm (thank god for The Daneway Pub) I had a successful trip with several individuals including a couple of melanisitic abs. By the end of June, I’d latched on stubbornly to another lifer, the Black Hairstreak, but it was a battle against the weather. Two damp grey days got me nowhere but on the third trip to Monks Wood on the 4th July, I was finally blessed with enough sun for one female to show up long enough to grab a few snaps. She was a little worn around the edges but at this stage I really didn't care one bit! I also met PhiliB here, who kindly offered to help me break my purple duck with HIM with a trip to Fermyn Wood a week later. Being deep into HIM flight season there were quite a few fellow butterfliers around and it was nice to meet Roselyn here and bump into Neil Hulme again and Mark Tutton. It was another day where the weather was a bit hit and miss, and like many species this year, numbers were much lower than is normal, but I finally got my audience with the Emperor who was also species 43 for the year. I really was racking them up this year, I ended last year with 45 species! Having done the east and the west of the country so far (swallowtail and Large Blue respectively), the end of July found me up north in the land of Goldie, Arnside Knott where I spent a slendid few days and managed to find two more lifers, the Scotch Argus and the jewel in the local crown, the High Brown Fritillary. A week later I was chasing the final lifer for 2016, this time down on the beautiful Dorset coast. The Lulworth Skipper taking my years total to 49. I met up with PhiliB and Roselyn again later in August for a trip to Shipton Bellinger to get a decent dose of Brown Hairstreaks. I made it into double figures here with the highlight being two stunning females on one flowerhead! And also meeting another new face,Willrow For some weeks now I’ve been rather smugly bragging that I’d seen 50 species this year. In fact, somewhere along the way I’d miss counted, the Clouded yellow a week later actually making it 51!
Like last year my season ended with several trips to Newhaven Tide Mills where Clouded Yellows were quite plentiful as were the familiar faces of Trever, Butterflysaurus Rex, Katrina and Badgerbob and a new face in the form of Mark Colvin. I also found my very first Helice here. I also stumbled across a rather rare bird. An amazingly tame juvenile Red-backed Shrike, Sid, who quickly became something of a local celebrity during his 11 day stay here, chomping his way through the local invertebrate and lizard life. 2016 will go down as a poor year for butterflies in general, many common species suffering significant population crashes nationwide but hopefully things will improve next year. It’s still early but we do seem to be having a proper winter this year and if we get a warm spring with a bit of luck they will bounce back. Here’s hoping that 2017 will be full of butterflies and for those who are curious I have only 6 left to get to complete my mission: Chequered Skipper, both Wood Whites, Northern Brown Argus, Mountain Ringlet and Large Heath. I’ve yet to work out how I’m gonna get to them though…

Hi! Bugboy, what a fantastic year you've had, I'm just catching up to every bodies posts having had trouble not this time with the eye's but infection in my tooth which has kept me indoors out of the cold winds for a while UGH! so it's great to see all your Butterflies. Glad you enjoyed your trip North this Summer lovely shots of the HB and the SA, I missed both this year
Goldie

16th November, Bookham Commons

It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve managed to venture out and with a break in the otherwise rather drab and rainy days recently I popped out to Bookham to see how my youngsters were doing.

In my ramblings I discovered another three Brown Hairstreak eggs which I think brings this season’s total up to 16 or thereabouts, including another double about two feet from the first double I found a few weeks back. I relocated the Purple hairstreak egg and with all the leaves now falling I found another two on nearby buds on the same tree. This is the same tree as last year so perhaps it might be worth staking it out one sunny afternoon next summer to see if I can catch a female ovipositing. At the Small Copper nursery I found a total of 5 Larvae on three leaves. Here you can see some rather typical feeding damage from above. Underneath the greener of these two leaves is where I found this pair although rather embarrassingly I didn’t even notice the smaller one until I was flicking through the pictures later. Also, visible next to the smaller cat on the leaves midrib, is what looks like the remains of a shed skin, just the ‘eyelash’ like hairs remaining. I’m assuming the skin was eaten by its owner.

I wasn't expecting anything flying but it's interesting to see that all five Copper larvae were actively feeding this late in the year.

You certainly had a cracking year Bugboy Let's hope 2017 is even more fruitful!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks Wurzel, lets hope so eh

Well its been a few weeks since I posted anything on here, but to while away a few evenings recently I've been playing around with some of my photos to create a pictorial representation of the past three years in my butterfly oddessy

A dry, warm(ish) day on my day off tempted me out for a few hours at Bookham. I did wonder whether the sudden increase in temperatures over the past day or so may have woken up the odd hibernator but it stayed resolutely cloudy so nothing was seen on the wing. One Small Copper caterpillar was however active and nibbling, and I discovered another 12 Brown Hairstreak eggs not seen on previous trips which takes the season total so far to around 30. I recently got a phone upgrade so I decided to test out the camera function on these little ones, I'm quite impressed with what it can do so lets play spot the Hairstreak egg! I also had a search for some White Admirals and I think I've found two. I couldn't see if they were occupied but there does seem to be some silk holding them in place and a withered feeding leaf nearby proves that they were here once at least. A friendly Blackbird to finish

Nice set of annual 'snapshots' Buggy - not many to go til you have the complete set

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi Bugboy, nice round up of your 'mission' so far.

I managed to complete my 'mainland set' this year with Chequered Skipper. During this trip which also took in overnight stays in Arnside/Silverdale on the way up to Scotland and on the way back, I also managed to see Northern Brown Argus salmacis, Large Heath and Mountain Ringlet. On a previous trip to Arnside a couple of years ago I had also managed to see the latter three species by including a run up to Irton Fell for Mountain Ringlet. I mention this to show that with a bit of planning (and luck) you could potentially get some of these in one round trip.

Cheers,

Neil.

Thanks Neil, yes I have looked at the flight periods to see if I can get them all in one season but the main stumbling blocks are whether I'll get the time off work and then the rather awkward issue of being a non driver. I've managed to persuade a couple of friends to join me on a couple of long distant trips over the past couple of years but I'm not sure about a driving holiday up north, I may have to earn a fair few brownie points before breaking that one on them!

3rd January, Bookham Commons

It’s been a long while since I’ve managed to get out and find anything worthy of reporting, having had to work all through the festive period but I managed an afternoon browse in Surrey today.

It was decidedly chilly, the ground was still mostly frozen and there was certainly little hope for anything flying but there’s always eggs to find here and today was no different, another 6 Brown Hairstreaks found bringing this winter’s total to a healthy 34 without much effort. Today’s newbies included another two doubles and I was interested to see how worn they looked, with much of the intricate network of ridges seemingly worn off. I’m not sure if this is normal or whether it means these eggs are no longer viable? Perhaps it gets worn away when surrounding foliage rubs against them in breezy weather? Anyway, HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE