Bugboys mission

[Goldie M]

Well done Bugboy, I went to Hall-Lee-Brook yesterday and saw nothing, mind you, we've had no Sun for a few day's so, although warmer, looks like the Butterflies may be late up here. Goldie

[Wurzel]

It's great that there seem to be so many Commas around, a species it'll be very difficult to get bored of Great shots there Buggy

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

It'll be interesting to see whether this seeming 'explosion' of Commas has any effect on numbers later in the year.

Meanwhile, Bugboy, enjoy conditions while they last - looks like next weekend heralds storms.

[Art Frames]

All of these Commas are wonderful to see. The colour is deep and rich and very photographic. I'm off to Whitecross Green Wood tomorrow (based on a weather forecast earlier in the week...but getting less sunny everytime I look ) I hope the Comma glut extends into Oxfordshire and the sun does it's stuff.

I have been trying to catch up with other diaries before I make a second entry myself. Just to get the tone of 'showing off' absolutely right .

[bugboy]

All of these Commas are wonderful to see. The colour is deep and rich and very photographic.

Aren't they just! here's some more

15th March

Weekend, work, sunny and warm, butterflies seen.
Monday, work, sunny and warm, butterflies seen.
Tuesday, off, cool and thick cloud, no butterflies.
Wednesday, work, sunny and warm, butterflies seen.
Weekend off soon, prediction, rain!
Can anyone else see a pattern developing …

Anyway here’s some more Comma’s I saw yesterday, actually the same two I saw on Monday, identifiable by the slight damage to the wings.

I also finally saw my first Brimstone of the year, a patrolling male. I did attempt a few in flight shots but achieved nothing better than barely recognisable yellow blurs, better luck next time maybe.

[trevor]

That last Comma image is great. I expect I have seen the same one several times too.
But they do seem to be everywhere at the moment. Lets hope other species are as
plentiful as the season progresses.

All the best,
Trevor.

[millerd]

Hi Buggy - I'd noticed that your switch to Tuesdays off hasn't worked too well yet. Let's hope things change, though you're doing well with the Commas again.

Dave

[Wurzel]

More great Commas Bugboy The trick with the early Brimstones is to click away and then by the third or fourth time that you see them they seem to give in and land - either that or like with Orange-tips you need a passing cloud to turn up at the right time

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

More great Commas Bugboy The trick with the early Brimstones is to click away and then by the third or fourth time that you see them they seem to give in and land - either that or like with Orange-tips you need a passing cloud to turn up at the right time

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Another trick is to not be at work where I'm supposed to be doing more than chasing butterflies around

[Goldie M]

Lovely Comma's bug boy, wish I could see just one Goldie

[bugboy]

Thank Goldie, I'm sure your first sightings aren't far away now

My apologies to anyone that wanted to go butterflying today, me being off work and free to do some myself is the probably reason for the weather today, ditto for tomorrow but Monday should be fine for the morning at least!

On the plus side, there seems to be signs of life in my Speckled Wood pupae, only days away if Vince's photographs from a few years back are anything to go by . No photo's yet though, I'll leave them all until I have a full set (as best as I can get).

[Wurzel]

It's the usual story with the weather Bugboy - reasonable during the week and then when most of us can get out at the weekend it's too cold, too grey, to wet, too windy or all of them Oh well the breaks will come...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

19th March, the local patch

A large break in the cloud this afternoon had me grabbing my camera and darting of to the Marshes in the hope of getting some butterfly action outside of work. Unfortunately sods law reared its ugly head and no sooner had I arrived than the clouds closed in again and I was left with the just the occasional chink of blue.

Thankfully the earlier sun had woken a few up and I actually got my very first sighting of a butterfly outside work, which was, you’ve guessed it, a Comma. It didn’t settle though, seemingly on some kind of mission. It taunted me briefly before darting off into the distance, never to be seen again.
Five minutes later whilst I checked out a large bed of nettles I finally got a picture of something other than a Comma

This the last butterfly I was to see though. With clouds thickening and threatening rain I scurried off home.

[trevor]

Lovely Red Admiral, and an ab. bialbata if I am not mistaken.
The Red Admiral seems to be the scarcest of the hibernators at the moment, I've only seen one.

Still lots to look forward too,
Trevor.
.

[millerd]

Well done with the Red Admiral, Buggy.

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Dave and Trevor. I think you might want to go to specsavers Trevor, can't see any white spot on the red band. As to numbers we might have been spoiled by the recent milder winters which allowed significant numbers to survive. They don't actually hibernate as such, just 'sleeping' through the worst of the weather, much in the same way as any butterfly does during the summer months. Hibernation is a specific physiological ability where all but essential body systems shut down or slow down to the bare minimum, something which, as far as I'm aware, Red Admirals can't do or at least to the extent of our four true hibernators.

21st March, a few local patches

At last some decent sun on my day off, just a shame an arctic breeze decided to join in! The plan was for a day exploring three local sites, Walthamstow Marshes, Abney Park and Tottenham Marshes, all good for early spring species with plenty of sheltered spots to hide from the wind. I left at 10 but it wasn’t until after 11 that I found a butterfly, a speck of orange in a nettle bed proving to be a female Comma, a little bit battered but a good sign that temperatures were creeping up.

5 minutes later I finally got my first sighting of a Small Tortoiseshell for the year and a few minutes after another turned up. Only record shots of both though since neither was particularly approachable and as soon as they flew they were whisked away by the breeze.

I made a slow return with another Comma doing a flyby when a white butterfly caught my attention. I followed it around, snapping away in the hope of being able to ID it if it didn’t settle. When it did settle it was down in the grass, but I was able to grab one shot, enough proof of a male Small White before it vanished over a hedge. Had it not been for the Brimstone at work last week this would have been my first Pierid of the year, indeed it is the first one I’ve seen here, I’ve still only seen the one Brimstone this year. Before deciding to leave for my next port of call I found my third Small Tortoiseshell and a Peacock with the Tortoiseshell making sure I didn’t get any pictures of said Peacock, the stroppy g*t!

My wander over to Abney Park was further stalled by a couple more Commas, a male and female using the spot to soak up some rays.

And then another Small Tortoiseshell feeding on catkins. It was as I was taking his picture that another Small White fluttered by (I was some distance from the first sighting but by no means can I say it wasn’t the same animal). This time, after some careful stalking, I was able to get some better shots, though still with the eternal struggle with exposure.

Its not often you see season firsts of Small Tortoiseshell and Small White on the same day!

Due to increased cloud cover, both Abney Park and Tottenham Marshes ended up being butterfly fails, just a single brief Comma sighting at Abney and absolutely nothing over at Tottenham.

Some things were worthy of recording though, this humongous Fungus on a Horse Chestnut at Abney was well over a foot across, very impressive

Humongous fungus!

And I spent some time with a male Pheasant at Tottenham. Rounding a corner I found myself face to face with him. Expecting him to flee rapidly I backed off and made sure my camera was set to sport mode to capture any action and then carefully crept forward expecting him to take flight. He didn’t, just scampered into some loose undergrowth and set about casually wandering along eating the odd shoot as I followed. He turned out to be bold as brass, although keeping an eye on me he wasn’t that bothered by my presence, only panicking slightly if I got closer than around six feet or if he wandered into a clearing. I ended up following him around for about half an hour. I’m pretty sure if I had a handful of mealworms he would have approached closer. To show how close I was I haven’t cropped any of these pictures which were taken on my 105mm macro lens.

To finish here’s some more birds I photographed on my way back home.

Lesser Black-backed Gull

A small charm of Goldfinch

Blue Tit

[trevor]

My mistake with your Red Admiral. You've had a more fruitful week than me.

All the best,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cracking stuff Bugboy, I'm glad that you got your Small Torts as I can now post my shots Good find with the Small White too

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

The Speckled Wood

So to recap:
On the 11th of February, I discovered a Speckled Wood pupae at work whilst doing some gardening and took it home to pop in the fridge so it could continue its hibernation (My little London flat doesn’t have an ‘outside’). On the 9th of March I took it out of the fridge and set it up in my front room. I don’t put my heating on much so it was just sat in ambient room temperature.

It only took a week for the first changes to occur, a slight opaqueness indicating the wings were beginning to develop. From here I took a picture every day:

16/3/17 7.38pm

17/3/17 6.54pm

18/3/17 1.24pm

19/3/17 9.05 pm

20/3/17 5.25pm

21/3/17 9.42 am

21/3/17 11pm

I was only working one day this week and it looked like sods law was about to strike, I took this picture before leaving for work on Wednesday, fully expecting to find it emerged by the time I got home

22/3/17 6.18am

But no, it had awaited my return but at 6.50pm emergence looked to be imminent

22/3/17 6.50pm

I spent the rest of the evening watching it like a hawk, in-between making my evening meal and toilet breaks etc. but it was keeping me in suspense, it still hadn’t emerged at 11.10.

22/3/17 11.10pm

It was at this point that I must have dozed off because I awoke with a start to find I had missed the critical moment , probably by no more than a minute or two as the wings were just finishing expanding!

22/3/17 11.40pm

It's a boy ! I stayed up to make sure he didn’t fall before his wings had fully expanded and started to harden off.

22/3/17 11.45pm

23/3/17 1.27am

Being off work for the next two days I kept him somewhere dark and took him back to work today to be released where I had found him as a pupae.

Freedom!

It’s quite remarkable just how closely his development matched Vince Massimo’s pictures, viewtopic.php?f=37&t=7957#p91359, even the pulling apart on the abdominal segments on the final day is an exact replica. It doesn’t matter how many times you witness this kind of thing it’s still a miracle of nature you can never get bored with.

[millerd]

Marvellous to see, Buggy. It's a lovely specimen too.

Dave