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Northern Brown Argus - Favourite Photo of 2021

Week 11

Hopefully you all had a great Christmas Day with full stockings, full bellies and plenty of merriment!

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos as then it will be easier to keep track of things? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As in previous years details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

Took a wee trip to a colony near Grantown on Spey on 18th July. I wasn’t disappointed.

Nice work, Bertl. I see your local ones even have white spots on the upperside of the hindwings!!

Thanks David. How common is it to see the spots on all wings?

I had my first experience of the white-spotted form in the Scottish Borders this year, at the well-known site at St.Abb's Head.
Some had white spots on the hindwings, others didn't.
A beautiful insect, well worth the journey up from Lincolnshire!

Bertl wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:54 pm Thanks David. How common is it to see the spots on all wings?

It's not uncommon, Bertl; I've seen it plenty of times (as in Pete's images above). I guess it's more prevalent in certain colonies and maybe that's the case the further north you go, such as in Grantown-on-Spey.

Like Pete, I too had my first experience of the white-spotted artaxerxes form, on 13th June at St Abbs Head.

The weather meant I only saw three. This male was the first:
Very fortunately, I found a mint fresh female an hour or so later in this beautiful and tranquil spot:

Bertl wrote: ↑Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:54 pm Thanks David. How common is it to see the spots on all wings?

Really quite common. 1 in 5 I would say. It really will depend on a lot of local factors. Some years better than others.

My tuppenny-ha'pennys worth of Northern Brown Argus post 2021.

A decent season. Not record breaking. Average to middling. All of these coastal Scottish south east coast of Berwickshire.

Glad you finally got to see those NBA up here David. Its been a while since you first asked about them.

IAC wrote: ↑Sun Jan 02, 2022 1:00 pmGlad you finally got to see those NBA up here David. Its been a while since you first asked about them.

Me too, Iain. Yes, it was 2015 when I first wished to travel up there, but I seem to recall that June of that year was generally cloudy. Been a long wait since but it was well worth the trip.

I managed to catch up with this species amongst the Fritillary bounty up at Arnside Knott on 4th July, albeit the less spectacularly-marked version of the NBA that is found here. Dave