www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

This is hopefully going to be a cracker....

on Thursday i shall go down to the Chilterns & look for a Dark Green Fritillary

Small Tort enjoying the Lobelia this morning.

Snapped by my work colleague Tim.

Hello Zig-zag,
I,ve been trying to send you a PM ,but when i press SUBMIT ,nothing seems to happen ,if you PM me ,with an e-mail address i,ll send you some info
Sorry about this ! Allan.W.

Hi Allan,

I really appreciate you trying to send me info.

Have just sent you a PM with my email address....hopefully it gets through !

Visited an old sand quarry near Glamis today. Around a dozen small blues on the wing.

All of them are lovely photos Bertl but I am really taken by the first one. Congratulations, that's a cracker.

Thanks Otep. I am on west coast of Scotland this weekend. Hoping to see the chequered skipper and marsh fritillary.

Had an early morning visit to Denge Wood (Bonsai bank) to have a look at the Lady Orchids which i was hoping would be at their peak,
and pleased to say they were ..............hundreds ,as usual much variation ,surprised to see so many Greater Butterfly Orchids ,i,ve never seen them in such numbers ,in all 8 orchid species (+ one very unusual hybrid !) my main reason for my visit was to try and catch the White spotted Sable moths
as they wake up ,and before they get too lively in the heat ,they also have the annoying habit of settling out of site beneath a leaf ,i was very lucky
and managed 4 ..............no Dukes ,reckon they,ve finished here now . I did see a single Dingy Skipper and a Red Admiral .
Later in the day Lynne and I went down to Dungeness ,which is an absolute riot of colour ,mainly yellow ,i don,t think i,ve ever seen so much Broom in flower .............and the smell !! never noticed this before .First brood Small Coppers are on their last legs ,a far cry from the 469 from last years 3rd brood count ,today we saw 5 ! Out in the trapping area ,a couple of Small Whites ,several Common Blues and Small Heath,Brown Argus (including one of those very tiny specimens ) and pleased to see 2 Grizzled Skippers still around . Allan.W.

Allan.W. wrote: ↑Thu Jun 02, 2022 9:02 pm...First brood Small Coppers are on their last legs ,a far cry from the 469 from last years 3rd brood count ,today we saw 5 !

Given the state of that individual, I'd be more inclined to record four and a half, Allan!!

I went out to see if I the Dark Green Frits are out on the hill, I had one 1st June last year. Alas no. To be fair there wasn't a great deal about at all so spent most of my time photographing the local bird life. Beacon Hill, Wiltshire

Dingy Skipper 3
Grizzled Skipper 1
Brimstone 1
Small White 3
Green-veined White 2
Orange-tip 2
Common Blue 6
Adonis Blue 8
Red Admiral 3
Small Tortoiseshell 3
Speckled Wood 4
Meadow Brown 1
Small Heath 5

i had a lovely trip to Ivinghoe today.

i saw this delightful Small Blue and several Orange Skippers
and a caterpillar...


any suggestions for the Skipper & the caterpillar ?

Large Skipper and Drinker Moth caterpillar Charles...
PS: Lots of Small Blue out at Trumpington Meadows in Cambridge today - They have exploded in number this year after being discovered there about 4 years ago.

Trev Sawyer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 2:50 pm Large Skipper and Drinker Moth caterpillar Charles...
PS: Lots of Small Blue out at Trumpington Meadows in Cambridge today - They have exploded in number this year after being discovered there about 4 years ago.

thanks for your assistance Trev ! i am glad to hear that the Cambridge Blues are prospering

Meadow Browns now out in my local fields. Saw 5 or 6 yesterday.

The Trumpington mini-explosion is mirrored in my local fields, but rather than Blues it's Clouded Borders that seem to be found all along the hedgerows. Their numbers now seem to be on a par with Straw Dot.

We built a small pond last year and the frogs have certainly found it. I spotted a Small China-mark moth flitting around it during the week too.

Large Skippers have appeared on my local patch at last, and already started to pose as x-wing fighters, chasing anything that moves... Dave

Yesterday at Hutchinson's Bank:

15 Brimstone
2 Small White
2 Small Tortoiseshell
Painted Lady
Glanville Fritillary
Small Copper
5 Holly Blue
8 Common Blue
c200 Small Blue
2 Small Heath
11 Speckled Wood
2 Large Skipper
12 Dingy Skipper

Also Buzzard, Kestrel, pair of Bullfinch, Slow-worm, 3 Common Carpet, Burnet Companion, Pyrausta aurata, Celypha lacunana.

Good to see quite a few Bee Orchids& a single Common Spotted.

First Large Skipper seen yesterday. Good numbers of male Meadow Browns 30+, no females yet. More Small Tortoiseshell 8+ in my garden than I have seen for several years. Painted Ladies plentiful too. Second sighting of Male Clouded Yellow.

zigzag_wanderer wrote: ↑Fri Jun 03, 2022 6:29 pm We built a small pond last year and the frogs have certainly found it.

Must be Tree Frogs...'cause there's one, two, tree .......Sorry!

Neil.

Ouch !

But as someone who worked a Trumpington mini-explosion reference into my post I can't really comment