Ringlet - Favourite Photo of 2022

[Wurzel]

Ringlet - Favourite Photo of 2022

Week 14
Sorry for the late posting again this week...the joys of a new TV; it's a SMART TV and so smart it's taken 2 hours to set up Anyway...

Another week passes and we get one step closer to the start of the season proper! To be honest I can’t wait this year as recently it has been very dreary and miserable for what feels like an age now!

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

Wurzel

[Allan.W.]

I took very few shots of Ringlets in 22' ,and of the few that i did take ,this is my favourite .I found it while on my yearly visit looking for White- Letters along the Royal Military canal at Warehorne (Kent ) a minor Ab;...............possibly AB;Cuneata.
Allan.W.

[David M]

Really nice individual, Allan, with the large and slightly lanceolated ocelli.

[downland boy]

Snap Allan! My favourite Ringlet photograph is of a similar specimen to the one above.
I was on an early morning mission to look for Purple Hairstreaks in my local woods but the weather got duller and duller and this Ringlet was all that was on offer. Half of its spots were very slightly lanceolate in form. I looked at it closely to see if it would turn into a full blown ab. lanceolata but it was not to be. I tend not to try to put a name to such specimens....the Ringlet, much like the Gatekeeper, can be very variable in the configuration and form of its spots.



http://eastsussexwanderer.blogspot.co.uk

[Goldie M]

I didn't do too well with the Ringlet last year, I only managed to get shots of them once in East Blean Woods on the 25th of June, they were every where but didn't settle for too long on any thing, most of the time they seemed spooked by the Heath Fritillary which kept landing on the same flower or grass stem they were on Goldie

[petesmith]

Continuing with the slightly aberrant, two examples of 9-spotted Ringlets, ab.novem luscus, one of them also showing a hint of the lanceolate on one of the hindwing spots. Both central Lincolnshire - the fresher one taken 30th June (slightly blurred head - couldn't get perpendicular to it before it flew off!), the worn one 1st August.

[Bertl]

Seen my first Ringlet at local Aberdeen meadow on 17th June. Ab infra pallida I believe.

[millerd]

I only ever see this species in ones and twos on my local patch, and 2022 was no exception. This one from 27th June stood out from the handful encountered here.

Dave

[bugboy]

A mating pair in Epping Forest

[David M]

A mating pair in Epping Forest

A surprisingly uncommon sighting, Paul. I don't think I've ever seen more than a handful in cop over the years, even though their close cousins, Meadow Browns, are usually seen extremely regularly whilst mating.

[bugboy]

A mating pair in Epping Forest

A surprisingly uncommon sighting, Paul. I don't think I've ever seen more than a handful in cop over the years, even though their close cousins, Meadow Browns, are usually seen extremely regularly whilst mating.

I find that quite surprising, I generally come across 2 or 3 mating pairs every year, and that's with them usually not being the target species either!

[David M]

..I find that quite surprising, I generally come across 2 or 3 mating pairs every year, and that's with them usually not being the target species either!

It's possibly because I'm abroad for the early part of their flight period, Paul....and Ringlets are much scarcer in the places I visit.

[Phil Bowler]

One of each sex from the ones I photo'd in 2022. Even this female looked almost black whilst fresh. Both taken in our butterfly garden in June.

Male

Female

[Wurzel]

Ringlet

Another species which proved difficult to choose one Favourite for. I did manage however to narrow it down to two from the same site and the same visit and they were actually only about 60cm away from each other so I don’t feel quite so bad for not choosing a single shot.
They both came from Bentley Wood during Emperor Season and I’d wandered up from the crossroads to the memorial at the top of the wood. In between wandering staring upwards and cricking my neck and looking forlornly at the diseased Wytch Elms trying to spot a Whitter I occasionally found myself looking down at the low laying vegetation. In the bushes on the corner of the mini cross roads I spotted a pair of Ringlets in cop. I managed a few shots but a roving lothario fancied his chances and put the pair up. Still locked together they settled on the track and when I lay down to get level I saw that one was blessed with a magnificent set of eyes.

My second chose came from roughly the same spot the paring couple had started from but about 20 minutes later. I’d gotten back from walking the path past the memorial itself and staring up I’d watched the small, dark, square cut shape of a Whitter flying across the gap in the canopy when I spotted this one. It stood out immediately as there were several small spots around the final larger one on the hind wing. Then when I looked closer the ‘normal’ spots were ever so slightly tear drop shaped. I love any spotty variation hence my including this individual.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Only bothered with them once and that was on the first occasion I saw them in Wales on 21st July at Alun Valley, nr. Bridgend:

[millerd]

Ringlet

...I love any spotty variation hence my including this individual...

You seem to do very well with unusually spotted specimens, Wurzel - your record on your favourite Hedgies must be second to none!

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

I must admit Dave that I have my Hedgie images filed in order of number of spots

Have a goodun

Wurzel