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Been hot lately...please don't let it turn into a drought by not raining till October though! We've had enough extremes this year.

Light rain first thing and a threat of stormy weather (that came to pass later on) put me off travelling too far today, but I made it to Denbies. Despite cloud cover and the odd spot of rain, it was very warm and the Chalkhills were very active - there seemed to be twice as many as on my previous visit only a few days ago. I counted double figures of mating pairs and quite a few unpaired females. Also seen were a few Common Blues and Brown Argus, and a dozen or so Marbled Whites still hanging in there. One of the first male Chalkhills I approached sported a slightly aberrant underside, missing most of its underside hindwing spots.A full account will follow in my PD in a while.

Dave

Denbies seems to be particularly 'blessed' with aberrations of both Adonis and Chalk Hill Blues, year on year. I believe that most of these are temperature related, although I did find a 'mosaic' gynandromorph Chalk Hill once too (although is a one-off genetic aberration).

I wonder if the slopes get particularly hot when the pupae are formed, and when the pigment is laid down?

Cheers,

- Pete

Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Thu Aug 01, 2024 8:15 pm Denbies seems to be particularly 'blessed' with aberrations of both Adonis and Chalk Hill Blues, year on year. I believe that most of these are temperature related, although I did find a 'mosaic' gynandromorph Chalk Hill once too (although is a one-off genetic aberration).

I wonder if the slopes get particularly hot when the pupae are formed, and when the pigment is laid down?

Cheers,

- Pete

Yes, Pete, I've seen quite a few abs of both species over the years at Denbies - and last year's bilateral gynandromorph Chalkhill was probably the most spectacular.

Nothing spectacular today - just a trip to Box Hill in initially misty conditions where I confirmed that Silver-spotted Skippers were flying, both on Burford Spur and round the corner to the east of the viewpoint.Very few Chalkhills though. Dave

Saw this Small Copper today at Cavenham Heath, Suffolk. Is it a known aberration? Very blue underwing.

Very pleasant surprise whilst working in the back garden today - my first Brown Hairstreak of the year and a very fresh female to boot. She was extremely skittish, moving from shrub to shrub but kindly opened her wings fully on the last occaision before flying next door, sadly not to return (or I missed her if she did).

This is hopefully good news for the state of the colony in Friars Oak Fields very close to my home, despite the ongoing development work there to build 130-odd houses.

birdingprof wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 6:42 pm Saw this Small Copper today at Cavenham Heath, Suffolk. Is it a known aberration? Very blue underwing.

IMG_2702.jpeg

It looks perfectly normal to me! When you say "underwing" do you mean the hindwing, or the underside?

Cheers,

- Pete

Took an age for the cloud to shift at Bookham but any early Brown Hairstreaks remained elusive. Moving on to Denbies after relaxing and cooling down in the Stepping Stones pub to chase some Chalk Hills. Well chase is an exaggeration, plod along like a decrepit old nag whilst melting is a more accurate description . Anyway I wouldn't say it's a vintage Chalk Hill season, dozens rather than hundreds were seen but perhaps many were hiding from the heat. Amongst the ones that I did find were a couple more abs to go with Millerds. The first is very similar to Millerds but I'm fairly confident it is a different individual The second an upperside where the black border has been usurped by the pale bluish white scales

Pete Eeles wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 9:12 pm

birdingprof wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 6:42 pm Saw this Small Copper today at Cavenham Heath, Suffolk. Is it a known aberration? Very blue underwing.

IMG_2702.jpeg

It looks perfectly normal to me! When you say "underwing" do you mean the hindwing, or the underside?

Cheers,

- Pete

The underside, unfortunately it flew before i could get a shot of that. The leading edge of the forewing is very washed out, compared to a ‘normal’ Small Copper, one of which I had just seen. The Butterfly looked quite fresh, so I’m not thinking it has faded due to sunlight.

bugboy wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 10:40 pm ...The first is very similar to Millerds but I'm fairly confident it is a different individual...

Yep, that's a different individual, but they are both out of the same packet - exactly the same type of markings (or lack of them). Would that point at a genetic origin, rather than environmental?

Cheers,

Dave

Back on home turf this morning (3rd) with thankfully some somewhat cooler weather. Two female blues were the stars of the 150+ butterflies seen from 14 species.

The Common Blue was nearly as brown underneath as a female Chalkhill......and the Holly Blue was absolutely brand new.Another female, a Large White, also provided some behavioural interest which deserves its own post.

Dave

Small Whites

There have been huge numbers in Nairn/Moray since around 20th July.  I didn't see my first Small White up here until two years after I had moved.  But they are everywhere at the moment.

No Small Whites seen May this year.  Might the species be single brooded this far north?

First indoor Small Tortoiseshell on 1st August.  They do not do well over the winter in a central heated house, so I opened the window and pointed towards the shed.  It ignored my advice and disappeared over the fence.

Jack

Another Chalk Hill ab. today on Malling Down one of the ceaca variants like the ones Millerd and I found at Denbies. This one wasn't symmetrically aberrant, one side having more spots than the other. The upperside was perfectly normal There was also a Marbled White which would have looked quite lovely when fresh

bugboy wrote: ↑Fri Aug 02, 2024 10:40 pm ...I wouldn't say it's a vintage Chalk Hill season, dozens rather than hundreds were seen but perhaps many were hiding from the heat. ...

I visited Denbies again this morning, and under cloudy skies I counted 104 Chalkhills (only 5 of which were females) on one pass across the hillside along one of the higher paths. I returned on a path lower down as the sun came out, and counted another 121, including 7 mating pairs and another 10 females. I suppose this qualifies (just!) as hundreds! I would say that the much cooler conditions meant that the majority of those settled had their wings open and were much easier to spot than on Thursday when it was very warm indeed. Overall, there were still areas with no Chalkhills at all, and numbers are not anywhere near what the best years produce.

In addition, I found a single very large female DGF, only three Common Blues and one Brown Argus, perhaps a dozen Marbled Whites, a single Small Heath, a few Gatekeepers, two scruffy Small Skippers, numerous Meadow Browns and a female Brimstone. However, I managed to find two more singletons of species I was hoping I might see...

First of all was a distant (zoomed) shot of a Silver-spotted Skipper, the first I've seen at this site this year.A bit later, in the middle of the return Chalkhill count, one of them disturbed another butterfly - which flew past me in a flash of bright blue.I watched it land and confirmed that it was an Adonis Blue second brood male, the first I've seen anywhere so far. It was very new and did not open its wings regardless of the amount of sun on it.Hopefully there will be good numbers of this striking species this summer.

Dave

Went down to explore the hills and meadows in the Amberley/Burpham area today and for the first time this year I saw double figures of both Common Blue and Brown Argus. In fact up until today I was still in low single figures of the latter. There were also some nice Chalkhills in the mix and the first Adonis were emerging too...freshly emerging Adonis males with freshly emerging Chalk hill females the only 'Lysandra' available, what could possibly go wrong... Also I came across three Small Coppers which doubles the years tally for me! Both Essex and Small Skippers were present including one surprisingly fresh, all three Whites, Brimstone, Comma, Red Admiral, Peacock, Painted Lady, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper and Marbled White made up the numbers.

Yesterday, 4th August, I continued my search for blues and browns in my local patch due to my concerns that certain very tiny colonies will not be able to make it to next year. I was a little distracted by a female Purple Hairstreak - and unbelievably she became the 7th species that I have photographed ovipositing during 2024 - 2 x Speckled Wood, Small Skipper, Essex Skipper, Small Copper, Small White & Large White being the others. Of all the species the hairstreaks were going to be the most unlikely as I only use my iPhone 11 Plus - but the photographs were pretty good considering she was 2.5 metres up an oak tree:
But the highlight was catching up with the female Common Blue in the little meadow - and she was quite cute:

On the subject of common blue numbers, I had feared that a central London site had died out(a small wildflower rich area near the Monkey Gate in Regeents Park) I saw none in April/May of the first brood. Then 2 females seen last week and 2 males on 3rd August.(so that’s 2 pairings possible, then!) In previous years numbers had been so good as to spread sightings across the park.More 6 Spot Burnets than ever before at that site. Also no Ringlets or Marbled Whites seen in Regents Park this year.

First red admiral butterfly appeared in my Aberdeen garden today.

Half a dozen seen......not nectaring on the buddleia but preferring to bask on the stones or garden wall.

Cheers

Bert.

Something of a rarity this year... A Painted Lady seen today at Bookham while looking for Brown Hairstreaks.Also seen was a Jersey Tiger nectaring and showing its colourful hindwings. Dave

An ab of 6-Spot Burnet Moth at Hutchinsons Bank today.