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Some negatives
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:23 pm
by Jack Harrison
31st July. Nil Brown Hairstreaks at Bernwood. Nil Silver Spotted Skippers on Watlington Hill and amazingly no Chalkhill Blues there either. But one female DG Fritillary.
Jack
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:27 pm
by Martin
1st of August...nil Brown Hairstreaks at Bernwood again
Martin.
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:49 pm
by Jack Harrison
I concentrated on the West-East road where I saw one BH last August. I'll return in ten days to a fortnight.
I believe Aston Rowant south of the M40 is better for SS Skippers but have never tried there. You can bet the M40 cutting itself has very good populations but I don't suppose anyone has been able to find out. I saw several at Watlington last year on 6 August but failed to get any photos of the very flighty butterflies. My only photos of them (slides) date back to the 1970s but I don't suppose evolution has changed them much since then!
Jack
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 8:56 pm
by Martin
Bryan H and I went to Aston Rowant on the way home and saw Silver-spotted Skipper...didn't feel too bad about not seeing Brown Hairstreak after that
Martin.
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:04 pm
by Jack Harrison
You blighter! :cry:
I must try harder.
I must try harder.
I must try harder.
Which is the best spot at Aston Rowant? Map reference if you don't mind.
Jack
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:14 pm
by Martin
Bryan has the map...I'm sure he'll be along soon to tell you
Martin.
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:17 pm
by Padfield
I used to go to Aston Rowant in the late eighties for silver-spotted skippers - I'm so glad they still fly there.
It is still early for brown hairstreaks, and different sites often produce the insects at different times. I used to find they emerged earlier at Whitecross Green (from mid-July) than in Bernwood (where I saw them mostly on the Shabingdon side, and where they persisted well into September).
I spent two hours today at a brown hairstreak site in Switzerland, where I saw and photographed them at the end of August last year. Not a single hairstreak (but I had a wonderful time looking for them).
Guy
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 9:18 pm
by Martin
Saw a few other nice b/flys...
And there are those mites again
Martin.
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 10:28 pm
by Bryan H
Ah yes!
Sorry, Jack! Having a few problems with the CD player tonight. It's definitely on its way out. Just managed to get Sibelius's Symphony No 1, Op.39, (Ashkenazy, Philharmonia) on the go.
Now then! Silver-Spotted Skipper.
Yes, south side of M40 at Aston Rowant. Upper slopes of the meadow beneath the signed footpath. Map reference not much help, I'm afraid. Best bet is to hire Martin for the day. He's got an eye for these critters.
Sorry if that's not much help! I'm working on a poem about Brown Hairstreak called, "Absent Friends"
Bryan
Posted: Wed Aug 01, 2007 11:25 pm
by Bryan H
padfield wrote:
I spent two hours today at a brown hairstreak site in Switzerland, where I saw and photographed them at the end of August last year. Not a single hairstreak (but I had a wonderful time looking for them).
Guy
Not the hot springs dans la region de Gurnigelblad, Guy?
Bryan
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 8:21 am
by Padfield
Nope. No femmes chaudes either. But I was serenaded by this cicada - not something most people expect to find in the Alps:
Guy
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 3:03 pm
by Dave McCormick
Guy, that must have been such a sound of the cicada's. Seen them on TV and they were loud. One creature I'd love to see on year.
Posted: Thu Aug 02, 2007 4:58 pm
by Bryan H
Jack,
Just realised I took this shot at Aston Rowant yesterday from near to where the Silver-spotteds are:
This meadow is on a south-west facing slope and the picture is looking north-west to Hill Farm. Approximate map reference is 727964.
The SSPs were few and far between near the top of this meadow. Hope this helps!
Bryan