Brown Hairstreak, beetles and other stuff
Posted: Tue Aug 17, 2010 8:55 pm
Nice weather on Sunday presented me with an opportunity to fit in a visit to Noar Hill to try and see the Brown Hairstreak, a butterfly which I had never seen or made a concerted effort to look for. My daughters Francesca aged 9 and Isabella aged 6 agreed to come with me provided I kept my promise to take them to the Reptile Expo fair at Kempton Park. This I duly did, but time was lost there due to waiting in a queue for 1.5 hours, followed by painfully slow progress to see the stalls once entrance had been gained into the packed hall.
By the time I was able to get to Noar Hill it had gone 4:00 p.m. A dark cloud then appeared over the Selborne area and my thoughts turned to having missed the boat. As I walked up I met people who were leaving, including Mark Tutton whom I’ve bumped into on a few occasions (he’s here; he’s there; he’s everywhere!). True to form Mark had some great BH camera shots including a female with wings open pose. However he wasn’t over optimistic about my chances bearing in mind the time (16:30) and the looming clouds. Thankfully the weather changed for the better. I met a chap called Steve Sheppard and it wasn’t long before he was pointing out a male BH on Hemp Agrimony. What a bold butterfly it was too. I was able to get my camera (little snapshot fuji) on the macro setting right up without disturbing it. Afterwards me and Steve talked shop whilst the kids amused themselves trying to photo the numerous common blues.
Common Blues and Brown Hairstreaks were no the only ones on the list. We also saw; Speckled Wood; Meadow Brown; Gatekeeper; Small White; Small Heath; Holly Blue and (surprisingly) a female White Admiral in good condition. There were numerous Silver-washed fritillaries also, all in very good condition (?). 2 – 3 weeks earlier in Bookham Common the SWF’s were well past their best and the WA’s had almost disappeared.
Later a second Brown Hairstreak sighting from a different area was achieved, before meeting up with Steve again who pointed out another find: a (tatty) White-letter Hairstreak. The kids in the meantime had found a largish beetle (see pic ... could anyone identify it for me?) which had fused elyctra; longish legs with prominent claws but no jaws to speak of. Izzy was quite OK about handling it but had it a couple of extra legs her benign response would've been one of sheer terror!
Buoyed up from a great day out I treated us to a pub dinner in the Selborne Arms (good play facilities for the kids) and arrived back home (Woking) at nightfall. That wasn’t the end of the day though. I had a Brimstone moth and a Pine Hawk on my window and the last of my Herald moth pupae had emerged. These I had reared myself (v. easy) from looper caterpillars that had come in on the sallow foodplant I was getting for my Robin Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillars.
Hope you like the pictures (sequence with the Pine hawk has got mucked up but I don't know how to put it right without mucking it up further).
By the time I was able to get to Noar Hill it had gone 4:00 p.m. A dark cloud then appeared over the Selborne area and my thoughts turned to having missed the boat. As I walked up I met people who were leaving, including Mark Tutton whom I’ve bumped into on a few occasions (he’s here; he’s there; he’s everywhere!). True to form Mark had some great BH camera shots including a female with wings open pose. However he wasn’t over optimistic about my chances bearing in mind the time (16:30) and the looming clouds. Thankfully the weather changed for the better. I met a chap called Steve Sheppard and it wasn’t long before he was pointing out a male BH on Hemp Agrimony. What a bold butterfly it was too. I was able to get my camera (little snapshot fuji) on the macro setting right up without disturbing it. Afterwards me and Steve talked shop whilst the kids amused themselves trying to photo the numerous common blues.
Common Blues and Brown Hairstreaks were no the only ones on the list. We also saw; Speckled Wood; Meadow Brown; Gatekeeper; Small White; Small Heath; Holly Blue and (surprisingly) a female White Admiral in good condition. There were numerous Silver-washed fritillaries also, all in very good condition (?). 2 – 3 weeks earlier in Bookham Common the SWF’s were well past their best and the WA’s had almost disappeared.
Later a second Brown Hairstreak sighting from a different area was achieved, before meeting up with Steve again who pointed out another find: a (tatty) White-letter Hairstreak. The kids in the meantime had found a largish beetle (see pic ... could anyone identify it for me?) which had fused elyctra; longish legs with prominent claws but no jaws to speak of. Izzy was quite OK about handling it but had it a couple of extra legs her benign response would've been one of sheer terror!
Buoyed up from a great day out I treated us to a pub dinner in the Selborne Arms (good play facilities for the kids) and arrived back home (Woking) at nightfall. That wasn’t the end of the day though. I had a Brimstone moth and a Pine Hawk on my window and the last of my Herald moth pupae had emerged. These I had reared myself (v. easy) from looper caterpillars that had come in on the sallow foodplant I was getting for my Robin Moth (Hyalophora cecropia) caterpillars.
Hope you like the pictures (sequence with the Pine hawk has got mucked up but I don't know how to put it right without mucking it up further).