www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

what a great afternoon in the garden. a maximum count of 9 red admirals, 3 commas, brimstone, small and large white, a lone gatekeeper and holly blue. at one stage i gave up trying for any decent shots and just tried seeing how many i could catch in one shot. They were in for the day too which was such a pleasure.
Best i managed was 5 and a few other favourites of the afternoon

Yep, the same near Cambridge... More Red Admirals than I've seen for many years in my garden over the past week or so. Good to see a few Peacocks and (especially) Small Torts too.

Trev

I took a walk along the cliffs at Langdon Bay in Dover yesterday afternoon and soon lost count of the Red Admirals there : I must have seen 20 at least.

Oddly enough, though I saw both Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells yesterday necatring on neighbouring buddleias, Red Admirals were absent!

Lots of Large Whites around though.

I came across this pretty blue female Common Blue while out walking the dog today: I haven't seen one as blue as this in Kent for a long time.

Decided to drive to Shipton Bellinger in Hants yesterday to have a look for the elusive Brown Hairstreak.Last year,despite two visits,Noar Hill hadnt delivered the goods and i was still BH-less.
On arrival at the site, and having a fairly good idea as to where to look from Alan Thornburys excellent website,i wandered up the track and immediately met a very knowledgable guy called Pete ,who had travelled down by bus from Swindon.He showed me all the good places and very shortly..and with a fair amount of luck,i managed to find my very own female BH,sunning herself at the top of the 'master' ash tree. Very pleased but somewhat frustrated that she was not nearer,i carried on searching and eventually met up with Pete again who was watching a worn male who was very low down and in no hurry to leave, So now i had a female,although too high....and a male who was rather tatty.All i needed now was a pristine female,low down,who wanted to open her wings,and was in no hurry to fly back up into the canopy.Some chance.
After my packed lunch,and much searching and waiting ,i met up with Pete again who very excited.More excited ,in fact,than i have ever seen a fellow butterfly enthuisiast.It became apparent that he was watching a female BH who was low down,with her wings open...and in no hurry to return to her hiding place. We watched this individual for about an hour.when she did take flight she landed very close again...drinking from the bramble flowers and from the fruit itself too.
What a fantastic day.These butterflies really take some hunting down although i guess its getting on a bit in the season now.
Many thanks to Pete and to mr and mrs BH for making the trip worthwhile Cheers
Rob

Nice female BH shots.
Hope I'm as lucky when I head-out....
N

At the moment things are really hetic with me, but I am popping on and off to catch up and enjoying all of your posts. Great pictures to

I have had a recent trip to a new site (for me) Grafton Woods, and hope for a return visit soon. I did not see any brown hairstreaks, but maybe I will be luckier next time, I often find the first visit to a new site can be a feet finding day, and often get more out of the next visit. I did see a large white, a peacock, gate keeper, a meadow brown and a creamy yellow brimstone. I may have seen a small skipper to, but it did not come back for me to get a good look and what I think is a cricket.

Yesterday, I went to my local site of Prees Heath and saw:

Meadow Brown
Painted Lady (first of the year)
Peacock
Tortoise shell
Small Copper
Large and Small Whites
Brimstone ( this is my first proper picture of a brimstone - so I am posting this)

Still no un(Common Blues)

and some fabulous grass hoppers.

Debbie

RobS wrote:he was watching a female BH who was low down,with her wings open...and in no hurry to return to her hiding place.

That's a remarkably orange 'tail' area.

David M wrote:

RobS wrote:he was watching a female BH who was low down,with her wings open...and in no hurry to return to her hiding place.

That's a remarkably orange 'tail' area.

I was very lucky with my first female BH.She was a pristine beauty.

Undoubtedly today has been one of the top 10 spectacular days of the year weatherwise. 22c in Abergavenny, virtually no wind and wall to wall sunshine from dawn onwards.

Walking to and from town in the late morning was most pleasant, and there were many, many butterflies on the wing. Large Whites are suddenly appearing in sizeable numbers, whilst there were plenty of Small Whites too. Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells kept cropping up, and a couple of Speckled Woods were seen too.

Seems that we will keep this balmy weather into next week too, so numbers could build further.

Why can't we ever get these conditions in June or July anymore?

A blast up the A1 with PhilB to Chambers Wood in Lincolnshire for BH.
Saw 3 or 4 females; this one we watched for about an hour as she flitted around the tree-tops, then dropped down to start her business of laying eggs.
Unfortunately, she didn't rest long anywhere and resisted all our attempts to catch her with wings open!
A cracking day though.....

Adonis Blues on Mill Hill



3 September 2012
When the sun came out in the early afternoon, the lower slopes of Mill Hill were alive with butterflies. Adonis Blues were present in unprecedented numbers with the count of 205 in the transect acre though to be an underestimate because of cloudy conditions at first. This count equates to an estimate of 800+ on Mill Hill. At one point on my return journey, a spot just above the path it was diffficult to avoid treading on the brown female Adonis Blues amongst the Horseshoe Vetch leaves. Meadow Brown Butterflies were also common with over 150 in the transect acre. Nine species of butterfly and three species of large moth were noted in the humid sunshine.
Excluded Chalkhill Blues will no males seen.



Adur Butterfly & Large Moth List
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Butterfly-list2012.html

Cheers

Andy Horton
glaucus@hotmail.com
Adur Valley Nature Notes
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/Adur2012.html
Adur Valley Nature Notes: July 2012
http://www.glaucus.org.uk/July2012.html
Sussex Downs Facebook Group
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=111843132181316

A friend saw a Monarch today on the revetment at Ventnor/Bonchurch.

Ian Pratt wrote:A friend saw a Monarch today on the revetment at Ventnor/Bonchurch.

Is this the start of another late summer influx of migrants, I wonder?

Possibly the winds associated with Hurricane Kirk (the remnants of which have joined forces with a north Atlantic depression and are now to the north of the UK) will have blown the odd migrating Monarch this way. Tropical Storm Leslie may conceivably do the same sort of thing in about a week's time. They are pretty robust creatures!

Dave

My girlfriend saw a Lobster Moth caterpillar in our local woods today.I have only seen the photo she took on her phone so cant reproduce it here but im sure you know what im talking about.
WEIRD

cheers
rob

Yesterday (3rd), I managed, once again, to miss seeing Brown Hairstreak on Otmoor, in spite of frequent mentions on the Oxon Birdlog (http://oxonbirding.blogspot.co.uk/ ). The usual decoys were out in force, including a Speckled Wood which skipped about in the BH's favoured Ash Tree in a thoroughly provocative manner! Later, a particularly bright Meadow Brown took up the same duty. As usual, there was a good number of dragonflies: Common and Ruddy Darters, Brown and Migrant Hawkers. The hedgerows now have a very Autumnal look and this Red Admiral was enjoying the fruits. I liked the 'stained glass window' effect of its wings against the sun.
The moor has quite a mediaeval feel, as shown in this view towards Oddington Church.
Mike

On this absolutely gorgeous day I took myself down to Folkestone Warren for a walk along the seashore at the foot of the cliffs. Red Admirals were much in evidence , I saw 13 including this one which came in off the beach to rest on the sea wall : There were many Common Blues and four Adonis Blues too: A rather battle worn Dingy Skipper was chasing any butterfly that trespassed too near: And this Speckled Wood was just as feisty in its dealings with the Red Admirals and Small Whites that came past: I also saw 2 Peacocks, 2 Meadow Browns a Small Tortoiseshell and 2 Small Coppers.

Before going home I stopped off at Wye Nature Reserve where I was treated to more Small Tortoiseshells: 5 Red Admirals, 2 Small Heaths, lots of Meadow Browns, a sprinkling of Chalkhill blues and very good numbers of Common Blues and Brown Argus.

Brown hairstreak in the garden! Whoo and yay!

Unfortunately I had one of those dilemmas where I could either watch it or get a camera - I chose the latter. By the time I got back it had gone but it was still great to see and was in good nick from what I could see of it.