www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Good to see some fresh 2014 White-letter Hairstreaks in my back garden this morning(12/6/14).

I would have thought that they would have been sighted earlier than the 12/6/14(i have seen them in my garden in the last week of May) several years ago, an given the fact that reports seem to indicate several species emerging early on in the season......but Im not complaining, it is a real treat to see these little beauties once again.

At least 3 were seen, and it seems they were favouring an Oak tree, rather than the Elms?...However, when i came home from work, one was seen above my shed roof, in the Elms.

Location- Kent...in my garden

A couple of photos then, cheers Paul.

Note- 1st pic is not cropped.

That's one hell of a garden sighting!

David M wrote:That's one hell of a garden sighting!

Thanks David, and yes, to see this species of butterfly in my garden, is amazing.
Ive been watching my garden like a hawk lately, knowing that they could show at any time now. I was looking out my bedroom window, when i spotted a small dark butterfly land on some bramble that was hanging over the top of my fence. I grabbed the camera, ran downstairs, and started to shoot some quick shots of the little beauty. I had to stand on a garden bench, because i needed to get close to eye level, then i put down my DSLR, and moved in close with a bridge camera(plus Raynox 250 macro lens). But then made a "schoolboy error", by moving the fence slightly, an that was enough for the butterfly to take off back up to the tops of the trees!

Since then, the only sightings of them are right at the top of an Oak tree, where they are active/dueling on occasion...But with a little luck, one or two might just come down to the garden to nectar?! fingers crossed

a lovely butterfly to find in your garden ! i hope you can post some more pics of them soon

Charles

Charles Nicol wrote:a lovely butterfly to find in your garden ! i hope you can post some more pics of them soon

Charles

Thanks for your comment.
Well, the weather improved today, so back on "garden watch". One was seen/photographed just before I went to work this morning, whilst another was seen/photographed much later in the day, when i came home from work. So I was very pleased with todays garden sightings.

This one landed less than 15 feet from my kitchen door, over by the rockery, right on a stinging nettle leaf. It basked on the leaf, much like they do on the leaves of an Elm tree.

Another one here(late afternoon) was spotted by my "eagle eye" young son, it had landed near his football, on our lawn. Shame about the blade of grass across the butterfly(although i think it adds to the scene)...maybe i should cut the lawn soon
Cheers Paul.

Testudo Man wrote:

This one landed less than 15 feet from my kitchen door..

You are truly privileged.

David M wrote:

Testudo Man wrote:

This one landed less than 15 feet from my kitchen door..

You are truly privileged.

Cheers David.

Well, looks like i will not be sighting any more garden WLH this season now? Just have to wait until next year, early June 2015!

Heres a shot i took back on the 13th June, this would be a typical long distance sighting. I was standing in my garden, looking up at an oak tree, which is beyond my garden fence, and also beyond a motorway fence too!!

If anyone is familiar with the panasonic bridge camera range, this shot was handheld, full extended zoom(which means 32X optical zoom).
The image is uncropped. Can you spot the WLH?

Cheers Paul.

Looks like my usual efforts to capture WLHs with my Lumix FZ45!!

Your subject is conveniently posing at the end of an isolated leaf, which makes a change as normally they're only half visible due to being obscured by other leaves!

Im pretty sure the post/poster above/before this one (by the member nudrat) is a spammer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...if it is? could a Mod or Admin remove said post please.

On a brighter note, Ive had my 1st White-letter Hairstreaks show up in my garden for 2015
One of them landed on my lawn this afternoon, whilst i was trying to capture a photo of this one, another one flew past!
I couldnt really get any close up images, you know WLH's, they dont hang around for too long!! but i hope to capture better pics soon enough.

Here's a photo of the little beauty, cheers Paul.

Quality stuff!

I'm struggling to think of anything more satisfying than having White Letter Hairstreaks effectively residing with you!

You lucky bugger! Thats on my list to see! where do you live? Mind if I camp in your garden over the weekend

David M wrote:Quality stuff!

I'm struggling to think of anything more satisfying than having White Letter Hairstreaks effectively residing with you!

Cheers David, WLH's are certainly a great species to observe , especially on my doorstep!...although its not all "plain sailing" I had to put in 6 hours "close/strict garden watching" this last Saturday, in order to get good results.

bugboy wrote:You lucky bugger! Thats on my list to see! where do you live? Mind if I camp in your garden over the weekend

Cheers mate...you are not the 1st to ask if i have "WLH open garden sessions" but unfortunately, my wife does not share my passion in my chosen interests...she barely tolerates me, let alone a garden full of guests/butterfly enthusiasts!!!......................I suppose i could send her away for a few days in June/July???!!!...she'd never know

On a serious note, i live in an ordinary suburban house, in a built up area...but my house backs onto a motorway embankment, which just happens to have a good amount of mature Elm/Oak trees. It seems to be a perfect habitat for the WLH's to exist. I also see Purple Hairstreaks too, a couple of years ago, i was leaning out of my bedroom window, in order to capture some photos of a PH, which was in the Oak tree that hangs over my garden fence.
Im sure there are other folk out there, who have the same types of ideal garden habitats for WLH...but i doubt that these folk would be as vigilant as me, when it comes to watching the garden like a Hawk, in order to capture my quarry

So, this last Saturday, i put in at least 6 hours of "close garden watching"...every bee that took flight from my Bramble bush...if it was small/dark, and it flew, then i would scrutinize it, to see if it was a lovely WLH.
The 1st 3 hours went by very slowly, i had a couple of quick glimpses, but nothing i could put a camera/lens onto!
Then i caught sight of one, it flew down to the Bramble bush, but it didnt land, it just teased me for a few moments...then it flew over the other side of my shed, which is where another Bramble bush is.
I was in the wrong part of the garden!!! i should have been this side of my shed...The WLH was feeding on the Bramble bush high up, i took some long distance shots, i was happy at this point...Then this WLH took flight, but not upwards, no, downwards...it flew around me several times, i could have reached out and touched it, then it landed in various places around my garden...and i captured some nice close images

Despite me "bagging" these decent images, i still put in another 3 hours garden watching!!! well, you would, wouldnt you

Another WLH landed once again on my lawn, this one showed signs of some damage though...all in all, a good day was had.

It can be hit and miss with these garden WLH's, you could watch/search for days and see nothing, but every now and again, you get lucky...you get to experience "A great Butterfly moment"

Some photos from Saturday, cheers Paul.
The 2nd WLH on my lawn, showing wing damage.

WLH returned to the Isle of Wight in some disease-resistant elms planted in 2000 in Newport.

Ian Pratt wrote:WLH returned to the Isle of Wight in some disease-resistant elms planted in 2000 in Newport.

Thats great news

Bad news the other day, whilst i was at work, my Grandson was taking a photo of one of the garden WLH's(on his mobile phone) and as the butterfly took off from the lawn, one of our dogs(an 18 month old Jack Russell) chased and ate the butterfly

Good news though, the next day, i saw a fresh WLH land on both my door step, and window ledge

Im still getting good sightings of WLH's in my garden.

This last Saturday, three different sightings through out the day, and since one of the butterflies had its wings badly worn, then there were at least 2 individuals seen.

Here is perhaps one of my best images so far...this WLH flew all around the garden, landing in various places...but then i got lucky, as i was crouched down, it landed on my garden table and bench seats.

Cheers Paul.

Paul, your so lucky and a great shot, I went looking on Sunday nothing so far, i was told about a spot where they maybe at Gait Barrow so I'll look there next Goldie

Goldie M wrote:Paul, your so lucky and a great shot, I went looking on Sunday nothing so far, i was told about a spot where they maybe at Gait Barrow so I'll look there next Goldie

Thanks very much Goldie, and yes, i guess I dont realize just how lucky i am

I hope you connect with some WLH's yourself this season, good luck, cheers Paul.

Hi Testudo man,
Just thought I'd say ,great White Letter shots from your back garden, you gave me a bit of help some while ago re: Raynox 150 close up lense ,which I duly bought ,and with the help of a cardboard sleeve ,I can use it with my Fujifilm finepix bridge camera ,and have had some reasonable results,so thanks for that! Also I'd like to say that your underwing shot of a dark green frit (from Lullingstone) from a while back,is my favourite shot of the year.....Brilliant! I'm hoping for a trip there myself if the weather improves this week ,do you still think I'm in with a chance??
Regards Allan.W.

Allan.W. wrote:Hi Testudo man,
Just thought I'd say ,great White Letter shots from your back garden, you gave me a bit of help some while ago re: Raynox 150 close up lense ,which I duly bought ,and with the help of a cardboard sleeve ,I can use it with my Fujifilm finepix bridge camera ,and have had some reasonable results,so thanks for that! Also I'd like to say that your underwing shot of a dark green frit (from Lullingstone) from a while back,is my favourite shot of the year.....Brilliant! I'm hoping for a trip there myself if the weather improves this week ,do you still think I'm in with a chance??
Regards Allan.W.

Thanks very much for that Allan, glad you managed to capture some good shots when using the Raynox 150 macro lens. Ive certainly used my Raynox 150 a lot more than my 250 this year.

Thanks for the compliment in regards to my DGF under wing shot too.
Since it would appear that many of our butterflies are approx 2 weeks late this season, Im sure there would still be some DGF activity at Lullingstone...but for how much longer this year? i dont really know?
Heres hoping you manage to sight some DGF's this week.

Good luck, cheers Paul