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Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 6:09 am
by nomad
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 7:24 pm
by David M
Nice start, nomad. Your Holly Blues look to be in great nick.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 8:48 pm
by nomad
Thanks David, I was surprised to find the hollies in that condition at this date. Today, I was a few fields away from the best site at Sutton Bellinger, when I knew I had forgotten a important fact. Wolf like howls seemed to be coming from a very large pack of dogs, this was indeed the Bank holiday weekend husky working dog show. The main boundary hedge where I had such a good time a week ago was inaccessible. I moved of to a nearby area I call the triangle, but no luck. While I was peering at a sloe hedge, a man appeared shook my hand and suggested I join his group of Ash Brownie searchers. I thanked him for his kindness but declined and they moved off in a hurry down a hedge in their quest. This I believe was a BC led field meeting. When I met them again, they had seen several Brown Hairstreaks around the Ashes. I had a good scout around the Sutton Bellinger area, but with the main site out of bounds and the often cool conditions I did not except many photo opportunities. Walking back to Tidworth in the afternoon to catch my bus home I saw the BC just ahead, soon they were lost to view as they headed uphill. I turned down a old sloe lined drove just on the outskirts of the garrison town and started to search a scrubby area with young sloes. A female landed in the grass and as I approached she flew off and high into a thicket. I returned to the track then after waiting some time, a female flew low and started to egg- lay on a very small sloe in the dense vegetation. She then landed on a leaf and briefly opened her wings and just at that moment there was the roar of off road motor bikes and a trio stopped just behind me, I rushed to get a few not so sharp images with her wings open and passing the vibrations of these super charged off roadsters saw her disappear once more. Still this was a fitting end to perhaps my last Brown Hairstreak trip of the year.
![084.JPG (1.01 MiB) Viewed 4362 times Last weekend Sutton Bellinger was so peaceful but not today.](./files/thumb_12278_138915344e3db48616c0c121944ca8ac)
- Last weekend Sutton Bellinger was so peaceful but not today.
![120.JPG (1.07 MiB) Viewed 4362 times Female Brown Hairstreak resting after egg-laying](./files/thumb_12278_577ce9d78de2a9986d3113479cfbb1c2)
- Female Brown Hairstreak resting after egg-laying
![204.JPG (694.35 KiB) Viewed 4362 times The female Brown Hairstreak showing a bit of wear, tear and shadow.](./files/thumb_12278_8d336509fccf7023949d2cc114bdace6)
- The female Brown Hairstreak showing a bit of wear, tear and shadow.
![209.JPG (714.16 KiB) Viewed 4362 times Female Speckled Wood](./files/thumb_12278_1891b83395d0a5d0650f2d26a5e09c3f)
- Female Speckled Wood
![715.JPG (718.85 KiB) Viewed 4362 times Common Blue female.](./files/thumb_12278_06866beb1b2a339f87b895731a50e3d7)
- Common Blue female.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2014 9:14 pm
by Wurzel
Lovely shots of the Brostreaks Nomad
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
On reading your report my first thoughts were "Damn it I was going to Shipton tomorrow and with wet weather at the start of next week time seems to be running out" but I'll risk it anyway and see if I can slip in under the fences
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
Failing that there may be some females egg laying on the footpath up towards the Master tree.
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 6:56 am
by nomad
Hi Wurzel. I am pleased you liked my brownie images
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
There are no fences at the dog-show. However, the main boundary hedge at Sutton Bellinger has caravans and awnings full of dogs very close to it. I did go along the first bit, but a paddock of around twenty fierce barking dogs at my approach then saw the approach of two huge men, who wondered what I was about. Although they said I could carry on, their pack had set off the others in competition all the way down the line. The noise was truly intense. You also will not get far down that hedge due it being blocked by awnings.. I love peace and thought I better not interfere with the dogs owners enjoyment of their special Bank hoilday weekend, their are plenty of hedges to search in the vicinity. I do hope you have some luck. My find was in Wiltshire along a drove near Tidworth that was uphill northwards from the boundary hedge. As I started this blog- diary late and as the butterfly season is nearly at a end, I thought that I would also write and post images of my favourite butterfly outings this year. I am also very interested in the former geographical distribution of British butterflies, so when I get permission I sometimes go to museums to study historical collections, so I might do a some posts about these.
Regards Peter.
P.S. On my last two visits to Sutton Bellinger, I have only seen the females low down from 2pm onwards.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 2:59 pm
by Pauline
Great start to your diary Peter. I, too, have made the mistake of turning up at Shipton Bellinger on that weekend so I agree that the noise can be considerable - but there are some impressive animals there.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:19 pm
by nomad
Thank you Pauline. Yes I have also make that mistake once before.
![Confused :?](./images/smilies/icon_confused.gif)
I agree with you the Husky and Malamutes are among the most lovely of the dog breeds.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Regards Peter.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 4:39 pm
by nomad
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:02 pm
by David M
That's one of the weirdest Small Coppers I've ever seen.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2014 9:54 pm
by essexbuzzard
Agreed,most unusurall. Not totaly unlike the black European forms. Great sighting.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Re: Nomad
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 8:05 am
by nomad
Yes guys, I was very pleased with that sighting, certainly a strange individual copper.
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Re: Nomad
Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:59 am
by nomad
James Charles Dale ( 1792-1872) is perhaps the most important of the early British Entomologists as regards to the information that he left behind in his diaries and on his data labels of his very early extensive collections of British insects. He was followed by his son Charles William Dale ( 1851-1906) who we have to thank for donating the entire collection to the Oxford Museum.
While I was examining the famous historic Dale British Butterfly collection in the Hope Department of Entomology, I was surprised to find just above the Large Blue series, a specimen of the Alcon Blue - Maculinea ( Phengaris?) alcon. This specimen seems to have recieved scant attention by British lepidopterists. It was mentioned by the Oxford lepidopterist James Walker RN ( 1851-1939) in his review of the Dale collection in the ' Entomologist ' for 1907. M. alcon is a rare species that is very local across mainland Europe. The Alcon Blue flies on wet heaths where its foodplant the lovely Marsh Gentian occurs. Walker in his review mentions that in C.W. Dales register of the collection there is following information for the M. alcon specimen : collected in the early part of the 19th century by a Mr. H. Jones at Cliefden in Buckinghamshire'. This specimen was given to Adrian Haworth ( 1767-1833) and was later bought by C.W. Dale at the great sale of the the Haworth collection. Placed by the specimens side in the Dale collection is the label ' Bedford ', but this may have mistakenly been placed there because J.C Dale collected the Large Blue M. arion from that very old locality for that butterfly. A valley in the chalk downs would be a most unsuitable habitat for an old colony of M. alcon. It has been suggested to me by a Dutch lepidopterist that as there are coastal populations of this species in Holland, this butterfly might have been blown or flown across the channel. If this was the case you might have thought it would have been found on the Kent coast and not miles inland. I have also had this very interesting letter from a British lepidopterist which gives a very interesting twist to the British Alcon Blue mystery. See below.
"Now, the M.alcon / M.arion story. I can add quite a bit to this from the manuscript of W.P.Curtis' unpublished work on the Lepidoptera of Dorset. If you pass me your email address I will send you the entire transcript of the M.arion entry. In summary, Curtis noted that Tutt had ascribed M.arion as being at Parley Heath in Dorset "in plenty" on 5th August. Tutt's source was said to be J.C.Dale. Interesting that Dale crops up again in connection with M.arion / M.alcon, isn't it?
Curtis notes that an examination of 351 letters (these are in the Hope Collection, according to W.P.C) passing between J.C.Dale and John Curtis found absolutely no reference to M.arion being at Parley Heath - a seemingly strange omission. Nor could he personally find any reference to M.arion in other personal papers he personally examined that had been annotated by the prolific J.C.Dale. He bluntly remarks "the Parley Heath record I frankly disbelieve"...
However, he was nothing if not an inquisitive and open-minded researcher, and he picks up on the date (5th August) that the 'M.arion' were abounding at Parley Heath. Late for M.arion, but he notes that M.alcon is found as near as Brittany - and that it flies in July and August. Furthermore, he notes that M.arion's larval foodplant (thyme) isn't in his experience found on heathland, but M.alcon's larval foodplant of Gentiana pneumonanthe was commonly found on the heathlands of Hants and Dorset on which Parley Heath was but one area.
He concludes "The Parley Heath insects if ever they existed might just as well have been alcon Fabr. as arion Linn. So much for Parley Heath."
He had quite an acid tongue!
Hard to conclude precisely what was going on at Parley Heath. I'd speculate that J.C.Dale almost certainly heard of M.arion there secondhand; if at all. If he'd found them there, we'd know about it given his well-preserved collection and prolific papers. There's always the possibility that someone was trying to legitimise fake specimens of either arion or alcon by latterly claiming some connection to Dale - but in the absence of any such specimens, that's a slender hypothesis. The date and the presence of M.alcon's foodplant in the area are intriguing, but no more than that. It's a rather lovely mystery - and absolutely fascinating to see the Dales' fingerprints all over your fragment of the M.alcon in Britain story as well as this one."
This letter to me certainly lit a spark of further interest in this subject. I might add that in the Loudon's Magzine Volume 7 1834, there is a article by J.C. Dale which lists the rare insects that were taken at Parley Heath up to that date. Sadly in this article, there is no mention of any Alcon Blues from one of his favourite collecting localities.
Peter
![1425.JPG (1.21 MiB) Viewed 4226 times The British? Alcon Blue in the Oxford Dale collection](./files/thumb_12278_e1e1d3450e653ba9ac8f937afc46d9ff)
- The British? Alcon Blue in the Oxford Dale collection
Re: Nomad
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 7:12 pm
by nomad
Re: Nomad
Posted: Fri Aug 29, 2014 8:53 pm
by Wurzel
Fantastic chalk land shots Nomad
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
That Chalk Carpet is brill
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 5:39 am
by nomad
Thank you Wurzel. I am pleased that you liked them. I am always pleased to find the Chalk Carpet because it is always occurs in such small numbers. Apart from the Wiltshire Downs, the last time I saw this moth was a couple of years ago at Lulworth Cove in Dorset.
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Regards Peter,
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 5:54 am
by Pauline
Very interesting account of the Blues Peter and that is a stunning Small Copper
![Mr. Green :mrgreen:](./images/smilies/icon_mrgreen.gif)
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sat Aug 30, 2014 8:38 pm
by nomad
![039.JPG (1.1 MiB) Viewed 4150 times Big skies and big views Salisbury Plain.](./files/thumb_12278_8d97241cd665021ac6924c51b162d450)
- Big skies and big views Salisbury Plain.
Thank you Pauline, I am pleased that you liked the post
![Smile :)](./images/smilies/icon_smile.gif)
Today I had a pleasant time looking in the Tidworth - Sutton Bellinger area. It was mostly cloudy and windy, but there were variable amounts of sunshine . I wonder if people are still looking for Brown Hairstreak females, although by now perhaps few are because they probably would not be pristine. With the wet windy weather last night in the area I was going to search today, I did not expect to find any BH in good condition. I saw my first female Brownie at 10am along an old drove running alongside the Tidworth garrison golf club in Wiltshire. The sighting was a brief one because she skipped over a hedge into a sloe thicket. A fox in beautiful condition loped down the track while I was searching some scrub, stopping to stare at the strange man peering into the hedgerows. I found some nice Speckled Woods , but having no further luck I moved off down hill into Hampshire. I saw my second female at 11am in the grassland area, west of the master tree. I followed her for some way as she danced along, and although she basked for a while, my photographs were rather poor due to her awkward resting position. She was fully intact, but faded. Moving along the boundary hedge, I saw a female in better condition at 12.30am behind bramble and nettles and she flew over a tall bush. She reappeared where I could just get too and although not fresh, I got some decent photos. It was wonderful to see her basking for a few minutes before she flew high up and disappeared into the trees. Along the boundary hedge the Red Admirals were a delight feeding and basking on and near the bramble fruit. I also saw a nice Comma, I do not think it has been a good year for this species, I have only seen a few. Has anyone else noticed this.
In the grassland and scrub area where I saw the first female BH, there were some fresh Small Coppers and one male Adonis blue, probably on a visit from the nearby downland. A Clouded Yellow flew at a amazing speed along and up over the boundary hedgerow. All in all a worthwhile visit.
Regards Peter.
Brown Hairstreak female today at Shipton Bellinger
Red Admirals at Shipton Bellinger.
![600.JPG (666.79 KiB) Viewed 4150 times Comma](./files/thumb_12278_d093d3918c189c4c77c77c39798a2d1e)
- Comma
![577.JPG (719.28 KiB) Viewed 4150 times Speckled Wood Tidworth.](./files/thumb_12278_13bc78192e8df1aaf3b98d859974776d)
- Speckled Wood Tidworth.
![034.JPG (1.05 MiB) Viewed 4150 times Old drove Tidworth where I saw my first BH today.](./files/thumb_12278_ee55fa402141696b713874ef5ff82814)
- Old drove Tidworth where I saw my first BH today.
Small Copper Shipton Bellinger.
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 7:30 pm
by nomad
Re: Nomad
Posted: Sun Aug 31, 2014 9:22 pm
by Wurzel
Lovely Green-veined White and stunning Small Coppers Nomad
![Very Happy :D](./images/smilies/icon_biggrin.gif)
Shipton was great today with possibly as many as 10 females and a male tagging along too
Have a goodun
Wurzel
Re: Nomad
Posted: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:52 am
by nomad
Hi Wurzel, I thought I would give the Oxon woods another go, but Shipton Bellinger seemed the place to be . Any BH photos of your visit.
Regards Peter.