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This could be carnage...

3 June first Red Admiral of the year.

Jack

Whilst waiting 10 minutes at St Helier station south London I spotted 10 different species on a large buddleia bush by the trackside. Meadow brown, gatekeeper, red admiral, peacock, holly blue, large white, small white, marbled white, comma and brimstone. Not bad, nearly 20% of the butterfly fauna of the UK.

A catch up on a few recent visits , included several Purple Emperor on the ground at Chiddingfold , and at the same site , a White Admiral ' with attitude ' Nearer home , an unusual combination of a very fresh Brimstone , nectaring on Pyramidal Orchid . on the same site , my first Chalkhill Blue of the year , on the last day of June .
I went back today , thinking he would be just one of many , but he was still ' Billy-no-mates ' This week , I've been concentrating on early morning visits up on the Common for Purple Hairstreak . The window for getting them down on the bracken below the Oaks , seems to be from 0715 - 0900 . After 0900 , only the odd one was seen , heading up into the Oaks again .

After Pete Eeles and Mark Tutton kindly confirmed my very first Purple Emperor from my excited post and a dreadful photo, I managed a better one today. And my first Comma of the year.

A good morning spent out and about in Salcey Forest, Northamptonshire, focusing on the area south of the horsebox car park at the east end. 17 species in total including my 49th (PE) and 50th (BH) in Britain:
Small Skipper
Large Skipper
Brimstone - 1 fresh male
Large White
Small White
Green-veined White
Purple Hairstreak - at least 10 seen
Black Hairstreak - a single found along the path 100m south of the car park, happily not as worn as I was expecting
White Admiral - at least 5 seen but all in flight
Purple Emperor - 1 descended briefly onto the path, at least 2 others seen in flight
Red Admiral
Peacock
Comma
Silver Washed Fritillary - like White Admiral at least 5 seen but none landing
Speckled Wood
Meadow Brown
Ringlet

Oh Deborah, that is a truly lovely photo of the Purple Emperor - the one we all aspire to. You must be so delighted. Well done!

here is a Purple Hairstreak from Monks Wood on Wednesday

After seeing all the butterflies at the station, it was a great pity to see so few at Kew Gardens. Plenty of flora but very few fauna.

Pauline wrote:Oh Deborah, that is a truly lovely photo of the Purple Emperor - the one we all aspire to. You must be so delighted. Well done!

I agree- superb photo.

I didn't think this week could get any better and then it did. Saw my first Purple Hairstreak whilst searching for Purple Emperors with my binoculars. Unfortunately too far away for a photo. A White Admiral, and then (thanks for confirmation Neil Hulme), a Large Tortoiseshell! (I am in Brittany).

An early start this morning ,arriving at Dungeness at 6.45 am,and the first butterflies were on the wing at 7.10 ,the first I noticed were Small Skippers ,and amongst the hoards on the wing I found 2 Essex ( mind you I only checked about 20 ),there were good numbers of Marbled Whites ,Gatekeepers,Meadow Browns ,one or two fresh Peacocks and nice to see 4 second brood Common Blues and 2 2nd brood Brown Args ;
On the Copper front ,I found around 100 (give or take ) from very worn to very fresh ,fewer Blue spots than in previous years ,and I do wonder what the third brood will be like(if there is one ! ) ,the bulk of the Sorrel is completely frazzled ! but they're resilient little beasties ,and I,m sure they,ll be a few about !
Late afternoon I had a short visit to Orlestone forest ,to watch the Purple Hairs ,it seems that they,re having another great season ,and one particular Oak had dozens zipping too and fro ,once again ,groups of up to 6 at a time battled it out for their own Acorn.
Regards Allan.W. ps; Think the spider needs to work on his camouflage skills !
Regards Allan.W.

In West Scotland last week - saw a total of 42 Mountain Ringlets on Glasdrum on the Tuesday then on Jura, Wednesday, 2 Grayling on coastal rocks Surprised to find Ringlets and Graylings sharing similar ground as some marshy coves abut dry, rocky grassland. Virtually no Meadow Browns seen. Also present on Jura, Common Blue, Small Copper, Dark Green Fritillary, Painted Lady, Speckled Wood, Red Admiral. Others saw SPBF.

Hello from Sheffield! I've been lurking awhile, and finally got round to posting...
Purple Emperors were out again in Cotgrave Forest (near Nottingham) this weekend, on another blistering day. This was my second time there, and there seemed to be lots more than last year. I was also rewarded with my first proper views of grounded males! They weren't playing ball for 'purple' photographs, moving around a lot and flapping wings open and shut, but I managed a couple of snaps....

Plenty of Purple Hairstreak about too, including this beautiful fresh one. He was unusually sat in the grass and looked a bit floppy round the edges. It was a windy day, so perhaps he'd fallen from a wing-drying perch?

EssexBertie: In West Scotland last week - saw a total of 42 Mountain Ringlets on Glasdrum on the Tuesday

Which Glasdrum is that? Surely not the Chequered Skipper site near Benderloch / Appin?

Jack

Allan.W. wrote:..Late afternoon I had a short visit to Orlestone forest ,to watch the Purple Hairs ,it seems that they,re having another great season..

They sure are if that photo is anything to go by, Allan. It looks like two sentries taking a prisoner.

Jack: Which Glasdrum is that? Surely not the Chequered Skipper site near Benderloch / Appin?

Hi Jack, yes that's the one, just 2 hours further up the mountain.
I've climbed it with Vince (Cambs & Essex branch) twice before without success, but we got decent conditions this year, so third time lucky. SNH used to walk the transect, but it hasn't been done with any regularity for a good few years. So it was nice to record the colony. I've posted more info on the Species-specific forum
Rob

Hi Jack, yes that's [Glasdrum] the one, just 2 hours further up the mountain.

Thanks. But sadly, beyond my physical capabilities.

Jack

Thanks. But sadly, beyond my physical capabilities.

I found it really tough in the heat and there's no track. Could be my last year.

Late afternoon visit to Dungeness ,amongst the 60+ Small Coppers, found was this AB;Radiata . Regards Allan.W.