Speckled Wood – Favourite Photo of 2017

[Wurzel]

Speckled Wood – Favourite Photo of 2017

Week 18 – I was very hopeful last week that the end was in sight, well the Favourite Photo is getting there but the weather has reverted to winter so putting things back another week or two – still it will be worth the wait.

Please could I ask that everyone waits until a topic has been opened by me for a particular species before posting photos? Of course our overseas members are very welcome to fill in the obvious gaps relating to rare UK migrants. As like last year details of locations, dates, times and circumstances would be welcome as would any accompanying stories and anecdotes or other observations of behaviour and interesting other points.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

It's more of a favourite encounter rather than a specific image. Here's an abridged selection from the pupae I found around this time last year at work which I kept in my fridge at home until it was time to allow it to develop

and a nice image from one of my trips to Epping Forest

[MikeOxon]

This was a tough choice for me, with some strong contenders from butterflies enjoying end-of-season fruits. In the end, I chose this photo for its freshness, even though it's a bit entangled in the vegetation. It was taken early in the season at Durlston Country Park, Dorset, when the main target for my visit was the Early Spider Orchid (Ophrys sphegodes)

Durlston Country Park, Dorset - 20th April 2017
Olympus E-M1 with 100-400mm lens - 1/800s @ f/9 ISO640

Mike

[David M]

On 26th June, at Loughor near Swansea, I took time to watch this unusually dark specimen:

[Goldie M]

Again I've got two I like One photo taken at Gait Barrow on the 20th August and the other 19th September in my Back Garden.
The Speckled Wood tends to visit my Garden in September to October, very rarely before this time, as to why that is I'm not sure.

At Gait Barrow there's usually loads of them but I noticed last year, not as many : When entering GB you have to follow a path when leaving the Car Park, after turning left at the gate and following the next path for a while this is where lots of Species used to be, unfortunately a lot of tree's and bushes have been coppiced, it was probably needed but I think the SW have suffered because of it, we saw none on our visit earlier in the year and just a hand full in August. Goldie

[millerd]

While watching slightly more exotic species down at Denbies on 6th May I remember being distracted by a brand new Speckled Wood that persistently flew under my nose.

They had a pretty reasonable year local to me, especially later in the season. I particularly remember these two caught in flight near home on 6th October, with something slightly bigger in the background...

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Ahh! Specklies

Speckled Woods appeared to have a reasonable year locally with the first one appearing in my garden in the first week of April and then continuing to be seen on and off depending on the weather almost every week through until mid October, not quite making it into November this year. This was mirrored at my local sites with regular sightings, although there was not the late surge in numbers that I have seen in some previous years.
Whilst out and about around the rest of the country they cropped up regularly with particular highlights being lots around Arnside Knott in early August and then later in August on parts of the coast path going south from Kennack Sands on the Lizard.

I particularly like the colour combination of this female nectaring on evergreen berberis in my garden.

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 09.04.2017

And a selection of photos taken through the year...

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 23.04.2017

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 23.04.2017

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 09.05.2017

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 09.05.2017

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 27.05.2017

Speckled Wood female - Langley Hall 16.06.2017

Speckled Wood male - Arnside Knott 30.07.2017

I like this shot from Kennack Sands of a male appearing to be courting a female by tapping antennae, something which I have never seen before in this species, most courtships I have witnessed with this species being much quicker and clumsier affairs.

Speckled Wood pair - Kennack Sands 23.08.2017

And finally, the last Specklie photo taken in my garden this year, a fresh looking female in the first week of October.

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 06.10.2017

I saw a few increasingly worn and faded looking males for another couple of weeks but no more after the beginning of the third week of October.

Cheers,

Neil

[David M]

I had a feeling you'd be able to showcase this species better than most, Neil. That sequence just about covers everything really, and is testament to your local populations.

[Chris Jackson]

... abridged selection from the pupae I found around this time last year ....

Good work bugboy, thanks for sharing.

I took only 1 photo this year; I must have been focusing on other species.
This one is from the south of France and so is Pararge aegeria aegeria.
28th April, and wings already torn:

Chris

[Wurzel]

Speckled Wood

Back in April we made one of two annual trips to Wales to visit my Outlaw. On one of the days we completed the clifftop walk from Ffos-y-ffin to Newquay, selling it to my somewhat reluctant younger daughter as a ‘Famous 5’ hike; we had the jam sandwiches but couldn’t find anywhere that served lashings of Ginger Beer. It was very cold for the time of year and so the hoped for Walls and whites didn’t really materialise but we were accompanied during some of the more tree sheltered parts of the walk by Speckled Woods. They hadn’t emerged for long and were still looking quite fresh and this one, my favourite was the freshest of the bunch and from certain angles its ground colour appeared almost burgundy.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Vince Massimo]

I always look forward to my first Speckled Wood of the season and it generally appears in the third week of March in my area. Sure enough, on 25th March, I got one in a reliable spot in local woods.

Speckled Wood - Crawley, Sussex 25-March-2017

The species is then on the wing for almost the rest of the year, with my last sighting being in another reliable spot on 17th November.

Vince