Janet Turnbull

[Wurzel]

Great set of posts recently Janet Looks like you had a particularly good outing at Whitecross Green - two Hairstreak species in one day is a great result

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

You've certainly been busy lately, Janet, with a good range of species seen, from the northern specialities to the limestone/chalk species of the south.

[Janet Turnbull]

20th August: BC Butterfly walk at Stretford Meadows

This walk was led by Dave Coleman and had been planned months ago. It turned out to be more of a blackberrying outing with sightings of a few butterflies en route! Due to everything being much earlier this year, the normal summer butterflies which should have been in profusion were hardly to be seen at all. However I did snap a lovely dark Speckled Wood which landed and immediately closed its wings - I persuaded it to open up by casting a shadow on it with my hand.

A Meadow Brown with an identity crisis - is it an ab? It has two white highlights in each eye.

And when I got home, a pair of Large Whites were courting; she was crouched in the grass and he was fluttering and holding a stationary position twelve inches above. Then he landed - and my cat jumped him, so that was the end of that piece of magic.

[millerd]

That's a lovely Speckled Wood, Janet. They at least will be with us for a few more weeks. Your double-spotted Meadow Brown is something that pops up every now and again - I don't know if it has a name. I'm also envious of your double-Hairstreak day up at Whitecross Green Wood.

Dave

[Janet Turnbull]

Thank you, millerd! It was a great day indeed!

A bit of moth ID help needed!

I came across two moths at Stretford yesterday and can't ID them. Moth1 might be a Forester..? and Moth2 some kind of Carpet?

And a very well-disguised oth I saw on a limestone wall at Smardale on 10th August

Finally a very sad sight, death of a female full of eggs - but what was she?

Any ideas, anyone?

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Hi Janet,

I think your poor unfortunate moth is a Lesser Yellow Underwing.

James

[Janet Turnbull]

Thank you James - I looked it up and I'm sure you're right!

[bugboy]

Just catching up with your diary, well done with the Hairstreaks

[Goldie M]

Hi! Janet , glad you got your BHS, we trailed round GB on Sunday and saw nothing, I'll be going South next year and trying there before I go to GB in August to make sure I see one Goldie

[Janet Turnbull]

Well, I haven't entered anything since August. I have seen a few butterflies but didn't bother to put their mugshots up because I thought it would be boring to see them again - how wrong can you be.
So somewhat belatedly, I'll do a bit of catch-up.

24th August: visit to Eyarth Rocks
We found a Gatekeeper who had seen better days

A number of Red Admirals getting excited over the scabious

a Peacock who was happy just to relax on the grass

and a lovely Common Blue on a seedhead

There were also some rather nice mushrooms

[Janet Turnbull]

From 28th August Alan and I were at Grange over Sands to recce some walks before the arrival of the rest of the rambling group. Two days later we found ourselves enjoying a leisurely tour of Lancaster, having been released from the Royal Infirmary after I spent the night in coronary care. So we went to the Butterfly House in Williamson Park. It feels like cheating to put these photos up and I have no idea what they are, but they were definitely butterflies and very beautiful.

[Janet Turnbull]

!st September: Flookburgh
Some orange-peel fungus and a Red Admiral

although I have no idea why the fungus should appear upside down!

[Janet Turnbull]

2nd September: Gait Barrows
Being with a large group of people who were respectful of nature but not really butterflyers meant I could not devote the time I'd have liked, but nevertheless they were all transfixed by the Red Admirals nectaring hungrily on the hemp.

A handsome Speckled Wood and a dragonfly

[Janet Turnbull]

4th September: Whitbarrow Scar
I really hoped for a bonanza of butterflies on the Scar because last year at this time there were so many to be found. This year I only managed a shot of this Green Veined White, although there were several on the wing.

[Janet Turnbull]

3-13 October: Amalfi Coast, Italy
This was a walking holiday (I've never seen so many steps in all my life!) The temperature was around 23 degrees and the butterflies were very active, giving me little opportunity to snap them.
However, I managed to capture this Lang's Short-tailed Blue (thanks to Bugboy for the ID!) who stayed still long enough - and I was delighted to discover she was ovipositing. It turned out to be quite a common sight as we toiled up the hill to Ravello.

and further along were Long-tailed Blues

The Walls were harder to catch

and I managed one Brimstone in the Villa Cimbrone gardens

and further along the path, a Common Swallowtail

[Janet Turnbull]

Amalfi Part 2

A walk up onto the limestone hill which overlooks the Ieranto Bay was particularly fruitful with a male Swallowtail, a Painted Lady and a Clouded Yellow

I found three kinds of Grayling:
Rock Grayling

Tree Grayling

Woodland Grayling

and in a fig tree was a female Large Wall

While we were away there was a Harvest Moon

It was a great holiday - and now we're into gales!

[Andrew555]

A fantastic array of butterflies Janet, wow those exotics!
Love the Swallowtail, interesting to see the varieties of Grayling and Wall, and the amount of wing that Painted Lady is showing.
All great stuff, I do hope you are well now.

Andrew

[Janet Turnbull]

A fantastic array of butterflies Janet, wow those exotics!
All great stuff, I do hope you are well now.

Andrew

Thanks, Andrew! Yes I'm fine now although it was a bit of a scare at the time . I see you're in Kent - a great place for butterflies!

[Janet Turnbull]

Amalfi part 3:
Just one remaining photo - the one which gave us all the biggest thrill when this Red Admiral gave the three of us a very careful look-over and decided Alan was the prettiest flower

After a minute or so it took off, circled round, landed on him again, and looked set to settle. Just then another Red Admiral arrived and ours took off to challenge it. While it was still chasing the other up the road we felt we had to move on. But then it returned, and circled the place where we had been standing, clearly upset that its perch had gone.

[bugboy]

Hi Janet, nice pictures . I could be wrong but I think those first 3 images of ovipositing long tailed blues is actually a Lang's Short-tailed Blue