Neil Freeman

[Neil Freeman]

Sunday 21st August.

August so far has been a bit of a loss for me regarding butterflying. I seem to have been at work on the best days and when the weekends have arrived the weather has either been lousy or I have been tied up with family duties.

I finally managed to get out yesterday for a couple of hours in some decent sunshine. Not having the time to travel far, I trundled round to one of my local spots, Castle Hills near Solihull.
I was expecting to see the usual suspects, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Small Heath, Common Blue, Small Copper, Whites etc. and sure enough all were present in reasonable numbers.
Most of the butterflies seen were worn or faded to some degree and there was a definite feeling of 'winding down' around the site.

There was a slight but steady breeze and this combined with the fact that most of the subjects kept settling low down in the vegetation meant that photo opportunities were limited. Still, I managed to get a few shots including a Small Heath posing nicely instead of hiding down amongst the grass as usual

Small Heath

Common Blue

I am keeping my fingers crossed for the weather next weekend with the bank holiday as I am hoping to get out a couple of times, hopefully to Rodborough Common and Grafton Wood.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Neil,

I am keeping my fingers crossed for the weather next weekend with the bank holiday as I am hoping to get out a couple of times.

You and me both!

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[ChrisC]

i do like that common Blue pic.

Chris

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Chris.

I did not realise until afterward that there is some sort of bug on the flower head as well. No idea what it is.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Willrow]

Hello Neil,

You've certainly mastered your Panasonic, when we met at Oversley Wood you were just figuring things out, your results now speak for themselves, they're super, it's a wonderful Common Blue portrait, well done.

Hope you (and all other UK Butterflyers) have great weather for the Bank Holiday and you get to see the species you want...

Regards,
Bill

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Bill,

Thanks very much for the comments, I don't know about 'mastered', I think there's more luck than judgement involved sometimes

If I remember right, when we met at Oversley it was my first trip out with the close up lens, back in early June. I cannot believe that was nearly three months back

I'm hoping to get back to Rodborough / Swellshill sometime over the bank holiday weekend, I havn't managed to see Adonis Blue yet.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Sunday 28th August.

Since having her stroke last year, my wife can only walk a short distance with a stick and so consequently has not been able to come with me on my butterflying trips as she would normally have liked to do. This has also meant that I have usually only been able to get out when one of my sons has been home or my daughter has been visiting as I won't leave her for too long by herself in case she needs assistance.
Today my daughter was visiting and as my wife knew that I was hoping to get to Rodborough/Swellshill she suggested that we should take a drive there and I could go off wandering whilst they stayed by the car talking women talk

We set off mid-morning in sunshine and duly arrived a couple of hours later at Swellshill Bank after a leisurely drive down past Eversham and through Cheltenham.
The first butterflies seen were Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, a few Chalkhill Blues and Brown Argus and some Common Blues. I also saw a couple of Adonis Blue Males that would not settle for photos.
After about 15 mins or so it went quite dark and an 'orrible big black cloud came over....and then the heavens opened
I legged it back up the bank to the car...or as near to legging it that I can manage these days and jumped in to the sound of the women laughing at my bedraggled state.
We decided to go back to the ice cream factory and have have some ice cream whilst we waited to see what the weather would do.
Luckily, in the time it took to get down a double cornet, there were big patches of blue sky heading our way so as soon as the rain stopped we headed back to have another look for Adonis Blues.

Swellshill Bank - 10 minutes before the deluge

The sun soon came back out and heading back down the bank it wasn't long before the butterfies came out of hiding. This time they were more willing to settle and spend time basking and warming up again. I also saw a few more Adonis Blue males.

Brown Argus - male

Common Blue - male

Common Blue - male

Adonis Blue - male with what looks like rain damage on forewings

Adonis Blue - male

Adonis Blue - male

I also saw a few females but I am not sure if they were Adonis or Chalkhill. Given the condition of these which was for the most part quite faded and worn, I am more inclined to think they were Chalkhill females. Unfortunatly the photos that I took of these are not very good, the one below is about the best.

Female Chalkhill Blue....I think?

All in all it was a good day out, I managed to see Adonis Blues which were a first for me and my wife and daughter both enjoyed their day although I think the highlight for them was the ice cream

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Neil,

Lovely report and pictures. I trust you're as pleased with the Lumix as I am?

I'm glad you managed to get some Adonis shots as I failed to get anything other than a few record shots at Mill Hill recently.

Adonis Blue - male with what looks like rain damage on forewings

I wonder if this could be attributed to the wings sticking together at emergence for some reason rather than rain damge?

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Mark,

The damage on the Adonis could well be caused at emergence as you say.
Looking more carefully it does indeed lookas if the wings have stuck together ar some point.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Susie]

I would guess that it is damage as a pupa rather than damage on emergence. I've seen several butterflies this year which look like someone has spot welded their wings.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Susie,

Thats a great description. it does look very like a failed spot weld.
I remember your other threads about Adonis aberations and your interest in unusual variations. I only saw a few Adonis, maybe half a dozen at most and this one was the only one with anything that looked out of the ordinary.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Tuesday August 30th

I had been promising myself that I would try and get over to Grafton Wood, hopefully to see Brown Hairstreak, sometime over the Bank Holiday. I had already booked an extra day off work but the weather forecast was not looking good. Nevertheless, as Grafton is only a 45 minutes or so drive from my house, I decided to 'suck it and see' and set out mid-morning in rather dull and overcast conditions.

I arrived at Grafton and parked by the church with the weather still overcast with horizon to horizon grey clouds and the temperature around 16C, much too dull and cool for Browns Hairstreaks to be about. Oh well, I thought, might as well have a wander around and see what I can find.

Walking across the fields towards the wood and up towards the orchard, I noticed that some of the hedgerows looked like they had been 'tidied up' a bit and I could hear the sound of machinery and saws from further within the wood. I later saw a signs by the entrance to the wood warning that the forestry commision were clearing non-native trees.

Field at west side of wood showing recent tidying of hedgerow

Looking towards the orchard under grey skies

The first butterflies seen were a couple of Small Tortoiseshells in the field before the entrance to the wood. These raised my spirits a bit as they were the first that I had seen for a couple of months.

Small Tortoiseshell

Small Tortoiseshell

I spent the next couple of hours looking around the outside of the wood around the hedges between the orchard and down to the southern end of the wood and also went through the wood to the other side where there are some likely looking Blackthorn thickets. As suspected, I did not get a glimpse of a single Brown Hairstreak, it was simply too dull and cool.

What I did see were plenty of Green Veined Whites and Speckled Woods plus a few Meadow Browns, Gatekeepers and a single Common Blue. I realised that I hadn't taken a photo of a GV White since my first attempts back in the spring so I contented myself with getting a few shots of these. I must admit, I think the GV White has a delicate beauty of its own and is often overlooked because it is so common.

Green Veined White

Green Veined White

Green Veined White

Speckled Wood

An enjoyable couple of hours despite the gloomy weather and not seeing a Brown Hairstreak.

Bye for now,

Neil

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Neil,

Glad to see you've been out.

Lovely report and pictures. I do like a report when it has site pictures in as it gives a feel to the reader of the location, particularly when you don't know it. Glad to see you managed to get some Green-veined White shots. I certainly agree with you in that they are a lovely butterfly and generally overlooked for more 'exotic' creatures.

I particularly liked the composition of your Speckled Wood image and the first Small Tortoiseshell picture.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Wurzel]

Some lovely shots Sorry you weren't lucky with the Brown Hairstreak , still there's always next year
Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for the comments guys.

Wurzel,
I did manage to see a female Brown Hairstreak at Bernwood Meadow a few weeks back . I am guessing that there maybe a week or two left to maybe see one at Grafton. West Midlands BC has its Brown Hairstreak day there this coming Sunday 4th September, the weather forecast is not looking too good though

Here's hoping,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Friday 9th September.

Its well and truly turned to Autumn round here with rain, winds and a few sunny spells .
Getting up for work last week at 06.00, it was light, getting up this week it is dark

The Speckled Woods are still hanging on in my back garden but apart from the odd unidentified white passing through they are the only butterflies that I have managed to see this week.

There have been a few moths flapping against the back room windows now the nights are darker and the lights are on, nothing has ventured in through the windows though.

Seem to have been invaded by House Spiders (Tegenaria sp.). The seems to be more of these and they seem to be bigger than ever.....but does that seem to be the case every year
Had them stomping across the carpet or clambering up the walls every night this week and one in the bath every morning...except this morning when there was two, at least these were a bit smaller.
Each time I have caught them in a glass or coffee jar and put them outside by the neighbours shed hoping they will go there instead of back in with us.

Spiders out of the bath.

This is the only photo of these that I have managed so far, if I mention getting my camera when one is on the wall or floor, my wife and youngest son (17 and fearless when faced with anything else) insist that I stop messing about and get rid of them.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

I know what you mean about Autumn being upon us - I get to work and if feels like I should be heading home! Mind you I feel like that most of the time
RE spiders - I haven't seen any yet but I know I will soon as they're camping out at the top of my water butt - a few more inches worth of collected rain and they'll be scampering in. Then the fun really starts as the race will be on - me with the jar and paper and my wife with the vacuum!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Monday 19th September.

The weather for the past few days has been really mixed. Some really heavy rain showers and strong winds. A few nice sunny spells but still windy.

The Speckled Woods in my garden are still hanging in there, I have seen 2 or 3 most days recently, but they are starting to look a bit tired and worn now.

Other than that, a single Large White and a single Holly Blue made brief visits yesterday and thats been about it for me recently.

Earlier in the year, I had a large Sycamore tree removed from the bottom of my garden and this has opened up a reasonable area. My intention is to leave this area semi-wild and as such I have not done anything with it during the summer. Over the next few weeks I will be giving thought to what plants to put in there.

The photo below was taken back in April.

Garden before Sycamore removed

The next photo was taken in early August after the tree had been down a few weeks. You can just see the stump amongst the nettles that have sprung up.

Bottom of Garden after Sycamore removed

The shed in the photo above belongs to my neighbour at the bottom of the garden. I am thinking some Buckthorn along there for starters.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Neil,

You need to get out and photograph some insects ... I can almost feel the desperation!

Good luck with the garden. It looks as if you have a reasonable bit of mature space with some potential. I know very little about plants so wont be making any recommendations.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[David M]

I wish I had a garden like that, Neil. Look after it won't you?