Badgerbob

[Wurzel]

Great shots Bob - how do you manage to get so close to Walls ? Have you spent years developing Zen mediatation techniques or do you use an eau de cologne that Walls find intoxicating? They're probably the most unapproachable butterfly in the UK!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[badgerbob]

Hi Wurzel. Thanks for your comments. I think the local Wall Brown are now getting so fed up with seeing me they are just holding their wings up and giving in!!! Strangely, I very rarely try to photograph Wall Brown for the reason you state, however, this year as I am going up nearly every morning to check the pupa so I am seeing several that have recently emerged and are in such good nick it is worth a try, also due to it being a bit cooler they probably haven't got going too much for the day. The exception to this was the last female that I took that was on the foliage. That was just a lot of luck and being in the right place at the right time.
Another picture here of the Meadow Brown larva from yesterday. This one shows what a hairy little cat it really is. I'm not sure what instar this is at but it was only about 1 cm. long.

Meadow Brown larva.

[badgerbob]

Yesterday Downland Boy and myself ventured into Kent to look for Dukes and rare orchids. As well as seeing plenty of Dukes in Denge, including one along the ride halfway between the carpark and the main bank, we had 2 nationally scarce micro moths, 4 rare orchids and a great mating pair of Dingies. I will post a few pictures from the day over the next few days as the weather is meant to remain pretty awful. At Denge we also had a female Duke that had, as Neil H has explained, a pathological defect with one forewing being very pale. The underside photo of her shows the 6 legs being used.

Duke with pathological defect.

Just to make me feel at home, when we were looking at the Monkey Orchid there were a couple of Wall Brown fighting and they actually flew into me!!

http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

[Wurzel]

The final shot is really interesting Bob, great composition showing the under wings like that When you say 'pathological' I take it that means the pigmentation differences are caused by a bacterial or viral infection?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[badgerbob]

Hey Wurzel, I do not confess to being any type of expert. Neil H says that it's a pathological defect that has caused incomplete transmission of pigment over the wings.
More from the day in Kent with a few of the orchids, the rare and very attractive micro moths and the mating Dingy Skippers. As mentioned it was a combined day of looking for butterflies and orchids!!

Rhagium Mordax

Fly Orchid

Monkey Orchid

Man Orchid

White-spotted Sable

Olethreutes Arcuella

Mating Dingy Skippers

[William]

Those Orchids are superb bob - very jealous, most of them aren't found down here in Somerset

[badgerbob]

Hi William. Yes, it is a bit of a trip over to Kent, which is a fabulous place for orchids, but mixing it in with the butterflies and moths makes it all worthwhile. Another good place for some of these extreme rarities is around Oxford, which should be within reach for you.
A short trip up to High and Over today coincided with the arrival of a large number of Swift. They were very noisy as I was looking for butterflies. I decided to sit on the slope and try to get some pictures of these fast moving birds. The only trouble was I only had a 70mm Macro lens!!!! Anyway, I managed to get a couple of acceptable shots with a bit of cropping!

[badgerbob]

Yesterday I visited the local river looking for dragonflies. The Scarce Chaser I was hoping for didn't show. However, there were lots of Mayflies and Beautiful Demoiselles, both male and female that had recently emerged.

Mayfly

female Beautiful Demoiselle

male Beautiful Demoiselle

A surprise was a very fresh Brown Argus which arrived just after the rain came!!

More at http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

[badgerbob]

Yesterday I went up to Bo Peep Bostal to do a Wall Brown count on a regular circuit. This slope is North facing and the butterflies are at least 2 weeks behind my normal patch at High and Over. In fact the High and Over first brood is now all but over already!! However, at Bo Peep Bostal almost all the Wall Browns were very fresh and there were lots of them with 69 counted.

The Common Blues on the Downs near me are looking really good at the moment. I've called up there both early and late in the day to try and get some better shots. The females here are very blue and are very attractive. 2 different females here from the last 2 days as well as a couple of shots of a male as he was going to roost tonight. I also had my first adonis of the year today.

Female Common Blue

Female Common Blue

Male Common Blue

Male Common Blue

http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Lovely common Blue's Bob, they seem to be doing quite well in these parts don't you think? I counted 20 in the space of 2 hours yeaterday.

All the Best

B'saurus

[badgerbob]

Hi James, I was beginning to wonder where you were. Good to hear from you again. Yes, the Common Blue does appear to be having a good year around here and at the moment most are in fantastic condition. The male has always given me problems before regards photos so I was particularly pleased with these, especially as that was the main purpose of going out there. The only downer was seeing some b------ has done a bit of fly tipping at High and Over car park. Mainly garden waste by the look of it but complete with bright blue plastic sheeting!! No place is sacred it seems!!

[David M]

Aah! Female icarus that are particularly suffused with blue are among the most attractive of our native species.

Good images, Bob.

[badgerbob]

Hi David, I could not agree more. At my local site every female seems to have a certain amount of blue and as you say , they are really beautiful. When I was a lad (a long time ago) I can't remember that many female Common Blues having any blue at all on them, so maybe this is evolution of the modern day!

[Wurzel]

Lovely blue shots Bob I've only been butterflying for four or five years now and even in that time I've noticed a shift from Brown Argus like females to proper 'blue' blues - I wonder if it's a cyclical pattern?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Hi James, I was beginning to wonder where you were. Good to hear from you again. Yes, the Common Blue does appear to be having a good year around here and at the moment most are in fantastic condition. The male has always given me problems before regards photos so I was particularly pleased with these, especially as that was the main purpose of going out there. The only downer was seeing some b------ has done a bit of fly tipping at High and Over car park. Mainly garden waste by the look of it but complete with bright blue plastic sheeting!! No place is sacred it seems!!

Hi Bob, yep I'm still here, we must try and meet up again soon I heartily share your annoyance about the fly tippers. Common blues can be very tricky to photograph I've uttered many an expletive under my breath in my attempts to get some half decent photos. Those ones are very nice indeed.

B'saurus

[badgerbob]

2 years ago I saved some Orange-tip eggs from the council mowers, I brought the Garlic Mustard they were on back home and watched the larva grow happily, whilst knowing that if I had left them they would have been chopped to bits a day later!!
Anyway, the Garlic Mustard came up again this year and although I never saw a female Orange-tip in the garden I found 6 eggs spread over the plants. They have now hatched and I just grabbed a couple of shots of the tiny larva feeding up. These shots seem to show 2 different ways of feeding with 1 eating from the top of the plant and the other eating into it. In all I can find 4 larva but they are so tiny there is a chance that there may be more.

Orange-tip larva feeding.

Orange-tip larva feeding.

[Pauline]

Hi Bob - great photos. I recently 'lost' 5 or 6 larva and Pete advised that they are cannibalistic so you might want to keep an eye on that

[badgerbob]

Hi Pauline, and thanks. Yes, I was aware of their cannibalism!! They are hopefully far enough apart on the plant. Certainly last time they all survived okay as they were, like this time, on different parts of the plant. It's all the baby Blue Tits etc. as well to think about!

[badgerbob]

I haven't managed to do so much butterfly watching this week, mostly down to the weather but also I wanted to catch up on some rare orchids. I've never managed to catch up on the Military Orchid so with this in flower I called over to one of the 3 sites it is found in Britain. Other species seen on Friday included Monkey, The Lady/Monkey hybrid, Sword-leaved Helleborine and Bird's-nest Orchid. The weather on Friday was dismal with wet windy conditions making it tough to get any decent pictures, but it was really good seeing these rarities.

Military Orchid.

Bird's-nest Orchid.

Today, I had a couple of hours spare so I called up to my usual patch to see if I could catch up with the Small Blue. This butterfly is not too numerous on my patch and it was a relief to see one eventually. As is often the case with these it flew and I couldn't keep with it. I spotted another further on which was a bit worn. Then, on my return I found 3 or 4 fresh ones that once again I struggled to keep on. One eventually landed on a leaf which allowed a few shots that were quite pleasing.

Male Small Blue.

More pictures from the week on Orchids and Dragonflies on the blog http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

[badgerbob]

Once again the weather has meant that butterflies have taken a back seat with the sun not being seen for several days. Fortunately there have been a few, and I mean a few dragons and damsels to keep the interest. A couple of pictures here but once again many more on the blog. http://bobsbutterflies.blogspot.com

male Banded Demoiselle

emerging Azure Blue Damselfly