Today I visited Lydden Down about half an hour away from us in Kent,mainly to try for a half decent image of a female Chalkhill Blue ,which has always eluded me ! got a few and was very pleased ,probably 200+ Chalkhils on the wing ,with good numbers of other species as well butnone of the hoped for Clouded Yellow ,but a bonus of a very early Silver Spotted Skipper .
But for me the stars of the show were the Common Blues ,I found several eg-laying females ,but I found two CB,s which were very striking,the female I first noticed egg-laying and was very struck by the underside with elongated outer Red lunules,and even more surprised when she finally showed me the topside ,which also had the elongated lunules.
The other insect which when I first spotted it ,thought was a female,(must confess,I disturbed it once to get a peek at its topside), was actually a male ,which I found almost as I was leaving ,has most spots missing from at least its hindwing underside ,the other curious thing was that both insects were minute ,probably smaller than a Small Blue. Regards Allan.W.
I won't comment on your female icarus as there are many named and unnamed aberrations of this species. The second, the rather striking male, cannot be named accurately without knowing what the forewings have done. Based on what is visible i.e. if the aberration just relates to the hindwings, then postico-obsoleta could be a good candidate for a name; though I am just playing with words.
This is a common problem when trying to name aberrations from photographs - sometimes its just not possible.
Hi! Allan, I was at Temple E well yesterday and got my Cloudy even though the weather was like the Butterfly Cloudy.
Did you see your SSSkipper at Lydden Or on the slopes at TE NR Goldie
Hi Mark,
Thanks for the info regarding the male Common Blue ,as you rightly say ,it is difficult to give a name for the Ab; when you can only see one set of wings clearly ,that said I,d come to the conclusion that it was probably "Obsoleta",but without the forewing undersides,who Knows ,but no matter !
I was very pleased to find it,perhaps I should have hung around a little longer,with a chance that it may move ,but I,d disturbed it once and wanted to leave it in peace. Thanks again for your interest.
Hi Goldie ,
Well done,pleased you got your Cloudie ! I think you,ve seen more than me this season ,I,ve just seen the one female at Dungie ( July sightings ),
But she was very obliging ! The Silver -Spot ,I saw at the top of the footpath,which cuts up sharply to the left , From the main car park ,walk up to the rough seating area ,and turn left onto a bit of land (alive with Chalkhills ) ,keep walking forwards and there is a gate in front of you ,don,t take this one ! the path also veers off to the left ,follow this path ,through a metal gate ,and the footpath goes clearly up to the left ,after a short walk
you,ll see another metal gate,just below this gate there is a bramble/ Hawthorn clump ,I saw the Silver-Spot there ,very briefly twice,i,m not good with directions but hope this helps . Ps; probably more Lydden ,than Temple Ewell ,but job to know where one starts and one ends .
Good hunting ! Regards Allan.W.
Goldie