We are going looking for Mountain Ringlets in Cumbria some time during the week of 17-21 June. We are not intending to go to Irton Fell as we believe it will be too late and we've failed to see any there for the past two years. We are thinking of trying the Caudale Moor/Hartsop Dodd area. Does anyon...

Four hours on Irton Fell this afternoon in seemingly ideal conditions produced not a single Mountain Ringlet. Guess they are finished for this year.

Thanks for confirming. Actually given the proximity to the car park, I was wondering if it could have hitched a lift there inadvertently.

I posted this on Facebook last week and it has generated some discussion. I found this blue in the small grassy clearing just opposite the Hundred Pound Bridge car park at Bookham Common at about 18:30 on 28 June. I flushed it from the grass by accident and it posed open-winged for a while but never...

Hi all

I've not been on here for ages but I'm intending to go to this this year.

Clive

Susie

You missed Ringlet off your list.

Highlight of a fairly dull and Purple Emperor-free walk around Bookham Common yesterday was my first new Peacock of the year.

One male Purple Emperor yesterday on the ground at Bookham Common not far from the Mark Oak car park at about 5.30pm. Unfortunately it was in a very awkward place for photos and I only got about 30 seconds with it anyway before it got flushed by a dog. Another possible sighting of a large butterfly ...

Hi Neil

Interesting, I had visions of being able to pull off the M40 and being right there! I may try Whitecross instead then if it is going to be that difficult to find.

Thanks for your help

Clive

Hi Neil

Apologies if this is mentioned elsewhere, but could you post some directions to the M40 Compensation Area please? I'm thinking of giving it a go this Friday.

Thanks

Clive

Not sure if anyone is aware of it but on Dorset Birds (http://dorsetbirds.blogspot.co.uk/) there is a report of a Black-veined White on Portland on 8th June.

Thanks Mark and Guy

Just been looking up the sawfly on the interweb - if only I had such luck with Grizzled Skipper....

Regards

Clive

Two quick questions for the experts out there... Firstly, this Duke of Burgundy taken at Noar Hill about a week ago looks very orange, particularly on the fore-wings. Is this within the normal range of variation or does it count as an aberrant? And secondly, what on earth is this insect, taken in Ch...

Nice male Orange-tip on the verge near where I live yesterday evening. Spring butterflies are my Achilles heel so I was pleased with this.

At least 2 Green Hairstreaks at Denbies yesterday in the usual site by the steps (thanks Susie and millerd for your help). Nice to see the bushes growing back here, I thought it had been completely destroyed last year as a GH site. Also 1 Grizzled Skipper, a few Brimstones and unspecified whites fly...

Does anyone have a reliable site for Green Hairstreak in Surrey? Since the only reliable spot I knew at Denbies Hillside was destroyed, I don't have a good spot any more. I didn't see GH at all last year and I don't want to miss out again if I can help it!

Thanks

Clive

Mainly due to being stuck at work, I haven't seen a single living butterfly for a week now. I did see a dead one yesterday though, a female Brimstone that had got into my landlady's conservatory and presumably starved to death. A bit of a shame at a time when butterfly numbers are depleted anyway.

Nearly three hours at Bookham Common on Saturday produced just one butterfly - and that, based on location, was probably the same Red Admiral I'd seen a week previously. I've had some bad butterflying days - notably last year - but that is going to take some beating.

First newly emerged butterfly of the year at Bookham Common on Saturday - a Small White. Also one Red Admiral and a few Brimstones, Commas and Peacocks.

One small tortoiseshell at Minsmere today! Off the mark at last!