Spent an hour and a half at Dare Valley Park near Aberdare this morning. Nothing spectacular to report but I was amazed to see an Orange Tip - only one, a male, and a particularly small one. Plenty of Small Heaths around and I spotted a 2nd generation Small Tortoiseshell which was positively glowing...

Ian Pratt wrote:

David M wrote:

Ian Pratt wrote:Nick was correct.It is a painted lady (LH side of photo in each case).

I still can't see it in the first picture!!

It is half way down on the LH side below the largish light buff stone. Hope you can find it!

My God, so it is!

Makes Spot the Ball seem like child's play.

At Holme NNR near Hunstanton I was watching a Grayling on a stony path. Some walkers stopped and asked me what I was looking at. Rather Indeed, I think many butterflies are poorly named. My suggestions: .....Marbled White becomes Chequered Brown .....Small Heath becomes Small Brown .....Large Heath...

Ian Pratt wrote:Nick was correct.It is a painted lady (LH side of photo in each case).

I still can't see it in the first picture!!

Ian Pratt wrote:Find the butterfly. What is it?

Gotta be a Grayling with camouflage like that!

Common Blue - for the first time for many years living up to its name. Truly abundant this early summer. Jack Not wrong, we've had extraordinary numbers on transect. Went for a walk at Bentley Wood today, lots of SPB about, but most are looking a bit worn, and PB very worn, :( but we did see two Pa...

Was much warmer today than the forecast suggested (about 22C) so I drove to Springfield Farm reserve near Usk which is a 50 hectare site containing broad-leaved woodland and hay meadows. Nothing staggering to report on the species front, but in 2 or 3 weeks time I will return as there are thistles/k...

Top quality stuff, Gibster, and thanks for the detailed reply.

I wish you well in your quest to catch up with all the resident British species in a single calendar year (if I had more time off and a few extra grand in my pocket I'd come and join you).

If you ever find Black Hairstreaks let me know!!

Just back from a superb coupla days in the Spean Bridge area of Scotland. :) On the afternoon of 2nd (in dull, breezy conditions) we managed a grand total of ONE Chequered Skipper and ONE forlorn looking Green Hairstreak at the Allt Mhuic Reserve, both hiding in grasses. However, an immature Golden...

Spent 2 and a half hours at Woodside & White Rocks near Monmouth today. Was warm but not terribly sunny and I was a little disappointed with butterfly numbers. I managed to see a few Wood Whites but I almost gave up on Grizzled Skippers. I left Woodside and went into the adjacent White Rocks whi...

I can see it now too..! I would suggest ab. atricolor on the grounds that so much of the wings are dusted with black scales, with just a few rufous spots near the costa of the forewing, and on the hindwings just a reddish submarginal band. In ab. suffusa the fore and hind wings are usually divided ...

I've re-uploaded the photos from my Marsh Fritillary trip (thanks Dave McCormick for the advice) so I hope others can now see them.

You can upload them directly on here rather than linking them to other sites with the images on them, just when you go to post, go down to "browse" where it says filename then after you find the image, you can or not, write a comment then press "add the file" and when your done,...

I can see them so I'd assumed they were okay. Anyone any tips for providing images visible to all?

Thanks, padfield. My mind is now at rest. It was a Marsh fritillary with a large dose of melanism (I've been doing some research tonight being the sad b****r that I am and it seems MFs are quite prone to aberration).

Mikhail wrote:I think it may be a strongly aberrant Marsh Fritillary.

Misha

Thanks, Mikhail. I've taken a closer look and the hindwing bands are identical to those found on the Marsh Fritillary. I feel given the habitat in which it was seen that this was, indeed, an aberrant MF.

Went to Aberbargoed grasslands (near Merthyr Tydfil) today as it is one of the few places in Wales where you can see Marsh Fritillaries. Although it was sunny, there was a brisk breeze and temperatures were no higher than 16C. Thankfully, there are plenty of sheltered spots on this unusual grassland...

Can anyone help with this? I saw this fellow fluttering about at Aberbargoed grasslands today. It had a damaged right forewing and after photographing it I was able to catch it in my hands for a closer look. It was very skipper-like with clubbed antennae but despite this it has to be a moth since it...

My car had been sitting in the sun this afternoon but when we got into it to come home it said 32 degrees and it felt more like Spain in August than walking around in Loxwood, West Sussex, in May except everthing was so beautifully lush and green. Abso-flipping-lovely! Love it :mrgreen: Me too. By ...

The first butterfly I saw was a Brimstone in the streets of Brynmawr. I thought I'd see plenty more but once again this butterly remains aggravating. I know they are great wanderers, but surely there must be some kind of habitat that attracts large numbers of them? has anyone ever seen more than tw...