Wurzel

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Wurzel

Love your Small Whites Great to see spring has now arrived in Wiltshire

[bugboy]

Looks like things are picking up down in the 'shire!

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel,

I agree with all the comments on the Small Whites, lovely photos

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Dave for your kind comments This seems to be a good area for this species
Cheers Jenks for your kind comments Good to hear that you're up and running
Cheers Goldie Not a moment too soon I was starting to go a little stir crazy
Cheers Paul Hopefully it will be here to stay now
Cheers Buggy Slowly but surely we're getting there, just two weeks behind the rest of the country it seems.
Cheers Neil Sometimes the shots just come off.

Five Rivers 17-04-2016

After the success at Middle Street earlier in the day normally I would have been quite content to have stayed in but my wife was taking my girls swimming and so I could wangle an extra hour out and at Five Rivers...

I have often commented how the weather seems to have it in for me and so it seemed again this afternoon as the sun had been shining strongly over lunch but now I was out with my camera it was in behind the clouds. This made it hard work at first as the sun was stubbornly in or only peeping out for 15 seconds or so at a time neither of which were conducive to butterflies. I’d worked my way round the entire site; Comma Corner, the Banks, the Spinney and the Back and all I had to show butterfly was a single Small Tort! I was starting to think that I’d used all my good fortune up on my earlier visit of the day.

Still back to the Banks I headed and as I arrived there the sun finally came out and then things started to happen again. As I worked my way along the Banks I counted at least four Small Torts and a Small White did a fly by. Comma Corner was quiet again but on the side of the ‘hedge’ which runs along this side of the Banks a Brimsone was fluttering about so I broke through and followed it across the path and down towards the spinney. Despite the fact that it didn’t land I was glad that I’d followed it as there were a pair of Peacocks here and a Comma put in a brief appearance.

Round on the other side of the Spinny there was another very bedraggled Comma which I almost missed thinking that it was just a tatty dead leaf that hadn’t fallen over the winter. It flew a short way and then sought cover deep in the undergrowth amongst the brambles which probably explained its knackered state.

The Peacocks were still in the same places when I returned, basking in the middle of the animal worn tracks or on one of the black sheets used to encourage reptiles. This time they weren’t joined by a Comma but a UFW which looked suspiciously like a Green-veined white although I’m not keen on ‘stringy’ sightings so a UFW it will remain. After taking a few shots a Comma in much better condition posed nicely before the bully boy Peacocks chased him off! They then had a bit of scrap between themselves before settling back down to their respective basking positions.

All to quicker my bonus hour was up and so I packed the camera away and headed in to help wash and dry hair, wring out costumes and remember to find pairs of goggles. Oh the joy! Still could have been worse, I could have had to have gone in the pool!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, the Peacocks around here seem to be in decline now, I went to HLB yesterday and although the weather was hot you could count the Butterflies on one hand, we're in May now and should be seeing far more of them, I can't help thinking all the grass cutting as affected the Green Veined W badly, I'll wait and see what happens when the Meadow Brown arrive, question is ,will they after what happened in August last year when they cut the grass. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie There could be something in that, plus it has been a very slow and fitful start to the season Mind you things seem to have picked up - I got four firsts for the year today including two firsts for the county Mind you at the rate I'm posting it could well be next year that I get the report on my PD

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

I had a 'double-take' moment until I realised your images were from 3 weeks ago.

Vanessids practically absent now, although I saw 4 Peacocks as well as a Small Tortoiseshell today.

[bugboy]

I had a 'double-take' moment until I realised your images were from 3 weeks ago.

Vanessids practically absent now, although I saw 4 Peacocks as well as a Small Tortoiseshell today.

You should know how Wurzel operates by now David

I'm still seeing good numbers of Peacocks about and I was watching 3 Commas doing battle for a prime basking spot today

[millerd]

That last Comma has a fragmented "comma" mark - more like " ( ) ". A very variable feature, but I've not seen this particular variant.

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

I had a 'double-take' moment until I realised your images were from 3 weeks ago.

Vanessids practically absent now, although I saw 4 Peacocks as well as a Small Tortoiseshell today.

You should know how Wurzel operates by now David

I'm still seeing good numbers of Peacocks about and I was watching 3 Commas doing battle for a prime basking spot today

Peacocks and Tortoiseshells still about here in the midlands too although I haven't seen a comma for a while now.

Hi Wurzel, I like the way the damaged wing on the Peacock is exposing the eye spot, almost like it is raising an eyebrow

Cheers,

Neil

[Wurzel]

Cheers David The cursed 'W' word is keeping me from posting Still better late than never...
Cheers Buggy You do have to remember that we're about 2 weeks behind everyone else in this neck of the woods.
Cheers Dave I hadn't noticed that. Perhaps they should rename the Comma the 'Punctuation Mark'
Cheers Neil Was it in admonishment or surprise I wonder?

Offsite! 19-04

I took a bit of a gamble at lunch today and used the car to get further into Pewsey. This does come witht eh draw back that it reduces time in the field as I have to allow time to get back but I was hoping to check out a few of the old haunts from last year.

I started out by looking in briefly at Scotchell Park but there was nothing doing there, all was quiet and the cloud was mustering overhead. So from here I wandered back towards the car and along the railway bank with a view to cutting through to Vera Jones’s Mill – another small nature reserve this one run by the local Wildlife Trust. The cloud persisted and it still felt too cool for April plus I was forced to use the footpath through the houses as the track I’d used last year was blocked by brush and cut shrubbery. Whilst walking I scanned for Cuckoo flower but there was nothing towards Vera Jones and not even a sniff of an Orange-tip or any other butterfly for that matter.

Somewhat deflated I turned and made my way back, a single worn Peacock offering some solace. I was almost back at work and resigned to not seeing an Orange-tip when I had to complete an emergency stop and park. I’d spied a creamy butterfly making its way frenetically along the verge. It seemed to be an almost tangerine colour as the orange and white blur in flight – my first OT of 2016 – finally. I hopped out of the car and fired a few shots when it eventually landed oh so briefly .As seems the way at this time of year all my shots were distant/in flight. Still you can see that it is an OT! Hopefully the usual pattern will occur – shots will be difficult to start with and then with each new sighting I can get closer and closer!

Spot the OT?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[trevor]

First prize for the most obscure OT image ever. It would make a good mensa test.
C.H. soon, hope for better weather this time !.

[Goldie M]

Well done Wurzel! I think your shot though far a way of the OT is original,( love the 2nd shot with the OT on the Spring buds) A
promise of things to come Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor Good luck at my Marshie site - 2 have already been reported from a reserve slightly further West so they could be emerging in numbers any day now
Cheers Goldie There may be a few more OTs to follow

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[kevling]

Blimey Wurzel, that was harder than my daughter's 'Where's Wally Book'. Found the OT eventually.
Nice shot of the Peacock too!


Regards Kev

[Wurzel]

Cheers Kevling Hopefully todays one is a bit easier

Vera’s Place 20-04-2016

I decided to follow my previous days success with another Lunch visit this time though to Vera Jones’s Mill proper. I can’t actually remember the proper name of the reserve but the name I’ve given it seems familiar and sounds good!

As the sun was shining which this spring has been a rarity I ran down the Down and got into the wood to make the most of it. I had an idea that along the board walk on the further side of the river would be the best place to start looking for any OTs. At the gate I stepped onto the board walk and almost stood on a Peacock! As it flapped off I turned right and worked my way round two sides of the rectangle that the board walk makes. The first part is wooded with the river running through it and fen on the other side but there were no Specklies. The second side is a raised stony path with boggy ground on either side. Here there was a second Peacock which I didn’t try and stomp on and so it let me take its photo . I turned left and walked back onto a boardwalk but a wider one this time for the third side of the rectangle. This board walk cuts across ‘fen’ and there seemed to be plenty of Cuckoo Flower showing and then dives back into the wood and again I almost stood on another Peacock! I don’t know what’s up with me today?

The path stars meandering a bit now but as I followed it on I saw a familiar tangerine looking butterfly - a male OT so I happily followed it onwards through the reserve. It led me on a merry dance and the promptly flew into a mown field before disappearing completely offering me another 'where's the OT' shot. I didn’t mind though as now I was distracted by a white butterfly. It seemed smaller than a Small White with a daintier flight. Luckily it landed and I’m able to see my first female OT. It had a slightly deformed fore wing; much smaller which I thought could possibly explain the daintier than usual flight?

It gets a bit hassled by a male which quickly gets the message and as I’m watching it a large white butterfly moves pass swiftly. It wasn’t limey like a female Brimstone but Farrow and Ball All White (you can see what Mrs Wurzel has had me doing recently! ) and with dark tips to the wing – a male Large White. Also a Comma put in a brief appearance which I only mention for completeness.

But I’ve almost used all my time so I head up the hill at speed. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten my usual technique for hill running and so when I get back to the car I’m knackered but relieved that at last I seem to have found a ‘good’ site for OT’s!

Have a goodun

Ps On the way home I made a cheeky stop at my ‘Early pull in’ site and after a bit more running along the road I managed a somewhat closer male OT…I’m getting closer every time!

[millerd]

That first Peacock really doesn't look as if it's spent six months hibernating - beautifully fresh.

Dave

[prettybutterfly]

Hi Wurzel,

Fantastic photos of Peacocks and female Orange Tips. It's lovely to see them, it feels like spring.


from Emma

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, lovely Butterflies, I think I'm following in your footsteps with Holly Blues,
Up to now I've seen them at a distance but after a brief visit to Hall-Lee-Brook I managed a distant shot just (one) before the HB took off again so I hope when I do manage a shot it'll be as good has your OT ones.Goldie

[ronniethepoo]

aberrant fritillary in flight

followed your advice Wurzel - got her in flight