Wurzel

[trevor]

I will also issue some mrgreens for your QoS. images .
Lovely and sharp, and well composed

Great report
Trevor.

[millerd]

Those Queens are lovely, Wurzel. Another one you should have brought back with you that I'm sure would be happy here!

Dave

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, your photos remind me of my Idea of what Fairy land must look like,( Fantastic) Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Katrina I only wish that it wasn't so dark as then I might have had my camera to get some shots of the Mole.
Cheers Trevor I got lucky with some of those shots as it was very mobile whilst feeding - it was a matter of clicking away and hoping something, anything, would come out right
Cheers Dave If only we could get some of those over here...mind you some people have seen them on UK soil
Cheers Goldie It was certainly a magical trip and one which will live long in my memory

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

For one reason or another I have fallen behind a bit lately and have just caught up with your diary Wurzel, some great reports and photos from both sides of the channel. Hard to pick any favourites but the Spotted Fritillaries and QoS stand out for me

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Neil I'm sure I've said it before and I'm sure I'll say it again but the Spotted Fritillaries were the highlight of the trip for me, they seem almost artificial, as if they've been painted by someone very, very heavy handed

Laverstock 10-09-2018

There are only a few more Tutor time opportunities left and each time I time I dropped Little L and ran up the Down it could have been the last. Whilst it’s been great seeing how the butterflies have waxed and waned over the season it’s a bit of a shame that with the end in sight the species count is in the middle of the inevitable decline. It felt like my visits would finish with a whimper rather than a bang…

Todays’ visit took the usual pattern. Mad rush home, mad rush round home doing as many chores as possible, mad rush round the house collecting all the 11+ materials, mad rush to the car with said materials, mad rush back to the house to the house to actually get Little L…So the mad rushing continued until I enter the Tutors house and Little L takes her place at the long table and then I step through the back door. It’s like I’ve dove into a swimming pool of serenity, the waves of tranquillity pass over me and for the first time over the day I feel like I’m actually able to breathe, I feel alert and awake, alive again. I carryon in this peaceful state across the field and along the edge of the Down, my awakened eyes bright and searching for any movement. The only thing I see on the whole journey is a Small Heath.

I carry on further round the bottom of the Down making towards the Gully and things are slightly better here with a grand total of 4 butterflies of three species; a nice looking female Adonis Blue, a male Common Blue that doesn’t hang around at all and a brace of Small Heath who are experts at hide and seek. Most of this area is now a shadow of its former self and there is a field of skeletons waiting for a nice strong gush of wind to flatten then before they arise slowly resurrecting next spring.

Up at the Gully proper things are better sill with the species count now reaching 5 but with more individuals. In among three Small Heath there are a couple of aged Meadow Browns, a couple of Common Blues and a smattering of Adonis (2 females and 4 males) but the real stars of the show are the Fuzz; four Small Coppers. My fears of going out with a whimper are dispelled by these little packets of party and I spent much of the remaining time with them – in fact almost too long and I end up having to leg it back to the Tutors to collect Little L. So at the end as at the beginning – rush and bloody tear!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Looks like it was worth the journey though with those lovely Copper shots Wurzel Goldie

[millerd]

Those Coppers (especially the second one) were worth the trip I'd say, Wurzel. The two Adonis are none too shabby either - pretty fresh for mid-September.

Dave

[Maximus]

Just seen the wonderful Queen of Spain Fritillary shots in your 18th August diary post, Wurzel Such a lovely fritillary, which has loads of u/s bling Another one that we didn't see during our time in France

Mike

[Wurzel]

Cheers They definitely made the journey worthwhile
Cheers Dave I was quite surprised at how well the Adonis were looking
Cheers Mike That one nicely rounded off the haul of French Fritillaries

A Quiet Sunday Part 1 19-08-2018

The weather here is a bit lacsidasical. It gets hot – into the 30’s – but generally by the end of the afternoon into the early evening yet in the morning it’s only in the mid-teens so the butterflies don’t seem to be up and about until 9:30ish. S my ideas of getting up really early and cramming in an hour of butterflying hasn’t really come to fruition (though next year in Portugal I think that might be the way to go). Today however I was up and out traipsing back up the road to the cutting.

The first notable butterfly of the morning was a Holly Blue hiding on the underside of the mint. After that it was Frit City with Glannies, Heaths (possibly a Meadow as well) and Knapweeds as usual being joined by the occasional Weavers and Small Pearl. The odd Common Blue, Small Heath and ubiquitous Sooty helped to make up the supporting cast. A Purple Hairstreak closely followed by a second almost as if they were vying for the starring role. Whilst it was true that they were a nice addition to the trip list they weren’t the hoped for Mallow Skipper – supposedly common but where the bloody hell are they?

As I trudged up the road bemoaning little butterflies a huge bugger appeared and glided zig-zag style down the road towards me. Its flight was more fappy and brown like but the colour and size reminded me of an inverted and washed up Emperor. It landed a couple of times but I was only able to get the briefest of record shots each time. On my last attempt I was lined up perfectly, it seemed happy to let me approach, there weren’t any blades of grass in the way and then a car had to choose that particular moment to drive by! It was enough to startle the butterfly and it was off, vamoose never to return. Still I’d seen another new species, a Great Banded Grayling and another one that had been on researched ‘hit list’. The undoubted star of the morning and another huge butterfly.

After this I strolled up to the field seeing this and that on the way; Wood Whites, Blues, Frits by the bucket load and another Purple Hairstreak this time down on the deck. In fact it behaved a lot more like a blue than a Hairstreak. This one was inn even better condish than the other two but its appearance came too late, the starring role had already been cast. On the way back the Frits again put on a good show and I caught up with another Pearly Heath. All in all a cracking morning visit.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Wurzel, it looks like your holiday is planned already for next year Lovely shots of the Frits , Goldie

[Benjamin]

I’m not sure if it’s intentional, or the inevitable result of a busy schedule, but having your trip report drip fed to us through the winter months is the perfect way of softening the end of season withdrawal symptoms all too familiar to the hopeless addict! Ok so it’s no substitute for the real thing, but I’ll take what I can get right now!
And good to know i’ll have Portugal to get me through winter 2019!

But seriously - great reports and great pics - looks like a fantastic trip -

[Philzoid]

Great Report Wurzel and more surprises with every posting
The frustration from the Great banded Grayling episode is palpable. If it’s not a car then a dog walker; or rambler or jogger, or horse rider or cyclist or motocross biker … or Brown Argus …. guaranteed to turn up at precisely the wrong moment. We all feel this pain: - standard in the life of a butterflier .

You still managed a pretty decent shot though

Phil

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Oh yes my wife likes to be very organised when it comes to booking the holiday - so flights already paid for and deposit down on the accommodation - fingers crossed Brexit doesn't put a spanner in the works
Cheers Ben I would love to say that the drip feed was intentional Ben but unfortunately it's down to needing a 25th, 26th and sometimes 27th hour in the day Glad it's helping to beat 'the lack of Butterfly blues' There might also be a previously unpublished Portugal report to follow
Cheers Philzoid I'm glad to know that I'm not the only one suffering when I'm out there in the field - it seems that there's only one Law when it comes to butterflying - the Law of Sod Hopefully GBG is a species I can catch up with another time

A Quiet Sunday Part 2 19-08-2018

After lunch we went for a drive and called in at St Marcead Gurcon seeing a Cattle Egret in amid the cattle on the way (well where else?). Unfortunately when we got there the Boulongerie had been closed for 10 minutes so we took a quick stroll to the church again and once again I found a Geranium Bronze and this one didn’t evade my lens – perhaps a small compensation for missing out on patisseries? The rest of the day was spent swimming and boating with some more swimming on top as the temperature steadily rose to 34.

After tea it started to feel a little cooler so back to the cutting I went. Again the Frits put on a good display but they were being very hard work still, even at gone 7pm. The Short-tailed Blues were a little better behaved and there seemed to be a couple hanging around.

Another one for Ernie...

Up at the field it was even harder going as the Frits had a whole field to lose me in! I also noted that there now seemed to be more Small Heaths flying amongst the larger Browns and they were up to their old tricks of flushing easily and then spooking every other butterfly within a 5 metre radius. Still I persevered here for a while but with little to show for it apart from a few Frits catching the evening glow nicely.

I called in briefly at the Cutting on the way back and a small blue caught my eye. I thought ar first that is was something totally different as the orange lunules were very large and had fused together to make a single band along the wing margins. I had visions of winter evenings spent pouring over Tolman and researching various websites to finally come to the conclusion that it was…Damn it there was the cell spot that made it a Common Blue , still it was a nice looking one. I then noodled around a little more at the cutting with the usual crowd. I’m seeing the same species time after time now but it’s still not getting boring. Only a day to go – I don’t want to go home!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Amazing shots Wurzel, it still surprises me that Common Blues and Small Heath are so common here and over there, yet we don't see the other Butterflies like the Short Tailed Blues for example too much over here.
This Summer was so hot I felt sure lots of Butterflies would come over from France but I didn't read of this happening, I don't blame you for not wanting to come home, your holiday was great Goldie

[millerd]

Another nice set of shots, Wurzel. I don't think I would ever get tired of taking photos of fritillaries...

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

Loving your meandering account of your French trip, I'll be as sorry to see it end as I'm sure you were when you had to leave!

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie They possibly don't like the dampness that we get in the UK Hopefully Brexit won't put an end to my foreign travels, fingers crossed
Cheers Dave I now what you mean Dave as I definitely didn't - it was such a culture shock to come back and a much reduced range of species
Cheers Bugboy I found the local wine was very conducive to writing There may be a bonus report from Lisbon 2015 in the offing as well - although that one is more Urban Butterflying

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Kingston Lacey 16-09-2018

We needed to blow the cobwebs away after a busy week for all of us; back to work X2, back to school X2 and back to 11+ prep. As the autumn colour isn’t quite with us yet we decided to leave Stourhead for a few more weeks and instead headed to Kingston Lacey. The BBC reckoned that it would be 20+ temps and sunny intervals. Knowing their accuracy recently I packed the rain coats and fleeces and off we sped, stopping briefly on the way at my parents to raid their greenhouse!

After lunch and the obligatory visit from the House cat we set off on the walk round our usual circuit. It would have to be a brief one today as we’d booked to have a look round the house itself which is a bit of a rarity. As we walked across the lawn things looked decidedly quiet but finally when we reached the first set of floral borders the butterflies appeared. The first was a Comma which put in the most fleeting of visits, stopping for all of about 2 seconds, just long enough to work out what it was before it was gone. A Small White behaved more placidly but after a few shots we were away again. It seemed that the others were on a mission!

On we drove diving down through the Avenue with only a single white to accompany us and again things started to look a little disappointing. Luckily the next stage of our whistle stop tour was the Kitchen Garden with it veggie and flower patches and the pond. As we walked through the gate I could already see whites, Large and Small clustered round the Cabbages not surprisingly. There were possibly even more in the flower patch on the other side of the garden buildings but these were quite fidgety. They would erupt from out of nowhere and then when they landed they only did so for a few seconds at a time before moving to another leaf and repeating the procedure. I was getting a little fed up with this and so took a stroll along the border hedge when I did get a surprise as there was a Small Copper looking a little out of place. It was reasonable nick and so I knelt down and for once my knees didn’t set the butterfly flying off, another surprise!

The girls headed off to the Pacific Garden whilst I headed off towards the pond with the promise of catching the others up shortly. I checked around the pond which was almost totally dried up and there a single Specklie flew and 2 large Dragonflies (Emperors?). I tried a few Sports mode shots but the autofocus just wasn’t quick enough or intelligent enough – it kept focusing behind the insect. So instead of frittering my time away on blurred shots for the bin I checked out a few Buddleias on one of the allotments. It turned out to be a bit of a Vanessid heaven. As I could see 2 Peacocks, a Red Admiral and a Comma on two of the bushes. The Peacocks detached themselves and one settled nicely on a pile of pots and slabs. The Comma in particular was really vibrant but the Red Admiral played hard to get, always sticking to the ‘wrong’ side of the bush where I couldn’t tread. I realised that I better make good on my promise and so I started back towards the Pacific Garden pausing on the way for the occasional white.

The Pacific Garden was a bit of a disappointment as the grass and wild flowers had been cut and so the butterflies didn’t visit as it was a bit of a green desert. The girls were off in the Bamboo somewhere and so my wife and I strolled back serenely along the path heading for the house. We were making good time and so I was able to stop for a Specklie on the way and we even fitted in a quick coffee before it was time to enter the House and out the camera away.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Home tomorrow 20-08-2018 Part 1

Home tomorrow unfortunately – well they say that all good things must come to an end. Still there’s one more day still to fill and it started with a quick trip to Ste-Foy-le-Grande and the Intermarche a real godsend of a place this has become. So I head down to the car early and load it up with water bottles ready. As I’m there and I just happen to have my camera I have a little mooch while waiting for the others to arrive. As it’s still relatively early there isn’t an awful lot flying; two Small Heath a few Meadow Browns and a couple of Hedgies. I was hoping for a few Wood Whites but even though the Browns are all pretty twitchy the Whites are all tucked up in bed still. One Hedgie perches very nicely for me, wings akimbo and held totally horizontally soaking up as much of the sun as she can.

I don’t get out again with my camera until after lunch when I head to, yep you’ve guessed it, the Cutting. On the way I stop for this and that; a Holly Blue first, I check all the Brimstones on the Hemp Agrimony just in case one happens to be a Cleopatra and a Small White looks so close to being a Southern Small White but upon examination later I can just make out ‘the vein’ that means it’s not. Eventually I enter the Cutting proper and the butterflies by now are pretty active. The usual gang are all out; Frits, Short-tails, Small Heaths and Sooty Copper all over the place.

I cross the road to try the more ‘heath’ like habitat at the top of the hill but first I have to work through the Hemp Agrimony and Cooch Grasses. As I’m marvelling at the number of Meadow Browns and Silver-washed Frits taking nectar a Southern White Admiral appears almost out of nowhere and approaches from my left. It continues drifting listlessly left and then back slightly further right before it lands up high. I try for a record shot and get one before it’s off again. Before I can get bothered a massive white butterfly scythes through the air and lands just ahead of me. Despite the heat (up to 30 by now) it behaves impeccably. So much so in fact that for a couple of shots I realise that I have to stand back else I won’t get the whole butterfly in frame! I sneak around t the side of it for a few underside shots as well. After all the flighty individuals that I’d encountered so far this one was a joy to behold as it posed for photo after photo.

As if taking its cue from the Scarce Swallowtail the Southern White Admiral returned and started acting in a much more amenable fashion. I reckon it’s something to do with the Hemp Agrimony – it’s a butterfly sedative.

I carried on right to the top of the hill and started down the other side when a massive butterfly did a fly-by. It was a Great Banded Grayling but it didn’t stop. Instead it would fly up the path and circle once or twice as if it was going to land and then move off again. All the while I stayed still hoping it would eventually land if I thought that wasn’t a threat but it just got further and further away. I turned to head back as the path now was not turning up much and I was starting to bake what with the full sun bouncing off the reflective sands and rock. On the way back a Wall Brown added itself to the Trip Tally as did a Peacock and I knowingly saw my first Praying Mantis.

Have a goodun

Wurzel