Neil Freeman

[Wurzel]

Lovely shots of the GVW on the Dandelion Clock Neil - those types of shots are brilliant

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely work with the Lime Hawk moth, Neil, and...well...that Green Veined White is to die for. It'll be hard to improve on that going forward.

[Goldie M]

Love your shots of the Green Veined White Neil they look great, especially the ones on the dandelion Goldie

[Andrew555]

Some cracking stuff Neil. OT's, the Dingy, the Hawkmoth, the GVW, I can't pick a fave, they are all great!

Cheers

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks for all the comments Pauline, David, Wurzel, Goldie and Andrew

Saturday 11th May.

The Green-veined White from the previous report was still there next (Saturday) morning and with the spot where she was on the dandelion being in shade first thing she was still there when we returned from doing our Saturday morning shopping run at about 09.30. We had to pop out again shortly after and when we returned again an hour or so later the sun had reached her and she had woken up and moved on. She didn't go far though as I saw her again a few times during the rest of the day as she passed through the garden on her wanderings. With loads of cloud building up through the day she settled a few times, curiously enough returning to that same dandelion head on occasion although later in the afternoon it was looking a bit more bedraggled after a couple of heavy rain showers.

Green-veined White female - Coverdale 11.05.2019

What is it about that dandelion clock?

After a good sunny start, Saturday had turned into one of those days when clouds built up rapidly later through the morning until long periods of the afternoon were once again dull and gloomy with just a few spells of sun when it would feel quite pleasant. As mentioned above we also had a couple of heavy rain showers although these only lasted for ten minutes or so each time.

During the sunny spells there were regular sightings of Holly Blues passing through and I reckon I identified at least two different males and two females coming around on repeat circuits. With the cloudy periods slowing them down they settled frequently albeit usually high up or otherwise out of reach and on one occasion I watched a male attempting to court a female but she flew off and lost him around the top of the hawthorn they had been on.
The photos below were all taken from some distance and are cropped quite a bit.

Holly Blues failed courtship attempt - Coverdale 11.05.2019

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 11.05.2019

Holly Blue female - Coverdale 11.05.2019

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 11.05.2019

Holly Blue male - Coverdale 11.05.2019

The same male Speckled Wood from the past couple of days was still hanging around along with another more worn male.

Speckled Wood male - Coverdale 11.05.2019

The only other butterfly seen was a single male Orange-tip that stopped just long enough for a quick record shot.

Orange-tip - Coverdale 11.05.2019

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

I don't know what it is about that Dandelion clock Neil but whatever it is you should bottle it - I still can't get a Green-veined White to behave for me this year Interesting to see the failed courtship - it does seem to take the males a long time to suss out that she's not interested - yet when she is it's almost immediate Cracking sequence of shots, the female is gorgeously fresh looking

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Fantastic shots Neil of the Holly Blue, I just love to see them on blossoms, I've not seen a Green Veined White yet, hope when I do I get has good a shot as yours Goldie

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel, that female Holly Blue was a beauty but like most good looking females she posed from a distance and wouldn't come down to my level

Thanks Goldie, The cooler weather over the weekend certainly helped in slowing her down so I could get the shots.

Sunday 12th May.

With Sunday shaping up to be the better day of the weekend I figured a return visit to Bishops Hill would be in order after the disappointingly dull and cold visit on Bank Holiday Monday. After doing all the household stuff in the morning we headed off down the M40 just after 1.00pm under a mix of about 50/50 blue sky and cloud. As nearly always seems to be the case these days around here at weekends, cloud had built up again from mid morning but at least there was less of it today and it wasn't so thick and grey as that on Saturday. Even so, with very little wind, when a cloud did cover the sun it seemed to be there for ages before eventually moving out of the way to allow the warmth of the sun to be felt again.

Arriving at around 2.00pm we walked up the short lane to the entrance to the site accompanied by an Orange-tip and a male Brimstone and on entering through the gate saw another male Brimstone pursuing a female along the hedge immediately in front of us. There seemed to be quite a few Brimstones flying here today but I didn't do a count as I am sure we were seeing the same individuals on many occasions as we crossed paths through the afternoon. A couple of times I was watching a Brimstone flying along when a cloud covered the sun and the temperature dropped noticeably prompting the butterfly to drop down into the vegetation.

Brimstone female - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Brimstone male - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Dingy Skippers were seen scattered around most of the site with an estimate of somewhere between 20-30 seen during the couple of hours we spent here.

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Dingy Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Grizzled Skippers had a better year at this site last year than they had for a while although numbers are still not high so I was pleased to find three today.

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Grizzled Skipper - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Looking out for Green Hairstreaks along the areas where I have seen them before here, I spotted a couple flitting about high up and one individual, a female I think with a nice line of white dots, low down exploring the birds-foot trefoil which is the larval foodplant at most of their Warwickshire sites.

Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Green Hairstreak - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

I was also pleased to find a couple of Brown Argus, my first for this year. This is a species I have never found at this site before although I am aware that they are sometimes recorded here.

Brown Argus - Bishops Hill 12.05.2019

Overall, it seemed that the season here has fallen back a bit in line with more normal timings after the recent poor weather, a fact supported by finding just one Common Blue here, which I failed to photograph. This is the site where I often see my first Common Blues as they appear on the limestone here a good week or so before they do at my immediate local sites around Solihull.

I also only found one Small Blue, which again I lost sight of before getting a photo. Checking my notes for the past couple of years, I saw Small Blues here in good numbers on 14th May 2017 and 18th May 2018, again supporting the fact that the season here has fallen broadly back in line with the past couple of years. I reckon the warm weather over the beginning of this week should see both Small and Common Blues emerge here in good numbers.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Really nicely marked Greenstreak Neil, I think that one's called inferopunctata Lovely Skipper shots especially the closed wing Grizzlie, lush that is Not looking too good this weekend weather wise hopefully the Beeb have got it wrong

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...that Green Veined White is to die for. It'll be hard to improve on that going forward.

Wish I hadn't said that, Neil, because you immediately went and did it!

That's a remarkably well marked Green Hairstreak too. I've certainly never seen one with such a bold 'streak'.

[Neil Freeman]

Cheers Wurzel, I must admit that it sometimes seems to me that someone has at sometime given a name to every slight variation out there. I blame the human condition of trying to fit everything into its own box when in reality nature is more fluid than that.

Thanks David, I usually see a good spread of variation in Green Hairstreaks, from no spots to almost full lines. That one was certainly one of the boldest marked but by no means the only one like it I have seen.

Wednesday 15th May – part 1.

Most of my time off work this year is already booked for various stays in B&Bs around the country as is our now normal habit, but with the good weather forecast for a few days this week I figured on trying to make the most of it and went in to work on Monday and managed to book one of my few remaining floating days holiday for Wednesday. The forecast was bang on for Monday and Tuesday and looked to hold for Wednesday so Tuesday night I weighed up various options to see how I could make the most of the day.
In the end I decided to head down to Gloucestershire and start off the day at Strawberry Banks, a site I had not visited before, and then planned on heading back up to Prestbury Hill. The main reason for heading to Strawberry Banks was for the colony of Marsh Fritillaries which I believe is the closest that this species occurs to home for me and seeing some sightings posted on social media over the previous few days I knew they were on the wing there.

I got up around the same time as I would have done for work which meant that I could make an early start to miss the build-up of traffic around Solihull and by 06.00 I was on my way. Arriving from the north-west, I headed for the village of Oakridge Lynch where a bit of research had showed that I could park up by the church and take a path to the reserve. By 08.00 I was parked up on what was a beautiful morning, even if it was still a bit chilly and after a short walk along a path across a field and through a short wooded stretch attractively bordered with wild garlic I came out onto the reserve itself which consists of two fields. The first area was mostly still in shade cast by trees further up the hill but looking to the second field, half of it was now in the sun and so I began my search there.

For the first hour or so it was still quiet and quite cool with a heavy dew on the long grass and I didn’t spot any butterflies until around 09.00 when I began to see Dingy Skippers which increased in number and activity as it gradually warmed up and the sun spread across the whole site.

Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Dingy Skipper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

These were soon followed by a single female Common Blue which looked fresh but with a malformed front wing and shortly after by a Small Copper.

Small Copper - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

This cooler hour or so also enabled me to sneak up on some Burnet Companion and Common Heath moths which can be difficult to approach when the temperature gets warmer.

Burnet Companion - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Common Heath - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

It was 10.00 before I saw the first Marsh Fritillary and over the following hour or so I reckon I saw about half a dozen different individuals. As is often the case it seemed like a few more but photos prove that they were the same ones being seen repeatedly, sometimes a fair distance from a previous sighting and it appears that individuals will roam across the whole site here.

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

The individual below was a particularly attractive example which I saw quite often as it moved around the reserve.

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Marsh Fritillary - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Just after 11.00 I decided to make a move and was slowly working my way back across the fields when I spotted a Small Blue scrapping with a Dingy Skipper.

Small Blue - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

I am not really into Orchids but I couldn’t help but notice a good variety of different ones dotted about across the site. One day I will have to make the effort to get to know these attractive plants so that I know what I am looking at.

A cracking morning spent at a beautiful little reserve and one which I really should have visited before now. I have seen that the Marsh Fritillary colony here is described as fragile and I am aware that a couple of years ago the population exploded although numbers have fallen again since then as is often the case with this species.

Anyway, by 11.30 I was back at my car and ready to head off up to Prestbury Hill...

Bye for now,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Wednesday 15th May – part 1 addendum.

I forgot to mention in my previous report that I also saw my first Small Heaths of the year at Strawberry Banks, about half a dozen scattered across the site.

Small Heath - Strawberry Banks 15.05.2019

Wednesday 15th May – part 2.

About 45 minutes after leaving Strawberry Banks I arrived at Prestbury Hill and parked up in the lane at the top of the reserve. By now the temperature was up to 19-20 degrees so I expected the butterflies to be quite active and as I made my way down the path and along the lower slopes I spotted Dingy Skippers, Small Heaths and Small Blues, all flying in good numbers.

Small Blue - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Small Blue - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

I then started to work my way along the lower slope and found a nice fresh looking Brown Argus...

Brown Argus - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

...and a Green Hairstreak that had seen better days.

Green Hairstreak - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

There were also a few fresh male Common Blues but these were very active and the closest I got to one was the shot below.

Common Blue - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

My main reason for coming here of course was to see Duke of Burgundy. After missing these for three years I had finally managed to get down to Prestbury Hill last year although not until late May when I found a few faded examples at the end of their season here. I am not sure how long they had been flying here this year but I had seen a number of posts on social media reporting anything between 10-15 being seen last weekend (11th/12th May) and this was one of the things that had prompted my day off work this week. I have also read that DoB is a lazy butterfly that doesn't often appear before late morning hence my decision to go to Strawberry Banks first and then here.
Anyway, after arriving at around 12.15 and spending nearly three hours here, I ended up seeing no more than six Dukes, only a couple of which were in half decent condition with the others looking well past their best. Four of these were at the Bottom of the Masts reserve with another one seen a bit further up the hill and only one in the Bill Smyllie reserve at the bottom of a path leading down towards the hedge line.

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Duke of Burgundy - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

I also had a good look along the area known as 'Happy Valley' but failed to find any along here. I spoke to a few other visitors looking along this section and none of them had seen any in this particular spot either.
I did have quite a few false alarms from rapid flying Burnet Companion moths which in flight can look similar to a DoB and had a conversation with another enthusiast about how often these might be misidentified as Dukes by the casual observer.

As mentioned above, Dingy Skippers, Small Blues and Small Heaths were all flying in good numbers along with smaller numbers of Common Blues and Brown Argus plus a few Green Hairstreaks along with plenty of Brimstones and a few Orange-tips, all of which were non-stop in the afternoon sun. A few whites were seen, at least one of which was a definite Green-veined, a species which seems to have been a bit thin on the ground so far this year.

Day flying moths included plenty of the aforementioned Burnet Companions plus loads of Common Heaths and a fair number of Small Purple-barred, an attractive little moth that is actually classed as a macro despite its small size. I have tried to photograph the latter before without success as they are very flighty and tend to settle low down in the grass so was pleased to get the record shot below even though it is not that good.

Small Purple-barred - Prestbury Hill 15.05.2019

Having made an early start and spending most of the morning at Strawberry Banks and then wandering around here for nearly three hours in the warm afternoon sun, my old legs were getting weary, so around 3.00pm I made my way back up the hill to my car and set off for the drive back home.

All in all a very enjoyable day for my first trip out of Warwickshire this year.

Bye for now,

Neil.

[millerd]

That was an excellent day out, Neil, with some great shots of the Marsh Fritillaries in particular.

I was also interested in your report from Bishop's Hill - I was wondering whether to include it on one of my excursions! Good to see the skippers are doing well still, and the hairstreaks too.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

What a cracking day Neil I wonder if you can work out which is my fave Duke shot Mind you it was a difficult choice Those Marshies are mighty fine - some really nice dark variants - the contrast of the black and orange is very pleasing to the eye

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely commentary, Neil. It’s great when a plan comes off like that one. A bit of forethought, a degree of effort and the reward is all boxes ticked!
Beautiful Marsh Fritillaries – they seem rather darker than my local race.

[kevling]

Neil,

Lovely photos of the Dukes and Marshies. I love the bold colours and markings on the dukes, they look mighty fine.

Regards
Kev

[Glostopcat]

It's a shame i missed you at Prestbury Hill on Wednesday Neil, I was there until about 3.15pm. I saw around 12-15 dukes on this occasion plus 4 wall browns along the path at the very top of the Bill Smyllie field, and also two females brimstones egg laying in the Happy Valley area.

[trevor]

Some beautifully marked Marsh Fritillaries there, Neil. And captured to perfection.

Always an amazing sight!,
Trevor.

[Neil Freeman]

Thanks Dave, very glad I made the trip as yesterday (Saturday) was back to cool and cloudy here and as I write this it is dull and cloudy again. Given the weather last week I reckon the Small Blues should also be out at Bishops Hill by now too.

Thanks Wurzel, I reckon your favourite has to be the back lit semi underside.

Thanks David, I seem to find both dark and lighter examples in the Marsh Fritillary populations I have seen although I have never yet seen this notably variable species in Wales, my previous experiences being in Cornwall or Devon.

Thanks Kev, I was happy to catch up with them as both species are a bit of a distance for me and I have limited time and opportunity to travel far.

Yes, Glostopcat, it was a shame I missed you. You did better than me with the Dukes and I also missed the Wall Browns although I did photograph a female in the Masts reserve last year.

Thanks Trevor, it is always interesting to note the variation in Marsh Fritillaries, a beautiful species that I don't see often enough.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Neil Freeman]

Sunday 19th May.

After a cloudy and quite cold Saturday here, Sunday was pretty much the same and a bit of brightness in the morning soon faded as thicker clouds once again rolled.

The only butterfly that I saw was an elderly female Speckled Wood that I disturbed as I was pottering about in the garden during the afternoon. She flew a few feet before settling again and stayed in the same spot for the rest of the day, just opening her wings occasionally if it threatened to brighten up a bit.

Speckled Wood female - Coverdale 19.05.2019

Any fresh Specklies showing up here from now are likely to be the next brood offspring of those that started emerging here towards the end of March this year.

Bye for now,

Neil.