Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, fantastic to see the Painted Lady, I didn't see one this year, a big difference from last year when they were every where.
I love your close up of the Admiral , they do have a bossy look about them don't they, Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie That's often the way with Painted Ladies and Cloudies - after a year of feast the famine ensues I was pleased with the close up shot "they do have a bossy look about them don't they" - I reckon they're trying to live up tot heir name

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

I wouldn't mind a job at your place of work, Wurzel.
A Buddleia full of Small Torts to while away the lunch breaks, what's not to like!.

Hope your profession gets the jab soon,

Stay safe,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor The 'back path' from the playing fields down into the housing estate is even better for Small Torts - I often see double figures there Apparently keeping schools open is a priority but vaccinating teachers so that they can continue to teach in said schools isn't, in fact I'm so far down the priority list that by the time that I get vaccinated it'll be for Covid-23

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[millerd]

Small Tortoiseshells in September - I think my last one locally in 2020 was in July, so that's worth a or two. I missed the second part of your Adonis-fest as well - some lovely females there.

Cheers,

Dave

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, it'll soon be time to leave the Garage window open for the Small Torts, roll on Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Dave I saw a few Small Torts this autumn which bodes well hopefully for next Spring
Cheers Goldie Indeed it is Goldie -I saw my first Small White of 2021 on Friday

Martin Down 12-09-2020

With a Tax return completed the afternoon was my own – and somehow (oh how I wish I knew how) I’d even managed to get out of starting the painting for another week! Hence I made my way over to Martin Down for probably my final visit of 2020. I could have kept on going but I felt that all too soon the quantity and quality of the butterflies would start to dwindle and I hoped to go out with a bang.

Parking at the Sillen’s Lane end again I strolled along the nice flat track. On the way I was accompanied by a few Whites that were still quartering the hedge and the odd Meadow Brown and at the little turf triangle I paused for a Small Copper. There was more of the same as I continued along the track even though I was hoping to add a few more colours to the palette along with the white, brown and orange. Again I forewent the Tunnel which during the Spring is a must for Greenstreaks and Holly Blues and took the left hand path at the fork in the track. At this point a slightly different orange tint showed up amid another couple of Small Coppers as for some reason this little spot was very attractive to the Small Heath and there were easily over double figures in a tiny section and as I continued onwards they popped up with greater and greater regularity. One of them was doing the wing flicking thing that I and others have noticed before, flicking the wings wide open before only partially closing and giving a teasing glimpse of the uppers normally kept locked away from sight. I fancied a shot of it and so ventured off the main track and followed the Rabbit tracks to get close to it without trampling anything. Another Small Copper appeared after I hadn’t had much success with the Small Heath and so I tried for a few shots of it too. They seem to have another good season this year.

Slightly further along I branched off the main track again but this time headed into the small field walled in by the hawthorn hedge on three sides – what I like to think of since the Spring as Greenstreak Field. Whilst the numbers of Small Heath remained steady the numbers of Meadow Browns picked up and I also got onto a Common Blue which was slightly aged. By the time I got to the corner I’d added an Adonis Blue which was still looking in pretty good nick and there’s an unusual looking Small Copper and then I managed to work out why it looked so odd when it eventually settled down – it was missing some of its hind wing. There were also a few Brimstones about; a male and 2 female and another aged Common Blue. However the main two highlights of my time in this little section were first a ghostly Meadow Brown which I couldn’t, at the time, work out if it was an aberrant? Looking at it now the lack of the brown ground colour could either be pathological or more likely water damage. However the smaller than usual eyes mean that all three reasons together could be a possibility though I’m favouring the former two? The second highlight means that I went from the old to the new as it came in the form of a stunningly fresh Small Copper. The white fringes were still intact and the orange on the forewing ran right to the edge and this combined with the minimal spotting and the orange from the hind wing margins extending in streaks across the wing gave it the more of the look of a foreign cousin of the Small Copper. All in all a stunning looking Copper.

To be continued...

I try to escape
But they pull me right back in
I don’t mind really…

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Hi! Wurzel, great shots of the Small Copper, I was disappointed this year on not finding one Small Heath, it must be the first year I've missed, I decided they'd also gone into Lock Down Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Yes some years are like that - certain species seem to be missing Hopefully they'll be out of Lockdown this year, and hopefully so will we

Martin Down 12-09-2020 Part 2

After I’d been dazzled by the luscious Copper I continued on and worked my way through the break in the hedge and from there over towards the Hotspot Hollow. The Blues were still about with both Common and Adonis on the way along and there was yet another Small Copper – they seemed to be everywhere! In fact the first things that I encountered as I dropped down the path into the hollow was, yep you’ve guessed it – a Small Copper. However I’d now entered another realm. It was like a retirement home for Blue butterflies. First an aged Chalkhill, then an enfeebled Adonis followed by a venerable Common Blue and finally to complete the set as it were a superannuated Brown Argus. All were flying about in the little hollow, bumping into each other and grumbling and mithering. A more curmudgeonly bunch I’d not seen before! As I reach the edge of the Down I experience a little more temporal dissonance as a Tawny Owl calls from the adjacent wood. I continue looking around and soon find a few more old timers – with a veteran Small Copper, a decrepit Peacock and a couple of some well matured Adonis.

I then started to make my way back, retracing my steps and seeing the same butterflies (probably) although at the ridge behind the Hotspot there was a Brimstone as well as 3 Chalkhills, 2 Adonis and 2 Common Blues all intermingling in a dizzying ball of blue. I was getting really short of time and so I put my head down and tried my best to ignore the butterflies on the way back but just like Michael Corleone “just when I thought I was out they pull me back in”. This time it wasn’t the two Small Coppers on the path back to the car but it was the last one at the triangle that forced me to stop and watch it for a bit. At least I thought it was the last butterfly that I’d focus in on as slightly closer to the car still, there are three Coppers having a scrap as well as an attractive Small Heath and the smallest male Common Blue that I’ve ever seen – it was tiny – the size of a Small Blue! I tried to get something in to show the size but the best I could manage (what with not having any cash cos of Co-Vid) was to hold my pencil lead against the blade of grass once the butterfly had vacated its perch. It was small but perfectly formed!

For scale...

I try to escape
But they pull me right back in
I don’t mind really…

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Garston Wood 13-09-2020

It had been a while since our last meet up and so today we made a last minute call to arrange a walk at Garston Wood with my parents. The last time we’d visited the Silver-washed were still flying but starting to look tatty and so today I was expecting more walk and talk than butterflying as befits the time of year. The woods quieten down and the action is now played out on the grasslands and the coastal hills…

The walk to the Log for lunch was as quiet as expected with a few Whites fluttering about in the distance over the usual sorts of places. The Specklies were still doggedly holding their territories in the normal spots. Nothing much was stopping though apart from a rather nice Green-veined White at the bottom of the track. Once at the Log we ate lunch and a Specklie actually sat still long enough to capture a few shots. It sat nicely on the edge of a leaf looking alert and reminiscent in posture of a pointer dog.

Repast replete we reconvened our ramble wandering lazily, preoccupied by conversation, into the enclosure. Again there were plenty of Whites and again all were pretty distant, flying over the tops of spent Bramble and collapsing Bracken that was on the turn. Slightly further on along this path a Comma put in a brief appearance with a flash past and a Brimstone seemed to be flowing suit. But it stopped suddenly, a still viable strand of Bramble had taken its fancy. Unfortunately the contrasting conditions of bright. Late summer sun and the dark shade from its absence were laying havoc with my settings and all the images came out bleached out; I got some cracking shots of a white triangle but none of the intricate beauty of a Brimstone.

There were a few more bits and bobs, mainly Specklies and Whites, but all too soon we were back at the car park. It was too lovely a day to leave it there so we headed back to my mum and dads to sit in the garden, sip tea and take advantage of the September sun. As we walked up the path to the house and I looked across to the neighbours gardens their lawns seemed to shimmer. It was kind of like a heat haze, mirage almost but it was nowhere near warm enough? When I got closer I could see that at least two of the Lawns were alive with bees. They were crawling and flying low over the grass, occasionally they’d clump together in a buzzing ball of bee. The black and yellow abdomens (when visible) made me think that they were Ivy Bees – even though they weren’t on Ivy.

Once in the garden whilst enjoying a Tea Sponge Cake I kept my camera handy and managed to pick up a couple of Whites and a Brimstone between bites of cake and slurps of tea – some semi-perfect butterflying all in all – change the tea for beer and the Whites for a rarity and it would be 100%. Time had eked away and as we said our goodbyes the lawns were still alive with bees…

Whites between tea slurps
Ivy Bees covered the lawns
Garston finale

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

Very interesting shots of those Bees. My knowledge of Bees could be written on a postage stamp.
I do wonder why they found the grass so attractive, perhaps they nest underground.
In the Autumn there are swarms of Ivy Bees at High and Over, and I also saw many in Wilts too.

The new season beckons!,

Stay safe,
Trevor.

[Benjamin]

Lovely writing as usual Wurzel.

If you’re anything like me (probably you’re a much better son!) then it was prob a good job the butterflies were underwhelming - it’s impossible to be good company when your attention is pulled away with every flash of an unidentified lep!

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor It seemed like they were bundling on one individual so I'm guessing that there were females in among the grasses and groups of males fighting over them.
Cheers Ben I know what you mean but I think that my parents have gotten used to it now - I was just the same when I was younger and a birder Luckily over the years I developed split awareness so I can pick up vocal prompts which induce an automatic response

February 2021

So it could be only a matter of weeks now until things start to kick off - I can't wait

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Love the calendar shot Wurzel, especially the Small Tort

Just lately when I've been down loading photos into Favourite Butterfly, my photos appear and I'm asked to choose, but the Butterfly I've chosen from my computer doesn't appear, for Instance, I only took a few shots of the Small Copper this year, a couple at HLB and the other shots at Dover, I decided to chose one from each because one SC was different from the other, I pressed Attachments as usual etc, but when my photos appeared the photos I took at Dover didn't.

I checked my computer and the photos were there, so I just wondered if this as happened to any one else, its happened three or four times now, so I thought I'd mention it It's never happened before over the years I've been posting so I'ma bit worried it's my computer Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Sorry to hear that you're having problems I don't know how to sort your problem Have you tried renaming the images? That worked on my website when it was over riding some images as they had the same id number ...

The Devenish 19-09-2020

I don’t know quite what had happened but when I pulled into the Car Park on this visit it was full! I guess it was down to various families struggling for somewhere ‘local’ to walk during the Lockdown earlier in the year and they’d discovered my secret. Time was when I’d have the car park and the whole reserve to myself. Wondering how much Social Distancing I’d have to do I strolled up track and through the little bit of wood towards the Orchid Meadow (Map 1). When I arrived there I was greeted by a Large White. They’re so much more amenable at this time of year; in the Spring they never seem to stop.

After getting a few shot of Mr. White I moved over to the fence and tried, unsuccessfully, to follow a Small White. It would flutter awkwardly to a stand still only for a Specklie to barrel into it each time it did and send it packing. As if to compensate the Specklie posed nicely on the top of the fence post, perhaps it was feeling a little unappreciated and wanted its share of the limelight? While I waited and watched the Specklie I let my eyes wander up and down the fence. There was plenty to see and photograph here with a further two Large Whites, a Comma slightly further back on the other side of the fence, a wasp with an extraordinarily long abdomen and ‘spike’ and a battle worn Common Darter. It seemed ancient and it had lost its red colour almost entirely. Its once resplendent livery replaced by a dull rusty looking beige a bit like a stripped down classic car awaiting a respray. An Ivy bush on my left has a couple more Darters partaking of its cover and a Red Admiral snobbishly looked down its nose at them.

I drifted down to the far end of the Meadow surprised that I’d not encountered any of the marauding masses and here I busied myself trying to follow one of the three Green-veined Whites that were present here. It was hard work as I’d decide which one to go for and then one of the others would flutter by closer and distract me. I paused for a moment and what with the sun, the calling of a Buzzard overhead and the self-generated warmth I could almost have been back in mid-summer. I decided to work my way back along the fence but got stopped early in my tracks by another Red Admiral. It was high up in a shroud of Ivy so I waited for it to deign to descend to my level and when it did I clicked away merrily and momentarily.

Form here I took a deep breath and made for the little track up the hill and further on up the Down. As the little tunnel of vegetation opened out a Red Admiral and a Small White greeted me but didn’t hang around and so I cut across the side of the Down about half way up following the diagonal path which leads back down to the margins of the Beech wood that forms the boundary between the Down and Orchid Meadow at its foot. In the large clump of Hemp Agrimony (Map 2) I paused to take stock and scanned the flower tops. I spied out a Red Admiral and a Green-veined White. Slightly further along was a Small Copper and right at the end were a non-paired pair of Green-veined Whites. With the available targets logged I slung my camera from my shoulder and ventured forth. The first Green-veined did an evasive manoeuvre but all the rest fell into line and I moved from one butterfly to the next and on finally coming to rest at the end of the Hemp Agrimony. Looking up I saw that there were two Roe Deer ahead of me, seemingly boxed in by the boundary fence. How long they’d been there I couldn’t say as I’d been so engrossed in the micro that I was totally oblivious to the macro around me! Now as I looked upon them it was as if the holding spell had been broken and they made off up gully looking for a break in the fence. I made to follow them and a Large White did a fly-by but none of the couple of Specklies sat for me (Map 3).

After this things went very quiet as I wandered the top fields. Mind you the wind cutting through from the fields behind the reserve didn’t help and the sward seems much higher this year so perhaps this had influenced the butterfly distribution? I maintained my altitude across into the middle part of the Down before following the fence line down and hopping over the stile into the Paddock (Map 5). In the distance I could make out a Large White and nearer to a Specklie but both were flying in the wrong direction so I had a quick look around the tiny paddock. As usual there was a Specklie holding territory around the gate the closes off the ‘tunnel track’ (Map 4). I managed to get a few shots of this despite being really concerned about trampling the huge number of Ivy bees that covered the ground. After this I tentatively tiptoed back and followed a Small White from the tiny Paddock out into the Paddock proper. I was glad that I’d out the effort into this individual as getting a photo of him had put me in the right place at the right time to spot a Brown Argus. I was a little surprised to see it still here, especially as it was still reasonably attired and over at Martin Down they were showing signs of fading fast but I didn’t let that get in the way of trying to get a few shots of it.

Time was pressing on so I decided to make a move and it was just as I started towards the gate and the car park that I finally found some of the multitude that I’d been expecting to see. It was one family out for a walk and so I let them use the gate first, partly out of politeness but mainly because I’d spotted another Specklie, a really fresh looking one at that and a Comma that they must have spooked form the Tunnel Track. Once they’d exited I swung the camera off my shoulder and set to on the photographing. I selected the Specklie first as it was in a better position. It was really fresh and the lustre and sheen from its wings was further accentuated by the minimal cream markings on the wings. When it flew to a new perch atop the gate it closed up and I could see that the markings one the underwing were more normal looking. That taken care of I sought out the Comma. It was still up high in the Ivy and so I thought about giving up and heading for home then and there but then it dropped down just long enough for it to have a quick sip of nectar and for me to get a shot off.

After this I climbed the gate, loaded up the car and made for home – not sure how much longer The Devenish will produce the goods now as it feels like 2020 is going to be an ’early doors’ season?

Time passes onwards,
With the butterflies waning…
Reasonable haul though.

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Thanks for that wurzel, I'll check it out Soon be seeing the Butterflies, it was like Spring here today. More Snow on the way though. Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cheers Goldie Hope you got the problem fixed

Vernditch 20-09-2020

There was still a feeling of summer in the air today despite it turning into the tail end of September and so with chores complete and one daughter picked up from a play date – I counted 6 individuals present (so all were safe from the snoopers and curtain-twitchers) we headed out the fast way to Vernditch – crossing in Hampshire and then back into Wiltshire again before beeping and rounding the blind bend and pulling into the empty car park. Swinging the much lighter than usual day pack over my shoulders we set off up the hill and into the wood. Next up was the right hand turn into the denser wood with the narrower path and then through the Coppice at the edge of Kitts Grave. We hadn’t seen a single butterfly – not an errant White or a single Specklie but I thought that might change when we reached the grazed fields but no there were no butterflies. Neither were there any in the little scallops as the path trailed back through the small woodland.

Eventually we made another right turn and we were on the path parallel to the Blandford Road. A couple of Whites flew by and a male Brimstone caught my eye enough to make me wander carefully towards it as it played in the high hedge. Unfortunately it played too far up in the hedge to get any shots but as I turned round a reddish blur stopped me in my tracks. The little blur ceased its erratic flight atop a flower head and I could see that it was really a Small Copper. A few shots and it moved on and then a few more were all that it allowed before a fading Blue appeared and the Copper set off to bother it.

I’d like to have thought that now that I’d found a butterfly the dam would be broken and they would crawl or fly out of the woodwork but it wasn’t to be. True as we started on the return leg a Specklie appeared and a couple of Whites and Meadow Browns flew up in the field previously frequented by Sally the Snail. Down in the little valleys I also encountered the smallest Green-veined White I have ever seen but even it didn’t hang fire for long enough to get a few shots off. In fact that was it right up until the end of the walk when a Specklie thought that it had evaded my lens by pretending to be a dead leaf.

And that was it, possibly the final trip to Vernditch – at least one where I can expect to find some butterflies?

Final flourish
With copper on leaves and trees
Adieu fair Vernditch

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Wurzel]

Vernditch 27-09-2020

So what I thought was my ‘ultimate trip’ to Vernditch today became my penultimate as the final throes of good weather my wife and I took a break from cold filled kids – snotty noses, sneezes and sore throats but luckily no coughs or fevers! As we wandered up the hill the afternoon sun was filtered out by the turning leaves and so in their shade it felt a little cooler that I was used to and the air had a crispness to it that I associate with autumn proper. Up until about three quarters into the visit I spent my time when not talking in marvelling at the glow as the light penetrated the ever growing weak spots in the canopy. Now along with the crispness I started to smell autumn the woody, damp notes as the annual process of recycling began. Then I finally spotted a butterfly and so what was possibly just a lovely early autumn walk gained the potential of a trip to report. It fluttered about weakly in the undergrowth despite its apparent youth but instead of perching on a nice stable log or tree trunk it chose the spindliest bit of vegetation it could find and so it rocked back and forth in the whisper of breeze.

I was hoping for a few more butterflies on the way now but weren’t any when we walked the Bramble lined stretch of path at the edge of the Coppice nor when we crossed the field to plunge onwards into the wooded tunnel of the next copse. It was only when we were reaching the end and the tunnel had started to open more that we came across another Specklie and then another in quick succession.

Cheered by this as this was now a definite post we turned right and onto the track that runs parallel to the Blandford Road. Here we paused so my wife could enjoy the sun now that we were out of the shadows. As we took a drink a Large White flew along the tall hedge, keeping up too high for my lens but compensation came in the form of a Small Copper (possibly the same individual as last time) which was treating the path as its own private race track. A Small White appeared but it was tricky to get a shot off as the yellow flowers it was feeding from didn’t hold its attention for long before it had drained them of nectar and sought its next stop. I’d watch it settle by a clump of these flowers and by the time I’d focused on it, it was off again and onto the next clump. I got round this by waiting for it to choose one flower in a clump and then focusing on one of the flowers it had yet to visit. Luckily it chose this one and so I got a few shots before it drank the limited source dry.

We were just about to start off again when a tiny silver butterfly came onto the scene. It was up high near some Ivy to start with but it didn’t look right for a Holly Blue – not white enough and with no suggestion of blue. It came down lower and after a few steps I had a Brown Argus before me. What it had been doing up at such heady altitudes I don’t know? Eventually it disappeared off over the Earth works getting lost amid the meadow and so, as a brace of Small Whites initiated their patrol along the hedge, my wife and I followed suit.

The next turn to the right taken things went quiet again until one side of the wall like hedge opened up onto the small meadow. As we felt the light intensity increase a Meadow Brown, appropriate really, flew across the meadow and again I wondered if it was the same one as before? I couldn’t get back down into the small ‘valleys’ as now a different portion was fenced off by electric fencing as part f the grazing regime. A Peacock darted up from its basking on the track as we watched the sheep and they in turn watched and the Peacock was the penultimate butterfly of the trip. The last one turned up right at the end of our return journey down through the wood – it was a Specklie, well finish as you started I suppose?

Now the final trip?
Last checking in at Vernditch?
Possibly, who knows?

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[trevor]

Large W 1mage .

[Wurzel]

Cheers Trevor I was chuffed with that shot

The Devenish 11-10-2020

This was a trip made to just get out and enjoy being outdoors. The cloud was lifting, the drizzle ceasing and with it my hopes of nabbing a butterfly or two rose. Across the Orchid Meadow there was nothing. Up the side of the Down again zilch. Along the top through the Hanging Beech wood still nowt – not a single late Blue, White nor Specklie for me! Round through the wood we went and still the was a dearth pf butterflies. My hopes seemed dashed and my neck had gotten sore from carrying my camera for nothing.

Then Lady Luck or possibly Fate Himself stepped in…While the girls enjoyed the rope swings and climbing the trees and my wife enjoyed the Autumnal sun I nipped down the side of the Middle Down and got to check out the Ivy tree in the Paddock. With some trepidation I approached remembering the Hornets’ nest in the base of the tree but it seemed that this year it had been left vacant and so I was able to get close up. This proved to be a good thing for as I cast my eyes over the rich and dark greenery a few odd things didn’t fit in with the background. There were three greyish triangles which boasted a mottling of white and blue with a hint of red. As well as these there was a fourth triangle and this one was russet colour – three Red Admirals and a Comma in other parlance.

One Red Admiral was right at the top of the tree whilst the second and the Comma were about half way up but still just out of reach for anything decent. I tried for a few record shots and then turned my attention to Red Admiral number three which was blimbling around on the lower leaves between head and hip height. Happy to have something to show for the afternoons exercise I clambered up the hill and rejoined the family.

A trip made in hope
But diminishing returns
Still find a couple! (Actually more!)

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel