July 2023

[David M]

Things have improved enormously since the latter half of May. Fingers crossed for a bumper July!

[Bertl]

Visited St Cyrus NNR near Montrose today.

Difficult to photograph the butterflies due to the windy conditions.

Managed my first grayling butterfly and dark green fritillary butterfly of the season.

Best photos attached.

Cheers

Bert.

[David M]

Some really good images there, Bertl. Love those Dark Green Fritillaries.

[Charles Nicol]

Not very summery at Sundon today.

i did see the first Gatekeeper of the season,

and an interesting plant which i need some help with

[sifenn]

I was just down the road from Bertl today in Balkello Community Woodland, just north of Dundee, where I was chuffed to see the whitest spotted Northern Brown Argus. I've seen them near Newcastle and Morecambe Bay, but this was far more distinctive.

Coming from Gloucestershire it was odd to see fresh Common Blues mixing it with Ringlets, Dark Green Fritillaries and Meadow Browns.

[aeshna5]

Not very summery at Sundon today.

i did see the first Gatekeeper of the season,

and an interesting plant which i need some help with

53014962857_317349526f_c.jpg

53015553556_6b8a70c8c0_c.jpg

Looks like Common Gromwell, Lithospermum officinale to me.

[Charles Nicol]

Not very summery at Sundon today.

i did see the first Gatekeeper of the season,

and an interesting plant which i need some help with

53014962857_317349526f_c.jpg

53015553556_6b8a70c8c0_c.jpg

Looks like Common Gromwell, Lithospermum officinale to me.

thank you again for your amazing botanical help !

Charles

( i have never heard of Gromwell )

[Charles Nicol]

Longer spells of sunshine today at Sundon

no sign of the Dark Green Fritillaries...

i did see these:

[bugboy]

Bookham this morning before the cloud rolled in

Was a good few hours

[David M]

Happy to battle with cloud if it means seeing those, Paul!

[millerd]

Along with many others I believe, I have been blessed locally with a big rise in the number of Red Admirals over the last few days. I counted 17 yesterday, and a surprising 43 late this afternoon despite a fair bit of cloud, strong gusty winds and depressed temperatures. Many were very fresh, and I took them to be locally emerged, especially as there has been a parallel rise in the number of Commas (11 yesterday, 21 today) - and the latter will certainly be local hatchings!

On the subject of Commas, and following the post on the dragonfly catching an emperor, this afternoon I came across the sad sight of a very new female Comma in the clutches of a crab spider cunningly camouflaged as a bramble bud. Having paralysed its prey with its wings wide open, the spider then couldn't work out how to deal with a meal much larger than itself, and kept rotating the unfortunate butterfly.

Dave

[Charles Nicol]

i went to Sundon today because the next couple of days look unsuitable for butterflies....

as you can see today was not perfect

before the heavens opened i did spot a lovely butterfly which i think was a female Dark Green Fritillary

[Ian Pratt]

Not the best day for seeing butterflies today as it has been overcast with some rain showers. However, I did see a good number of meadow browns, ringlets, the odd marbled white, white admiral, gatekeeper and red admiral. Also, I saw several silver-washed fritillaries. Due to the lower temperature they were not racing around like yesterday and easier to photograph. Only one female seen, however.

[millerd]

I didn't expect to even go out today, given the weather forecast, but the sunshine and generally bright conditions actually didn't give way to rain until midday (and then this afternoon it really did chuck it down!). Before my local circuit was curtailed by the rain, I had counted over 70 Red Admirals (probably double the highest total I've ever seen here before yesterday's 43). They were everywhere, and in cloudy spells could be found in little groups on any flat surface warmed by the sun. Whether they are locally emerged or immigrants (I favour the former, given the quality of the nettles this spring which have simultaneously birthed a good crop of hutchinsoni Commas, and the decent numbers around at the start of the spring), we could be in for truly significant numbers at the end of the summer. Fingers crossed!

Also of note was my first Peacock of the new brood, seen just as the sky darkened and the first drizzle was in the air. It skulked under the brambles and took off when disturbed, but even this poor shot is unmistakable.

More details as and when my PD catches up...

Dave

[millerd]

The first few Chalkhill Blues were battling the breeze down at Denbies today.

Also seen were a couple of new brood Brimstones.

Dave

[Ian Pratt]

A much better day's weather today. Over 35 red admirals at Kemphill Moor Copse near Ryde, plus a good number of silver-washed fritillaries, meadow browns, ringlets and gatekeepers. A few white admirals and one pristine peacock.

[millerd]

The local explosion of Red Admirals continues... I extended my usual walk from home to take as much as I reasonably could, and counted. At the end, and discounting bits of path covered twice, I reached the unprecedented total of 153 Red Admirals (out of over 500 butterflies of 16 species). They were nectaring on bramble and buddleia, puddling on the ground, scrapping in the air, basking in the trees, evading the ever-present dragonflies, beating up Commas, and even settling on my head. Most appeared very new, but ironically with so many around I didn't actually get many photos.

Also of note were 29 Commas, something that would have been significant had it not been for the Red Admirals! One of the Commas laid an egg on hop right in front of me - completing my set of Comma eggs on food-plants, adding to examples on nettle and on elm.

Here are a few other butterflies from the day, including examples of new brood arrivals from several species.

However, one event stood out from all this. I put up a brand new Peacock from the grass, and within seconds it had been taken by a large dragonfly. The burden of the butterfly was a bit much for it, and it dropped to the ground and set about eating its meal with rather upsetting audible crunching noises.

I felt it was a shame it had picked on the Peacock, rather than the far more numerous Red Admirals or Meadow Browns. Oh well...

Dave

[Ian Pratt]

I was watching a golden ringed dragonfly this afternoon when it was ambushed and taken off for dinner by an emperor dragonfly,! Quite spectacular!

[PhilBJohnson]

Gardening for Life Cycles

A Brimstone pupa might survive best, from bird predation,in a dark, internal space, inside a Buckthorn, or where the young tree is overgrown

[Ian Pratt]

My wife and I have tried to make parts of our small front garden a wildflower meadow with some success. I attach a photograph from this morning with a lovely small skipper on bird's foot trefoil. Neighbouring front gardens have very little life on them, sadly.
There were several skippers and gatekeepers this morning enjoying the flowers and long grass. I encourage others to give it a go.