Bugboys mission

[Wurzel]

" I can only apologise to you all for once again jinxing the weather… "...at least I'll be able to catch up with my PD
Lovely looking female OT Bugboy and Greenstreaks Is Wanstead out Stratford and Romford way? I used to live in Forest Gate and on days off from rehearsing used to have a wander round some parkland on the other side of the train tracks?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

It sounds like you were Wanstead Flats Wurzel. Less productive than the park, as it’s name suggests it’s very flat and exposed to various elements.


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April 2024

Wednesday 24th. Day two of my break and the weather wasn’t promising a great deal. Sunny spells in the morning were a bit of a false promise, when I walked out the front door the cold wind made it feel like it was February not April! Anyway, I soldiered on, fancying another look around Wanstead Park, perhaps the nippy wind would help to concentrate any activity to the sheltered suntraps, it hadn’t. for the first couple of hours when sunny spells did feel warm enough out of the wind, I saw exactly zero butterflies.

Eventually the sunny spells ended so I switched to looking for roosting butterflies which was a little bit more productive: three Orange-tip, three Small White and two Green-veined White were eventually located.

Curiously all the OT’s were females

Inevitably their eggs were also found.

GVW, having a similar camouflage strategy, were also found during the OT search.

The three Smalls were all disturbed as I walked along but quickly settled again.

I also took the opportunity to re-find the Peacock eggs I watched being laid on my last visit (the path I’d made through the nettles last week made the task not too difficult).

The first two OT’s I found were sat close to each other and as luck would have it a quick check at the weather radar indicated a break in the clouds was coming my way, time for a stake out!

The wait worth it, they both woke up. The smaller, less boldly marked of the two did a couple of circuits of the clearing but despite a plentiful supply of suitable landing spots, she always came back to the same couple of flower heads, invariably trying to land on the same one as the other OT, not easy when the other was basking

But when the boldly marked one decided it was bedtime again, the active one managed to sneak in.

When the sunny spells vanished I left them on the same flower head.

[trevor]

Congrats for the female OT duo, never seen that before. Very interesting.

[bugboy]

Thanks Trevor although we shouldn’t read too much into the preserved interaction, I don’t think there was any intentional interaction, the one settled I think was just in the way of the other one. Once both were settled they ignored each other.


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April 2024

Thursday 25th looked set to be a mostly cool and overcast day however, a glimmer of hope did present itself in the morning when a sizable gap in two banks of cloud drifted over London. It may have been sizable, but it was all over before many species had time to wake up, Peacocks and Brimstones were probably just wiping sleep from their eyes as the sun vanished. I had just a few Whites flitting around and a Speckled Wood before the sun was engulfed again. On the plus side the icy breeze from the previous day had gone so I didn’t feel like needed a woolly hat under the cloudy skies!

When the butterflies had all gone, I did a bit of birding. The Whitethroats were busy staking out clumps of Bramble whilst overhead the Sand Martins were zooming around.

Linnet

Whitethroat

A ropey Sand Martin pic!

As I was leaving the site the cloud cover thinned a fraction and just as I brushed up against some Bramble a small dark butterfly popped up and jinked about in the air, Hairstreak fashion. Four years ago I discovered a Green Hairstreak here, the first to be recorded at this site and here on exactly the same patch of bramble was the second one ever to be recorded, and there’s a transect here that’s been run for 10 years! This little blighter didn’t sit very well so just a few record shots were all I got before he decided to bugger off.

Hmmm perhaps there is a colony secreted somewhere here after all!

[bugboy]

April 2024

Friday 26th. A sunny morning leading to an overcast afternoon was the prediction locally, with southern counties shrouded in cloud all day, local patches it was then. However, the predicted complete cloud cover didn’t happen until late afternoon so it actually turned into an all-day session. With a fair few highlights and with over 700 pictures filling my camera by the end this will have to be a two post event. This first half covers the also rans to what became an unexpected main event.

Green-veined Whites were out in numbers with some particularly eye catching beauties amongst them.

It was as I stood up from that first GVW on a buttercup that I found my first Small Copper of the year looking back at me. He danced around picking fights with various flying organisms and provides a welcome splash of colour after by last few monochrome reports.

More colour was added by one of those flying objects which he was vented his new found rage at, a rather lovely Holly Blue. Unfortunately, my whispering skills let me down and she sat too far away for anything better than a record shot.

I had similar problems with a particularly nicely marked female Speckled Wood.

With the sun still shining after lunch my attention was drawn to the little wooded spinney that helped me get through the lock down times. A handful of Peacock had got a taste for Comfrey, this rather plump female being the pick of the bunch.

In one of the small ponds here a pair of Reed Warblers had set up home, this is the noisy male.

Whilst photographing the Peacocks, a Fox appeared from out of the undergrowth, glanced at me and saunted past with barely a second glance in my direction.

If anything the blue sky above was increasing so I figured I’d pop down to Tottenham Marshes before the end of the day. Here more Peacocks were present plus a few Commas. A female Orange-tip briefly settled and another nicely marked female Speckled Wood taking a break from egg laying.

[trevor]

I share you pain!, with the female Holly Blue.
Only yesterday I was looking at the freshest, finest female HB, posing perfectly,
unfortunately she was about 6ft away from me in the brambles, any movement
on my part would have sent her up. My language was appalling !

[Wurzel]

Cracking female OTs and Green-veined Whites Bugboy It must be something cracking for a Small Copper to feature in the 'also rans' Large Tort maybe?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

...A sunny morning leading to an overcast afternoon was the prediction locally, with southern counties shrouded in cloud all day, local patches it was then. However, the predicted complete cloud cover didn’t happen until late afternoon so it actually turned into an all-day session...

Always nice when that happens, Paul. Sadly, it's a rare event but you certainly made the most of it.

[bugboy]

Thanks Trevor. I wasn’t that bothered though, I had other priorities at the time to worry about the Holly Blue too much! I too released a few expletives, but more in excitement
Haha, thanks Wurzel, nothing that exciting but remember this is east London, regionally adjusted expectations!
Thanks David, it was a good day, made even better when you include the following post .


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April 2024

Friday 26th, the main event. The main reason for choosing Walthamstow Marshes as opposed to one of my other local places, apart from the rare event of a sunny day, was the chance discovery the previous day of a Green Hairstreak in exactly the same spot as the last and only one I’d found here four years ago. Was there a colony hidden in plain sight somewhere?
Well, I’d just arrived on the site, the GH corner being one of the entrances and what was the first thing I found, the target.

Whether he was the same one as the day before I’ll never know but after spending some time with him, I wandered around the field to see if I could locate any more in the scrubby patches. Nothing so I returned to him, where I found he had been joined by the GVW’s, Copper and Holly Blue which were also calling this corner home now.

It was whilst the Copper was fighting with him when another Hairstreak appeared from nowhere and the two shot off to god knows where. Ok so now there were two present. I had a think about some other possible spots that might be worth looking at, the first of these revealed another two males feeding on Hawthorn in-between extended aerial jousts around me.

Further investigation in this spot revealed another three including a very fresh looking female.

Her presence made a stake out essential, she did look exceedingly fresh, had she only just emerged? Eventually a male found her but despite his best efforts she gave him the slip, he returned to feeding with a sort of ‘didn’t fancy her anyway’ sort of attitude! Perhaps the deed had been done the day before?

Seven though, I wonder how long they’ve actually been here? Now with my eyes clued in, more exploration revealed another three in two further spots some distance away. Of course there’s always the chance someone introduced them here at some point (I have after all found a Brown Hairstreak here about 10 years ago which was obviously a release) but with the well established colonies not far away at Wanstead Park, Walthamstow Marshes is well within striking distance of a natural colonisation.

In discussion with the local recorder that evening I found mine remain the only ones ever recorded here, despite a 10 year UKBMS transect being done here. To be fair to them though, the standard transect methodology isn’t really geared up to record Hairstreaks. Greens for example generally lek in the morning and disperse in the afternoon when most transects are carried out. I didn’t find a single Hairstreak after lunch.

[Wurzel]

"regionally adjusted expectations!" okay I adjusted my expectations and still worthy of Inner city Hairstreaks are not to be sniffed at Lovely collection of Whites, I almost started off another variation obessessionwhen viewing all those differently marked GVWs

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Lovely to see those GHs on the hawthorn blossom, Paul. Looks like they are resident there, even if their numbers are comparatively small.

[millerd]

It sounds as if that's a healthy and established colony there, Paul. It just shows they could be more common and widespread than we think.

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Wurzel. ‘Inner City Hairstreak’ that sounds like a 90’s house music hit!
Thanks David, small or well hidden, whatever it will be interesting to see if they are still there next year.
Thanks Dave, like all the Hairstreaks, probably very under recorded


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April 2024

Monday 29th. Week two of my fortnight off and a bit of sun that was promised to last all day tempted me out of London to add to the years species tally. I’d seen the first Grizzled Skippers had been reported down Sussex way so I made plans to go to the usually reliable Mill Hill for them. The past few years has seen them struggle though and this years weather has so far not been particularly helpful for them.

Despite the sun it took a while for anything more exciting than a battered Peacock to appear. I did a number of circuits of the slope until finally something small and grizzled popped up and shot off. Another circuit rediscovered him and this time I managed to pin him down for some snaps.

There were only two in the end but only the first sat (after several rediscoveries of him).

There were at least three Green Hairstreaks, although none fresh.

Much fresher, in fact she couldn’t yet fly, was a female Wall. I found her just clambering out of a tussock and after her first faltering flutter decided to settle on the path I was walking along, best move her to the hedge, not before her picture was taken though.

Other species present, although non in numbers, were Comma, Brimstone, Speckled Wood, Orange-tip, a few Whites and last but not least a dingy Skipper who refused to sit for anything other than a distant, blurred record shot.

The rest of the afternoon I planned to spend at Lancing Ring but I had one last surprise (could’ve been a nasty one had I taken one more step). I was one step away from treading on a young Adder. It hissed at me before slithering off into the grass, giving me time for a couple of quick shots.

[trevor]

I insist you take a for that female Wall. They don't come fresher than that.

[Wurzel]

"‘Inner City Hairstreak’ that sounds like a 90’s house music hit!" I think it was an Acid House track...
I too will issue a for the fantastic Wall image - bit of a blinder that one The Adders over there seem to have a lot more front as over this way you have to go looking for them or are they just more untidy over that way, sprawling about all over the paths indeed!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[bugboy]

Thanks Trevor, no more than an hour old she was, wings still soft !
Thanks Wurzel. That Adder was only the second I’ve ever seen, the other a rear end vanishing into the grass, also at Mill Hill a year or two ago. Might have to join Neil one spring to get a proper view of them.


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April 2024

Monday 29th part 2. So after surviving the near painful bite encounter with the Adder I went to see what was going on over at Lancing Ring, Lindsay Morris had recently reported a range of species. Today Peacocks were the most numerous, mostly showing their age. One of the two Comma was in better shape.

Some Brimstone were around but only one female settled.

Also flitting around were some Speckled Wood, a single Red Admiral, a trio of annoyingly active Holly Blue and some Large White, one of whom allowed me to get this years first pictures of them, only from a distance though.

It was a pair of the aforementioned Peacocks that were the main focus though. I found a somewhat worn male who was completely besotted with a rather eye catching female, at times when she caught the sun just right, her generously dusted hindwing ocelli shone as vivid as an Adonis Blue.

Is it just me or is there a blue Homer Simpson staring back from that eye spot

She wasn’t exactly playing hard to get, more kind of toying with him, he was very eager!

In the end she fluttered off into a bramble patch with her lovelorn suiter in tow were presumably she relented and the deed was done.

Interestingly, this pair were found a little after 3pm and vanished into the bramble around 25 past the hour. Back in 2018 when I stumbled across a similar event (and managed to find the pair where they settled to mate) the time was was very similar, the mating commencing around 3pm that time.

[millerd]

That female really does have very vivid blue "Homer" markings on the hindwings, Paul. Quite a contrast with the subdued lilac of the male. My encounter with courting Peacocks this year was around three in the afternoon, so that backs your theory too.

Cheers,

Dave

[bugboy]

Thanks Dave, 3pm is Peacock fun time it would seem!


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April 2024

Tuesday 30th looked like the last day of sunny weather for a while, at least until I returned to work…! The first Sussex Pearl-bordered Fritillary had been reported the previous day so I took up Neil Hulmes offer to drive me to Rewell Wood to see how many more might have emerged.

We started off at Fairmile Bottom where we were joined by Sussex butterflyer stalwart Patrick Moore, to a) give any fresh morning PBF emergents time to dry their wings and b) to see if we could locate any Dukes since one of them had also been reported the previous day too. Their presence would be a bleeding miracle after a couple of years of laughable attempts at habitat management (over grazing to within an inch of its life!) and despite much searching none were found, indeed very little was found at all, a few Brimstone, a couple of Peacock, Green Hairstreak and two or three Grizzled Skippers.

The afternoon was a little bit more successful. Obviously, we weren’t expecting to see many Fritillaries, it being so early in their emergence but with Neil’s knowledge it didn’t take too long to find a few fresh ones (in total six were eventually found).

After the lacklustre morning, they certainly raised our spirits.

As the afternoon wore on, one another species took over, Green Hairstreaks. Several were found and adopted various pleasing and rather photogenic poses. A single Dingy Skipper provided a distraction in-between the Hairstreaks

The last one to pose turned out to be a female and began laying eggs, or at least pretending too, on Broom.

The last three days of my break were mostly grey, cloudy and wet, the sun and warmth returning as predicted on my return to work !

[Wurzel]

Definitely a Homer there Bugboy, Doh!
" 3pm is Peacock fun time it would seem!" time for a little 'afternoon delight
Greta to see that you managed some Pearls, Grizzlies, Greenstreaks and Dingy all before the cloud rolled in I feel your pain having been stuck at work for the last couple of days and with the prospect of the fine weather disappearing for another fortnight

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those courting Peacocks are visually quite different and look great amongst the bluebells, Paul.

#1 butterfly for me though is that beautiful female Wall Brown.