July 2024

[Pete Eeles]

Anyone suffering from butterfly deprivation could do worse than pay the Burford Spur area a visit at the moment...

That'll be me then Nice to read some good news for a change!

Cheers,

- Pete

[David Lazarus]

do you have a closeup shot of the larvae? That would help!

Unfortunately not Pete - the larvae were too deep into the web for my iPhone to get a focused shot of them. I will be back there next week to take a look.

[bugboy]

Marbled Whites probably into three figures in today's sunshine at Box Hill, accompanied by Meadow Browns, Small Heaths and more noticeably - Dark Green Fritillaries.DGF8 040724.JPGDGF5 040724.JPGAnyone suffering from butterfly deprivation could do worse than pay the Burford Spur area a visit at the moment...

Dave

I was there this afternoon, from about 2 til 6. Bloody windy but lots of butterflies. There were also a few new Gatekeepers and a smattering of Small Skippers, up until today I'd only seen the one of them this year! Report will appear sometime around Christmas!

[Charles Nicol]

I went to Sundon SSSI yesterday. i had a look to see if there were any Purple Emperors where i saw them in 2022. no activity detected

i glimpsed one Dark Green Fritillary, but otherwise it was wall to wall Marbled Whites & Ringlets with a few Large/Small/Eseex/Lulworth type skippers.

the plant life is a real treat at the Quarry. i was delighted to find a Chiltern Gentian in full bloom:

this Meadow Brown was desperate for me to take its photo:

i was downwind from this fox and followed it along a path for several minutes:

Charles

[Butterfly_Julian]

A trip to Rendlesham Forest in sunny but windy conditions give us our 1st Graying on the wing.

On the other side of the forest at Upper Hollesley Common we managed to find 8 Silver-Studded Blues after an extensive search, was hoping for more. Good to see a few 2nd brood of Small Copper about.

Of note there was a good number of Small and Essex Skippers on the wing. On Butley Corner side of the forest all were Small Skippers and at Upper Hollesley Common all were Essex Skipper.

Both sites had very good numbers of Ringlets

Julian

[David Lazarus]

Site visit Hadleigh Great Wood + Pound Wood + Hockley Woods 04/07/2024

Yesterday, during a reasonably sunny day, I carried out my last visit to collect data for 2024 on the Heath Fritillary within the south Essex woods. Unsurprisingly I found the few remaining ones signalling the end of their flight period - with probably a few of the newly emerged females carrying on into the middle of next week.

At Hockley Woods, these were the standouts amongst the remaining worn and tatty ones - 14 in total from the peak of 200+:

Heath Fritillary 3 x female
Hockley Woods 04/07/2024

And it was a similar story at Pound Wood - 7 in total from the peak count of 100+:

Heath Fritillary female x 2
Pound Wood

There were no sightings of Heath Fritillary at Hadleigh Great Wood with a peak count of 4, the last female was sighted last week.

The most numerous woodlander taking over from the Heath Fritillary is now the Ringlet with 105 seen at Hockley, 86 at Pound, and 59 at Hadleigh Great Wood:

Ringlet male
Hadleigh Great Wood 04/07/2024

Ringlet female
Hockley Woods 04/07/2024

Other highlights included 3 White Admirals at Hadleigh Great Wood & 1 at Pound Wood but no other premium woodlanders were seen:

White Admiral
Hadleigh Great Wood 04/07/2024

There were also a couple of nice looking Large Skipper:

Large Skipper male
Hadleigh Great Wood

Large Skipper male
Hockley Woods

And in the open grassland adjacent to Hockley Woods there were good numbers of Marbled White [32], Meadow Brown [35], & Small Skipper [8]:

Marbled White
Hockley Woods 04/07/2024

Across the three woods there were also 8 Comma; 4 Red Admiral; 1 female & 1 male Brimstone; 7 Large White; 5 Small White; 10 Green-veined White; 3 Small Heath; 1 Gatekeeper; & 3 Holly Blue

[David Lazarus]

Whilst I was writing up my site visit to the south Essex Woods, the sun came out so I went to the local meadow to see what was happening. I am pleased to say there are now 3 Marbled White including one female, so the tiny, isolated colony has every chance of making it into 2025. And the female is an absolute stunner with brown markings and prominent eyespots along the bottom of the upperside of the hindwings:

Marbled White female
Meadgate Fields Open Space 05/07/2024

[millerd]

Despite a (largely accurate) weather forecast involving cloud and sporadic drizzly rain, there were bright intervals as well and it felt warm and muggy during those periods. Butterflies were active again on my local patch, principally Meadow Browns but rising numbers of Gatekeepers and a continuing mix of Small and Essex Skippers. 13 species were seen in all, including a pair of Large Whites which came together with five seconds of courtship at most...

...the first female Gatekeepers of the year...

...but perhaps the highlight was the first of the second brood Common Blues.

The skippers included a curious pairing, for which I've started a separate thread to try and confirm their ID.
https://ukbutterflies.co.uk/phpBB/viewt ... =0#p186216
More in my PD at some point (by which time I may have an answer to the skipper conundrum. ).
Dave

[zigzag_wanderer]

At work I always scour the netting placed over the last bay of House #4 for trapped insects. It was put there to provide extra shade for our ferns, but from where it overhangs the roof to the points it's pegged to the ground, there are some very effective insect traps. Unfortunately it's not long enough to be fitted snuggly top-to-bottom along the walls or short enough for the overlap to be insignificant.

Bar a few earlier Silver-Y, it's only in the last 2-3 weeks I've started to notice trapped butterflies and moths this year. This might be an indicator of how few were flying in Spring or that possibly any trapped were more inclined to go downwards to the ground foliage and then off to safety, rather than continually trying to fly upward toward the sun, into increasingly restricted space ?

Yesterday I freed 4 Meadow Browns, a Red Admiral and a very warn Wainscot-type moth. This represents fairly typical daily numbers. Some gentle shaking of the net can tempt some to fly down its length and out to freedom (RA seem better than MB at this) but others just keep flying upwards, so I have to get the ladder, an empty plastic plant pot and a bit of card !

Last week, along with the usual suspects I freed an Elephant Hawk-moth, a female Common Blue, a Marbled White and yesterday, I spotted a Red-belted Clearwing moth. Luckily, this was on the outside of the netting, so probably fine, but I moved it away to a hedgerow anyway.

S'cuse the state of my hands.

[bugboy]

Bit of a surreal day down in Durlston Country Park in Dorset today. Not exactly heaving with butterflies, the near gale force wind probably wasn't helping, with only Lulworth & Small Skippers and Meadow Browns easing comfortably into double figures. Gatekeepers may have just nudged double figures. Others included Marbled White, Small Heath, Essex Skipper, Common Blue but those were very much in the minority.

The first slightly surreal moment came when I saw a female Adonis Blue. I didn't get a picture and managed to talk myself into thinking it was a Common Blue, then a Male appeared and there was no mistaking him even if he was a bit worn. In the end I had two of each sex.

Well Adonis in July isn't unheard of in this part of the world but then a Dingy Skipper stopped by.

Finally, and this is where I started to question my sanity, what looked very much like a Silver-spotted Skipper dropped in at my feet. After looking at my pictures in closer detail and seeing hooked antennae, it would seem it was a female Large Skipper but for a while there I did think I'd entered a parallel universe!

[PhilBJohnson]

I think the plant it was enjoying was "selfheal"
#IAmPhilip

[Vince Massimo]

Round-up of Sussex news.

Like most other places, there has been a huge slump in butterfly (and other insect) numbers in my Crawley garden and the locality. The present focus of my attention is the Gypsy Moth larvae which have been taking an interest in my Cotoneaster shrub. The shrub is fine and although there is some evidence of feeding, the larvae proved elusive, until yesterday, when I had reason to lift some rockery stones beneath the shrub, where I found 10 larvae. They ranged in length from 20mm to 50mm.

Gypsy Moth larvae - Crawley, Sussex 6-July-2024

Gypsy Moth larva - Crawley, Sussex 6-July-2024

Gypsy Moth larva - Crawley, Sussex 6-July-2024

Unfortunately my Brimstone larvae all disappeared some time ago, while the Holly Blue larvae on the Cotoneaster need to be re-found, now that the berries are forming.

Fox News.

It turns out that there were a total of 5 cubs this year and they have been running their mother ragged (not to mention what they have been doing to the garden).

Five fox cubs - Crawley, Sussex 16-June-2024

Mother with four cubs - Crawley, Sussex 5-June-2024

No explanation needed - Crawley, Sussex 6-June-2024

These images were all taken in June and the cubs do now not visit so regularly or in numbers now that they have become more independent.

Vince

[millerd]

I went out between thundery downpours on my local patch today, and saw the first newly-hatched Peacocks of the summer brood - just a couple nowhere near each other so likely from different egg batches.

There were several new Red Admirals too, of which this was the most well-behaved.

I would guess this is locally-bred, as there have been no winds for some time likely to have brought any migrants.

After the many Meadow Browns and increasing numbers of Gatekeepers, the most frequently seen butterfly today was the Green-veined White, well into double figures.

There were also a couple of very obvious Large Whites, but only one of the other white butterflies was a Small White.

Among the GVW I found a female laying (there is one egg already in view here)...

...to which she added another.

I've seen examples of this before, where a female GVW lays eggs in pairs.

Despite not exactly optimum weather, I found 13 species altogether, and a full account will manifest before too long in my PD.

Dave

[bugboy]

Epping Forest this morning, probably the closest I'll ever get to seeing them in-cop!

Also good numbers of fresh Comma's about

[David Lazarus]

08/07/2024 Site visit Lingwood Common, Danbury Ridge

Finally found a Purple Emperor on my local patch on the southern woodland edge of Lingwood Common viewed from the farmer's field:

Lingwood Common southern woodland edge

This is a woodland edge composed of both Goat Willow Salix caprea and Grey Willow Salix cinerea along a drainage ditch which separates the wood and the farmer's field, the border of which has been left to produce an open grassland habitat with scrub. Oaks Quercus robur and Hornbeam Carpinus betulus with Field Maple Acer campestre form the canopy layer. South-facing with plenty of nectar sources and long grass makes for a perfect butterfly habitat along which premium woodlanders fly as well as the 50+ Ringlet & Meadow Brown.

Along with the Purple Empreror, I saw 14 Silver-washed Fritillary but no sighting of a White Admiral yet - but plenty of Honeysuckle Lonicera periclymenum, so hopefully won't be long before I find one on my local patch too:

Silver-washed Fritillary male
Lingwood Common 08/07/2024

In other news, and I should probably have led with this, my heart is bursting with joy as I found 3 Marbled White in the flood plain within the wildflower meadow which is part of the offset from development. It is about a mile away from the little meadow at Meadgate Fields Open Space from which they have come:

Chelmer Road Bridge meadow, Baddow Meads flood plain

The male Marbled Whites just kept circling round and round in pursuit of a female so no photographs.

Sorry, more photographs of habitat than butterflies, so I will leave you with this:

Ringlet in cop
Lingwood Common 08/07/2024

And, first of a series of Essex Skipper images expanded in my PD shortly:

Essex Skipper female
Baddow Meads 08/07/2024

She is a real stunner I hope you agree

[Jack Harrison]

No Northern Brown Argus seen on Monday at Grantown-on-Spey but maybe just too early. Several fritillaries charging around at vast speed, presumably Dark Green although they did look smallish so can't entirely rule out late Small Pearl Bordereds.  It can be seen from the picture of the habitat that chasing them down would have been almost impossible even for a youngster, let alone this 'mobility-challenged' senior.

Jack

[millerd]

8th July: New GVW still emerging locally, with over 20 seen yesterday in some morning brightness.

One fresh female was a beautiful strong lemon-yellow underneath.

13 species seen again today, but not quite the same 13 as the previous day: 15 overall across the two...

Cheers,

Dave

[Bertl]

No Northern Brown Argus seen on Monday at Grantown-on-Spey but maybe just too early. Several fritillaries charging around at vast speed, presumably Dark Green although they did look smallish so can't entirely rule out late Small Pearl Bordereds.  It can be seen from the picture of the habitat that chasing them down would have been almost impossible even for a youngster, let alone this 'mobility-challenged' senior.

Jack

Jack

I visited the same site on 15th June this year. Took advantage of a reasonably sunny morning.

There were a few NBA on the wing.....all very pristine.

There were also a few SPBF on the wing but too active for a photo.

It would seem they are emerging earlier on this site......I don't know why?

The site was looking a bit overgrown even in June


Photos attached

Bert.

[millerd]

Today (9th) it rained all day - from brightness with warm drizzle to proper showers. In the middle of the day, when the hidden sun would likely be strongest, I went out damply to one of the nearer parts of my local patch to see if anything was attempting to fly. Five species gave it a go - Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, GVW, and Small & Essex Skippers. At the slightest rise in brightness, Gatekeepers in particular took to the air, but all these five flew at some point despite the rain.

a nice fresh female responding to a marginal increase in UV

Essex

small

I think this Small Skipper was actually brushing a raindrop out of its eye...

small- a curious pose

If a bit of rain isn't going to completely ground the butterflies, then it won't keep me indoors either...

Dave

[zigzag_wanderer]

Yes, I would definitely echo Dave's point re. butterflies out in the sporadic rain yesterday. I was surprised to see Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Small White, a golden skipper amd a Marbled White all in action. I also saw a Brimstone moth battling the wind.

Had a female PH visit on Monday.