July 2012

[Willrow]

Congratulations indeed David, two superb images to go into your Butterfly portfolio!

Bill

[Vince Massimo]

........... at Littlington I photographed a Comma which nearly qualifies as an ab. O album. Very similar to the 'comma' marking of the specimen that Vince and myself got at Birling Gap a couple of years ago.

That's close enough for me, Bob .
Can you put it in the Species Album please?

Vince

[Philzoid]

A forecast for another 'sunny' Sunday (Sundays seem, the best of a bad bunch) had me and Izzy off to Alice Holt, a great place for woodland butterflies with the possibility of seeing Purple Emperor. The entrance to Straits Inclosure is lined with tall thistles which were the perfect nectaring posts for Silver-washed Fritillary; Meadow Brown Ringlet; and Large Skipper. White admirals on the other hand would only come to bramble.

At the site I met up with Wurzel with his daughter Kitty (who will be posting in his PD); Pauline (likewise) and (he's here, he's there he's everywhere:- Tuts) Mark Tutton. Plenty of other spotters were out looking for his Majesty but no PE's were seen. One chap managed to get a grounded female Purple Hairstreak but I missed that unfortunately, a classic case of being in the right place at the wrong time .

Butterfly Olympics

On your marks

Get set

Go!

The weather kept playing games too, one minute sunny the next grey and gloomy so we gave up on Straits and headed to Goose Green. At the entrance, our charges Izzy and Kitty, who had been pestering since 10:30 , finally got their wish and we settled down to eat lunch under sunny skies . When we eventually entered the Inclosure we were greeted by an excited Mark who had seen half a dozen PE individuals flying around the treetops. Of course at that moment the clouds returned and we had a half hour wait before the weather came good again and we were treated to Purple Emperor aerial acrobatics . Mark and Wurzel snapped away but my cameras are of the get up close variety so I wasn't able to join in. Thankfully another enthusiast had his telescope trained on a roosting Emperor and allowed us all a viewing and for me to get this record shot.

Emperor rising

By the way, excellent shots of the Emperor DavidM

A final call into Straits got us a mating pair of SWF on Dragonfly enthusiast Paul Richie a first underside of White Admiral; a first of the season Gatekeeper and a magnificent Golden-ringed Dragonfly.

Small Skipper along the rides too

Golden-ringed Dragonfly (male)

Pairing SWF's have just split up

Female from the pairing

Not many Small Whites seen this season so far

This one sat still for his pic

On the way home I decided to check out Wrecclesham, in the feint hope of finding Heath Fritillary. No Heaths and the weather were starting to get cool, so a few more shots and off for home, a very satisfying day out .

Female Marbled White with lurking crab spider

Shaded Broad-bar moth nectaring on Yarrow

[David M]

Congratulations David. Emperors on the deck are as rare as rocking horse poo poo this year.
Neil

Thanks, Neil.

Yes, I appreciate I was privileged (particularly THIS year, given the atrocious conditions).

Sometimes you get luck and others you don't.......I tried here last year in 26c temperatures and day long sunshine yet saw nothing. This time, with cloudy skies and 17c at best I got a result. How fickle life is!

All the while, I was the measure of one single boisterous dog from getting the same long-distance view that Bill had at Bentley Wood. No doubt I'll pay for this good fortune at some point....and when that moment arrives, I'll happily take it on the chin.

[Wurzel]

Cracking shots Philzoid The PE shot has a spooky feel to it

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

Congrats to you all that have got PE shots in this rotten spring and summer! Looks as if i'm going to miss out again this year! Great images,lovely to see.

[badgerbob]

Another look along the Cuckmere valley produced a couple of White Letter Hairstreaks in the canopy. However, a small colony of Essex Skippers made the walk worthwhile.

[Mildheart]

Another late report from Sunday, in Chiddingfold Forest, which turned out to be a fairly productive day out, although I missed the star, a Purple Emperor that was on the ground at around 11 o'clock. I might have seen it had I been able to park at the Botany Bay entrance, but as is usual at this time of year, it was packed out and the verges are far too boggy. Instead, I started from Tugeley Woods, where there were only two cars, one on each side, but both were taking up the maximum amount of space possible, so I had to park opposite. Cheers.

The first sighting of note was a vole, which allowed close approach after wandering across the track and huddling up on the side. If anyone can identify the species I'd be grateful (photo included). Butterflies were present in reasonable numbers, particularly Ringlet, which was by far the commonest species, but Meadow Brown was surprisingly scarce in comparison. Silver-washed Fritillaries appeared regularly, but there was a dearth of White Admirals - following three near the entrance, I only saw one other all day. Two male Dark Green Fritillaries fed on thistles in the meadow, but unfortunately the one which showed best had some quite extensive wing damage, presumably from a bird attack. A female was also present but I barely glimpsed that. Two species were added to the year-list (Small Skipper and Gatekeeper) and other species seen included Red Admiral, Comma, Large Skipper, Speckled Wood and - finally - my first Large and Small Whites for weeks. Purple Hairstreak was also reported.

Also of note was an obliging White-legged Damselfly in the meadow, and my first hawker of the year, which as is typical, didn't land. It looked greenish and went down as a probable Southern.

Not a bad day, and with better weather forecast next week, there may still be time to catch an Emperor this year.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Mildheart,

Super Silver-washed pictures, especially the female.

By the way your Essex Skipper is a Large Skipper.

Kind regards. Mark

[Trev Sawyer]

Popped to Devil's Dyke near the Newmarket July Racecourse this morning and was pleased to see the Chalkhill Blue numbers were building well. The gusty wind made photos on the tall flowers all but impossible but I did get a few sharp shots when they sat low down near the ground:

I had never noticed the intricate tips of the Chalkhill Blue antennae before... The black and white banding along the stalk and onto the club ends with a twist of white and, at the very end, brown. Not sure if this will show up very well in this heavy crop, but I'll give it a go:

And on the subject of antennae... After lunch, I moved to another nearby chalk site where I came across a number of very attractive longhorn moths. I believe these are Nemophora metallica (thanks to the new Micro Moth book by Sterling, Parsons and Lewington):

Trev

[Jack Harrison]

Trevor

...did get a few sharp shots

Incredibly sharp. Quite amazing but almost too sharp - that background shows some noise. I have in the past used superb software called "Noiseware" (I have the free slightly limited version) that smooths noise without any noticeable loss of resolution.

Noiseware: http://www.imagenomic.com/

Jack

[Mildheart]

By the way your Essex Skipper is a Large Skipper.

Hi Mark

Ah, that would explain something that's been worrying me about the photo. Here is the same insect from the top. I thought Essex could be distinguished by the round-ended antennae, so I was a bit surprised to see hook-shaped antennae characteristic of Small Skipper in the photo, despite the inky-black tips. I thought maybe it was down to wear, since this skipper is fairly fresh, despite some damage at the base of the wings, but I overlooked the obvious solution! Funnily enough, it looked pretty small in the field. I'll change the caption.

Thanks

Clive

[MikeOxon]

Although not my own sighting, there are reports of seven purple emperors being see in Bernwood Forest, Oxon, this afternoon - see http://oxonbirding.blogspot.co.uk/ There are also some photographs in a post dated 12th July, which reported: "Purple Emperor Bernwood forest about 200 yards along main footpath just past the log stacks and before the second crossroads c11:45a.m "

[David M]

Ah, that would explain something that's been worrying me about the photo. Here is the same insect from the top. I thought Essex could be distinguished by the round-ended antennae, so I was a bit surprised to see hook-shaped antennae characteristic of Small Skipper in the photo, despite the inky-black tips. I thought maybe it was down to wear, since this skipper is fairly fresh, despite some damage at the base of the wings, but I overlooked the obvious solution! Funnily enough, it looked pretty small in the field. I'll change the caption.

Both Essex and Small Skippers are largely uniform on the upperside, whereas Large Skippers have a conspicuous, darker, mottled pattern towards the outer edges. Similarly, the undersides of Large Skippers have a noticeable pattern on them, whereas Essex and Small Skippers are plain.

[NickB]

DD at Burwell Cutting: About a dozen or so male CHB out (no females) Ringlets, Meadow Brown, Small Heath; a single Marbled White, plus 2 Large, 1 Small and 5 GV White.

Large, Small and Essex Skipper... and a lovely summer Comma

Plenty of Nemophora metallica here too....

[NickB]

Made a couple of composites....

Small Skipper....

Essex Skipper....

It is not always possible to get the right angle to see the orange or black tips properly ...
...nor are they as orange in some Small Skippers as others...
Hope that helps....
N

[Jack Harrison]

Th male sex brand in the Essex is slightly shorter than in the Small Skipper allowing identification of males from upper side views. I stand to be corrected on this.

Jack

[Ian Pratt]

Tristan Lafranchis says that the small skipper has a well defined black marginal border whereas the Essex skipper has a balck marginal border which is usually diffuse along the veins. This is clearly shown on the photos above.
Ian

[Charles Nicol]

Tried out my new camera yesterday:

These were on the Super Macro setting...

Charles

[NickB]

Tristan Lafranchis says that the small skipper has a well defined black marginal border whereas the Essex skipper has a balck marginal border which is usually diffuse along the veins. This is clearly shown on the photos above.
Ian

Also the sex-brand in the Small is usually slightly curved, whereas the Essex is straighter...?
Like Jack, I stand to be corrected on this too....
Good start with your new camera, Charles