July 2013

[kevling]

A visit this afternoon to Wherstead Wood, Ipswich provided my first White Admirals of the year. A total of eight were seen busily flying through the sunny glades close to me. Unfortunetly they did'nt settle long enough for photos (If first you don't succeed.....)
Also seen were good numbers of Ringlets, Meadow Browns and Small Tortioseshells.

Kind Regards
Kev Ling

[Rosalyn]

I was dragged into Fermyn via the long route from the South by Phil, then I had to wait two and a half hours for the sun to appear, but when it did all that had gone before was soon forgotten.
At one point we had 6 male Emperors within 20 yards of us and there was not another person to be seen.

White Admirals were imitating their larger cousins.

[Debbie]

Prees Heath,

SSB everywhere (and lots of nice people with cameras)

I know my pictures are not up to the quality of some on the site (but for me I am pleased with them)

I saw emerging SSB coming up from the heather for the first time, along with the ants too - very special.

Males were bombarding the newly emerged females.

Debbie

[Podster]

There were at least 3 Gatekeepers on show at Marbury Country Park, Cheshire today .

[aeshna5]

Visited Thursley Common today. Good numbers of Silver-studded Blues on the heath but no sign of Grayling there yet.

A small number of Large Whites were noted crossing the bog. Around the edges numbers of Meadow Brown, Small + Large Skippers, a female Brimstone + 2 Small Tortoiseshells.

[Vince Massimo]

Great shots from Rosalyn and Debbie

Today I checked my local nettle beds to monitor the numerous larval webs and look for egg laying Small Tortoiseshells. I had one on 9th July between 1.30 and 2.00 and today found one in the process of egg laying at 12.10. She finished by 12.30 so I moved on to another part of the site, returning at 1.00 to find another individual using the same leaf and laying a batch of noticeably paler eggs.

Small Tortoiseshell #1 egglaying - Coulsdon, Surrey 14-July-2013

Small Tortoiseshell #1 egglaying - Coulsdon, Surrey 14-July-2013

Small Tortoiseshell #2 egglaying - Coulsdon, Surrey 14-July-2013

Small Tortoiseshell egg batches #1 and 2

Small Tortoiseshell egg batches #1 and 2

The best time to find and observe this activity is between midday and 2pm.

Vince

[kevling]

Debbie,

Your photos are definately up their with everyone elses. Love the one of the newly emerged speciman and the multiple
ones too. Great work.

Kev Ling

[Willrow]

Rosalyn those PE and WA photographs are making me positively green with envy I really should have been at Fermyn with you and Phil to have enjoyed this special moment, still never mind, once I get my Snowdonia adventure over with next week (and thoroughly enjoyed ) I shall make arrangements to visit this butterfly paradise and only hope I come away with views and images half as good as you and Phil's...enjoy it all

Best Wishes,
Bill

PS. Make certain those flutterbys are still 'coming down' when I 'come up'

[Willrow]

Debbie I agree wholeheartedly with Kev, your images are delightful, and please me greatly, I'm sure many other UK Butterflyers feel the same way...please keep them coming!!!

Regards,
Bill

[Essex Bertie]

Had a couple of quirky Meadow Brown sightings today.
First was one mating with a Small Tortoiseshell at Great Warley, Brentwood. I've seen photos of this before, so assume it's the 'most common' inter-species pairing as the scents must be similar.
Next was a Meadow Brown with one very bleached hind wing at Epping Forest. It was too hot for it to rest with its wings open, but in flight I could see that the pale markings were on both sides of the same wing. The other hind wing was 'normal'.
Apart from today's oddities, I saw 3 White Admirals. They are showing really well in the Bury Wood part of Epping Forest for the first time in many years.

cheers
Rob

[Lancastrian]

RSPB South Stack, Anglesey

Six Silver-studded Blues and one Grayling on show today, along with a few more commoner species.

At nearby RSPB Valley Wetlands there were four more Graylings and three or four Dark Green Fritillaries. Single Small Heath was the best of the rest...

[Steve Babbs]

Hi all

I was also surprised how few people were at Fermyn. The purple emperors weren't shy!

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Rosalyn,
Congratulations on those fantastic Fermyn PE images. 196.jpg is just about as good as it gets!
BWs, Neil

[nomad]

Went to Hadleigh Country Park in Essex by train yesterday to see if I could obtain any images of the elusive White Letter Hairstreak. Found a good patch of flowering bramble with elms above. The WLH were out in good numbers flying at high speed at the tops of the hedgerow and elms with the males spiraling high in the air. Patience payed off and in several hours of waiting a few came down to feed although usually out of camera reach on high bramble sprays. A plumb female came quite low and I managed to get by best images of the day. Well worth the effort, as the last time I saw WLH close was in 1978. Many thanks to Mark for location help.

Male

[Rosalyn]

Thank you for your comments on the photographs Vince, Bill and Neil. I hope the Emperor is still holding court when you return Bill. We shall keep you posted, meanwhile have a nice holiday.

[Debbie]

Thank you Vince, Kev Ling & Bill for your kind reassuring comments.
Debbie

[badgerbob]

A very quick escape today to see how my local hairstreaks are doing. The colony where they always stay at the tops of the tree there were at least 3 sparring up there but a bit more luck at another site 300 yards away where at least 3 were down nectaring on creeping thistle. I only saw 1 at a time but looking at markings and wing damage it looked like possibly 4 different individuals. Not easy getting close and quite painful with all the stinging nettles but great to see this wonderful species close up again. Gatekeepers are also showing well with very good numbers on the wing.

[Mark Senior]

Southwater woods today , 2 Purple Emperors seen but not at ground level . Also :-

Speckled Woods , Meadow Browns , Ringlets ubiquitous

Silver Washed Frits circa 25 including a fast flying mating couple in copulation
White Admiral circa 14
Smaller numbers of Comma , Gatekeeper , Large and Small White , Large and Small Skippers , Red Admiral , Purple Hairstreak
1 each Marbled White , Small Tortoiseshell and Painted Lady

17 species in under 3 hours . Some or all of the Small Skippers may have been Essex but they were whizzing by so fast it was impossible to tell .

[sahikmet]

At Park Wood today lots of small skipper, 3/4 large skipper (Very dark colours), Meadow Browns, lots of ringlets. Cheers Sezar

[Jack Harrison]

I have really been enjoying the reports from the south. I will have to make a big effort next early July to get down and see His Imperial Purpleness again – and of course some of his friends such as SW Frit, White Admiral, that we don’t get here.

Nothing of great interest to report from Mull. I have been trying to track down Dark Green Frit and Grayling but no luck so far. Does anyone have experience of them on Mull? And where?

Jack