Wurzel

[David M]

Agreed. That dew covered caterpillar is intoxicating.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Pauline, Mike and David It was adequete pay-back for soaking wet shoes and strange looks from my boss when I walked into work


Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Katrina]

Intriguingly beautiful caterpillar photo.It looks like it had just come out of a freezer and is defrosting. Great shot Wurzel!

[Wurzel]

Cheers Katrina Hopefully when the Marbled Whites emerge I'll be able to get some of them in a similar state

June 2014

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Neil Freeman]

Ditto on all the comments on your caterpillar image Wurzel, great stuff

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Cheers Neil I've fallen out of love with Larkhill as when I stopped this afternoon someone drove a caravan into my car - then said it as my fault - I wasn't even in the car!!

Bentley Wood 25-05-2014

Finally I was on holiday and I all set to enjoy one of the two days that I had been allocated for butterflying. So it was with great relish that I pulled into the car park at Bentley Wood and started the wade across the Eastern Clearing. I had a quick mooch around to try and find stuff so that when Philzoid arrived we could get cracking. There were a few Pearls about, some still roosting but then as the morning wore on they started flying. Despite one or two that still seemed in good nick most were pale shadows of their former self.

When Philzoid arrived we set to finding some Small Pearls. They were easy to locate and tell apart from the Pearls as they were brighter and much faster moving. What was harder was trying to catch them with their wings closed for the classic field guide shot. The sun had made them too active and we could only watch as they bombed around. Occasionally they would stop for nectar and then for the briefest of moments they would not care that you were there as they took nectar before moving on again. It was a total contrast to my last visit here – today they were about in en masse but they weren’t stopping. As we wandered looking for the occasional feeding Small pearl which we might be able to approach a Pearl plonked itself on a Bugle right in front of us. It was quickly joined by a Small Pearl and so I managed a few record shots of the two species together for direct comparison!

Once they’d fed enough they went their separate ways and something ghostly dropped down amongst the grass. It was a Speckled Wood, old and tired with the cream spots all washed out and now looking white. A few Brimstones flew by and we started to get to get our timing sorted so the Small Pearls that before were unobtainable now started to fill up our memory cards.

Philzoid was after a ‘Woodland’ Duke so we checked out the areas of the Eastern Clearing that they seemed to like, looking through the longer tussock grasses and managed to unearth a Dingy but no Duke. So we reverted back to Small Pearls. I’d watch and watch and slowly follow one, it would land and then I would lean in clicking away as I got closer and closer and then when it would fly I’d follow another individual. Eventually one stopped and settled for a good 5 or so minutes.

From here we loaded up the wagons and headed Westwards to my Marshie Site...

Have a goodun

Wurzel

B 3, PBF 8, SPBF 9, DS 1, SW 1

[Wurzel]

Marshie Site 25-05-2014

From Bentley we set off back to Salisbury in order to drop off Philzoid’s car so we could head on to the Marshie site in mine. Apart from meaning lower Carbon Dioxide emissions this had the added advantage of annoying my old neighbour as Philzoid was able to park in “his space” . So off we set off West!

On arrival it seemed that the butterflies had been awaiting us as a nice looking Green-veined White fluttered by and landed as we pulled up. From there we made our way up the hill, through the tunnel of trees and then pushing our way out into a butterfly haven. First there was a Green Hairstreak, then Marshies flying around including an aberrant one. Up near the shorter turf by the path Common Blues, Small Blues and Brown Argus were visible and then we carried on further into the little hollow at the bottom of the Down. We stayed here for a little while as everything seemed to be here. More Green Hairstreaks, Small Blues, Brown Argus, Common Blues, an Adonis Blue did a fly-by, Marsh Fritillary and the odd Grizzled and Dingy Skipper. All this and we’d only been here for 10 minutes. We’d take a step and call out the name of another species that had appeared, get a few shots, take another step, call out the name of another species, get another few shots etc etc. I don’t think I’ve ever been anywhere quite like this before

By now we’d reached the end of the little hollow (a whole 20 metres from where the path broke through the trees) and we bumped into Brian from the Wiltshire Branch. Good to put a face to the name and chew the fat Brian! Around this area some of the Marshies were looking a little tired but others were fresh out of the box. One female in particular was very pristine looking we kept coming back to her in order to see her with her wings open as she was beautifully marked.
Also very approachable was an unusually calm BA. As the sun had gone in briefly behind the clouds it was content to roost and then walk along a blade of grass before having a bit of a stretch as the sun came back out. It meant that I was able to get so close that the butterfly took up the whole of the viewing screen.
Also present here was another Marshie that I thought looked unusual. It was fresh as it had the flecks around the margins of the wings. Yet it lacked the contrast seen in other individuals which show a range of colour markings with reds, dark oranges, yellows and creams; this individual was pretty much brown and orange?

Greasy

The fresh female...

Orange ab?

By now we’d spent a measly forty minutes on site in this one little area so we thought we’d better get and explore a bit more.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[badgerbob]

Only just caught up and seen your very wet cat. Love it. We haven't had a decent dewy morning for ages here, possibly too near the sea.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Wurzel, that second Green Hairstreak has got a impressive line of spots across both wings, looks like a classic example of ab. punctata (I think I am getting the hang of these Greenstreak abs now )

Cheers,

Neil

[Katrina]

Nice Marshie underside shot!

[Willrow]

Great report Wurz...can't get enough of Marshies just luv' em!!!

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[Pauline]

2 nice abs there Wurzel - great find Certainly seems like a great site.

[millerd]

The variety of Marsh Fritillaries there is amazing - and those aberrant ones are just the cream on the top.

Dave

[Nick Broomer]

Hi Wurzel,

I just had to comment on your photo of the larva covered in dew drops. The best photo i have seen for a long time. Brilliant.

All the best, Nick.

[Philzoid]

Five-spot Burnet larva f. saturata wow

Think I’ll bring along a hand held mist sprayer as part of my butterflying kit with me next time as there’s no way I can make it that early in the morning

[Wurzel]

Cheers Bob The only problem gettting that shot was that I got soaked from the knees down and so when I arrived at work I got a few disapproving looks Stuff it, it was worth it
Cheers Neil I thought it was an ab. thanks for ID
Cheers Katrina I was lucky in that as I found it the sun went in so it closed it's wings, perfect timing
Cheers Willrow There are a few more Marshies to come
Cheers Pauline It is a great site indeed, if you can get here then do!
Cheers Dave With your aberrants as well this seems to be a pretty good site for them, mind it's a pretty great site overall
Cheers Nick for your very kind comment Good to hear from you again
Cheers Philzoid It's getting close to that time of year when you need some foul smelling liquid in that mist sprayer

Marshie Site, Part 2

Venturing forth from the hollow we worked our way up the side of the down and started making our way round to the bowl. The side of the down held all the usual suspects and many more Green Hairstreaks all of them low down in the turf. We reached the Bowl which is another great part of the site as last year it was the site of a Battle Royale. It all kicked off again this time and again it was a Brown Argus that started it by scraping with a Grizzlie and then a Dingy. A Small Heath did a few defensive runs and Marshies fluttered by and took evasive action to avoid the BA. All the while Small Blues were keeping a low profile.

Having enjoyed a frenzied five minutes of activity it all quietened down and we carried on round the side of the Down. We discussed that it was around here last year that we started seeing Wall Browns and sure enough there was another basking on the path as the sun had gone in. I clocked that it was a female straight away which was doubly good news for me as I’ve struggled to get decent shots of a female in the past. Just off to one side of the Wall was a pair of Marshies in cop. So now we’d had our Battle Royale, Walls and also our mating pair of Marshies – I was starting to experience de ja vu.

We checked the side of the down and the bowl again and then worked our way back to get lunch and also to try to find some Adonis to photograph. As we got back in the hollow the sun came out again and everything started flying. Again it was hard to know where to look first but amongst all the little grey and blues blobs, the larger reddish and definite Blues something fast moving and golden caught my eye. It land amongst a pile of dead wood and Brambles and there was my first Large Skipper of the year (and possibly the first for Wiltshire).

Further along in the hollow there were some CB masquarding as AB only to be upstaged by the real McCoy came along. It was totally obvious that this was the muscle bound cousin of the more common stick and it was vibrant. As usual there were the ever present Marshies and also a small grouping of Small Blues.

All of these butterflies held the rumbling of my stomach at bay but a man can’t live on butterflies alone so we headed our way back to the car for lunch. Mind you it did take 5 or 6 attempts as every time we’d decided to start back down the tree tunnel to the lay-by something else would appear and we’d ‘just have to get a few shots of that’. Luckily there were some added bonuses to having a break for sustenance especially for Philzoid as a Red Admiral put in an appearance – a first for Philzoid and taking him one ahead! There was also the second Large Skipper of the day but we were eager to get back up to the Down, so much so that I drank my coffee as I climbed the hill.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Maximus]

Hi Wurzel, I think the correct expression one should use is, "just catching up on your diary", somehow I seem to have missed out on quite a bit, starting from Bentley Wood 25-05-2014
Magnificent photos all the way through including Marshie and Greenstreak abs I'll try to keep up in future Lovely Marshie ab in the SSA

Mike

[Willrow]

Your getting out to some lovely places and seeing some lovely stuff Wurz, and your images are not half bad either much enjoyed...Oh! and super Marshy ab finds too!!!

Kind Regards,

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[Philzoid]

Love the second shot of the mating Marshies. Looks like the little guy has got the big girl .

Further along in the hollow there were some CB masquarding as AB only to be upstaged by the real McCoy came along.

You know I'm still baffled by that 'Scarlet Pimpernel' Common Blue . The following week I went to Hutchinson's Bank and saw plenty of male CB's all of a 'typical' hue i,e their blue had that lilac tinge. Admittedly our example didn't have the chequered fringe and the underside did look like Common.

Is there a 'blue' aberration/form of the Common Blue

[NickMorgan]

Wow, what a great selection of butterflies you have seen.