September 2014

[Penhale Paul]

Good morning UK B'ers,


Is the Brown Argus unusually late?

Flutter on!

CJB

Brown Argus seem to be going on 'forever' at Penhale in Cornwall, not sure if its particularly late or not. I had a fresh one last year on 22 Sept which after seeking advice was presumed to be a 3rd brood/generation. This had however come after a sustained period of no sightings whereas the ones I have been recording over the last few weekends have been a continuation of the second brood/gen with no sustained break in sightings so i'm not sure if these are 2nd brood/gen or possibly a 3rd, any thoughts welcome.

That aside there are still good numbers of butterflies to be found around Penhale and other areas if you can find the nectaring plants such as wild water mint, fleabane, scabious and hemp agrimony. Unfortunately a lot of others seemed to flower and go over quite early so theres very little in the way of nectar in some areas. Here's a selection of recent (September) sightings.

The Silver Washed Fritillary was seen at Greenscombe wood on 12/9/14, quite late for there i'd have thought.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pkXoCE][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_7400 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[urlDSC_7226 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr][/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p4upHd][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_7126 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p4uYeo][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_7018 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pkXGS5][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6839 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oY4XwT][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6745 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oY5WZN][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6581 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/oQ8RfK][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6166 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[David M]

Paul, that's an impressive list for the time of year, particularly given the general condition of the specimens.

[Penhale Paul]

Paul, that's an impressive list for the time of year, particularly given the general condition of the specimens.

Yes, I think Penhale in particular seems to have done well possibly due to the amount of fleabane and water mint available. As of last weekend there were still fresh specimens of brown argus, common blue, small heath, meadow brown, small copper, red admiral, small tortoishell, peacock, small white plus clouded yellows recorded for the last five weekends consecutively.
The Brown Argus, Small Heath and Small Copper have all been around in good numbers too ........ probably the best year I can recall for Brown Argus.
Probably the only disappointments have been not being able to find a second gen Silver Studded Blue and the lack of Painted Lady, but on the plus side I did witness and photograph another Gynandomorph Silver Studded Blue found by Lee Slaughter so can't complain

[url=https://flic.kr/p/p5uTRE][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6104 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[urlDSC_6918 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr][/url]

[url=https://flic.kr/p/pjXaVf][img]http ... .jpg[/img]DSC_6072 by Penhale_Paul, on Flickr[/url]

[jenks]

Plenty of butterflies today too at the Newport, Gwent, wetland site, Goldcliff pools, 11.00 to 14.00 hours. Many Red Admiral, a few Small Tortoiseshell, Speckled Wood and Small White, at least 2 Painted Lady, 2 Small Copper, 1 Comma and 1 Clouded Yellow. Also Southern and Migrant Hawker, and Common Darter. Unfortunately the Pectoral Sandpiper present here for the last two days wasn`t seen ( by me anyway ) so I had to be content with the butterflies and dragons.

Jenks.

[Liz Goodyear]

My brother reports seeing White Admiral on three consecutive days at the site close to Hickling Broad (Norfolk) - yesterday he confirmed seeing two different individuals.
Liz

[EricY]

My brother reports seeing White Admiral on three consecutive days at the site close to Hickling Broad (Norfolk) - yesterday he confirmed seeing two different individuals.
Liz

That is interesting Liz because on Monday I thought I saw one fluttering away fast in Ken Hill wood Snettisham, a known good spot for them in normal season. It went away fast before I could positively ID it but it looked black & white as it went on it's way. Eric

[Matsukaze]

Fluttering torts!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UVbZ1TE ... e=youtu.be

Jenks - I was on the Gower last week and the Red Admirals were present in good numbers, almost all flying west to east, so presumably some sort of migration event. Have you noticed this as well?

[jenks]

Hi Matsukaze,

Hope you enjoyed your time on the Gower. I was back to Goldcliff this a.m. ( missed the Pec Sand again ! ). As for butterflies, still Red Admirals, Small Torts, Specklies, Comma 1, Small Copper 1, Clouded Yellow 2, even though the weather was cool with a breeze coming in off the Bristol channel which intensified as the morning wore on. Most of the b`flies were feeding on the flowers ( thistles, knapweed, fleabane etc, the Specklies along the hedgerow near the entrance gate and some of the Red Admirals on the ivy here). I can`t say I noticed any flying out over the sea. What was noticeable, and was remarked upon by the group I was with, was how the Clouded Yellows were bombing about, jostling with each other for space on the same flower head, chasing each other, then coming back to nectar for a while. And a few moments later the same ritual was repeated. Very hyper !

Jenks

[EricY]

Male Wall Brown Holme Sept 27th

This afternoon I saw 4 very fresh male Wall Browns @ Holme dunes NWT on Norfolk coast. I assume these could be 3rd brood rather than late 2nd brood as Neil has already described good numbers of 3rd brood on south coast. Eric

[Essex Bertie]

I was expecting things to quieten down today on my Essex sea wall transect, but not a bit of it. Small Coppers still going strong - best ever brood by far after a non-existent second brood. Clouded Yellows, 3rd brood Common Blues, including a female, and Small White females. Also Small Heaths - again possible 3rd brood, but I'm never sure with them.
Spotted a Nymphalid heading south across the estuary, whilst I was sailing.

We've also had a report of second brood Peacock larvae in a Clacton garden on the 25th - http://www.cambs-essex-butterflies.org.uk/sightings.php

[Philzoid]

28th
Spotted a Speckled Wood at our kitchen window so I rushed out and was amazed to see it go down into a corner next to the waste water drain and land on some scraggy shoots of grass poking through the patio tiles . The insect looked like it was looking to oviposit so I rushed in to get my camera. The whole area around the drain is a mess and is adorned with Steatoda and Araneus webs with lots of spider cocooned moths, hanging like little trophies. A grisly warning to winged insects to avoid going in there ..... so this specklie was really taking a risk . When I got back the butterfly had moved on to one of my potted Rudbekia flowers. After having its picture taken it flew upwards briefly alighting at the top of my ladder propped up in the corner then over the fence and away.
Checking under the blades of grass I found a white spherical looking egg which I assume could be the Speckled wood's egg?

Strand of grass

Speckled Wood Ovum ? (sorry about lack of quality)

The Specklie

Later on I took my daughters out for a walk on Chobham Common as it was too nice a day for them to be lounging around glued to their mobiles (we all need the exercise ) On the way into the Common I saw another fresh looking Speckled Wood, a Red Admiral and on the common itself a Grayling in reasonable condition.

Phil

[CJB]

Hi UKB'ers,

I had a quick check of the garden with some good results over the weirdly warm/hot weekend.

4 commas was a nice surprise and they looked remarkably fresh. One of them is much darker and larger and has more pronounced edging to it swings; is this the darker form which has a name that I can't remember?

Darker Comma

Lighter Comma

I was pleased to find a couple of Small Coppers but couldn't locate the Brown Argus I saw last weekend.

Fresh Copper

A tired Meadow Brown and Speckled Wood fluttered wearily past and landed for a breather.
Then in came this Small Tort, which looks remarkably fresh.

Small Tortoiseshell

Others seen were Large, Small White, Red Admiral.

I wonder what else will turn up before the summer curtain comes down.

Flutter on!

CJB

[Catteraxe]

Clouded Yellow spotted at the RSPB Newport Wetlands reserve on Sunday 29th. Not seen a CY here before. Also large numbers of dragonflies, mostly Common Darter, but also Migrant Hawkers.

[Allan.W.]

Hi ,CJB,
Great garden shots !, I particularly like the Small Tortoiseshell shot,and it looked like the pair of flies (to the left ,of the left hand forewing),enjoyed their moment in the sun as well!! Regards Allan W