May 2013

[Wurzel]

Martin Down
In the order seen with total numbers...

Brimstone (6)
Grizzled Skipper (3)
Orange-tip (3)
Large White (2)
Holly Blue (3)
Peacock (2)
Speckled Wood (2)
Small Blue (4)
Green Hairstreak (2)
Marsh Fritillary (1)
Small Copper (1)
Small Heath (1)
Dingy Skipper (1)
I've still got to sort through the 400 odd photos I took - none of the Marshie, Small Copper or Heath as they were all super solar charged but the little green monster - shots in the bag
Hell of a day and I beat my nemesis!!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Is that the first UK Marsh Frit of 2013, Wurzel??

I'm hoping to get out briefly tomorrow to see if they've emerged yet on the Gower, but your sighting may well make subsequent ones academic!

[walpolec]

I'd be grateful for some tips, please...

Hoping to get down to Bedfordshire in search of Dukes this week and wondered if anyone out there could recommend specific sites to go looking. I'll have the kids in tow so searching time will be limited. Totternhoe, Whipsnade/Bison Hill seem the prime candidates, but specifics would be very much appreciated, (along with location of nearest playgrounds/McDonalds') (actually, I'm ok for that last bit!)

Cheers

Chris

[NickB]

I'd be grateful for some tips, please...
Hoping to get down to Bedfordshire in search of Dukes this week and wondered if anyone out there could recommend specific sites to go looking. I'll have the kids in tow so searching time will be limited. Totternhoe, Whipsnade/Bison Hill seem the prime candidates, but specifics would be very much appreciated, (along with location of nearest playgrounds/McDonalds') (actually, I'm ok for that last bit!)
Cheers
Chris

At Totternhoe, once you leave the car-park, head-out North, along the path between the fields until you get to the hills and humps over the first field.
Then, go right and head into those humps and hollows; the best places are at the eastern end of the hollows, where the Dukes hang-out on the steep banks.....and also along the edge of the trees at the north extent of the reserve....

Happy hunting....

[Pete Eeles]

Is that the first UK Marsh Frit of 2013, Wurzel??

They were out on 18th May at Cotley Hill, Heytesbury, Wiltshire (reported by Nick Wynn). They were also seen in Dorset yesterday. http://t.co/tIQ2mNwVaK

Cheers,

- Pete

[millerd]

I'd be grateful for some tips, please...

Hoping to get down to Bedfordshire in search of Dukes this week and wondered if anyone out there could recommend specific sites to go looking. I'll have the kids in tow so searching time will be limited. Totternhoe, Whipsnade/Bison Hill seem the prime candidates, but specifics would be very much appreciated, (along with location of nearest playgrounds/McDonalds') (actually, I'm ok for that last bit!)

Cheers

Chris

Flying kites at the visitor centre at the top of Dunstable Downs is a good distraction for the kids, and the views are stupendous. For the butterflies here, you need to walk obliquely downhill southwestwards aiming to meet the B4540 just after you reach the bottom. About 2km each way, but the slanting paths across the hill kill some of the gradient. The sheltered ditches are the best spots, with Grizzled and Dingy Skippers, Green Hairstreaks and the Duke of Burgundy.

Dave

[David M]

Spent just over an hour on Welshmoor, near Swansea, this morning but can report that NO Marsh Fritillaries were seen.

This species is a highly visible one, constantly buzzing around at knee height, so I spent much time just standing still in favoured spots on the moor and watching for low-to-the-ground activity.

Plenty of Green Veined Whites though, and at least 15 Green Hairstreaks, including this pair who were mating on a bare sapling just a few inches from the ground:

[thepostieles]

hi been for walk along canal in ellesmere port, earlier saw a worn peacock

[adrian riley]

News from Norfolk 26.5.13
Syderstone Common:
2 Small Heath; 1 Small Copper; 1 Brown Argus.
Cheers,
Adrian Riley www.bugalert.net

[Vince Massimo]

Another egg-laying Peacock , this time on my transect at Quarry Hangers, Chaldon, Surrey. She was already laying when I spotted her at 13.20 but I had to carry on. However I came back to mark the site and watch her finish (which she did at 14.30). The nettle host plant was in a sheltered, sunny spot and less than 10cm high. Upon checking the egg mass after she had finished I noted that it was different from others that I had found, in that it bound two leaves together and even included an adjacent blade of grass.

Peacock ova - Chaldon, Surrey 26-May-2013

Tomorrow I will be checking all previously located eggs and larval tents.

Vince

[adrian riley]

Is that the first UK Marsh Frit of 2013, Wurzel??

They were out on 18th May at Cotley Hill, Heytesbury, Wiltshire (reported by Nick Wynn). They were also seen in Dorset yesterday. http://t.co/tIQ2mNwVaK

Cheers,

- Pete

Hi, Gang
Bugalert has records of small numbers of individuals of Marsh Fritillary from the counties of Hants, Wilts, Dorset, Dublin and Down.
Check www.bugalert.net for details.
Cheers,
Adrian Riley

[badgerbob]

For the first time for a while I managed a whole day out yesterday. I had an old friend from long ago with me to visit Heyshott and Botany Bay. Pete had never seen the Duke before and it had been over 30 years since he had seen Wood White so I was keen to show him both. We actually started the day looking for Birds Nest Orchid and we found several, although most of them were not fully out yet. At this point it was absolutely freezing. Then onto Heyshott where the butterflies were only just starting to wake up. Many Dingy Skippers seen as well as the odd Grizzled. Dukes soon started to move and around 15 were seen, all seemed to be males. On leaving we did see one of the Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. We then headed to Botany Bay where the Wood Whites were quite active. Halfway to Oaken Wood a Painted Lady was seen. Lots of Brimstone and a few Orange-tips were also flying. On the way back we found a Wood White roosting up on a dandelion clock.

[Trev Sawyer]

Almost a year to the day since I managed to get my first decent photograph of a Grizzled Skipper var taras, I went back to Essex with my wife and daughter to attempt to get another...

Judging by my local site, the Grizzly season seems to have been a bit of a stop/start affair and numbers have been low. I am hoping that there are more adults to come as I have only seen one female so far this year.

Today, we only managed to find two (possibly three) Grizzled Skippers in all the fields we searched - both males. Fortunately, the two I managed to photograph were both taras! One was a little worn, but the other was very fresh indeed and had the most amazing pattern in the sunlight. Viewed from directly above, the way the light caught the wings made this individual look like it had a dark chocolate middle section with a lighter "milk chocolate" outer coating (yummy!). The thorax, lower abdomen and middle of the hindwings was speckled with purple scales - you know, the effect which is apparent only in a really fresh butterfly:

When the insect moved around slightly, a second photo showed that the pattern no longer looked quite symmetrical and was an optical illusion caused by the angle at which the light hit the scales (see second shot)

What a gorgeous insect - definitely worth the drive down the M11 and M25

Trev

[David M]

Excellent images, Trev. That ab is a belter.

Small Tortoiseshell in my back garden this afternoon nectaring on a herb in a large pot. I guess that's the last one I'll see till mid July.

[Jack Harrison]

Isle of Mull 26 May

Wife Stella did a long walk today in splendid sunshine in prime Greenstreak country – didn’t see any. Plenty of GV Whites and one Speckled Wood in a more shaded area.

Meanwhile, I nursed my poorly knee at home and watched Monaco Grand Prix and Test Match cricket.

Jack

[sahikmet]

Late afternoon, very hot and humid. Only what appears to be a moth. But the resident Orange Tip appears. Not much nectar left. Looking for a drink! Chilled white wine! Cheers Sezar

[Paul Harfield]

I made my first visit to Rake Bottom at Butser this morning. I was intent on seeing Dukes and Dingy Skippers for the first time, as well as Green Hairstreaks. I managed tick all my boxes Conditions were fantastic and several other species were seen as well:-

Duke Of Burgundy 14+
Dingy Skipper 11+
Grizzled Skipper 7+
Green Hairstreak 2
Large White 2
Speckled Wood 1
Small Heath 2
Peacock 1
Brimstone (male) 1
Orange Tip (male) 1
Speckled Yellow moth 2
Cinnabar moth 2

[Mark Tutton]

Got out really early today and didn't get home until 7pm! Made the most of the weather.... First call was magdalen hill down and it was pretty quiet as I was early but saw good numbers of green hairstreaks including six doing battle when two holly blues joined in - mayhem. Then went over to St Catherine's hill and was a bit disappointed - no downland species at all but good counts of peacock brimstone and orange tip.
I then visited an adjacent site I had been told about to check it for dukes. At first it did not seem very appealing with waste height nettles - ouch but I persevered and eventually found good numbers including a mating pair - this was a new site for me so very pleasing.
I then ventured to Beacon hill in the Meon Valley again to search for Dukes but with only one tentative siting it was a bit disappointing but again very good numbers of GH.
Then across the valley to Old Winchester Hill very few butterflies around but managed to locate the small colony of Dukes spotting five in total including two females.
There was just time to finish in my favourite spot in Rake Bottom - missed you Paul - where again saw a few Dukes settling in for the evening - fantastic day seeing Dukes at three different sites in one day
No common blues though Mark

[Willrow]

Great weekend of Butterflying in the sunshine Saturday afternoon spent at Ewyas Harold Common, Herefordshire around 30 Pearl-bordered Fritillary were seen and a solitary Grizzled Skipper the latter has never been exactly plentiful at this location so I was thankful to at least manage a record shot before it whizzed off.

Sunday was undoubtably the best day of the year (so far...!!!) and I decided to spend it on Rodborough Common in Gloucestershire the following species were seen, in no particular order of appearance:-

Dingy Skipper This species is having a great year, countless numbers throughout the common.
Large White, Small White, Green-veined White, Orange-tip. All in fair numbers.
Green Hairstreak, Brown Argus, Adonis Blue. The GH were also evident in good numbers.
Duke of Burgundy Ten individuals seen with two pairs in cop.
Peacock
Speckled Wood
Small Heath This is a species sadly in decline.

Twelve species is a rather pleasing days total considering the year up to now has been absolutely dreadful. The Adonis Blue came as a rather pleasant surprise, I was not expecting to see them before Common Blue.

One other nice surprise came in the form of the nationally rare Pasque Flower I located three individual plants.

Bill

[David M]

Nice report, Bill.

Like you, I'm surprised Adonis Blues are out at Rodborough. I'd put back my planned trip there till early June thinking there'd be no chance of seeing them there during late May.

Were they on the common itself or down at the bottom of Swells Hill Bank?