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Thanks Mike and Wurzel... I reckon that shot could probably be in my top five favourites I have taken this year

Sunday 28th August.

Around this time of year I often see male Vapourer Moths flitting about high up around the trees in my back garden and have also had a couple come to my moth trap at night although they are primarily day flyers. Back in early August I found a large caterpillar of this species chomping away at some Crocosmia in the garden and kept it to rear through.
In due course it spun a cocoon in the plastic box and pupated. The cocoon was only loosely attached to the plastic and so was easily removed and placed in a cage ready to emerge. On Sunday morning I checked the cage and noticed that a plump female had emerged and was sitting on the cocoon. The females of this species are flightless and only possess tiny vestigial wings and so they never venture far, often just sitting on the cocoon waiting for a male to turn up. With this in mind I placed the cage outside in the garden to see if she would attract any males. Well, she didn't take long as when I went back outside about twenty minutes later and there were three males fluttering around the cage. This cage has a zipped flap on the side which I opened up to allow entry and one of the males soon found his way in and promptly mated with the female.
I checked again about an hour later and they had separated with the male sitting on the netting side of the cage so I moved him to take a couple of photos before he flew off.
Checking again later that afternoon, the female had started laying a batch of eggs on the surface of her old cocoon. Amazing to think that she had fulfilled her purpose in life without moving more than an inch or two the whole time.
This species overwinters as an egg so I will keep these in the garage to rear through next year.

Bye for now,

Neil.

An interesting account Neil and great shots to accompany it (as usual)

Hi Neil
Very interesting account and photos . I regularly find Vapourer larvae in my own garden (on Maple) but have never seen the adults there. The males are always evident in flight whilst looking for Brown Hairstreaks , but the female certainly is a curious looking insect.

Thanks Pauline, it was fascinating to watch the events all unfold within the space of a few hours

Hi Jack, I have been seeing the males in the garden for some years now and regularly spot them whilst out and about. Although they can be on the wing from July there is a definite increase at this time of year. As you say, they can easily be mistaken for Brown Hairstreaks, especially when fluttering around the higher reaches of trees.

Garden Specklies

The bank holiday weekend just past was one spent mostly doing family stuff and catching up on some jobs around the house and garden. Both Sunday and bank holiday Monday were pleasant sunny days so I spent as much time as possible doing the garden jobs and was kept company as usual by a number of Speckled Woods. I could often see six or seven different individuals at the same time on and around the over-ripe blackberries at the bottom of the garden including some nice fresh examples.
Usually the males are much more in evidence as they stake out and defend their territories but at this time of year both sexes can be found together in equal numbers as they feed on the blackberries, although I did witness a couple of instances of males trying it on with a female and getting the 'play dead' rejection stance.

The females were mostly in better condition than the males as evidenced by the photos that I took which tended to concentrate on the better looking individuals...


Apart from the Specklies, the only other butterflies seen in the garden over the weekend were a few Small Whites and a single rather tatty looking Red Admiral. It has definitely been a rather poor year for butterflies in the garden this year, thankfully the Speckled Woods seem to be bucking the trend and doing well, both in the garden and elsewhere around here.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Lovely to see a really nice set of Specklies from your garden, Neil. This forum wouldn't be right without them.

Dave

Beautifully marked female Specklies, Neil. All look very fresh, and could take us well into Autumn.
Lovely sequence.

Trevor.

Neil you have a knack of making this relatively ordinary, common butterfly look something very special. Love the shots on blackberry - very autumnal

I agree with Pauline Neil, lovely Speckled Woods Neil, nothing here except Speckies and Whites, Goldie

Fascinating account of the Vapourer's Neil I've seen the males whizzing about but have never been able to get a photo of one so to see yours was great - I can picture them in my mind eye the next time one zig-zigs by - it has to one of the most erratic flights thatI've seen

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You are to Speckled Woods what Hoggers is to Small Coppers, Neil! Good to see them so numerous in your vicinity again.

I too love the vapourer report,a fascinating account of a species which most of us only really notice when looking for brown hairstreaks. Good luck in Cornwall, hopefully the weather will give you some good days.

Thank you for all the great comments Dave, Trevor, Pauline, Goldie, Wurzel, David and Mark . Apologies for the delayed response, I have been down in Cornwall this past week and it is now catch up time again, both on my diary and looking at everyone else's.

3rd-10th September - Cornwall Part 1.

We have just spent a week in Cornwall on a family break with Jane and my mom, staying in a caravan just outside of Hayle on the edge of the dune system at Upton Towans. This was a change to what had become our usual week in Dorset at around this time as Jane fancied a change of scenery so we settled on Cornwall. I had no idea what I would find down there in the way of butterflies, especially after this season which has been below par in many respects.
After a very dull and wet drive down on the Saturday (Sept.3rd), and a cloudy but warm Sunday, the weather improved through the week so that most days had decent sunny spells although there was a bit of a breeze blowing most of the time.
As usual on these family breaks I had time to get some butterflying in, it is amazing how many brownie points a couple of cream teas can get you . Most days after we had been out doing ‘touristy stuff’ I would have a couple of hours later in the afternoon and have a wander through the dunes at Upton and Gwithian Towans which started right next to our site. On the Wednesday I also had a drive over to The Lizard and walked the path between Kynance Cove and Lizard Point.

During my wanders through Upton and Gwithian Towans the most numerous butterfly seen was Meadow Brown with good numbers seen all over the dune systems. This is a species that I have often neglected in the past but given that numbers seem to be well down around my local patch this year it just goes to show that you can’t take anything for granted. Meadow Browns have a very protracted emergence and many of those here were looking to be in good condition with some looking like they had only recently emerged. I was also struck by the variability of the amount of orange on the females with some also showing patches on their hindwings. There were also many individuals showing double pupils in the forewing eyespots which I have seen commented on a few times on UKB.
Gatekeepers were still hanging on in there although most were looking worn and tired by now.
Speckled Woods seem to be doing well everywhere this year and so I was not surprised to find good numbers here around the scrubbier parts of the Towans.
What did surprise me was the number of these that I saw on the more exposed sandier parts of the dunes, not the usual habitat I would expect to find numbers of this species in.
Small Heaths were also scattered about all over the Towans, not in great numbers but most sheltered areas of longer grass had one or two.
The only other ‘Brown’ that I saw during the week was a single worn Grayling on the cliff path by Kynance Cove.
Other species seen during the week were;
Half a dozen each of Painted Lady and Red Admiral, 4 Small Tortoiseshells and a single Peacock,
Lots of Small Whites, a few Large Whites and a couple of Green-veined Whites,
Good numbers of Common Blues and a few Brown Argus,
A few well faded and worn second brood Small Pearl-bordered Fritillaries at Upton Towns,

and Small Coppers…lots of Small Coppers, I have never before seen so many of these .

More reports to come as usual when I have sorted through the many photos I took.

To be continued…

Neil.

What a splendid selection of Meadow Browns! The fourth female from the 4th (with a clear double eye-spot) is exceptionally marked and a terrific photo. Finding so many fully open and amenable to photography as well is pretty good too. An underrated species in my book.

Dave

Thanks Dave, those shots were mostly taken earlier in the week when there was a fair amount of cloud about but it was still warm which encouraged them to bask

3rd-10th September - Cornwall Part 2.

Cornish Coppers.

One species that has had some recent publicity with regard to falling numbers is the Small Copper and so far this year I had only seen a couple.

I was pleased therefore to find good numbers scattered about across Upton and Gwithian Towans last week. I probably saw some of the same individuals on my wanderings about on various days but I reckon I saw a conservative estimate of at least 30 different individuals.
Many of those I saw looked quite fresh but there were also some really worn and faded individuals as well. I believe that Small Coppers in Cornwall usually have four broods or even five occasionally in favourable years with the later broods overlapping so that it is possible to see examples of the one brood still hanging on with fresh butterflies of the next brood and this would certainly tie in with what I saw.
Even though I was well chuffed with the Small Coppers seen at Upton/Gwithian Towans, the numbers there were easily beaten on the Wednesday (Sept 7th) when I drove over to The Lizard and walked between Kynance Cove and Lizard Point. These were by far the most numerous butterfly seen here and were found in the sheltered dips and valleys and along the stone walls that extend along this stretch of coast path. I did a very rough count up to 50 before I gave up counting and just enjoyed the experience of watching them and taking some photos. I reckon a very conservative estimate of 100+ Small Coppers were seen along this stretch, mostly along the second half of the walk to Lizard Point.
As well as the numbers, the other noticeable thing about this population of Small Coppers was their size with some females in particular being impressively large. There were also a good number of blue-spotted examples here as well.

I also witnessed a number of courtship attempts which included the 'Turkey Dance' as described by Hoggers in his reports although unfortunatly none of them resulted in successful pairing.
If I remember rightly, Neil Hulme posted a report in his personal diary a couple of years ago in which he described seeing large numbers of Small Coppers along this stretch of coast path. Seeing a similar thing here this year seems to indicate that this is not that unusual for here and it is encouraging to see this species doing so well in this location when it appears to be suffering at many places elsewhere (not including Dungeness of course ).

So, it appears that Hoggers doesn’t have them all after all

Bye for now,

Neil

A splendid selection of beautiful shining Coppers, Neil. Some of them seem completely perfect, and there is such subtle variety in colour, size and even wing shape.

Dave

I agree with Dave, in fact all of your photos show that you can still find some fresh butterflies this late in the year despite it being one of the worst seasons that I can remember.

Butterflies are highly resilient and if we get a decent winter I hope to see most species bounce back very well next year.

Best wishes

James

Good stretch of coast, that,isn't it Neil. Your pictures,and my experience show this area can be productive right to the end. Great images!

Fantastic Copper shots, especially all those blue badgers

Stunning location, Neil and fabulous Coppers!

I also have a memory of Neil Hulme's diary and I think he also commented that the Small Coppers there were noticeably bigger than usual.

A delight to read you report as always,

Hoggers

Beautiful Coppers Neil, I particularly like the Copper's on the Daisies, their whiteness really shows the colour of the Copper's best. Goldie