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Tuesday 9th May

Last weekend was really quiet for me on the butterfly front. Saturday was really dull and drizzly and although Sunday was much better, we went to my daughters for my granddaughters 1st birthday party...but not before I had spotted a couple of speckled Wood in the garden in the morning.
One of these was a female that was fluttering about amongst the long grass and looked to be stopping to lay eggs. I grabbed my camera and tried to take a few shots but this was difficult due to the way she was lurking in the shade under the vegetation. In the end I managed a couple of poor shots of her in the act of laying,
I was then told to 'stop messing about and get a move on' to head to our daughters . Back home later on I had a look to see if I could locate the egg and managed to find it. Despite observing female Speckled Woods laying eggs in the garden a number of timed in the past, this was the first time I had managed to relocate an egg afterwards and actually take a (poor) photo of it.
Like most parts of the country it seems, we have been subjected to a cold wind from the north/north-east over the past couple of days and temperatures have barely struggled out of single figures. The wind dropped today and whilst it was still cold under the cloud, when the sun came out later in the afternoon it felt pleasantly warm and a few Holly Blues and Green-veined Whites passed through the garden.
Speckled Woods are still continuing to emerge with these later spring ones being those that passed the winter as caterpillars whereas the earlier emerging ones are from overwintering pupae. This is the only British species of butterfly that can do this and with the offspring of these all developing at different rates gives rise to an extended emergence later in the year which often lasts until October or even early November in good years.
Ironically, whilst there has been a lot of cloud about during the day recently, it has often melted away at night which along with the cold wind has meant that I haven't bothered running the trap much and on the couple of occasions that have lit up the numbers have been low. Nevertheless, I am now up to 44 species - 29 macros and 15 micros,
Lots more species on the wing now in Warwickshire...Small Copper, Green Hairstreak, Dingies, Grizzlies, Small Blue, Common Blue, Small Heath have all been reported. Got some catching up to do...

Bye for now,

Neil

Beautiful Brimstone moth, Neil. I hope the weather is better for you this coming weekend. A bit of rain followed by warm sunshine would be welcome for all of us!

Interesting shot of the Specklie egg-laying Neil At least you get a 'stop messing about...' all I get normally is a look I lot like Paddington's Hard Stare Cracking Brimstone moth

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a fantastic shot Neil of the Speckie laying an egg, it looks even more spectacular in all the Greenery Goldie

Thanks David, we are having a bit of rain as I type this and a mix of cloud and sunny spells (with the odd shower) are forecast here for the weekend. But in the meantime, I managed a mid-week session

Cheers Wurzel, oh I know that 'hard stare' as well but that is usually reserved for when I have really pushed my luck

Thanks Goldie, she was in some quite deep shade low down in the grass and given the circumstances that shot came out better than expected.

Wednesday 10th May

With a whole day of blue skies and sun forecast for Wednesday I decided to cash in some brownie points and go straight from work to Ryton Wood Meadows. This Warwickshire BC reserve is only a short drive from where I now work but under normal circumstances I usually go straight home when I finish and my 30 minute lunch break is just not long enough for it to be worthwhile going then.
The forecast proved to be bang on for once and on arriving and walking through the wood to the meadows I soon saw Green-veined Whites, Orange-tips and Holly Blues, all of which were highly mobile in the warm sun. There are some nice displays of bluebells here but I always feel that photos of these fail to capture the full impact of the scene.
It was also noticeable how dry the paths in the wood are with none of the wet muddy patches that are usually there at this time of year.

Anyway, my main target for my visit was Green Hairstreak and making my way to the usual ‘hotspot’ I spotted a couple of males chasing each other around the higher reaches of a hawthorn. I soon saw plenty more, mostly males scrapping with each other in twos and threes, but also a number of females who tended to be flying lower down a little further away from the hedge line and exploring the clumps of birds-foot-trefoil which is the larval food plant at this site.
There were also a number of Dingy Skippers along this spot rapidly chasing each other about, but as the time approached 5.30pm they started to slow down and spend more time replenishing their energy reserves. At one point I counted five on one patch of bugle.
Looking along the hedgerow I spotted a Dingy Skipper at about head height on hawthorn blossom and then noticed that there was a Green Hairstreak also on the blossom. I have seen Dingy Skippers on Hawthorn blossom before but this is the first time I have managed to get a photo of these two species together like this.
Whilst I was watching one of the Dingy Skippers, he took off and chased after another butterfly with a more orange hue and after they separated I tracked it to where it settled where it proved to be my first Small Copper of the year. I managed one quick record shot before he was off again and unfortunately I failed to relocate him, maybe he thought he was too outnumbered by the Dingies in this spot and went to find his own territory elsewhere.
I also had a look for Grizzled Skippers having missed them last year but without success today. It seems that this species has had a couple of bad years in Warwickshire with numbers being down at most sites in the county.

Before making my way back I stopped to check out a patch of bluebells and spotted another Green Hairstreak flitting about amongst them,
Also on this same patch there was an Orange-tip and a couple of Peacocks were close by.
And finally a little further down the path I saw a Brimstone come to ground and managed to grab a shot before he was off again.
A great couple of hours that I only decided to do the night before when I saw the forecast for the next day...really glad I did

Bye for now,

Neil.

Beautiful photos from Ryton, Neil, especially the Green Hairstreaks. I've noticed before that they have a partiality to bluebells in the woods here. Your shots are of some lovely fresh individuals. Amazing.

Dave

Ryton Wood looks like a wonderful place to spend a day Good shot of that egg laying Specklie earlier as well.

Fantastic set of Greenstreaks Neil It looks like you're catching us up up there

Have a goodun

Wurzel

You've finally caught up with everyone, Neil. Lovely array of species and a real promise of what's to come in early summer.

WoW! Neil, what a haul you got and fantastic shots as well, love the Dingy and GHS photo Goldie

Thanks Dave, Bugboy, Wurzel, David, and Goldie, your comments are very much appreciated as always

Sunday 14th May - Morning

Yesterday (Saturday) was a mostly cool, cloudy and dull day around here (again) with a few showers and the occasional brief sunny spells were just not long enough to be of any use.
Today started off much better with a nice bright early morning and although the cloud slowly built up again it never became as thick as Saturday apart from one very brief shower mid-morning.

The usual suspects were soon flying in the garden, a couple of faded looking male Specklies and a couple of Holly Blues chasing each other about. I was eyeing up my buckthorns which are beginning to get a bit tall now when a slightly ragged around the edges female Brimstone started fluttering around them. At that moment a cloud came covered the sun and she dropped down and settled right in front of me so I grabbed the camera which was close by - just in case as usual.
When the sun came out she made a bee-line for my bowles mauve plant to top up her energy and then returned to the buckthorns, where she spent some time going in and out of the shrubs and testing the leaves and stems before laying on some of them. Because of all the intervening foliage, it was difficult to get any photos of her activities but I will be checking out where she went to see if I can find any eggs.
With it looking like a decent afternoon was on the cards I asked Jane if she fancied a drive down to Bishops Hill to look for Small Blues.

To be continued when I have sorted though the photos from this afternoon...

Neil

Your first photo of the female Brimstone looks like she's resting in a leaf shaped hammock. Lots of high quality images as usual Neil.

BW's

James

I see what Rex sees
Also love the way the second shot has caught that contrast on the top of the fore wing, it goes from lemony-lime to powder white

Have a goodun

Wurzel

A very nice Brimstone, Neil. It's interesting the way the forewings look as if they have been gently nibbled, rather than torn or damaged by a bird strike. Brimstones must have very tough wings as they don't seem to suffer the damage other butterflies do, especially when you remember they live as long or longer than any other UK species.

Dave

Aaah, an elderly Brimstone! They seem to have gone from my area, but it's always nice to see evidence of them elsewhere as they eke out the last of their pension.

Seems like only yesterday when they were the commonest species. We truly are on the cusp of summer.

Lovely Brimstones Neil, I saw some yesterday at GB but they were elusive so didn't manage any shots. Goldie

Thanks for the comments James, Wurzel, Dave, David and Goldie
I am not surprised she was looking a bit worn around the edges watching her flutter about in the depths of the shrubs. This probably explains why her wings look more worn rather than torn, from rubbing against the twigs and branches.

Sunday 14th May-Afternoon.

Sunday afternoon saw Jane and myself doing the 45 minute drive down the M40 to Bishops Hill, hopefully to see Small Blues, this being one of the sites where Jane can usually get some good views of this species from the paths which she has to stick to due to her limited mobility.

Sure enough, on walking up the short lane to the first part of the site we immediately spotted 3 or 4 Small Blues chasing each other about above the long grass just inside the entrance. We spent a leisurely couple of hours here wandering backwards and forwards along the paths on the flatter parts of the site and I also had a look further up the hill and saw easily in excess of 25 Small Blues, mostly males and many looking nice and fresh which indicated that they have not been out long here. It seemed like more but I was undoubtedly seeing many of the same ones as we wandered back and forth.


As well as the Small Blues, there were a good dozen or more Common Blues, mostly fresh looking males who were actively chasing each other, and the Small Blues, around in the warm afternoon sun. These were far less amenable today than their smaller relatives to having their photos taken and would insist on settling either with their wings closed or at most part open, whether the sun was out or hidden by cloud.
During one of the times when the sun disappeared behind a cloud for 10 minutes or so I found a Common Blue settled about 5 feet up on some hawthorn blossom, something I had not seen before.
I also spotted a couple of females and found a mating pair swaying about in the breeze.
As well as our main target of the Small Blues, I was also keen to look for Dingy and Grizzled Skippers here. I have seen good numbers of Dingy Skippers at this site in previous years but numbers of these were well down today with just a handful seen of which I only managed a few ropey record shots. There were also a few Burnet Companion Moths doing their best Dingy Skipper impersonations to try and confuse us.
Although I have seen Grizzled Skippers here in the past, I failed to find any here last year, so I was pleased to find one zipping about, followed a little later by a second individual in a different part of the site.
Other butterflies seen on a very pleasant afternoon were a couple each of Brimstone and Orange-tip plus a single Speckled Wood.

Bye for now,

Neil.

The sheen on the second Small Blue image is amazing! Great pics as always Neil

Good to see the Small Blues out up there, Neil - and splendid photos too. I may have to squeeze in a trip sometime soon!

Dave

Some beautiful, fresh specimens there, Neil, particularly the Small Blues. You've captured that area of irridescent sheen superbly in a few of those individuals.