M_galathea

[m_galathea]

Thank you Chris and thanks David.
The reason I met with moderate success this time was that the conditions were perfect. The light coming down down the hill was soft and even and the butterflies are defending a very small territory (see photo) so they keep coming back to the same area. The wind also helped as they were flying against it.
The settings were: Red Admirals: 1/3200s F10 ISO 800 and the Painted Lady one is at 1/1600s. Results with a prime lens would be better than this - I used a Sigma 70-300mm.

Red Admiral and Painted Lady disputed territory.

[m_galathea]

24th July 2011: Sutton Park

A short walk around my local national nature reserve revealed a number of common butterflies and an impressive moth - the Drinker. This is the female and is around 45mm long - pretty obvious in the middle of a marsh, despite the criptic line across the wings!

[m_galathea]

6th August 2011: Arnside Knott:

Having spent the last week at work in the North West, I decided to spend the weekend in Arnside. The weather today was pretty grim and it began to rain as I got off the train. There was no sign of any lepidoptera on the Knott, save for a few micros and cinnabar larvae. I stayed until 4pm, and used the opportunity to take a look at the area's flowers. There are lots of interesting plants here which you would easily miss given a nice summer's day! Highlights were Lancaster Whitebeam, Spring Sandwort, Broad-leaved Helleborine and Autumn Lady's Tresses.

Spring Sandwort

Broad-leaved Helleborine - I'm quite pleased with how this came out, especially given that it was taken in the rain in deep shade under a beach tree.

Autumn Lady's Tresses

River Kent

[m_galathea]

7th August 2011: Arnside Knott:

Got onto the Knott at 10am in sunshine. Climbing up I firstly saw a Meadow Brown at Heathwaite which was sign that today would be much better than yesterday! Towards the top I came across a small clearing which contained lots of Scotch Argus. This was a new species for me, and I was pleased that they were fairly approachable at this time.
They were nectaring here on Wild Marjoram. As the day went on I saw a great many more (all within the upper knott enclosure) which progressively became more flighty. A variety of nectar sources were utilised including: Bramble, Ling, Ragwort and Common Tormentil. By mid-afternoon the weather had closed in again and the Scotch Arguses sheltered deeper and deeper in the grasses. They were flushed when walking past however - they could fly in the rain as they already warmed up which didn't happen the day before.
Other butterflies seen were: Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Red Admiral, Small Skipper, Speckled Wood, Grayling and a Fritillary which was either Dark Green or High Brown and was very worn. This was seen on the steep rocky slope on the SE side of the Knott, a habitat shared with the Graylings. The Graylings were fairly active on this sheltered side of the hill, although on the rocky areas to the NW they were difficult to see as the wind was strong and they spent time sheltering.

Sheltering Grayling.

Scotch Argus nectaring on Marjoram.

[m_galathea]

21st August 2011: Astwood Bank, Worcestershire:

Went out to look for Brown Hairstreaks. At SP030610 I found an assembly ash which was occupied by by a number of butterflies, both male and female. This tree is towards the north of this 100m square. At the extreme southern end of this square was another ash which also held a few Brown Hairstreaks. The primary ash is directly above the footbridge over a stream. The butterflies high in the tree sometimes disturbed Purple Hairstreaks which was surprising this being an ash tree. I made the observations between 13:00 and 13:30 in hot sunshine.
There is very little blackthorn in the vicinity - some is located in the hedge here which looks very much like it has been planted by a wildlife lover as it contains many species in equal amounts - eg hawthorn, guelder rose and dogwood.
Other species in this field were: Small White, Large White, Common Blue, Brown Argus, Small Copper, Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown. Nearby were a few Small Tortoiseshells, and a Brimstone was spotted in the village too.

Small Copper - not my usual style of photography, but included anyway.

Speckled Wood

Male Brown Hairstreak

Master tree

[m_galathea]

27th August 2011: Broadmark Beach, Rustington:

I had a look for Clouded Yellows in a spot where I have found them before... as I was about to leave I got lucky and found this individual nectaring on Red Valerian and resting on the shingle.

Clouded Yellow on coastal flowers

Down low on vegitated shingle.

[m_galathea]

12th May 2012: Sutton Park, Birmingham

Green Hairstreaks are now flying. Also present were many Adela reamurella, Brimstones and Peacocks.
The two pictures below show the effect of longer lens choice. The telephoto shot was taken with the help of a monopod. Both were at F14.

Green Hairstreak, 55mm.

Green Hairstreak, 190mm.

[ChrisC]

Can i just say some great and interesting shots in your Flickr.

Chris

[m_galathea]

6th July 2014: Fermyn Wood, Northants:

Arriving under the dark skies, of what I think was the rather uncommon Undulatus Asperatus cloud formation, the day picked up around 11am in Titchmarsh Wood with a male Purple Emperor up in an oak. It wasn't long before he flew down to investigate Kinga's purple bag.

Most of the woodland butterflies one would expect to see at this time of year were flying including: Silver-washed fritillary, Ringlet, White Admiral and Purple Hairstreak. Green-veined whites and a Comma were seen taking advantage of horse poo. There were a few other nymphalids around: Red admiral and Small Tortoiseshell (which looked particularly lovely nectaring on Lesser Bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis). One of the Commas in Souther Wood was quite heavily marked (pictured).

In total we perhaps saw around ten Purple Emperors, and it was good to get to see so many up close on the ground.

Alex