Andy Brown

[andy brown]

Hi had a great day out on Saturday and have never seen so many Adonis Blues along with freshly emerged Common Blues, Small Blues, Dingy Skippers and Brow Argus I have uploaded a selection here maybe to many but there were so many stunning Butterflies I wanted to do them justice. What was evident with the Female Adonis is the amount of colour variation which make them a really stunning butterfly.

Enjoy

Andy

Adonis Blue

Adonis Blue Male

Adonis Blue Male

From These 3 pictures you can see the amazing colour range of the Female Adonis Blue "Stunning"

Adonis Blue Female

Adonis Blue Female

Adonis Blue Female

Adonis just emerged

Adonis Blue Pair on Orchid

Adonis Blue Pair on Orchid

Still Never work out why They called this Dingy

Dingy Skipper

Dingy Skippers

Dingy Skippers

Brown Argus

This one had a rather light Forewing didn't look to have been caused through damage though

Brown Argus

Small Blue

This one had a funny marks on its forewings looks like a water stain, any thoughts

Small Blue

One for the moth'ers amongst us

Mother Shipton

On the way home popped into Bentley wood which was very busy and managed a few snaps

Speckled Wood

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillay

Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary

[Pauline]

I certainly am enjoying them Andy. You're Adonis are way better than mine. I see you had another early start but clearly worth it - I love the Small Blue surrounded by the dew droplets.

[andy brown]

Some Moths from last nights catch and had a wander around Magdalene Hill for a couple of hours, most prolific was Small white well distributed over the site, a dozen fresh Common Blues and 6ish Large Skippers and my first Meadow Brown of the year. Found a few Mullein Larvae at various instars and plenty of Small Tort Larvae and day flying moths

Cheers

Andy

2337 - Marbled Minor (Oligia strigilis)

1937 - Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)

1937 - Willow Beauty (Peribatodes rhomboidaria)

2221 - Mullein (Shargacucullia verbasci)

2221 - Mullein (Shargacucullia verbasci)

2221 - Mullein (Shargacucullia verbasci)

2221 - Mullein (Shargacucullia verbasci)

Small Tortoiseshell

0385 - Anthophila fabriciana

1361 - Pyrausta aurata

1727 - Silver-ground Carpet (Xanthorhoe montanata)

Large Skipper

Small Blue

Peacock Larvae

The Poppy

[Katrina]

Adonis pair on orchid and newly emerged Adonis - what brilliant finds and brilliant photos!

[FISHiEE]

Excellent shots Andy. You kept the emerging Adonis quiet!

Had a look at old Winchester hill and beacon hill this morning. Not much at either really. Chalton down had several common blues but they were hyper at 9:30.

I spotted some caterpillars on a plant in the garden yesterday and you have answered what they are now. First instar mullion moths my orange tip caterpillar count us 4 now.

[Willrow]

Very natural looking images Andy, just as they should be!!! Also a nice selection of moths to enjoy

Bill

"When in doubt...venture out"

[Paul Harfield]

Hi Andy

It was good to meet you at the weekend, good luck with your Sallow.

Looks your Saturday morning early start paid off Looks like a fantastic site, I have added it to my list of places to visit. I particularly like your emergent Adonis Blue and the range of females. Was your Moth catch in the garden or elsewhere? some superb camouflage amongst them

[andy brown]

Hi Paul, pleasure to meet you and thanks again for the Sallows, glad you like the pictures and yes the moths were caght in the garden using my 22watt atanic.

Thanks

[andy brown]

Here is my latest eclectic mix quite a few as had no computer and been on hols, hope you enjoy, next post will have more butterflies as I am of to the Pyrenees on Wednesday for a weeks butterfly and moth hunting. Probably my fault that Pauline is becoming bit of a moth'er and really impressed with the pictures of the Puss moth and Eyed hawk she got yesterday when we were out and glad I was able to show her one of the larvae that she was wanting to see

Thanks

Andy

Coxcombe Prominent

Peacock Larvae

High Brown Frit

High Brown Frit

Dark Green Frit

Poplar Hawk Moth

Burnished Brass

Rhogogaster viridis

Plain Golden Y

Marbled White

Small Skipper

Comma Egg

Broom Moth

Small Skippers

Pammene fasciana

Elephant Hawk-moth

Privet Hawk-moth

Privet Hawk-moth

Buff-tip Larvae

Puss Moth

Puss Moth

Eyed Hawk Moth

Eyed Hawk Moth

[Pete Eeles]

Superb Andy - very nice! The Eyed Hawk larva might be parasitised given the dark spots, and I reckon your first Small Skipper is actually a male Essex, based on the sex brand (and antennae, to a degree) ...

Cheers,

- Pete

[andy brown]

Thanks Pete always grateful for the info and having correct ID's and interesting on Eyed hawk moth will keep an eye on in as we walk the dog there every day but looks ready for pupations due to it's size.

Ta

Andy

[FISHiEE]

Good to see you got the high browns. Will have to compare them to my Niobe/high brown frits to see if I can work out what I found in Switzerland!

Waiting for the plane to take me away from this butterfly Paradise

I think you will have an excellent time in the Pyrenees! I am already planning my next mountain butterfly holiday!

[andy brown]

Here is a selection of Butterflies, Moths and Larvae from July.

Diamond-back Moth (Plutella xylostella)

Riband Wave (Idaea aversata) Ab. remutata

Alder Moth Larvae (Acronicta alni)

What a Stunning Larvae; the moth is nice but cannot live up to the larval stage

Peppered Moth (Biston betularia)

Scarce Footman (Eilema complana)

Cydia splendana - Melanic Form I think

Eyed Hawk-moth Larvae (Smerinthus ocellata)

Found a number of these very locally but still never had one in the moth trap

Grey Dagger Larvae (Acronicta psi)

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Will add more tomorrow few from Old Winchester hill today then will start to post the pics from my trip to the Pyrenees later tomorrow.

Enjoy

Andy

[andy brown]

Took a trip to Old Winchester Hill Yesterday morning with "FISHiEE" crack of sparrows as usual and very wet from the previous nights rain loads of blues around although no Adonis, unfortunately it was a bit windy but got a few nice pics none the less and also nice to see a few Striped Lychnis Larvae.

Chalk-hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon)

Chalk-hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon)

Lots of aberrant chalk-hill blues around still just wished I had got some pictures when in better condition

Chalk-hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon) Abb

Chalk-hill Blue (Polyommatus coridon)

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Common Blue (Polyommatus icarus)

Common Blue Female (Polyommatus icarus)

Large White (Pieris brassicae)

Large White (Pieris brassicae)

Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina)

Striped Lychnis (Shargacucullia lychnitis)

Striped Lychnis (Shargacucullia lychnitis)

Cheers

Andy

[Katrina]

Fabulous set of photos - I particularly like the first common blue.

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Andy,

Some great photos in your diary, great to see some of the moths and larvae, particularly the Hawk Moths. Brings back memories of looking for those when I was a nipper back in the 1970s.

Cheers,

Neil.

[andy brown]

Hi,

Here is the start of my pics from a recent trip with Naturetrek to the Spanish Pyrenees in July the weather great a tad warm though and unfortunately quite windy, food excellent with nice wine in support while staying at Casa Sarasa on the bottom slope of Berdun.

Location lovely and generally sites chosen by the guides came up trumps even found a number of Swallowtail Larvae in our hosts garden along with a number of butterflies. Apologies for the quality of some of the pics because as I said it was quite windy, butterflies were always very active due to the time of day searching and to top it all my macro lens started to come apart, although it could be that I am just rubbish photographer.

I have hopefully identified them correctly however I am asking for help/confirmation with some and if you think I have got it wrong please shout.

We were at altitudes up to 2000m and there was still pockets of snow around, as this was the first trip I had been on I could not get over the quantity of butterfly species that were present on roadside verges unlike here in the UK.
Lots of Pictures so will generally post the am then pm so it will give those of you interested time to review my identifications and comment accordingly

Hope you enjoy

Cheers

Andy

Day 1 - This is the morning batch

The first 10 were found in the garden of the accommodation.

House Centipede (Scutigera coleoptrata)

Swallowtail Larvae - (Papilio Machaon gorganus)

Common Blue - (Polyommatus icarus)

Shield Bug - Carpocoris fuscispinus

Large Skipper - (Ochlodes sylvanus)

Gatekeeper - (Pyronia tithonus)

shield bug - (Graphosoma lineatum)

Pine processionary moth - (Thaumetopoea pityocampa)

Humming-bird Hawk-moth - (Macroglossum stellatarum)

Hoverfly - (Volucella zonaria)

Mallow Skipper - (Carcharodus alceae)

Mallow Skipper - (Carcharodus alceae)

Shield Bug - (Carpocoris fuscispinus)

Turquoise Blue - (Polyommatus dorylas)

Glandon Blue - (Agriades glandon)

Spanish Wall Lizard - (Podarcis hispanicus)

Silver Studded Blue may be Idas Blue need confirmation

Lesser Butterfly-orchid - (Platanthera bifolia)

Spectacular scenery

Piedmont ringlet - (Erebia meolans) I Think

Silver-studded Blue - (Plebejus argus)

Silver-studded Blue - (Plebejus argus)

Green-eyed Horse Fly - (Tabanus bovinus)

Piedmont ringlet - (Erebia meolans) 1 I Think

Safflower Skipper - (Pyrgus carthami) need confirmation

Large Blue - (Maculinea arion)

Comments appreciated so feel free, will post the afternoons selection tomorrow evening if I have time

[Wurzel]

Cracking reports and shots Andy Though I am probably most envious of the Peppered Moth - which for me is the stuff of evolutionary legend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Hi Andy. Happy memories - I have spent many happy holidays camping in the Spanish Pyrenees.

Your 'large skipper' is a female Lulworth skipper. Apart from that, I agree with your IDs. The common blue does have a lot of escheri about it and I would love to see an underside - but I think it probably is icarus. As for the first female Plebejus - that is harder. The undersides of idas and argus are both very variable and I've never been convinced by stories about how pointy the black crescents are. She does look very different from the female you show lower down (argus), which suggests she might be idas, but I would hesitate to call that one.

Did you get up to any of the endemic Erebia species, like lefebvrei, gorgone or sthennyo?

Guy

[Pauline]

Some smashing shots there Andy but I love the dew/rain shots - really worth getting up early for ...and yes, we must catch up sometime soon.