May 2011

[NickB]

Nice to see some "Sightings".....
Been cold and windy with a little rain over here. Didn't see any butterflies on my bike ride this morning; but did sit, listen and watch the sky-larks slowly rising and then parachuting down, with a final dive in the last few metres....
N

Not doubting you or anything Nick, but your Skylkarks weren't Meadow Pipits were they? Its just that you describe their songflight quite nicely.

Have to say that butterfly numbers have really fallen away in my neck of the woods too. I drive a lorry round the streets of London for a living. Usually I see a fair scattering of butterflies as I drive around. Havent seen even a single 'white' for quite some time now. Guess the so-called June Gap is here? Having just read Millerds post re SSBs I think I'll nip across to Fairmile Heath before the sun drops. Stay tuned!

Gibster.

Hi
It could well have been a meadow-pipit (or almost anything else so far as I am concerned since LBJ's of all descriptions usually remain just that to me
Someone I was with said Skylark - but looking in the books etc, it was probably a Meadow Pipit. Thanks - I will know now!
N

[Glostopcat]

I visited Strawberry Banks Nature Reserve which is managed by Gloucestershire Wildlife Trust at Chalford near Stroud on Friday afternoon. I saw around six marsh fritillaries, 10-12 common blues, a couple of small coppers and a number of species of moth.

[Jack Harrison]

Nick:

Someone I was with said Skylark

Correct me Gibster if I am wrong but this is how I understand things.

Skylarks climb to great height singing all the while. They then descend quite quickly but continue to "fly" (flapping) but at the last minute, increase the rate of descent significantly (almost a dive) and then land.

Pipits descend with wings outstretched but not flapping, ie in parachute mode.

Skylarks are quite common in Cambridgeshire. Not so sure about Meadow Pipits.

Jack

[Lee Hurrell]

My first Meadow Brown of the year, a male, at Osterley Park, Middlesex, this afternoon.

Cheers

Lee

[millerd]

My first Meadow Brown of the year, a male, at Osterley Park, Middlesex, this afternoon.

Cheers

Lee

And another couple not too far away along the Piccadilly Line at Harmondsworth Moor... Not a lot else it has to be said - a Brown Argus, a Common Blue, and a couple of Large Skippers. There was also a caterpillar to be posted on a "Can anyone identify this caterpillar?" thread.

Dave

[Lee Hurrell]

Nice one, Dave. I won't post my photo

It was hunkered down in the grass hiding from the wind most of the time.

It was my first visit to Osterley Park, quite impressed. Where is Harmondsworth Moor though?

Cheers

Lee

[millerd]

. Where is Harmondsworth Moor though?

Lee

Very close to the British Airways HQ at Waterside, just off the north west corner of Heathrow. There is a car park at TQ049775, with a very narrow entrance, presumably designed to keep out commercial vehicles.

This is a mixture of landscaping and natural riverside woodland, but is sensibly managed with the quite a bit of the grassy areas left uncut - currently a mass of ox-eye daisies. I saw Marbled Whites for the first time last year, and there are a good variety of common species. Plenty of day-flying moths and damselflies and dragonflies too.

Dave

[Lee Hurrell]

Thanks Dave, I'll give it a visit soon and give you a shout when I do, if you fancy meeting up?

Cheers

Lee

[millerd]

Good idea, Lee! Let me know when you're in the vicinity.

Cheers,

Dave

[Susie]

I saw my first meadoww brown too, briefly, before it flew into our car on the a24. That was the end of that.

[David M]

I saw my first meadoww brown too, briefly, before it flew into our car on the a24. That was the end of that.

Butterflies are normally so light that they are swept around the oncoming wind disturbance a travelling vehicle creates.

The only one I've ever killed was a Green Veined White that got caught in the rubber of my windscreen wipers.

[Padfield]

It's interesting, though, David, that even without impact with a car butterflies do get dazed and disorientated when they get caught in its passage. I had to rescue a mountain dappled white from the road earlier this year after a car 'hit' it (no contact) and it apparently couldn't fly. I put it on a flower and it fell off. I didn't take any photos, because I've got this thing about not taking advantage of tragic accidents like that, but after a few minutes it took off on its own and landed on a bush (when I did take photos), then eventually got its act together properly and flew away normally. So I don't think there was physical damage - just some kind of temporary sensory confusion, perhaps caused by the acceleration as the car whooshed it out of the way.

Guy

[Susie]

You dont need direct contact to kill something, just think of the shock caused by a bomb blast that can knock people off their feet.


That being said I hope David is right.

[David M]

I'm sure being swept around a fast moving vehicle is highly disorientating for a butterfly (after all, this was never factored into the genetic blueprint).

That said, they're so light and dainty that given a couple of minutes I'm sure they usually recover.

[Gibster]

Nick:

Someone I was with said Skylark

Correct me Gibster if I am wrong Jack

Well you're about half right, Smooth Jack Mipits are also found in Cambs and Nick's loose description sounded good for one to me.

I'd say that the easiest way to tell the difference is by the altitude and duration of the song. Anything over a hundred metres up and over a minute's worth of noise is going to be Skylark. Or possibly a lost Woodlark, but their song is not a continuous wall of noise.

I finished work quite early today and trundled back across to Fairmile Heath for Silver-studded Blues. This time I counted 16 males, 2 females and one confused individual which tried to court other males - without much luck. I was struck by the size of a couple of the males, really large examples. Still no sign of any aberrant markings though.

Next I tried Bookham Common finding lots of Orange-tip larvae and two Speckled Woods but nothing else butterfly-wise. Plenty of microleps including very large numbers of Tortrix viridana in the oak canopy. Almost at swarming point, I reckon another couple of warm days and they'll be at plague proportions! I stumbled into a party of Dusky Cockroaches in one clearing, something Ive never before encountered this close to London.

Cheers,

Gibster.

[Jack Harrison]

I'm sure I've told this story before but never mind - here goes again.

I made a huge day trip from my home in Deeside (west of Aberdeen) to Fort William for Chequered Skipper. I had seen Chequered Skippers there before so knew (?) exactly where to find them on the roadside of the A830 on the northern shore of Lock Eil. I had no luck at all this time. One last sweep and I drove slowly along this quiet road watching the verge. Then at last. One flew up, hit the car and lay dead in the road. I moved it onto the verge and said a sad goodbye. It was the only Chequered Skipper I saw all day.

During the great Painted Lady immigration of 2009, I hit several. But I guess there was still a billion remaining.

Jack

[EricY]

Not the best of conditions last week for Butterfly watching, mostly cool dull & windy except for a good day on wednesday. Managed a total of 830 miles in the week & 7 of our 8 target species that we do not see in Norfolk. Here is a little report on our tour.

Monday 23rd, left Norfolk @ 9.20 in cool very windy conditions. Someone at Salcy Forest café advised us to look for wood whites in area by the cottages on the side road. Long walk round & nothing to be seen except a few insects. After lunch headed to Wiken wood, found the little car park & headed off down the track. Not looking very promising in the windy conditions. After approx 500yds a fluttering GVW alerted us to a wood white hidden in the grass. Once our eye was in, a side path revealed another dozen all in the knee high vegetation. The cool windy conditions were now a help as the WW’s refused to fly & we were able to get our cameras to just one inch away, quite pleased with some of the photos we got.
Tuesday 24th Cool & windy again as we made our way to Totternhoe quarry. Found the 2 deep pits where the DoB’s live (I saw them there last year) but found none, too late this year, just a couple of Dingy’s & a Red Admiral & just one small Blue. Did not fancy the walk up Ivanhoe beacon so moved on to Pitstone. Plenty of small Blues in churchyard & a Mother Shipton moth.
Wednesday 25th, sunshine & warm at last but still breezy. Left MK @ 6am for a steady drive down M1 & M25/M3 to the GF’s @ Wrecclesham (many thanks to the original poster of this info, saved us a lot of time & trouble). We were on site by 8.30am but had crossed the cricket pitch in wrong direction having seen a dog walker emerge from path in right hand corner (you need to aim left to the main track down to the site). Plenty of GF’s flying quite briskly & difficult to get underside shots. As we left the site we met the delightful Susie in the lane & had a nice chat about BF’s etc. Then made our way back to M3/A303/old A30 & down to Bentley wood. Warm & sunny with lots of SPBF’s flying in the clearings. We probably saw a few tatty PBF’s & possibly even a photo or two of them but difficult to discern in the sunny conditions. Also saw a very pale fresh large Skipper & also a female Brimstone. After lunch we did the longish walk to the ponds & were lucky enough to photo a Downy Emerald dragonfly & more SPBF’s on the way there. The best day of the week as far as we were concerned as it turned cool dull & windy again after that.
Thursday 26th. Forecast not so good so we postponed our planned trip to Hod hill in favour of a trip round the New Forest looking for Dragonflies etc. Crockford stream produced 3 male Beautiful Demoiselles above the bridge. Ober water produced nothing except a juvenile Great Spotted Woodpecker & some photogenic Pony’s. A disappointing day.
Friday 27th. No choice but to attempt Hod hill today in spite of cool/cloudy/windy conditions. Arrived on site @ 8.30am. Over an hours searching only produced 0ne Adonis blue that refused to open it’s wings & stuck down in the grass & a couple of small Tort’s. We did find an unusual (to us) Damselfly that we later identified as an immature female Whiteleg. After more searching in the southwest area of hill we eventually found just 0ne of what we were looking for, a Marsh frit. In the cool windy conditions it was not moving either & eventually we did get some reasonable up close pictures. Then made our way to Martin Down & again eventually found just one Adonis blue. After waiting for ages there was a brief flash of weak sunshine & the wings opened to get a few photo’s, unfortunately this one had a piece missing from it’s left wing but at least we saw one with wings open. After lunch we had another look at Bentley wood with the place all to ourselves, still plenty of SPBF’s about if you looked for them in the grass but we did not stay long.
Saturday 28th. Another cloudy cool windy day, decided to try our luck at the RSPB Pulborough Brooks reserve but no luck with anything except a singing Nightingale that we have at Holme anyway. Found our way to Thursley common but the loose sandy paths were not good for us to walk on, just had a brief view & headed back to the hotel to view the golf on TV & the football later.
Sunday 29th. Made an early start for Norfolk as circumstances dictated we could not divert to Hockley woods although conditions looked good for the Heath Frit’s. Will probably make a trip down there this week.
Overall a good week given the weather conditions, 7 of our 8 target species photographed plus a DF & Damsel. Would have liked to have seen the Gold ringed dragonfly & the Duke o B but perhaps another time.
Eric

[millerd]

Popped into Whitecross Green Wood this afternoon on my way down the M40. Black Hairstreaks were there in their usual spot - I probably saw at least half a dozen different individuals, all high over the sloes, hazels and ash on the north side of the east-west ride. Got talking to a like-minded fellow from only a few miles up the road from me - pointed him at this website which he had yet to discover.

Not a lot of other interest - a handful of Speckled Woods, a couple of Large Skippers and Common Blues, plus one each of Orange Tip, Grizzled Skipper and Brimstone. The latter was very worn and feeble - though entitled to be at the end of his ten months or so!

One rather poor photo at the extreme limits of my camera's capability. Maximum zoom, a shaky hand and a butterfly with a propensity to wander about on its perch all add up...

Dave

[Padfield]

That brings back memories! I used to watch black hairstreaks in Whitecross Green woods before the M40 was built (it was very differen then!).

But I never watched them in May...

Guy

[millerd]

I think all but 11 or 12 of the 59 British butterflies will have been seen by the end of May.

And the day is not yet over...

Dave