www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

That's a fabulous array of Fritillaries Wurzel. Great story of Bob and Bobette too

Cheers Paul I think my rearing will be curtailed by my wife will only want me to 'rear' at work
Cheers Goldie Hopefully there will be a few more to come...
Cheers Philzoid I really did get value for money from those cats you gave me then
Cheers Pauline Keep your eyes peeled for Bobina

Browns 27 Specked Wood, 20-04-2015 Laverstock Church

I started seeing Specklies at around about the same time as last year, in fact only four days later and this seemed to set the precedent for the Browns which as a whole seemed less affected by the late, cool spring which held back a lot of other species. I don’t think I’ve seen my first Specklies in the same place ever and this year was no exception with my first turning up in the graveyard of Laverstock church.
I terms of numbers judging Specklies is always difficult as I don’t always visit the same exact sites at a similar time each year and so comparison is made difficult. Also they are such a ubiquitous species. However my general feeling is that had a good year and this hunch is further backed up by my observation of at least three at Larkhill. 28 Wall, 13-05-2016 Marshie Site

My fist of the year was either a couple of days early or a week and a half late depending on which one I Wall I counted as my first last year! Although I didn’t see them in numbers larger than 3 this isn’t that unusual for me and so I still reckon that they had a good year just unfortunately they didn’t have a brilliant year. One interesting thing I saw this year was their distribution. It seems over recent years that they have become more coastal yet this year I saw Walls at four different sites and two of these were inland. 29 Marbled White, 15-06-2015 Laverstock

Only one day later this year! Mind you this could possibly be because I waited last year until they came out in force before going and looking for them? When I saw my first there wasn’t a single butterfly but there were 30 or 40 across the Banks at Five Rivers. This year when I found my first it was a singleton at Laverstock and it was the only representative of the species I saw until a week later by which time their numbers had built. Despite seeing many wherever I went and seeing them at a range of different sites I still felt that they were slightly down compared to last year? Could the cooler spring have had an effect – a lowering in numbers instead of a later emergence? 30 Grayling, 18-07-2015 Godshill

Graylings were out at the same sort of time this year and like most of the Browns didn’t show that much difference in the timing of their emergence. For me their arrival on the scene is bittersweet as I love the ‘hunt’ involved and the fact that soon Silver-spotted Skippers and Brown Hairstreaks will be showing but also rue the passing of the year and drawing to a close of the season as it is one of the later species.
Then main conclusion that I drew from my Grayling sightings this year is that I need to get out more as I only encountered them at two sites. At Godshill there seemed to be about the same and at Studland their numbers seemed slightly up so I’d go for up overall although others I’ve spoken to have thought the numbers were down? 31 Hedge Brown/Gatekeeper 05-07-2015 Grovely Wood

Slightly later the Hedge Brown arrived as Yoda would say. For me they seemed to have a good year though whether this was reflected nationally I couldn’t say. In fact on one visit to The Devenish there were so many of them flying around I thought at first that they were small Meadow Browns. Only when I approached did I realise that they were Hedge Browns, on some flower heads there were 12-14 all perched and taking nectar. I’ve read about clouds of Chalkhills but this was almost clouds of Hedge Browns, well perhaps a bijou cloud, small and exclusive. Surprisingly despite the masses of Hedgies I saw I had a poor year for aberrant – with only two or three excessa. Even the lane didn’t throw up the usual selection of oddities – perhaps our later visit to the Outlaws was a bit too late and all the good stuff was gone? 32 Meadow Brown, 14-06-2015 East Blean

Meadow Browns followed their usual story arriving at a similar time and in similar numbers, always ubiquitous and always misleading; “is that a Grayling/Wall/Brown Hairstreak I saw out of the corner of my eye – nope it was a Meadow Brown.” This year was a good one for me as I managed to capture the wonderful oily sheen on the wings as well as being able to enjoy the subtlety and beauty of the common. The most unusual sighting was my first for the year Meadow Brown deep in East Blean, unusual not because of where t was but because it was one of only three species seen all day despite seeing over 150 or so butterflies. 33 Small Heath, 11-05-2015 Laverstock

I’m still worried about the Small Heath as even though they didn’t do any worse than last year they didn’t do any better either so levelling out to roughly the same numbers. Sometimes I want to gee them up a bit, “come on you chaps get cracking, think of the good of your species, get some toughened exoskeleton (well I can’t encourage them to get some backbone)”. But the last couple of years they don’t seem to show any signs of getting back to their former glory days of being those pesky little blighters that spook everything else. They seemed to be out at a similar time and so perhaps this accounted for their lower numbers – not so much held back but down? I really struggled to photograph them as well as most would be down low and there were always blades of grass in the way. 34 Ringlet, 22-06-0215 Laverstock

The Ringlets arrived about a week later this year and I don’t feel that they had a particularly good year. Like a lot of Browns it always difficult to tell unless there has been a pretty drastic change in fortunes but it felt like I didn’t see so many at all my usual sites. Normally a damper start to the season seems to benefit this species but perhaps it was too cool for too long? Despite seeing fewer I seemed to encounter more variants this year with some males no having any spots on their upper side at all whilst others had much reduced spotting on their underside – is this the arête form? I always feel that this is a ‘smart’ butterfly and if it were human it would be dressed in bow tie and velvet smoking jacket pouring a large Cognac. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice work, Wurzel!

Your Ringlet ab. may be parvipuncta. Although this was a quick scan of the relevant aberrations page since I'm on a plane and about to take off!

http://www.ukbutterflies.co.uk/aberrati ... hyperantus

Cheers,

- Pete

Cheers Pete - I hope there are plenty of butterflies or 'early stages' wherever you're jetting off to

Introducing Bobina...

At around the same time as Bob and Bobette were happily ensconced in the old case in my lab some of my year 11’s arrived with an unusual looking caterpillar which they’d found wandering along the footpath. Luckily they’d brought it wrapped up in a few leaves as once I’d placed the leaves in the case and the caterpillar had emerged it was very hairy and brightly coloured, usually a sign of toxicity or irritating hairs. After a quick check on my British Moths App I was able to identify it as a Sycamore Moth caterpillar and so determined that it wasn’t toxic but the hairs were an irritant. Bobina displayed the usual nomadic propensity, crawling around the entire case searching for somewhere to settle down and start to pupate.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Won't be long now Wurzel, we've had four cold but lovely frosty days here, the Sun was lovely and brought out the first Daff's, just another week or two now. Goldie

Hi Wurzel, more interesting comments and cracking photos in your look backs. I think I am in general agreement with your observations for most species except Ringlets, there were hordes of them around here.

Also enjoyed your reports on the cats. I have a Lime Hawk Moth pupa in the garage which I found as a wandering caterpillar on the pavement outside our house last September and put into a container with a few inches of garden soil where it pupated a couple of days later.

Cheers,

Neil.

Cheers Goldie Counting down the days now surely, hopefully we won't have one of those annoying Springs which never get going
Cheers Neil Hordes of Ringlets eh? sounds like someone was keeping them all to himself Looking forward to the Lime Hawk Moth shots later in the year.

Bobina Part 2

The very next day after being saved from a squishing on the path I thought that I’d see how Bobina was faring and whether some food was required. However the case was Bobina-less. I looked all around, checked the corners and then noticed that there was a small hole through the wood that was just about Bobina size. Bobina was gone...Or so I thought. For some reason, probably when trying to slide the glass front back down, I glanced up inside the top facing and there was Bobina looking a lot less active than on the previous day. I got some tissue and carefully teased Bobina out of the crevice and placed it on the base of the case. Bobina didn’t move much, just the odd ‘head wave’.

The next day Bobina was gone and in Bobinas place was a silken mat stitched to the tissue with Bobina presumably nestled inside. It took me about a fortnight before I got round to taking some photos of the larval casing. And there Bobina remains possibly until March!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Looking forward to seeing Bobina in March Goldie

Cheers Goldie As am I, I've never seen a Sycamore moth before

Metalmarks 35 Duke of Burgundy, 23-05-2015 Duke Site

It felt like hard work getting my Duke this year. Over the last couple of years I’ve found that at one site in particular, my aptly named Duke Site and so it was again this year but only after several failed visits. It seems that they emerge about a month behind other sites here which could account for why they seemed later by 3½ weeks. As well as the general lateness caused by the slow start to spring last year my first came from Bentley Wood whereas this year it was from my Duke Site. I think I made about 4 trips there hoping to see my first Duke of the year only to have to come away with various other species (including the several of the Blues) but not the tried for Duke.

When I did eventually find them they were fewer in number and also they seem to have moved. The first time I visited this site they were pretty much all over it with one particular track seeming to be the hotspot. Last year the track was still producing the goods but other areas seemed to have far fewer Dukes. Yet this year I saw only one on the track and that was on my second visit. It seems that they were now favouring the top corner of the clearing and there were at four individuals in this little area. Hopefully this is because this area is sheltered from the prevailing, and this year blooming persistent, wind on two sides by tall stands of trees which hem the clearing into a tidy square. Or equally as hopefully they’re just moving as to more suitable habitat as the ‘succession’ continues.

I don’t know if I’d caught them early in their flight at this site but I only saw a maximum of five on both of my fruitful visits which after the highs of the last two successive years was disappointing. Added to this the fact that I didn’t see any at Bentley led me to believe that in this area they didn’t have to good a year, particularly when compared to those areas where the habitat is managed specifically for this species. Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! Wurzel your Duke photos were well worth the wait Goldie

If at first you don't succeed.....

Persistence pays off, Wurzel. Hopefully, the Dukes will enjoy a better season this year (and the start isn't too far away)

Cheers Goldie I've twigged that this is a 'late' site so this year I possibly won't have the wait
Cheers David Yep let's hope they have a better year in 2016.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

That's a smashing shot of a Duke wurzel and a lovely shot of the Fritillary your eldest found Pleased to see you're keeping them well trained

Lovely pictures Wurzel. The Duke is one of many UK butterflies I have never seen.

Cheers Pauline As they get older it get's harder to keep them well trained but hopefully letting them take their own shots will keep them interested
Cheers Nick I'm sure you'll get to see one, if climate change continues maybe even at a local site...

Lime Hawk Moth

Way back in May a colleague called me over to their room as they’d found a ‘large moth’. Normally if it was any other member of staff I might have given them a cursory ‘thanks’ and had a little look later on. However this particular member of staff had good form having previously found me my first Large Emerald and so I grabbed my camera straight away and headed over. I was really glad that I did as there was a beautifully marked large moth, a Lime Hawk Moth. It wasn’t nearly anywhere as big as the Privet Hawk moth I found but was still a good size and the markings were cracking changing as it moved and caught the light. There were greens and greys and pinks in there with fine lines and blotches of colour. Unfortunately the member of staff has since left to run their own guest house in Tregaron so no more Moth finds for me but fortunately their guest house is just down the road from Cors Caron, I’ll find out the name and I can let any Large Heath hunters know! For me 2015 seemed to be the year of the Hawk Moth with my first Privet, my first Lime and soon to be revealed Bob and Bobette

Have a goodun

Wurzel

HI Wurzel,

What a stunning specimen !. It reminds me of a ' Vee ' bomber in full combat livery.
I must look harder for Hawk moths, they really are show stoppers.

Trevor.

The Moth looks great Wurzel, can't wait to see Bob and Bobette Goldie

That's a beautiful moth, Wurzel. Such a shame that these hawk moths tend to fly at night meaning we rarely catch a glimpse of them.

A Lovely marked moth …and the most variable of a trio whose larvae are tree feeding species (Eyed and Poplar being the other two) . Also (perhaps) the most difficult of the three larvae to rear.

David M wrote:Such a shame that these hawk moths tend to fly at night meaning we rarely catch a glimpse of them.

The species is not uncommon, certainly in the South east and you may be lucky enough to find it resting on a fence post or tree-trunk during the day. I found one on a petrol pump at a Sainsbury’s station in Sunderland a few years back .
Most night-flying moths are attracted to light so leaving a downstairs or external light on through the night might get you one. Some moths are also attracted to sweet things tree-sap or sugar preps (recipes can be found on the internet) but it won’t work for any of this trio as the adults have no mouthparts.

Hope you don’t mind me posting these pics in your diary. Certainly feel free to remove them if you want to . Phil

Lime Hawks fly at Dusk, if you hang a female out, a male usually arrives about 9.30pm in May.

Eye and Poplar Hawks are later flyers, and usually come to a female after 1am.