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Just catching up, Neil - your trio of mating pairs of Large Blues is quite something! I've seen this species regularly over the years, but have yet to find a pairing.

Even more are due for the beautiful open wing Purple Hairstreak shot, something else that persistently evades me, year after year. Beautiful to see.

Cheers,

Dave

Cracking White shots Neil - they're tricky blighters to capture on film at the moment as they're still pretty flighty There have been more round than earlier in the year which is a good sign, fingers crossed

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Nice to see a selection of Whites for a change, Neil, particularly Large White, which has been incredibly scarce so far this year in my part of the country.

That's a lovely Ringlet too. Really nicely marked uppersides.

millerd wrote:Just catching up, Neil - your trio of mating pairs of Large Blues is quite something! I've seen this species regularly over the years, but have yet to find a pairing.

Even more are due for the beautiful open wing Purple Hairstreak shot, something else that persistently evades me, year after year. Beautiful to see.

Cheers,

Dave

Thanks Dave, I was well chuffed with the Large Blue pairs, they more than made up for the lack of open wing opportunities on the day.

Wurzel wrote:Cracking White shots Neil - they're tricky blighters to capture on film at the moment as they're still pretty flighty There have been more round than earlier in the year which is a good sign, fingers crossed

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, your'e not kidding about them being flighty, I went out on the afternoon and didn't see a single one stop moving.

David M wrote:Nice to see a selection of Whites for a change, Neil, particularly Large White, which has been incredibly scarce so far this year in my part of the country.

That's a lovely Ringlet too. Really nicely marked uppersides.

Thanks David. All the whites have been scarce here this year up until a few days ago. It is still mostly Small and Green-veined I am seeing but more Large are starting to turn up.

Sunday 21st July – Afternoon.

So far this year, due mostly to unfavourable weather at weekends when I have had available time , I have not managed to visit my local spots as often as I would have liked to. With the weather staying warm on Saturday afternoon and with a couple of hours spare I decided to pop round to Castle Hills near Solihull to see what was about.
There was still a lot of cloud about and a fair breeze could be felt in the more open areas but with the air temperature up in the low twenties it was immediately apparent that there were good numbers of the usual suspects flying. Within the first ten minutes or so I was into double figures of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers with Ringlets and Small/Essex Skippers not far behind.

Gatekeepers in particular appear to be having a better season here so far with loads of fairly fresh males seen plus a few females.
I spent some time trying to photograph the Skipper's antennae from below to confirm Small or Essex but the warm conditions and breeze made this difficult and I had limited success.
I had a bit more success in getting shots that showed the short, straight sex brand of male Essex Skippers and from what I saw it appeared that there was a ratio of about 2/3 Small to 1/3 Essex.
Lots of whites were flying but I didn't see one settle all afternoon so I cannot be sure of numbers but I did see examples of all three common species.

Approximately 25-30 Marbled Whites were seen but these were all well past their best now.
A couple of Commas were holding territories around some patches of brambles and like everything else they were very active but at least these tend to return to their perches between bouts of chasing things about.
These brambles and some nearby thistles were also playing host to a couple of Small Tortoiseshells,
I was pleased to see the Small Tortoiseshells given the vagaries of this species fortunes recently and even better, as I was heading back along one of the paths I found another three spaced out along a stretch of about a hundred yards.
As well as the previously mentioned Meadow Browns and Ringlets, a couple each of Small Heath and Speckled Wood were also seen.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Such a joy to see a few Small Tortoiseshells, Neil. It'll be interesting for me to see how numbers shape up after a bemusingly poor spring here in south Wales.

A cracking array of Hedgies Neil I know what you mean about the Marbled Whites looking past their best although it feels like only yesterday that they were starting to emerge

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Great to see good numbers of Small Torts, not something I see in my neck of the woods anymore . The answer to your query about the increased numbers in Whites (particularly GVW) I think stems from last years drought which lead to far fewer than normal insects making to hibernation due to foodplant desiccation. This in turn lead to the parasitic population collapsing, and so by the time the next generation was growing up a higher proportion were able to make it through to what we are now seeing... that's my theory anyway

David M wrote:Such a joy to see a few Small Tortoiseshells, Neil. It'll be interesting for me to see how numbers shape up after a bemusingly poor spring here in south Wales.

Thanks David. It seems that Small Tortoiseshell behaviour is varying a lot around the country. I am seeing reports of groups already being found tucked away in sheds and outhouses etc, and am also seeing reports over the past week or so of large numbers flying, mostly from the midlands and further north. My son Chris had half a dozen, along with a couple of Peacocks, all at the same time on one of his garden buddlieas last week.

Wurzel wrote:A cracking array of Hedgies Neil I know what you mean about the Marbled Whites looking past their best although it feels like only yesterday that they were starting to emerge ...Wurzel

Indeed Wurzel, I almost missed the Marbled Whites on my patch with those still around looking like they won't be there much longer.

bugboy wrote:Great to see good numbers of Small Torts, not something I see in my neck of the woods anymore . The answer to your query about the increased numbers in Whites (particularly GVW) I think stems from last years drought which lead to far fewer than normal insects making to hibernation due to foodplant desiccation. This in turn lead to the parasitic population collapsing, and so by the time the next generation was growing up a higher proportion were able to make it through to what we are now seeing... that's my theory anyway

Thanks Bugboy, your theory makes sense. It will be interesting to see how they fare for the rest of the season and next spring.

More Moths.

Last weeks hot weather during the days and warm humid nights led to an increase in moth activity although I chickened out of running my trap on Tuesday night due to the forecast for thunderstorms. Maybe I should have put it out as my son Chris ran his trap in his garden in Stratford-upon-Avon and had more than 500 moths despite the storms and heavy rain.
I did run my trap a few times last week however and even ran it on consecutive nights, something I don't usually do, on Wednesday and Thursday to take advantage of the conditions.
Wednesday night was a bit cooler with clear skies and produced a count of 187 moths of 45 species (91 of 22 macros and 96 of 23 micros). These included a new for the garden (NFG) of Lunar-spotted Pinion plus a couple of NFG micros of Eudemis profundana and Cochylis atricapitana.
I also had a nice Old Lady Moth in the trap. I often read that these seldom come to light and are more often attracted to 'sugaring' but I have a few to my trap each year. I suspect that they come more often to actinic traps (which I have) than to MV bulbs.
After a real scorcher during the day, Thursday night had a bit more cloud cover and consequently stayed warmer and quite humid. We also had some rain in the night accompanied by some thunder which woke me up around 02.00. To prove the point that rain does not deter moths from flying I had my highest count ever for my urban garden with 307 moths of 45 species (115 of 15 macro and 192 of 30 micro). Most of these were the common 'usual suspect' and included 41 Large Yellow Underwings which can be a bit of a pain with their restlessness in the trap - hence they are often referred to as 'Blunderwings'.
Despite the high numbers there was just one NFG, a micro Plutella porrectella
I also had an interesting colour form of Marbled Beauty with brown toned markings instead of the greenish grey form I usually get.
After a wet and miserable weekend here and with the usual inevitability, tomorrow (Monday) looks to be a nice day again...but this time I have used one of my few remaining spare days holiday and am hoping to get out somewhere.

Bye for now,

Neil

More fantastic moths Neil The Plutella porrectella is a brilliant shot

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Wurzel, I was chuffed with that one, especially as it is such a tiny little moth.

Monday July 29th – Aston Rowant part 1.

I mentioned at the end of my last report that I had managed to book one of my remaining odd holiday days off work for today (Monday 29th ). It was a pure coincidence that it should follow one of the worst weekends we have had for a while but given that we had just suffered two days of almost non stop rain I was feeling in need of a pick-me-up trip so the timing was perfect.

A couple of weeks back I had realised that I had not seen Silver-spotted Skippers for a while and checking my notes I saw that it was back in 2014 that I had last ventured down the M40 to Aston Rowant. I cannot believe how quickly that five years has gone past.
This was the main reason for booking this day off and I also noticed that by a spooky coincidence the last time I had been to Aston Rowant was also on July 29th (2014), so five years to the day.

The forecast for the day looked promising, if anything looking like it might get a bit hot so I wanted to make an early start and hopefully arrive before the butterflies got too active. I left home at 06.45 with 14c showing on the car display and 90 minutes later pulled into the car park at Aston Rowant where it was already reading 19 degrees.
Walking through the trees and out onto the hillside it was obvious that things were already warmed up with Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers all over the place. My two main targets for the day were the Silver-spotted Skippers and also Chalk Hill Blues, this being one of my closest sites for both species. I soon saw Chalk Hill Blues in good numbers and it was not long before I also spotted the first Silver-spotted Skipper, a male, darting about.

During the morning I saw plenty of Chalk Hill Blues all across the hillside, so many that I didn't bother counting them but many hundreds were flying all across the hillside. They were mostly males but a fair few females were also about with both sexes being in all sorts of condition from well worn to fresh looking and I got the impression they had been on the wing here for a while.
The Silver-spotted Skippers were in lower numbers than the CHBs with something like 25-30 seen but I believe that it is still early in their flight period here with numbers usually building into August.
On a couple of occasions I watched as a male tried his luck with a female but this usually ended with the female disappearing in a blur with the male in hot pursuit.
For the first couple of hours I had the hillside to myself but by mid morning it was getting warmer and the butterflies were not only becoming far more active but when they were settling it was usually with closed wings. More people were now arriving on site and I couldn't help but think to myself that they had missed the best part of the morning, especially for taking photos. Nevertheless, it was still a beautiful morning and just seeing so many butterflies in the air at once is a pleasure in itself.

As it approached midday, I decided to wander back to the car park and make a move. I thought about going to Bald Hill on the south side of the reserve or maybe having a look at Watlington Hill which is not far away but in the end decided against doing either as I would just be seeing more of what I had already seen, only in hotter conditions.

I decided to head off back up the M40 and take a detour to Bernwood Meadows on the way back.

But before I get ahead of myself, there were plenty of other butterflies at Aston Rowant.

To be continued...

Neil.

Some super photos recently Neil, especially the Chalkhills!

Neil Freeman wrote:More people were now arriving on site and I couldn't help but think to myself that they had missed the best part of the morning, especially for taking photos.

I agree, it's a great strategy to make an early start when the forecast is hot. This paid off twice for me on my southern holiday last month - both with the High Browns on Dartmoor and the Large Blues at Daneway. I was on site before 8am on both occasions and, while I had to wait a little while for the butterflies to appear, I was able to get great open-winged shots of both species, on days that went on to hit 30C before lunch.

Love your Skipper shots Neil and also the Chalkhill's shot's, I'm so glad I got some shots of the CH's before I came home, missed out on the Skippers though Goldie

Very nice SSS shots Neil. I appreciate them all the more having struggled to see a very small number today and get a few shots where they weren't huddled down in the grass!

Thanks for your comments Callum, Goldie and Pauline. Very much appreciated

Monday 29th July – Aston Rowant part 2.

As well as the Silver-spotted Skippers and Chalk Hill Blues, there were loads of other butterflies fluttering about all across the hillside.

As soon as I came out of the path through the trees and onto the hillside, I was seeing Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers. With the clear sky and warm morning sun, both of these were already actively flying although both species could be found basking with their wings open.
One nice female Meadow Brown was showing extra orange patches on her hindwings like a number of similar example I have been seeing over recent years.
A few nice fresh looking Brown Argus were found along the lower slopes along with some Common Blues, the males of the latter mostly looking well-worn but a couple of fresher looking females were also seen.
A good number of Peacocks were seen, mostly on the clumps of marjoram along the path across the lower slopes, but also pretty well scattered about across the whole site.
A couple of Red Admirals showed up later in the morning but these were very flighty by then and difficult to get close to for a photo.
A single Painted Lady was flapping and gliding between patches of marjoram, just the one but given what I have seen reported over the past few days it will probably soon have plenty of company, in fact by the time I post this I reckon the latest emergence/influx will have spread across most of the country.
A single Comma was also spotted along the lower slope.
In all my previous visits here, I had never see a Dark Green Fritillary, these usually being over by the time I visited. This time I managed to see a good half a dozen still flying although they were mostly well past their best.
A few faded Marbled Whites were still hanging on but most of them looked like they were on their last legs.
A handful of Brimstones were seen along the lower slopes,
Small and Essex Skippers were both seen and although I managed to get some photos of both species which confirmed their ID's they were poor, cluttered record shots with grass stems everywhere.

Also seen but not photographed, chiefly because they were seen later in the morning when they were more active, were Large and Small Whites, a few faded Large Skippers and a couple of Small Coppers, all of which were very flighty and seldom settled.

Before I left I spoke to a couple of fellow enthusiasts who told me that they had been here the previous week and seen a good number of Small Tortoiseshells but these had all disappeared today. When they said this I realised that I had not seen a ST all morning either and we discussed the fact that they had probably gone into hibernation already, something that I have seen discussed quite a bit on social media again this year after similar comments last year.

As is often the case here, Red Kites were seen above the hillside and as the morning warmed up they circled higher and higher against the blue sky.
All in all a fantastic morning at a great site, I really shouldn’t leave it so long before visiting again.

As mentioned in my previous report I left around mid-day and headed back up the M40 towards Bernwood Meadows.

To be continued...

Neil.

That's a really dark female CB Neil. A timely reminder for me to pop back to Bramshott to see if the second brood are all as blues as the first was. Nice Kite too

Lovely shots Neil, I missed the fritillary this year hope fully I'll catch up next year. Goldie

Pauline wrote:That's a really dark female CB Neil. A timely reminder for me to pop back to Bramshott to see if the second brood are all as blues as the first was. Nice Kite too

Thanks Pauline. Yes, that female CB was a lovely individual. Unfortunately I lost her before I could get a better photo.

Goldie M wrote:Lovely shots Neil, I missed the fritillary this year hope fully I'll catch up next year. Goldie

I know how you feel Goldie, I have missed quite a few species again this year. Mind you it just gives us something to try and catch up with next year.

Monday 29th July – Bernwood Meadows.

Just under thirty minutes after leaving Aston Rowant I was pulling into the small car park at Bernwood Meadows. The grass had been cut in the larger meadows , which I believe is normal practice here in late July, but had not yet been cut in the furthest half of the narrow meadow alongside the road.
I started off by slowly wandering down the narrow meadow, noticing plenty of Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers along with a few well faded Marbled Whites.
Small Skippers were also buzzing about and although I checked a few carefully I failed to find any Essex Skippers here. There were also a few Large Skippers still flying with about half a dozen worn males being seen.

Peacocks were feeding up on the brambles in the hedges with at one or two on in sight almost constantly. From what I saw at Aston Rowant earlier and now here, plus reports I have seen on the internet over the past few days, it appears that Peacocks are making something of a comeback this summer.
A couple of Silver-washed Fritillaries also flew past me but neither of them showed any sign of stopping.

Brimstones on the other hand were busy feeding up in readiness for hibernation and are always easier to approach at this time of year than in the spring when they awake and set off in search of mates.
My main reason for stopping off here however was that I wanted to check the ‘Purple Hairstreak tree’. This straggly old hawthorn can be found at the end of the narrow meadow and was originally reported by Michael Field (Michaeljf) some years ago when he found a number of Purple Hairstreaks on it. I had visited it a few times since then and usually found anywhere between six and ten PHS on and around it. The last time I had been here was in 2014 when, like today, I had called in on my way back from Aston Rowant and I was curious to see if it was still being used by the Hairstreaks.
On approaching the tree I noticed that it was looking even more straggly than I remembered but I could see a couple of Purple Hairstreaks flitting about amongst the branches. I stood and watched for a while and reckon there were maybe six or seven individual PHS on the tree in all sorts of condition with some being well tatty but others not too bad although none were exactly fresh by now.
At one point I was watching one shuffle about on a twig when another landed close by…
…and shortly afterwards a third one landed so that I was watching all three individual shuffling about on the same bit of twig.
I can only surmise that there was some particularly attractive sap or something similar on it.

I have seen a couple of Brown Hairsteaks on my previous visits here before so after watching the Purple Hairstreaks for a while I did a circuit of the blackthorn hedges but without success despite a couple of false alarms which turned out to be Gatekeepers.
I did find another Purple Hairstreak, this time down on some brambles about half way back to the car park. The antennae on this individual had been cut short by something but that didn't seem to be affecting it's behaviour in any obvious way.
By mid-afternoon the temperature was up around 27 degrees and although some summer cloud had built up, if anything this was just making it feel more humid and rather uncomfortable. I decided to make a move and head for home in order to get back before the build-up of traffic around Solihull later, particularly where the M40 joins the M42 which often grinds to a halt at peak times.

All in all a great day with lots of butterflies seen at both sites visited. A total of 19 species at Aston Rowant in the morning and I added Green-veined White, Silver-washed Fritillary and Purple Hairstreak at Bernwood to make 22 for the day.

Bye for now,

Neil.

Great work with the Purple Hairstreaks, Neil. That's not a bad selection of other species either, although it is a precursor to autumn whereby we will merely be left with what we started with in late February.

Thanks David, not quite Autumn yet though and I am hoping to squeeze a bit more out of the season yet. Speaking of which...

We returned earlier this evening from our latest trip, a fantastic five nights in Cornwall staying in a B&B right in Lizard Village which gave perfect access to the coast path where I saw plenty of butterflies.

As usual I have loads of photos to sort through and reports will follow in due course.

But before that, a quick catch up from my garden before we went.

Friday 2nd August.

I had been following with interest the various sightings of Painted Ladies from around the country and wondered whether I would see any in my garden this year, the last time being in 2009 during the now famous 'Painted Lady Invasion' of that year. Since then I had seen Painted Ladies locally but none had graced my garden so it was with great pleasure that I spotted not just one, but two on my front garden buddliea last Friday afternoon.
Saturday 3rd August

Despite it being a reasonable day weather wise, I didn't venture out on Saturday as I was getting stuff ready and giving the car a check over before the run down to Cornwall the following day (Sunday). I did however keep an eye on the garden and noted the same two Painted Ladies from the previous day were back again, this time moving between the buddleia in the front garden and some dwarf buddleias in the back. They were also joined by a third one with all three being identified by slight differences in pattern and wear.
I was also pleased to see a Peacock hanging around for most of the day.
Half a dozen Gatekeepers were in residence, the males looking a bit past it now but a couple of females still looked presentable.
I was also a little surprised to see an aged Ringlet still hanging on,
Anyway, as I mentioned above, I have loads of photos from Cornwall to sort through now and I really must try to catch up on other peoples diaries as well.

Bye for now,

Neil.

It's been a while since I've managed to read your PD Neil as I was pretty much without WiFi whilst in Portugal...so to business Cracking Silver-spots - still got to see some for myself this year, hopefully there will still be some about. Interesting behaviour you witnessed with the Purple Hairtreaks - I reckon you're surmise about a particularly good food source is bang on Cracking Painted Ladies from Coverdale Looking forward to the Cornish shots

Have a goodun

Wurzel