www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

Great shot of the female Adonis, Wurzel. And the last Holly Blue shot. I always miss that one good shot of a Holly.

Gary

Great final round up of your 2017 season Wurzel with some great photos to go with it

That male Adonis Blue really jumps out of the screen

Plus some more for the Large Blues, I must try and catch up with them again sometime.

Cheers,

Neil.

A splendid round-up of 2017, Wurzel. Some lovely images there amongst the Blues and Hairstreaks in particular. Looking forward to 2018 and following you as you undertake your plan of action.

Dave

Cheers Gary Holly Blues with open wings have evaded me for a few years now and then I followed the teachings of the Master Holly Blue Whisper Dave Miller
Cheers Neil I'm dead chuffed with that shot If you're after Large Blues then I recommend Daneways as it's an easier site to work than Collard
Cheers Dave I only hope that I don't bottle it like I did last year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Cheers Trevor The Blackstreak is the one that I need the most help with as well Trevor plus they they’ve such a short flight you could almost blink and miss them Unfortunately I’d used all my Brownie points up when it came to Cloudy searching
Cheers Goldie I hope you can latch onto some this year
Cheers Andrew I’d felt like I’d neglected Adonis (or at least taken them for granted) so hopefully I’ve made up for that this year
Also sorry all for missing your comments, I thought my previous post had finished the page off and it’s was only when I was doing some backing up that I saw your kind comments
Have a goodun

Wurzel

February 2018

Less than two months behind now! Yay!

Five Rivers 16-02-2018

This is normally the month when I start seeing butterflies, often with a trip out to Five Rivers. So having gotten back from Wales and my Outlaws and with some reasonable weather I took Little L out with me to see if I could break the 2018 Duck.
Once we were on site we headed straight for Comma Corner and then onwards to the Banks. The Stinging Nettles were barely showing and all around the avifauna suggested winter more than spring as there were still a few Redwing around in amongst the other three resident Thrushes. The fact that I could see a pair of Bullfinches in between the branches further alluded to it being a tiny bit too early. Still we pressed on any way working our way along the Banks and searching the usual nooks and crannies which the butterflies seem to prefer early in the season. As usual the cloud covered the sun each time we got to a likely looking place and once we moved on it came back out again. Still it was good to stroll and talk with Little L and just feel the wind on my face and the weak sun warming my back ever so slightly. On the Bench at the far end of the Banks lay a dead Shrew. It was an incongruous sight and we couldn’t work out how it had gotten there? After completing a circuit and several laps forward and back along the Banks we decided to head back and pick the others up before swinging by my Sister In-laws for a cadged cuppa. As we slowed to a stop in traffic a small dark shape fluttered across the road. At the midway point in its trajectory it crossed the line from shade into the sun and as it did so my first butterfly of 2018 became a Small Tortoiseshell. Happy with that!

Mottisfont 24-02-2018

A week later we made a brief visit to Mottisfont. I was hopeful again that as the temperature was just nudging towards double figures and there was a blue sky. However it wasn’t to be and even the Walled Garden was bereft of butterflies. I reasoned that this would be the most likely place to see them, sheltered from the biting breeze, trapping the sun, nectar sources and plenty of nooks and crannies for butterflies to roost in. No such luck but there was some consolation in a lovely Nuthatch. “Surely it can’t be much longer now?” I thought…and then the Snow arrived…

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Poor little Shrew Wurzel, I bet it'd frozen to death, better weather to come next week. Goldie

Cheers Goldie If the cold hadn't got it then it would have done a week or two later when the Beast struck

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I think shrews are distasteful so it could be been a young kestrel learning the difference between yummy voles and not so yummy shrews that left it there

I think he was just resting or pining for the fjords

Seriously though, the round-up of your 2017 season with the beautiful accompanying images was a very good read

Mike

Cheers Bugboy I think you're being a bit harsh about the Shrew unpalatable sounds a bit better There was a Kestrel around so you could be on to something there
Cheers Mike He had definitely gone to meet his maker, he was not more, he'd shuffled off his mortal coil and was pushing up the daisies...in short he was an ex-Shrew Thanks for the kind comments about the Yearly Tally, Patrick Barkham eat your heart out

Have a goodun

Wurzel

March 2018

Having seen my first butterfly and Small Tortoiseshell of the year and it being a day earlier than in 2017 I was hoping for more of the same…and then the snow hit. It was great for the first couple of days – two days off work, strolling back in the dark through the snow, beered up and listening to Iron Maiden (quite a surreal experience), sledging and waling everywhere. But then by the third day it hit me ’it’s March, I should be seeing the hibernators emerge at Five Rivers and Middle Street about now!”. So the very next time it was fine and the temperatures almost reached double figures I was off out…

10-03-2018 Five Rivers

The first available trip out came on the 1oth when I again took Little L over to Five Rivers for a quick afternoon blast round the site. As is usually the way the sun hid from the clouds almost as soon as our feet left the tarmac and gravel often car park and hit the mud of the trail. As we covered the Banks there was no sign of anything stirring. Likely looking dead leaves failed to transform into Commas, dark shapes drifting and gliding by were just leaves and apart from a pair of Bullfinch it was eerily quiet until the weird gurgling screech of a Little Grebe ripped the silence asunder. Giving up I let Little L loose with my camera.

Getting home I warily looked through the images and was quite proud of her efforts; a sombre Crow illustrated the feel of the site, 9 Magpies in a row (the rhyme only goes up to 7 doesn’t it? In which case is this back round to ‘Joy’?) and a picture of what Little L described as an old codge…wait a minute… 13-03-2018 Work

The weather improved through the week every so slowly so that by the Tuesday a trip outside without a coat was doable. So as soon as the pupils left the room for lunch I grabbed my camera and was out of there. I walked across the playing fields, down the path behind the housing estate checking every likely looking leaf on the way. Finally at the half way point along the path just to the right of the concrete steps a pair of blue eyes starred out of the detritus at me, warning me off. After the initial record shot which was taken purely due to muscle memory/instinct I stood rooted to the spot just drinking in the moment, savouring that fantastic feeling that ‘this was it, it’s started’. The butterfly took off which jolted me back from my meditative state and I watched it circle round, out across the field and back again. If it had started at 1 o’clock it had now landed at 11 so a wheeled round 180 degrees and cautiously approached surprised at how out of practice I was. Luckily the sun was in so I managed to get several shots by the ‘click, three steps, click…’ method finally getting in reasonably close before the sun came out of hiding and the butterfly headed off across the field to be lost from sight. Still butterfly number two – Peacock – in the bag. A cracking lunchtime…
Have a goodun

Wurzel

A bit of spotting at work ? Very nice Wurzel.

Cheers Andrew As the best weather is usually during the working week getting out at lunchtime is often the only way for me to get some butterflying done ...I do have a few other tricks up my sleeve as well though

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! Wurzel, glad your in the mix Next week , even tomorrow looks good in the South, hope it is up here Goldie

Cheers Goldie As usual the good weather is set to arrive as soon as I'm back at work, looks like I'll have to make the most of my lunch breaks

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Work 16-03-2018

The reasonable weather seemed to be holding and so as it was a Friday I took this lunchtime off as well. Again I headed straight out across the playing fields and down the back path. As usual I was scanning ahead looking for movement, flashes of colour that shouldn’t be there and the blindingly obvious butterfly out in the open. I worked right the way to the end of the path and had started on the return journey before striking it lucky. There nestled on an old, dumped carpet was a dark black triangle. It hadn’t been there two minutes previously so it must have been forced to land as the sun went in and the temperature dropped ever so slightly. It seemed quite happy to let me approach it from various angles and so I made the most of the next couple of minutes. Ever so slowly it opened up and so that’s how I left it, basking and trying for all it was worth to capture the slightest bit of extra warmth. Hopefully it’ll pack that in and find somewhere sheltered as the weather report for the weekend suggest that the ‘Beast from the East’ is back for a rematch… Have a goodun

Wurzel

Hi! Wurzel ,I think my Brimstone was doing the same, only it had company! Goldie

Yup, that definitely looks like some old codger to me (I'm allowed to say this being nearly 50 myself ). I hope this weekend came up trumps for you

Cheers Goldie I haven't reconnected with that particular Peacock since Goldie, I only hope that it escaped the ensuing snow
Cheers Bugboy I think Half the weekend was cracking the other half was dire That's 2018 really, up and down

Have a goodun

Wurzel