Gothic_dreams

[dilettante]

What's happened to all the photos on this page? None of the captions seem to match

[Gothic_dreams]

Thank you Wurzel, i was also pleased to see more than 1 Small Tortoiseshell in a small area and to see 2 mating pairs was a treat

Not sure what you mean about the captions dilettante? they all come up ok for me.

Chris

[Neil Freeman]

What's happened to all the photos on this page? None of the captions seem to match

They all look ok to me, the captions match fine.

[dilettante]

What's happened to all the photos on this page? None of the captions seem to match

They all look ok to me, the captions match fine.

Yes, they look fine to me now too. They were definitely all messed up when I looked this morming. Maybe some weird browser error.

Lovely photos, btw!

[Gothic_dreams]

Glad they are showing up ok now dilettante, i was thinking it could be a browser error but wasnt sure which end, im not great with technology glad its sorted either way, and thank you, im glad you enjoyed them

Chris

[Pauline]

Some great shots there Chris - can't decide which I like best - the damsel flies, Skippers, cat or Small Torts. Got to be the latter cos I've never seen that before. Well done.

[Nick Broomer]

Just caught up with your posts, those Large Heath photos are smashing, the best i`ve seen along with your dads.

All the best, Nick.

[Gothic_dreams]

Thank you Pauline the small Small Tortoiseshell pair was new to me too, and also very pleasing to see with their reported numbers these days lower than they used to be

And thank you for the kind comments Nick, im glad you enjoyed them

Chris

[Gothic_dreams]

Ryton Woon and Meadows open day - 14/07/12

Yesterday the father and myself went over to the open day at Ryton Wood and Meadows. The ground here was very soggy underfoot but the weather for the day was overcast to start with breaking into sunny spells and very warm.

The day included 3 guided walks, 2 of which we went on in the morning, and then in the afternoon we had a wonder around on our own. It was nice to see plenty of things fluttering around despite the recent bad weather. Below is the list of our sightings

Marbled Whites - 25+
Gatekeepers - 5
White Admiral - 2 (very flighty)
Silver-washed Fritillary - 4 (3 male and 1 female)
Purple Hairstreak - 1 (up in a oak tree)
Small Skippers - around 12
Large Skippers - around 12
Red Admirals - 2
comma - 1
Brimstone - 1 (very tatty)
Common Blue – 1

Also seen as well as the butterflies were Six-spot Burnet moths, Five-spot Burnet Moths and Silver-Y moths.

There were also reports of Small Heath and a Green-veined White, although we didn’t see these ourselves.

Brimstone caterpillar

Ringlet

Ringlet

Ringlet

Mating pair of Ringlet

Underside - Gatekeeper

Gatekeeper

Small skipper

Large Skipper

Mating pair of Large Skipper

Male Silver-washed Fritillary

Pair of Silver-washed Fritillary (fluttering wings)

Silver-washed Fritillary

Comma

Comma

Marbled White

Marbled White

Marbled White

Underside - Marbled White

Burnet moth

Burnet moth

A Lovely day had with great company

Chris

[Gothic_dreams]

Snitterfield Bushes and Oversley Wood - Wednesday 18/07/12

With the father and myself both having the day off work we decided to go to Snitterfield Bushes and Oversley Wood for the day. The weather forecast for the day wasn’t looking great but we decided to go and see what we could find anyway.

We started off with a trip to Snitterfield Bushes. When we got their it was raining but we decided to head to a meadow where my dad had seen Marbled Whites in the past to see if we could find any roosting up and we managed to find half a dozen or so despite the bad weather.

The rain eased off a little, although still very gloomy, so we decided to head over to Oversley Wood to see if we could find anything their. The first and main part of the time spent hear was quite gloomy with heavy showers.

There were plenty of Ringlets fluttering about, with some even flying in heavy rain, and also a number of Meadow Browns flying in the gloom. Around late afternoon time the gloom started to lift a little and there was even sunny spells. During this time we managed to see half a dozen or so Silver-Washed Fritillaries, a Green Veined White, 2 Red Admirals, and a brief sighting of a White Admiral which quickly disappeared into the trees.

With the weather a little brighter, we decided to pop back to Snitterfield Bushes on the way home to see if we could get any open wing views of the Marbled Whites. While their to our delight their were many Marbled Whites out in the meadow taking advantage of the brief spell of sunshine. We also saw a Small White, a Comma, and a couple more Silver-Washed Fritillaries.

Ringlet

Ringlet

Ringlet

Meadow Brown

Small Skipper

Green Veined White

Silver-Washed Fritillarie

Comma

Marbled White

Marbled White

Marbled White watching a Burnet Moth

Marbled White

Marbled White having a feed

Marbled White

Marbled White

Common Darter

Female Beautiful Demoiselle (i think)

A worthwhile trip despite the bad weather

Chris

[Gothic_dreams]

Aston Rowant - 16/08/12

Having not had the time to get out much over the past month or so due to long hours at work I finally managed to get a day off. The father and me decided to take a trip to Aston Rowant as this is a place I hadn’t been to before and I was hoping to see some Chalkhill Blues and Silver Spotted Skippers. The weather was lovely being mainly sunny throughout the day with the occasional cloud making it ideal to settle the butterflies down to have a good look at them. Below is a list of things we saw fluttering around throughout the day.

Meadow Brown - Many
Chalkhill Blue - Many
Silver-spotted Skipper - Many
Brown Argus – around a couple of dozen
Small Copper – around a dozen or so.
Gatekeeper - about a dozen.
Small Skipper – around a dozen or so
Brimstone - 4 males, 2 females.
Peacock - 6
Large Skipper - 4
Green-veined White - 4
Small White - 2
Large White - 1
Common Blue - 2
Small Tortoiseshell - 1
Speckled Wood - 1
Ringlet - 1
Small Heath - 1
Essex Skipper - 1 identified by the father

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Silver-Spotted Skipper

Chalkhill Blue underside

Chalkhill Blue underside

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Brown Argus underside

Brown Argus underside

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Small Copper underside (photo went a little funky)

Small Copper

Small Copper

Small Copper

Brimstone

Brimstone

Peacock (because i liked the flowers :-) )

Peacock

Small White

On the way home from Aston Rowant we decided to stop off at Bernwood Meadows as last year the father has seen Purple Hairstreaks and Brown Hairstreaks here. We didn’t have any luck seeing either of the Hairstreaks but we did see a couple off tatty Silver Washed Fritillaries in the woods.

Silver-Washed Fritillarie

Silver-Washed Fritillarie underside

An enjoyable day and lovely to finally get a day away from work

Chris

[hilary]

Beautiful photos! and a reassurring amount of butterflies. I noticed the 4th Small Copper down had the beginings of streaks on its hind wing rather than the normal orange marks and I wondered if this was common. I don't see very many S.Coppers, but one I saw a few weeks ago (no camera at hand of course!) had streaks all the way up its hind wing.

[Mark Colvin]

Hi Chris,

Nice to see you posting again.

Essex Skipper - 1 identified by the father

I'd double check that if I were you ...

Nice shot of the ab. radiata.

Good hunting.

Kind regards. Mark

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Chris,

Essex Skipper - 1 identified by the father

I'd double check that if I were you ...

Kind regards. Mark

Ahh, but I learn from my mistakes got a clear head on shot of that one, just not a very good photo with grass everywhere.
There may have been more but only got the clear shot of the one.