www.ukbutterflies.co.uk

23rd September

Photobucket seems to have pulled the plug on allowing embedded images. Bye bye Photobucket - you are the losers. So...I have been dead-heading my buddlleia on a daily basis since it first began flowering in mid July.. It has paid off and it still has several flower spikes.

Also in garden today, Peacock and a sad old female Speckled Wood.

I'm going away on Monday to my former place of residence, Isle of Mull for a short holiday. I don't expect many butterflies but should see both White-tailed and Golden Eagles.

Jack

Today at Dungeness I had a few surprises ! Firstly I was surpised at the fresh condition of half of the twelve Coppers I noted today ,think it points to another (fourth) Autumn brood ,most unexpected ! 2 Clouded Yellow ,four fresh Brown Args, good numbers of Common Blues ( See Common Blue AB POST ),A Comma ,a few Peacocks ,fifteen Small Heath, but probably the best find (apart from the Common Blue AB. ) was an absolutely mint condition ,recently emerged female Meadow Brown ,the only one I saw ,as they seem to otherwise be finished here .
Regards Allan W.

Small Whites still on the wing in south Wales this weekend, whilst this afternoon saw a Red Admiral fluttering by my cottage in light rain!!

Family day out today ,but still managed a couple of short site visits whilst out , first was a visit to a good site at Brookland (Kent ) and was hoping for a few Clouded Yellows,there were several about a few days back,but they seem to have gone ,but have high hopes (weather permitting !) for them here in a week or two's time,surprisingly only two Small Heath at a site where you normally see a lot more,
still plenty on the wing at Dungeness and other local sites, and no Coppers. also seen here a single Red Ad; Large White and Small White.
Later on the Wye Downs,very little on the wing, still managed to find 4 Small Heath ,2 Small Whites ,1 Large White . Most interesting was 4
female Meadow Browns , all in mint ,just emerged condition.

Had our usual afternoon trip down to Dungeness,quite bright and sunny, but by the time we reached Dungeness the best of the sun had gone ,but that said there was still plenty on the wing ,I counted 15 Small Coppers, 10 (ish ) Small Heath ,6 Common Blues ,2 Painted Ladies ,1 Red Admiral ,4 Clouded Yellows and two Brown Argus ,also a single Hummingbird Hawk, and a very Dark ,with no apparent side markings
or yellow collar grass snake, most odd ! along the power station fence there was a female fox ,hunting ,allowing really close approach ,she ended up with about six or seven people watching her ,she was seen by Lynne to catch a mouse .
Regards Allan.W.

I'm very envious of you, Allan. Your part of the country is a world away from mine.

Hello David,
We,ve been pretty lucky ,weatherwise so far ,with fair numbers of certain species still on the wing ,but it'll change ! A case of "making hay ,while the sun shines " As I write this it,s raining hard and blowing a gale !
I,ve looked on your excellent diary in the past ,and I've been very envious of some of your posts ,the High Browns and Large Heath ones in particular ,never seen either ,but they are a four Hundred mile (ish) round trip for me,Small Pearls are I believe fairly common in your neck of the woods ,but are long gone near me ( re-introduced colony in Sussex apart ),no Brown Hairs either (although theres rumours !).
Regards Allan.W.

During the second half of September there have been loads of butterflies in my garden just outside Ayr, I have seen 10+ Red Admirals on most days with as many as 20 on a couple of days plus a few Peacocks and Small Tortoiseshells, most of them have been nectaring on Buddleja Autumn Delight (this is the only one of my Buddlejas still in flower), Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' and Verbena Bonariensis with the odd butterfly on Sedum Spectabile and Aster Amellus 'King Geaoge', both the Erysimum 'Bowles Mauve' and Verbena Bonariensis have proved to be real butterfly magnets and have been attracting several different butterfly species for months while the Sedum Spectabile has been much less popular than in previous years for some unknown reason.

In Ayr Town Centre the Verbena Bonariensis at Burns Statue Square has also proved very popular with butterflies and I have seen just as many Red Admirals here as in my garden plus the few remaining Buddlejas and a Hebe within Ayr have also attracted several Red Admirals during September.

Actually there has almost been as many butterflies on the wing during the second half of September as there were during late July and August when the weather wasn't very summer like whatsoever in this part of the country.

For the first time ever I had a second-brood Duke of Burgundy, Sept 14th in south Cumbria.

LauraS56 wrote:For the first time ever I had a second-brood Duke of Burgundy, Sept 14th in south Cumbria.

Amazing sighting. Well done.

Hi Laura
BC Cumbria would love to have details of your September Duke sighting. tomdunbar@sky.com