millerd

[Katrina]

You are doing well with the Red Admirals and Small Coppers.

[millerd]

You're right, Katrina - the Small Coppers are doing really well in their third brood here and we've been blessed with a good number of migrant Red Admirals too.

The weather promise for Sunday 15th September was that the warm sunshine would continue, but for longer towards the south coast. To me that was a clear signal to make the trip to High & Over in Sussex to see the third brood Walls - especially as Trevor's reports sounded encouraging. An fairly early start and an uneventful drive into the forecast sunshine saw me at the traditional hotspot by the steps at around half ten.

It was still reasonably cool, and the Walls were only just beginning to start patrolling up and down the hedge. They would even stop and bask a little!

Even so, undersides were probably easier to come by.

I only saw one female - she wafted along the hedge line higher up on the ivy, only stopped once anywhere close and unfortunately kept her wings shut as soon as the camera was pointed at her. She was clearly very new.

Also seen in this splendid spot were multiple Red Admirals nectaring on the ivy, several Large Whites breezing through, Speckled Woods along the wooded tracks and a single female Small Copper attempting to lay but constantly being disturbed by the Walls.

A very successful visit to one of my favourite spots.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of Walls Dave - hopefully they'll make up for the 'missing Shipton ones' One of those seems to have the extra eyes, ab.bipupillata?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - yes, those Walls went some way to compensate for the loss of the Shipton photos, but unfortunately the best of those was a rather fresh and obliging female... Oh well, that's the way it goes sometimes.

As usual with visits to the Sussex coast, I decided to stop off at two other sites on the way back on 15th September.

The first of these was at Tidemills near Newhaven, in the past a favoured spot for migrant butterflies. However, aside from the currently ubiquitous Large and Small Whites, all I encountered were a small group of Common Blues around one of the patches of BLEP (to be fair, the spot also had lots of Birds'-foot Trefoil) and Small Heaths popping up out of the grass every so often.

Bypassing Brighton, I then drove on to Mill Hill near Shoreham, where in many previous years there have been a great variety of late season butterflies including Clouded Yellows. I parked at the further end, and before descending to the lower part of the hillside I had a good look around the various bits of hedge and areas of grass - and found virtually nothing at all. Normally I would have expected a few tired blues (or even a few fresh third brood Common ones), plus a series of Walls patrolling the edges of the thickets, but my search turned up just one of the latter.

My usual route from here down to the bottom lies through the trees in a more gentle zigzag, but today the paths were completely blocked by rampant vegetation. The only way down was the extremely direct way via the rudimentary and very steep steps - successfully negotiated but not without a few knee-twinging moments. The area at the bottom to be perfectly honest, looked a complete mess. Everything aside from the one main path was completely overgrown and there were virtually no flowers left. Consequently butterfly life was limited to one or two Small Heaths and Meadow Browns and a handful of worn Adonis Blues. There were a couple of what were probably females of the species too, but they would have struggled to track down any larval foodplant under the grass.

I returned to the car along the top path, but even this was blocked by vegetation and i had to divert onto the road at one point.

I realise that this is not perhaps the best time of year to see this site, but knowing how it has looked in previous seasons at this time it really seemed to be in a sorry state.

Dave

[Goldie M]

Fantastic Wall shots Dave there always on the move when you want them to settle usually, when I try to get a decent shot Goldie

[Wurzel]

Lovely looking Wall Dave A few years back was the 'year of the wind' when shots were hard to come by without a buffeting and it seems 2024 was the year of rampant growth - pretty much every site I've visited has been chock full and sometimes choked by grasses, or Wild Parsnip/Giant Hogweed It would be nice to have a 'normal' year

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Thank you, Goldie - I think I caught those Walls just early enough in the morning for them not to dash off every time I came close.

Cheers, Wurzel - yes, grasses overgrowing everything almost everywhere. The exception has been my local patch because of the major haircut in mid-July, which seems to have been very beneficial in this unusual year. There are still loads of flowers even now.

After (aside from that single Wall) the disappointment of Mill Hill, it was really refreshing to go out locally the following day (Monday 16th September) and see well over 100 butterflies of 13 different species. It was very sunny (10 hours) and warm (21C), which certainly helped.

Here is the result of the day's count:

Small Heath 21
Red Admiral 16
Small White 12
Small Copper 11
Comma 10
Large White 10
GVW 10
Speckled Wood 9
Brown Argus 8
Holly Blue 6
Common Blue 5
Meadow Brown 3
Peacock 1

The clear stars of the day were the Coppers - 11 is the highest total I think I've seen here for a few years and especially so coming after such a poor showing in their second brood (maybe they missed a brood out?). Another female Holly Blue was also a bit of a star too, but I'll start with a selection of the others.

One of the Holly Blues stayed up on the ivy flowers...

but it was the behaviour of a couple of the others that was interesting. I'll devote a separate post to that - and another to the Coppers.

Dave

[millerd]

16th September - Holly Blues

There were plenty of damp patches of path along my usual route, and for once I remembered to look ahead and spotted the familiar silvery triangle of a puddling male Holly Blue...

...or so I thought. The butterfly flew up onto some nearby nettles and revealed itself to be a female.

She returned to the ground a few times, during one of which she was accosted by a male, but shook him off in short order.

Having always thought that the males were the ones seen puddling, taking on minerals to bestow as a "nuptial gift" when mating, it seems the females sometimes miss out the middleman...

Though she did return to the ground again, it was never for long, and in the end she spent more time basking in the sunshine.

That just leaves all the Small Coppers...

Dave

[millerd]

I had been seeing Small Coppers on my local patch since the start of September, popping up in a series of spots around the site usually as singletons and often not the same set on consecutive days. I decided the overall number flying on any given day was probably at least twice the number I actually saw. All the favoured sites were on the south to southeast sides of small wooded areas where sorrels and docks grew along the boundary between the grass and the trees and bushes. On 16th September I reached a total of 11 individuals, and for a change some were found together and were interacting.

However, most were found as usual on their own, males patrolling a stretch of territory.

Females are much more rarely encountered, as they wander unattached to any particular spot, either hoping to stray into a male territory and be mated, or later on to look for suitable egg-laying sites. They rarely hang around, but today I managed to find three pretty fresh examples in the same area...

...and one of them (a nice blue-badged individual) stayed for a while to nectar on the ragwort.

I haven't fully scrutinised all the images - it is not impossible that there might be a dozen or more different butterflies rather than the eleven I reckoned at the time...

Dave

[millerd]

Tuesday 17th September was not quite as warm, nor quite as sunny. The same roster of 13 species appeared on my local patch, but overall numbers were lower.

The female Small Coppers had disappeared, and there were fewer males as well. One of these set about posing on a thistle flower.

With the Meadow Browns on the point of disappearing for the year, I made an effort to capture some images.

Small Heaths were the most numerous species again, but as ever were not easy to approach. They were also now no longer fresh and were taking on the usual fluffy appearance they acquire when they age.

There was a female Large White with quite bold markings...

...and I managed to actually approach both a male...

...and female Small White too.

GVW were around as well - this male looked fresh. They are definitely the most attractive of the three species.

There were new Commas...

...and Red Admirals...

...and even a Peacock - though this one seemed to have shredded its hindwings somewhat.

This left the Blues. Here are the best of the bunch from today.

It certainly still felt like summer, even with fewer butterflies around.

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking Constabulary Dave and after some lucious Holly Blue shots I tried looking through and counting the Coppers up but it got a bit bewildering and I kept forgetting what particular identifying marks looked like so I reckon that there are televen there

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel! I've pretty well given up on the count as well. It does remind me of that curious fact: "eleven plus two" is an anagram of "twelve plus one". A quirk of the English language if ever there was. Anyway, it was great to see so many of the species on the day.

Curiously, the same species kept popping up on my next outing, in very different surroundings. On Wednesday 18th September, largely at the behest of my youngest offspring, I drove down to the Isle of Purbeck in Dorset. Leaving cloud behind in London, it turned into a beautiful sunny day - which was comfortably warm despite a strong easterly breeze. My son wanted to visit an old coastal quarry that had served as a set for a classic Doctor Who series, and was also entirely happy to spend a while at Durlston first as it was only a few miles away.

A selection of butterflies remained at Durlston - the currently ubiquitous Large and Small Whites, plus Meadow Browns, Small Heaths, Red Admirals, Adonis Blues, Peacocks and Painted Ladies. There were also a series of Small Coppers, which actually proved the easiest to approach and less prone to be carried away by the wind.

this one was crawling in and out of the sorrel and was probably laying

Some of the others...

taking a break from the buddleia nearby

likewise...

...within sight of the sea

on the clifftop

a male tries his luck and is rebuffed

Unfortunately, I was unable to get any shots of the half-dozen or so Adonis flying on the steeper parts of the gully by the lighthouse.

at the bottom of the gully

The second part of the outing was a walk down from the village of Worth Matravers to the coast at Winspit quarry. There were more Red Admirals and Whites around, and I spotted a Holly Blue on a patch of ivy. The rock formations with their horizontal bedding looked almost artificial - even the inspiration for Minecraft...

We then headed for home - Corfe Castle looks good from any angle - I'd not seen it from above before.

on the way back home

Dave

[millerd]

Back to home turf again for Thursday 19th September and what turned out to be probably the last really warm day of the year: 26C and seven hours of sunshine. Butterfly numbers were starting to decrease now, especially with the migrant Red Admirals having largely moved on and leaving just a few behind. It was becoming far easier to count everything now:

Speckled Wood 12
Large White 11
Small Heath 11
Red Admiral 7
Holly Blue 7
Small White 6
Brown Argus 6
Common Blue 5
Small Copper 5
Comma 3
Meadow Brown 2
GVW 1
Clouded Yellow 1

The surprise of the day was finding another Clouded Yellow. However, this one was a female and was very fast-moving in the hot sunshine, darting between clumps of trefoil and barely pausing for a second. Consequently, all I managed was a series of rather blurred shots as she whizzed past - enough to confirm the sex of the butterfly and little else.

Very frustrating! Neil Freeman's suggestion that these migrants follow the rivers seems to fit - this one was just a few metres from the River Colne, and was largely following the parallel path northwards. Here is the path looking southwards when I first spotted the butterfly - it was about to speed past me...

CY front and centre...

A few others from the day - most things were very mobile in the sunshine.

One of the Commas was puddling, and was actually quite well camouflaged against the wet mud. It really did resemble a dead leaf.

Sitting here with the heating on for the first time this autumn, it is hard to believe this was just ten days ago...

Dave

[trevor]

Good to see that your trip to High and Over was a success, and an amazing
array of fresh male Walls . On my visit a few days before they were all worn
to some degree. Making your journey doubly worthwhile!
Great shots of this tricky species.

And another for the female Cloudie. None for me yet.

[millerd]

Good to see that your trip to High and Over was a success, and an amazing
array of fresh male Walls . On my visit a few days before they were all worn
to some degree. Making your journey doubly worthwhile!
Great shots of this tricky species.

And another for the female Cloudie. None for me yet.

Thank you, Trevor! There were a few more worn Walls around as well, but these were mostly on the steps and above them, with the new ones flying along the bottom of the hedge. Trips to High & Over are always worthwhile (but then I tend to pick sunny days at the right time of year! ).

I've been unusually lucky with Cloudie sightings this year on my local patch - I haven't had a sniff of one anywhere else. Only one of them stopped long enough for a decent photo, mind.

Friday 20th September was still warm, though only up to 24C and it wasn't as sunny. Nearly the same roster of species appeared as the day before (Peacocks replaced Holly Blues), though also lacking the Clouded Yellow this time.

Small Heath 12
Brown Argus 11
Speckled Wood 10
Large White 10
Common Blue 9
Red Admiral 7
Small White 6
Meadow Brown 3
Small Copper 3
GVW 3
Comma 2
Peacock 2

There was a good selection of Common Blues today, including a couple of the more elusive females.

The Small Coppers and Small Heaths were starting to look a bit worn now...

...but the Specklies keep conjuring fresh examples.

Commas, Red Admirals and Peacocks provided colour.

Today's highlight was a mating pair of Brown Argus. I'd seen several rather worn examples along my ramble, including this male.

A little further on I found another male who clearly thought his luck was in as he was bothering a very fresh female.

Unfortunately for him, it turned out she was already taken.

The contrast between the underside colouring was quite marked - the brown of the female and the silvery-grey of the male.

Dave

[Wurzel]

You're possibly having the best Clouded Yellow season out the lot of us Dave And that is a really noticeable difference between the ground colours on those Brown Argi/Arguses/Argussies

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Cheers, Wurzel - yes, one more Cloudie still to come in a moment...

It stayed warm on Saturday 21st September, but sunshine was in a bit shorter supply. There were one or two fewer butterflies on my local patch as well, with a slightly different mix once again.

Small Heath 14
Speckled Wood 10
Large White 8
Common Blue 8
Small Copper 6
Red Admiral 6
GVW 4
Brown Argus 3
Small White 3
Meadow Brown 1
Holly Blue 1
Clouded Yellow 1

Yes, another Cloudie, a male this time but even more of a frustration than the female two days before. I attempted a shot as it dashed past me at speed, and I gave chase - but it flew away right across the river this time. Annoyingly, there were plenty of alternate cloud/sun moments today which are ideal for catching up with this species, but it picked a very sunny spell to appear. For what it's worth, this is the poorest of record shots, but it is at least identifiable.

Finding a third example of this species here, well inland, when there have been very few spotted anywhere even on the coast, is pretty extraordinary.

I had started the walk by nearly tripping over a puffball mushroom. Unfortunately it had already been kicked once and had also been extensively nibbled, so I decided not to take it home, slice it and cook it.

They are delicious and are not a fungus readily confused with anything dangerous. I followed this find with a few Red Admirals on the ivy...

...and moved on.

Of the other butterflies, I did try and concentrate on a few Small Heaths, but most were worn. There was one that wasn't too bad and had a tiny "satellite" spot next to it's forewing eyespot...

...and another that was much fresher and most unusually even allowed a close approach for an unorthodox view.

There were fresh Common Blues again, though somehow one had already incurred some major damage.

Another one was in fine fettle though.

Having recently seen a lot of Large and Small Whites, today I tracked down a couple of male GVW.

However, as on many days this month, it was the Small Coppers that seemed to occupy most of my time and memory card space.

There were two females among them.

Another decent day locally.

Dave

[David M]

...Finding a third example of this species here, well inland, when there have been very few spotted anywhere even on the coast, is pretty extraordinary...

You've certainly done well to see three, Dave. I don't know of any that have turned up in Wales so far...and I don't expect any now.

[millerd]

Cheers, David - I keep expecting more Cloudies now each time the sun shines, but there have been none since that third one on 21st.

Sunday 22nd September was much cloudier and somewhat cooler - down to a more seasonal 21 degrees. There were showers too, but my local walk still turned up ten species with forty or so butterflies seen altogether.

Small Heath 9
Small Copper 7
Common Blue 6
Brown Argus 6
Large White 4
Speckled Wood 4
Small White 3
Red Admiral 3
GVW 2
Peacock 1

The first four in the list certainly dominated the day.

Though less numerous, Small Coppers were much easier to photograph and were the usual array of mixed vintage.

The cloud meant that there were some undersides on display too.

At least one of the Common Blues was fairly fresh...

...though others weren't so much.

There was one pretty new Brown Argus...

...and one that was nearly so.

The others were much more worn.

Though the smaller butterflies were at the forefront, the odd larger one dropped by.

And after a (luckily brief) shower, something even bigger flew over the rainbow...

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking Copper work and Brown Argus capturing Dave Unless we get a sudden heat wave I think my season is now complete To make matters worse snow, apparently there's snow in the forecast

Have a goodun

Wurzel