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garden, Abingdon - 23rd July 2016

After several fruitless attempts to photograph members of the Spring brood of Holly Blues in my garden, I have had more success with their offspring! Whereas, throughout the Spring, these butterflies stayed resolutely in the highest branches of the trees, I spotted this individual sitting on a more accessible leaf. Moreover, it remained in position while I went indoors and found my camera!
Although it stayed in the same area of the leaf, it was in fact moving fairly constantly - waving its antennae and rhythmically moving its hind wings up and down, as well as turning slightly to face in different directions.
Mike

Mike:

Moreover, it remained in position while I went indoors and found my camera!

I have wondered at times whether I should carry a camera all the while. There was case in point this afternoon.

Green Woodpecker in the garden. Now in this part of the world, it's apparently a real rarity. I went for the camera and.....bird had gone. So now the county recorder wants a tedious description - light angle, what optical device I used, and so on. A mega form for a [mega] rarity. I rather wish I had never seen the damn thing.

Of course in the south, Green Woodpeckers are ten a penny.

Jack

A phone camera covers a lot of things although I rarely remember it at the right moment! If you send me a photo of your garden, i can Photoshop in a GW - for a suitable fee Or you could make a DAP 'painting' and tell the reecorder you dashed off a quick sketch while it was there!

A phone camera covers a lot of things although I rarely remember it at the right moment!

I had thought of that but the tiny screen of a smart phone is far too fiddly for me and in any case I would struggle with [what are to me] the complications of a smart phone. My "stupid" phone is difficult enough with buttons that have multi purposes. I have been left behind.

Jack

Aston Rowant - 5th August 2016

Silver-spotted Skippers seem to be flying much earlier than just a few years ago. I went to look for them at Aston Rowant NNR on Friday, 5th August.

Whereas the section of the Reserve to the North of the M40 is, perhaps, better known, there is a much quieter part, away from the constant roar of traffic, just across the lane from the car-park at Cowleaze Wood. This Western-facing slope, known as Bald Hill, has plenty of SSSkippers and also has good numbers of the Nationally-rare Chiltern Gentian.

In fact, for botanists, this is a superb part of the reserve, with Frog Orchids also to be found, by diligent searching amongst the rich flora of the slope. One problem is that a great many of these chalk-downland plants have very spiny leaves and stems, which make getting down low, for close-up photography, a rather painful process!
I noticed that many of the butterflies I saw were carrying red mites - which seem to be very common this year, as on this Meadow Brown:

I also noticed that many of the Gatekeepers were very small - almost 'skipper-size'. Perhaps the poor weather, earlier in the year, hindered caterpillar growth?
As usual, the Silver-spotted Skippers were quite difficult to pin down, as they flitted rapidly between the Scabious flower heads. I caught up with my first photo opportunity as one lurked low-down in the grass - apparently egg-laying, although I only spotted this when looking at the photo:
My long-lens proved very useful in catching the Skippers feeding, without disturbing these very alert insects! The 'head-on' shot shows how skilfully the proboscis can be directed into individual florets:
Surprisingly, I saw no Blues - neither Common nor Chalkhill - and only one Vanessid - a Red Admiral that flew over but did not pause for a photo.

Mike

Great Silver-spots Mike I know what you mean about absence of Blues - could it be that the 'June gap' was late this year and was more like the 'July gap'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks, Wurzel. I'm finding this long lens extremely useful for flighty species like Skippers. I can stand back from a likely feeding area, with the camera on a monopod, and just swing around, to track the critters as they nip from flower to flower! I hope you are right about the 'gap' and that we enjoy an extended season

Seven Barrows - 8th August 2016

The BBOWT reserve called 'Seven Barrows' is in a quiet valley, north of Lambourn, where the land rises towards the ancient Ridgeway track. This is the site of a Bronze Age cemetery, with about 30 barrows dotted across the site. It is usually an excellent site for chalk-downland butterfly species but, on this visit, as at so many places recently, numbers were severely depleted and I only saw three Chalkhill Blues! After a promising start, the weather turned quite cool, with a strong breeze blowing across the site, so it is possible that many butterflies were 'keeping their heads down'. The flower heads and grasses were all waving in the wind, making photography rather tricky!

As I commented in a previous post, red mites seem prolific this year, with most of the butterflies I saw carrying these, doubtless, unwelcome passengers - in some cases, several.

Both Small and Essex Skippers were present, braving the cool conditions better than other species. At first, I thought the following example was an Essex, since the antennae tips looked very dark, but a closer examination revealed the orange undersides to the chisel-ended tips of a Small Skipper. Note the mites clustered under the head:
A little later, I saw what, at first, seemed to be the same butterfly, since it had a similar cluster of mites. but then I realised these were on the opposite side of the head and that this was an Essex Skipper, with totally-black, rounded tips to the antennae:
I saw a couple of male Chalkhill Blues, which rapidly disappeared into the long grasses, and just one very well-worn female, with aberrant underside spotting, which was nectaring on the plentiful Knapweed.
Apart from those, there were a few Gatekeepers, also carrying mites (barely visible in the photo), very few Meadow Browns, and I saw just one Green-veined White.
One unfortunate Meadow Brown (I think) had been neatly packaged in silk wrappings by an attendant spider.
The most plentiful lepidoptera were Shaded Broad-bar (Scotopteryx chenopodiata) moths, which were frequently disturbed from the long grasses:
Finally, the Ragwort plants were well-populated with the 'rugby jersey' striped Cinnabar moth larvae.

Mike

Otmoor, Oxon - 12th August 2016

I took advantage of a bright sunny afternoon yesterday (12th August) to re-visit the Roman Road at Otmoor, in the hope of finding Brown Hairstreaks.

On arrival, the most conspicuous flying insects were huge numbers of dragonflies, mostly Common Darters, just beginning to develop their red colouration, with larger Southern and Brown Hawkers cruising at a higher-level, overhead.

Butterflies were not particularly abundant but, soon, several smallish brown butterflies started to appear. Many were unusually small Gatekeepers, doing quite a good 'hairstreak impression', as well as some brightly coloured Meadow Browns - the one shown here has a barely visible second 'pupil' in the eye-spot, which was more obvious on the underside:
The sunlight was rather harsh, which created some difficulty for photography, especially when a few Green-veined Whites appeared. This one shows the subtle difference in tint between the wings - slightly bluish for the fore-wing and green for the hind-wing:
It was good to see Brimstones back on the wing again, after a long summer lull. Strong back-lighting make this female a good subject for photos:
While I was watching this butterfly, someone told me that others had found a Brown Hairstreak further along the ride, so I hurried for a look. I was in time to catch a few shots, as it nectared on a small group of thistles before disappearing high into one of the Ash trees. Again, I found the contrasty lighting was quite difficult to manage, for photography.
Following this successful sighting, I continued onto the open moor, where there was plenty of bird interest, including Marsh Harrier, a pair of Cranes, and a Purple Heron that has been present for a few days. All were too distant for decent photos but added to the pleasure of the day.

I returned to the Roman Road, hoping for more Brown Hairstreak (BH) sightings and, not far from the car-park end, came across a very splendid example that had chosen to nectar on various white flowers. This really created photographic problems and I didn't handle the situation too well. If I had thought more (but it was hot), I could, perhaps, have used some fill-in flash, to even-up the strong contrasts. Alternatively, I could have used my camera's HDR mode for similar purposes. In fact, I did neither, and ended up with some very over-contrasty JPEGs.

Fortunately, I always have my camera set to take simultaneous JPEG and RAW files, so all was not lost, although it took some post-processing effort! Usually, I have found JPEGs from my Olympus are so good that I simply file the RAW images, as a reserve of 'digital negatives', but not this time.

The most extreme example was when the BH decided to visit a white Convolvulus flower and, since this was one of the few occasions when she showed her upper wing surfaces, I was keen to keep the shot. The flower was completely 'bleached' in the JPEG but I was able to recover some highlight detail by processing the RAW file, which I think has improved the shot. I use Corel AfterShot 2 as my RAW converter and find this a good program to use - fast, with a clutter-free, simple screen layout, and plenty of controls for image-adjustment. I chose this software after trialling various alternatives, including Lightroom, which I found rather over-complex.

It's not a great photo but I show the two (JPEG and RAW) results below, to demonstrate the additional detail that can be recovered. To be fair, the flower looked pretty blindingly white in the field!
Several other shots benefitted from RAW processing, to keep some detail in the flowers, while showing the brilliant colour of this freshly-emerged insect. I have never seen such vivid red markings, which looked almost as though she has LEDs concealed in the 'tails'!
Mike

Lovely Brown Hairstreak images, Mike.
The first one in particular shows the texture of the wings nicely, far from smooth !.

Trevor.

My favourite is the final BH image.

I am starting to think that I need to have a few breaks down south next summer especially for Emperor and Brown Hairstreak seasons.

I know a lot of people would die for a Scotch Argus but here they are in every suitable locality (as are Ringlets and Speckled Woods). I had a "butterfly" visitor last week. "That looks right for Scotch Argus" we would say and invariably, it was: we got a blasé about them. I do suspect though - having had plenty of rain but enough sun this summer - that it has been an exceptionally good year for Scotch Argus

Jack

Superb images of the BH Mike. I had a similar problem with the bright light - even the Hemp Agrimony looked white - but your post processing has obviously done the trick. You must be delighted with the results

Many thanks for the comments, Trevor, Jack, and Pauline. I've seem some pretty good BH posts already on this site!

The second one I saw on Otmoor was such a beautiful specimen that I was disappointed at first not to have made a better job of the photography. Fortunately, post-processing saved the day and the final results do convey something of what a splendid insect this was

Aston Rowant - 15th August 2016

A return visit to Aston Rowant NNR yesterday (15th August) - this time to the South-facing slope immediately above the M40 - yielded far more Chalkhill Blues than my previous visit, 10 days ago.

This time, the slope was drenched in sunshine and the clumps of Marjoram along the top were attracting good numbers of Chalkhill Blue and Brown Argus butterflies, together with Meadow Browns and Gatekeepers.

Some of the Brown Argus looked freshly emerged and had a colourful oily-sheen on their upper-wings, which produced an eye-catching shimmer of green and purple in the bright sunlight:
I followed the path along the top of the slope to the more open grass slopes of Beacon Hill, where I hoped to find Adonis Blue but, apart from couple of distant 'possibles', they do not seem to be on the wing yet. There were, however, several Common Blues, including some striking 'blue' females:
It's not too difficult to be led into mistaking a Common Blue for an Adonis, as illustrated below, where the markings on the opposite wing give the impression of a chequered fringe:
But, when she opened her wings, this was another bright 'blue' female CB. The following male CB shows his double fringe very clearly but also demonstrates how, when the outer fringe wears down, the inner fringe can give a chequered impression:
Many of the Chalkhill Blues were relatively worn but there were a few examples that still showed the brilliance of their silver upper wings, overlaid with fine silky blue hairs:
Again, some of the female Chalkhills were particularly striking, with a strong contrast between their chocolate fore-wings and sparkling hind-wings:
Silver-spotted Skippers were much in evidence and, later in the afternoon, some became more sedentary, even basking on the main path:
Other butterflies enjoying the late-afternoon sunshine were Brimstones and one or two very bright Small Tortoiseshells, which angled themselves to receive the most warmth from the lower sun:
Approaching the gate that leads back to the main car-park, one crosses a sort of 'Wallace Line', where the Silver-spotted Skippers of the main slope are replaced by Small Skippers, one of which provided my last photo of the day:
Mike

Just catching up Mike - that final image of the Brostreak is a stunner, I see what you mean about the red markings! Love the sheen on the Brown Argus too

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Thanks for 'catching up' Wurzel - yes, that BH was a remarkable specimen! Being retired, I have the luxury of having time to keep up to date - I see you are reporting trips from June!

I'm also very envious of that Brown Hairstreak photo - and of your retired status that makes things a bit easier.

Dave

Must be great to live within striking distance of this site, Mike.

With all those 'late' species, it's like going back in time a few weeks.

Noar Hill, Hants - 17th August 2016

It was a very hot and sunny afternoon for my first visit to Noar Hill, near Selborne, for many years. Pauline had kindly offered to show me a good place to find Autumn Lady's Tresses orchids (Spiranthes spiralis), which were my main target for the day. These small orchids carry their white flowers in a spiral, twisting around the stem, like a plait.

Pauline spotted an unusual double-stemmed plant, which I photographed and I also used the 'stacking' capability of my Olympus camera, to take a close-up of the tiny flowers.
Of course, we did not neglect the butterflies and, immediately on entering the track from where we left the cars, there were Holly Blues in the hedgerow. We didn't managed to spot any Brown Hairstreaks, which were probably, very sensibly, keeping out of the heat from the strong afternoon sunshine. A vivid Red Admiral did,however, provide a striking back-lit photo, as it nectared on the plentiful Hemp Agrimony flowers.
A little later, I saw what was possibly the same individual, collecting moisture or sap from a stem of Hazel. The bright light brought out the remarkable cryptic underside patterns and colours very effectively:
A very small dark blue butterfly turned out not to be the expected Small Blue but a tiny female Common Blue. She appeared to be seeking Birdsfoot Trefoil plants on which to lay, although we didn't manage to spot any eggs.
Towards the end of the walk, I was delighted to spot a Painted Lady - only the second I have seen so far this year. She was, however, being very coy, constantly flitting and circling around numerous flower heads. She had a nick out of one wing but, fortunately, the best photo I managed to get was of her 'good' side. Like the Red Admiral, her underside showed a spectacular array of colours and markings, fully justifying the common name of this species - look at those lipstick shades, blusher, and eye-shadow palette!
Mike

p.s looking at Pauline's PD, it seems we both photographed the Painted Lady at the same moment, from slightly different angles!

As I predicted Mike your shots are far superior to mine. I particularly like the RA on the Hazel branch which I just wasn't quick enough to get, and that 'stacking' capability is obviously a powerful tool. Great images as usual