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Well it appears that I am in a bit of a pickle with my diaries doing this playing catch up business as I have missed two very important trips out after Fermyn and before the PHS in my garden. I will combine two trips into one post as there isn’t a great deal to share but what I do have to share is something very exciting, well, for me anyway

20/07/2019

Chicksands Woods, Bedfordshire.

I had quite a few visits to Chicksands this year hunting for Purple Emperor, PHS, WLH and SWF. It is a good place to take the dogs when the weather is too hot for normal walks.

In all the visits I only managed one brief sighting of a solitary WLH that was not in the best condition and I could only positively identify it once I got home from the grainy, full zoom pics I had. SWF were present on all visits which are always nice to see and on one occasion there were over 50 peacocks seen along the main path that runs through the centre and the entire length of the woods. The woods were awash with Ringlet and when they had run their course it was the turn of the Meadow Browns that were everywhere as well as good numbers of Large Skippers and a few Brown Argus but on the visit of 20/07 I had the biggest surprise.

Taking the main path as always we stopped at one of the intersections to check the high walls of brambles when all of a sudden a White Admiral appeared from over the top and landed right near us and I have to be honest that I was so excited that I had finally got to see one properly that I lost the ability of how to use the camera This is what happen to me when I see something new, I am so excited that I completely forget everything I have learned The pics are clipped, poorly exposed and generally pretty poor but it is my first ever White Admiral, so I am happy I managed a few minutes with it before it flew off back over the top of the brambles. We waited a while but it seemed clear that it was not going to return so we continued our walk. We did catch another glimpse of another further along but it was fleeting and quite a distance from us.
I was under the impression that White Admiral were not in Chicksands Woods so it was a massive and very welcome surprise to finally see one when in a place that I thought was not possible to see one. My ninth first ever sighting this year which by my reckoning makes this an absolutely unbeatable year


21/07/2020

Fineshade Woods, Northamptonshire.

I had planned on attending the Butterfly Conservation trip to Fineshade this year but once again felt the weather on the day was unsuitable as it was raining when I woke up. I went a few weeks later, once again with the family, the dogs and a picnic and although the weather was good on the way, the clouds began to build shortly after arriving.

We were greeted by a female SWF at the beginning of our walk but the build up of clouds meant it turned out to be a really overcast and relatively quiet trip.

The only saving grace was a quick flyby by a White Admiral and at one point I noticed something on the ground when my dog Morris almost trod on it, a grounded Purple Emperor! My second one of the year.
Almost being trodden on by Morris caused it to take flight and fly around the clearing in a large circle and land in almost exactly the same spot to continue probing the gravel. It took flight to a small rock and then again onto a large pile of gravel which I assume was still to be spread over the path. It stayed for a few minutes before taking off and into the trees never to return. The rest of the walk was fairly quiet with the odd spot of rain and constant cloud cover keeping the butterflies hidden from sight but all in all I still count it as a good trip as I got to see my second Purple Emperor I still need that four wings purple shot though

That;s often the way with His Nibbs - if you go looking chances are you might miss out but when unexpected there he is I'm thinking that the surest way is to take one of my mates that couldn't care less about butterflies out with me for the day and then just wait for an Emperor to land on them

Have a goodun

Wurzel

So, you didn't have long to wait for your White Admiral, Old Wolf?

And an Emperor to yourself, in spite of its canine 'near miss'!

Great reports Old Wolf. Well done with the Emperors.

Hello Wurzel, well the family although happy to take me definately fall into that category

Hello David, no, not long at all I just wish that I hadn't got so excited and be all fingers and thumbs

Thanks Andrew, I really am chuffed that I have finally seen one

29/07/19

Hexton Chalk Pit & Sharpenhoe Clappers

I was accompanied by the brother in law for this trip. This is the very kind brother in law who has lent me his camera and he quite fancied giving a bit of butterfly hunting a go.

We set off reasonably early as the day was forecast to be an absolute scorcher and arrived at our first stop, Hexton Chalk Pit at about ten. Hexton Chalk Pit is another Wildlife Trust nature reserve in Hertfordshire and is known for its Chalk Hill Blues, a species that I was yet to see this year.
This is the first time I had visited the reserve and found it is quite small and very hilly making photography challenging in places. There are many ditches, depressions and gulleys that the long grasses and slippery chalk patches were making difficult to navigate safely with a camera in hand. It is very similar to Ashwell Quarry nature reserve in Hertfordshire which I visited last year for the Chalkies.

We were greeted by the Chalkies pretty much as we entered the reserve and spent some time trying to traverse the terrain to get close enough for a shot. As the heat built the Chalkies became more and more energetic and difficult to approach. A lone DGF was spotted a few times patrolling the site in a large circuit but had no interest in landing for us. We stayed about an hour but because it was getting so hot we set off to our second destination, Sharpenhoe Clappers where I hoped to get a decent shot of a DGF.

Upon arrival we found that the hillside was alive with little blue flashes as it really had got very hot by this time. There were Chalkies everywhere, far more than I have seen before which was a challenge because although there were many, they were not staying still for long. One would settle and it wouldn’t be long before another would zip by so it would take off again to join in the chase. There were also some DGF cruising across the hillside, they were pretty much all female this time. This time we headed further than I had the last time I was here a few weeks ago and crested the top of the hill to a field beyond where there were plenty of Painted Ladies present. We walked the path of this large field on the other side of the hill and spotted one or two DGF but they were fleeting glimpses as they sailed past. We headed back down the hill to the entrance and the meadow full of Chalkies and decided to go further downhill than I had the last time I visited and here we found a pair of mating Brown Argus (I think), and mating Chalkies. This far down the hill the terrain becomes very similar to Hexton with short, sharp inclines and exposed chalk in the track making it a bit tricky in places. The track we followed ended up finishing at the road you drive in on and continues across this road which was where we headed next.
It was here that there were more DGF than anywhere else and we followed them as they landed and dropped down into the leaf mould which I read afterwards could have been to lay eggs. I tried to get a decent underside shot but the sun was blazing by this point and it was so bright so the best I could get were these. It was mid-afternoon by now and we were really baked as we had been out in the sun since the morning and decided to call it a day and grab a drink as ours had run out by this time. We headed back up to the car trying to grab some shots of the Chalkies on the way. All in all a great day and the brother in law really enjoyed it and offered to come again if I ever want to go when he is visiting.

Spot on with the Brown Argus ID Old Wolf A lovely report and a lovely set of shots - the second DGF is a cracker - they're great butterflies and when the light catches them right those spots silver up lovely Glad your brother in-law enjoyed himself too - wanting to go butterflying again - that one's a keeper

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Another excellent sequence, Old Wolf. In fact, in spite of all my foreign travels, Chalkhill Blue was a species I didn't get an image of last year, so those shots of yours are worth a few of these:

Thanks Wurzel, the brother in law has been a few times with me since and now he is moving from Torquay to Bedfordshire he already told me he is looking forward to more trips so I have another chauffeur To be honest, the original chauffeur is really rather pleased about this

Thanks David, the Chalkie is still a relatively new one for me as I only saw one for the first time last year. I am really trying to get a good pic of the silvery shimmer that I was seeing when I was there but it just does not come out in the pics like this

18/08/2016 – 24/08/2019

Family Holiday to Bacton, Norfolk (part 1).

Our family holiday this year was to Bacton in Norfolk. Bacton is one of the smaller places on the north east coast that is less commercial than Great Yarmouth, Hunstanton or Caister. Our choices are very much dictated to pet friendly accommodation so that we can take the dogs, Dougie and Morris with us.

Leading up to our trip I used our very own UKB to see what sites and species were on offer that I might be able to press gang the famille into taking me to. I found that there were many sites that piqued my interest with a possibility of four first time ever sightings on offer. Two were a long shot: Swallowtail, but only of there was a second brood and Silver Studded Blue, but they would be right at the very, very end of their flight period and very unlikely. The two that I had more of a chance with were the Wall and Grayling. This was all as long as they would take me of course.

We arrived late afternoon on the Saturday to a lovely site that was a two minute walk from a sandy beach. The chalets were situated all round a large communal green and each chalet had a small green in front with plants and flowers lining the paths leading to the outside decking. The sun was blazing so we were very optimistic that it would hold for our stay and spent the first evening exploring the area where I was taking note of places that may require a bit of additional attention, with the camera of course

Our first day dawned nice and sunny and we needed supplies so the chauffeur headed off in search of them and left me with the dogs, sitting outside on the decking enjoying the glorious day. As I sat there a butterfly flew over the top of the chalets and landed on the flowers directly outside our chalet and I absolutely could not believe it but it was a Wall! My first ever, on the first day of the holiday! I ran inside for the camera praying that it didn’t fly off whilst I was gone. And luckily, it didn’t. It stayed with me for about five minutes and all I had to do was lean over the balustrade of the decking and try to get the best pictures I could. I was overjoyed at being visited at my very own chalet by one of my targets on this trip and very wrongfully thought that there must be more about. This was the only one I saw in the whole week we stayed.

20/08/19

I was lucky enough that the Famille agreed to take me on a mega trip for the day around the north coast to three sites I had earmarked to search for butterflies.

The first stop was Wiveton Down in search of more Wall. We got a little lost trying to find it but luckily bumped into a couple of people riding horses who directed us to the concealed car park entrance. The heath is on a hill and is very scrubby with lots of bare earth and interestingly there are Oaks further down the hill and the path is pretty much running alongside their canopy. This would be an excellent place for observing PHS if they are here but I am a bit late in the year and didn’t see any there. In fact, I didn’t see very much of anything. We saw a few Small Copper on the heather as we entered and the odd Painted Lady and Red Admiral buzzing around but other than that, it was pretty much butterfly-less. No Wall for me today. We followed the path all the way around and across the road into the cow field but there really wasn’t very much about so we decided to head off to site number two.

Our next stop was Cley Marshes Coastal Nature Reserve in search of Grayling which unfortunately we were restricted to only the main paths because of the dogs. The reserve is a large marsh right on the north coast and being very flat, was incredibly windy. I was actually quite cold as we took the main path out to the beach in search of Grayling.

Along the way I encountered a duck and a bird that looked interesting but I have no idea what they are. If any of the birders here can tell from the rather small pictures I managed to get, I would love to know what they are. The only one I could identify was the Small Egret. One we reached the pebbly beach we headed to the dunes to look for Grayling but there really was nothing there. One butterfly was disturbed and flew off being carried at great speed by the winds but I think it was too dark to be a Grayling but couldn’t say what it was. There was another unknown bird that I have no idea what it is so once again, any help will be greatly appreciated. After searching in vain for a while it was time to head off to the third and final site, Kelling Heath on the off chance that there may some Silver Studded Blue left.

The heath was a mass of ferns with mud tracks through them which we spent some time going around but it was pretty much empty of butterflies. The signs warned of Adders so the dogs had to be kept short to avoid any accidents but there were no snakes to be seen either. I had missed the SSB, but it was a bit of a long shot anyway. I was quite disappointed and felt bad that the famille had given me a day out of our holiday solely for butterflying and it had been a complete washout.

21/08/19

This morning afforded me some spare time to go to the local spots that I had noted from our first days exploration.
At the back of the chalet was a small tree covered path that had a few resident Speckled Wood. The path leads into a lane that has buddleia brushes brimming with Small Torts, Painted Ladies and Red Admirals swapping between basking on the side of houses and the gravel and feeding on the plants. It was very reminiscent of the Buddleia bushes of my childhood that used to be covered with them. It was great to see so many Small Torts as they have been really lacking in Bedfordshire lately. It might be worth noting that the Buddleia was growing in someones drive so I couldn't get as close as I would have liked without trespassing

I had been informed of a wildflower field quite a way along the main road that was used by dog walkers which I decided to visit in the late afternoon. Although the flowers would have been past their best by now, I still felt it worth a try.

The field was a corner of a large crop field that had been left wild and had a track leading through the middle. There were a few Common Blue which were a welcome sight due to the lack of them in Bedfordshire, many Small Torts, a few Brown Argus and the odd Brimstone speeding along the brambles at the edge of the field. To be continued.

You did well with that Wall and going after your first Grayling on the same trip is impressive too. Those two butterflies are probably responsible for more curse words from the otherwise very polite butterflying community than the rest of the our butterflies combined !

As for the birds they look like to me (happy to be corrected) a female Pochard, a Reed Warbler, a Little Egret and a Wheatear.

Great shots of those Small Torts as well

Congrats for that Wall Brown, and a female too,
they are normally harder to locate than the patrolling males.

And yes, more people are greeting as they pass than before.

Keep well and safe,
Trevor.

Congrats on the Wall Old Wolf And that Buddleia is a cracking sight I'd go with three of Bugboys bird ID's - Pochard and Little Egret. It is a Wheatear but I prefer they original name 'Whitearse' Not sure about the Warbler - it looks a little too yellowy and the head too rounded for Reed Warbler although it could be a juvenile?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

Fabulous shots of the Wall Brown, Old Wolf. It's rare to have them posing like that.

Thanks BB, I will defer to your birding expertise because I have no idea It was great to see so many Small Torts as in my area I am lucky if I see a few in a season. Hopefully the Grayling will be easier

Thanks Trevor, I am glad to hear the Wall was a female and it makes it all the more special that they are harder to locate. I didn't locate her, I was lucky enough for her to locate me Lets hope the courtesy carries on after this is all over.

Thanks Wurzel, once again I will defer to your expertise on the birds The Buddleia was great to see but due to it being in a drive I couldn't get it all in shot without trespassing but there were many more on the bush.

Thanks David, I thought it would be a Wall-topia after that one visited but it just wasn't the case. Makes it all the more special as it is a beautiful little butterfly.

18/08/2019 – 24/08/2019

Family Holiday to Bacton, Norfolk (part 2).

22/08/19

The Famille agreed to take me on another butterfly hunting trip today and this was the big one. I was hoping to go to look for a second brood Swallowtail. A butterfly I am so very desparate to see.

There were four sites listed here on UKB that I thought I could look into going to; Strumpshaw Fen, Ranworth Broad, How Hill and Hickling Broad. After the restrictions at Cley I felt it best to double check with these sites as they are reserves and unfortunately all but one did not allow dogs. This cut down my chances by three quarters but I still had one site to check, How Hill. I phoned them to see if there had been any second brood sightings and was told that one was spotted in the secret garden on the previous day. They advised to arrive early on a warm, calm day and today fitted the bill.
We set off early and much to delight of my chauffeur, How Hill was at the end of a very narrow winding country lane that only had room for one car for the whole length and she does love country lanes

Upon arrival I was disappointed to find out that the dogs were not allowed on the nature trail and the only place we could go was the secret garden which luckily was where one had been spotted but ruled out most of the site for us.
Living up to its name, the secret garden was quite difficult to locate and we had to ask a few people on the way as it was on the other side of a little wood but when we arrived, we found it to be a beautiful little place. The garden was surrounded by tall trees and had ponds surrounded by paths and flowers. As the sun streamed in from above the place seemed a little bit magical. The only sounds were the birds singing in the trees and the slight rustle of the trees from the light breeze.

The famille plotted up on a bench in a clearing to enjoy the sun and left me to hunt the garden. On one of the trees in the garden there was a large Chicken of the Woods Fungi and on the flowers lining the paths there were Red Admiral, Brimstone, Painted Lady, Small Torts and Brown Argus. There were Speckled Wood patrolling the trees on the perimeter of the garden. I walked the paths circling all the ponds hoping that I would find what we came here for but unfortunately it was not meant to be. After a few hours of wandering the garden it was time to head off. There would be no Swallowtail this time. Back at Bacton that afternoon I went for another wander around the site and to the alley at the back of the site to see the resident Speckled Woods. I was very surprised to bump into a Muntjac here who saw me and fled before I even got hand to camera. 23/08/2019

Well today was the last butterfly trip that the Famille had agreed to take me on and I feel that here I should just say that I am very thankful to have such an understanding Family who have been most kind in taking me to these places.

We planned a trip to Winterton Nature Reserve to search the sandy dunes for Grayling. This was my last chance to see another first time ever sighting on this trip and bring my total this year to an unbeatable eleven new species.

I was visited at the flowers outside the chalet by a lovely Small Tort so felt that my luck could be in today. We arrived to a blazing sunshine in a cloudless sky and I was eager to get into the dunes to hunt. The Famille accompanied me as many eyes would help trying to find this master of camouflage. There was the odd Common Blue sailing over the dunes which once again were good to see because of the complete lack of them in my area this year. It wasn’t long until we saw a brownish butterfly sail past us. We followed it until it landed nearer my daughter who approached it and said ‘oh, it’s only a speckled wood’ which shows that all these trips are rubbing off on her but I told her Grayling look a bit like them and headed towards her and there it was, my eleventh first ever sighting of the year! Now that they had seen one which is apparently enough for some people, the Famille headed off to the beach and left me to carry on. I found a small clump of heather that had many Grayling around it and gave me a lot of opportunities to observe and get some shots. They really do blend in well with the bracken don’t they? And I got plenty of eye spot flashes as I got close. There was one individual who was very easy to spot as it couldn’t retract its forewing so although it looks like it is flashing, it was always like this. It was all about the Grayling and the only thing that turned my head was this lovely fresh Small Copper. The heat continued to build and the lack of shade meant it was time to grab some lunch and get out of the sun for a while but I was happy.
I even managed to convince the chauffeur to swing by How Hill on the way home and negotiate the winding country lane, just in case there was a Swallowtail for me but alas, not this time. Once again, I want to thank the Famille for allowing me so much of our holiday to devote to my pursuit of butterflies. They really are the best and I couldn’t do it without them. You rock guys

Sorry you didn't get the Swallowtail Old Wolf but you do have to leave something for next time Grayling are a great 'value for money' species, they can be highly entertaining - great stuff with the open wing shot

Have a goodun

Wurzel

I can feel your enthusiasm in that report, Old Wolf. It's always exciting to see new species, and Graylings are amongst the most interesting with both their playful behaviour and incredible camouflage.

I see you couldn't resist trying for that open wing shot! Something I find irresistible too.

Wow. Look at the dust in here! And the cobwebs, they're everywhere! Who is meant to be looking after this place?

Sunday 25th September was a day to remember. Probably the best days butterflying I have had in a bit of a mixed bag of a year. Don't get me wrong, there have been some highlights but there have been a lot of let downs in a year of extremes to say the least. But what a way to finish

As a lot of other members here have, I headed down to Worthing Beach to try and catch up with the LTB's. Keeping an eye on Neils diary and reading about the amazing things happening was like torture as I waited the week out, praying the weather didn't collapse until Sunday which was the only day I could get down there. When I read mid week that many had headed south and the numbers dropped considerably my heart sank and every day became ever more torturous as I prayed that it wan't over and I had missed it for a third year. The news that there was still some around on Saturday lifted my spirits immensely as the trip was on.

I headed down on Sunday and arrived at twelve and my walk from the station to the beach was somewhere between a scuttle and a canter, to get there as quickly as possible. As I cantered along the promenade (probably like the knights form Monty Python and the Holy Grail – so imagine the their theme tune whilst you read), I spotted two Cloudies chasing each other on the other side of the road in the gardens of some flats and decided this would be a good place to get the camera out just in case. The Sun was shining and sparkling on the still water, it really was a tonic for the soul and I was about fit to burst with excitement after a four hour train journey.

I arrived at the destination and saw a fair amount of butterfliers searching the area. Cloudies were flying past in ones and twos and I located and introduced myself to Neil who put me onto my very first LTB within minutes of arriving. It was a brief glimpse through the binoculars before it was off at great speed but it wasn’t long before I saw another. The first one I managed to photograph displayed some near side fore wing damage which would make the little feller easy to spot and which also confirmed him as a male without the need to open his wings, which he did anyway. The first few hours flew past in a blur as I was tracking a mixture of LTB’s and Cloudies. UKB member Lawts arrived after having successfully seen the QoS in Walmer and was enjoying his second vagrants of the day. Incidentally, three people I spoke with had done the double that day but Lawts had come from the furthest away so he wins on that count. Neil unfortunately had to leave but it was great to meet him and I am sure our paths will cross again someday. Lawts also had to leave to make his mammoth journey home and I was left in the company of Paul Day and others including the lady whose garden we were all out the back of, who was also out with her camera and enjoying the LTB’s.

A selection of those few hours. One thing that struck me was that all the LTB’s had their tails. I had assumed that much like the Hairstreaks I would see some with bird strikes but this wasn’t the case. The only damage I saw was to forewings. Another surprise was how the tails flap in the light breeze. I hadn’t considered that this would happen. Only one confirmed female was seen and luckily it was by me but it was brief as it landed opened its wings slightly to confirm and then was off again. There is some damage to the offside fore wing which is just visible in the second picture so if anyone has pics from 25th of an LTB with a piece out of this wing it could be the female which is pictured. There were not any pairings seen so I am unsure as to whether she hung around. I only managed a few record shots. A certain Cloudie caused a bit of a stir (pictured below). I personally didn’t see it fly as I was looking the other way but it landed right next to me and everyone had been following it to where it landed because it looked like it was something different. So as I turned towards the commotion, they were all gathered around me and it. The two phrases I heard was ‘It had hardly any black bands’ and ‘It was lighter than a Helice’. We could not see from the way it had tucked its forewing away what it could be. After a while of people talking about it and the Cloudie’s stubborn refusal to show us it’s forewings, I gently nudged the leaf it was on to see if it would give up its secrets but all it did was take off at speed flying straight up and over all of us and out over the beach huts and across the beach. No one got a decent look so I think it will remain an unsolved mystery. The only definite Helice I saw flew along the beach, landed on the pebbles past the path to the toilet where it was joined by a normal Cloudie for a few seconds before they took off and flew off into the distance. The only other butterflies seen (by me) was a single Small Copper, a single Red Admiral and some whites which to be honest, I was really not paying attention to.
At three o’ clock the cloud began to build and things did really quieten down. A lot of people had left by this point and there were only a few of us left. The LTB’s began to wind down and by half three only two seemed to be present as the others must have settled down somewhere where they were difficult to find. Even the Cloudies had stopped their to-ing and fro-ing along the beach and the only things flying were a few whites. A look at the sky confirmed that the cloud wouldn’t be clearing anytime soon so at just before four, I left for the train journey home. It is worth noting that the first LTB I photographed was also the last LTB I photographed which proves the little feller was there all day and planning on staying overnight.
I had a wonderful day in good company which really reminded me just how uplifting and good a good days butterflying can be. Thanks to everyone that helped in the run up, thanks to everyone I met and definitely thanks to the LTB’s and Cloudies who hung around until Sunday for me to get down there and finally become acquainted.

What an uplifting diary entry and great shots. A for the female!