Grayling

 

After last weeks negative results from our search for Grayling butterflies, Wednesday left us with a choice to make, a return visit to Windover Hill or go looking for Purple Emperors. There wasn't really any choice, the Grayling are a much more interesting target. It is a butterfly that is just hanging on in Sussex and each year we return there is a real fear that it will be gone.

The walk up the hill gave us a good selection of butterflies with a lot more Chalkhill Blues on show than last time although still not in the numbers we had seen some years.

Chalkhill Blue

Still hundreds and probably thousands of the nationally rare Yellow Pearl moth and one I forgot to mention in the last blog, sightings of the Forester moth on both visits although only one specimen on each day.

Yellow Pearl - Mecyna flavalis

Forester Moth - Adscita statices

and Six-spot Burnets now in good numbers

Six-spot Burnet

Reaching the top of the hill we crossed over into Deep Dean. We have two strategies for the search. The first and certainly the easiest on a hot day is to sit at the top of the slope and scan for Grayling flying up to intercept any other butterfly passing through their territory. It usually works but not today. The second is to walk up and down the slope looking for the cryptically camouflaged and hard to spot butterfly in each of the scrapes on the hill. It sometimes works but again not today and it was certainly a lot harder work in the midday heat.

We did see a couple of possibles flying. They always remind me of Kestrels. They hang in the wind appearing to be stationary then drop one wing and shoot off down the hill at speed and with no wing flapping. A good possibility it might have been but it was a long way down and the butterfly would not be easy to find to confirm the sighting.

We had lunch and watched for a bit longer but were really ready to head for home. Fortunately we spotted Patrick Moore heading up the hill on his transect. We had spoken to him the week before when he had also drawn a blank. We expected the same response this time but he had seen about a dozen in the bushes at the top of the hill.

You learn something every day, this is not a place we would have looked for the Grayling. Better still, when we walked back up the hill Patrick picked one out from about 20 yards away, a remarkable spot given the jumble of undergrowth there.

 

We saw three, possibly four Grayling and Patrick had a dozen. It's not many but at least they are still hanging on and we can look forward to seeing them again next year.

Grayling and others

Just catching up on a few of the butterfly photographs I have taken over the past few weeks. Best find was probably this Grayling, a butterfly that gets harder to see in Sussex as each year goes by. This one was on Windover Hill and despite an hours searching it was the only one I could find.

Grayling

They are always a bit difficult to spot against the Chalk flints but this one did at least put down amongst some greenery making it a little more visible. Although they always settle with wings closed they will, if threatened, "pop up" the forewing flashing a patch of orange and an eye. I managed to get a half hearted response on my initial approach but it then seemed to tire of that game and just fell asleep and ignored my presence.

Grayling

Lots of lovely Brimstones along with other butterflies at Houghton Forest but perhaps not in the numbers we have seen in previous years. The high winds and stormy weather at the begining of the month may have had an impact.

Brimstone

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Small Heath

Chalkhill Blue

Red Admiral

Lots of Silver-washed Fritillaries at Houghton as well but when you did manage to catch up with them they were in a really tatty state.



Newtimber Hill is one of the most reliable sites for Silver-spotted Skippers. They were there but again not in big numbers but then we were probably four weeks later than usual in looking for them.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Wall Brown

Chalkhill Blues still looking good though.

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue

Dark Green Fritillary

Last but not least a Large White, we tend to ignore them but they really are quite a beautiful butterfly.

Large White

No sign of a Clouded Yellow yet or perhaps even one of the rarer migrants from the continent but there is still time.

Silver-spotted Skipper

The summer quiet patch has ended and the second half of the Butterfly year seems to going really well. My impression is that there are more butterflies around than last year although it may just be that in the hot weather they are more active than usual.

I should be able to see 46 butterflies in the year and that is without travelling outside of Sussex. As I was falling well short of that number I have spent the last few days trying to fill some of the gaps. Most are now annual pilgrimages, Newtimber Hill for the Silver-spotted Skippers, Windover Hill for the Chalkhill Blue and Grayling, and the more recent addition of Knepp for the Purple Hairstreaks.

Sometimes it seems a bit pointless going round seeing the same butterflies and taking the same pictures but then there are never two years the same. Numbers vary, habitats change, some locations fade away and others open up. Just seeing the changes taking place is part of the enjoyment - most of the time! There is also that exceptional picture that is still out there waiting to be taken.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper, a feisty little butterfly with a good turn of speed. It always reminds me of the Pearl Bordered and Small Pearl Bordered. You think you are following its movement and then a sudden change of direction or speed and its gone.

Silver-spotted Skipper

Silver-spotted Skipper

White Admiral

Large Skipper

But I am still missing the Essex Skipper and there doesn't seem to be that many Small Skippers about.

Peacock  - the dark side!

Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreak, my bogey butterfly. I see lots of them but I just don't seem to be able to get a good open wing shot.

Chalkhill Blue

Chalkhill Blue  Female

Chalkhill Blue Male

Common Blue

Grayling

Grayling, a good two hours of searching and I was only able to find one butterfly at my usual location. Recent reports have shown better returns lower down the slope in Deep Dean.

Brown Argus

Brown Argus

Still  missing a few, Dark Green Fritillary, White Hairstreak, Essex Skipper, Brown Hairstreak and Clouded Yellow. Also a Small Tortoiseshell which I must have seen but have not recorded. Might even get a Long-tailed Blue or perhaps a Camberwell Beauty. Dream on!

Small Copper

The blog is called "Small Copper" as this is probably my favourite butterfly and this is the first one that I have seen this year. It is always a joy to see but it seems to be getting rarer each year.

Actually the day was really about another butterfly. I have been commenting a lot recently about the shortage of blue butterflies this year. Today that all changed. We went up onto Windover Hill and there were Chalkhill Blues everywhere. The numbers probably ran into the thousands and that was just in the areas we walked through.

The classic shot is of a Chalkhill nectaring on Knapweed but there was little chance of that today. The wind was blowing strong across the hill and the butterflies were staying low.

The Chalkhills are very variable in appearance, with lots of identified aberrations and they were a great favourite of the Victorian collectors.

Ninety percent or more of the Chalkhills flying were male, although the more secretive females were starting to put in more of an appearance as the day wore on. With that number of males flying, I can understand why the females were staying hidden.

We also found a good number of Grayling although perhaps not to the levels we had seen in previous years.

This is a butterfly that is reluctant to fly, relying on its cryptic camouflage to keep it hidden. It can be difficult to spot unless it takes to the air and even when you know where it landed it is difficult to find.

After much searching and chasing up and down a forty five degree slope I did manage to get a few shots where more detail could be seen. Although some of it is not very pleasant.

In the shot above the eye on the upper wing is just starting to emerge. Th butterfly will often flick this up to frighten off potential predators.

These two shots show examples of infestation by the larvae of the mite Trombidium breei. These live on the blood of the butterfly and can often be found on a large proportion of the colony. It is not quite as bad as it looks. The larvae only stay attached for two or three days, although of course some butterflies only live a few days. Investigation has shown no evidence of the mite affecting the lifespan or within habitat movement rates of the butterflies. 

If you want more information click on the link below.

Conradt, L., Corbet, S.A., Roper, T.J., and Bedworth, E.J. (2002), Parasitism by the mite Trombidium breei on four U.K. butterfly species. Ecological Entomology, 27:651-659. doi: 10.1046/j.1365-2311.2002.00461.x

See also my blog of July 2014 showing a female Chalkhill Blue carrying at least fifteen of these mite larve.

There were a good number of other butterfly around today. Dark Green Fritillary, Small Skipper, Large Skippers, Whites, Peacock, Red Admiral, Brimstone, Small Heath, Meadow Brown, Ringlets, Gatekeeper, Marbled White, Common Blue, Tortoiseshell, and a possible but very elusive Silver Spotted Skipper. 

We also had a Migrant Hawker, shown below.

A good day with more butterflies in both quantity and variety than I have seen so far this year. 

Scotch Argus and Grayling

Long trips up the M6 are getting to be a habit this year but with Dave only needing the Scotch Argus to complete his set and with Arnside Knott being the closest location of a colony another visit was inevitable. It also had the benefit that I could tick off the Scotch Argus and I am now only left with the Swallowtail to get next May.

We left at 0530 on Wednesday and were wandering around Arnside Knott looking for butterflies by 1130. If only all trips up there were as easy. The butterflying community is very helpful and an exchange of data with the first people we met soon had us onto our first Scotch Argus.

Scotch Argus - looks freshly emerged

We struggled at first, the butterflies were on the wing but it was cool and cloudy and every time the sun went in they flopped down into the thick grass.

About to crawl into the grass

We got a few record shots but then, with rain coming in, we retreated back to the car for lunch. A short while later, much refreshed, and with the weather warming up we returned to the hunt. This time it proved a bit easier. The butterflies weren't exactly posing for pictures but at least they were staying out in the open. You had to be careful approaching them and they were very flighty but there were some good picture opportunities on offer.

Settling out in the open

and now with too much sun and reflections off the leaves

Later in the day we had a few out nectaring on the brambles which gave different views.

With the Scotch Argus in the bag on the Wednesday we had a free day Thursday and no real target. We thought about a return visit to Meathop Moss but there was also Gait Barrow close by, a place we had not visited before, and we decided to give that a go.

Gait Barrows is an area of Limestone Pavement and wetlands. Great to explore although in the time we had available we did not get as far as the wetlands.

I don't do Orchid twitches but it was nice to see a number of Dark-red Helleborine growing amongst the rocks. Most had gone over but Dave still managed to find one worth recording.

Dark-red Helleborine

The site has a number of Butterflies and we set off to look for Fritillaries and for Grayling. No sign of the Fritillaries although the occasional Tortoiseshell had us rushing off in pursuit.

Tortoiseshell -  nice condition but still with a piece of its tail missing

There were lots of Ringlets, Meadow Browns, and Gatekeepers, and even one really tatty Common Blue but we could not find the High Browns and Northern Brown Argus that had been reported there.

Gatekeeper

Fortunately the day was saved when Dave came across a small group of Grayling. They are not the easiest of butterflies to spot as they usually shuffle around the ground, only flying short distances.

Grayling - shows up against the light coloured rock

but cryptic camouflage works well on broken surfaces

They lean over when perched to present the biggest possible surface to the sun which breaks up there front and rear silhouette.

When threatened the Grayling flips up its forewing to present a large eye

or even two eyes

It's unusual to see them perched off the ground

Nectaring on bramble

and the miss of the day
 this was very nearly an open winged shot but I needed a bit more shutter speed

Only the Swallowtail to go to get the full set of Mainland UK butterflies plus perhaps a trip over to Northern Ireland to get the Cryptic Wood White. The Swallowtail Papilio machaon britannicus the only endemic UK butterfly and the largest butterfly in the UK seems an appropriate end point. Its just that next May is a long time to wait.