Black-tailed Skimmer

Apart from Thursday's trip to Ham Wall the past week has mostly seen me venturing out between showers to visit local butterfly and dragonfly sites. Returns have been poor, with numbers of both appearing to be down this year, and with clouds and cooler weather resulting in occasions when nothing much has been flying.

In previous years one of the ponds in Angmering has been good for Black-tailed Skimmers and Red-eyed Damselflies. My first visit coincided with a sudden cloud burst so I found nothing  but on the second visit a few Black-tailed were flying.

They usually favour putting down on the mud so, as below, it is not easy to get a good picture.

However, as the temperature goes above twenty five degrees they start to settle on low vegetation. I don't think we actually reached that on my second visit but I did find an obliging specimen and the pictures are in a different class.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find any Red-eyed Damselflies despite seeing large numbers there in previous years. The pond now has a few very large fish although I doubt that these could have wiped out the colony completely.

Other Dragonflies seen. The one below is a bit confusing. It has yellow stripes down the legs so it is a Common Darter but I think it must be a freshly emerged male. The wings look pristine and the pterostigma are still white rather than the dark brown of a mature specimen. Picture taken at the Angmering Pond.

The next one is a Ruddy Darter (no yellow lines down the legs) and a much deeper colour than the specimen in one of last weeks blogs. This one taken at Woods Mills.

Early Commas have over wintered and usually look a bit tatty so these will be first brood having emerged early July. The closed wing shot showing the white comma that gives them their name.

Plenty of Skippers around. This one looks like an Essex.

The next a female Large

Male Large - note the large sex brands on the wings

Meadow Browns everywhere. This one a female

my first Gatekeeper of the year

Silver-washed Fritillaries in Madgeland Wood although no sign of the Purple Emperors. 

I also spent an hour or so watching Purple Hairstreaks in the top of a large oak tree at Tillets Lane Fields. No chance of a picture and this still remains on the top of my target list.

Large Blue

Last year I made two trips to Collard Hill to see the Large Blues. On the first I dipped completely, not seeing a single butterfly all day. I think I was perhaps a little over eager, going as soon as the first reports came through and then picking a cool overcast day. They were, of course, seen in good numbers the day after I visited.

On my second trip I did at least see a couple of specimens but they were very active and I had difficulty getting a photograph. My record shots were so poor that I didn't even bother to put them on the blog. That left me with a butterfly list this year, with the Swallowtail on top, as my last UK butterfly, and the Large Blue in second place. 

This time I waited. There have been reports of Large Blues around for a couple of weeks but the weather has been cool and overcast and the weather reports containing promises of breaks in the cloud cover, have been unreliable. It's a long trip to make if I called it wrong and dipped again.

I had today pencilled in for a possible visit. I would have preferred a promise of sunshine but at least the temperature looked as though it would be warm enough to get them flying. I couldn't afford to wait any longer, so I picked Dave up and we headed off towards Collard Hill.

It did not look promising when we arrived but we spotted our first butterfly within a few minutes of climbing the hill. It flew a short distance landing in this bush where I managed a quick picture before it disappeared into cover deep in the bush. We staked it out waiting for the sun to come out and for the butterfly to reappear but it didn't happen.

We had an early lunch and with the cloud thinning a bit, the temperature rose and we started to get the occasional sighting of Large Blues. This time the cooler conditions probably helped us. The butterflies were flying but they were not hyperactive. If you could spot where they landed when the temperature dipped, you had a good chance of getting a photograph.

We stayed about three hours and probably had ten sightings in that time. I am sure some were of the same butterflies but this was far better than I had last year.

I was happy to get the pictures but there is still scope for some improvement. Perhaps with a little more sun I could get a better depth of field. I can see that I will be going back next year for another go. Maybe next time a mating pair.


And below some of the supporting cast including my first Marbled White of the year.

Marbled White

Meadow Brown

Lulworth Skipper

The weather has not been brilliant but it has still been a good spring for birding. Here we are nearly half way through June and there are still good birds turning up. Last year it all seemed to dry up towards the end of May and Dave and I switched over to concentrate on Butterflies for the summer. The problem is, that this has left outstanding business for us. Forty eight butterflies seen last year but another ten to go to get the full set.

I should have been reporting Large Blue in the bag but unfortunately a six hour two hundred and fifty mile round trip to Collard Hill on Monday left us empty handed, despite one seen flying there the day before. Enthusiasm undaunted we headed of today for Ballard Down near Swanage to look for the Lulworth Skipper. A slightly more acceptable five hour two hundred mile round trip. At least this time we were successful.

I don't even attempt to explain to anyone why I would want to sit in traffic for five or six hours to see a butterfly that I then have difficulty telling from a similar one that I can find half a mile from home. I think it's something about grown up train spotting.

We parked at the village of Ulwell and walked the short distance up onto the lower slopes of Ballard Down. Even at nine in the morning there were lots of butterflies on the wing, Large Skippers, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Meadow Brown, Dingy Skippers, Small Heath, and Dave even found a couple of Green Hairstreaks. But, no Lulworth Skippers.

Large Skipper - close but its no Lulworth

Large Skipper - forewing with diagnostic lighter panels and distinct dark sex brands for the male 

Fortunately a couple of locals came to our help and pointed us in the right direction to find the Lulworths. A short walk and we found our first specimen. Smaller and darker than the other "orange" skippers and with other diagnostic features but you have to look closely. These pictures are all of males. I didn't see a female or if I did I failed to photograph it, which is sad, as the colours and markings are more distinct on the female. Does this mean a return trip?

Lulworth Skipper - darker colour especially the males and sex brands less ditinctive

Lulworth Skipper - showing "cresent of rays" in lighter wing panels - more distinct on female

Lulworth Skipper - plain pale underside.

Lulworth Skipper

As the day warmed up the butterflies became more active. We were on a sixty degree slope and it became harder and harder to keep up with their rapid movement. I had intended to photograph all the other butterflies we could see but in the end it just got too hot and we retreated in search of a cold drink. I missed some beautiful Adonis Blue specimens and then Large Whites and Orange Tips down near where we had parked the car but here are a couple of others that were flying.

Brown Argus

Dingy Skipper

Small Heath

Forty Nine up but there are still a lot of miles to do. I can see that this is going to require a bit of manipulation of our future family holiday plans.

Purple Emperor

With it still looking very quiet on the birding front we were out looking for Butterflies and Dragonflies again today. First stop was Hollingbury Park in Brighton for another go at the White-letter Hairtreaks. The result was similar to Tuesday in Preston Park. We could see the Hairstreaks at the top of the tree but they were not coming down to have their photographs taken.

You can tell I was getting a bit bored as I ended up taking pictures of Hoverflies.

Hoverfly - Chrysotoxum bicinctum 

We gave it a couple of hours and then moved on to Woods Mill to have a look for Dragonflies. Eight species were reported as having been seen earlier in the week but we could not find them. We saw Beautiful Demoiselles, an Empereor over the middle of the lake, and a couple of Blue Damselflies but nothing to get exited about. The pond has been cleaned up but I am not sure that it has done anything for the Damsel and Dragonfly populations. There were a lot more around before the pond was cleaned.

Nor did we see any of the reported White Admirals so once again I resorted to insects.

Dark Bush Cricket - Pholidoptera griseoptera

With it starting to look a bit like a wasted day we headed off to Madgeland Woods to have another go at the White Admirals. We had seen lots there on the Monday but they were very active and I had been unable to get a decent picture. Today was no different the White Admirals are very fast flying and very mobile. I stalked a number of them along the rides but could not get anywhere near them. Then I got one that settled for a few seconds. Its not exactly in prime condition but its a start.

White Admiral - with juvenile Alien hanging under leaf.

The real find of the day was made by Dave when he came across a Purple Emperor down on the ride. Again it was not in perfect condition but as it was my first ever Purple Emperor I am not complaining. It stayed for about half an hour probing the earth for the salts and minerals that it needs and taking very little notice as we took our pictures.

Purple Emperor

Using yellow probiscus to probe for salts and minerals

Pity about the damaged rear right wing

Still you can always effect a repair in Photoshop!

Other butterflies around included Skippers, Commas, Meadow Browns, Ringlets, and Silver-washed Fritillaries.

Silver-washed Fritillary

Small Skipper

Large Skipper

Meadow Brown

So a slow start to a day that was eventually rescued by a special butterfly. I have seen it, I have the record shot, but as with the White Admiral I now need that perfect shot of a freshly emerged specimen.