Purple Hairstreak

Purple Hairstreaks but you'll not see much Purple here. They were coming down from the tree tops to nectar but they would not oblige with an open wing shot. This has always been one of my bogey butterflies. I see plenty of them but I just cannot get the pictures that I want.

We had travelled down to Alners Gorse, it being one of the best sites in the country to observe these butterflies. They normally frequent the tops of Alder and Oak trees feeding on honeydew deposited by aphids and have no need to come down to ground level. This limits your photographic opportunities.

There were plenty about and as the day warmed up a few started to come down to nectar, with the Alder Buckthorn appearing to be their favoured plant.

Once settled they are fairly docile and easy to approach to observe and photograph but they do tend to stay high in the bushes and you need to pick your spot to get the best views. You also of course need to get them to open their wings to see the purple colouration. They feed with their wings closed, although unusually for Hairstreaks they do occasionally bask in the sun with their wings open.

This is the closest I got to an open wing shot but it looks like a male which are a duller colour and it looks as though it is past its best. You also need to photograph it from above for the sun to pick out the purple colour.

There were of course a few fellow enthusiasts about to give you the usual message - "should have been here yesterday" - "Lots of Purples down low, and basking in the sun with open wings"

Can't really complain. We saw lots of butterflies and these are better pictures than I had at the start of the day.


I also snapped this Red Admiral. I didn't realise until I got home that it is an aberration. It has an extra white spot in the orange band on each forewing. Checking on the web it is ab. bialbata.

Perhaps the most surprising thing of the day was that we did not see a single blue butterfly all day. I really seems to have been a strange season.

Duke of Burgundy

My first butterfly blog of the year and I wasn't sure if I should call it Duke of Burgundy or Pearl-bordered Fritillary.

Sunday and I dropped in to Rewell Wood to have a quick look for the Pearl-bordered. I walked for miles and hardly saw a butterfly, and to top it all, I had forgotten too carry any water. Returning to the car, hot, bothered and thirsty, I ended up following a Brimstone along a small ride. I lost the Brimstone but in front of me I found a Pearl-bordered and then another and in the end I had close to thirty sightings in under an hour.

Brimstone

You would think I would be happy but it is the most annoying of butterflies. Apart from being hyperactive in the bright sunshine it seems to have the ability to just disappear in front of your eyes. You have it in sight, its only feet away, then it does a half turn, and it's gone. I got a few photographs but none that I was really happy with.


Monday and I picked Dave up and we went back to Rewell Woods for another go. Not so many sightings, perhaps twenty in the two hours we were there, but they were still just as difficult to photograph.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Showing the underwings and the pearls around the edge of the rear wing.

Look out for the patches of Bugle which it seems to favour and keep your fingers crossed for a female which will stay still for a bit longer than the roaming males.

We also had some good views of male Orange-tips in Rewell and were lucky enough to get one settled when it clouded over for a few minutes.

Orange-tip

and a Red Admiral resting on its way along the ride.

Flushed with success we decided to head up to Kithurst Meadow to look for the Duke of Burgundy. This is an altogether more accommodating butterfly. It is a late riser, probably best after 11am, it does not fly too fast or roam too far, and it is a bit lazy, being quite happy to sit for long periods giving good photographic opportunities. 

Duke of Burgundy

The blog is named after the Duke of Burgundy as it is an altogether more agreeable butterfly.

Duke of Burgundy

We also found Dingy Skippers in the meadow including this mating pair.

Dingy Skippers

There were also a number of Green Hairstreaks flying through and I was lucky enough to get this one sitting out on the bank by the side of the road.

Green Hairstreak

A great day and it now feels as though the butterfly season is really under way. It reminded me of why I like the butterflies. If you do your research and get your timing right the butterflies are going to be there. That does not always apply when you are looking for birds. However, there is also the frustration of a hot sunny day when you cannot find one that will settle.

Nightjar

Well, today was a good days birding, even if it did cost me £75 excess on the insurance to replace a cracked windscreen. We headed up to the commons hoping to find early Silver-studded Blue butterflies and to see a few of the heathland birds. We did not find the Silver-studded but the commons were alive with insects, dragonflies, and birds. We found Woodlark, Tree Pipit, Yellowhammers, Stonechats, but best of all Nightjars.

Nightjar

It was pure luck, we had been watching what appeared to be a female Emperor Dragonfly catching moths and eating them in flight. We were hoping that she would settle somewhere and that we would be able to get a picture. When she disappeared into low gorse bush Dave went to have a look. I found him "quite excited" and pointing through the bush saying look at that. When your brain is switched on to small insects it's difficult to see the bigger picture. All I could see was a couple of old branches and no Dragonflies. With Dave clicking away and getting more and more exited I could see there was something I was missing. Perhaps if he had said Nightjar I would have spotted it sooner but it was really well camouflaged. When I finally got onto it I realised that I was standing about six foot away from a Nightjar with a 500mm lens and 1.4 extender that has a minimum focal length of about 18 feet.

We tried to back off making as little noise as possible and I did manage to get off one shot but as you can see above I could not get the whole of the bird in the frame. Unfortunately, although we must have been over 18 feet away at that point we did flush the bird. Seeing it flying in daylight was a superb sight. A picture would have been great but then you would probably have missed the spectacle completely. When you get these rare moments it is best to just stand and watch.

We left the area, the temptation to go back and try for another picture was great but its the wrong time of year for disturbing the birds. As always with moments such as this you are never sure if it was a great success or a missed opportunity.

I had seen Woodlarks on another common earlier in the year so was not too worried when we only got distant views of these. I was particularly pleased though when we found a Tree Pipit. He was sitting out on top of a tree singing and then doing his display flight and parachuting back down to his perch.

Tree Pipit

There were also good views of Stonechats and Yellowhammers although my pictures of these were not great.

Yellowhammer

Insects interest me if they will take a good picture but not if I am going to have to spend hours on research just to find out what it is called. There were no such problems when we came across a hornet resting on the brambles. It's big and it's colourful but its quite intimidating. I know that hornets are meant to be quite docile provided you stay away from the nest and don't upset them. The trouble is with a macro lens you need to get quite close to fill the frame. I felt comfortable whilst it was facing away from us but when it turned around to look at us the theory went out the window and I backed off fast. If it's three times the size of a wasp it probably carries three times as much venom

Hornet

Hornet

So far this year I have not really found the time to go chasing Dragonflies. However, with the warmer weather they are starting to appear in greater numbers. We saw Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers on the commons as well as assorted blue Damselflies although none of them were stopping to have their pictures taken. I was more lucky at Houghton Wood where this Hairy Dragonfly had paused amongst the vegetation.

Hairy Dragonfly

We thought that we might find a few Fritillary Butterflies on the wing at Houghton but it was mostly very quiet. I did get a first Large Skipper of the year and also a Red Admiral but there was little else visible.

Large Skipper

Large Skipper

Red Admiral looking a bit washed out

Birding days don't come much better than this.