Silver-studded Blue

Time to catch up on some of the late season butterflies and also a few of the earlier ones that I had not recorded. This sudden return of enthusiasm being triggered by the hot weather and the realisation that I was about to time out on the Silver-studded Blue.

It has been a funny year for the butterflies. Poor numbers of the early season species and now what appears to be large numbers of a lot of the later species. On top of that some species seem to be late emerging whilst others are around there normal time.

We usually see the Silver-studded Blues at Iping Common in the last two weeks of June. This year it was us that were late, rather than the butterfly, looking for them in the second week of July. There were still plenty flying but most were past their best so I guess these had emerged on their usual timescales.

Female Silver-studded Blue

Male Silver-studded Blue

Male with silver studs just about showing

We also took a trip over to Windover Hill on the 14th July to see the Chalkhill Blues and to look for Grayling. We had regularly seen good numbers of fresh Chalkhills on this date in previous years and occasionally a Grayling or two. This year the Chalkhills were out but only in small numbers and there was no sign of Grayling. However the nationally rare Yellow Pearl Moth with a flight season of Mid July to August was out in huge numbers. In places it was difficult to put your foot down without treading on them.

Chalkhill Blue

Yellow Pearl Moth - Mecyna flavalis

A couple of days out butterflying also filled a few gaps in my sightings earlier in the year. We were perhaps a bit late for finding fresh Dark Green Fritillaries to photograph but we did at least see lots of them whilst we were out, probably in bigger numbers than I have seen for many years.

Dark Green Fritillary

Photographs of the Dark Greens and the Silver-washed Fritillaries are always difficult unless you can find them nectaring towards the end of the day.

Silver-washed Fritillary

We also saw our first Gatekeeper of the year. This sighting being much later than we would normally have found it.

Gatekeeper

July is also the time to look for Essex Skippers. They emerge a couple of weeks after the Small Skippers and the two species look very similar. It takes a bit of effort to be sure you are looking at an Essex with the best differentiator being the underside of the antenna. These should be black on the Essex and orange/brown on the Small.

Female Skipper probably a Small

and an Essex showing the black undersides to the antenna

A few other Butterflies spotted whilst we were out.

Marbled White

Painted Lady

Red Admiral

We also saw a good number of White Admirals around Houghton Forest but the only one we found puddling on the ground was well past it's best and I will spare you the photograph.

Comma

This Comma being the form Hutchinsoni. These usually develop when the caterpillars are exposed to long periods of sunlight. Did we have that earlier this year? I think the normal form is a much more impressive butterfly.

Large Skipper

Plenty of Peacock's seen but perhaps more unusual, a Peacock Caterpillar

Peacock Caterpillar

and to finish, a Ringlet......

Ringlet

and a White-letter Hairstreak. Perhaps not the best picture I have taken of the White-letter but it is the only one we saw and then only for a few seconds whilst silhouetted against the sun.

White-letter Hairstreak

Still a few butterflies to see before the end of the year and I am still keeping my fingers crossed for a Large Tortoiseshell. There is still time!

 

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

With the recent focus on Orchids my bird list for the year is looking a little sad. I am around thirty to forty birds behind the norm and missing a good few of the common species. Thinking I would fill a few of the gaps I headed over to Iping Common today.

There are never a lot of birds on the commons but you do pick up a few of the scarcer species. Woodlark and Redstart were welcome finds but there was no sign of any Tree Pipits which I had also hoped to see. Both birds seen were distant views with only poor record shots obtained.

There were good numbers of butterflies around but most were hyperactive in the hot sun. Silver-studded Blues, in particular, are always good to see but I am still waiting to capture photographs of the ants tending the newly emerged butterfly.

Males are easy to see but don't stay still for very long. Females are less conspicuous and tend to hide away in the vegetation. You can see why. If you do find a female you only have a few seconds to get a picture before the amorous male turns up.

Female Silver-studded Blue

Male in attendance

He didn't have much luck. She took one look and headed straight for deep cover.

There has been an influx of Painted Ladies from the continent with appearances almost everywhere. Unfortunately most look as though they have flown all the way from North Africa and are not in best condition. There should be time for a second brood which will emerge later in the year and we may get good numbers of pristine butterflies which will be well worth seeking out.

Painted Lady

There is always a chance of finding a Golden-ringed Dragonfly on the commons and if you find one that's in the middle of having its lunch it may even stay still long enough for a picture.

Golden-ringed Dragonfly and unfortunate hoverfly

Golden-ringed Dragonfly

And a freshly emerged Four-spotted Chaser. Just a pity about the busy background.

Four-spotted Chaser

Perhaps not the bird pictures that I had hoped for but still an interesting day

Blues

I spent an afternoon over at Knepp looking for Purple Emperors. Plenty seen, up in the trees, but none coming down to the ground. Perhaps it is just too dry for them to get the minerals they need although there were plenty of fresh animal droppings around.

Best shot of the day, a massive crop of an Emperor high in the tree taken on a 100mm Macro lens. I think a return visit is called for.

Purple Emperor

Most noticeable at Knepp and at other sites has been the shortage of blue butterflies this year. They are about but don't seem to be in the numbers I have seen in previous years. It maybe that I have just not been looking or perhaps we are in a lull between the first and second broods. The next couple of weeks should show an improvement with Chalkhill Blues starting to emerge and second broods of most blue butterflies due. It will be interesting to see if the dry hot weather has any effect on the numbers.

Looking back over the last couple of weeks, numbers may be down but there have been a couple of good picture opportunities with the blues.

Adonis Blues at Anchor Bottom and Silver-studded Blues at Iping Common.

Adonis Blue - coupled pair

Adonis Blues

Adonis Blue

Common Blue

Silver-studded Blue

Silver-studded Blue

and a butterfly that seems to be doing well this year - the Large White. It makes a change to be able to get close enough for a picture.

Lots of Dragonflies about at the moment but I am finding it difficult to get enthusiastic over the usual Broad-bodies and Four-spots. A couple of hours stalking Brown Hawkers at various sites gave lots of views but didn't give me a single picture. The only shot of interest so far was this Black Darter on Iping Common.

Shouldn't complain though, at least there are still a few insects around for me to see!

Chough

It is fair to say that I wasn't chuffed. I was walking a stretch of the Anglesey Coastal Footpath with the wife. The walk looked good on the map but with the temperature heading into the nineties it was starting to get uncomfortable. The cliff path included a good number of steep climbs and the camera gear I was carrying, in expectation of getting some pictures of the Chough, was starting to get heavy. 

At one point, I did think I saw two Chough in the distance, but the wife , who is not really a birder, pointed out that if they look like crows and sound like crows they probably are crows.

I had to do the 400 steps down to South Stack Lighthouse. The birds could be down there. But the 400 steps back up, when you know they are not there, were a bit harder. Fortunately I could make frequent stops to look at the birds out on the cliffs. Guillemots, Razorbills and a few Puffins and there were Lesser Black-backed Gulls and a Rock Pipit in the grounds of the lighthouse.

Guillemots

Razorbill and Puffin

Lesser Black-backed Gull

Rock Pipit

I tried the RSPB Visitors Centre and Ellin's Tower, all reliable spots for the Chough but still no luck. It was not looking good and we still had the walk back to the car at Holyhead to look forward to. We were about to give up when one of the wardens suggested we try a spot about half a kilometre further south along the coastal path. I wasn't really hopeful. If they were there we should have seen them flying by now but it was worth a try.

Well worth a try as it turned out. I was just about to turn back when I spotted a group of five or six sitting on the top of the cliffs. They seemed reluctant to move, the heat was obviously getting to them as well. Still, it gave me a few good picture opportunities.

Chough

A dog walker then appeared and the birds dropped over the edge and down the cliff.  Despite extensive scanning of the cliff face I could not find them again. A great result and the walk back to the car didn't feel half as bad as I had been expecting.


The next morning we headed back to the Visitors Centre in the car. The idea of a full English or in this case a full Welsh, whilst sitting out on the veranda overlooking South Stack and the Irish Sea, was too good to turn down.

As you might expect, no effort needed today. When we arrived the Chough were sitting under the feeders in the garden and then when disturbed moved to the roof of the Visitors Centre. A great breakfast, great views, and Chough flying back and forth as well.

And one final picture. We saw lots of Silver-studded Blue butterflies around the area. Snails are not really my area of expertise but I will give it a try..........

Silver-studded Blue with White-lipped Banded Snail (Yellow Form)

any corrections to my identification will be gratefully received.

Silver-studded Blue

We started the day off with a visit to Botany Bay Wood, just over the border into Surrey, to see if we could get Dave a Wood White. It was all a bit quiet when we got there but I think we were just a bit too early in the day. Eventually we found a couple and Dave got his pictures and a year tick.

Wood White

Wood White

It's difficult to see why there are so few colonies of Wood Whites around. They seem to have a wide range of nectaring and food plants and are not particularly temperature or geology sensitive. I know that we have lost a lot of coppiced woodland rides which will affect their numbers but there are many woods similar to Botany Bay across the south of England.

Our next stop was Iping Common where Silver-studded Blues had been reported. Its a small butterfly on a large common but we eventually found a small group. There were probably two or three females and and about eight males. I have had trouble photographing Silver-studded Blues in the past. Closed wing shots are not a problem but they often sit with their wings open at forty five degrees and it is very difficult to get the depth of field you need to get the whole butterfly sharp - that's my excuse anyway.

Note the silver studding in the black marginal spots

Female - colours vary from dark brown through to predominantly blue
This female is only a couple of days old and has not faded to this state.

Male

Wood White and Silver-studded Blue in the bag and we still had most of the afternoon left. A large moth distracted us for a few minutes on the way back to the car park. I had to look it up in the book when I got home, it was a Clouded Buff.

Clouded Buff  - day flying moth

We decided on a visit to Lords Piece on the way home to have a look for Dragonflies. It turned out to be a good choice. There were plenty of Blue Damselflies around the pond but they were not easy to photograph.

I think this one is an Azure Blue

We saw Four-spotted and Broad-bodied Chasers but best of all were views of a Golden-ringed Dragonfly and a Downy Emerald. Both landed and gave us long enough to get a few pictures.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Four-spotted Chaser

Downy Emerald

Golden-ringed (Female)

The only problem with a good day out is that you have hundreds of pictures to process when you get home. They are never as good as you want or expect but you just hope for a couple of good ones in there somewhere.