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!

 

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.

Brown Hawker

There was not much doing on the birding scene today so we went to have a look for Brown Hairstreaks at Tillets Lane Fields. There were lots of the usual browns about and a good number of Purple Hairstreaks that were staying up in the trees, but no sign of the Brown Hairstreaks. Tillets Lane Fields themselves were looking a little overgrown and unloved, except by the dog walkers that is.

Looking for an Essex Skipper but this one is a Small

Slightly faded female Silver-washed Fritillary

With nothing very exciting on show at Tillets Fields we decided to look in at New Bridge near Billingshurst, a new site for us.  It looks promising, we saw Banded Demoiselles, Brown Hawkers, Darters, and a Migrant Hawker.

Banded Demoiselle

There were a few Brown Hawkers about and for once they were landing although only for a few seconds at a time.

Slightly out of focus Brown Hawker

and below the same Brown Hawker with a female but they flew before I could get a clear shot.

Brown Hawkers

We saw the Dragonfly below up in a tree. It was too small to be a Southern or Common Hawker which only really leaves a Migrant Hawker but I would really have liked a clearer picture of it.

Migrant Hawker

Next stop was Lords Piece. Dave had picked up an Emerald Damselfly there a couple of days ago but we could not find any sign of them today.

I spent a long time trying to get a decent picture of the Black-tailed Skimmers but, as is their way, they were all putting down on the mud where it was hard to get a clear shot of them.

Black-tailed Skimmer

There were still a good number of Broad-bodied Chasers about and some of them were still in good condition.

Broad-bodied Chasers

Broad-bodied Chaser

and this pair of Common Darters seemed oblivious of the camera gradually getting closer.

Common Darters

Common Darters

Common Darter

I was hoping that one of these would be a Ruddy Darter but they all show the yellow stripes on the leg which are diagnostic of the Common.

Common Darter

An interesting day out and a couple of decent pictures but in general the numbers all seem to be a bit down this year. Even the decent birds that are about seem to be boycotting Sussex.

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.