Pearl-bordered Fritillary

As I have written before, for me, the emergence of the Pearl-bordered Fritillary marks the start of the butterfly season. So today it was the annual trip over to Rewell Wood to see if they were flying. The date was about right but with the cold nights we have been seeing recently and with some aspects of the flora and fauna appearing to be running a couple of weeks behind schedule we were not sure what we would find.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

Arriving just before ten it all looked quiet but as the cloud cover burnt off and the temperature started to rise the first pearls took to the air. It is mostly the males that you see flying. If you can catch up with them, before they warm up, you have a good chance of a picture. Once they get up to speed they are difficult to follow and rarely put down for any length of time.

On Bugle

If you miss the morning sweet spot your best chance of a picture is either, late afternoon when the males are worn out and may be found nectaring on Bugle,  patchy cloud cover which could freeze the action, or find a female which will either have a male in attendance or be egg laying on nearby violets.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

A trip to Mill Hill added a few more of the spring Butterflies.

Dingy Skipper

The Grizzled Skipper was particularly taxing. I pursued one for about 20 minutes trying to get a picture only to find that it was missing a rear wing. Fortunately one in better condition turned up just as I was leaving.

Grizzled Skipper

Two pictures of the Green Hairstreak, such a fabulous little butterfly  .......

and a small copper. The picture doesn't do it justice but I couldn't get the open wing shot which would show the bright upper wing colours.

 

We also had a Common Blue fly by today. There was no picture opportunity but it is worth recording as it was my first blue of the year. It's very unusual not to have seen a Holy Blue in the garden by now.

Willow Emerald Damselfly

Thursday was a good day. Not only was the weather perfect but I also had two life ticks. Insects unfortunately, rather than birds but I still came home with a smile on my face.

We had started off the day on Cissbury Ring looking for an early Ring Ouzel. No luck with that but we did have a secondary target, caeruleopunctata, aberrations of the Small Copper butterfly with a row of blue spots on its hind wings.

Aberrations giving variations in colour and markings are quite common in the Small Copper. In the wild these can be genetically inherited or the result of extreme conditions during the pupation stage. In previous years we had noted the caeruleopunctata aberation on Cissbury Hill, in late year third broods. I am not sure if this is just a result of when we end up looking for them or whether there is an underlying cause for it.

There were hundreds of Small Coppers flying, so if we searched long enough we were likely to be successful. We did eventually see a couple of examples although none were in really good condition.

Small Copper with just a hint of blue spots.

caeruleopunctata aberration although unfortunately in worn condition.

and one from a previous year in slightly better condition

caeruleopunctata

Whilst searching for Small Coppers I  also managed to find a new Shieldbug, Coreus marginatus, more commonly known as a Dock Bug and a life tick for me.

Dock Bug  -  Coreus marginatus

Late, but still welcome, the Clouded Yellows have started to arrived over the past week. I was beginning to think they wouldn't appear in any numbers this year but I have seen five or six in the past few days. This being the first one that stayed still long enough for a picture.

Clouded Yellow

By far the best sighting of the week were the Willow Emerald Damselflies at Warnham Nature Reserve. This species, common in southern Europe, is relatively new to the UK. The first specimen was collected in Kent in 1992 but was not identified until 2003. Then in 2009 a substantial population of 400 was identified in Suffolk and adjacent counties probably from an unrecorded influx from the Continent.

Since then they have spread rapidly and can now be seen in Sussex, both at Warnham and Woods Mills, although it is likely that they are far more widespread than this.

Willow Emerald Damselfly  -  Lestes viridis

Willow Emerald Damselfly  -  Lestes viridis

Willow Emerald Damselfly  -  Lestes viridis

A rewarding day in what has been a less than spectacular Autumn around Sussex. Long may it continue.

Painted Ladies

I have been hanging on to this blog with the intention of adding a Clouded Yellow, as a way to finish off the butterflies for the year. Sadly they don't seem to be arriving in the usual numbers. I have only seen one and that was on turbo power disappearing into the distance.

The pictures are now starting to look a little dated with most of the insects coming to the end of their flight periods. So published now with, hopefully, a Clouded Yellow still to come.

Painted Lady

Painted Lady

Common Blue

Common Blue

Small Copper

Keeled Skimmer

Migrant Hawker

Broad-bodied Chaser

Black Darter

There are still a few Butterflies and Dragonflies around but this is really the end of another season. Time seems to go by ever more quickly.

Turtle Dove

It has been a bit of a mixed bag so far this week. Tuesday I was out looking for Turtle Doves on the Knepp Estate. There had been a number of reports of them posted but after four hours of searching I hadn't even managed to hear one purring. There were Cuckoos calling all over the place but they were very difficult to see. At least the Storks were showing well. I assume these two were from the re-introduction scheme. They looked like Red DC and Grey CU. Odd though that they had the rings on opposite legs.

With nothing much else showing, I went over to Woods Mills to look for a Turtle Dove there. The result was exactly the same

White Storks probably from the Knepp re-introduction sceme

Wednesday morning, this time with Dave as my good luck charm, we tried Woods Mills again and one of the first birds we saw was a Turtle Dove.

Then off to find our next target, West Sussex Wall Brown butterflies. A quick trek up onto the downs and we had eight to ten of the butterflies in our sights. Great butterflies to see but very territorial and aggressive and thus difficult to photograph as they are always on the move.

Wall Brown

Wall Brown

We also managed to find a single Small Blue at Kithurst Meadow but in the scramble to get a picture it did a disappearing act and we could not relocate it. I am always surprised at just how small they actually are. Later on we had our first Small Copper at Whiteways.

Small Copper

Green-veined Whites

Green-veined White mud puddling

Brimstone

And the dragonfly season is also under way with the best seen so far, an early Brown Hawker at Rowlands Wood. I see them there most years but as ever it failed to put down anywhere for a picture.

Broad-bodied Chaser

Azure Damselfly

Large Red Damselfly

So a good day Tuesday. Wednesday we were out early looking for more of the same. This time at  Old Lodge with targets of Woodlark, Tree Pipit and Redstart. Unfortunately the weather did not live up to expectations, being cold and windy, and we only managed the Woodlark.

Woodlark

 Compensation was in the form of a Garden Warbler that Dave found belting out its song from halfway up a Pine tree in Rowlands Wood. My first of the year.

Garden Warbler

No Large Tortoiseshell

Today we were out searching for a Large Tortoiseshell Butterfly. We didn't find one and I guess we were not too surprised, it was always a long shot. Three have been seen around the North Stoke area but you have to set that against thousands of hours that have been spent searching for them.

There are reports of Large Tortoiseshells found on the south coast most years. They are probably vagrants from France but to have reports so early in the year suggests that these could have overwintered here and may even be breeding here. The sceptics would say that someone is releasing them but with the climate warming we can expect a gradual northward drift of the butterfly species.

It would put my claim to have seen all the UK butterflies in jeopardy but it could be worse. I just have to find one butterfly. Patrick Barkham (The Butterfly Isles) will probably have to start again to be able to keep his record of seeing all the UK butterflies in one summer.

So, no Large Tortoiseshell, but it was good to get out on a first butterfly trip of the year and there were a good number of butterflies about.

Green-veined White

Green-veined White

Orange Tips Anthocharis cardemines on one of its main larval plants Cuckoo Flower/Lady's Smock Cardemine pratensis.

Orange Tip

Orange Tip (male)

Orange tip

Orange Tip (female)

Peacock

Small Copper

Small Copper

Small Copper

Speckled Wood

The weather has been good and 2017 looks like a much better year for Butterflies than last year. Lets hope for a big recovery in numbers. As for the Large Tortoiseshell, well I may give it another go but the interesting time will be July and August when, if there is a UK population, a new brood should be on the wing.

Wryneck 2

Following on from the last blog, on the Church Norton Wryneck, Dave an I made another visit to the Severals hoping for better picture opportunities. We spent a few more hours standing around waiting but the best we had were brief glimpses of it feeding on the ground.

I had really given up on Wrynecks for this year but then on Wednesday I took Sue and her friend Maggie over to the Seven Sisters Country Park for lunch and a gentle afternoon stroll. We walked into the cafe just before twelve o'clock and I knew it was going to be a good day when I just managed to get my order in for the full english breakfast with two minutes to spare.

After lunch (or in my case breakfast) they decided to go over to Beachy Head for their walk and so to avoid the worse of the crowds I parked up near Shooters Bottom. I confess that I had completely forgotten that there was a really obliging Wryneck at that location! That was until Sue spotted a group of people with long lenses, lurking in the undergrowth and suggested I go over to see what they were up to. Never one to argue I did as I was told. Suspicious looking characters they were but it was great to meet up with Paul Snellgrove and David Gardiner again.

Initially it didn't look too promising. Paul put me onto the Wryneck but it just stuck its tongue out at me and then flew off.

It then reappeared a short distance away feeding on the ground.

It obviously did not see us as a threat and was happy to come within about twenty feet of us.

Above feeding and below showing the long tongue as it searches for its main food source ants and for other small insects in the undergrowth.

It turned out to be a very productive hours birding and I came away with some great pictures. To cap a good day I found a couple of Small Copper butterflies, a rather rare species this year.