Pearl-bordered Fritillary

 

I have seen a few butterflies during the January to March period, mostly Brimstones and Peacocks, but for me the butterfly season does not really start until I see a Pearl-bordered Fritillary. That usually means a trip over to Rewell Wood at the end of April.

This year, with a cold and wet spring, everything seemed to be two to three weeks late. I made trips to Rewell Wood in the last week of April and also the first week of May but there was no sign of the Pearl-bordered. Even on the 13th May I was not having much luck. Four hours walking around the wood had not given me any sightings and it was only late afternoon walking back to the car that I took a detour down a previously unvisited track and came across some signs of Spring beginning to happen.

Three Pearl-bordered seen, only one of which I managed to photograph.

Pearl-bordered Fritillary

The track also gave me views of a couple of moths, the Speckled Yellow which had shown at various places in the wood and the Treble-bar with about a dozen flying in one small area.

Speckled Yellow

Treble-bar

Also seen whilst searching for the Pearl-borders were Painted Lady and Orange Tips

Painted Lady

No Duke of Burgundy butterflies in the glades or in Fairmile Bottom but they are usually a week later than the Pearl-bordered. I will have to give Kithurst Meadow a visit.

Cirl Bunting

I think the wife had been getting a bit fed up with my always being out birding or butterflying, so she decided that we should have a short break away, with some nice walking and good food. Sometimes you just have to go along with these things so I booked up a couple of nights for us in East Prawle down in south Devon. It looked a very undeveloped piece of coastline with good walking and there was a traditional pub, the Pigs Nose, that had numerous CAMERA awards for good beer and decent pub food. It sounded like the ideal, get away from it all, short break. You can imagine my surprise then, when I found out that it also has a small colony of Cirl Buntings and if the sun ever shone I might also find Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary and Marsh Fritillary butterflies close by. Sometimes you just get lucky!

The problem was that we were not lucky with the weather, overcast, drizzle, low cloud and cool. We did a couple of stretches of the South West Coast Path. I have no complaints about the scenery. You get miles of unspoilt paths with very few people about and with wild flowers growing everywhere. All you needed was a bit of sun to bring out the butterflies. The closest I got was a Speckled Yellow Moth.

Speckled Yellow Moth

There were plenty of birds about but not the ones that I really wanted to see. Still I always have time for a Dunnock one of my favourite birds.

Dunnock

We did about ten miles along the coast on the Thursday. We could probably have done more but I was stopping to check out every tree and cluster of undergrowth in an attempt to find a Cirl Bunting. We had no luck and by the time we got back to the car park my spirits were starting to sink. We were leaving the next morning so it would have to be an early rise and a couple of hours birding before breakfast. We did one last circuit of the car park, I had given up but my wife, an occasional fair weather birder, thought she had heard the Cirl Bunting song in the distance. I was sceptical but we went and had a look anyway and sure enough she was right. We had a male bird sitting out on the top of a bush singing for all he was worth.

Cirl Bunting

Cirl Bunting

Its strange how one moment can transform a day. I was now happy to go home and was looking forward to celebrating with a couple of pints of the local brew in the pub that evening. But birds are like buses, once one comes along they all turn up. We only had a mile to drive to get back to the B&B but halfway there I spotted a buzzard perched on top of a post. It was a very pale colour so worth a look and it should have been a great picture as I don't think that I have ever been able to get so close to a buzzard before. Unfortunately we were at the top of a hill and in low cloud so diffusion through the water droplets has meant that I have lost all the detail in the picture.

Juvenile Buzzard

When I turned around to walk back to the car I found I had eight of the Cirl Buntings sitting up on the power cables. No chance of a close up picture but at least I will know where to look next time.

One of eight Cirl Buntings on the power cables

Wood White

There may not have been many opportunities for bird photography over the past couple of days but the butterflies have more than compensated.

As I was up at Iping Common looking for Tree Pipits and Woodlarks I decided to head over the border into Surrey to visit Botany Bay Wood in the hope of seeing Wood Whites. I did not attempt to count them but just along the main ride there must have been thirty to forty of them flying. I was also pleased to find that they are an easy butterfly to photograph. They do not seem to be concerned by a close approach or by the odd bit of gardening to give a better shot.

Wood White

Much darker markings on this one

There were also dozens of a little orange moth flying which I later identified as a Speckled Yellow Moth.

Speckled Yellow Moth

The rides also had lots of Brimstones and for a change they seemed to be settling to feed regularly giving plenty of picture opportunities.

Brimstone

On the way home I called in at Kithurst meadow. I already had lots of shots of the Duke of Burgundys but I wanted a Small Blue and I knew they had been seen there. I struggled to find one at first but then someone suggested that I look outside the meadow on the bank by the side of the road and sure enough there were two specimens out there.

Small Blue

Small Blue

I also found a Dingy Skipper. Not unusual  except that that this is the first shot I have taken of one with closed wings.

Dingy Skipper

And a Damselfly which I am reasonably confident in identifying as a Variable Damselfly which would be a first for me. I got it wrong, its an Azure Damselfly, wishful thinking on my part.

Variable Azure Damselfly

A couple of other Butterflies spotted the next day. The first is a Speckled Wood at Park Copse Pagham Harbour. Nothing unusual in the butterfly but the lighting is good.

Speckled Wood

And an Orange Tip taken just north of the Black Rabbit.

Orange Tip

The Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary is the next butterfly on the list.