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!

 

White-letter Hairstreak

The blog should really be about the Black Hairstreak. I made a third trip over to Ditchling Common to see them. As before they were visible but they were staying high in the trees. Others have had good picture opportunities this year but it just hasn't worked for me. Strange when I had such good views last year.

My best shot for this year below and just to prove I can take a decent picture, one from last year.

Black Hairstreak

Black Hairstreak  Ditchling Common 2018

I saw three large Fritillaries but none were stopping and I could not be sure on identification between Dark Green and Silver-washed. There were also a couple of views of Purple Hairstreaks but again staying distant at the tops of trees.

There were also a good few Painted Ladies around and a couple of Red Admirals. The later giving a closed wing view for long enough for me to get a picture. Interesting but as always with this butterfly the depth of red that we see with the eye just doesn't get recorded when photographed.

Red Admiral

Looking for a bit more success I moved on to Hollingbury Park to look for the White-letter Hairstreaks. There are always a good display of thistles here and once down and nectaring these butterflies are easier to photograph.

White-letter Hairstreak - male

White-letter Hairstreak - female

And a few Damselflies recorded at Woods Mills.

Azure Damselfly

Beautiful Demoiselle

Large Red Damselfly

White-letter Hairstreak

The trip to Scotland had revived my interest in Butterflies and with a warm sunny afternoon promised I picked Dave up and we headed over to Holingbury Park to look for the White-letter Hairstreaks. We had seen a few there in previous years and they seem to be more inclined to come down and nectar on the brambles and thistles than at other sites we have visited.

White-letter Hairstreak

Conditions were good for taking photographs but I could still have done with a bit more light and a bit less wind. Its just a bit annoying when the wind blows and the butterfly drifts out of focus and often out of the frame, just as you are about to press the shutter.

Still, there were some good opportunities on offer today.

Male White-letter Hairstreak

Most of the pictures here today are of females. The female being best identified by having longer tails than the males.

Photobomed by a fly - which usually results in the butterfly taking flight

The White-letter Hairstreak spends most of its time in the tops of trees feeding on honeydew. Often you can see them flying but they will not come down. However, if you do get them at ground level they are an easy butterfly to photograph. They will stay on the same flower nectaring for long periods, often an hour or more, and they are not easily spooked by people or by large cameras being positioned only a few inches from them.

The butterfly always settles with its wings closed so there are no open wing shots.

The caterpillars feed exclusively on the leaves of Elm trees and the population suffered a major setback when Dutch Elm disease wiped out most of the Elms in this country. However, it seems to be making a comeback and is gradually extending its range.

There were a few other butterflies about but none of them were in particularly good condition. This Comma seemed worth recording

Comma

Comma

and these Harlequin Ladybird Larvae were amongst hundreds feeding on blackfly that had infested this Burdock plant.

Harlequin Ladybird Larvae

I think I see a new challenge here. I will have to photograph the larvae of all the different Ladybirds we have in this country.

White-letter Hairstreak

I got up late on Thursday and had nothing planned. A quick check of my wish list showed that the target I was most likely to succeed on was the White-letter Hairstreak. I sent a text to Dave saying where I was going and then headed off for Preston Park in Brighton. The Hairstreaks were there but as before they were flying around the top of the tree. I waited a while but with nothing happening and I was thinking of moving on.

Fortunately I thought to check my phone and found three messages from Dave saying that he had gone out early and was also looking for White-letter Hairstreaks. Not only that but he had seen a dozen and had photographed at least three on the thistles. He was only just up the road in Hollingbury Park so it was a quick dash back to the car and across to Hollingbury.

Dave had his eye in by then and it did not take him long to spot another one for me to photograph. It was probably just as well that he was there because I did not see it come down and once down it did not move about, staying on one thistle head for about half an hour.

White-letter Hairstreak

White-letter Hairstreak

I was a bit disappointed with the images I captured. The butterfly was past its best (I have patched a hole in its wing using Photoshop), there was a lot of wind movement and the lighting was harsh. However, I should have done better. Seen the butterfly, got the record shot but it stays towards the top of the wish list until I get a better picture.

Still hoping to do some birding my next stop was Woods Mill where a Turtle has been showing well over the past few weeks. But not today, butterflies, dragonflies, and damselflies but no Turtle Dove. There were a couple of red dragonflies in one of the pools and I though I had got my Common Darter at last, but on checking, it was a Ruddy Darter again.

Ruddy Darter

The Beautiful Demoiselles were active

Beautiful Demoiselle - Female

Beautiful Demoiselle - Male

and there were also a number of White Admirals flying. These seemed to be far more territorial than others I have seen this year and each was protecting its own small patch. They were still very active but at least they kept returning to the same perch giving good picture opportunities. I could not get a good open wing shot but perhaps if I had waited until later in the day when they were nectaring I might have got the chance.

White Admiral

White Admiral

Birding on the next outing perhaps.

Emperors and Hairstreaks

Well I don't have much for the blog. I have been out with Dave over the past couple of days. We have seen a lot but I haven't really got the quality of pictures that I would like to support our sightings. Monday was spent looking in various woods at the back of Southwater in an attempt to find a Purple Emperor butterfly. We found a couple of master trees and had a fleeting glimpse of what could have been a Purple Emperor at the top of one of those trees, but nothing more. I also managed to see more White Admirals in one day than I think I have seen in the whole of my life and I don't have a single good picture to show for it. The best of the record shots is shown below:-

White Admiral

Tuesday we spent sitting under the Preston Park Elm trees. We could see White-letter Hairstreaks high up in the tree when we arrived and as the morning wore on they gradually came lower. Then around eleven o'clock it all went quiet. I was lucky to be able to grab a couple of quick record shots of the butterflies up in the trees, as we saw nothing but a few distant flashes for the rest of the day. It was a nice relaxing day sitting in the sun but a bit disappointing having to come home without a decent picture.

White-letter Hairstreak - heavy crop to give me a record shot

The best of the rest were a shot of a Small Skipper

Small Skipper

A mating pair of Marbled Whites

Marbled Whites - bronze female and grey male

and a couple of Dragonfly shots.

The first a newly emerged immature. I am not entirely sure of its identity as the colours and markings are not fully developed but I think it is a Southern Hawker. I also took a picture of the exuvia it left lower down on the reed.

Immature Southern Hawker - I think

Unfortunately this dragonfly is not going far. Its right rear wing has failed to open and this will severely limit its flying ability.

Exuvia

The other Dragonfly was a male Emperor. This was spotted in the flower beds at Preston Park.

Male Emperor Dragonfly

So an interesting couple of days but we are going to have to put a lot more effort into the Purple Emperors and White-letter Hairstreaks if we are to get the pictures we are looking for.