HalloweenMoth.jpg
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Butterflies and moths are all but gone until next year now. However this moth did pay me a visit on Halloween. I also saw a Small Tortoiseshell fluttering around at Lasham airfield on 14th November which was a surprise. This is the latest in the year I've ever seen a butterfly in the wild.
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| An Amblyptilia Acanthadactyla moth. |
Unfortunately there are not many butterflies in Gunnersbury Park. So pictures are few and far between now. However one butterfly that does thrive here is the Speckled Wood. The last picture also happens to be the first time I have managed to picture a Speckled Wood with folded wings. I have also seen plenty of Whites but always constantly on the move.
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| Different Speckled Woods on a step and on a doc leaf. | Same Speckled Wood feeding on juice from a damaged blackberry. | ||
Well today was a curious day. I was disappointed early on at Lasham when I failed to get a glider in the ballot. So, stuck on the ground, I explored the wild south side of the airfield, and promptly took my first ever pictures of a Brimstone butterfly! Female Brimstones were happily feeding on these purple flowers. There were also Meadow Browns, Large Whites (plus some other Whites), Small Heaths, the odd Gatekeeper, and lots of Common Blues.
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| Female Common Blue. | Painted Lady feeding on Knapweed. | Female Brimstone feeding on purple flowers. | ||
Unfortunately I have now moved offices away from Stockley Park and away from all those butterflies. So new pictures are likely to be few and far between. However I can still attract moths back home after dark, and here are some of the results. Once I had taken their photos I used an old Ferrero Rocher clear plastic box with a lid to capture them and take them outside back to their normal habitat. On the 10th we had a gathering of relatives and all the moths came in without any encouragement from me, along with huge mosquitos and other insects too!
You will notice that on some of the pictures there is a dark area in one corner. This is because I had to use my flash. However when the flash is used the closeup filter casts a shadow over part of the picture. I try to keep the moth away from the shadow, but it is not always easy, especially for the bigger moths. Another problem with the flash is that it can (if I am not careful) mask much of the moth's colour. Often multiple shots in varying positions (if the moth will allow me) yields a reasonable picture without too much reflective glare.
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| Marbled Beauty moth. | Light Brown Apple moth. | Double-Striped Pug moth on the wall. | Orange Swift moth on a cupboard. | Unidentified moth on a cupboard and exposing its yellow underwings when I captured it to take it outside. | |
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| Amblyptilia Acanthadactyla moth on a glass cabinet door. | Marbled Beauty moth on curtain. | Orange Swift moth on shelf. | Yellow Shell moth on wall. | Lime Speck Pug moth on cabinet. | |
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| Carcina Quercana moth. | Double-Striped Pug moth. | ||
After some poor weather it was nice to get out again. In addition to lots of Male Gatekeepers there were again plenty of Small / Essex Skippers, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshells and a couple of Marbled Whites. But today's prize was my best pictures yet of Comma butterflies - normally too twitchy to get close to, but today a couple of them actually posed. I have yet to see a Female Gatekeeper out there this year.
Then as if on cue on the 15th I found a Female Gatekeeper at last feeding on some Ragweed. I had been looking for Cinnabar Moth caterpillars. After feeding for a while it had a good bask and let me take good closeups. I did also find a Cinnabar caterpillar, as well as a Yellow Shell moth. The Small Tortoiseshells were out in swarms feeding on Thistle flowers, as were the Meadow Browns. Commas were also around too. More Cinnabars on the 16th.
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| Male Gatekeeper basking. | Two shots of a Comma basking. | Three shots of another Comma feeding on Blackberry flowers. | |||
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| Cinnabar moth caterpillar on Ragweed stem. | Female Gatekeeper basking. | Yellow Shell moth. | Closeup of head of Comma butterfly. | More Cinnabar moth caterpillars feeding on Ragweed. | |
It was extremely windy on the 7th, making photography very challenging. Despite that I got my first Male Holly Blue pictures, as well as a remarkable picture of two Meadow Browns mating on my hand! They just settled on my hand and posed. Almost caught me out that did as Meadow Browns are normally a bit shy. I have still to get a good shot of a female Meadow Brown, which has my brighter distinctive red splashes on its wing tops around the false eyes than the male. Soon after I legged it as a rare July storm moved in.
On the 8th the wind had dropped off but there were showers and thunderstorms everywhere. I found a weather window at lunchtime and found much butterfly activity in 'The Wasteland' again despite much cloud. Indeed early on in light rain the Meadow Browns and Skippers were still very active. Today's coups were my first Five-Spot Burnet, first open-wing shot of a Female Meadow Brown, and finding a female Marbled White crawling up and down grass stems. This Marbled White was happy to pose, and indeed was also happy to crawl on up my finger when I placed it on the end of a stem!
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| Male Holly Blue. | Two different pairs of mating Meadow Browns. | 3 shots of a rather shy Sitochroa palealis moth. | ||||
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| 2 shots of a female Meadow Brown. | Male Meadow Brown feeding. | 2 Shots of 5 Spot Burnet feeding on thistle, and one resting with hind wings revealed. | |||
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| Female Marbled White. I wonder what happened to its right hind wing? | ||
In between heavy showers and thunderstorms on the 2nd I managed to spot my first gatekeepers of the year. I saw several males fluttering around. One even let me briefly get close enough for a good closeup. The Commas on the other hand did not let me get close at all generally. Also plenty of Small (and a few Large) Skippers, Meadow Browns, Small Tortoiseshells and Whites flying whenever it was not pouring down. On the 5th it was much nicer, and the above species were around in huge numbers (except the Large Skippers which seem to have vanished). I finally got close to a Comma, and found a mating pair of Green Veined Whites. When they flew one flapped and the other kept it's wings folded, making it look like some sort of large moth. As for the 6th, compare the two Skipper images. One is an Essex Skipper, the other a Small Skipper. The difference is in the antennae tips - Black and glossy for Essex, Brown for Small. I also spotted two Marbled Whites but couldn't get close enough.
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| My first 2004 Gatekeeper (Male). | I finally got a Male Gatekeeper to pose for me. | One Comma that didn't see me coming until I had actually pressed the shutter. | Two different Small Tortoiseshells feeding on thistles. | ||
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| Comma feeding on blackberries. | Green Veined Whites mating. | Essex Skipper. | Small Skipper. | Comma. |
Another collection of butterflies and moths again. The star prize on the 22nd was actually finding a Meadow Brown butterfly basking with its wings open. This is the first time I've clearly seen the top side of this butterfly's wings. They are much darker than the underside. Another first on the 25th was my first ever pictures of a Marbled White butterfly. I also managed to get more basking Meadow Brown pictures.
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| My first 2004 Small Skipper. | A whiter than white Crambus Perlella moth on a blade of grass. | A Meadow Brown butterfly basking. | Female Large Skipper butterfly. | A ~5cm Parsnip moth caterpillar on the side of a thick Hogweed stem. | |||
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| Long range shot of a Comma feeding on Blackberry flowers. | Large Skipper feeding on Thistle. | Sitochroa verticalis moth. | Marbled White butterfly resting. | ||
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| Agapeta Hamana moth. | These two further Meadow Brown shots illustrate how variable their wing tops are. | ||
Another collection of butterflies and moths. I particularly liked the Yellow Shell moth.
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| Male Large Skipper. | Cinnabar Moth. | My first 2004 Meadow Brown. | Another Platyptilia Pallidactyla moth. | A Homoeosoma Sinuella moth. | An Small Dusty Wave moth on my ceiling after dark. |
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| Female Large Skipper butterfly. | A Yellow Shell moth. | Male Large Skipper butterfly. | Yellow Shell moth on underside of horse chestnut leaf. | Male Large Skipper butterfly on blackberry flower. | Speckled Wood butterfly. |
Cinnabars and Common Blues, plus other creatures, including my first Painted Lady sighting of the year. Looks like the annual migration has started. On the 11th I also succeeded in photographing an early Red Admiral, and found another large group of Peacock larvae feeding on a stinging nettle.
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| Male Common Blue butterfly feeding on clover. | A Crambus Lathoniellus moth. | Cinnabar moths. | Male Common Blue butterfly basking. | Silver Y moth with wings open. | |
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| Painted Lady butterfly. | Two different Male Common Blue butterflies. | A Red Admiral butterfly. The cheeky beggar stuck it's proboscis out at me on the 3rd pic. | |||
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| Another swarm of Peacock butterfly larvae, including a closeup of the head of one of them. | My first Large Skipper butterfly pictures. This is a Male. | A Platyptilia Pallidactyla moth. | |||
Today's prize was easily the Lime Hawk moth. It was huge. Maybe 6cm across or more. Also as it was hot I left my window open after dark back home, and a few interesting moths paid me a visit as a result. I had to use the flash for the after dark moths. It was hard to avoid overexposing on the closeups. You can also tell I had a closeup filter attached which cast a shadow, but I generally got round that.
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| Silver Y moth. | Chrysoteuchia Culmella moth. | Peacock caterpillar swarm on a stinging nettle. | Small Copper butterfly. | Lime Hawk moth resting in the shade on a bush. | |
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| A Light Brown Apple moth on my wall. | Brown House-moth in my hand. | And a Green Pug moth on my curtain. |
On the 31st I went for a bank holiday wander around Barnhill. I also saw my first Red Admiral of the year on this day. As for the pictures (the first two), a note that those caterpillars used lots of silk to house themselves in, and there seemed to be millions of them everywhere on the bushes. On the 2nd I found several Small Coppers in the same place that I had my first sighting on the 27th May, plus another Cinnabar moth and lots of Burnet Companions and other species. On the 3rd I got a good pic of a Female Orange Tip.
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| Spindle Ermine moth Caterpillars. | Marbled Orchard Tortrix moth. | Pea moth in shade and in sunlight. | Large White butterfly feeding on blackberry blossom. | Small Copper butterfly. | Female Orange Tip butterfly on dandelion. | |||
I saw my first Small Heath and Burnet Companion of the year on the 24th. In both cases the new camera plus closeup filter enabled me to get my closest ever shots of them. On the 25th I thought I saw a female Common Blue but failed to get a picture. I made do with a Green-veined White and an unidentified tiny moth instead. On the 26th I saw and pictured my first adult Cinnabar and a Mother Shipton moth. On the 27th I had another first, with my first sighting and picture of a Small Copper butterfly. I also got my best ever Orange Tip shot too - flawless butterfly, perfect focus and close enough for a 1600x1200 desktop picture.
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| Male Orange Tip | Female Orange Tip | Small Heath | Burnet Companion | Peacock | Green Veined White |
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| A tiny 1-2mm wide Aethes Smeathmanniana moth resting on a blade of grass. | A Cinnabar moth. | A Mother Shipton moth. | Green-veined White feeding on dandelion. | A tiny 2mm wide Grapholita Compositella moth resting on the side of a leaf. | ||
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| Burnet Companion moth. | Another Male Orange Tip. | Small Copper butterfly basking. | |||
I played up with the closeup filter some more. I managed to get some real good closeups. The Holly Blue original was big enough to make a 1280x1024 wallpaper out of. The only snag with being this close is that I found it hard to focus on all of the butterfly at once - especially given these don't stay still for long. I also got really close to a Peacock that was hanging upside down from a nettle leaf. It seemed to be laying eggs, but I did not look too closely though as I did not want to disturb it. The Orange Tip photos were also all close enough to make wallpapers out of.
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| An egg-laying Peacock. | A Small White feeding. | My best shots of the Holly Blue (female). This was at the same bush as on the 10th. | ||||
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| Male Orange Tip feeding on Garlic Mustard and resting. | Female Orange Tip. | |
Despite the dull conditions on the 6th I spotted a Large White resting on a stinging nettle, seemingly quite happy for me to get really close. On the 7th I managed some more pictures of a male Orange Tip. On the 10th the prize was a female Holly Blue laying eggs on a holly bush.
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| Overhead view of Large White. | Two side views of Large White. | Two shots of an Orange Tip feeding. | Female Orangetip. Disappointingly overexposed, but the markings are still clear. | ||
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| Possibly my best Speckled Wood shot yet. | A female Holly Blue laying eggs on a holly bush and also resting. | |||
My best ever shots of Peacock butterflies. Two males were fighting like crazy, having a good old scrap and aerial
dogfight. But every now and then they dived down to the same patch of brambles and paused for breath just long enough
for me to take a picture or two. Meanwhile, the female (with no damage) just sat there and sunned herself. Normally I
wouldn't be able to tell the difference between a male and a female with this species, but their behaviour made the
distinction quite suggestive. The following day another Peacock landed right in front of me on the path and let me get
really close. My theory is it saw its mate on the web and wanted in on it. As soon as I had taken the shots it
fluttered off again. I nearly managed to get a picture of an Orange Tip when it settled to feed but alas it legged it
before I could get close enough.
On Sunday 25th I wandered around Barnhill in the morning and found a feeding Peacock and the first Speckled Woods I've
seen this year. There were also several Orange Tips but I was again unable to get a picture of them. While on Monday
I finally got a shot on a male Orange Tip, albeit a slightly over-exposed one. On Tuesday I succeeded in getting a
much better shot. The focus is not perfect, but given how difficult it is to picture these I'm pretty happy with it.
There were also a lot of pale blue butterflies around. I think they were Holly Blues but never got close enough to
confirm. The Speckled Woods are also coming out in large numbers now too.
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| The female, looking rather pristine. | The male, complete with battle scars, after a good scrap. | I'm sure this one posed for me having seen its mate's pic on the web... | Peacock feeding on blossom. | |
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| My first 2004 Speckled Wood. | Orange Tip feeding on blue flowers. | Green Veined White resting. | Male Orange Tip resting. | Green Veined White resting. |
My first butterfly shots with the new camera. The Peacocks were rather shy, and were prone to going off and fighting with their neighbours too, but I got really close to the Small Tortoiseshell. Also tested the twisty flipout screen for unusual angle shots. That way I was able to get the camera much closer to the ground and still clearly see what the camera could see.
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| A peacock with half folded wings about to scarper. | A fresh Small Tortoiseshell resting near nettles. | Side view of a Small Tortoiseshell made possible by the twisty flipout screen. I found it difficult to focus on all of the butterfly at once, so parts of both images are out of focus. But I hope to practice and improve on this technique in the future. | Peacock playing hide and seek. | Comma resting. I tried to get closer but failed to get a good focus before it scarpered. | |
At last the long winter break is over. After a long cold spell it finally warmed up on 30th. With lightish winds and the sun shining, they all came out at once. Last year a Comma was the first to be spotted by me. This year it was a Brimstone. Soon afterwards I had spotted several commas and Small Tortoiseshells. By 31st it had got very warm, and the Small Toroiseshells were swarming. More Commas and a few Peacocks were spotted too, plus some other unidentified butterflies. I just could not get a picture of a Brimstone or Peacock though. The Brimstones were moving non-stop, while the Peacocks were too twitchy for my levels of stealthiness!
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| A freshly emerged Small Tortoiseshell resting on nettles. | A Comma hibernator resting. | A much fresher looking Comma feeding on blossom. |