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Two Male Winter moths found around the house in Kenton.
Moth.jpg |
Moth.jpg |
Male Winter moth in a clear perspex box. | Male Winter moth on a wall. |
On the 23rd a couple of butterflies were spotted and photographed up Barnhill. On the 4th there were atleast 4 Red Admirals feeding on the ivy in the garden. This was one of them basking between feeds. On the 11th in Glendavan House near Loch Davan in Scotland, a Small Tortoiseshell was found inside after dark. It spent more than 30 minutes wandering around my hand feeding on my sweat before I placed it into a flower pot outside the front door.
SmallCopper.jpg |
SpeckledWood.jpg |
RedAdmiral.jpg |
SmallTortoiseshell1.jpg |
SmallTortoiseshell2.jpg |
Small Copper. | Speckled Wood. | Red Admiral. | 2 shots of Small Tortoiseshell on my hand. |
A large moth rescued from a pavement in Frien Barnet. I decided to pick it up as it was at risk of being trodden on where it was. It was very docile, being daytime (late afternoon). I set it down again just inside nearby Coppett's Wood nature reserve. It looks like a Hawk moth to me, and has since been identified as a Poplar Hawk Moth.
Moth.jpg |
6-7cm Poplar Hawk Moth. |
Butterflies and moths spotted while wandering around Park Wood in Ruislip.
SmallSkipper.jpg |
MarbledWhite.jpg |
HeathFritillary1.jpg |
HeathFritillary2.jpg |
HeathFritillary3.jpg |
Small Skipper. | Marbled White. | 3 shots of the Heath Fritillary that buzzed the Marbled White. |
HeathFritillary4.jpg |
HeathFritillary5.jpg |
HeathFritillary6.jpg |
WhiteAdmiral.jpg |
GreenOakTortrix.jpg |
3 shots of another Heath Fritillary. | White Admiral. | Green Oak Tortrix moth. |
Butterflies and moths spotted while wandering around Barnhill. Meadow Browns were also present in huge numbers. Weather was fairly overcast but butterflies were still playing.
LargeSkippers.jpg |
CommaOpen.jpg |
CommaClosed.jpg |
PeacockLarva.jpg |
PeacockLarvaeSwarm.jpg |
5SpotBurnet.jpg |
Two Large Skippers on a leaf. | Two different Commas. | Peacock larvae on stinging nettles. | 5 Spot Burnet. |
Jack Harrison and I visited two places today. First we went to see Silver Studded Blues at Chobham Common. Then we went back via Park Wood in Ruislip to see the Heath Fritillaries. We only saw the one. We found a very weak female on the path that could barely fly. She happily crawled up onto my finger. In the end I placed her onto a blackberry flower and left her feeding furiously.
SilverStuddedBlue1.jpg |
SilverStuddedBlue2.jpg |
SilverStuddedBlue3.jpg |
SilverStuddedBlue4.jpg |
Moth.jpg |
SilverStuddedBlue5.jpg |
SilverStuddedBlue6.jpg |
2 shots of a Male Silver Studded Blue. | 2 shots of a Female Silver Studded Blue. | Common Heath Moth. | 2 shots of a Male Silver Studded Blue. |
HeathFritillary1.jpg |
HeathFritillary2.jpg |
HeathFritillary3.jpg |
HeathFritillary4.jpg |
HeathFritillary5.jpg |
HeathFritillary6.jpg |
HeathFritillary7.jpg |
7 shots of a female Heath Fritillary. Sometimes using my finger as a perch. Then left to feed on a blackberry flower. |
A trip to Norfolk to see Swallowtails was not too successful. We did see a couple but only fleetingly at distance. I did get a moth picture however between Catfield and Barton Broad.
Moth.jpg |
Brown Silver-line Moth. |
Following a tip off I decided to take a look around the area between Totternhoe village and Sewell Cutting. Sure enough, the place was swarming with Small Blues. There were easily more than 100 of them in a number of colonies, with lower concentrations more uniformly spread. In the colonies they were the most concentrated I have seen except for last year's Sharpenhoe Chalkhill Blues and last week's Denbies Adonis Blues.
Apart from the Small Blues there wasn't that much other activity. I saw the off Small Tortoiseshell, Peacock, Green Hairstreak, Orange Tip, Common Blue, Brimstones, Burnet Companion, Cinnabar and some Whites, all in low numbers.
SmallBlue1a.jpg |
SmallBlue1b.jpg |
SmallBlue2.jpg |
SmallBlue3.jpg |
SmallBlue4.jpg |
SmallBlue5.jpg |
Small Blue sipping salts from a chalk path. | More Small Blues resting and feeding. |
SmallBlue6.jpg |
SmallBlue7a.jpg |
SmallBlue7b.jpg |
SmallBlue7c.jpg |
Small Blue. | A Small Blue with a bigger splash of blue than the others. And caught launching too. |
I went back to Bison Hill to add the Brown Argus to my list of species. They were hard to photograph and hard to distinguish from the female Common Blue but I am fairly sure I succeeded. I was also surprised to see a Duke of Burgundy still around, although it looked like it was on its last legs.
It is worth comparing FemaleCommonBlue2 with BrownArgus2a to see how the spot pattern differs, as well as the comparing the other shots (the Common Blue has a hint of blue, while the Brown Arguses don't.
BrownArgus1.jpg |
BrownArgus2a.jpg |
BrownArgus2b.jpg |
BrownArgus3.jpg |
MaleCommonBlue1.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundy.jpg |
4 shots of 3 Brown Arguses. | Male Common Blue. | Faded and worn Duke of Burgundy. |
FemaleCommonBlue1.jpg |
FemaleCommonBlue2.jpg |
MotherShipton.jpg |
MaleCommonBlue2.jpg |
CommonBluesMating.jpg |
2 shots of Female Common Blues. | Mother Shipton moth. | Male Common Blue. | 2 Common Blues mating. |
I met up with Jack Harrison today. In the morning we went to Tugley Wood in Surrey. After lunch we moved on to Denbies Hillside just West of Dorking. At Tugley Wood I found and photographed my first ever Wood Whites and Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. At Denbies Hillside I not only found and photographed my first ever Adonis Blues, but found a swarm of them. They were everywhere - up to 1000 in the colony. I have never seen so many Blues in one place. Every time I moved I disturbed 5 or 6 at a time. Just a shame I could not capture that on camera.
For a while I thought Adonis1.jpg was a Common Blue. However I am not totally sure. Any feedback there would be appreciated. The others are without doubt all Adonis Blues. As you can see a few of them were happy to bask on my hand!
WoodWhite1.jpg |
WoodWhite2.jpg |
WoodWhite3.jpg |
WoodWhite4.jpg |
Caterpillar1.jpg |
Caterpillar2.jpg |
Caterpillar3.jpg |
4 shots of Wood Whites feeding. | 3 shots of an unidentified 1cm caterpillar hanging by a thread from an oak tree. |
PearlBordered1.jpg |
PearlBordered2.jpg |
PearlBordered3.jpg |
PearlBordered4.jpg |
DingySkipper1.jpg |
DingySkipper2.jpg |
GreenHairstreak.jpg |
Pearl Bordered Fritillary | Same Pearl Bordered Fritillary feeding on Bugle. | 2 shots of a Dingy Skipper. | Green Hairstreak |
GrizzledSkipper1.jpg |
SpeckledYellowMoth1.jpg |
GrizzledSkipper2.jpg |
SmallCopper1.jpg |
SmallCopper2.jpg |
SmallCopper3.jpg |
GrizzledSkipper3.jpg |
Grizzled Skipper | Yellow Speckled Moth | Grizzled Skipper | 3 shots of a Small Copper feeding on a buttercup. | Grizzled Skipper |
WoodWhite5.jpg |
SpeckledYellowMoth2.jpg |
Adonis1.jpg |
Adonis2.jpg |
Adonis3.jpg |
Adonis4.jpg |
AdonisMeadow1.jpg |
Wood White | Speckled Yellow Moth | 4 shots of separate male and female Adonis Blues | There are atleast 10 Adonis Blues in the small area covered by this picture. |
Adonis5.jpg |
Adonis6.jpg |
Adonis7.jpg |
AdonisMeadow2.jpg |
Moth1.jpg |
Moth2.jpg |
AdonisMeadow3.jpg |
More Adonis Blues. Note how variable the females are. | 2 shots of a Lace Border moth. | Looking up the hill. Horseshoe Vetch is everywhere. |
Adonis8.jpg |
Adonis9.jpg |
Adonis10.jpg |
Adonis11.jpg |
Adonis12.jpg |
Adonis13.jpg |
Yet more Adonis Blues. Adonis12.jpg is a male. |
Late in the day I whizzed out to Sharpenhoe Clappers and Ivinghoe Beacon while the sun was actually shining. At last, I found and photographed Dingy Skippers. I didn't see it at the time, but I spotted a second Dingy Skipper in the photograph of the first one. The second shot shows both of them.
The first pics were taken at Sharpenhoe. DingySkipper3 onwards are pics taken at Ivinghoe. The Painted Lady was one of 3 at the summit of Ivinghoe Beacon playing in the evening sunshine. Curiously they weren't basking, but closing their wings at rest and facing sideways on to the sun.
GreenHairstreak.jpg |
DingySkipper1.jpg |
DingySkipper2.jpg |
Moth.jpg |
DingySkipper3.jpg |
PaintedLady.jpg |
Green Hairstreak | Dingy Skipper | Zoom out of DingySkipper1 showing the second Dingy. | Small Purple-Barred moth | Dingy Skipper | Painted Lady |
I visited Bison Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon again before moving on to Aldbury Nowers for a guided walk. Weather was crap at Bison Hill and I saw no butterflies. At Ivinghoe Beacon the sun briefly came out at lunchtime while I was looking in an area close to the area we explored on the 10th. And suddenly I was surrounded by Dukes! So I found the colony. Atleast 3 seen simultaneously and possibly as many as 5 or 6. My first Painted Lady for about 2 years also buzzed me as I left the Dukes behind.
Then I joined a guided walk at Aldbury Nowers. Weather wasn't ideal, but a couple of Grizzled Skippers were present, as well as my first Small Heaths of the year, some moths (including cinnabar), and a Painted Lady, Orange Tip and Green Veined White. Still no Dingy Skippers seen though.
DukeOfBurgundy1a.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundy1b.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundy2.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundy3a.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundy3b.jpg |
2 shots of a Duke of Burgundy (same butterfly). | 1 shot of a second Duke. | 2 shots of a 3rd Duke (same butterfly). This one was happy to use my finger as a perch to bask on! |
CommonCarpet1.jpg |
CommonCarpet2.jpg |
GreenVeined1.jpg |
GreenVeined2.jpg |
MotherShipton.jpg |
2 different Common Carpet moths. | 2 shots of the same Green Veined butterfly. | Mother Shipton moth. |
LesserTrebleBar.jpg |
SmallHeath.jpg |
GrizzledSkipper.jpg |
PyraustaNigrata.jpg |
PaintedLady.jpg |
A Lesser Treble-bar moth. Many of these 3-4cm moths were seen. | Small Heath | Grizzled Skipper | 1cm Pyrausta Nigrata moth - one of several. | Painted Lady |
I visited Bison Hill and Ivinghoe Beacon nature reserves today and spotted my first ever Duke of Burgundy's and Grizzled Skipper. Plenty of other butterflies also to be seen.
GrizzledSkipper.jpg |
MaleBrimstone.jpg |
FemaleBrimstone1.jpg |
FemaleBrimstone2.jpg |
FemaleBrimstone3.jpg |
Grizzled Skipper. | Male Brimstone feeding on Cowslip. | 3 shots of a female Brimstone including with a fly companion, and a head closeup. |
DukeOfBurgundyClosed.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundyOpen.jpg |
DukeOfBurgundyJack.jpg |
GreenHairstreak.jpg |
MotherShipton.jpg |
Duke of Burgundy butterfly, wings closed. | Duke of Burgundy butterfly, basking. | Jack Harrison photographing a Duke of Burgundy. | Green Hairstreak on hawthorn bush. | Mother Shipton moth. |
Speckled Woods are back!
SpeckledWood.jpg |
Speckled Wood spotted at Barnhill. |
A lovely walk up Barnhill today. First Peacocks, Holly Blues and Whites (probably Green Veined) of 2006 spotted today. And for the first time ever, I managed a picture of a Male Brimstone! These ones rarely stop flying in my experience. But this one happened to land right in front of me for a quick feed on a dandelion.
HollyBlue.jpg |
Peacock.jpg |
Comma.jpg |
MaleBrimstone.jpg |
Holly Blue drinking from the edge of a puddle. | Peacock basking in the spring sunshine. | Comma. | Male Brimstone feeding on a dandelion. |
My first wild UK butterflies of 2006, all spotted in Gunnersbury Park. A Red Admiral was also spotted on the 30th but not photographed.
SmallTortoiseshell.jpg |
Comma.jpg |
Small Tortoiseshell | Comma |