Singing the Chalk hill blues

28 Saturday Jul 2018

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British butterflies, butterflies, butterflies of Sussex, Chalk hill blue, Chalkhill blue, Polyommatus coridon, Seaford Head Local Nature Reserve

This is the last of the seven new butterflies I saw during my seven days in Sussex and the second from my walk around Seaford Head (see yesterday’s blog for the first). This stunner used to be known as the Chalkhill blue and is now the Chalk hill blue – I haven’t been able to find out why the change was made but the name does indicate their preferred location, the grasslands found on the chalk hills and downs of southern England. (Its scientific name, Polyommatus coridon, hasn’t changed.)

180728 Chalk Hill blue (1)

Luckily, the two butterflies I saw were both males – I say luckily because the female looks an awful lot like a Brown argus / Common blue female, and we all know how tricky those are to distinguish.

180728 Chalk Hill blue (2)

Apparently, these stunning males are often seen in large numbers, many hundreds together, flying low over vegetation in search of females. What a glorious sight that would be!

180728 Chalk hill blue (3)

Small and blue

27 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

Britain’s smallest butterfly, British butterflies, butterflies, Cupido minimus, Seaford Head Local Nature Reserve, Small blue, Small blue butterfly

Nine days ago, when I was staying with my friend Jill in East Sussex, we decided to re-enact a walk we had done on 12 May 2017, a wildlife walk led by Michael Blencowe of the Sussex Wildlife Trust, an expert lepidopterist and co-author of The Butterflies of Sussex.

May 2017, looking from Hope Bottom on Seaford Head towards the Seven Sisters

On that previous occasion the day was cool, windy and sometimes wet so we didn’t see any butterflies. This time Britain was in the grip of a scorching heatwave so it was almost too hot and dry for butterflies….

I didn’t quite match the framing but this is the same view in July 2017

Almost, but not quite. As luck would have it, I managed to spot two more new butterflies this day, and I almost missed the first as it was so tiny. This is the very appropriately named Small blue (Cupido minimus), Britain’s smallest butterfly and one that is becoming increasingly scarce.

180727 Small blue (2)

These lovelies are often found in small colonies, in areas of scrub and grassland near where their food plant grows. I don’t recall seeing any Kidney vetch (Anthyllis vulneraria) during our walk through the Seaford Head Local Nature Reserve but, luckily for the Small blue and for me, it must have been there.

180727 Small blue (1)

Flying on the wings of confusion

26 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

Aricia agestis, British butterflies, Brown argus, butterflies, Common blue, Common blue butterfly, confusing butterflies, Polyommatus icarus

In yesterday’s blog I mentioned my confusion in identifying the Brown argus butterfly. Here’s why, plus some tips on how to defuse that confusion.

One of these butterflies is a Brown argus (Aricia agestis), the other five are female Common blues (Polyommatus icarus). Can you spot the odd one out?

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (1)

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (2)

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (3)

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (4)

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (5)

180726 confusing butterflies underwings (6)

If you have keen eyes, you will have noticed a difference in the patterns of spots of the butterfly in the last photo, which is the Brown argus. The Common blues all have an extra spot on their forewings (below right) and, on their hind wings, the two spots on the leading edge are more spaced out than those of the Brown argus – its two spots have been described as being close to a ‘figure of eight’ shape (below left).

180726 underwing patterns

Now, let’s look at the open wing patterns, which I find even trickier. Two of these butterflies are Brown argus, four are Common blue females. Which are which?

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (1)

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (2)

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (3)

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (4)

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (5)

180726 confusing butterflies open wings (6)

Firstly, as you can no doubt see, the amount of blue on Common blue females is very variable and that alone cannot help you identify them, as the Brown argus can also have a slight blue sheen to its wings sometimes. What I have found is that there is much less, sometimes no white colouration below the orange markings on the lower wings of the Brown argus (below left) and, though the Common blue can show a slight dark spot in the middle of its forewings (below right), that spot is much less obvious than the Brown argus’s spot.

180726 open wing patterns

So, did you work out which was which in the open wing photos? The middle butterfly in each row (photos two and five) are the Brown argus butterflies. Top marks if you spotted them!

Brown argus

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Aricia agestis, British butterflies, Brown argus, butterflies, confusing species of butterflies, Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, Cuckmere Valley, RSPB Dungeness

When I spotted this little Brown argus butterfly (Aricia agestis) in the RSPB reserve at Dungeness in Kent, I thought it was a first for me, but I was wrong.

180724 Brown argus Dungeness

It turns out I had actually seen one two days earlier during a walk along ancient footpaths in the Cuckmere Valley in East Sussex, but I hadn’t realised until I’d had a really good look at my photos.

180724 Brown argus CuckmereValley

And then, when I got home and rechecked the photos on my computer of another very similar butterfly, it turned out that I had actually seen my very first Brown argus at Cosmeston, my local country park, back in August 2017.

180724 Brown argus Cosmeston

Why was I so confused? Check back in tomorrow and I’ll show you.

White admirals

24 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

Abbot's Wood, British butterflies, butterflies, Limenitis camilla, White admiral

These lovely creatures, White admirals (Limenitis camilla), were the fourth new species of butterfly I saw while on holiday in East Sussex last week, and the third new species we found at Abbot’s Wood, a lovely Forestry Commission woodland near Polegate that we chose for a walk primarily because the towering trees would provide shelter from the burning sun. Little did we realise what wonders lay within!

180724 white admiral (1)

I knew this was a new-to-me species when I saw it gliding low along the woodland path in front of me, as I’d not seen a butterfly flying like that before. This first White admiral was rather tatty looking, with much of its lower wings missing. Was it a poor flyer or had it been tangling with other butterflies in the hunt for a mate?

180724 white admiral (2)

Almost immediately we saw a second White admiral and, though this one had a small nick out of one wing, it was in much better overall condition and seemed quite happy to sit and pose for photos. These glorious butterflies live mostly in southern Britain, in mature woodland where there is an abundance of their caterpillar food plant, the Honeysuckle (Lonicera periclymenum).

A tale of two Hairstreaks

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature, trees

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British butterflies, butterflies, butterflies in elm trees, butterflies in oak trees, Favonius quercus, Purple hairstreak, Satyrium w-album, White-letter hairstreak

First off, let me just say I have not started blogging about hairstyling: the Hairstreaks are a group of butterflies, so named because of the thin streak of white across their underwings, that usually live their whole lives in the upper canopies of various trees. This year, due to the extremely hot dry weather, their tree-top food sources have dried up, forcing them to come down to ground level for sustenance.

180723 white-letter hairstreak

I spotted this lovely little butterfly purely by chance. I was wandering along the Glamorgan Canal in Forest Farm Nature Reserve, north of Cardiff, taking photos of the Demoiselle damselflies, when something small and brown fluttered down to water level, settled briefly on a leaf, then was chased off by one of the Demoiselles (hence the poor images). The White-letter hairstreak (Satyrium w-album) can usually be found in the tops of Elm trees and suffered a severe decline in numbers due to Dutch Elm disease killing off so many Elm trees in the 1970s but it seems slowly to be recovering. Its name comes from the shape of the letter W on its lower underwing.

180723 purple hairstreak

I can’t take the credit for spotting this Purple hairstreak (Favonius quercus) – my friend Jill noticed it sitting on the woodland trail as we explored Abbot’s Wood in East Sussex last week. (This was my third new butterfly of the week!) Purple hairstreaks usually live in the tops of Oak trees, mostly in southern areas of Britain. Unfortunately, I only managed a couple of quick photos and didn’t get to see its purple-coloured upper wings.

Silver-washed fritillaries

22 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Tags

Abbot's Wood, Argynnis paphia, British butterflies, butterflies, fritillaries, Silver-washed fritillary

What an absolute delight it was to see these beauties during my recent visit to Sussex, my second new butterfly sighting for the week!

180722 Silver-washed fritillary (3)

My friend Jill can testify to the fact that I was grinning from ear to ear as we followed the Abbot’s Amble trail through Abbot’s Wood, a Forestry Commission site near Polegate, and were entertained at every sunlit spot by Silver-washed fritillaries (Argynnis paphia) flitting about the bracken, bramble, thistles and burdock.

180722 Silver-washed fritillary (5)

With a wingspan between 7 and 8 cms, they’re large butterflies, and so very vibrant.

180722 Silver-washed fritillary (4)

These are woodland butterflies, feeding on the flowers that grow along the edges of paths and trails in wooded areas. Apparently, they also lay their eggs on tree trunks, rather than on their caterpillar’s food plant. Once hatched, the caterpillars hibernate through the winter, awakening and descending to the forest floor come the springtime to feed on the leaves of violets.

The bumblebee has its eye on that flower but the fritillary isn’t moving!

180722 Silver-washed fritillary (2)

Marbled whites

21 Saturday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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Arlington Reservoir, British butterflies, butterflies, Half-mourner, Marbled white, Marmoress, Melanargia galathea, West Park Local Nature Reserve, Woods Mill Nature Reserve

The week before I went down to visit my friend Jill in East Sussex I thought I spotted a Marbled white butterfly at Lavernock Nature Reserve but it flew off before I could get close and I couldn’t find it again.

180721 Marbled white at Arlington

In Sussex, a Marbled white (Melanargia galathea) was the first of seven new species of butterfly I saw in just seven days, and I managed to see three of them at three different places. The first was at Arlington Reservoir, the second at Sussex Wildlife Trust’s Woods Mill Reserve, and the third was at West Park Local Nature Reserve near Uckfield.

180721 Marbled white at Woods Mill

According to Patrick Coulder’s book A Natural History of the Cuckmere Valley:

… 200 years ago, this butterfly was known as the half-mourner, because women then wore black and white dresses during the period of ‘half-mourning’ which followed full mourning for a dead relative. Its name then changed to marmoress, meaning ‘marble-like’, and finally about a hundred years ago it became known as the marbled white.

180721 Marbled white at West Park

Here’s lookin’ at you back, Skippy!

19 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in insects, nature

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British butterflies, butterflies, butterfly, Large skipper, Lycaena dispar

180719 large skipper (1)

I know I’ve already posted a lot of Large skipper (Lycaena dispar) butterfly photos over the past couple of months but I just can’t help myself.

180719 large skipper (2) 180719 large skipper (4)

They are so adorable, especially the males when they’re posing.

180719 large skipper (3) 180719 large skipper (5)

Of course, I do know they’re not actually posing – it’s more likely that they’re holding a territory and are trying to look intimidating to scare me off.

180719 large skipper (6) 180719 large skipper (7)

Or perhaps they’re just as curious about me as I am about them?

180719 large skipper (8) 180719 large skipper (9)

Well, here’s lookin’ at you back, Skippy!

Birding at Peterston & Pendoylan Moors

12 Thursday Jul 2018

Posted by sconzani in animals, birds, insects, nature, walks

≈ 2 Comments

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birding, birdwatching, British birds, British butterflies, butterflies, Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Cows, Glamorgan Bird Club, Green-veined white, Meadow Brown, Peacock, Red fox, Red kite, River Ely, Sand martin, Small tortoiseshell, Stock dove

Yesterday I enjoyed another wonderful, if rather hot day’s birding with my friends from the Glamorgan Bird Club, this time wandering a trail alongside the River Ely near Peterston-super-Ely and Pendoylan.

180711 2 red kites

On the way there, my friend John and I had incredibly close views of three Red kites and more of these magnificent birds of prey were gliding overhead during our walk.

180711 1 stock dove

We saw Stock doves (one pictured above) sitting obligingly close to Woodpigeons so we could see the differences in the two species.

180711 2 red fox

A Red fox was spotted trotting along in a distant field, its lunch in its mouth.

180711 4 meeting the locals

A large herd of large cows moved reluctantly away from the river so we could pass by. You’d have to be crazy to mess with this lady, who was keeping a steady eye on us in case we ventured too close to her calves.

180711 5 participants

The fifteen participants … well, fourteen really, as I was taking the photo.

180711 6 river ely

The meandering River Ely was running low due to the recent drought conditions here in south Wales.

As well as birds, we also saw lots of butterflies, including these: Cinnabar caterpillars, Comma, Green-veined white, Meadow brown, Peacock, and more Small tortoiseshell than I’ve ever seen in one day before.

180711 7 sandmartins

The highlight of the day for me was watching these Sand martins hawking for food over the fields and then returning to their burrows in the river bank to feed their hungry young. Magic!