13 Thursday Oct 2022
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, butterfly migration, ivy flowers, Red Admiral, Red admirals feeding on Ivy
It’s not only the birds that head south in the autumn. During a walk along the coastal path earlier this week, I noticed several Red admirals getting ready to migrate.
Ivy flowers are essential for them at this time of year when they need to take on as many nutrients as possible before they take the big plunge and fly off over the cliffs, a feat that never ceases to amaze.
27 Tuesday Sep 2022
Posted in insects
I don’t know what it’s like where you are but there seem to be gazillions of Small white butterflies around here at the moment, which is why, when I noticed a single Green-veined white butterfly, it stood out like a sore thumb. And then it occurred to me that I hadn’t really covered the various whites much on the blog this butterfly season. So, before all the butterflies fade away for the year, I am going to remedy that, and I will start by showcasing the Green-veined whites (Pieris napi), which are so much easier to identify precisely because of their ‘green veins’, which, the UK Butterflies website reminds me, are not actually green at all but rather ‘an illusion created by a subtle combination of yellow and black scales’. And here they are …
15 Thursday Sep 2022
Posted in insects
Well, this was a surprise sighting during today’s walk! Holly blue butterflies have two broods each year (very occasionally three in the right conditions) but even with a second brood, the adults have usually disappeared by the beginning of September. This female did look quite faded and a bit bird-pecked but she was still flying strongly. Butterflies continuously amaze me!
26 Friday Aug 2022
Posted in insects
This Holly blue was a lovely unexpected surprise during this morning’s meander around Cosmeston. Holly blues do have two broods each year but this is quite late in the season to see adults of the second brood. A blue blessing!
15 Monday Aug 2022
Posted in insects
I couldn’t believe my luck (and wondered whether I should’ve bought a lottery ticket) but, after the first lucky day (Brown argus) and a second lucky day (the Silver-washed fritillary), the very next day my luck was in again. I’d seen Clouded yellow butterflies already in 2022 (one on 16 June; two – probably the first one and a friend – on 17 June; one – probably one of the previous two – on 20 June; all in the same general area) but hadn’t been able to get any reasonable photos. With the new camera, and a slightly more co-operative subject – it stopped a few times to feed, this time I managed to fire off several quick shots. This is the best of them.
p.s. I wrote this blog a few days ago and, since then, we’ve had an amazing influx of Clouded yellows, with five noted yesterday at Cosmeston Lakes Country Park, so here’s another of these beauties.
12 Friday Aug 2022
My first lucky day happened when I took the new camera for its first outing, and not only produced the Robin photo I posted yesterday but also the Brown argus I blogged about on Wednesday. The very next day I was, if anything, even more lucky, as I found this superb, if rather faded Silver-washed fritillary in a local woodland. Long time followers might remember I found a male Silver-washed frit (A golden surprise) last July, which was in the same woodland. This latest butterfly was quite a distance from last year’s find spot but that may just be because the scarcity of food sources had forced it to fly a little further than usual. This year’s butterfly is a female so I’m hoping she had found/can find a male and laid/will lay some eggs.
10 Wednesday Aug 2022
Posted in insects
The Brown argus butterfly (Aricia agestis) usually has two broods each year, the first adults flying during May and June, the second brood appearing in late July and fading away in late September. Somehow, I missed the first brood this year so, for the last couple of weeks, I’ve been systematically checking the spots of every female Common blue (at a glance, they look quite similar to Brown argus – see my July 2018 blog Flying on the wings of confusion for tips on how to differentiate the two species). Finally, last Friday, this beautiful Brown argus flitted into my field of vision. I didn’t quite do a happy dance but there was a not-too-loud ‘Whoop’!
27 Wednesday Jul 2022
Posted in insects
Before I became completely enamoured with butterflies, I mistakenly believed they – that is to say, each species – looked the same. I hadn’t appreciated that the patterns on their wings are like fingerprints, each one different, each unique.
15 Friday Jul 2022
Posted in insects
Starting today and running until 7 August, this year’s big butterfly count is underway. The general public – that’s you! – are crucial in assessing the state of the nation’s butterflies by taking part in this annual count. There’s still time to get involved, as you can download the necessary materials from the Butterfly Conservation website, and it only takes 15 minutes of watching and counting the butterflies in your back garden, your local park or green space, then logging those counts online. Easy peasy! And a massive thank you to everyone who takes the time to make a difference!
14 Thursday Jul 2022
Posted in insects
Tags
British butterflies, butterfly, hairstreak butterflies, mating butterflies, mating White-letter hairstreaks, White-letter hairstreaks
Saturday’s walk to my local woodlands started with a magical experience when I spotted these mating hairstreaks sitting, almost hidden, on a leaf of a small sapling. The tree was a young Oak, so I assumed the butterflies were Purple hairstreaks but a closer look showed these were actually White-letter hairstreaks, though there were no Wych elms, their usual habitat, anywhere in sight. The lessons for me were twofold: I should always check rather than make assumptions, and butterflies don’t always do what you expect them to. And, though I felt a little like a voyeur, the butterflies were a joy to see so close, and they stayed quite still while I took this series of photographs.
earthstar 
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