Saturday 14 July 2018

Transect Update for Weeks 14 and 15.

My butterfly transect walk for week 14 was undertaken with temperatures around 25 deg.C and just before a short camping holiday in Kent when it soared well above 30 deg.C. On my walk last Monday (Week 15) the temperature was a more comfortable 23 deg.C.

Week 14 produced the highest count of 11 Large Skipper (above) so far this year.


Whilst I logged sightings of 9 Small/Essex Skippers I was only able to clearly identify 4 individuals as Essex Skippers (above).

As expected the most prominent species seen were Ringlets (above) with a total of 171 recorded over the two visits and Week 15 saw the emergence of the Gatekeepers (below). 


I recorded Large, Small and Green-veined Whites on both walks with the former producing 14 sightings and was also the only species that stopped long enough to be captured by the lens.

Large White.

I also recorded my highest count of 26 Purple Hairstreaks in Week 14 and the highest overall annual total so far of 39 easily exceeding any of the previous three years records. The White Admiral tally for this season stands at 40 to date and is double the sightings recorded over the last four years, 


Conversely sightings of Silver-washed Fritillary has so far been much lower than last year.

Three new species for this season were seen in the last two weeks:

Holly Blue.

Peacock.

A female Brown Argus. This is only the second time in four years that I have recorded this species on the transect.

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12 comments:

  1. Hello, wonderful sightings and images from your butterfly walk. The Peacock is one of my favorites. Thank so much for linking up and sharing your post. Happy Saturday, enjoy your weekend!

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  2. Fantastic shots! Would love to see a peacock in front of my camera.

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  3. What a nice post. I like butterflies very much. I know these all. The Gatekeepers are so pretty!

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  4. As much as I like the Peacock, and I do, oh, oh, oh, how I love the Ringlets. I wished you would post some of the images even closer up. But understand if you can't. Thanks Frank. Hope all is well with you and yours. Carol

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    1. Carol. I'll see what I can do in a future post … just for you.

      All is well here … getting hotter again!!

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  5. Oh, I like the Peacock and the Holly Blue! I went to the park in search of butterflies this week and photographed a few. Well...only a few of my photos were clear! Enjoy your weekend!

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  6. How fortunate you are to have so many butterflies in your transect.

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    1. Cheers Steve. 21 species so far for this year is good for a woodland site. Stay tuned for what I find in week 16!

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  7. Wonderful sightings! And such beautiful photos.

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  8. How beautiful they are.
    Karin

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  9. Hi Frank,
    In this post are also beautiful butterflies.
    Beautifully displayed. Our nature has great residents ;-)

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  10. Beautiful photos Frank..I just came in from chasing a pair of mating damsels around the yard, but it is too hot to continue....Michelle

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I hope you enjoyed your visit and I always appreciate your comments and feedback.

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