Fence, Flutters and Flowers.

A recent wander below the slopes at Denbies Hillside provided another opportunity to grab some shots for this week's edition of  'Good Fences' of the original iron Estate fence with its ornate fittings.

Wild flowers abound alongside the track including Oxeye Daisy, Bird's-foot-trefoil (with attendant female Five-spot Burnet), Honeysuckle, Buttercup and Crane's-bill.

A male Common Blue on Bird's-foot-trefoil, one of the caterpillar's food plants.

A well camouflaged Green Hairstreak deep within the grassy sword.

While back at home the trellis fencing supports two roses; 'Mme Alfred Carrière' and 'Compassion' with 'Mum in a Million' in a pot nearby; all currently producing an abundance of fragrant blooms.

Elsewhere in the garden the recent rain and sunshine has helped the central border to flourish with a varied collection of hardy Geraniums, the first flower on Clematis 'Scartho Gem' planted last year, the dainty red spray of a Heuchera, the ever spreading Aquilegia 'William Guiness' plus the drooping fragrant bunches of Lilac flowers.

Linking to:
Good Fences
Today's Flowers
Floral Friday Photos

Friday Flutters.

My butterfly transect walk earlier this week through the woodland glades on Ashtead Common only produced two species; Brimstone and Speckled Wood (see image left) plus views of several Speckled Yellow, a day flying moth patrolling the open tracks; so on Thursday I decided to wander the southern chalk downland slope at Denbies Hillside.

Before tackling the downward slope I wandered across the upper meadow; the track-way lined with buttercups; and spotted numerous Five-spot Burnet moths amongst the grasses.

Five-spot Burnet.

A mating pair.

Descending the slope towards the gate provided my first view this year of a Common Blue perched low down in the grassy sword keeping out of the north-easterly breeze.

A few Brimstone and a solitary Orange-tip were also seen patrolling the field edge.

I was also delighted to see decent numbers of our commonest grassland species, the tiny Small Heath, which from past experience rarely perch for very long but I found one individual that sat just long enough for the lens to focus on it.

Small Heath.

My peripheral vision locked onto another inconspicuous and well camouflaged species, a Green Hairstreak, also hiding deep in the hillside vegetation. 

Green Hairstreak.

Deciding to take a rest and eat my packed lunch close to a bare patch of chalk was a good choice as I was shortly able to enjoy decent views of a fresh male Adonis Blue.

Adonis Blue (male).

On reaching the bottom of the slope I eventually came across a female Adonis Blue (see below).

Adonis Blue (female).

Finally a shot of the hillside resident that is a very important grazing species on the downs, necessary for creating very fine, short turf that is required by the rare Adonis Blue and other downland species.

Linking to:
Saturday's Critters

Green Hairstreak.

During my very recent wander around Thursley Common I came across a couple of tiny green 'flutters' dancing around the fringes of a young Birch sapling in the middle of one of the sandy tracks. My first thought was to carry on walking as they obviously weren't in the mood to settle BUT then I thought well it might pay to just wait and see ....

.... and eventually one decided to take a rest. From memory this is probably the closest view I have had of a Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi). 

This is the only British species that is truly green in colour and although it is the commonest of the hairstreaks, when at rest it is often so well camouflaged against the green foliage that many go unnoticed. The male and female are very similar and very difficult to tell apart as the brown upper-sides of their wings (the male has a pale sex brand on each forewing) are rarely seen as this butterfly always immediately settles with its wings closed. On this individual the row of white spots, known as 'hairstreaks' on the under-wing is somewhat reduced and can be completely absent. 

I am guessing that this individual was a male, guarding his territory, and very occasionally darting away to chase off another male before returning to his favorite perch.  All images were taken with my pocket Canon Powershot. FAB.

Flutter Roundup (Part 1).

Many years ago I occasionally went birding with a very dour Scotsman who took a keener interest in butterflies than the birds. During the summer months I have often recalled a comment he made to me during a stroll around the countryside .... "When the birding activity drops away in summer you should switch to chasing butterflies ... there are only 59 resident species in the UK ... far smaller list than all the birds".

Well throughout the following years I never consciously followed his suggestion but this year I have tried to photograph every species that I have seen. Whilst I haven't kept a specific 'tick list', when sorting through all the images recently I discovered, to my surprise, that I have actually seen a total of 32 so far this year and most of them not too far from home.

Not unsurprisingly the most photographed was the Silver-washed Fritillary.

Here are some montages of the other species I have manged to capture.

Common and Holly Blues

Brown Argus, Green Hairstreak, Brimstone, Grayling, Purple Hairstreak and Green-veined White.

Gatekeeper, Meadow Brown, Orange-tip and the Comma.

In Part 2 I'll share an unexpected recent find plus a few more montages of the summer flutters.  FAB. 

Flutters in Kent.

A few of the flutters seen during our visit to Northwood Hill on Friday.

Cinnabar Moth (Tyria jacobaeae).

One of the RSPB staff kindly pointed me to a location where Green Hairstreaks (Callophrys rubi) had been seen fighting. With such strong direct sunlight this individual was defending its territory and regularly perched amoungst the greenery that made it even harder to focus so here are the best of a few images.

Its antenna and legs are striped black and white.

Always rests with its wings closed. The upperwing is in fact brown.

Probably a recently arrived (migrant) Red Admiral (Vanessa atalanta). Just a pity it wouldn't open its wings.

Finally a Peacock (Inachis io) soaking up the sunshine.     FAB. 

Jersey - Final Post.

This is the final post of our recent trip to Jersey (Channel Islands) and here are a few more views of the northern coast. [Please click any image in this post to enlarge].

I couldn't resist including one of the many Herring Gulls that patrolled the cliffs during our various walks along the coastal pathways.
This fellow was not very co-operative but I managed a record shot of this Green Hairstreak.

This Mallard family was sighted during a gentle stroll to one of the reservoirs.

Most days we took a circular walk around the roads close to our hotel and one morning the 'kia..kia" call of a Common Buzzard prompted me to look up and catch this individual flying overhead.

This was the closest we got to seeing a Puffin.

A "Maid of the Meadows, a true Jersey cow.

A Magpie keeping the insect numbers down - something I don't recall seeing before.

Dammed shame I can't move very far!

This was the only cockeral that didn't wake us up in the mornings!

Foxgloves were abundant alongside the coastal paths. The lilies were a present to Anita from Charlie (a daffodil grower friend) who we visited and were brought home in a large box packed in one the cases together with some Jersey spuds.

Thank you Jersey for a pleasant break away from work. Maybe we won't leave it another 30 years before returning.