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.

Linking to:

Saturday's Critters
Nature Notes

Transect Update - Week 13.

Once again I chose Sunday 24th to undertake my 'Week 13' transect walk on Ashtead Common under a cloudless sky and a temperature of around 24 deg. C so I was thankful for the overhead green canopy providing some respite from the sun.

On the quarter mile walk to the start of the transect I always stop at a sunny open spot where there is an area of brambles and this often provides an indication of what I may record on the actual transect.

On this occasion there were several Meadow Browns, Ringlet, Large Skippers and a single Marbled White (left) made a brief nectar stop. Unfortunately no Marbled Whites turned up during my timed walk. 

One of the resident Common Buzzards made a fly past as I started my timed walk.

Section 1 produced three new species for this year. First was the Ringlet (above) and ultimately I saw them in all 8 sections recording a total of 58 individuals. Next was a single Purple Hairstreak flying up through one of the oaks.

At the beginning of Section 3 I found another Purple Hairstreak settled on the bracken and when it turned around I noticed a black addition (see below) to the centre of its underwing. I am guessing this may be some form of tick that has attached itself. Sections 4 and 8 also produced single sightings of this species.

The third new addition seen in Sections 1 and 3 was the Silver-washed Fritillary and I logged a total of just four males with only one stopping long enough for a photo call.

As expected the most prominent species was the Meadow Brown again recorded in all sections of the transect with a total of 73 logged.

White Admiral (above) turned up in 5 out of 8 sections with a total of 10 recorded during my walk. With a cumulative count of 27 individuals on my last two walks makes 2018 the best year for this species.

Finally the walk produced sightings of 10 species including Small/Essex Skippers, Large Skipper, Large White and Green-veined White with an overall total of 166 individual butterflies recorded.

Friday Flutters

My week started on Monday with a wander around the chalk hillside above Juniper Bottom in fairly windy conditions where hundreds of Marble Whites (Melanargia galathea) were flitting hither and thither.

On Tuesday I attended a Butterfly Conservation field trip to Sheepleas; comprising a mosaic of ancient and recent woodland, scrub and open grassland; lying on the chalk slopes of the North Downs. 

A nettle rich field produced good views of many species including Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae). It was interesting to note that many individuals looked a lot smaller than normal.

A sunny glade in the woodland produced our best sightings of Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) with several males perched on umbillifers ...

... followed by a slightly more distant view of a mating pair, with the much darker coloured female above the male.

During this walk I logged 13 species including, after a long wait due to very gusty winds and intermittent showers, a high tree top view of a Purple Emperor.

On Thursday morning I made a brief check of the wildlife around the ponds on my local birding patch at Epsom Common and managed to get my first record shot of a Downy Emerald (Cordulia aenea) perched in the shaded vegetation above the water.

On my way back to the car park to join another Butterfly Conservation walk I recorded my first sighting of a Purple Emperor at this site (see my previous post "A Purple Day"), initially perched with its wings closed on a post before moving onto the ground to seek out some nutrients.

Purple Emperor (Apatura iris).

After everyone spent time enjoying the close views of the Purple Emperor we had a very pleasant two hour stroll around Epsom Common led by Alison Gilry, another transect recorder, enabling me to add Marbled White and Purple Hairstreak to my patch list sightings for this year.

Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus)

Purple Hairstreak

After a lunch break three other butterfly enthusiasts joined me on my weekly transect walk on nearby Ashtead Common. 

Having those extra pairs of eyes and experience certainly helped with identification including an unexpected further sighting of two male Purple Emperor and a Purple Hairstreak (Neozephyrus quercus) both too far away for the lens so I have inserted a shot of the latter species taken last year.

Once again the transect produced sightings of eleven species; Small Skipper (4), Small/Essex Skipper (3), Large Skipper (3), Large White (1), Purple Hairstreak (2), White Admiral (3), Purple Emperor (2), Comma (2), Silver-washed Fritillary (1), Speckled Wood (2), Marbled White (1), Gatekeeper (5), Meadow Brown (41) and the most numerous was Ringlet (53).  FAB.

Ringlet (Aphantopus hyperantus).

Linking to:

Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen and  

Nature Notes hosted by Michelle.

Friday Flutters.

My butterfly forays this week started on Monday with good views of a single male Silver-washed Fritillary during a transect walk on Ashtead Common.

During this walk I recorded 9 different species with Meadow Brown (see left) producing the highest count of 58 separate individuals. The other species were Small Skipper (3), Small/Essex Skipper (4), Large Skipper (9), White Admiral (1), Red Admiral (1), Speckled Wood (6) and Ringlet (13).

Record shot (above) of a resting Ringlet.

On Thursday I joined a Butterfly Conservation walk at Bookham Common and after a very quiet start with total cloud cover and a sprinkling of rain the group eventually logged 18 species including a brief high flying view of a Purple Emperor plus good numbers of White Admiral and plenty Silver-washed Fritillary.

At our lunch stop I saw my first Gatekeeper of the year, a very fresh male (above) and a slight detour from our planned route enabled me to also add Comma (below) to the day list.

Today I undertook another recording session on Ashtead Common in much higher temperatures and again logged nine separate species which included the usual Skippers (17), Large White (1), Purple Hairstreak (1), Peacock (1), Silver-washed Fritillary (1) plus White Admiral (7) and larger counts of Meadow Brown (61) together with Ringlets (37).
Best recording day so far this year with a total of 126 individual butterflies logged .... I wonder how many I missed!

As expected the White Admirals were fairly active; flying in the shade close to Honeysuckle, their host plant; so I only had a brief opportunity for a record shot when one individual perched for a moment or two in not a particularly ideal location.

  

I was slightly surprised not to find more Silver-washed Fritillary but I'll end this post with another image of the individual I located earlier this week. FAB.

Linking to Saturday's Critters and Andyslens: 'Weekend Butterfly #04'

Silver-washed Fritillary.

Yesterday I had my first sighting this year of a male Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) patrolling a sunny glade on Ashtead Common.  FAB.

Linking to Andyslens  'Weekend Butterfly #04'.

A New Transect for 2015.

Adjacent to my regular patch circuit around Epsom Common Ponds is Ashtead Common National Nature Reserve, extending over 500 acres of ancient woodland owned and managed by the City of London Corporation. In the 1870's the City was concerned that access to the open countryside was being threatened, and as a result promoted two Acts of Parliament to enable it to acquire and protect various open spaces from development.

Last month during a walk with one of the Wardens I offered my services to carry out Butterfly recording over a new fixed route (transect) starting in April 2015. I have walked the proposed route on several occasions recently and this post provides an insight to the varied wildlife I have already encountered.

 

The start of the transect begins at 'Chessington View' overlooking the fields above Rushett Farm, a good spot to listen to Skylarks in the Spring and to locate Nuthatch at almost any time of the year. During the winter large flocks of Redwing and Fieldfare congregate in the trees in between their feeding forays onto the nearby fields. Carrion Crows, Jackdaws and Magpies are fairly numerous throughout most of the year.

 

[Eurasian] Nuthatch. (Sitta europaea)

The route climbs gently upwards following one of the main rides through the woodland passing an area that was cleared some time ago and the coppiced Hazel was protected by woven rustic barriers to prevent it being browsed by Deer and it appears to have been sucessful.

This 1st section has already produced recent sightings of Brimstone, Green-veined White, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, Comma and Silver-washed Fritillary. Bird species seen or heard here include Great-spotted Woodpecker, Robin, Blackbird, Song Thrush, Blackcap, Chiffchaff, Chaffinch, Treecreeper, Blue, Great and Long Tailed Tits, Goldcrest and the very noisy Ring-necked Parakeets.

Speckled Wood.

Section 2 is over similar terrain and passes a very muddy coloured pool called Flag Pond where all three species of Newt; Common, Palmate and Great crested have been recorded.

This is a good place to search for Dragonflies and Damselflies.

Ruddy Darter. (Sympetrum sanguineum)

There are over 2,300 ancient pollarded Oaks across the common which play host to an amazing variety of wildlife; bugs, insects and nesting opportunities for many species of birds. A year ago I noticed that some of the Birch trees had been 'ring-barked' which prevents the sap flowing upwards and now a few have felled themselves ... just one of the many simple and natural methods employed in managing the woodlands.

The woodlands can often be surprisingly quiet until the peace is shattered by the very distinctive loud burst of song from one of the many resident Wrens.

A juvenile Wren. (Troglodytes troglodytes)

My route then passes around an area of archeological significance, the site of a 1st and 2nd Century AD Roman Villa, Bath House with adjacent tile works.

Excavations were first carried out between 1924 to 1929 and again in 1966, 2006 and more recently during August to September 2013 by the Surrey Archaeological Society. As expected nature has very quickly recolonized the diggings with grasses, nettles, ferns and brambles providing dense ground cover.

The open area below the 'King Oak' should be a very good spot for butterfly species. I have already logged Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Gatekeeper, Small and Large Skippers, Comma and Peacock. This part of the common with its mix of Oaks and Sallows is also an excellent place to see Purple Hairstreak and the handsome Purple Emperor.






As my boots brushed past the grasses lining the narrow path numerous Grasshoppers of different sizes and colours hopped from stem to stem.

I don't know if this is typical but every time the lens got close they all tried to move around the grass stem to hide!
 

A young Roe Deer patiently watched my progress before heading off into the undergrowth.

 

There are a number of seats along my route providing convenient spots to rest awhile and watch the wildlife. 

Sometime I find someone has also used it for other purposes ... the remains of a recent Hazelnut snack by a Grey Squirrel.

At the end of section 6 close to my rest stop I spotted a Hornet and a resting Migrant Hawker.

Various gates and fences are encountered all over the common and many of the latter form the boundaries to specific areas that are grazed by cattle on a rotation basis to maintain this special landscape.

Some of the main open rides are designated bridleways but access to many other pathways is restricted by the use of natural Birch filled barriers that need to be regularly topped up during the year. 

Silver-washed Fritillary.

The final two sections of the transect follow part of the north-western  boundary overlooking Rushett Farm where it is not uncommon for me to find a Common Buzzard, which nest in the adjacent wood, perched on one of the old Oaks or soaring above the fields.

If all goes well with the arrangements for next year I'll look forward to providing weekly wildlife updates between April and September from this interesting location.  FAB.

I'm linking this post to:
Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen
Camera Critters hosted by Misty
I'D-Rather-B-Birdin' hosted by Anni