Small Tortoiseshell.

Over the last four years my transect walks through the woodland glades on Ashtead Common have produced sightings of 24 different species BUT one butterfly that I have so far failed to record is the Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

Fortunately I had the opportunity to photograph one individual during a visit to Clandon Wood Burial Reserve at the end of June.

It spent ages with its wings closed so I had to be patient and wait for those fabulous colours to reappear.

Butterfly Forays.

A visit at the end of June, albeit on a slightly overcast and windy morning, to Juniper Bottom enabled me to catch up with a few more butterfly species on the chalk downland slopes.

The most obvious flutter on the wing when the sun chose to briefly show itself was the Marbled White (Melanargia galathea ) often stopping to nectar for a few moments on the wild privet.

It is quite common to find Marbled Whites with red parasitic mites clinging to the thorax, head or abdomen. Studies indicate that these mites Trombidium breei are harmless to the butterfly, and have no detectable effect on the flight performance, orientation ability or lifespan. The same species of mite parasitises several other grassland butterflies including Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Common Blue, Chalkhill Blue, Adonis Blue and Small Skipper.

The images above and below are the female Marbled White.

After a little searching I finally located a pair mating (see below) deep down in the grasses.

This view shows the distinctive difference between the sexes by comparing the dark peppered patterns on the under wings; a neutral grey colour on the male, while in the female they are a warm grey brown.

Small Skipper(Thymelicus sylvestris).

Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae).

Dark Green Fritillary (Argynnis aglaja).

Today I co-led a walk on Epsom Common where Large Skipper, Large White, Brimstone, Marbled White, Small Tortoiseshell, Comma, Red Admiral, White Admiral, Silver-washed Fritillary, Purple Hairstreak, Speckled Wood, Meadow Brown, and Ringlet were seen. 

 Comma (Polygonia c-album).

However I suspect the star species for most of the 27 participants was the Purple Emperor. Whilst we had two sightings of males flying fairly high during our walk the bonus was a male fluttering around us at head height at the end of the walk. It then decided to rest at our feet for over 45 minutes. Just a pity it didn't open its wings!

Purple Emperor (Apatura iris).

Next Thursday I have agreed to lead a walk on Ashtead Common so providing the weather obliges we should have more sightings of Purple Emperor and I might get the opportunity to grab some images of Purple Hairstreak, White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary. FAB.

Linking to:
Saturday's Critters

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.

Encounter with Arthur

As I began another stroll on the boardwalk at Thursley Common yesterday I bumped into (not literally!) a very interesting gentleman called Arthur, a Yorkshire man who is 75 years young and an experienced and passionate photographer of Odonata.

While watching the dragonflies zipping over the water in a very strong breeze we chatted for over 30 minutes and my brain had to work a little harder than normal as Arthur only referred to any of the various Odonata by their Latin names! I soaked up his enthusiastic knowledge and if I learned anything about photography from him it was just get out and practice, practice and learn from your mistakes ... excellent advice.

  

As we both agreed the conditions (he called it a bit 'thin') were not really conducive to getting decent low down images of the dragonflies I headed onwards through Pine Island and out onto the heathland. While watching a singing Skylark soaring up high into the sky I was aware of the calls of a warbler close by. After a little searching I found the individual and took a quick shot before it moved deeper into cover.

The soft contact call sounded like a Chiffchaff or a Willow Warbler but I think the paler cheek pattern, the thicker albeit pale supercilium, paler legs and longer primary projection indicate that this is a juvenile Willow Warbler (Phylloscopus trochilus). [I'm sure someone will correct me if I'm totally wrong].

A few of the other species seen and snapped, often at a distance, included Woodlark (6), Cuckoo (3), Stonechat (5) and Green Woodpecker. In addition I also saw Great Spotted Woodpecker, Tree Pipit, Skylark, Common Redstart, Chaffinch, Common Whitethroat, Magpie, Crow, Jackdaw, Common Buzzard, Tufted Duck, Canada Geese, Blackbird, Chiffchaff, Willow Warbler, Linnet, Long-tailed Tit, Great and Blue Tit and heard the resident Curlews calling. 

 

While following a path through an area of flowering Bell Heather I spotted a blue butterfly. Initially I didn't pay much attention to which species this might be but after it flew away I reviewed the images to reveal it was a male Silver-studded Blue (Plebeius argus) and my first sighting for this year.

One image of its under wing pattern revealed the distinctive silvery-blue centre within the black marginal spots.

After passing the 'lazy' gate I spent a little time capturing a few images of a Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae) enjoying a nectar feed in the sunshine.

On my way back across the common while making a detour through one of the pine plantations I met up with Arthur again. He had decided to take a stroll away from the boardwalk as the stiff breeze was still hindering him getting any more shots of the Odonata. This time our discussions turned to past occupations and he was intrigued to learn that I had worked for the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) and we both knew a number of people who had also worked there ... it's a small world.

Back along the boardwalk it was still fairly breezy but I managed a few captures of resting Libellula quadrimaculata (Four-spotted Chasers).

  

Another interesting encounter. Stay well Arthur and maybe our paths will cross again.  FAB.

A Fritillary First.

On Wednesday I accepted an invitation from a friend and ex work colleague who I haven't seen for two years to go to Kent and hopefully see and photograph a rare butterfly. So after a 100+ mile road journey I picked David up from his home and we headed off to East Blean Woods. It was a glorious sunny day with the temperature slowly rising and so was my anticipation of seeing this sedentary flutter that only flies in such conditions.

A slightly muddy walk into the wood to a semi sunlit glade and my first sighting was a perched individual ..

 .. a Heath Fritillary (Melitaea athalia). What a fabulous under-wing pattern.

Over the next hour or so the numbers of these delightful butterflies flitting around our feet, rarely flying higher than our knees, increased to 30+ but unless they were are occupied by procreation they only perched very briefly and not often with their wings open so patience was definitely the order of the day.

This rare species is traditionally only found in in the south-east in acid woodlands where it prefers newly coppiced areas (giving it its nick-name, the Woodsman's Follower) containing an abundance of its primary food plant, Common Cow-wheat (Melampyrum pratense). Due to its very limited distribution in Kent, Essex, Devon, Cornwall and Exmoor it is a high priority species and were it not for conservation efforts over the past two decades it would certainly now be extinct in England.

As you can imagine I was absolutely delighted to have witnessed this flutter for the first time.

Other wildlife seen included a Broad-bodied Chaser, Small Tortoiseshell and several green-blue Lacewing.

We then left the shaded woodland habitat and drove over to Grove Ferry in the Stour Valley and undertook a walk around the reed beds in the very hot sunshine.The avian activity was pretty sparse probably due to the rise in temperature and we both commented on the distinct lack of any hirundines in the sky.

From two of the hides we had decent views of Marsh Harrier, Common Tern and a juvenile Heron.
All in all an excellent excursion into Kent ... many thank David and I hope it won't be so long before we see each other again.  FAB.

P.S. During a walk around the glades on Bookham Common today I saw my first White Admiral and Silver-washed Fritillary of the season. [Click here for an image of the Silver-washed Fritillary on my other blog]

Linking to Saturday's Critters hosted by Eileen.

Stroll at Dungeness RSPB on Monday.

On Sunday we travelled into Kent to meet up with friends that we hadn't seen for nearly two years. After a cup of coffee and a chat I acted as the taxi driver we headed southwards to Dungeness RSPB for a walk. As expected the water levels were still exceptionally high and not a vast array of species on the water but we did log Little and Great Crested Grebes, Coot, Mallard, Teal, Shoveler, Tufted plus numerous Cormorants carrying nest building material into a patch of trees with just their upper branches above the water line on Burrows Pit.

 

We decided not to stop at the next two hides and continued around the reserve searching the scrub and listening for any indication of bird movements but there was very little seen or heard except Cetti's Warbler, Wren, Blackbird, Robin, Chaffinch, Linnet, Dunnock and Reed Warbler with two Oystercatchers on the shingle ridge. Seven Shelduck flew overhead followed shortly after by a single Little Egret.

Reed Bunting (Male).

Reed Bunting (Male).

Just before entering the hide overlooking Burrows Pit we heard a Bittern booming while at least three Sedge Warblers were singing from amongst the nearby bramble bushes and once inside we added views of a male and female Marsh Harrier, Common Buzzard, Shelduck, Gadwall, Pochard, Lapwing, Mute Swan, Greylag and Canada Geese, Grey Heron plus one lonely Swallow. Before continuing our stroll I spent a while outside the hide trying to get some shots of the Sedge Warblers.

Sedge Warbler

Singing Sedge Warbler

Click this link to review a few more images and its song on my other blog, FABirding.

Butterflies seen included Peacock, Brimstone, Orange Tip and Small Tortoiseshell.

A very tatty Small Tortoiseshell

On the mound overlooking the extensive reed beds we again heard the Bittern booming and I had a brief sighting of a Bearded Reedling. Further along two Shepherds were checking their flock to ensure that the new lambs were healthy.

An enjoyable stroll was capped off by an excellent meal provided by our friends and a review of my memory card on their wide screen TV.  ..... FAB.

Linking to WILD BIRD WEDNESDAY.

Small Tortoiseshell.

After days of searching various locations around my local patch today I finally spotted a colourful flutter trying to hide amongst the grass .. a Small Tortoiseshell (Aglais urticae). Bearing in mind this is a common resident species and one of the first to appear after hibernation, usually in March, I'm surprised it has taken me this long to get some images this year.

It was another breezy morning today with only a few short sunny spells but the weekend forecast suggests more warmth and sunshine at long last so hopefully a few more species will be on the wing.

I'll take this opportunity to wish all my American readers a Glorious Independence Day.   FAB.

Linking to NF Winged.