High Brown Fritillary

During Tuesday's Large Blue outing I struck up a conversation with a fellow enthusiast and mentioned that I would probably be visiting Heddon's Mouth to find a High Brown Fritillary. The information he provided, chapter and verse complete with maps, brought about a change of plan and early today Martin and I were on our way to Aish Tor near Ashburton on the edge of Dartmoor.

My confidence that the HBF would be in the bag before lunch and that we could make a dash for Collard Hill to have another session on the Large Blue started to wane as we approached Honiton. Gathering gloomy clouds were not what we expected - the BBC said wall to wall sunshine. No worries - as we approached Aish Tor the weather turned to that forecast - brilliant sunshine and light winds - perfect for butterflies. Armed with local knowledge it wasn't long before we encountered our first fritillaries, fresh specimens ghosting through the bracken at ground level, probably in search of a mate. Unfortunately in this mode they just weren't going to sit and pose to allow us to get a positive ID between the High Brown and the Dark Green Fritillary.

Later in the morning as the sun became stronger some specimens started to nectar on the brambles that were just coming into bloom. Finally a positive ID with all the key features ticked but the underwing shot was the clincher for me. The activity was frenetic and although there were many butterflies on the wing, few deigned to settle. So we took a break and had lunch and a brew to refresh ourselves and resumed in the early afternoon. By now there was a steady stream of visits to "our" bramble patches and the ratio of HBF to DGF increased notably.

High Brown Fritillary

Sex brands on the 2nd and 3rd veins up from the base of the wing are more obvious.

The High Brown Fritillary has a row of "ocelli" just inside the outer margin. Also the High Brown Fritillary has a brown hue to the underside, whereas the Dark Green Fritillary is obviously green.

The third dot from the apex of the forewing is indented toward the body.

 

 

 

Dark Green Fritillary

 

Lots of other butterflies on the wing in what were now perfect conditions and I recorded the more notable specimens of Green Hairstreak and Small Pearl-bordered Fritillary. The SPbF looking somewhat worn but still a welcome sight as we haven't actively chased them this year.

Finally we had had enough so back to the car for a late afternoon brew, setting off for home after the evening rush hour traffic. A cracking day out at a superb butterfly venue, if you need HBF then this is the place to go.

Large Blue

Today was a return visit to Collard Hill in Somerset, another search for the Large Blue, a butterfly that has so far eluded me. Martin had dropped in the previous day and found a specimen so I was hopeful of at least a tick. I arrived a little earlier than planned and nothing was on the wing. However, a keen eyed enthusiast had found a roosting specimen and it wasn't going anywhere, at  least not before some sunshine came through. There are few poses that a roosting butterfly offers the photographer and as the specimen was a bit worn I decided to leave it for a while and go in search of a more pristine example. Now, I have done this before and come unstuck - a bird in the hand as it were.

Anyway,  I was given information on where to find both Bee Orchids and the odd variety of Bee Orchid that is called a Wasp Orchid - a pretty scarce find. Again there are only so many compositions that you can invent on a static plant so having captured some satisfactory shots I returned to the Large Blue which had done a bunk. However, it was soon re-found and became the focus of attention of a growing group of photographers, when it gets a bit crowded it is better to go in search of a subject that you can have to yourself, so I did and by mid-day my sightings tally had reached double figures and I had managed to photograph three, including one freshly emerged female(??)

A bit tired - but a life tick!

It moved!!

A fresher specimen.

Nearly an open wing shot.

Beware of impostors

And the orchids...

A normal Bee Orchid.

Wasp Orchid - Ophrys apifera var.trollii

All in all a great day out - my 51st species in the bag and some really useful information on locating some obliging High Brown Fritillaries.

Lulworth Skipper

On the way back from the Hudsonian Whimbrel twitch we decided that today should be an early start, to see if we could find a Lulworth Skipper down Dorset way. So this morning we found ourselves parked in a layby adjacent to Ballard Down just outside Swanage, where recent reports indicated that I would be able to find the 50th butterfly on my list. By 0900 we were scouring the slopes and even at this early hour butterflies were on the wing. We found Large Skipper, Dingy Skipper, Common Blue, Adonis Blue, Meadow Brown, Brown Argus and several tatty specimens of Green Hairstreak but no Lulworths. Thanks to some very helpful locals we were directed to the right spot and almost immediately came across our first Lulworth Skipper. Over the next three hours we had a steady stream of specimens, all of mine appear to have been males, no females with that "sunray marking". As the sun's heat started to get the better of the easterly breeze they became more active and harder to photograph.

Anyway here are the results:-

 

A rather well worn specimen!

 

As for the Hudsonian Whimbrel, another life tick, with distant record shots very similar to every other photograph that I have seen so far.

On the way back to Ferry Pool, where we had parked, we came across a family of Great-crested Grebes and the adult male was diligently feeding the offspring a steady stream of Sticklebacks.

Swallowtails

Today's "mission" was to add a 49th species to my butterfly list, internet information revealed that Swallowtails were on the wing at RSPB Strumpshaw Fen in Norfolk. So, I departed for the deepest east  just before 0500. Travelling at that time of day is a delight as there was virtually no traffic until the other side of the Dartford Crossing. I was rather surprised that I was parked in the reserve car park, just the other side of Brundall by 0830, which by anyone's standard was a tad early for a butterfly hunt. So I donned my boots and set off for an exploratory walk of the Meadow Trail.

I arrived back at the visitor centre about an hour later and staff and volunteers were about. Immediately, a most helpful shout of "Swallowtail" went up and the day's photography began. The excitement of a life tick and the panic to get a record shot soon calmed down and I realised the specimen was "flawed" - its right tail was missing, No matter, almost immediately a pristine, newly emerged specimen was nectaring right in front of me. Some clouds obscured the sun and the butterflies seemed to melt away, probably roosting up in the hawthorns - waiting for the sun to get stronger.

 

I decided it was time for another exploratory walk so set off down Tinkers Lane for the Doctor's Garden, a famous venue for photographing Swallowtails. A repeat here, as the sun disappeared so did the two butterflies that were present. A short trip to the boardwalk gave no result so it was back to the visitor centre for lunch. With the sun getting stronger and the wind dropping it wasn't long before the butterflies returned to the specially provided nectar source. By the time I finished there were at least four Swallowtails present and I had managed to capture a mating pair.

A butterfly twitch?

Love or War?

Love!

A big thank you to the staff and volunteers of RSPB Strumpshaw, they really do go out of their way to make you welcome on what is a gem of a reserve, knocks spots off our local efforts. I was so intent on capturing Swallowtails  that I totally ignored the other wildlife, though it would have been hard to miss the flybys of a very low Marsh Harrier. Only a few Brown Hawkers and Damselflies were on the wing so it might be a return visit for a Norfolk Hawker.

Greater Yellowlegs

A leisurely drive over to Titchfield Haven for the long staying but easily dipped Greater Yellowlegs. Information at the visitor centre was that it had been seen everyday - wouldn't be a problem. The upshot was that if it hadn't been for one of the local birders I would have probably missed it. As it was, the views I had were distant and brief - at least I got a picture as evidence.

Not much of a picture - but a lifer for me.

 The bird flew north to the Posbrook area and seemingly remained there at least until early afternoon.

A Curlew Sandpiper approaching summer plumage was entertaining the visitors from the Meon hide, so I joined them and managed some nice records of a cracking bird in unusual garb.

Some of the Avocets have successfully hatched chicks and two were in attendance in front of the hide, the parents dutifully stood guard and, given how territorial Avocets are, it wasn't long before a dispute with a pair of Shelducks broke out.

Attentive parent.

Argumentative parent

 

With a keen westerly and the promise of rain it was time to go - not really any chance of some sunshine to make the Curlew Sandpiper really glow.