HeathFrit1a.jpg
HeathFrit1b.jpg
HeathFrit1c.jpg
HeathFrit2.jpg
Click here to return to the main Piccies index.
Click here to view the 2007 butterflies and moths.
Click here to order the butterflies by species.
A trip to Park Wood in Ruislip to see the Heath Fritillaries. The cloudy but bright weather actually made for good photographing conditions as they were less lively and easier to get close to. Meanwhile on Horsenden Hill the Five Spot Burnets and Small Skippers are emerging.
|
HeathFrit1a.jpg |
HeathFrit1b.jpg |
HeathFrit1c.jpg |
HeathFrit2.jpg |
| Three shots of the same Heath Fritillary | Another Heath Fritillary. | ||
 5SpotBurnet1.jpg |
 5SpotBurnet2a.jpg |
 5SpotBurnet2b.jpg |
 SmallSkipper.jpg |
| A freshly emerged Five Spot Burnet, still resting on its empty pupa. | Another Five Spot Burnet resting wings open (unusual). | My first Small Skipper of the year. | |
I returned to Barnhill to find my first Red Admiral of the year. Plus other butterflies, moths, damselflies, etc. Plus a Green Oak Tortrix on Horsenden Hill.
 RedAdmiralOpen.jpg |
 RedAdmiralClosed.jpg |
 Moth1.jpg |
 Moth2.jpg |
 Moth3.jpg |
 GreenOakTortrix.jpg |
| Two shots of a Red Admiral. | Unidentified moth. | Unidentified 0.5cm moth on a daisy. | Unidentified 0.5cm moth (same species different individual) on a leaf. | Green Oak Tortrix | |
I went to the Natural History Museum on the 1st. They have a butterfly exhibition there on the front lawn. This involves a kiddie friendly maze which charts the lifecycle of the butterfly as well as the dangers they face. (e.g. in one dead end there was a huge spider's web.) Then at the end of the maze is a large tent. Inside it was 30C+ and 99% humidity, and lots of tropical butterflies were live and flying around, with tropical plants also present to provide nectar sources for them. A lot of the butterflies were rather tatty when we went, but I guess we were just unlucky there. Either way it was a great display, and I saw some tropical species that are new to me, as well as some old favourites.
 img_1766.jpg |
 img_1767.jpg |
 img_1776.jpg |
 img_1779.jpg |
 img_1782.jpg |
 img_1783.jpg |
| Unidentified. | Owl | Tailed Jay | Great Orange Tip | Female Common Eggfly? Except for the extra white bars. | Clipper (Philippines) |
 img_1784.jpg |
 img_1786.jpg |
 img_1788.jpg |
 img_1791.jpg |
 img_1792.jpg |
 img_1793.jpg |
| Violet-spotted Charaxes | Great Orange Tip | Unidentified. | Zebra | Unidentified. | Indian Leaf |
 img_1794.jpg |
 img_1797.jpg |
 img_1798.jpg |
 img_1800.jpg |
 img_1803.jpg |
 img_1807.jpg |
| Female Great Mormon | Postman | Clipper (Philippines) | Unidentified. | Unidentified. | Lime Swallowtail |
 img_1810.jpg |
 img_1812.jpg |
 img_1815.jpg |
 img_1816.jpg |
 img_1817.jpg |
 img_1818.jpg |
| Blue Morpho | Female Common Egg Fly | Chocolate Pansy | Unidentified. | Lime Swallowtail | Unidentified. |
 img_1821.jpg |
 img_1826.jpg |
 img_1827.jpg |
 img_1828.jpg |
 img_1836.jpg |
 img_1841.jpg |
| Common Rose Swallowtail | Zebra | Tree Nymph - Same Butterfly. | Unidentified. | Postman | |
 img_1844.jpg |
 img_1848.jpg |
 img_1849.jpg |
 img_1853.jpg |
 img_1856.jpg |
 img_1859.jpg |
 img_1861.jpg |
| Tree Nymph | Tailed Jay | Unidentified. | Unidentified. | Madagascan Moon Moth - Same Moth. One shot with Tree Nymph on it. | Madagascan Moon Moth. | |
 img_1862.jpg |
 img_1864.jpg |
 img_1866.jpg |
 img_1870.jpg |
 img_1880.jpg |
 img_1883.jpg |
| Unidentified Caterpillar. | Unidentified Caterpillar. | Clipper (Philippines) | Red Rim | Unidentified. | Unidentified. |
 img_1884.jpg |
 img_1904.jpg |
 img_1910.jpg |
 img_1912.jpg |
 img_1914.jpg |
 img_1916.jpg |
| Green Barred (or Emerald) Swallowtail | Malachite | Postman | Male Great Mormon - Same Butterfly. | Unidentified. | |
On the 25th I visited Seven Barrows near Lambourn in West Berkshire. Unfortunately the clearance I had been following ground to a halt just short of Seven Barrows where it stayed cloudy. I did find lots of stripey snails and a greenish moth though. Then on the 31st May I visited Hurst Castle and found 30-40 Glanville Fritillaries. I also saw some Cream Spot Tiger moths which were stunning but impossible to photograph. Then I returned to Silver Barrows and this time successfully found and photographed the Marsh Fritillary.
The Glanvilles look remarkably similar to Heath Fritillaries, except for the row of spots along the hindwings which the Heaths don't have. Like the Heaths the Glanvilles seem quite docile and one happily settled on my finger. Meanwhile the Marsh Fritillary is stunning, like looking at a stained glass window, and unlike any other Fritillary.
 Moth.jpg |
 Glanville1.jpg |
 Glanville2.jpg |
 Glanville3.jpg |
| Two shots of my first Glanville Fritillary feeding on Sea Thrift and basking. | More Glanville Fritillaries basking. | ||
 Glanville4.jpg |
 Glanville5.jpg |
 Glanville6.jpg |
 Glanville7.jpg |
| Glanville showing its underside while basking. | Glanville settling on my finger! | Glanville Fritillary resting. | |
 Marsh1.jpg |
 Marsh2.jpg |
 Marsh3.jpg |
 DingySkipper.jpg |
 CommonCarpet.jpg |
 MarshPair.jpg |
| My first Marsh Fritillary. | A second more worn Marsh Fritillary. | A third fresher Marsh Fritillary posing beautifully. | Dingy Skipper. | Common Carpet moth. | Courting pair of Marsh Fritillaries. |
 Marsh4.jpg |
 Moth1.jpg |
 Moth2.jpg |
 MarshDingy.jpg |
 Marsh5.jpg |
| Marsh Fritillary feeding on a buttercup. | Chrysoteuchia culmella moth. | Unidentified 1cm moth. | Marsh Fritillary and Dingy Skipper close enough to fit in one frame. Shame I couldn't get both in focus simultaneously. | Marsh Fritillary feeding on a buttercup. |
I took a visit to Park Corner Heath in East Sussex. It was fairly cloudy but despite that managed to find and photograph Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries, as well as a Speckled Yellow moth. I also got very close to a female Broad Bodied Chaser dragonfly.
 SBPF1.jpg |
 SBPF2.jpg |
 SBPF3.jpg |
 SpeckledYellow.jpg |
| 3 shots of Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries. One even rested on my index finger, giving a good idea of their size. | Speckled Yellow moth resting under a leaf. | ||
More from Horsenden Hill, including my first Small Coppers of the year.
 Caterpillar1a.jpg |
 Caterpillar1b.jpg |
 SmallCopper.jpg |
 SmallYellowUnderwing1.jpg |
 SmallYellowUnderwing2.jpg |
 SmallYellowUnderwing3.jpg |
| Unidentified 2cm caterpillar found dangling from an oak tree on a silk thread. | My first 2008 Small Copper. | Three shots of a Small Yellow Underwing restign and feeding on a buttercup. | |||
 Moth.jpg |
 SmallCopper.jpg |
| Unidentified 1cm moth. | Small Copper. |
Carnation Tortrix in Kenton, and leps in the Chilterns.The Dukes are back!
 CarnationTortrix.jpg |
 Duke1.jpg |
 Duke2.jpg |
 Duke3.jpg |
 Pyrausta.jpg |
 Duke4.jpg |
| Carnation Tortrix | Duke of Burgundy butterflies at Ivinghoe Beacon. | Pyrausta purpuralis moth at Totternhoe Knolls. | Duke of Burgundy butterfly at Bison Hill. | ||
A pretty caterpillar spotted on 4th May at Sharpenhoe Clappers, and a Speckled Wood from Horsenden Hill. At Horsenden Hill during the week it was in the 20's and butterflies were warm enough not to bask at lunchtime. So quite hard to take pics of anything as they were all so mobile, or resting wings closed.
 Caterpillar.jpg |
 SpeckledWood.jpg |
 MaleOrangeTip.jpg |
| Caterpillar of The Drinker moth. | Speckled Wood at rest. | Male Orange Tip feeding on Garlic Mustard, it's larval plant. |
My first Grizzled Skipper of the year at Bison Hill was very docile. At one point it crawled onto my finger when I touched it and started sipping salts. Plus Peacock at Totternhoe Knolls while hunting for Duke of Burgundies which weren't quite out yet.
 Grizzled1.jpg |
 Grizzled2.jpg |
 Grizzled3.jpg |
 Grizzled4.jpg |
 Grizzled5.jpg |
 PeacockEyeSpot.jpg |
| 5 shots of the same Grizzled Skipper. Feeding on a dandelion, basking, resting, and sitting on my finger sticking its tongue out and eyeing me. Note the left hindwing looks a bit broken but it otherwise seems healthy. | Closeup of the eye spot of a peacock showing the scales. | ||||
At last some warm weather. And out the Peacocks came in large numbers at Horsenden Hill. A few other new for 2008 butterflies also seen. The Holly Blue and Orange Tip pictures here were my first of each species this year.
 Peacock1.jpg |
 SpeckledWood.jpg |
 HollyBlue.jpg |
 HollyBlueZoom.jpg |
| Peacock. | Pale Speckled Wood. | Both one shot of a Holly Blue, the 2nd picture cropped in to reveal rippled scales. | |
 Peacock2.jpg |
 OrangeTip1.jpg |
 OrangeTip2.jpg |
 OrangeTip3.jpg |
| Peacock dangling upside down from a bluebell while it feeds from it. | Three shots of a Male Orange Tip feeding from bluebells. | ||
A Small White posed for me. I got so close I almost touched it. You can see individual scales on the wings even in the smaller 640x480 version of the picture.
 SmallWhite.jpg |
| Small White resting. |
Wahay my first ever February butterfly. I already spotted a Peacock (90% sure as it was on the wing but looked like a Peacock rather than a Red Admiral) in January. This Comme beats my earliest Comma by exactly a month, the previous being 11th March 2007. This tallies with spring being a month earlier this year as it's been so mild. This is also my first butterfly shot with the new camera, a shot I wasn't expecting to take until March.
 EarlyComma.jpg |
| Early Comma feeding on similarly early Blackthorn blossom. |