Long-tailed Blue 2026.

 2026 has been a strange year for the rare migrant species, the Long-tailed Blue. The butterfly doesn't generally reach our shores until mid-late summer, but the life cycle is so quick there is a chance of 2 or 3 more broods in the short time until they vanish again in late October, and occasionally early November.

This year there were sporadic reports from a few of the usual locations, including the well known Whitehawk site on the edge of Brighton. Indeed, on my Summer butterfly tour I did take my clients there and we had some views of the fast flying males. They were a little worn, and as they were very active I didn't worry about taking photos at that time.

Moving forward several weeks, Lisa was over the day after I had heard reports from the Pevensey area where Dave Brown had seen a small number around the clumps of Everlasting Pea plants. As Lisa had never been to that particular area we decided we may as well have a look along the seafront there, just on the off chance that we might see the butterflies, and if we didn't see them it would still be a nice walk.

After parking the car at Pevensey Bay we headed in the general direction of Eastbourne, and quickly spotted some pea plant. A brief look around didn't produce anything apart from a Common Blue. As there was a bench nearby we decided at that point to have our lunch, and it was just after taking a mouthful I spotted a blue butterfly land on some foliage that looked more like a Long-tailed Blue. It was several metres away, so I still needed to get closer to confirm, so keeping my eye on where it landed I walked slowly towards it. Straight away it was clear it was our target, and as it opened its wings it was also clear it was a female. The only problem for me was I had left the camera on the bench. Fortunately, Lisa had brought hers and managed an open wing shot. I had to do with closed wings after it had flown away and landed nearby. But as the sun had now gone behind a cloud, the wings stayed shut!

Female Long-tailed Blue.

The butterfly was in immaculate condition, but after getting some photos it vanished. Often the females migrate back over the Channel to France soon after emerging, so this may have happened here, or it could have just flown further along the beach, but there wasn't anywhere obvious that would be a good nectaring source.

After 30 minutes or so, and after finishing our lunch, we headed further west along the beach. After walking all the way to the edge of Eastbourne we at last found some more of the pea plant. On one of the flower buds I spotted a Long-tailed Blue egg, but there were still no more adult butterflies. 

The white egg of the Long-tailed Blue.

Seeing the egg gave us hope that there were more of the adult butterflies around, but it wasn't until we had walked back a little way that I spotted another really fresh female Long-tailed Blue nectaring on some Lucerne. This butterfly was extremely confiding, and gave me one of the best sessions I've had with this rare butterfly. It was enjoying the nectar so much we could both get many photos of it as it fed.

Female Long-tailed Blue on Lucerne.

The butterfly regularly flew from one flower to another, and then suddenly it was gone. Once again we waited and searched for a while, but the butterfly had vanished and was not seen again. I did hear that the following day a male had been seen in the same area, and possibly on the same flowers, but no females.

On our way back to the car we once again had a look around the site where we had seen the first butterfly, but only a Common Blue was seen there. We did also see several Clouded Yellows along the beach, and one did pose well enough for me to take a photo of it.

Clouded Yellow on the beach.

It actually ended up as quite a long walk, which was pretty tiring walking all the way on shingle. However, it was very much worth the effort with some of our best shots of the female Long-tailed Blue.

Red-necked Phalarope.

 The day after we had returned from Transylvania I saw a photo on Flickr from my friend David, of a juvenile Red-necked Phalarope that had turned up in a lake on the outskirts of Eastbourne. This was a bird that I had only seen once before, over in Kent a few years ago. I thought it was typical that it had turned up when I was not around.

However, the bird did the decent thing and decided to hang around long enough for Lisa and I to get over there to see it before it continued its migration south. As it was, it actually stayed for another week after we saw the bird.

It was not an easy bird, as they are much smaller than expected, and the reeds around the lake were always getting in the way of a shot if it came really close. It was really a case of trying to get ahead of the bird as it swam around the lake and waiting where there were gaps in the reeds.

It took a while, but in the end we both managed to get some shots of this delightful little bird. Also the reward of enjoying watching the bird as it swam around hunting insects on the surface of the lake.

Red-necked Phalarope.

Red-necked Phalarope having spotted an insect.

Caught it.

The Red-necked Phalarope.

It was a beautiful bird and we were so pleased to have caught up with it before it continued its migration.

Two Hawks.

 I have done very little moth trapping this year for various reasons. It is a shame as several of my mothing friends have told me that it has been a particularly good year for moths.

One of my sought after species has been the Striped Hawk-moth. Two friends have caught them this year and both of them invited me over to photograph them. It wasn't convenient at the time for the first offer, but then Nigel caught his and it was just too much of a temptation to miss, especially as Lisa was over at the time and she was keen having seen a picture of one.

The only one that I had photographed before was on a trip to Fuerteventura a few years ago when I was lucky to have one nectaring on the wing in daylight. A very lucky encounter!!

Striped Hawk-moth feeding in Fuerteventura in 2022.

The moth that Nigel had caught was in immaculate condition and sat well for us as we photographed it. Our thanks to Nigel for giving us this opportunity.

Striped Hawk-moth.

A couple of weeks later I saw that conditions were looking good for a moth session, so I put the trap out overnight and hoped for my own Striped Hawk-moth. As usual, the following morning on opening the trap I was full of anticipation of what I would find in the trap. Sitting near the top was an enormous moth in perfect condition. This one was not a Striped Hawk-moth, but a Convulvulous Hawk-moth. I have caught a few of these before, but I've never seen such a spectacular one before. It was so fresh it was likely to have emerged locally rather than migrating over from the continent.

Convulvulous Hawk-moth.

The strange pattern on the body.

I also had a few other nice moths in the trap that night.

Large Thorn.

Portland Riband Wave.

Maybe I should put the trap out more often.

Return to Transylvania.

 I have recently returned from the fabulous countryside in Transylvania. My eldest son had his 2nd wedding of the year there, as Anna, his lovely wife comes from Transylvania, so following their British wedding in May, we were treated to a proper traditional wedding in Transylvania.

This actually made it the 3rd wedding of the year, as Matt, my younger son and his wife Emily also got married this year. They too joined Lisa and I, as well as Jean, my Mother-in-law. The biggest problem is getting to the country, with having to fly from Luton on a very early flight.

Weddings in Transylvania are very different to a British wedding, and are a lot of fun and partying over a couple of days. Having been to Transylvania back in 2022 to meet Anna's parents and having one of the best trips I've ever had, I was hoping that Lisa and I would have time to head out into the fantastic countryside which is teeming with nature. I didn't need to worry as we were able to head out onto the hills several times. Although there wasn't anything like as much to see in September as there had been in June, it was still very impressive. Our first walk was after most of the butterflies had gone to roost, but Lisa was really pleased to have seen around 7 new species in a really short time.

As in Britain, there are currently a lot of Clouded Yellows on the wing. However, in Transylvania nearly all of them are Pale Clouded Yellow (Colias hyale), a species that is a mega rarity over here. My best photo from the whole trip was of one of these beauties as it nectared on Alfafa.

Pale Clouded Yellow on Alfafa.

Pale Clouded Yellow on Clover.

The meadows just above the village where we were staying are full of flowers and the insect life thrives in the area where there are no insecticides used, if only we could say the same here in Britain!!

Short-tailed Blues were also very numerous, although it wasn't easy getting decent photos of these very small butterflies.

Female Short-tailed Blue.

Female Short-tailed Blue.

On two occasions we saw Swallowtails. One vanished very quickly, but the 2nd one was busy egg laying. I saw the butterfly lay one egg, so with Lisa following the butterfly to try and photograph her, I searched for the ova. Having found it I marked it and joined Lisa to photograph the butterfly after it had stopped to nectar.

Female Swallowtail.

Swallowtail ova.

There were also reasonable numbers of Oberthur's Grizzled Skippers and Weaver's Fritillary in all 3 sites that we managed to get to. The day before the wedding we looked around the graveyard of the church, and saw several Weaver's Fritillaries egg laying.

Oberthur's Grizzled Skipper.

Weaver's Fritillary.

Weaver's Fritillary ova.

Another Fritillary that we saw a few of was the Nickerl's Fritillary. A species that I saw here in 2022. These were all very fresh specimens, so I guess the latest brood had just started to appear. It was a shame our time was short as I would have loved spending more time trying to get some good images of this species.

Nickerl's Fritillary.

I was really hoping that we would see a Large Copper, an absolutely gorgeous species that I knew would really impress Lisa. Strangely, the first one that we saw was in the garden of the cottage we were all staying in. Matt was relaxing in a hammock when he spotted it fly over the garden. I saw a quick glimpse of it but Lisa didn't get a good look at all. A bit later I spotted another one. This time Lisa did see it, but once again the butterfly kept on flying through. On our last day of walking up the meadow above the cottage, we walked in a different direction and chanced upon a female Large Copper. Not quite as impressive as the male, but still lovely, and this one did stay for a few shots before it vanished flying high over the trees.

Female Large Copper.

Later that same day, after having lunch with all the wedding guests, we had one final chance of a walk in the meadow, so we headed off to the same area hoping to see the butterfly again. We didn't see her, but instead saw a gorgeous male in the same spot. Here we both got a few photos including open wing shots. 

Male Large Copper.

A little later I managed to photograph a male Reverdin's Blue, a butterfly that was new to me. We had seen a female on our first stroll, but I hadn't realised at that time that it was a Reverdin's and not a Silver-studded Blue that I had thought it was, so I hadn't photographed it. Fortunately Lisa had got a shot so we could get a identify it.

My shots of the male are not going to win any prizes, but it was pleasing to get one new species.

Male Reverdin's Blue.

I had decided to only travel with the macro lens as I wanted to travel light. Lisa however, did take her longer zoom that paid off with some of the birds we saw and got quite close to. These included a young Cuckoo and several Red-backed Shrikes as well as a Little Owl that spent all day on the roof of the next door property.

We did however, also find other insects that were a little bit special On one walk we were joined by Emily, and she spotted a Field Cricket, a species that was totally new to me.

 

Field Cricket in the hand (my hand).

Field Cricket back in the field.

I spotted another new insect for both myself and Lisa. The stunning European Praying Mantis. I love the Latin name of this. Mantis religiosa.

European Praying Mantis (Mantis religiosa). Giving me the evil look!

This is the view from the meadow of the church and some of the village.

Nyikomalomfalva.

I'm really hoping that in the near future we can both visit this glorious country again and have lots more time to enjoy the abundant wildlife.

Wasp Spiders and Hornet Robberflies.

 

With late Summer two creatures become more numerous on my patch. Numbers of both Wasp Spider and Hornet Robberfly have grown considerably over the past few years. On a good year for either of these species it can be quite easy to see twenty plus of either of them. This year however, has not been such a good year for the Wasp Spider, but numbers of the Hornet Robberfly has been very high, with lots of them being seen hunting their favourite prey of Grasshoppers. As a coinicidence, grasshoppers are also the favourite prey for the Wasp Spider. The strange pattern in the web is thought to strengthen the web to stop the grasshoppers from jumping out of the web, and keeping the web strong enough to keep it intact.

Both these species though will take other prey, although I can't remember seeing a Wasp Spider with a wasp until this one below.

Wasp Spider with a Wasp.

Wasp Spider showing patterning in the web.

It's always difficult to get an impression of size with photographs, which is a shame as this one shown below was the largest Wasp Spider that I have ever seen. I watched it over several days before it vanished, but not before I had managed to show it to Lisa on one of our walks.

Female Wasp Spider.

My highest count this year of the Hornet Robberfly was well over 30 along the valley. Many were seen mating too. The first sighting each year is always a good day, although probably not so much for the prey species. I have seen them catch beetles, flies and butterflies, as well as lots of grasshoppers. The insects can often be seen on cow pats, this can be for two reasons, as they will catch flies that visit the cow pats. Females also lay their eggs in the cow pats where the young larvae eat fly and beetle larvae also living there.

Hornet Robberfly.

Hornet Robberfly with grasshopper prey.

I was with James one day along the valley, when we saw a mating pair of Hornet Robberflies take off in front of us. The insects usually land on foliage with a messy background, so we couldn't believe our luck when this pair flew low down into a bramble bush and sat mating in full view on top of a bramble leaf. They even stayed there for a long time so we could both get as many photos as we could hope for. We even left them in this position after watching them for some time.

Mating Hornet Robberflies.

                                                        

Just last week along the valley I came across a different species of spider. This one was a Crab Spider on Devil's-bit Scabious. She had caught a Common Drone-fly, which was an enormous meal for her. She was however sharing the meal with a Red Ant, although I doubt that she was aware of this. It was quite an interesting image though, as the ant seemed to be favouring the wings of the drone-fly.

Crab Spider with Drone-fly prey, and Ant.