Marbled White!! Summer Must Be Here.

Yesterday was possibly the wettest June day I have ever seen with torrential rain for what seemed ages and the garden became a little flooded!! Today, with plenty of cloud cover still but being warm I just had to get out for a while so a quick visit to the local area. The first butterfly I saw was a splendid Marbled White. The first one of these each year is very special as it really does signify Summer!! When fresh they also look stunning as they fly through the long grasses. The first one landed and posed flat out on a bit of bramble. I then wandered further and saw another 5 or 6 including one that had almost certainly emerged this morning. It looked as though it may have had a little trouble getting out of the pupa as it was missing part of its antennae which was a shame for it as well as for me as I thought I had some reasonable photos of the perfect specimen!!

Male Marbled White on Bramble.

Marbled White on Thistle.

Marbled White peeking at me through the grass.

Marbled White with damaged Antannae.

With the Marbled White now on the wing all we need is lots of sunshine!!

A Silver Stud of a Day.

With both myself and the weather being very much 'under the weather' this week I was determined to get out today. As I was still coughing like mad I just wanted to be on my own so as not to annoy anyone else!! As the coughing had woken me up very early I set off for a West Sussex heath to hunt out the Silver-studded Blue. It is several years since I last saw these gorgeous butterflies in this area as I have only seen them recently in Ashdown Forest, where their numbers are more limited. Arriving at 7.30 I was quite surprised to see a butterfly as soon as I got to the area where I last saw them 6 years ago. It was clear that there were many fresh individuals and with early sunshine they were soon pretty active. In all I saw 30-40 individuals, all were males. What I was really hoping to see for the first time was an emerging butterfly with attending Ants. As it happened I saw this 3 times this morning with the first 2 being in deep grass, however, the 3rd I saw was more in the open so I managed a few shots. 

Male Silver-studded Blue on Heather.

Emerging Male Silver-studded Blue with attending Ants.

Following this I headed off to a site where I had heard held Musk Orchids. Its many years since I saw Musk Orchids in Sussex. Our local site basically went in 1976 during the drought and although I saw a single plant there around 10 years ago I have only seen them in Kent since. I was really pleased to find between 20-30 plants. These orchids are really tiny and actually smell of honey rather than musk. An added bonus was a Greater Butterfly Orchid and a Fly Orchid.

Greater Butterfly Orchid.

Musk Orchid.

Fly Orchid.

A brilliant day with sunshine, heavy showers and more breeze than was forecast but it was well worth the trip over.

Moth Trap is Scorching Hot.

I decided last night to dust off the moth trap and see what I could catch. With many Diamond-back Moths, a migrant species, being seen locally, as well as the Painted Lady influx, I was hoping for a rare migrant to appear. This didn't happen unfortunately but it was still a successful night for the trap with my first ever Scorched Wing. This is a really nice moth and one that I didn't think I would get around here. It is so called as the wings look as if they have been 'scorched'.

Scorched Wing.

Scorched Wing. (Showing he's a male)!!

It is the beauty of the moth trap that you just never know what will turn up. Apart from the really common moths I also had my first ever Shoulder-striped Wainscot. Singles in Campion, Sycamore, Diamond-back Moth and pairs of both Common Marbled Carpet and Privet Hawk Moths made up the tally.

Common Marbled Carpet.

Shoulder-striped Wainscot.

Privet Hawk Moth.

2 Privet Hawk Moths.

Privet Hawk Moth.

An Emperor changes his coat.

It has been a very frustrating week with a dreaded summer cold stopping me from several plans and feeling pretty fed up!! Despite being very humid yesterday I decided I just had to get out so I had a very gentle stroll around some of the local area. The Large Skippers seem to be doing extremely well so far this year with several seen throughout the walk. It is possibly the only butterfly locally that is doing okay as most species seem to be well down in numbers this year. The influx of Painted Lady also seems to be increasing with several seen including 2 on a Bramble bush near the end of the walk. A Small Blue in an area I hadn't seen them before was the most exciting sighting as both Common and Adonis were low in numbers, although a fresh Adonis did show well.

Male Large Skipper.

Another Male Large Skipper.

Male Adonis Blue.

In the evening James was keen to see the Emperor Moth larvae so I met him so I could show him as well as a brief look for roosting Common Blues. There was a few more Blues than I had a few evenings ago. The larvae had started to disperse so only a few were showing but James did spot one that had just shed its skin. Seeing this we then saw more shed skins with larva nearby.

Young Emperor Moth larva shedding its skin.

Bedtime for a Beautiful Female.

Way back in the 1970s and 80s nearly all female Common Blues were brown with orange markings around the wing, very much like a larger Brown Argus. If they had blue on the wings they were thought of as an aberrant form. Nowadays the blue ones are normal and ones missing blue is the unusual form!! In the last 2 years I think I have only seen 2 which would have been the normal form from way back.

Yesterday evening I called up the hill to see if I could find some Common Blues slowing down as the sun got lower. Unfortunately the stiff breeze was still evident but on arrival I saw a beautiful female Common Blue with wings wide open as she tried to gather the last warmth from the sun. This female was very much todays normal female with lots of blue showing. Although she flew a couple of times as the wind disturbed her I did get a few pleasing photos of her. By the time I finished she was settling down to bed!! By then the males that I saw were also well into roosting mode. 

Female Common Blue.

Time for bed!!

Fabulous Friston.

It was an early start yesterday as I set off for the river to see the Banded Demoiselles. With the morning considerably warmer than previous mornings the Demoiselles were active early on so my plan to try for some shots were not really successful with just a couple of attempts just worth keeping.

Male Banded Demoiselle.

In the afternoon, with the weather still a bit cloudy and breezy I decided to head to Friston Forest to an area that is generally good for Large Skippers. Although I saw one in France last week I hadn't seen one yet this year over here. At the main hot-spot I was soon watching some very fresh males battling over territory with at least 5 around one large bush. Every now and then one would settle close enough for a couple of shots. Despite this butterfly being pretty common, they are very impressive butterflies, especially when they are very freshly emerged.

Male Large Skipper.

Following this I found another large group of Emperor Moth larva on some Bramble. I was then creeping up on another Large Skipper when I spotted a Painted Lady in the same bush. I only managed a poor shot of this and as I was trying to improve on it I spotted another more mature Emperor Moth larva.

Emperor Moth larvae.

Painted Lady.

Emperor Moth larva.

I then walked across a meadow and at this point I found a very fresh Large Skipper. Whilst trying to get close to it a dog ran over to me and disturbed the butterfly. Eventually I found another, or the same one again. By now the wind had increased as well as the cloud cover and it cooled considerably. I managed several pleasing shots of the Skipper. One, as it opened its wings the wind blew them totally flat enabling me to get an unusual shot of him.

Male Large Skipper in typical pose.

Male Large Skipper with wings totally open.

Large Skipper under-side.

At the bottom of the slope it had cooled enough for any other butterflies to have gone to roost. I did find a couple of Adonis Blues roosting there.

Adonis Blue roosting.

On the way through the meadow I did spot a Hobby flying over the meadow and appearing to catch an insect. On the climb back up I then had some fabulous views as it hunted moths flying out of the long grass. At one time there were 2 of these fabulous falcons and it was fascinating watching their technique. They would fly fast underneath the moth which sent it high up in the air. At this point there was no escape for the moth as the Hobby would then turn and grab the moth in the talons. It was a 100% hit rate despite the moths trying to take evasive action. Once the moth shot in the air I would keep the binoculars on the moth and it was just a couple of seconds before the Hobby came back in, plucking the wings off the moth before eating the body. Moths of all sizes were caught, with the larger ones possibly being Fox Moths. In all, over a 20 minute session I must have seen over 30 moths caught!!

Back to Britain.

With the awful weather we've been experiencing this past week it hasn't been easy to find much around lately. Last Saturday another butterfly survey produced a pretty poor count with 3 Green Hairstreaks being the best sighting. However, Dragonflies were better with several Broad-bodied Chasers seen including a male that was losing its immature colour to its adult blue colour. This is my favourite stage of the Broad-bodied Chaser. Several Hairy Dragonflies and a few Emperor Dragonflies were also seen. However a Downy Emerald was the best of the Dragonflies, although as normal with this species it didn't settle within range.

Male Broad-bodied Chaser.

Yesterday, back on the patch I found a Hawthorn bush with 40 plus Emperor Moth larvae as well as a few Common Blues roosting.

Emperor Moth larvae.

Roosting Common Blue.

Today, once again in very cool cloudy conditions a search for Small Blues was negative. What was a surprise was a fresh Dingy Skipper. The only other butterflies seen was a single Wall Brown and a roosting Common Blue.

Dingy Skipper.