A tail of the Blues

Back on August 14th, when two of my Grandsons, Jack and Josh, were staying with us, we managed to see three of the Long-tailed Blue butterflies that had been found on Kingsdown Lees earlier in the month.

  Long-tailed Blue (Lampides boeticus)

I had seen this species before, in about 1990, when some were discovered on railway land at the back of Gillespie Park Nature Reserve, in Islington, where they were on bladder senna (Colutea arborescens). Like these they were pretty worn and I didn't manage to see a really fresh "blue one". The one above was on plants of  Lathyrus latifolius, everlasting pea, a garden escape that is prolific along the cliff top here.

This one was in slightly better condition, but still a long way from being in prime condition. On the day we were there at least one female was observed laying eggs so it has been a case of waiting for the next generation to arrive. The news came out that one or more had been seen last weekend, but in the dull weather over the weekend I didn't manage to see any.

The sunshine this afternoon seemed a good omen and I went to see if I could find any. Quite a few other butterfly enthusiasts had the same idea and when I arrived the news was that several had been seen.

After a while one appeared sunning itself on the Lees, near Ship House.This one was quite definitely blue, but was quite flighty and not keen on close approach.

 This one was still nothing like a perfect specimen, but was showing the main characters, without having the eponymous long tails.

 

 A close view showed that it did indeed have some tails, but that these were worn and comparatively short.

 When I was alerted to the fact that a male with full long tails had been found I took a quick photo in case it flew and wasn't found again. The light is from the wrong direction and the wings are nearly closed, but the white tipped "tails" are in full view.

 I think that the underside of this butterfly, quite unlike any of our resident blue butterflies is particularly attractive with its wavy pattern.

Below are some images of this particular individual. As they do not usual survive the winter north of the Mediterranean it is improbable that even if this new generation lays eggs that they will be around next year.

 Below are some images of this particular individual. As they do not usual survive the winter north of the Mediterranean it is improbable that even if this new generation lays eggs that they will be around next year.

 In countries where they are resident, in Southern Europe, Africa, Asia and Australia, they are able to breed continuously and cam become a pest species where peas are grown.

 They are a distinctly different colour to the other blues hear and also have a rather characteristic jerky flight, making then very difficult to follow once they are in the air.

 Against the plain background the tails are very obvious, although they are more difficult to see when the butterfly is on a pea flower.

Ladies Day

The sun is out, the Buddleia is out and butterflies have arrived in some numbers.When we arrived home this afternoon their were a good number of several species in the air.

Most prominent were several Painted Ladies and Peacocks, a couple of Red Admirals and a Small tortoiseshell. Buddleia is known as the butterfly bush and here's the reason.

The god of beauty and desire?

I took Pam's car for a "pre MOT" check this afternoon. This is the one where you get the list that needs doing, take a deep breath and book it in to get it done in a few days time! Well at least it gave me the opportunity to take a walk at the Lydden And Temple Ewell Downs (SAC).

Even though the weather hasn't been brilliant today was warm and there were some butterflies on the wing. Chalk downland is special and holds several local species. The first blue butterfly was a beautifully fresh Adonis Blue, a little later in the season many are looking battered ans worn, but not this one.

It was somehwat reluctant to completely open its wings, but I sat patiently waiting and in the end it rewarded me with a glimpse of them about 75% open.

Not evrything flying in the daytime is a butterfly and not all moths fly at night. This Yellow Shell is a good example of one of the daytime flying moths, but there are quite qa few to watch out for. There's a brief guide to many of them in a Butterfly Conservation publication

The lower part of the down, just above the Temple Ewell car park is full of Frgrant orchids at the moment.

The female Adonis blue is not as bright as the male, some have virtually no blue while aothers, like the one above are dusted blue and from certain angles look quite blue, and from others mainly brown.

Even with the wings close the distinctive black lines through the border are still evident. Apart from this the female is similar to other female blues.

A passing white butterfly caught my eye.It was flying somewhat differently to a small white and appeared to have almost white wings with a black border. It tracked it for a while and each time it landed it was only for a few seconds and during these times it never opened its wings. The picture above was the best I could get. I think it is the "helice" variation of the migrant Clouded Yellow butterfly, but I am waiting for confirmation.

There were Common Blues around, The lack the blacked chequered border of the Adonis, but are still a good looking butterfly.

Spring goes ahead in Leps and Frogs.

After a couple of false starts. when the only thing I caught in my moth trap was a trap full of snow I finally found two moths had visited overnight.

Neither was unexpected at this time of year. The Dotted Border above is a smart moth that can appear in almost any winter month but it peaks at the end of February and through March. As usual this one lives up to its name.

Another interesting named moth is the Hebrew Character. I know nothing about the Hebrew alphabet, but I believe this moth is named after the character "Nun". It is certainly is testament to the imagination of the early lepidopterists.

In addition to these two moths a Brimstone Butterfly also spent some time round the garden, but disappeared without landing. In the background the noise of the common frog choir was the first I'd heard this year.

Snapping up the flies

It turned out to be a fantastic Autumn day today, one for short sleeves and a sun hat! There were certainly birds around, but I wasn't too good at connecting with all of them.

The Paddock (the white plastic fence has gone and been replaced by good old fashioned WOOD), had lots of warblers acting as flycatchers. Along one hedge I counted ten Blackcaps making periodic sorties into the air, presumably after some of the large number of flying insects making the most of the hot sunshine.

In the same area the snapping of bills could be heard as the remaining Chiffchaffs continued on their protein feast before moving south. These are all very nice, but there was a lack of other warblers such as the Yellow-browed or Greenish, that were around in the last few days but completely alluded me.

I met Gerald, and he was on a long tour round and had already racked up eight Firecrest among the many Goldcrests around. I think by the end of the trip round the patch he'd got to over 30, a great count. I managed to hear a couple and briefly glimpse one, but each time a Crest popped out for a picture, it was a Goldcrest. There very nice but I have to admit they'd lose out in a beauty contest to the Firecest, which is surely one to the most stunning of British birds.

In the warm sunshine there were quite a few butterflies around. Mostly Small Whites and Red Admirals, but the occasional Comma was found, feeding on Ivy or Bramble.

When I'd finished my walk at Bockhill I popped into St Margaret's Farm on Napchester Road. On top of one of the barns a small collection of Pied Wagtails had gathered. Although it wasn't late enough for them to be going to roost, it was possible it was the start of a pre-roost gathering. Pied Wagtails. like Starlings, are a species that likes to roost in large numbers. Roosts of over 500 used not to be uncommon, although I've not heard of any that large of late. They are worth watching out for, and they often used the roofs of industrial buildings.

Dewick's Pusia. Yesterday I asked the question -who was Dewick, and today Julian Russell has provided the answer, he wrote:

"Tony

named after AJ Dewick who famously trapped in Essex. First found in the UK by A.J. Dewick at Bradwell-on-Sea, Essex, in October 1951."

When War broke out

September 3rd, is a notable day, both historically and family-wise. It's the day WW2 started and also the day two of my children got married! Also the date of Richard the Lionheart's Crowning and today the setting of the moon, with the death of Sun Myung Moon, founder of the moonies. Other than that it was a perfect early September day, misty in the morning and bright and sunny this afternoon.

Walking down from the monument towards Hope Point, the foot path is bordered by the tall seed heads of Wild Carrot and other Umbells. At this time of year it is the perfect perching place for many of the migrants that arrive along the cliffs. Today several Willow Warblers were flicking in and out of the bushes to feed along the track side.

Near Hope Point I found a very cooperative Whinchat. It was a bird of the year on its way to its wintering quarters in sub-Saharan Africa in scrub and savanna type grassland.

When I started bird  watching it, and the other chats, wheatears and robins were considered to be in the Thrush family, and they were still there when vol 10 of the Handbook of Birds of the World arrived. Since then they've been transferred to the family of Old World Flycatchers, I guess it keeps the taxonomists and publishers employed. Whatever he is this Whinchat is an attractive visitor to the cliff top.

For some time I've be getting a few, and sometimes a good few (max 43) Silver Y's in my moth traps.Today along the cliff top there were hundreds, nectaring like small Humming-bird Hawk-moths on most of the flowers available. I'm used to seeing these flying in the day time, but was I was surprised to see them joined at one bush by several very active Vine's Rustics.

I was pleased to find a pristine Brimstone Butterfly among the Sliver Y's. The Brimstone is one of the longest lived butterflies as it over-winters, hibernating as an adult. It is often the first butterfly to be seen in the spring,  and I once saw one on January 3rd in Norfolk on a rare warm sunny day. It is sometimes said that this butterfly which gave us the word butterfly, a corruption of butter-coloured fly.

The eggs are laid on the leaves of either Common Buckthorn or Alder Buckthorn  – the only two food plants – and females will wander far and wide in search for these particular shrubs. Upon emerging from the pupae, Brimstone butterflies spend the summer feeding on nectar to build up energy reserves for the winter and by the end of August they are already beginning their long sleep. They seek out evergreen scrubs, a favourite being dense, old ivy growth. The brimstone usually hides until early spring, although a warm January day will occasionally wake an eager male. There is only one brood a year.

Walking back I could hear several Willow Warblers in the scrub at Hope Point. The juveniles can look very yellow at this time of year. I did see a splendid Slow-Worm cross the path, but too quick for a picture. They are definitely one of my favourite animals.

And this time of year is straw baling time. Moving the bales around like this looks good fun. I'm sure some sort of Olympic event could be devised to test the skills of the tractor drivers. I'd certainly like a go!

Back at the Monument a couple of Wheatears were feeding on the shorter grass, moving on to higher perches when disturbed by our continental friends that seem to make this car park their first and last stops when travelling be ferry across the Channel.

Butterflies, Bees and Buddleia

There's been a fair bit in the news today about the massive affect that the weather seems to have had on some insects. The main spcies in the headlines is the Honey Bees, already badly decimated by Colony Collapse Disorder. The weather hasn't actually killed honey bees, but in very bad weather they are unable to get out and forage and therefore the production of honey has been greatly reduced. Bad news if like me you like honey and in my case it is an important ingredient of the bread I make.

On plant that does attract all sorts of insects is Buddleia, sometimes known as the butterfly bush. It isn't one plant, it is a genus of over 100 species of plants. The name of the genus was given by Linnaeus to honour  the Reverend Adam Buddle, a botanist and rector from Essex. There are native species of Buddleia in Asia, Africa and North and South America, but not Europe or Austalasia.

We've got a few Buddleias round the garden. Most have the normal candle type flowers that vary from a deep purple to a pale lilac. These probably come from Buddleia davidi (name after the missionary, and famous botanist and zoologist, Armand David, who brought the plant to Europe from China).

The deep coloured plants seem to attract the most butterflies, especially Red Admirals and Small Tortoiseshells, though so far this year no Peacocks or Painted Ladies have arrived on them.

The paler flowered plants don't seem to be so actractive to these brightly coloured butterflies, but do seem to be the choice of the whites.

There are also yellow species, some with candle flowers and some with "pom-pom" type blooms. These seem particularly good for bees, bumble-bees and hoverflies.

This Buff-tailed Bumblebee is covered in pollen and it demonstrates one of the worrying aspects of the decline of  bee numbers. One of the most famous quotes about this was supposed to have come from Albert Einstein.  “If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination … no more men!” He wasn’t an entomologist, and he almost certainly didn't say this! but entomologists around today agree that the sudden and mysterious disappearance of bees from their hives poses serious problems!

Butterfly Blues

When I was a kid summers were always long and hot, with thousands of butterflies and weeks and weeks of school holidays, at least that's how it seemed. Today was like going back, hot sun and lots of butterflies to see.

I haven't caught a Purple-bar (moth) in my trap this year, but there were a few around the brambles as I walked down to Bockhill. 

Of course now is the time that Gatekeepers are dancing around, aggressively chasing each intruder that comes into its air space.

Not so welcome to the growers of cabbages were the large numbers of Large Whites, looking for a place to lay.

This female blue seemed to be depositing eggs on the vegetation near the ground. On a close look I think she's an Adonis Blue.

I didn't see as many Marbled Whites as I had hoped. I have always thought that this striking butterfly is one of our most handsome.

Butterflies and Moths weren't the only striking insects around. There seemed to be dozens of this large hoverfly that I think is Parhelophilus versicolor

These Meadow Browns were making  whoopee while the sun shone.

I was pleased to see a few Small Tortoiseshells around. They still seem to be in short supply since their decline a few years ago. I hope that this year the population picks up a bit.

I normally only see these small moths on egg boxes, in my trap, and I was pleased to see this Agriphila tristella in more natural surroundings.

The Six-spot Burnett is not a moth I catch and it is always good to seem them on the wing during the day time.

 

Several Common Blues were chasing round the bit of the Paddock where I was photographing, but they seldom perched for easy pictures.

I only saw a couple of Chalkhill Blues today, their larger, paler and floppier wings makes them easy to pick out from the other Blues.

As usual female blues have me wondering about Brown Argus, but I think the dark lines through the outer white border, giving the chequered effect are characteristic of a female Adonis Blue.

All the time the calls of several Willow Warblers, on their way to their winter home in sub-Saharan Africa, accompanied me round the Paddock.