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During a non butterfly trip to the Dunstable Downs I got a lucky shot of a Chalkhill Blue on the ridge above Pascombe Pit. But the highlight of the day was the Purple Emperor. We were having tea in the Chiltern Gateway when the corner of my eye spotted a dark object fluttering and then landing on the grass outside. Some kids nearly trampled on it, and it shot off to the right. My curiosity piqued, I decided to go outside and investigate. I had a good look around in the direction it went but found nothing. But on the way back I spotted the mystery creature settled on a glass window on the side of the visitor centre. Looking closely it was clearly a Male Purple Emperor. I decided to rescue it as it was in range of inquisitive kids. I've never seen a Purple Emperor close up before. But it was quite happy to hang onto my hand and arm for ages. In the end I persuaded it to transfer to a fence post out of the way of the kids. Soon enough it flew off downwind. I guess it had been blown over from a nearby wood in the stiff breeze. Apparently they occur in the Chilterns in low numbers, but are rarely seen even in the hot spots let alone here. Either way amazing to see His Majesty so close up and for so long. I also thought I'd missed the Purple Emperors this year but this elderly one still looks in good condition.
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| Male Chalkhill Blue. Slightly overexposed but not a bad closeup for an iPhone camera. | Male Purple Emperor sat on my finger. | Male Purple Emperor basking on my arm. Adjusting its angle to the sun reveals the amazing irridescence in its wings. | ||
I went to Sharpenhoe Clappers and found a number of Dark Green Fritillaries and Marbled Whites, as well as many Meadow Browns, some Ringlets and other species. However it was hot and humid with strong sunshine, so they were all a bit too hyperactive to get any decent pictures. I did however manage a long range photograph of this moth.
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| Bordered White moth (3-4cm wingspan) resting wings closed on a Hazel tree. There are pine trees nearby, which could be its food plant. |
Butterflies seen at Ivinghoe Beacon and Bison Hill during a rare break in a long spell of bad weather. I didn't think I'd see these ones this year but this brief motorbike ride into the Chilterns made the difference. I didn't have my main camera but the iPhone stood in nicely.
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| Green Hairstreak and Male Duke of Burgundy seen at Ivinghoe Beacon. | One of several Grizzled Skippers seen at Bison Hill. | |
Tropical butterflies seen in the Butterfly Farm at Long Sutton, Lincolnshire.
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| Clipper (Philippines). | Glasswing. | Cracker. | Two shots of an Owl feeding. | ||
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| Cracker. | Unidentified. | Lacewing. | Cracker. | Tree Nymph. | Blue Morpho. |
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| Common (or Great) Eggfly. | 3 shots of Owl caterpillars on a palm tree. | ||
Butterflies seen in North Norfolk at Holme Dunes. Plus a Peacock late in the day at North Wootton. There are also weather and general pics too. See the relevant galleries to see these.
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| Brown Tail moth caterpillars in a larval web on Sea Buckthorn. | Small Copper. | Peacock. | Unuidentified 0.5-1cm moth. | |
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| Peacock in excellent condition feeding in North Wootton. | |
A Holly Blue in Woodcock Park, Kenton. Demonstrates what the iPhone is capable of. Not bad for a mobile phone camera, albeit not a patch on the Canon Powershot A650IS.
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| Holly Blue. |
A Green-brindled Crescent moth rescued from the clubhouse at Lasham Airfield. Interesting the way it camoflages so well against the brick wall.
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| Green-brindled Crescent moth. |
A Chalkhill Blue on the East slope of Sharpenhoe Clappers nectaring on Knapweed and sipping salts from some faeces! There were also Marbled Whites, the odd Dark Green Fritillary, other Whites and plenty of 6 Spot Burnets on the wing too. Plus a pair of courting Speckled Woods in Heartwood Forest near St Albans and Silver Spotted Skippers on Bald Hill, Aston Rowant NNR in the Southern Chilterns.
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| Male Chalkhill Blue | 3 shots of 1 Male Chalkhill Blue | Pair of courting Speckled Woods. | ||
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| Silver Spotted Skippers on Bald Hill. The one on the hand gladly seeked warmth when it clouded over. The middle two are Males. | |||
One of several Small Pearl Bordered Fritillaries seen while going for a non-butterfly walk in the Lake District. We were walking past an area of Bracken when they almost seemed to appear out of nowhere in the sunshine. That was a nice surprise!
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| Four closeup pictures of a Small Pearl Bordered Fritillary. | |||
A Brown Argus in Elstree. Taken with the iPhone. Definitely not as good or easy as the main camera for macros but great to have a backup though.
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| Brown Argus |
In Brent Lodge Park in Hanwell I found a small butterfly house...
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| Great Mormon. | Blue Morpho. | Common Eggfly. | Great Mormons mating. | Chocolate Pansy. | Unknown. |
A spectacular and early season for the Duke of Burgundies at Icinghoe Beacon. I've only ever seen a handful before but this year they are doing really well with over 30 butterflies present. I've never seen them emerge this early before either. No doubt a result of the unusually mid and sunny late winter and spring, following on from a freezing cold early winter to kill off the bad bugs.
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| Male Duke of Burgundy. | Dingy Skipper. | Green Hairstreak. | Female Duke of Burgundy. | Small Tortoiseshell. |