Jump to content
 

The non-railway and non-modelling social zone. Please ensure forum rules are adhered to in this area too!

Spring is sprung - butterflies are out


Phil Bullock
 Share

Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold

Time to spill the beans I think Chaz!

 

Smashing pictures shadow - wondering about the last one being a fritillary though...

 

Phil

Link to post
Share on other sites

Time to spill the beans I think Chaz!

 

Smashing pictures shadow - wondering about the last one being a fritillary though...

 

Phil

You're right, went to the wrong link when I was searching before!!

 

Is it a Small Skipper?

Edited by Shadow
Link to post
Share on other sites

Some of mine from today

 

 

Marbled White

 

attachicon.gifMarbled White.JPG

 

Meadow Brown

 

attachicon.gifMeadow Brown.JPG

 

Comma

 

attachicon.gifComma.JPG

 

Fritillary (Not sure which one!)

 

attachicon.gifFritillary.JPG

 

 

Very good photos - but your "fritillary" is a male large skipper (prominent sex brand on the forewing - that dark diagonal mark, and faint checker pattern).

 

Now my last snap is also a skipper - but one of the rarer species - a silver-spotted skipper (Hesperia comma). I will post another snap tomorrow.

 

Chaz

Edited by chaz
Link to post
Share on other sites

Today's butterfly - and (a clue) it's not a fritillary.

 

post-9071-0-01054600-1499066579.jpg

 

Interesting camera details - taken with 550mm of zoom lens and tele-converter which I had fitted to photograph birds. Not my first choice to shoot butterflies but it seems to have coped OK.

 

Chaz

  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Today's butterfly - and (a clue) it's not a fritillary.

 

attachicon.gifDSC_3271-2-1.jpg

 

Interesting camera details - taken with 550mm of zoom lens and tele-converter which I had fitted to photograph birds. Not my first choice to shoot butterflies but it seems to have coped OK.

 

Chaz

 

Wall Brown?

Link to post
Share on other sites

Wall Brown?

 

 

Yup! Well done sir. A wall (Lasiommata megera). It is, sadly, a species much in decline, now seen mostly at coastal sites. This one was on Portland on a clifftop.

 

Request a species and I will post a snap tomorrow if I have one.

 

Chaz

Edited by chaz
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Large blues doing naughtiness hee Hee. And shadow beat me to the wall brown. Certainly a species I remember as a lad but can't remember last one seen...likewise small copper so how's about one one on here please chaz?

 

EDIT - and spectacular moth in the park in Cheltenham today, Cream Spot tiger. Wonderful.....

 

Phil
 

Edited by Phil Bullock
Link to post
Share on other sites

Large blues doing naughtiness hee Hee. 

 

Phil

 

 

 

Nope. Mating pair are not large blues - spot pattern wrong! So you will have to try again to earn your small copper.

Edited by chaz
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Doh! Focussed on them at the moment as a colleague is involved in a local conservation project to reintroduce a colony. Will have to get the book out then

 

Phil

Link to post
Share on other sites

Then they must be small blues Chaz? Please enlighten us on the dot patterns. I've struggled with these as I get them in my Garden.

Neil

 

 

OK - first thing to say is that only the three species holly blues, large blues and small blues have no orange on their undersides.

 

So the large blues are easy. They are not noticeable "large" however.

 

post-9071-0-08417800-1499241566.jpg

 

They are rare and only found at a few sites and the spots on their undersides are large.

 

Holly blues and small blue undersides are more tricky. Fortunately their upper sides are easy. I will deal with the undersides. The holly blue has a more scattered pattern. 

 

post-9071-0-04405900-1499241504.jpg

 

The small blue has the spots in more of an obvious arc and they are faintly outlined, although this difference can be very subtle.

 

post-9071-0-81957900-1499241535.jpg

 

But the easiest way to tell those two apart if you can only see the underside is the body colour - holly blues have obvious blue bodies, they also have black dots on their legs but this is very hard to see at any distance.

 

And yes, the rather battered mating pair are small blues.

 

HTH

 

Chaz

Edited by chaz
  • Like 6
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • RMweb Gold

Chaz when I started the thread the intention was for enthusiastic lepidopterists to contribute. My photos are limited to say the least so very glad indeed that you have been a stalwart contributor - and I have certainly learned much from your wonderful photos

 

I say keep em coming.....please

 

Phil

Link to post
Share on other sites

I took this photo in August 2014 at Old Winchester Hill.

 

post-9071-0-65282400-1499286515.jpg

 

At the time I was photographing painted ladies and dark green fritillaries and this butterfly was too far away for a good shot. I took one anyway and passed on. Fool!

 

Recently I bought an Apple Mac (I might have mentioned that before?) and having imported my snaps into Lightroom on the Mac I realized that the 27 inch screen was merciless at showing up the less than perfect images. I went through everything I had tagged "butterflies & moths" to weed out the dross and when I got to this one....."Hang on a minute! Is that what I think it is?" YES! The head-honcho of the Butterfly Conservancy confirmed it as......?

 

How I regret that I didn't clock it at the time - I would have tried for some much better photos than this.

 

I looked it up - it's a real rarity - in the "500 sightings ever in the UK" league.

 

So what is it? (clue - it is a fritillary)

 

Chaz

Edited by chaz
  • Like 3
Link to post
Share on other sites

Well I'll have a stab Chaz, it looks like a Queen of Spain, but I'm guessing it's not ;).

Neil

 

 

Yep - that's what it is. I doubt if I will ever see one again and sadly I didn't realise  at the time that that was what it was. Probably the rarest piece of wildlife I have ever seen.

 

Chaz

  • Like 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...