Anyone Seen Summer?

I know, I know, I keep banging on about the British weather that’s what we Brits do.  But honestly take this morning.  I took Mrs H to work the thermometer on the dash read 9c, in ‘old money’ that is 48f.  The sky a leaden grey and the rain steadily moistened the already saturated ground, at least the fresh northerly wind had abated.  The central heating’s on and I’m wearing a thick woolly jumper!

In these conditions certain species of butterfly can take a hammering.  Those that appear for just a few weeks at a certain time of the year can suffer.  They need to breed or else the colony could be lost.  Spare a thought for ‘our’ Swallowtail (Papilio machaon ssp britannicus).  This, the largest, British butterfly lives only in the east Norfolk Broads, that’s right, where I live.  It emerges late May/ early June and is on the wing ’till July.  It is renowned for being fussy, appearing only in warm sun and light winds, oh dear.

June 6th 2024 a beautiful Swallowtail on bramble. When I looked at the image closely I noticed that the insect on the left is a rare Fen Mason Wasp also a local speciality, bonus!

Last Thursday I noticed a large amount of blue in the sky when showers were forecast.  So I quickly drove to Hickling Broad in the hope of finding a Swallowtail.  Again there is a huge lack of nectar flowers along the ‘Weaver’s Way’ footpath.  Last year was bad this year worse. Once where there were big beds of Red Campion, a favourite of the Swallowtail, now there is just the odd plant lost among the grass and reed.  On previous walks I had noted a decent bramble bush coming into flower and it was this I ‘staked out’ waiting for the sun to appear from behind a very stubborn, slow moving cloud.  When it did I was rewarded with five sightings of this regal butterfly.

They say nature is resilient.  Hopefully there will be enough days for this beautiful and treasured butterfly to re-produce.

Next week we are off on holiday to the north/west Highlands of Scotland.  I dread to think what the weather holds in store for us!

Getting the Blues

After a week of cold northerlies and plenty of the wet stuff I was beginning to go stir crazy, cooped up inside staring at the outside world.  Sunday the 2nd was forecast to be good, and so it proved.  After early cloud cleared the sun shone, winds were light and the mercury reached the dizzy heights of 20c.  You could almost be forgiven for thinking that it was an early summers day!  Oh wait a minute……

So where to go?  Last year I was shown a photograph of a butterfly that I did not know existed in my home county of Norfolk, the Small Blue (Cupido minimus).  I was intrigued.  I did not know the exact site but a lot of delving on the ‘net and I came up with a name Cranwich Camp in the Breckland area in the south/west of our region.  To me these butterflies have been released, something that has caused a bit of a debate on fakebook with a lady who ‘discovered’ the first in 2019 and maintains they have colonised naturally.  More on that later but would there be any there now?  As I keep saying spring has been very poor in my part of the world.

The Small Blue. Well that was easy guess we can go home now

Cranwich Camp was founded in the 1930’s as a labour camp for the un-employed to work in the massive forest surrounding Thetford which was then being planted.  Little remains visable at Cranwich, just a few foundations.  This is now a nature reserve of some 32 acres and on a lovely sunny day the flower filled site was beautiful.

In good light the underwing is silvery blue like that of the Holly Blue.  They do like to keep low down in the grass, for this shot I was flat out on the ground!

We had only walked a few yards when a tiny silvery butterfly crossed the path in front of us.  I thought Brown Argus but it settled on a buttercup and opened it’s wings to reveal a dark dusky brown with a neat white border, a Small Blue.  Well that was easy!  Following the path around the circumference of the reserve revealed another 14.  It was the second most numerous butterfly after the Small Heath which was everywhere in big numbers.

All very fresh. The males showing a scattering of glitter like blue scales whilst the females were more chocolate in colour

The Small Blue is the UK’s smallest butterfly with a wingspan of only about 3/4 of an inch (18mm).  It has colonies spread from the far north of Scotland to the south coast of England but it is scarce and declining.  The caterpillar feeds only on Kidney Vetch which was quite abundant here at Cranwich.  So where did they come from?  It’s the view of pretty much everyone that they were released here a few years back and I have since learned some were seen at another nature reserve site some 16 miles away.  Cranwich is 40 miles from the nearest known colony and this species is not known to ‘irrupt’ and colonise sites that far apart, so I think it’s quite conclusive they are not ‘natural’.  They are however very beautiful and seem established without causing problems to other species.

A very aged Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) enjoys a Buttercup

A few Common Blues (Polyommatus icarus) were seen

The Cinnabar (Tyria jacobaeae) is a striking day flying moth but a pain to try and photograph, they just don’t keep still! In a few months it’s black and yellow hooped caterpillars will be found devouring Ragwort

After a quick picnic we decided to go to the Norfolk Wildlife Trust reserve at Weeting Heath as it was only a few miles away.  Not been here for many a year.  The attraction is breeding Stone Curlews (Burhinus oedicnemus) a rare summer visiting wader which looks like nothing else.  The vegetation on the heath in front of the hides was quite long, never seen it like that before but the birds were present though difficult to see at times.

I usually like my images to be sharp and in great detail. However the light sandy soil produces a terrible heat haze and the Stone Curlews were at the end of my 600mm lense’s range so these shots have a somewhat dreamy effect. You can only work with what you are given so I am fairly happy with the results

Happy families. An adult and two chicks. These birds have big yellow eyes which helps them feed at night. During the day they are usually inactive. They have several ‘local’ names my favourite being the Wailing Heath Chicken!

So that was a very enjoyable and productive day.  More of the same please!

Wild Wild West

With the lovely weather continuing into early May it was a good time to head out to another of my favourite spring sites, the Cut-off Channel at Stoke Ferry about 50 miles west.  Arrived at the car park at the end of School Lane and instantly heard the ‘purring’ song of a Turtle Dove, a rare sound in the UK these days as their numbers have crashed in recent years.  A pleasant walk along the high banking through the trees to the open area where the rare Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae) can be found, one of only two places in the County.

Underwing shot of the tiny Grizzled Skipper, not much bigger than a thumbnail

Grizzled Skipper

I photographed four Grizzles, when I checked the images they were differently marked so not a bad score.  Another type of skipper was flying around as if fueled by an overdose of caffeine, this was slightly larger, a rather unfortunately named Dingy Skipper (Erynnis tages).  Took a while before I managed a few half decent shots of this speed freak, the first I have seen at this site.

My best shot ever of a Dingy Skipper underwing

Dingy? Why? It was first named Handley’s Small Brown Butterfly, not that much better

I had taken along the big zoom as well as the macro in the hope of photographing some bird life.  In the event it only got used once when a Lesser Whitethroat (Sylvia curruca) obliged by singing from the top of a dead bush.  This recently returned migrant from Africa is normally quite secretive only giving away it’s presence by the song which is best described as a rattle.

Lesser Whitethroat in full flow

A fresh Small Copper (Lycaena phaeas) on daisy steadfastly refused to open it’s wings

The Brown Argus (Aricia agestis) is not much bigger than the skippers but has a terrible attitude problem, attacks anything flying by!

A great day in the wild west.  Time to look closer to home.  Would the sun bring out an early Swallowtail at Hickling?  Only one way to find out, go look.  Sadly not, but the dragonflies put on a good show.  Not had one emerge from my garden pond this year only damselflies which is rather strange.

Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa) at Hickling. This is a fresh male, in time the body will turn blue

You may be thinking with all these images from my last two posts that everything is in abundance, sadly this is not the case.  I have seen pretty much all the butterfly species I have expected but the numbers are depressingly low.  Four different Grizzled Skippers is a great percentage for a Norfolk rarity but the ‘common’ butterflies are very scarce.  We have now had the odd day or two of heavy rain, hopefully summer will kick on.

Signs of Spring

A cold, wet Norfolk.  Not a great greeting on our return from Italy nor was the virus I picked up which left me hacking and coughing and lacking get up and go.  Then spring broke through, gloriously.  No time to waste.  No time to feel sorry for myself.  Time to get out and explore.

Where to first?  Where will we see the most diversity?  Always a difficult choice but let’s start in the ancient woodland at Foxley.  Very soggy underfoot thanks to our ‘moist’ climate of late but worth the muddy boots to see the vast swathes of native Bluebells.  Butterflies appeared, not many but enough to lift the spirits, spring has sprung.  Then over to Wiveton Downs for more of the same but no mud!

When the butterflies you see are those that emerged from pupa you know spring has really started. Green Hairstreak (Callophrys rubi) on Bluebell, Wiveton Downs April 29th

Back from a winter in Africa the Reed Warbler (Acrocephalus scirpaceus) is ready to play hide & seek. Titchwell May 5th

Reed Warbler

Some butterflies like this Peacock (Aglais io) spend winter as adults in a state of dormancy so can be forgiven for being a bit worn around the edges. Foxley Wood

A trip to Titchwell Marsh was on the list.  Lovely to see the return of spring migrants but at the same time sad to see the departure of those waders that breed in more northern climes.

Male Reed Buntings (Emberiza schoeniclus), now resplendent in their summer finery, marked their territories

The tiny Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) is having a good spring being the most numerous seen in my garden. This is a fresh female at Wiveton

This Gadwall (Mareca strepera) choose a dark and secretive pool at Titchwell for lunch……

……Whilst the Goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) preferred a sunny spot to eat it’s Sallow seeds

A fine few days and more to come.

August

That’s August gone.  The highlight was a visit from our daughter the ‘Lemming’ who popped over from Berlin for a few days.  In a couple of weeks time we will head out to the German capital when she should be settled into her new apartment.  On the nature front it was a so so month.  Some fine spells allowed me to venture out.  A 140 mile round trip south to Ipswich in Suffolk searching for the elusive Brown Hairstreak (Thecla betulae) proved fruitless.  An archaeological dig at Warham Camp Iron Age Fort kept me away until mid-month so I missed the best of the Chalkhill Blues (Polyommatus coridon).  There were still one or two fresh looking males among the scores on the flower filled ring ditches but most were past their best.

One of the better male Chalkhill Blues enjoys a Devil’s-bit Scabious bloom

A very fresh looking Chalkhill Blue at Warham Camp

Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui) have been thin on the ground this year so this one on Knapweed at the Fort was a nice sighting

It was lovely sitting out among the masses of wild flowers at this remote spot watching the blues go about their seemingly never ending search for a mate.  There was plenty of females but they had no interest in mating, their minds were on egg laying on the Horseshoe Vetch.

Dragonfly activity, especially by my pond, has been rather poor this year.  Possibly our rubbish spring had a knock on effect but even later emerging species are not as abundant as usual.  However I did notice a Willow Emerald Damselfly (Chalcolestes viridis) in the garden for the third year running.

Willow Emerald by the pond on a blustery day

A walk through the sand dunes at Winterton-on-Sea this time of the year is always good for the Grayling butterfly (Hipparchia semele).  A frustrating species to try and photograph as they sit on paths, totally camouflaged, until you nearly stand on them!  Then they fly a few feet and repeat with wings always snapped shut.  This year I found several warming up on tree trunks, something I have not seen before but gave the opportunity for some better images.

This Grayling has it’s forewing raised after landing, a second later and it’s tucked back down

A typical Graying pose. I rather like this shot with just the butterfly and Silver Birch exposed

Migrant Hawkers (Aeshna mixta) are the last of the emergent dragonflies, a sure sign summer is winding down

And we end the month with a super blue moon.  I tried to get some shots but it’s not my forte.  Onwards to September, the Euro Finals at Santa Pod and that Berlin trip awaits!

Butterflying in July

July?  Well that was a good old fashioned British summer month!  Lots of rain, often windy and below normal temperatures, could be worse we could have had the excessive heatwave that cooked Southern Europe.  On the odd days that the weather behaved itself we got out to visit our favourite woodlands and I even visited a new site.

At the beginning of the month I resisted the temptation to drive to Northamptonshire in search of the Purple Emperor at Fermyn Woods and kept it (fairly) local.  Mrs H has never seen an Emperor so a trip to Foxley Wood was in order.  However the ‘best laid plans’ and all that, it was a struggle.  Several White Admirals and Silver-washed Fritillaries obliged to keep the enthusiasm going.  Then, out of the blue, a female Purple Emperor landed a few feet away.  Now, the Empress lacks the refractive scales that give the species it’s name but is still a mighty impressive butterfly and they very rarely come to ground unlike the males who seek minerals.  This was the first time I have witnessed this and then it almost landed on Tina’s shoe!

The mighty Empress (Apatura iris) she was one big butterfly

A further visit in perfect conditions only gave two brief fly-by sightings of males.  It seems in this part of the UK the Purple Emperor has had a very poor year.  One wood that is a joy to visit at this time of the year is Holt Country Park.  Here the beautiful Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) abounds in the woodland glades.  It’s hard to imagine that this species was only recorded for the first time a dozen years or so ago, what a success story when most species are in decline.

A gorgeous male Silver-washed Fritillary allows a close approach when nectaring on a thistle, just look at those eyes!

An odd thing about the SWF is that a small percentage of females are not orange in colour but are blue-green, these are the form Valezina.  Mostly encountered in the southern counties of England they are a rare sight in Norfolk.  I have photographed Valezina here before several years ago but this year was exceptional, we counted at least four!  Mrs H had not seen one before and they allowed an approach of just a couple of feet, what a fantastic day!

The incredibly beautiful Valezina form of female Silver-washed Fritillary. possibly due to their colouration they tend to stay in more shadier spots

Holt cp was alive with the more common summer species.  What a change from our dismal spring!  We counted sixteen different butterfly species some were second brood so there was some breeding success.

Brimstone (Gonepteryx rhamni) possibly our longest lived butterfly. If this fresh individual can survive predation it will hibernate through the winter to start a new generation next spring

The tiny Holly Blue (Celastrina argiolus) is from a second brood, they may go on to have a third if conditions are favourable. This one is searching the damp path for minerals

July is the month for the Gatekeeper (Pyronia tithonus) they appear in their thousands to feast on flowers like the ragwort

The new place I visited was just over the county border into Suffolk.  I had seen a photograph of an extremely rare butterfly on social media taken a few days earlier.  The photographer did not know what it was but I did and it was a bit of a long shot hoping it would still be around, it wasn’t.  Still what a lovely morning spent at Lound lakes.  The meadows were surrounded by dense bramble bushes and though most of the flowers had gone over there was still enough to attract a myriad of butterflies.

Purple Hairstreak (Favonius quercus). a species that spends almost it’s entire life in the tops of Oak trees. For some reason this year a lot have been coming down to low level, great for photographing them!

Some years countless millions of Painted Ladies (Vanessa cardui) migrate from Nth Africa through Europe to the UK, not this year, this is only my third sighting in ’23

Lots of pictures of nature’s beauties, all in just a few precious days of good weather.  August is starting where July left off, not great.

Chalk That One Off

Is it really four years since I last visited the Iron Age hill fort Warham Camp near Wells-next-the-Sea up on the Norfolk coast?  Apparently so.  This is the best preserved site of this period in the County and was probably home to an Iceni tribe.  Who knows, even the legendary, fearsome, warrior queen Boudica may have walked here before going off to kick some Roman bottoms, started well, didn’t end well.  All’s peaceful now, well apart from the constant roar of fighter jets overhead.  Just practicing in case the lovely Mr P decides to widen his horizons even further.

The fort is now home to Norfolk’s only colony of the delightful Chalkhill Blue butterfly (Polyommatus coridon) which were introduced here some years ago, not the done thing you know tut tut.  As I left the lane to cross the field to the ramparts I noticed a few Chalkhills fluttering about.  “that’s odd” I thought “never seen them here before”.  When I climbed the outer ring ditch it became apparent why, I have never seen so many!  The ground was shimmering with hundreds of the silvery blue males.

Lovely fresh male Chalkhill Blue

There were so many I could pick and chose which I wanted to photograph.  In the past I’ve not managed to get them nectaring way off the ground.  So I watched the best Scabious and Knapweed and waited ’till one alighted and hopefully open their wings (they were not always keen on the last part!)

A little bit worn

The females were less numerous.  Mind you with that many amorous males about they did well to keep their heads down!  Like several other of the ‘blues’ family the females are brown on the upper wing with variable orange lunules on the outer edge.  The under wing is also browner in hue.

Female Chalkhill Blue

That’s not a butterfly! Nope it’s a Six-spot Burnet moth (Zygaenea filipendulae)

All in all a rather good day out!  In total I saw 18 species of butterfly.  Better not leave it quite so long before my next visit but I can chalk this one off for this year.

Back to the Heath

Since moving to town some of my old haunts are now a few miles further to drive to.  Because of this (and the forever on-going renovations) I have not visited them as much as I used to or as much as I would like to.  Mid-week, before the mini heat wave hit, I dropped in on the (now not so) local heath to see if the Silver-studded Blues (Plebejus argus) had started to emerge, they had!

On the purple heather flowers these lovely and fresh butterflies made for some nice colourful images.  When the sun was hidden by cloud they would temporarily ‘roost’ in the long grass.  I found them quite easy to spot even though there were only no more than ten on the wing.  Here’s a little sequence of shots I took as one got active again.

I have featured this species before in the past so will not bore you by repeating various facts.  Just a couple of things for anyone new to the blog.  The name is derived from reflective metallic scales in the outer row of black spots on the under hind wing, some adults lack these.  The upper wing of the female is not blue but brown with orange spotting (lunules) on the outer edge.

Two other species were seen for the first time this year.  The Meadow Brown (Maniola jurtina) Which is the UK’s most widespread and commonest butterfly.  Also spotted was a Large Skipper (Ochlodes sylvanus) which really isn’t that large.

Female Meadow Brown in the wooded area on the edge of the heath

Large Skipper

Nice to return to a favourite site and watch the comings and goings.  Must get back home, another room to refurbish.

Chequered Skipper a Chequered History

In 1976 England lost a species of butterfly as the Chequered Skipper (Carterocephalus palaemon) was declared extinct from it’s heartland in the East Midlands.  Once again it seems as though the blame could be placed on habitat loss.  This pretty little butterfly requires wide open rides and glades in woodland with plenty of blooms to nectar on and the grass False Brome for it’s caterpillars to eat.  The forests were not managed as in the past and huge swathes of non-native pine planted for commercial timber production.

In 1939 colonies of the skipper were discovered in north/west Scotland, some 400+ miles from the English Chequers.  There were none in between, just two isolated populations.  Although the same species, the Scottish variety lived in a slightly different habitat and they bred on Purple Moor-grass.  Here, despite the sometimes adverse weather, the butterfly was doing quite well and over the years more were found in the ancient Oak woods close to lochs (lakes).

A few years ago Butterfly Conservation, Forestry England and the Back from the Brink partnership began to restore the habitat in a large block of woodland in Rockingham Forest Northamptonshire, the last stronghold of the Chequered Skipper.  In 2018 adult butterflies were brought over from strong colonies in Belgium and released in the secret site.  They bred successfully but more Belgian stock were added in 2019 to help boost numbers.  The skippers did well, though numbers were never high (60 recorded in ’21), so early this year Butterfly Conservation revealed the site details so the public could visit and, hopefully, catch a glimpse of this tiny star which has had much media coverage.

Chequered Skipper, Fineshade Woods Northants.  I could not have asked for a better memory of my visit

I waited excitedly for an opportunity to visit the woods.  Last Thursday the weather was perfect and the flight season being May to June I had the best chance of finding one.  It’s a big area and ‘needle in a haystack’ sprang to mind.  BC were holding guided tours but I don’t like crowds, I much prefer doing things my way.  As luck would have it my mate John from Hertfordshire had been the week previous and pinpointed on a map where he found some.

My first sighting, not immaculate but worth the sore feet!

I arrived at the ‘hot spot’ John found and with four other butterfly mad enthusiasts scanned the bramble flowers for our target.  After two hours, nothing.  It was decided to go to another area the skippers had been seen, quite a hike in the warm sun!  When we arrived a skipper was nectaring, relief!  My first ever sighting, I was elated.

The second individual was in great condition

After sometime and only a couple of other flight views I made my way back to the first spot passing the BC tour en-route, yes far too many people.  As I neared the area I could see there was a lot of people watching but obviously nothing to see.  A small brownish butterfly flew up the path and landed on a bramble flower next to me. I could not believe my eyes or my luck!  An almost perfect specimen.  When a cloud covered the sun it flew up onto a grass head and gave me the best images I could have ever wished for, what a little beauty.

The habitat improvement has been good for other species like this tiny Grizzled Skipper (Pyrgus malvae). Surprised to see so many (7) in June and in fresh condition too

Well that was a 200 mile round trip more than worth the cost of fuel and several miles walking worth the sore feet.  If the butterflies had not been re-introduced here it would have been a 1000 mile round trip to add it to my British list!

Swallowtail Time

(or, Visiting Old Friends ptII)

One of the joys of living in our part of Norfolk is that in late spring/early summer  the UK’s largest, most colourful butterfly can be seen.  Of course you need to know where to look, they don’t pop up everywhere.  You also need our old friend the un-predictable weather to be favourable.  A good spell of warm, sunny and wind free conditions will bring this enigmatic insect out of it’s pupa deep in the reedbeds to grace the area we call ‘Broadland’

What it’s all about, the ‘Norfolk’ Swallowtail (Papilio machaon ssp britannicus) perhaps my best shot to date

Last weekend was ideal so a trip to my favourite haunt Hickling Broad was in order.  The usual area was disappointing, there had been clearance work over winter and few nectar flowers were available.  A few hundred yards further on and there was a good amount of Red Campion and with it a newly emerged, mint condition Swallowtail eagerly fueling up.  This beauty allowed plenty of photo opportunities.

Pushing the shutter up to 1/1000th almost freezes the action. Those wings are nearly always fluttering

The dragonfly season is also now in full swing.  The early species were dominated by the Four-spotted Chasers (Libellula quadrimaculata).  I have never seen so many in one place, almost swarm like!

Fresh Four-spotted Chaser, one of thousands

Male Broad-bodied Chaser (Libellula depressa)

As well as these ‘old friends’ there were a couple of surprises.  Firstly a butterfly that has been in very low numbers in my part of the world and I have never seen at this site, the Wall Brown (Lasiommata megera).

The Wall Brown, a small butterfly that nearly always is seen sunning itself on the ground (or walls!)

LBJ?

So, a small brown bird sitting in an alder tree.  I was so pleased to get this shot even though I was using my macro lens!  This is a Cetti’s Warbler (Cettia cetti).  This bird first bred in the UK in 1972 and unlike all the other warblers (except one) does not migrate.  As an insect eater it’s population could crash in harsh winters.  The thing is the Cetti’s is extremely difficult to see, keeping deep inside vegetation by rivers or ditches.  It gives away it’s presence by it’s explosive call repeating the cetti name (though it was named after an 18th century Italian zoologist, Francesco Cetti).  An unusual fact, this is the only UK bird with 10 tail feathers, good luck trying to count them!

All in all a great day out and I’m glad to get my upload issues sorted so I could share it.