I've been out on a few great, but long, days of photographing Birds, Butterflies, Dragonflies & general scenery recently, so getting a bit of a backlog of posts to catch up on. Hopefully I will start catching up tomorrow on these posts. But today is a quick update on the St Aldhelms Swallowtails. I was up there mid afternoon on Fri 11th with a couple of birding mates from the West Country, Brian Field & Mush Ahmad. In about 45 minutes of looking we had several sightings of Individual B just to the West of the Coastuards lookout.
One final bit of news. A couple of locals have checked with the Revd Gaynor Burrett who covers the chapel & she has confirmed that no Swallowtails have been released over the 3.5 years she has been responsible for the chapel & Langton Matravers church. So that's good confirmation. Certainly everybody I've spoken to who has a good knowledge of Butterflies feels this is right for an arrival last Summer & local breeding.
Individual B: Still around on the 11th & quite approachable in the sun
I've also been forwarded photos of individuals B & D on various dates in the last week. A summary of sightings of these individuals along with sightings of other individuals (not photographed) are on the Flock of Swallowtails post. They have been added to the Comments to that post & I will keep adding additional Comments as I heard of further sightings.
Individual B: Another shot from the 11th. Sunbathing on the cliff edge: the Swallowtail, not me
The latest news I have is 2 individuals were seen on Sat 12 July: a
tatty one & a better condition one. But I've yet to see photos of
either. I would appreciate anybody having photos they wish to share
privately or for potential addition to the blog or linked to from the
blog, leaving their email address as a Comment to the Swallowtail post. I
won't publish the Comment, but will contact you offline. I am also
getting to see photos via the Butterfly County Recorder, but there is a
delay as Bill quite rightly has to request permission to share the
images with me.One final bit of news. A couple of locals have checked with the Revd Gaynor Burrett who covers the chapel & she has confirmed that no Swallowtails have been released over the 3.5 years she has been responsible for the chapel & Langton Matravers church. So that's good confirmation. Certainly everybody I've spoken to who has a good knowledge of Butterflies feels this is right for an arrival last Summer & local breeding.