17 Aug 24 - Some Garden Butterflies

As I headed out for the afternoon, I saw a Holly Blue & a Speckled Wood in the back garden, which provided the chances for some quick photos.

Holly Blue: The first I've seen of this year's second brood. But it has clearly been flying for a few days given it isn't fresh

Speckled Wood: Another second brood individual

8 Apr 20 - Finally Some Butterflies #BWKM0

Normally, I see my first individuals from the study on the flowers in my neighbour's garden when there is a small suntrap. But those flowers went over & their gardener tidied them, before I saw any Butterflies. In some years, I see the first individuals in late Feb or Mar, but typically the first individuals are seen in early Apr. So, this year was fairly normal. From early Apr, I was seeing Butterflies flying past, but not stopping. I failed to confirm their identification, but suspect they were Commas. Finally, on 7 Apr, I saw my first identified Butterflies: Comma & Large White.

Comma: Alner's Gorse (27 Jul 14)

Large White: Swanage (12 Aug 14)

Finally, I had two Butterflies on the #BWKM0 List, but this increased to five by the end of 8 Apr as the temperatures had finally started rising.

Brimstone: A male seen flying past from the study was great as they aren't annual. Fontmell Down (30 Jul 14)

Peacock: A look at the garden at lunchtime produced the first Peacock. St Aldhelms (20 Jul 14)

Holly Blue: There were no surprises when I saw the first Holly Blue as this is one of my commoner species given, I have allowed the amount of Ivy to increase significantly since I moved in. This was photographed in the garden (6 May 15)

Check tomorrow to see what the B in #BWKM0 stands for, in the next day's wildlife sighting when I will be confined at #BWKM0.

9 May 15 - A Common Garden Butterfly

When I first moved to Dorset, I was pleased to discover Holly Blues in my garden. There are two broods. The first brood flies from mid April to the start of June & the second brood from mid July to the end of August. The main attraction in my garden is the significant amounts of Ivy. This is an easy to identify Blue with this distinctive pale-blue underwing pattern. It is larger than the only species with a similar underwing pattern: the Small Blue. But Small Blues are typically a species of coastal grassland, whereas Holly Blues are found in a variety of habitats. A pale blue fluttering high in trees & bushes is most likely to be a Holly Blue.

Holly Blue

25 Nov 14 - Insect Photospot1 - Dorset Butterflies - The Whites, Hairstreaks & Blues

Following on from2 the First Birthday post, this is the first of several posts focusing on Dorset's fantastic Butterflies & Dragonflies. As we go into the Autumn & Butterflies are largely a distant memory, save a few late Red Admiral & a handful of other late species, then I thought I would remind everybody of the great range of Butterflies that occur in Dorset. I've managed to see all 45 species of Butterfly that breed regularly in Dorset these days. Additionally, I've seen 3 vagrant species in Dorset: Monarchs (3 different years), three of the five St Aldhelms Swallowtails & a Large Tortoiseshell, not forgetting the Maps which are most likely an illegal released. So here is a Photospot on the first half of the Dorset Butterfly list to help showcase how good Dorset is for Butterflies. Whenever possible I've tried to use photos taken in Dorset (where I've had to use photos from out of Dorset, I've indicated the county). There are many more photos of these species on the Blog which you can see by clicking on the labels on the right hand side of the Blog. Some of these photos could be improved or added to with additional upper or underwing photos or shots of both sexes, but that will give me something to do in future years.

Large White: Swanage (12 Aug 14)

Small White: Enjoying the Red Valerian in my garden (5 Aug 14)

Green-veined White: Old Harry (31 May 14)

Orange-tip: A species to photograph next year

Clouded Yellow: Old Harry (3 Sep 14)

Brimstone: Fontmell Down (30 July 14)

Purple Hairstreak: Alner's Gorse (20 July 13)

Brown Hairstreak: Alner's Gorse (27 July 14)

White-letter Hairstreak: Alner's Gorse (4 Aug 13)

Green Hairstreak: Allt Mhuic, Western Scotland (2 June 12)

Small Copper: St Aldhelms (2 July 14)

Small Blue: Old Harry (2 June 13)

Holly Blue: Swanage (8 Aug 14)

Silver-studded Blue: Female. Latchmore Brook, Hampshire (23 June 14)

Silver-studded Blue: Female. Latchmore Brook, Hampshire (23 June 14)

Brown Argus: Ulwell Gap (6 Aug 14)

Brown Argus: Ulwell Gap (6 Aug 14)

Chalkhill Blue: Male. Fontmell Down (30 July 14)

Adonis Blue: Durlston (Aug 14)

Common Blue: Female. Fontmell Down (30 July 14)

Common Blue: Female. Fontmell Down (30 July 14)

Part 2 of of this Insect Photospot will cover the remaining Dorset Butterflies including the Nymphalidae (Aristocrats, Fritillaries & Browns) and Skippers.

14 May 14 - Family Photo Tick

In the Centennial Postings Part 1 & Part 2, I promised you I would start to add to the 84 families of birds I had already managed to photograph with the new Canon camera. That total ignored a few additional families of Birds that I had already photographed with my little Lumix, a video camera & quite a few more families with the old fashioned cameras that used film (young readers ask your parents about this, but stop listening if they start rambling on about the good old days). But I'm not going to count any of these families, as the quality of those photos is generally pretty average compared to the Canon. Anyway, if you can't stand the suspense of wondering what the family photo tick is, then go to the end now (as I've doing this post in order of the day's activities).

Common Frog: They are non breeding visitors in my ponds & haven't been very regular this year

After a few warm, sunny days, the birding was pretty quiet & I decided to switch to looking at insects. Last year while out at Studland looking for Downy Emerald & Hairy Dragonfly at this time of year, I found a Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth. So it seemed a good idea to try & see if I could find some more as well as look for Butterflies & Dragonflies.

Holly Blue

Wall: A bit tatty, but it was the only once I saw in a couple of hours of looking

Downy Emerald: This appeared on the Rhododendron on a couple of occasions. I really like their bronzy-green colouration

Four-spotted Chaser: The dark spots in the middle of leading edge of each wing is diagnostic

As for the Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth. It would appear for about 20 - 30 seconds with 5 sightings in total. Each time it flew around like a cross between a Hummingbird Hawk Moth & a Bumblebee, briefly stopping on a flower to grab some nectar, before disappearing out of my field of view again for another 15 minutes. I failed to get any photos, so here are last year's efforts with my Lumix.

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth: A photo of last year's individual, as I've failed to get a photo after several attempts this year (2 June 13)

Broad-bordered Bee Hawk Moth: Another shot (2 June 13)

The final stop was the Studland churchyard, hoping for a migrant or two to be lingering there. No joy, but did get the family photo tick: an adult & recently fledged juvenile Dunnock. Dunnocks are the only regular member of the Accentors family in the UK, although there are also 45 accepted records of Alpine Accentor in the UK to date. I suspect many UK birders ignore looking at Dunnocks, but the birds in my garden are usually feeding very close to the kitchen, even more now since I installed several feeders there. As a result, I get to see them close up daily & they are full of character. Recently, the male is displaying & I'm also seeing begging actions from the female, as they are preparing to breed again (sexed based upon behaviour). I've also got a young bird from their first brood feeding regularly as well. Despite having only appeared in the last few days, it's very capable of feeding & looking after itself, although it's still a bit nervous & domineering compared to the very laid back adults.

Dunnock: Adult. The sexes are identical in plumage & aging them once the juveniles have lost their streaky juvenile plumage is very difficult (seem to remember there is a subtle difference in eye colour)

Dunnock: Juvenile

On the way back home, I spotted a sailing ship, the Royalist, which is a Marine Society & Sea Cadet sail training ship at mooring in Swanage Bay.

The Royalist sail training ship