Owls and Butterflies

The slopes of the dunes were unbearable, especially on an empty stomach; and what ought have been a floral survey quickly turned into a litany of life at eye level, excluding anything that failed to grow above the height of a knee.

So butterflies were on the menu again today and within minutes I had located the familar bounce and flutter of the Meadow Brown, which at rest resembles an owl, on account of its curved wings and eye spots. The Browns have an egregious, evolutionary trait that renders them permanently twitchy. Bounding over grass like notes on a stave, they momentarily stop for breath before bouncing off again, leaving camera-laden Ecologists perpetually frustrated, and invariably, with a series of blurred images to mull over at a later date.

On this occasion however, I caught an off-guard female sunning herself on bramble. A school girl error on her part! Bramble, of all plants; like finding a Brit on a Spanish beach! My delight was ineffable and ephemeral, as she soon heard the rumble of my vacuous stomach and fluttered her way to another, less conspicuous, sun trap.

The second photo is of a Small Heath. Populations have declined over 50% in 30 years and the species is included on many local Biodiveristy Action Plans to protect them. Difficult to pick out when resting the Small Heath is easy to distinguish from other butterflies by its drunken flight, bobbing and flopping inches from the ground.

Summer Skippers

On a sun-raked patch of neutral grassland, small skippers weaved effortlessly through grass stems, ambled on bramble and generally returned the solar favour with a golden show of their own.

A hirsute male demonstrates an indicative skipper pose in this photo with forewing and hindwing resting at an angle. Also worthy of note is the black, linear strip on the right forewing which, on a golden whim, releases female-inducing pheromones.

Within metres of one another, large skippers frequently knock on the doors of small skippers.

Flowers are sought; bloom sleuths of the natural world.

Large skippers playfully flash their marbled masterpieces in a glamorous display of butterfly bliss which contrasts from the uniform, but no less appealing, palette of the smalls.

This photo shows only a snapshot of the intricate courtship that can occur between butterflies (here the large skippers). The female in this instance, rhythmicallly flicked her head and antennae in alternate directions whilst the male looked on with passionate intrigue.

Nature's Catwalk

This weekend nature finally left her inhibitions on Friday's doorstep, when invertebrate fashionistas came to the same conclusion as this year's fashion designers in deciding that bold colours are what ought to be worn this summer.

A Small Tortoiseshell, experimenting with her terracotta forewing against the yellow petals of a Cat's Ear, stole the rainbow show but was run close by a female Common Blue whose pixilated shades of the sea dazzled under a Saturday sun.

Later in the day she was caught with an unknown male, drunk on sap, mesmerically whirling in a near vertical column recreating a Lepidopteran version of the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

 

Not to be overshadowed by the faunal frisson, Opium Poppies drove skywards, slowly and noiselessly. Colour and symmetry synergistically combining to lure in passing hoverflies.

Icing Sugar Dusting

Despite diligent field excursions, sightings of butterflies uncommon remained a few days away and, it is safe to say, a few degrees south thanks to the weekend weather. As innocent blue skies thrashed at the persistent cloudlets today, I spotted the gregarious green-veined white male, delicately fluttering on a whispering breeze, where he finally settled to catch a breath on a bramble leaf.

His wings in the early season can frequently be devoid of any dark marks, as seen in this photo, setting him aside from species of other whites. Fulwood Rd folklore dictates that green-veined white males often spend too much time under the icing sugar and sieve of Mrs Rung when she is in the process of cake making, with an ambition to get the desired dressing of sugar dust on their forewings for the summer flutter. Mission accomplished Sir!

The underwing of the GVW has lightning bolts of mossy green veins that invigorate an otherwise colourless complexion. A complexion which I tried and regrettably failed to capture, when on bended knee I pointed the clicker at a permanently nodding ranunculus specimen (the species of which I did not care to investigate after a sports team of clicks).

Sunday Snoozing

On a grassy nook in South Liverpool a few fairly fresh female Common Blues snooze on spent dandelions. This was one of them.

Speke Hall Frolics

First Comma of the year

Net at the ready

Underwing showing characteristic white 'C' for Comma marking!

Martha was not impressed when she was placed inside the butterfly net!

Solar delight pitted itself against whirling winds today providing us with suitable temperatures for butterfly catching at Speke Hall. Martha thoroughly enjoyed herself and only cried when there was an absense of butterflies; as a corollary of this we managed to collect quite a few flutterering friends to keep her sweet; seven species in all! Martha saw a Speckled Wood, Common Blue, Small and Large White, Green Veined White, Peacock and a Comma. The latter being her favourite as it hung around on the manicured grass we sat on whilst we all chatted away.

National Trust Adventures (1/5/11)

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Fritillary

Speckled Wood

Spent the day at Lyme Wood. Plenty of time to geo-cache, look around the grounds and take some snaps!

Camping Weekend (30/4/11)

Green Hairstreak

A green hairstreak spotted during our walk up to Mam Tor. One of its feeding plants is gorse which this little fellow was flying close to.

Avid Ramblers

Catching a breath on top of Mam Tor with Castleton in the distance.