British butterfly year listing with Nick Sampford continued
The next few outings were all local and didn't produce much until July 11th when I found Gatekeeper, Essex Skipper and Purple Hairstreak, all local in Hertfordshire, at Bramfield Wood but no sign of reported White Admirals. 12th July - I found a rather tatty White Admiral at Bramfield and managed a record shot .
15th July - went to Hampshire for Silver-studded Blue which we saw very easily at Black Gutter Bottom. Then I travelled to Martin Down where I found Silver-wash Fritillary and loads of Marbled Whites. After that, I went to Bentley Wood. It was packed with butterflies and within 5 minutes, I had seen a Purple Emperor. I entually saw as many as 15 emperors although I was never sure if they were the same one or different. Also at this site, were White Admirals and Purple Hairstreaks. In total, I had 20 species. A really good day out makes it all worth while !
21st July - I headed north to Arnside Knott, Cumbria and then I planned to go to the Lake District. I had six species of butterfly I wanted to find. This would be the "make or break" weekend. I arrived at 3am in the morning.,It was thick cloud and really strong wind. I was really fed up. We spent all morning looking for a disused quarry which had Northern Brown Argus, without luck. I arrived back at Arnside by 1pm and it was still as windy when Angela [my wife] noticed a fritillary fly over the car. We chased it but it was lost to view, but we soon found another and another. At first, we were not sure whether these were High Brown or Dark Green until one was seen at close range nectaring on a low bramble.
Three out of six, but that was the lot as the heavens opened up and it poured. No chance of getting on the fells for Mountain Ringlet. Very disappointing. 22nd July - I travelled to Shropshire to Whixal Moss. After ages trying to find the site, we quickly found 4 Large Heaths. All too far away for photos but at least another tick. So out of the 6 I still only had seen four and panic was setting in.
That night I put a request for info on Mountain Ringlets and Northern Brown Argus on the wing at the moment. I had one reply from Mike Hunter [cheers mate] who told me of a site near Darlington which had Northern Brown Argus on the wing and a site for Mountain Ringlet 25th July - I see a Small Copper on Creeping Thistle near Wareside.
We tried 3 well known sites but no luck. We stopped off at Arnside and had lots more Scotch Argus and Grayling and High Brown Fritillary. I now know that I won't see all the British butterflies in a year but I've had a good go. I'm now on 53 by the end of July with only 5 regular butterflies to find in August. |
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July 1st - I travelled south to Somerset for Large Blue [sorry site withheld]. When we arrived, it was very overcast but warm and within minutes Adrian Webb had located one in flight. "Easy" we thought, but no, it was to be at least another 3 hours before we saw another 5. But they were all distant, so no photos. We also had a Ringlet at the site as well. 
14th July - saw me at Cornmill Meadows, Essex looking for White-letter Hairstreak. I spent 5 hours searching for this species and in the end was just going to give up when I spotted one near the round bungalow. I spent a further 30 minutes trying to find it again to photograph it. We had just about given up, when we found three necturing on Creeping Thistle right by the car and one was very photogenic. This was the only butterfly I was worried about missing in July.
The next few days I spent looking, locally, for Purple Emperors but with no luck.
Well I'd seen one out of six then I noticed a very dark brown butterfly in the grass, a Scotch Argus. The only one of the day which sat perfectly for me to photograph it. On the way back to the car, I found a Grayling on the stones. 
23rd July - saw me at Therfield Heath in Hertfordshire looking for Chalk Hill Blue. After 3 hours, I found one on some dog faeces. Lovely creature. I did get a shot of it but it didn't look nice !
27th July - heading north again to county Durham and within 5 minutes of arrival, I found the first of 20+ Northern Brown Argus. This now allowed me to move on to the Lake District and search for Mountain Ringlets .