Butterfly Season

Purple Hairstreak, Neozephyrus quercus, in an oak tree.
Jubilee Country Park, Sunday 17th July 2011.

They all come at once, or so it seems.  Today I went on two more butterfly walks; one at Jubilee Country Park, and one at Farthing Downs.

The walk at JCP was led by Marcus Jordan and Tony Ruffle. The forecast was for heavy showers, but we had good sunshine for over an hour. To begin with, no butterflies were apparent. Perhaps we were a little early. But we spread out and walked through the meadows; there were perhaps a dozen of us, and we flushed out several; then quite soon there were lots flying around.

These were Meadow Browns and Ringlets, a few fresh bright Gatekeepers, and we also saw a few small Skippers. One of them was confirmed as an Essex Skipper. You can only tell this from a Small Skipper by examining the underside of its antennae. An Essex Skipper's antennae are black beneath; a Small Skipper's are not. Of course, usually you see them from above ...

Essex Skipper, Thymelicus lineola.
Jubilee Country Park, Sunday 17th July 2011.

We moved along the side of a wood where there was a belt of brambles. This was quite productive. We saw some Commas, beautiful creatures with sculpted wings; a Green-Veined White; a Red Admiral; and flying up into an oak, two Purple Hairstreaks, quite hard to photograph because they tend to be high up and far away. Quite hard to spot, too; one of us was watching them and pointing them out, and it still took me a minute to see where they were.

I haven't included photos of species I posted earlier this week, except for the Comma. I had one shot of the Comma I could not resist posting. There were other creatures, too; bumblebees, beetles, hoverflies, and we saw a Five-Spot Burnet moth.

Then it started to rain. Butterflies do not fly in the rain.

So in the afternoon I went to Farthing Downs. This is a City of London Common and the walk was led by a local volunteer, Gill Peachey. Perhaps because of the weather, I was the only one to turn up for the walk, though there were other visitors in the car park; what can keep people from such good quality free entertainment? I do not understand it.

Ringlet, Aphantopus hyperantus, looking rather tattered.
Jubilee Country Park, Sunday 17th July 2011.

Even though you could see rainclouds all around, this walk was billed as including a look at some moths captured the night before, so not even a downpour could have made the visit useless. Gill showed me the captures and told me about them. Most of them stayed put even with the lids off their jars, and I have some photos, though they are against indifferent backgrounds, and I'll post them another day when I have read up on the moths and made sure I have the right name against the right specimen.

We went out for a look around the common. We had maybe half an hour of clear weather, during which we saw a Small Copper, a Small Heath and a Green-Veined White along with the expected Meadow Browns. Then it began to rain quite hard, and didn't stop. The camera went into my bag and my umbrella protected that rather than me. But Gill is pretty good at plants as well as lepidoptera, and now I know where to come for some bee and fly orchids next year.

All today's butterfly photos were taken with the 200mm prime lens and 2x extension tube on my EOS 60D. I need to use an even shorter exposure in future, because despite my care, some of these are slightly blurry. You can see from the really sharp ones, like that comma, what the lens can do.

Gatekeeper,  Pyronia tithonus.  Butterfly walk in Jubilee Country Park, Sunday 17th July 2011.

Comma,  Polygonia c-album.   Butterfly walk in Jubilee Country Park, Sunday 17th July 2011.

Small Heath,  Coenonympha pamphylus.  Moths and Butterflies on Farthing Downs, Sunday 17th July 2011.

Green-Veined White, Pieris napi.  Moths and Butterflies on Farthing Downs, Sunday 17th July 2011.

Small Copper,  Lycaena phlaeas.  Moths and Butterflies on Farthing Downs, Sunday 17th July 2011.