Thursday 25 June 2009

Another very warm and humid day, although it was cloudy first thing as I walked into work, and it was the half hour walk in to work that provided the most birds. A flock of at least 22 LONG TAILED TITS, with BLUE and GREAT TITS accompanying them in smaller numbers, with two CHIFFCHAFF and a TREECREEPER tagging along, were seen working their way from the Scrub at migrant alley, and into the college grounds. Quite a sight and sound to behold.

The humid and hot weather this afternoon meant that very few birds were about, KESTREL and SPARROWHAWK were around hunting, and HERRING GULLS flew over as did a lone BLACK HEADED GULL, but the afternoon ended up being more noteworthy for the Butterflies! So i'll leave you with some pics of what I saw. Apart from the ones that got away that is! These included Speckled wood, Large White, Painted Lady, and a probable Gatekeeper - which would have been my first of the year.

Above is a Small White
Above and Below are Small Tortoiseshell, different ones! They are coming back!

Above and below is the Large Skipper
Below is a Red Admiral, only the second one recordd this year, alas it refused to open its wings!

Above and below is the Meadow Brown - the most Common butterfly on my patch

Lastly , above and below, the Common Blue, looking a little tatty now.
Thunderstorms are forecast for tomorrow!!









9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a whole different mix of insects and birds here this spring and summer. It has been so hot that I think the birds have migrated on farther north and the insects must have too. I see your butterflies look like the selection we had last summer but none of them are here this year so far. Except a Cabbage White eating the cabbage.

I suspect Global Warming.

Jann said...

Wonderful shots Warren! Woo hoo!

Ken. said...

Hi Warren.
It is very quiet on the bird front everywhere, thank god for the other wildlife. Nice variety of butterfly photo's you have taken.
That large Skipper looks a bit like the pictures I have put on my blog, but I as I have never seen one before I wasn't sure what it was. I hope I am right. I am sure someone will put me right.

swatson said...

an amazing collection of butterflies Warren.Never seen most of them before.Beautful photos
Sheila

Chris said...

Hi Warren,
It is nice you finally get some sun and warm days. Then you can see butterflies and get pictures!!! I love the diversity in these shots, just like the diversity of your patch for birds...

Anonymous said...

Great post, Warren. When you start looking at butterflies closely, you begin to see how much variation there is between individuals of the same species. Your Tortoiseshells prove that.

ShySongbird said...

A great day there for butterflies Warren, lovely to see the Small Tortoiseshell popping up again.

Randy Emmitt said...

Nice collection of butterfly photos. I shot them to here in the USA. I'll be back..

Greenie said...

Warren ,
Great butterfly shots .
There have very few Red Admirals so far this year . As most migrate from the Continent , like the Painted Ladies , perhaps this will be a poor year for them .
Late August/September is a good time to see them with fallen fruit attracting them .
Could well have been a Gatekeeper , just starting their flight time now .