August 26
WILDLIFE HIGHLIGHTS
It was the insects that were dominating my wildlife sightings again in August, with plenty more dragonfly and damselfly encounters, plus some fabulous moths and butterflies.
Early in the month, Bob and I had a call from one of his friends who had a Striped Haw-moth in his moth trap that morning. So we headed over to see it, having to wait some time for the weather conditions to be just right. Needless to say, I'd never heard of it before, but as ever, I'm learning about all sorts of new species and I certainly enjoyed the opportunity to photograph this fairly large moth species. It was very impressive, especially when we were able to see the flash of pink on the hindwings. I do like to experiment with my photography, and not just take the standard back-of-wing shot, and so got down low to take a photo from the side, so I could see its eye peering at me.
Early in the month, it was lovely spending a weekend over in West Sussex for a change. It was the perfect opportunity for Bob to do a recce before his forthcoming Butterflies of Sussex tour that he was going to be leading the following week for Naturetrek. Firstly, we took the opportunity to head over to Chiddingfold in search of the Wood White butterfly, despite it being quite late in the season for them (2nd brood). As luck would have it, we arrived at the same time as some others, including someone we knew. One of the group was able to recommend a different place for us to try - an area of the woodland I'd not been to before - so that was fun to explore. It wasn't a long walk down the ride from where we parked, and very quickly we were seeing lots of Small Whites on the wing, but eventually we spotted a lovely Wood White fluttering lower to the ground amidst vegetation around the side of a bank. It was a female nectaring quite a bit. She gave us a few good opportunities to watch her, but she was never still long enough, or in a good position to photograph. Eventually, she disappeared into the woodland, so we carried on walking down the track, just happy we'd seen one.
On our return walk, Bob just happened to be looking ahead when a Goshawk fly quickly across the path not much above head height, a short distance ahead or us. Sadly, I missed seeing it as I was looking in a different direction at the time. That's the way it goes sometimes. It's an impressive bird of prey species that I've only seen a couple of times at some distance. Maybe one day I'll be lucky and not only get a much better view of one, but get a decent photo too.
Further along the track, we did manage to see another Wood White, which was lovely. It turned out to be a different one - a male this time. It was actually much easier to see, in a less dense open area. I was able to take some nice photographs without all the distracting vegetation in the background. The wings of the Wood White are more rounded (longer and oval) compared to the Small White.
From Chiddingfold we drove to Iping Common. It's a Sussex Wildlife Trust site I've only visited once before for Silver-studded Blue butterflies, back in June 2022. This time we'd heard about a colony of Black Darter dragonflies that could be seen by one of the ponds. I've not seen this species in England before, only up in Scotland, also back in 2022. So, it was wonderful to have a few hours watching and photographing this species. We were the only two people by the pond, so it was fabulous to have the place to ourselves.
As you can imagine, there wasn't a massive amount of water left in the pond by early August, but thankfully we saw a good number of dragonflies and damselflies, so they seem to be surviving there. We saw our first Black Darter before we even reached the pond, whilst walking towards it through the heather. But, then I didn't see any others away from the pond. There was a lovely female perched (first photo) - the only one I saw all afternoon. Most of our time was spent photographing a male that kept returning to the same few perches.
The male was sometimes tricky to photograph because it often rests with its wings slightly forward, masking its eyes. It doesn't always face the direction you want either, and moving to another position was not always possible.
You can see in the next photo how it has a pinched abdomen - it curves inwards in the middle, so the 'tail' end is wider.
At one point, the darter started wiping its forelegs together, which was interesting to observe.
The other species I saw a lot of that afternoon was the Emerald Damselfly. The bright blue eyes of the male are so striking and eye catching. Not only does it have an emerald green thorax and abdomen, but also this lovely dusky blue colouration on the lower part of the thorax, upper and lower abdomen. In the second photo, you can hardly tell which species it is, but the colour of the eyes and legs, and the metallic green thorax suggest a newly emerged Emerald Damselfly. It actually resembles the female of the species.
We spent the rest of the month exploring the South Downs back in East Sussex, on our local patch. I didn't always take my camera, as it was nice travelling a little lighter, especially on such hot summer days. Thankfully, Bob usually took his camera, which he let me borrow at times when there was something I wanted to photograph. It didn't always work out well though, like when we saw a Brown Hairstreak. After he'd taken some shots, I was just about to take a few when the female flew up high into a tree and disappeared from sight. However, it worked out much better when we spotted this lovely Blue-tailed Damselfly resting high up on a Hemp Agrimony leaf. It stayed put long enough for both of us to photograph. The blue-green colour of its eyes and thorax and stunning. You can also clearly see the two-tone pterostigma (wingspot) at the end of its wings.
Bob also let me borrow his camera to photograph a Clouded Yellow butterfly. It was a lovely Helice - a female with white upperwings. You can just about see the white on the wings as she flies off after egg-laying in this next video. Normally the upperwings are buttery yellow with a black edge.
Following her was quite a challenge. Clouded Yellows don't stop for long, and they're fast moving. Since it was windy too, that really didn't help either. Then a male flew up and followed her, and suddenly they moved quickly further away, spiralling upwards, then separating. It was a challenge to keep up with her. Anyone watching me would have seen me moving up, then down, from one side to another across the hillside - it must have looked quite amusing! The results are not brilliant, but it was fun trying to capture her egg-laying.
There are times Clouded Yellows are easier to photograph - when they're roosting! On another less than sunny day, Bob and I saw this male going to roost. Notice how the antennae are close together. That's how you can tell a butterfly is sleeping. It isn't just at the end of a sunny day that they can do this, but also on dull and cooler days. They need the warmth to fly and encourage them into action.
The highlight of the month came on the 21st August. It was a lovely sunny day, but it was quite windy. On this occasion, I was very glad I had my own camera with me! As Bob and I walked along The Comp, I was thinking about the recent sightings of Queen of Spain Fritillary across the south coast this summer - even in West Sussex. In fact, Bob, who'd already seen several in the summer whilst leading a tour in Bulgaria, even saw one at Kithurst Car Park whilst leading his local butterfly tour the week before. I was quite envious as it's a species that still aludes me. It's common on the continent, but it's a rare migrant that only sometimes visits the UK. This summer has been a bumper year with several sightings. So, even though we weren't aware of any sightings in East Sussex, I found myself walking along and praying that I'd get to see a Queen of Spain Fritillary on our walk, even though I knew it was highly unlikely.
When we reached Greenway Bank we stopped to appreciate this lovely male Holly Blue. Bob has years of butterfly watching experience, so not only is he great at identifying different species - sometimes even whilst they're flying - but he also knows about the habitats and the different caterpillar food plants for all the species, and understands their behaviour. So, after I had taken a nice underwing shot and was ready to move on, Bob wanted to wait. He could tell that it wouldn't be long before the sun reappeared from behind a cloud and the butterfly would very likely slowly open its wings. At that point, I didn't appreciate how you don't see this open wing view often with the Holly Blue. But, I was certainly grateful for the opportunity to photograph it looking so splendid and appreciate it more so now. Gradually, I'm learning more and more, as we go out looking for butterflies.
But that wasn't the highlight of the walk. Nor was this lovely little Brown Argus that I later saw roosting - again, notice the antennae together. It was on an Agrimony seedhead with nothing much behind it. It's not that easy to take these kind of isolate shots as there's usually so much other vegetation around.
Did you know, that the agrimony seedhead historically was referred to as "sweethearts" because of the way the sticky burs stick to clothing when you walk past the plant? Bob and I both usually come home after a walk with quite a few on us at this time of year!
The highlight of this day came when we reached the furthest point of our walk and were about to start heading back. Bob was taking me to a spot where we could see plenty of Brown Argus butterflies. He'd not visited it for quite a while until a few days before. As we walked around a mass of brambles and other wild vegetation, out of the blue he said that this could be a really good place to see the Queen of Spain Fritillary because there could be Wild Pansy in the fields. Suddenly, I felt much more alert.
Shortly after, Bob pointed out a nice Brown Argus nectaring. He carried on along the path whilst I diverted to the side to take a photo. As I returned to the path facing the opposite direction to him, I suddenly caught sight of some orange butterflies low to the ground on the wing. One was a Small Copper, but then my eyes fell upon a much larger orange butterfly that had settled on the ground. It was definitely a fritillary, only I knew it wasn't likely to be any of our usual fritillary species like Dark Green or Silver-Washed. My bins were up at my face in next to no time. The mass of black spots and the squarer hindwings made me instantly think Queen of Spain, and I certainly exclaimed something in my surprise. But, I didn't trust myself or believe what I was seeing. By this time, Bob had rejoined me and confirmed the sighting. I couldn't believe it, especially considering just five minutes before he'd mentioned the possibility of seeing one.
Despite the fact it was a somewhat tatty male, I didn't care and immediately took a few photos. But, soon after, it took flight and I lost sight of it. I was so grateful and happy about the sighting. But, I hoped for more. I actually even prayed it would return and I'd see it again for longer, so I could see its underside and appreciate the beautiful white spots that are really prominent with this species. We loitered in the area for a while - I was reluctant to move off - and it paid off. Less than five minutes later, it was back in more or less the same spot. Only this time, its wings were closed up. I got down low and managed to capture the photo I'd hoped for. Amazing!
Sadly, it flew off again, and it disappeared for good it seemed. Despite hanging around for quite a while, eventually we gave up, and continued our walk, still keeping an ever watchful eye open. There were Clouded Yellows and lots of Small Heath flying around, then suddenly we spotted another fritillary. A look through the bins provided the confirmation it was the same male seen 30 minutes later. This time it hung around long enough for both of us to take some photos, and I managed to capture this little bit of video footage, to show how it rested on the ground moving its wings up and down, once again revealing the gorgeous underside (apologies about the wobbly video - it was quite windy). What a treat! What a day!
The following day the temptation to see the Queen of Spain again was too great to ignore. One of our friends found one in the morning, after we'd told him where to find it. But, interestingly, it turned out to be a different one to ours. When we reached the same spot later on, we didn't have any joy.
Before we'd even left the close to start our walk though, I stopped to take a few photos of a Hummingbird Hawk-moth that was nectaring on the 'Hot Lips' flower (Salvia microphylla). In the past, I've usually taken photos from side on, but I love this one as it really shows off its wings nicely.
That night Bob decided to put out the moth trap since the conditions were good for it. We've not done it much this year, for one reason or another. We didn't have very much of interest, but I really liked this Lime-speck Pug that was sitting on the fence in the morning, and the Flounced Rustic moth that looked particularly beautiful in the sunshine.
We enjoyed another lovely walk around the back of where we live with some friends of ours a week later. I was hopeful we might see another Queen of Spain Fritillary, but sadly we didn't have any luck. The highlight that day was seeing a second brood White Admiral along The Comp, which Bob has never seen there before. We hung around the same spot for a while to photograph it. Then we could hear the voices of a group of men behind the corner down the path. They seemed to be hanging around too. I didn't think much of it as they were probably just waiting for other walkers to catch up. But, at one point, the White Admiral flew up and over the hedgerow and I walked to the left to see if I could see it coming down the other side. To my surprise, just beyond the gate, was a group of a dozen or so naked men - Naturist Ramblers! I rejoined the others with a smile on my face and explained who was around the corner. Eventually, the White Admiral returned and we were able to take a few more photos. In the meantime, the naturists came through the gate and walked off along the path away from us. As tempting as it was to take a photo of the moons, I refrained!
August is the time to look out for Brown Hairstreak butterflies on Blackthorn. It's a particularly special time for Bob and I because it's how we met, looking for this scarce butterfly. Although we eventually saw one, after quite a bit of searching and waiting, where we first met at The Steyning Downland Scheme, we concentrated our efforts more in East Sussex this year. This species has only spread into this side of the county in the recent times and until last year, Bob hadn't seen any on his 'patch'. It's proven a good year for them locally, as between us and a friend, 13 different ones have been seen.
Once again, I had to borrow Bob's camera to take a photo of this lovely female, seen at a local site. But, the photo at the top of the page was of a different female taken closer to home, with my own camera, whilst Bob was on the phone! He quickly ended the call when he realised what I was photographing!
It's also turned out to be a good site for seeing the Queen of Spain Fritillary with seven different individuals spotted over the course of a few weeks. They've all been male, but that doesn't mean there isn't a female hiding somewhere nearby, hopefully egg-laying!
I returned for a fourth time to see if I could find any more with Bob, nine days after our first sighting. Finally, I had success again with not just one, but two new individuals. I was busy keeping up with a gorgeous bright orange one, when a much more faded queen flew past us. It started nectaring on the Alfalfa almost immeidately.
When it landed lower, I was able to take a nice photo with its wings open wide. It was obvious it was different from the other one from the outset, because of the duller orange colour. But, it was good nonetheless to be able to more closely examine the difference between them. The best way to do this is to look for any nicks around the wing edges, or marks on top of the wings.
The pale one flew off and I kept my attention on the brighter one that was staying low on the ground virtually the whole time. I enjoyed getting down low once again myself, so I could observe it from a different perspective. I love noticing the little details, like the orange hairs around its abdomen. Occasionally, it would fly up and land again a little further ahead. It was certainly staying quite loyal to the one small area. We stayed with it for ages, hoping it would eventually also nectar and thankfully, it did, providing us with a wonderful opportunity to admire the fabulous underwings.
It's a little easier to notice the nicks in the wings in this next photo - there's a few on the forewing on the right side and on the hindwing on the left side.
Finally, we were ready to move on, and continued our walk, all the while still keeping an eye open for any other queens flying around. It was half an hour later that I spotted the female Brown Hairstreak (mentioned earlier) in between egg-laying, whilst Bob was on the phone to Neil Hulme, discussing the various different Queen of Spain sightings we'd had over the last few weeks. From there we could have just headed up to The Comp to make our way back, but instead we decided to retrace our steps, in the hope we'd have one more sighting of our queen. I'm so glad we did, because that was when we both took our best photos of it (below). The day was windy and cooler and not particularly sunny. When we reached the spot where we'd seen it earlier, it was still lying on the ground. But not long after we arrived, it suddenly flew up to a flower to go to roost. Five minutes later we would have missed seeing where it flew to. We would never have spotted it otherwise.
This was the perfect end to our amazing Queen of Spain Fritillary experience and our final wildlife outing of the month.
