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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Norfolk Butterflies and Moths (2 Viewers)

A forth SW Fritillary today at Swanton Novers. All confirmed feeding \ resting butterflies and all on the same ride in the past few weeks. Also three fritillary species seen but not confirmed , but probably SWF though DG frilillaries have been recorded a number of times in the past and cant be ruled out. As all comfirmed and 2 of the possible records have come from the same area breeding may have occoured last year during the 2010 influx , though we have no records on site.

Also first of the second brood common blues flying along with holly blue. Purple hailstreak still emerging and a couple of very fresh ringlets today. Plus a single white admiral. Dont expect to see many more of them this year.
 
Hi all, newbie here, so I hope I'm posting in the right place - forgive me if not.
I'm going on holiday to Horning at the end of August, and I was hoping I could get some advice of where to see butterflies close by?

I'm hoping to see some species that are new to me, Swallowtail, blues, white admiral, marbled white, purple emperor, but anything will make me happy :)

Thanks in advance :)
 
I managed to see 11 Purple Hairstreaks at Mousehold Heath today. I couldn't see any on the oak at Zak's, but there were at least five around an oak near Vinegar's Pond, 2 along the ride north west of it and 4 on Gilman Road, on two separate trees a way apart (so potentially four different colonies?)

Also on the heath three Small Coppers, lots of Gatekeepers, Meadow Browns, and Whites, plus 2 Speckled Wood and a Red Admiral. I did check the area I saw Green Hairstreaks in the spring in case of a second brood, but didn't find any. Dragonfly wise several Brown Hawkers and Common Darters plus a male Emperor.

can someone give dirrections, please, to warham camp.

Going along the coast road (A149) east from Wells go past a road off to the right signposted to Warham (you could take this but for directions purposes its easier to take the next one!). You pass the Wells to Walsingham railway on your right. Take the next road to the right, signposted to Warham. You should come to a crossroads with the village sign on your left and a church ahead of you. Go straight ahead and over a narrow bridge. You will need to park up on the left (an area of verge has been cut or squashed flat by cars) as there is no proper parking. The entrance to Warham Camp is on the right, but not properly signed. You will see a gate with a "no parking access required at all times" on the right with a footpath going past it. Follow this track down and go through a kissing gate to reach the old fort. The Chalkhill Blues will be immediately apparent as you get closer, and I had a Wall Butterfly on the track down to the camp in the week.

Hi all, newbie here, so I hope I'm posting in the right place - forgive me if not.
I'm going on holiday to Horning at the end of August, and I was hoping I could get some advice of where to see butterflies close by?

I'm hoping to see some species that are new to me, Swallowtail, blues, white admiral, marbled white, purple emperor, but anything will make me happy :)

Thanks in advance :)

Hi, welcome to BirdForum.
You may struggle with that list I'm afraid. Marbled White and Purple Emperor aren't regular in Norfolk. White Admirals will be over by the end of August, as will Silver-studded Blue. You might well see a second-brood Swallowtail, I saw two at Strumphaw Fen on the 25th August last year. Ranworth, Hickling Broad and How Hill are other Swallowtail sites close to Horning. Its probably worth keeping an eye on this thread nearer your holiday so that you can find out what people are seeing.
 
Hi James, and thank you for the welcome and the advice :)
I'm sure I'll manage to see something new, even Hairstreaks would be nice as they seem to avoid me up here.
I was hoping to see a humming bird moth too, but I'll be happy chasing anything as long as the light is good :)
 
Had a very quick 30 minute visit to Foxley Wood today - 1 x Painted Lady, 1 x Holly Blue, 2 x Small Skipper (they didn't settle so no close look), Meadow Browns, Speckled Woods, and a number of whites. Met some other butterfly people who reported seeing 1 SW Fritillary; unfortunately no time to go looking. Going back tomorrow if sunny and warm for a few hours.
 
I really Chalked ‘em up today

Chalkhill Blues were flying away from the Camp (Warham), as I approached it along the track. Someone told me there were hundreds: they were right. Someone else said there were ‘clouds’ of them: they were right, too.

In the past, it has often been difficult to locate these rather nice butterflies; however, today the conservative estimate of c140 from a few days ago has become a liberal 200 plus and, not wishing to labour the point, or stretch my green credentials, the total could well have been much, much more. I did not essay a survey in the savage heat of midday, assuaged only by an intermittently strong breeze.

Whatever has been going on ? Last year they must have taken the lepidopteral equivalent of Viagra, to have reached the present stupendous numbers. The RH photo shows that they are making strenuous efforts to ensure their survival !

A Brown Argus, Common Blue and female Banded Demoiselle completed the tally.
 

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Earlham Cemetery

[QUOTE = James Emerson 24 July; 2201405] I saw three Brown Argus butterflies around Norwich today, one on Earlham Road near the cemetery and another two near Three Score. Also quite a few Red Admirals and Speckled Woods about.[/QUOTE]

A lunchtime visit to Earlham Cemetery on Monday 1 August in warm sunshine.
West of Earlham Road main entrance and near graves close to houses on Earlham Road and south of first tarmac roadway running west of entrance.
Two brown arguses, a holly blue, lots of flighty small whites with perhaps a few large whites, meadow browns, gatekeepers and a speckled wood.
 
Chalkhill Blues were flying away from the Camp (Warham), as I approached it along the track. Someone told me there were hundreds: they were right. Someone else said there were ‘clouds’ of them: they were right, too.

In the past, it has often been difficult to locate these rather nice butterflies; however, today the conservative estimate of c140 from a few days ago has become a liberal 200 plus and, not wishing to labour the point, or stretch my green credentials, the total could well have been much, much more. I did not essay a survey in the savage heat of midday, assuaged only by an intermittently strong breeze.

Whatever has been going on ? Last year they must have taken the lepidopteral equivalent of Viagra, to have reached the present stupendous numbers. The RH photo shows that they are making strenuous efforts to ensure their survival !

A Brown Argus, Common Blue and female Banded Demoiselle completed the tally.

And the rest, I met some people from the butterfly consevation society there today, they surveyed the site all day and came up with a count of close to 800 !! with a ratio of 10:1 males to females. A fabulous sight indeed
 
Back to Foxley Wood today for 3 whole hours - wonderful place. 2 White Admirals which were a pleasant surprise, 2 Red Admirals which were really bright and fresh, 5 or 6 Peacocks whizzing about and two Comma's doing Fritillary impressions - unfortunately no SW seen by me although someone else saw one. Purple Hairstreaks seen on 3 different oaks and an ash, Common Blue, Essex Skipper and probably Small Skipper (very busy and not settling again), loads of Speckled Woods, Large white, Small White and Meadow Browns all along the way. Went to Warham later in the day - probably saw 80+ Chalkhill Blues - looked for Brown Argus but no luck. A good day off from work!
 
Some more to ponder over, probably totally common! Certainly not as impressive as the Pine Hawk Moth from the other day!
 

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The final count was 851. The point about the sex ratio is that males emerge first. At the point at which there's equal numbers of males and females, the peak of emergence is over, so an uneven number suggests there are more to come. A final count of c1,000 is quite possible.

It's been suggested that when the Snettisham bypass was built in the 80's it flattened an existing colony of chalkhill's - do any of the older readers remember that colony?
 
Chalk talk

That figure is amazing !

Can you explain why we have had this explosion- of nuclear scale- this year, Andy ?

Using the simplest of mathematical extrapolations, it is quite conceivable that a total of c1500 be reached- if the extant males survive until the remaining females emerge.
 
There were c250 last year, so assume that a final sex ratio of 50/50 gives us 125 females. Each lays c40 eggs but only say 25% make it adulthood: the rest fail to develop, get eaten, freeze to death etc. hey presto c1,000/1,500 adults. And we would get 10,000 next year. Now, normally parasitic wasps would run riot through a colony before it got so big, because they would be increasing an an even faster rate. But because the colony is introduced, those predators aren't there. So the only brake on a spiralling population is the local bluetits - who will start to specialise in targetting chb's soon, if they haven't already. Otherwise they will increase until they hatch so many caterpillars that they eat all the food plant before they are ready to pupate - then we will have a population crash to low numbers and then they will start to build up again.

Most norfolk species are on a 10-12 year boom and bust cycle - but that's driven by oarasitic wasps mostly - so we might see much bigger fluctuations in CHB.
 
There were c250 last year, so assume that a final sex ratio of 50/50 gives us 125 females. Each lays c40 eggs but only say 25% make it adulthood: the rest fail to develop, get eaten, freeze to death etc. hey presto c1,000/1,500 adults. And we would get 10,000 next year. Now, normally parasitic wasps would run riot through a colony before it got so big, because they would be increasing an an even faster rate. But because the colony is introduced, those predators aren't there. So the only brake on a spiralling population is the local bluetits - who will start to specialise in targetting chb's soon, if they haven't already. Otherwise they will increase until they hatch so many caterpillars that they eat all the food plant before they are ready to pupate - then we will have a population crash to low numbers and then they will start to build up again.

Most norfolk species are on a 10-12 year boom and bust cycle - but that's driven by oarasitic wasps mostly - so we might see much bigger fluctuations in CHB.

Ah reminds me of 2nd year population trends in Evolutionary Biology!
Controlling factors etc etc...
Do visit the camp a lot for the orchids but haven't got up there yet to see these! Shame we are due rain tomorrow!
 
Fewer Chalked up than earlier in the week

Perhaps it was yesterday’s heavy rain that did it, but that’s the situation at Warham Camp today.

Females still haven’t appeared in significant numbers, either and some of the males are now quite battered.

Again, several individuals were disappearing up the track and away from the Camp. Might this mean that they will found other colonies ? If females follow them, is there any reason why not ?
 

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