Day-flyers 2023. (1 Viewer)

[Bubbs]

Fabulous photographs. Could I ask what camera you use. Thanks.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Fabulous photographs. Could I ask what camera you use. Thanks.

I have a Canon PowerShot SX70. It does ok for scrap book stuff, but won't compete with the pricier DSLRs. I get the feeling it's at its best when zooming in a little on close subjects like these, and more defficincies become apparent zooming in more on distant birds etc, but it does what I want it to, which is just to provide a record of the day.

 

[JWN Andrewes]

Next stop was Alners Gorse, where Holly Blue was first new species encountered, followed soon by Peacock which was being admired by a chap who was also there for the Butterflies, and soon filled us in on where he'd been encountering our target species here, Brown Hairstreak. Indeed, while running through directions he suddenly stopped and pointed "there's one"! Excellent, a fine female, which spent ages just resting in front of us. A Small Copper was also in the same bramble patch. After spending a while admiring the Hairstreak we headed off to the more wooded area in the hopes that there might be a late White Admiral or two, but we didn't find any. Did see a couple of lovely Brimstones and an incredibly scrappy looking Silver-washed Fritillary. Our final (twentieth) species of the day was Small Skipper. Both Southern & Migrant Hawkers and Common Darter also here. The long drive home was uneventful.

 

[Owene]

Lovely brown hairstreak

 

[JWN Andrewes]

I chose Greenfield Valley for my search for Purple Hairstreak because I found it had a track record for the species, but from all I've read about the species' abundance, distribution & habitat I was always going to have a go at finding them closer to home. First attempt was a couple of evenings ago, a short walk to the end of the road, up the hill to the castle, and almost instantly I found a couple of Hairstreaks spinning around each other. The topography at this site meant I could stand on a bracken covered bank and look into the side of the tree rather than standing beneath it craning upwards as at Greenfield. At least half a dozen were pirouetting away, occasionally resting up where I could get a good look at them. Only one had any hint of purple, and it never landed all that close, but I'm very happy to have found a site nice and close to home.