Too Darn Hot!

Aug. ‘My’ resident Wood Pigeons having successfully raised a family in the trees at the bottom of the garden have stayed on to enjoy the available seed and bird bath.  On warm days they have sat contentedly in the bath for up to twenty minutes and they were feeling the heat yesterday.

The water looks clean

How many people give Wood Pigeons a second look?  Not many I’m guessing.  Yes, I fear they are taking over the world and are as common as muck, but they aren’t an unattractive bird.

Just checking for those killer cats

Ahh, that's nice and cool

More Butterflies

Aug.  I am responding to the calls of 'more, more' from my perhaps limited, but appreciative audience.  So here are a few more images of Butterflies attracted to my garden during what now seem distant days of sun and heat.  The Painted Ladies were not alone in appreciating the Buddleia Plant.  Perhaps it should be made compulsory for everyone with a garden to plant a Buddleia.  'Plant a Buddleia for 2020' would make a good slogan I reckon.  When you do, be choosy as to the colour, as I understand certain colours are more attractive to the butterflies and I think I chose correctly.  Since the rains came I have had fewer butterflies but there is still one Painted Lady visiting the garden.

Red Admiral

The Red Admiral was once known simply as the Admiral and still is in Germany.  In France it is known as Le Vulcain, named after Vulcan the blacksmith of the Gods.  The alternative name for Admiral once used was Admirable and this name was favoured by some, including the novelist Vladimir Nabokov 

Comma

Small Tortoiseshell with Painted Lady.  The former being a rarity in the garden this year, with this being the only one seen.

Large White

List of Butterfly Species seen in the garden so far this year, in order of the number of sightings.

Painted Lady

Holly Blue  (remain in flight in the garden today)

Speckled Wood

Large White

Small White

Red Admiral

Peacock (fewer than usual)

Comma (1 only)

Small Tortoiseshell  (1 only and despite the problems this species has had in recent years having found only one is very unusual)

Painted Lady Bonanza

Jul/Aug 19.  We begin with a quiz.  Can you name the newspaper responsible for the following headline on the internet?

Rare Painted Lady Butterflies are spotted across the UK for the first time since 2009 as they begin their once in a decade migration.

Yes, yes, you all have it correct.  It is of course the Daily Mail!  Three errors in one sentence implies a teeny-weeny bit of lazy reporting, and I use the term reporting deliberately rather than journalism.  To be fair, the article did include photos of butterflies and surprisingly they were Painted Lady Butterflies.  However, it is little wonder a great many of the population of the UK remain ignorant on the facts of the natural world when we have headlines such as this.  For the record, for anyone not au fait with butterflies, the Painted Lady is not a rare butterfly, it appears in the UK each year (this year just happens to be a bumper one) and it migrates each year.  If you want to know more stay clear of Daily Mail reports!  There is plenty of more reliable information on the internet.

I’m sure many of you have been and still are enjoying the spectacle of the mass influx of Painted Lady Butterflies, the largest influx since 2009.  I believe the previous good year for this species prior to 2009 was 1996.

The Painted Lady Butterflies have been on my Buddleia for over a week now and whilst I don’t claim to have had 125 which reportedly appeared on a bush at St Abbs, nor the swarm that flew over the Farne Islands, I did have 15 of them at one time on a bush along with Large White, Small Tortoiseshell, Red Admiral and Comma.  This of course gave an excellent opportunity for photography and I thought I would share some of my images with you.  I certainly do not recall seeing so many Painted Lady Butterflies in 2009, but I didn’t have the Buddleia then.

When visiting in North Shields I found several more (double figures again) of the species on another Buddleia.  This all gave me the chance to enlighten at least three people regarding the migration of Painted Lady Butterflies from northern Africa.  They didn’t seem as impressed with the feat as I thought they ought to have been.  In the course of another conversation whilst lurking at the Buddleia, I learnt that my neighbour had found a Hawkmoth in her child’s bedroom during the hot weather and I was a bit jealous of that and not having been able to photograph it.  From the way my friend’s hands were held apart I began to wonder if in fact, it had been a juvenile Pterosaur.  The lady’s partner also informed me that his brother is into nature photography, so that was pleasing to hear.  Two days before when temperatures were high and I stood burning near the garden, a swarm of bees flew directly above my head, thankfully not landing on it.  Don’t let anyone tell you that you must be in the countryside to enjoy wildlife and nature as it’s simply not true.

I used my macro lens for the first two images shown here otherwise they were taken with my 100-400mm lens whist attempting some variation to the resulting image.  The underwing of the butterfly is often as interesting to me as the upper-side and if taken with back lighting can often give the impression of stained glass (to my eye anyway) and if you have read my blog over the years you may remember that I have some interest in stained glass windows in particular.

I have a collector’s copy of David Measures Butterfly Season 1984 and initially I didn’t rate the paintings too highly.  However, over the years I have come to appreciate that colour and movement expressed in paintings is as important, if not more so, than the expression of a detailed and  exact depiction of the butterfly.  Perhaps I can use that to explain some of my less than sharp images!

I know there will be many an image of Painted Lady Butterflies about at present, but hope that you enjoy the ones I have added anyway.

Butterfly Season...Lurking Beside the Bushes.

Jul 19.  The last few months have been a period when my explorative exploits in the field have been curtailed to a great extent, hence an absence of blog posts.  I’ve found myself at times contemplating the likes of the myriad hues of green in my garden, weeds included, until I sprung to life and became a gardener of sorts.  I’ve also read a good number of books, one of them being a Little Toller edition entitled Emperors, Admirals and Chimney Sweepers which addresses the naming of butterflies and moths.  A fascinating insight in to the ‘name game’ (occasionally it does appear to have been a game) and a good book to dip in and out of.  However, as William Wordsworth noted in an early work as a young man, there is nothing better than watching and experiencing actual nature.

Enough of science and of art;

Close up these barren leaves;

Come forth and bring with you a heart

That watches and receives.

Early William Wordsworth lines.

So, having put down the books and moved to the hard labour in the garden I did end up watching and receiving, perhaps my efforts were being rewarded, in this case by butterflies.

Holly Blue Butterfly

The first notable sighting was the return of at least two Holly Blue Butterflies, which added a touch of colour to the garden, I now had blue to consider as well as the greens!.  I’ve always found this species difficult to photograph, but my lurking by the bushes paid dividends on this occasion.  I first noticed Holly Blue in the garden around twelve years ago and they were certainly uncommon in the area then, and since then they have been seen here each year.  I’m rather proud of them and wonder how many folks in Killingworth know we have Holly Blue Butterflies in the area, or for that matter how many even cares?  I know these butterflies can have two broods and the first appeared in May and as those making a further appearance seem in pristine condition I’m thinking this is a second brood, and all in my garden!  I did wonder initially if these were the first brood returning to lay eggs.

Holly Blue Butterfly

The Holly Blue is our only resident butterfly with a tree in its name.  The scientific name of Celastrina argiolus means holly tree little argus eyes.  I’ve recently learnt that the second brood of the Holly Blue prefer to lay their eggs on ivy.  Holly Blue is a relatively recent name for this species once referred to as Azure Blue.  I’ve watched this species further north in Scandinavia, where of course the food plant is something entirely different.

Now the 4^th August, I still have the Holly Blue flying in my garden.  I saw for the first time that it was attracted to the Buddleia tree.  The Buddleia has this year attracted many different species, not least Painted Lady Butterflies in double figures.  This gave me the chance to take some images of this attractive species which I am saving for a further blog later this week.