#large skipper

[michaelnordeman]

Amanda's Blue/Polyommatus amandus/silverblåvinge, Latticed Heath/Chiasmia clathrata/rutig buskmätare, Large Skipper/Ochlodes sylvanus/ängssmygare, Dark Green Fritillary/Speyeria aglaja/ängspärlemorfjäril, and Ringlet/Aphantopus hyperantus/luktgräsfjäril. Värmland, Sweden (28 June 2020).

[michaelnordeman]

Large Skipper/Ochlodes sylvanus/ängssmygare. The plants: Lesser Butterfly Orchid/Platanthera bofilia/nattviol, Ragged Robin/Silene flos-cuculi/gökblomster, and an Iris in the background in the first picture. Värmland, Sweden (25 June 2022).

[michaelnordeman]

Large Skipper/Ochlodes sylvanus/ängssmygare, and Northern Chequered Skipper/Carterocephalus silvicola/svartfläckig glanssmygare. Värmland, Sweden (2 June 2024).

[michaelnordeman]

Large skipper/ängssmygare and Northern chequered skipper/svartfläckig glanssmygare. Värmland, Sweden (June 2, 2024).

[dansnaturepictures]

06/07/2024-Mute Swan, views and meadowsweet which it was great to see so much of a beautiful plant on a walk from Bishopstoke along the River Itchen and Jackdaw at home

The walk from Bishopstoke is one I've done for as long as I remember a key one we did in my childhood alongside other spots along the Itchen navigation like Shawford and Otterbourne, often walking from Bishopstoke to Shawford passing the Otterbourne areas on the way; but for one reason and another I've had my longest hiatus of doing this walk having not done it since June 2021 so it was great to re-connect with it today. Not long after I last walked there I saw a Chris Packham documentary 'The Walk that Made Me' where he walked along the Itchen which took in the area we went today so I found myself similarly to him reflecting on how this walk shaped me today. On the lovely walk I also enjoyed seeing Kestrel really well, Moorhens, Swift, House Martin, Blackcap, marsh woundwort, silverweed cinquefoil, forget-me-not, purple loosestrife, hogweed, herb-Robert, wood avens, demoiselles, Red Admiral and great views of Large Skipper.

[dansnaturepictures]

21/06/2024-Oxeye daisies, creeping cinquefoil, grass vetchling, views, pyramidal orchid, bindweed, bee orchid and Large Skipper at Lakeside Country Park and home today.

Young Starlings and Long-tailed Tits at home and Lakeside in a great time I'm having for seeing young birds lately, Great Crested Grebe still on a nest, Black-headed Gull, Herring Gull, Lesser Black-backed Gull, House Sparrow, loads of Marbled Whites in Lakeside's meadows, Meadow Brown, Ringlet, Red Admiral, dock, yellow rattle, meadow crane's-bill, green alkanet, bird's-foot trefoil, knapweed, vetch and white clover were other highlights today with Ring-necked Parakeet heard at Lakeside.

[dansnaturepictures]

18th June 2024: Views, vetch, meadow crane's-bill, buttercups, one of my first pyramidal orchids of the year a treasure to see such a key sight of summer at Lakeside Country Park today and roses on the bush in the garden.

My first Ringlets and Large Skipper of the year as my surge of butterfly and general insect sightings of species I needed to see after a few days of more settled weather continues with my butterfly year list up to 29, Red Admiral, Small Heath, Black-tailed Skimmer, Emperor dragonfly, Blue-tailed Damselfly, Great Crested Grebe, Moorhen, Lesser Black-backed Gull seen out the back at home and at Lakeside, young Starlings at home, Greenfinch heard at Lakeside, bindweed, grass vetchling, water dropwort, wild carrot and self-heal were other highlights today.

[dansnaturepictures]

24/07/2021-Silver Saturday Part 2: West Wood 

Following on from my previous post, this afternoon we went to West Wood on a butterfly minded walk where Silver-washed Fritillary the butterfly with a sighting of one at Bolderwood in the New Forest in 2010 capturing my attention and making me want to know what species it was which it started it all for butterflies for me and paved the way for the other insect and flower parts of my hobby. I was just getting a tad nervous as to whether I’d see one this year as whilst they are certainly out in August we have a better record for July sightings of them and unpredictable weather at times and just demand for a high volume butterfly and other visits to do at the weekend in July meant I’d waited a bit to see it. So I really wanted to see it here today a place that is quite strong for them. I took the first, fourth and final three pictures in this photoset of very beautiful views in this charming stretch of woodland. 

Early on in the walk it was great to see another beautiful Black and Yellow longhorn beetle, bees, hoverflies, Ringlets and Silver Y moths low to the ground flying around I took the second picture in this photoset further up of the Silver Y. We went on to see dozens of both today it really was exceptional to see the dark brown glow of the ringlet and erratic flying and quintessentially mothy aesthetics of the Silver Ys flitting and hovering about all over the place. What a year I’m having for them. It was stunning to see so many of both. Early on too I was very happy to quickly see a Purple Hairstreak flying up the trees. It was surreal as I almost found it something I was used to after seeing the ones at Lakeside over the last fortnight after Knepp two weeks ago. But West Wood is still only the fourth place I have ever seen them after Bentley Wood, Knepp and Lakeside. So this was another very notable moment for me this summer. 

There were some beautiful and varied colourful flowers enriching the verges and meadow alike here today including; cow parsnip/hogweed and the yellow wild parsnip looking great and quite tall in places and together at one point as well which the third picture in this photoset shows, thistle, lots of ragwort colouring the landscape interestingly, agrimony, hemp agrimony, hedge nettle and marjoram, nettle-leaved bellflower and weld three for me that I learnt today which is always nice. 

I of course took the chance to conduct my first further afield Big Butterfly Count of the year here and it was a 15 minutes like no other. I excitedly had a different winner to any of my counts ever with an extraordinary 25 Ringlets counted. It was so amazing to get this species counted again one I saw well here last year on that extraordinary day a week ago Tuesday with so many butterflies seen and photographed which I mentioned the other day a visit despite rain and patchy bits of sunshine I was hoping to replicate today. This was a brilliant moment to celebrate this very special butterfly one I do find so precious. It not only became the third species to top a count that wasn’t one at home but it was my second highest amount of any one species in a count I’ve done so far this year after 31 Meadow Browns at Lakeside on the first day of the count. This allowed me to really feel competitive about it between the butterflies saying Ringlet “won” and things which was nice. Its so good to get really good numbers of Ringlet into the count. In the count here also today I saw 3 Meadow Brown, 1 Small White 1, Gatekeeper, 5 Silver Ys as the extraordinary amount of this day time moth I saw today translated well into the count too. There was 1 Holly Blue and Comma too.

We walked on to an area of vegetation which was teeming with butterflies on the day here last year especially Peacocks but Silver-washed Fritillary in a club of others too. Things seemed to align as the just a bit of sunshine or brightness I felt could bring Silver-washed Fritillaries did ocome, and looking over towards thick vegetation I saw the distinctive wing shape and patterning of this one of my favourite butterflies which I’ve known for so long as it floated into view and fly around a little bit. We had a sensational few minutes as we walked over nearer to it to secure some more prolonged views. And three then settled down within the thistle flowers I believe and other bits of the vegetation with a fourth joining in at times too. I was very lucky to get some extremely exceptional views of these. First they were quite far away and I admired them at a distance including in the binoculars and tried for photos with my big lens to zoom in. But they edged closer and closer to where we were standing and before long the fritillaries including male and female were right on top of me and I got the most intimate and perfect views of these glowing orange butterflies. It was just so lovely to see them on the thistle making out their supreme markings and flying around gorgeously but also I got exquisite views of the fritillary getting really stuck into the valuable plant. I savoured every minute with this butterfly I adore. I talked about how it was one of my best times with the species with the sheer number of and how I saw Dark Green Fritillaries at Martin Down three weeks ago and there may not have been as many but for quality and pure intimacy of views we were very lucky to get this fritillary my favourite of this family providing another notable moment within my whole time watching butterflies and of course one of my moments of the butterfly and general year today. I took the fitith, sixth and seventh pictures in this photoset of these Silver-washed Fritillaries. 

Year list wise my concern was perhaps a little justified as I checked my records and found this was my latest ever first sighting of a Silver-washed Fritillary in a year beating my 2012 by 2 days. In birdwatching I have my bogey bird the one each year I normally see easily which I don’t for a while in the year and I sometimes jokingly think what it would be if I did a butterfly one. I guess Silver-washed Fritillary would be the one this year even though butterflies are only out over a short period so I wouldn’t say this went on and on but I was beginning to long for this species. There were a few trips this month where on other days we might have seen Silver-washed Fritillary and other species I’d maybe normally see after this one I did see so I was wanting to see this one. Its my 38th butterfly species of the year at the business end of the peak season and competing with my big gun year lists. Leveling my entire total of 2017 one behind my 2014 total to become my joint fifth highest ever butterfly year list and only in 2019, 2020 and 2018 my three highest ever butterfly year lists had I seen more species at this stage so this does feel good. 

Whilst in this area I was delighted to see some Large Skippers I’d not seen these since our North Wales trip when they were all first coming out there and the week before for me at home. I knew they may be about today and we saw a handful as things got sunnier here and walking back. There was another very memorable moment today when we spotted Large Skipper and Small Skipper practically next to each other. An unusual summer comparison point I suppose of being able to make our the differences for these similar species which can be known for different habitats a bit with some crossover. So I loved seeing this. A big spider also caught my eye, as did Roe Deer on the way back. A Southern Hawker was a great sighting too flying around. With the sun coming out, the paths of this place looked just as atmospheric as they did just after or during the shower I was pleased to use the sunlight in a few landscape photos. Today just goes to show, the weather may not always look perfect but by getting out you never know what can happen and what can still be about in snatches of dry or generally. I hope you all had a good day. 

Willdife Sightings Summary: My first of one of my favourite butterflies the Silver-washed Fritillary this year, another of my favourite butterflies the Large Skipper, one of my favourite dragonflies the Southern Hawker, Small Skipper, Purple Hairstreak, Ringlet, Meadow Brown, Gatekeeper, Holly Blue, Comma, Small White, Silver Y, Black and Yellow longhorn beetle, Blackbird, Roe Deer, bees, hoverflies, ladybird and spider.