Dark Green Fritillaries at Newbough warren Anglesey June 30th 2014

Today i am going in search of Dark  Green Fritillaries  , there is a good site on the Island of Anglesey off the North Wales coast . So with  Mollster loaded in the car,  of we go :)     its looking a very warm sunny day , which might make it difficult to photograph them but they will at least be on the wing :)

After a 2 hour drive i arrive at Newbough car park , and decide to walk down towards the dunes firstly.

                                         There are plenty of wild Orchids in the clearings

 I have just spotted three Green Fritts :)   next to the main path  and i manage to get this open wing shot .

                                                                      and a Grayling

 Mol is getting restless so time to take her down to the beach, there is a slight problem though , dogs are not allowed on the beach at this time of year!    which is bloody stupid as its deserted!!!!!!!!!!!!
So i have to walk right down the coastline and around the headland to get to a dog friendly beach! 

                                    Around the boadwalk for no apparent reason ..................

                 and down the road side path amongst the buttercups which are looking lovely :)

 The path comes out next to the dunes by an almost deserted beach, the only people on it are walking to the peninsula to the lighthouse which is cut of by the incoming tide.

 i have made my way through the dunes and then the woods  which was not easy as there was no path!     we are high up on the headland and have to scramble down to the beach now!

                         Hurry up dad , i want to go in the sea Mollster is probably thinking!

After making our way down to the beach Mol is straight in after a stick i have found...............

The tide is coming in fast and have to be careful not to get cut off as there is not much of the beach where we have to climb back up.  After 20 mins its time to go and find some more butterflies .
The tide is almost across the narrow part cutting off the island very soon , we are now up top and walking back through the forest .



 Good view from up here , i have just noticed 2 people with dogs on the beach  as a ranger drives along and shouts at them   lol     its ok having a dog ban in summer hols when kids will be on the beach but its stupid midweek at this time!   Mutter Mutter LOL

 Back now up on the rough ground behind the dunes in search of butterflies , i have tied Mol to the gate so i can chase the Fritillaries :)

          Got one feeding !  Yay      it has taken ages , they are very flighty and i cant get near them

                                                                        a close view

                                                    Open wings nicely, so beautiful :)

             One last look before we go, its clouded over now and the butterflies have vanished!

                                                                   the end of a great day

Arnside Knott july 21st 2012 Scotch argus time

It was time for my last trip to Arnside knott this year , the Target species was the rare Scotch Argus , only found in a few locations in Scotland and in Cumbria.  they might be just starting to emerge, so since the weather is looking very good for a change, ie dry warm and sunny  Shock Horror!   its worth the trip.
the Cumbrian fells are looking good this morning!

to start a quick look down on the lower tiers to see if any High browns or Dark Green fritillaries are showing , down on the large lower level there were a few old looking Dark greens and not much else.
 This is a female, just fading slightly on the forewings.

                        so a walk through to the next field and i found a mating pair of DGs

 

Time to take a look at Heathwaite meadow , a wonderful area full of wild flowers, and numerous insect species .  Northern Brown Argus usually in good numbers.  but not today :(   never mind, i managed to shoot them last two visits, but look at the flowers :)

        There were numerous tiny Hylas bees, ( i think)  really struggled to shoot them , they were just too active, this is the best i could get.  about 5mm in length , shot with mpe-65 macro lens.

                                                                   and a small skipper :)

making my way round the knott to have a look near the top, where a large patch of thistle flowers might have a few nectoring butterflies.

near the top i found a few common blues feeding , i have seen very few of these this year which is quite unusual as they are usually fairly common.

                                                 a meadow brown in the undergrowth :)

                                                               and a camouflaged Grayling :)

             a couple of views looking from near the top of the Knott looking towards Cumbria

 Most of the thistle flowers had gone over so there were very few feeding butterflies to be seen, but did manage this Dark Green image.

Then a very dark butterfly flew past me quickly!  a Scotch Argus Yay!!!    i had to chase it down a steep embankment , it kept stopping for a few seconds before taking flight again.   i ended up chasing it down, around and up the hill three times before i eventually managed this image!  i was knackered by this time.   Not sure if the dam thing was playing games  lol

after all this i sat down!   and then i noticed a pair of speckled woods sitting on a low conifer, really like the composition i got in this frame :)

Then another Scotch Argus flew past , another chase was on the cards, and i was already tired after the last one!!!!!!!!     but it had other ideas and just settled down on a leaf long enough for me to get my final image of the day.   perfect:)   they look stunning when freshly emerged like this one, so dark and velvety.

the end of a good, but difficult day.  always a special place to visit, will be next year before i visit again now.

Meathop Moss and Arnside knott july 7th 2012

After a failed trip to Whixall moss to shoot Large Heaths , i decided to combine at trip to the lakes , and visit Meathop Moss in the morning , then go Back to Arnside Knot in the afternoon.
I arrived at Meathop about 9 am , was fairly warm which makes a change and forecast was for a warm sunny day!!!!!  it had rained quite heavy overnight and the main track onto the moss was very much flooded! 

                                                                    the warning sign :)

I made my way to the wooden boardwalk and almost immediately found the Large Heaths flitting around the heather and long grass .  as usual they just don't perch on a clear stem to be photographed , and only stay still for a very short time before flying off again,  they have to be the most frustrating butterfly to shoot!!!!!!!!   i walked along the wooden structure and then made my way onto the moss, it wasn't too wet actually . chasing the butterflies was quite tiring but eventually managed this reasonable image.

                                                       a view looking across the moss

walking further onto the moss i got the chance of another well perched Large Heath, this is the final image i got.

Now i will make my way over to Arnside knott , to hopefully shoot the High brown fritillaries.

   by now the sun has come out and it is getting very warm , makes a change to say that this year!
i make my way down to the 3rd lower level and find High Browns straight away, very active in the sun and feeding on bramble flowers.  this was going to be a challenge to photograph them!
first image one feeding on thistle flowers , and a low level image taken against the blue sky :)

this is the area they are found

High Brown Fritillary

 as a comparison, here is a Dark Green Frittillary .  note no red circle spots on rear edge of wing

                             as you can see they are quite similar unless a close view is taken

                                           here are a few more views of High Browns

The end of another good day fluttering , but with Arnside being probably the worst place for ticks, i had a few hitch hikers come home with me!!!!!!  Arghhhhh    counted 18 crawling up my jeans while driving home!

                                                         this one has had a huge meal!!   NOT ME!

Red colouration from blood!

             Tomorrow i will be climbing Green & Great Gable in cumbria with the twitterati group