Butterflys of Corfu 2022 pt 1 May 21st

 It is May 2022 , and finally I have managed to get back to Corfu to see the huge variety of butterfly's after a few years of Covid preventing travel.   Staying in Kassiopi again in the North East corner of the island so I can revisit the areas found on the last visit. It is a couple weeks later in the year,  but appears it has been a cold slow start to the year on the island and everything is a bit later than normal.

Early on Saturday morning I have walked down to Avlaki beach to have a good look around the pond and surrounding scrub land which should be full of Butterflies and Dragonfly's.

First impression is that its extremely overgrown compared to last time here , the grass has grown up around the wildflowers that the butterfly's are feeding on making it very difficult to photograph them.

It is about 27 degrees with a fairly strong breeze coming of the sea which is going to cause some problems but the main track around the pond is fairly sheltered.   First image is a teneral Dragonfly, not sure which species.   There are some vibrant Red Darters but are very skittish !

So far I have not seen a single Clouded Yellow!  which is extremely surprising as they are one of the most common species here.  Meadow Browns are everywhere in good numbers along with large whites and a few species of Skippers.

                                                                      Large Skipper. 

      There are Crickets everywhere , almost every plant has a few hanging around on the stems. There does not look like as many flowering plants as I remember , and only a few Common blue and Brown Argus flying in small areas.  

                    This one looks like a Lulworth Skipper , long way from Dorset   lol

I am really struggling to find any Butterfly's worth photographing, still not seen a Clouded Yellow in two walks around the lake. Off the path is too overgrown to go chasing any of the Spotted Fritillaries I have seen.   It looks so calm in this image , but the strong breeze comes and goes making it very difficult to get sharp in focus images of butterfly's perching on moving plant stems!

                               One of many Chafer Beetles that are feeding on the flowers.

                At last, one of numerous Glanville Fritillaries that are just not landing for long.

Underwing view of what appears to be another Glanville , initially thought this was a Spotted Fritillary.

Black Horsefly

                                                     Another Cricket hanging around!   

It is just too hot now , I have given up.  Hopefully with less breeze there will be more flying tomorrow.

And just when I get almost back to the beach , in the shelter of some large trees there is the first Clouded Yellow!  yay  

My next trip will be a long hike up into the mountains to find a specific location that was by far the best on my last visit.   and its going to be quite a bit warmer and crucially without this breeze.

Pembrokeshire holiday Tenby 20th june 2014

Today i am going in search of Marsh Fritillaries , i have never seen one and there is a very good butterfly conservation reserve not too far away called Caeau Ffos Fach  which even though a bit late in the flying season for them i have got to at least go and have a look . a few where seen last week so its worth a look .

After arriving ,  Jan has stayed in the car with the dogs while i go for a hunt. Finding my way into the reserve, which as it happens , has been quite difficult as the entrance style is very overgrown with brambles!     there are Skippers all over the place , and .......

 a few Burnett moths feeding on the thistle flowers But  No fritillaries :(    i have explored 3 fields and not a sign of one !

 As i walk near the edge of the last field a dragon flies past , a Golden Ringed   Yay.    i chase after it and manage this one image before it disappears off across the hedge!   They are stunning Dragons :)

              Just as i get to the fence near the entrance i spot this Snipe fly :)   lovely light on it!

 We have now driven to Tenby to have a look around and then go down onto the beach later this evening to tire out the Terrible Twosome :)

 Love the multi coloured buildings around the harbour , all in pastel colours looking clean and bright.

 Walking around the Harbour wall towards the old lifeboat station which is a private residence now.
Dogs are banned on the beaches this side of the headland unfortunately :(

              We can see the new lifeboat building from here on the right hand side next to the old one.

Further around the small headland  we come to a view of  St Catherines Island and a charter boat that ferry's visitors out to Caldey Island which we could see from the other end of the beach,on our first  evenings walk from Pennaly.

                                       Love the Palms along the coastal walk way .

                      While walking along the beautiful narrow streets  , and buying Fudge :)

 Down onto the beach now, its deserted almost! ,   a panorama shot showing the promenade buildings above south beach, where dogs cant go :(

                                                                     Swimming time :)

                                                            Chester is along way out!

                                                         Stupid Chester rolling in the sand!

            Good girl Mol :D   they are both swimming well in the calm shallow water :)

                                                                   Time to go now !

                           Its been a lovely warm evening and the dogs are now worn out :)
                           only one more full day left of our holiday left now unfortunately

A Review of 2011 Butterfly Adventures April - June

Since its the end of the year,  i think its a good time to post a review of all the species of uk butterfly i have shot this year.     these are just a few of the butterfly shots, they can all be viewed  HERE

So these are a few of my favourites :)    not necessarily the best!

starting off with a back lit Brimstone shot on the canal alongside whixall moss in Shropshire 17/4/11

       at whixall moss 22/4/11 i shot Speckled wood and one of my favourite species, the Green hairstreak!

Next to shoot was an Orange tip,  15/5/11,  shot in my back garden

on 19/5/11 at whixall moss i shot this green veined white on a dandylion seed head, it was quite windy and was very difficult to get a sharp image!

            And a head shot taken with mpe-65 macro lens and focus stacked to increase depth of field :)

                            25/5/11   at Rixton clay pits i found my first common blue of the year

  The first small copper was shot at whixall moss 31/5/11,  got really lucky shooting this!  they are normally quite skittish  but this one just sat on the stem which i was holding in my left hand while sheltering it from a brisk breeze!

In june , my fav Silver studded blue emerged in large numbers at Prees heath in Shropshire,  i will show a few of my best images from a couple of trips :)

                                                                            and a female

and while at prees , shot my first small heath and meadow brown :)

                                                                     and a large skipper!

That was the end of June,  the season really got going in July, with so many new species that i had not seen!

more in next blog :)

Phil

all images taken with canon 5d2 and 100mmL macro handheld.

Silver Studded Blues with Ants at Prees Heath june 2011

Back in the middle of summer i visited Prees Heath in Shropshire to see the rare Silver studded blues - plebeius argus,  Prees Heath is the only location for them in Shropshire and it has a huge colony, last year over 1000 individual butterflies were counted in one morning!  the site is on an old airfield runway which is very exposed to the wind which was to be a big problem all day!

Unfortunately this year the weather had been warm one day , cold the next , so the butterflies started emerging over a number of weeks and not in a very short period like last year!.

This was the first time i actually met Gillian :)

The first silver stud i shot was a newly emerged male , as it was breezy i had to hold the stem in left hand while holding it high enough to be sheltered out of the wind by a large shrub and shoot single handed!   the IS on the 100mm L macro came in handy!

I also found a beautiful Meadow Brown -  maniola jurtina, early in the morning down in a ditch out of the breeze :)  and managed this superb image!

Followed by a Small Heath coenonympha pamphilus also sheltering in the same area!

As the temperature started warming up the silvers started appearing in good numbers, and found a few emerging being cleaned by the ants .unfortunately Gill did not arrive in time to see this event!  late as usual !

There is a special relationship between the butterflies and the ants,  to survive the silver studded blue requires the presence of ants together with open ground with bell and ling heather near the ants nests. the caterpillar is tended  by the ants as it feeds and then it turns into a chrysalis underground in the chambers of the ants nest!  The ants benefit by feeding on a honey like substance excreted by the Caterpillar, when the butterfly emerges it is helped out of the nest and then cleaned by the ants as its wings unfold!   it is an amazing site to see!   i hope these shots and videos tell the story.

A couple of closer views shot with canon mpe-65 macro lens.

                                                                    Shot with 100mm L

Here is a video of a female silver surrounded by males!

( click u tube icon for larger view)

                                            

 

And a fed up butterfly punching an ant, who then cleans the butterflies face!  lol

               A newly emerged male being tended to by the ants!  it really is an amazing site to watch! 

  

  Later in the afternoon we found quite a few perching in the long grass and low shrubs out of the wind all      along the edge of the main runway area., wind is a real pain trying to shoot delicate butterflies but through perseverance i managed quite a few images.

                                                              here is a female posing beautifully !

and a male perched on grass stem!  clearly shows the differences in colour!

And a mating pair!

                                                            Then i found a large Skipper!

                        this family of butterflies are not my favourites, always think they are a bit ugly! lol

 I tried a wide angle shot with 17-40L + 12mm extension tube added!  I think it works quite well showing the habitat in the frame, will try more of these type of images next year!

Here is a female perched beautifully! 

Here are three videos of emerging adults,available in 720p on  you tube !  the males are instantly attracted to any emerging adult in the hope of finding a female!  

 take a look at all the ants in the second video, literally hundreds!!!!!!!!!!

And a closer view!

Eventually i found a late emerging male, and shot a few videos (720p on you tube)  at high magnification with mpe-65 lens

I do hope you enjoy watching these, this was the first time i have tried the video on the 5d2!

All shot with canon 5d2, mpe-65 and 100mm L macro