WildlifeTring

Sunday, 31 July 2011

Common Rock-rose

The bright yellow flowers of Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium brighten the hot south-facing hills of the Chilterns throughout the Summer. This beautiful little trailing plant is the larval food plant for several species of butterfly, including Green Hairstreak, Brown Argus and Silver-studded Blue. It also provides an excellent source of nectar for bees and food for several species of small beetles. I have yet to come across one, but pink and white colour variants are occasionally found. Common Rock-rose is a member of the Cistaceae family and as the genus name Helianthemum suggests is sometimes known as the Sun-rose. There are eight sub-species found throughout much of Europe.

Common Rock-rose Helianthemum nummularium, Ivinghoe Beacon, 19/07/2011

Thursday, 28 July 2011

Late Summer Butterflies

A gallery of some the Pieridae and Nymphalidae commonly seen flitting across the dry flowery slopes in the Tring area at this time of year.

Green-veined White Pieris napi - female

Gatekeeper Pyronia tithonus - male

Large White Pieris brassicae - female

Marbled White Melanargia galathea

Brimstone Gonepteryx rhamni - female

Meadow Brown Maniola jurtina - male

Speckled Wood Pararge aegeria - male

Small Heath Coenonympha pamphilus - female

Comma Polygonia c-album - female, possibly of the form hutchinsoni

Small White Pieris rapae - male

Wednesday, 27 July 2011

Purple Emperor

If any proof were needed of the Purple Emperor's unsavoury habits, then here it is! This beautiful male is doing what Purple Emperors like to to best - feeding on a large pile of Dog muck. If you don't have a Dog handy, then Shrimp paste or Banana skins offer a less grisly alternative for attracting these stunning butterflies to the ground. Once they land and begin feeding Emperors can become very docile and can be very easily approached and photographed. Sometimes they will even crawl on to your finger to take salt from your skin, although you might want to wash your hands afterwards!

Purple Emperor Apatura iris - Bernwood (04/07/2009)

Tuesday, 26 July 2011

Dwarf Thistle

Anyone who has accidently sat on a Dwarf Thistle Cirsium acaule will know why it is also known as the Picnic Thistle! Lurking in short grazed grasslands on dry calcareous soils, it lies patiently in wait for the unwary picnicker. This low perennial usually has a single stemless purple flower perched on a rosette of spiny leaves, although occasionally 2 or 3 flowers can be found. Dwarf Thistle is common in the Southern half of the country but it becomes rarer as you travel North, with no records at all in Scotland and only a few in Wales. Between June and September these perky little plants help to add colour to the chalky slopes of the Chilterns, along with Selfheal, Rock Rose, Devilsbit Scabious, Thyme and Marjoram.

Dwarf Thistle Cirsium acaule - Ragpits, Buckinghamshire (17/07/2011)

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Purple Emperor

After mating the elusive female Purple Emperor Apatura iris descends from the tree-tops and searches for a suitable tree for egg-laying. She usually lays her single egg on the upperside of a leaf, in a shady spot near the crown of a Sallow Salix sp. I stumbled across this approachable beauty resting at eye level on a Goat Willow Salix caprea at Bernwood a few years ago, on a boiling hot morning in early July.

Purple Emperor Apatura iris - Bernwood (13/07/2008)

Thursday, 30 June 2011

Purple Emperor

I can hardly believe that it's the last day of June! The month seems to have slipped away, and looking back I realise that I have spent very little time out and about locally. A wonderful week birding and butterflying in Bulgaria and a weekend visiting friends in Suffolk, combined with a lot of bad weather meant that last Sunday was the first time that I had a chance to get out. A friend and I decided to drive down to Bernwood, near Thame, in the hope of seeing Black Hairstreak Satyrium pruni, a butterfly I still haven't photographed successfully. To be honest my hopes were not high as I had a suspicion that it was probably a bit late in the season for these elusive little butterflies, and so it proved. We carefully scanned the Blackthorns where I had seen them the previous year, but without luck. That's the problem with butterflies with limited flight periods such as Black Hairstreak - get the timing wrong and you have missed them for another year! Despite our disappointment we had a feeling that Purple Emperors might be on the wing as it was the sort of hot, humid day that encourages these enigmatic butterflies to descend from their lofty tree top world to display their beauty to us mere mortals. Actually they come down to drink or feed on animal droppings and decaying carcasses, which rather tarnishes their glamour! We spotted a few White Admirals roving restlessly from tree to tree and a couple of Silver-washed Fritillaries bombing purposefully down the rides, but there was no sign of any Emperors. Feeling hot and a bit downcast, we arrived back at the car-park and immediately spotted a beautiful male, it's wings closed, sipping from the edge of a puddle. Eventually it flew lazily up to the lower branches of an Oak tree, where it settled for a while before dropping down again and sunning itself on the bonnet of a car! What a stunning butterfly. I took a few pictures before being distracted by a Silver-washed Fritillary that chose to settle on a nearby Bramble bush for a while. Eventually the Emperor flew off and we decided to drive to nearby Whitecross Woods in the hope of seeing Black Hairstreak or maybe Wood White, but it was strangely quiet and with the heat rapidly becoming unbearable we decided to call it a day and head home.