After seeing some of "The Butterfly Man"(AKA) Greenies photos, Im pretty sure this is a male SWF?
Here you see the same butterfly "getting close" to a Comma!
One last shot.
The 1st of July, and another first for me, coming in the shape of a Hummingbird Hawk Moth.
Im pretty sure i saw 3 of these on the day, they were all found some distance from each other, but who knows, the speed of these guys in flight, and it could of been the same one?! I wasnt really looking for them, i just stumbled on the 1st one, but after that, I then kept my eye out for em! I took several poor shots of them in flight(my camera is not a DSLR) so it struggles with fast movements. But then the Moth landed a few times, so I crept up close to it, for some easier shots!
Then its just about to land on the woodland floor here.
Landed.
The same moth, landing/at rest, on two other occasions.
This last image(2nd) was shot some time later in the day, and my 3rd sighting of the day, was just that! because I had no chance to capture a shot at the speed it was going!
On the 3rd of July I spent some time in my back garden. To be honest though, i was constantly looking at the top of the Elm tree in the hope that i might see a return of those White-letter Hairstreaks? No such luck, but next to the Elm is an Oak tree, and what should land in there? Well it was poor light, and some distance away, but it looks like a Purple Hairstreak to me?
One last thing to add, well two actually! Ive found a Nuthatch nest site on my Church patch today, so i will try to capture some shots of the nesting activities.
And Ive also thrown together a makeshift "Moth Trap", made out of a plastic bottle and sticky back plastic!!! Not quite, but it was made out of stuff that was just lying about the place. 1st night was last night, and i did pretty well for a complete beginner, i must have got 10 different types of moth, ive just gotta figure out how to ID all these moths now!!! Cheers.
Great set of pics, Paul. Purple Hairstreak it is.
ReplyDeleteYou`ll have to show us your make-shift moth trap. Moth id can be a daunting subject for the beginner. The favourite book out at the mo, is the one by Lewington. Then there`s the ukmoths website, but if you don`t know what family you`re looking for, it can be a long haul.
Paul ,
ReplyDeleteGreat trio of species and shots too .
Nice male SWF .
Unusual to see a HHM settle , even for a second .
Buddleia in full flower , still in bud around here .
Your moth trap sounds worthy of a 'Blue Peter Badge' , good luck with it .
More good shots there Paul. I like the SWF and that's the first time i've seen a Hummingbird Hawk-moth settle.
ReplyDeleteGreat species for the garden Paul, do you live by the Church ?
ReplyDeletePS had my first Hummer today :-)
Some great finds, especially for the garden, adding to the WLH, sounds like you almost have your own reserve, the moths will be interesting, if you have a good diversity of plants in the garden, you may get some real beauties :-)
ReplyDelete