It's been one of the best years for Painted Ladies, Clouded Yellows and Hummingbird Hawkmoths I can remember. HBHMs in particular, have been numerous and we've been very lucky to have them in the garden daily!
Nationally, it's also been a very interesting year for rarer migrant butterflies. The Queen of Spain Fritillary has been a particular headline grabber, with a good spread of records across southern and eastern England. For many years I've longed to see one in the UK or abroad, mesmorised by it's beautiful metalic underwing pattern.
Following a sprinkle of early summer sightings, it became apparent that by early August the offspring of any migrant egg-laying females, were now emerging, with a number of freshly hatched individuals in several locations.
One such place, was a wildflower field margin, close to the village of Monk Sherborne, Hampshire, that produced a remarkable double figure count! With myself and the family travelling down to the New Forest for a long weekend on 21/08, I just had to shoehorn this into our journey!!
Arriving at lunchtime, we parked up close to the footpath down to the site, a flower-rich field margin. I soon left the family to enjoy their picnic, whilst I headed off to hopefully enjoy something a bit special! The sun was a bit in and out of the cloud, however the main thing was it was warm, so would surely mean they would be active.
Ten minutes later, I reached the field, with a handful of people in view, hunching over photographing something - this looks promising! Before I'd even reached them, something bright orange flicked up in front of me, quickly resettling on some dead grass - an absolutely pristine Queen of Spain Fritillary - WOW!
It was a truly enjoyable 45 or so minutes, (despite us encountering a very obnoxious local dog walker!) enjoying great views of approximately 5 QoS as they wizzed about, offen battling eachother and heading up some 50 feet into the sky before coming back down and going their separate ways. Despite the amazing spectacle, one thing began nagging me - the lack of an underwing view! When settled, all they wanted to do was spread their wings wide to absorb some sun. Thankfully, one finally obliged and I very slowly dropped to the floor to get some half decent shots of that outrageous underwing - get in!!
I could've lingered so much longer, but the time had come to drag myself away, albeit as a very chappy!
Could it get any better?? Possibly so!
Just one week later, during the afternoon of 28/08, I got the the exciting news that I had the opportunity to see a local Death's Head Hawkmoth!! For anyone interested in moths and nature in general, the Death's Head is quite simply the holy grail of moths. It is a creature of enormous size, in fact the biggest moth to visit our shores. They're pretty scarce too, with only a few recorded every year, although they literally can turn up anywhere. But to potentially see one in the land-locked midlands was just an opportunity not to be missed!
I headed over after work and before too long I managed to find it as described, roosting on a children's playground climbing frame of all places! It was pleasingly super pristine, suggesting an emergence not too far away, perhaps from a local's Potato patch!
I was immediately blown away by it's size - an absolute monster of a moth! The legs were super chunky, eyes massive for a moth and the colours exquisite, with even some subtle blue tones amongst the greys and black. I must've spent a good half an hour staring at it and taking photos, mesmerized by it's sheer aura! Unbelievable!
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