Sunday 4th. August 2013

Had been out visiting and not long in , when the phone went . It was Martin who does the butterfly transect at Hutchinson's Bank , just over the border in Surrey . ' I've just had 4 Clouded Yellows on HB , are you interested ? ' , was the message . He didn't have his camera with him when he saw them , and had returned home to let people know and collect his camera . Needless to say my answer was ' Yes , I'll pick you up in 15 minutes on my way there ' . Even with picking Martin up , we arrived within 20 minutes of his call , and hastily made our way to where he had the sightings , hoping and praying that at least one was still there . Our prayers were answered with two specimens found almost immediately , and later at least five specimens were confirmed for sure , with a strong possibility of 10 specimens being seen in total .

Whilst the sun was out , they were very active , stopping to nectar for a matter of seconds before moving on , but when a blanket of white cloud moved in , they disappeared . A search found some just resting on low vegetation , but others were found lying almost prone on bare soil , no doubt to get the maximum warmth from the hidden sun .

 

 

As can be seen , I didn't manage to get an open wing shot , but given the strong wind on this open site , any shots were gratefully received . Before we left the site , we walked over an area where migrant Clouded Yellows had been seen in the past , but failed to find any . The conclusion we came to was that the specimens we were watching were the offspring of the female that Martin found and photographed , the open wing shots that I posted with his permission , some six weeks or so ago . All the specimens seen were males , but we intend to go back later in the week , in the hope that some females might have emerged by then . Hopefully on the same day I can return the favour , taking Martin to HE to see the WLHs .