Friday, July 26, 2013

Assorted Doings

Tomorrow, it's supposed to rain all day - which means we can sleep all day.  Bring it on!  I'm seriously knackered, heading towards the end of one of the most memorable, and one of the best, of the 44 iris seasons I've experienced.  No prizes for guessing who'll win my annual Butterfly of the Year Award (it will take a massive Clouded Yellow invasion or equivalent to stop HIM).

Recent personal doings include -

Surveying for iris on the NT Slindon estate in W Sussex, which is next to the FC's Eartham Wood (which is seriously Purple in places, and well maintained for iris).  Great to find males assembling in scrub woodland at the top of the South Downs dip slope on Bignor Hill.  Stand at precisely SU97047-12809 and enjoy.  I managed to see 11 iris in all, including 2 females.

Had a difficult time at Headley Heath, near Leatherhead, where there's a known male territory at Bridges Oaks - only the males weren't settling in that territory yesterday afternoon, but wandering through it rather annoyingly. 

Linking up with Neil to survey an estate in Sussex which is so seriously Purple I'm going to have to move there.  We've got to keep quiet on this until we've talked things through with the owner, who's currently in Aus giving them a hard time about the cricket.  This is not conventional woodland habitat, far from it.  The implications for our understanding of the butterfly are significant.  Watch this space. 

Doings of note by others include -

Discovery of a small population on the NT Coleshill & Buscott estate in W Oxon by Dr Oliver Fox.  This is an important piece in the jig saw puzzle. 

Discovery in Hatfield Forest, just east of Standstead airport.  It may have been released here too but I've long been confident of natural occurrence. 

At this stage in the season the males are doing a lot of this -


Or if it's hot, this -


Congrats to Chris Tracey for managing to photograph HIM on the most appropriate part of the inscription on the Column (18th century bollox) in Savernake -



Congrats to me for managing to photograph this on a young lady -




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