Sunday, October 7

First Admiral

Despite the damp conditions the pom-pomless dahlias are still attracting lots of butterflies and bees.

On the last visit to the plot I managed to grab photos of a couple of butterflies.

A small tortoiseshell:
and the first red admiral that I have spotted this season.
Then in the garden another butterfly was making the most of a late flower of a buddleia.
You could be forgiven for thinking this is a raggy tortoiseshell but it's a comma. In the photo below you can see its tongue trawling for nectar.
Here's a closer look.

20 comments:

  1. The Comma is beautiful! I don't think I've seen one of them before...

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    1. We don't see lots of them, Tanya but see one or two most years. When the wings are folded up over its back and you can view the underside they have a tiny white comma shape under each wing. This one wouldn't fold its wings for me to grab a photo.

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    2. The Comma is a beaut! Nice pics all round.

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  2. After reading your post made me realise I have not seen any butterflies for a week or so now.

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    1. We still have quite a few flying about awpol which is why the netting is staying on the brassicas.

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  3. I haven't seen many butterflies at all this year. Well done with the sweet corn in your last post, I'd be pretty pleased with that harvest.

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    1. It's unusual for the butterflies to be still fresh looking (no ragged wings) at this time of year, Jo but they seem to have been much later arriving this year.

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    2. The sweetcorn crop was a pleasant surprise, Jo

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  4. I hardly saw any butterflies in my garden this year, and the ones I did see were mostly Small Whites. I don't think I have seen a Red Admiral here for 3 or 4 years, which is why I planted a Buddleia bush. Hopefully they will find it eventually! When we moved in here 21 years ago we used to sometimes see 12 or 15 simultaneously.

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    1. Our no pom-pom dahlias have been a butterfly and bee magnet, Mark. The buddleias were swarming with peacock butterflies recently. We generally only see one red admiral at a time but have more peacocks, tortoiseshell, gatekeepers and the ubiquitous whites! (Unfortunately ours are the large whites - the ones that lay batches of eggs that hatch into a army rather than the single eggs of the small whites that are easier to control).

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  5. I saw quite a few butterflies over the weekend too Sue. It is nice to see them flying about in the last of the sunshine that keeps periodically popping out.

    That comma is lovely!

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    1. It's good to see butterflies about after they were so scarce earlier in the year - glad you have some too!

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  6. What great photos Sue. We seem to get a lot of butterflies around here, so I need to brush up on (for which read develop) my technique for capturing them on camera.

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    1. If you have a burst/rapid fire facility on your camera it is worth it's weight in gold, Janet. I use it lots. The comma was quite a distance away but the telephoto came into its own for that. It meant I didn't spook it into flying away. It also helps when they settle down for a good feed.

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  7. Brilliant photograph of the Small Tortoiseshell and the Commas. I've only seen 2 butterflies down the plot recently, (1 Comma & 1 Cabbage White), as the weathers been far too damp.

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    1. Only one cabbage white, Rooko - lucky you! WE still daren't remove the insect netting from the brassicas.

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    2. I know what you mean, but the weathers been so wet here recently its been about 3 weeks since the Cabbage whites were out in force.

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  8. Hello Sue... having trouble leaving you a reply on my comma blog. Hope its a temp blogger glitch as can't leave comments on any posts. Must look at settings.

    Interestingly, the day you had your Comma we had a group of Red Admirals. I see you've had that visitor too along with the Small Tortoiseshell which we've had too.

    I'm hoping the Peacocks will make an appearance next and perhaps a Painted Lady or two - we haven't seen the later since the good year they had. Nice images you captured here :-)

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    1. Blogger seems prone to glitches, Shirl. We had lots of peacocks earlier in the season - almost a flock or a fluttering - whatever you call it. I had never seen so many at one time - they were all over the buddleia. We always have a few gatekeepers. I haven't seen a painted lady this year though.

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