Is snail feeding on a Brimstone caterpillar? The lily leaves are adjacent to the buckthorn plant on which several Brimstone larvae were feeding in the last month.

ATB

Peter

Hi Trevor,

Yes, sorry to hear of the demise of the Small Pearls in East Sussex. If memory serves me right, I saw quite a few, maybe a dozen, about 20 years ago at Park Corner Heath -certainly after it was designated a NR.

Nice shots of the blues by the way.

ATB

Peter

Me too - no Small Coppers yet either. At least the second brood is usually more numerous so I think most of us will have to wait for a while

ATB

Peter

Thats a hoverfly larvae Peter :) ...................or it could be a moulted skin :) IMG_4767-01G.jpg Vince Thanks for looking, bugboy - you could be right because I thought it was alive but after having another look the other 'dark thing' was actually on another leaf :lol: Thanks also to you, Vinc...

Some of the Brimstone larvae in my back garden are clinging on in spite of the wind and the rain

One larva had a visitor on the same leaf - does anyone recognise it?

ATB

Peter

Hi Pete. It may be something to do with the quantity and/or quality of the larval foodplant itself. For Brimstones and Dingy Skippers, for example, there might be enough 'good' food from the plant to continue their development. ATB Peter Hi Peter - apologies for not acknowledging this; I like your ...

trevor wrote:Another image from yesterday which I overlooked.
This Comma, which looked to be very fresh, might be an early example
of hibernators offspring. Certainly a lovely Butterfly.

Nice one, Trevor. To me, it doesn't appear pale enough to be the hutchinsoni form. What do others think?

ATB

Peter

Hi Pete.

It may be something to do with the quantity and/or quality of the larval foodplant itself. For Brimstones and Dingy Skippers, for example, there might be enough 'good' food from the plant to continue their development.

ATB

Peter

Hi Pete, I have (had) a similar experience in that 20-30 Brimstone eggs were laid on my buckthorn this year (none last year) with the vast majority showing the same shades of colour. I can't imagine more than 20 females laying on the one plant so I suspect maybe, like you say, a few. Did I read some...

Hi Pete, Those close-up pictures of the Brimstone and Dingy Skipper, for example, are stunning. Well done. You say you counted 32 Brimstone eggs on your Alder Buckthorn this year. Do you think they were all laid within 2-3 days? Most text books state that eggs are laid singly so I do wonder how many...

Hi Kevin,

You might like to add the following species to Bison Hill (SP999184):

Dingy Skipper
Green Hairstreak

both well established here.

ATB

Peter

Yes, some nice Green Hairstreak images there, Goldie. Some of these could be ab. inferopunctata where there are good white spots on the undersides. Perhaps this aberration is more common in the north where you are.

ATB

Peter

Paid a visit to Bison Hill (Whipsnade Downs) today with expected species seen: Green Hairstreak, Dingy Skipper, Grizzled Skipper and Duke of Burgundy including a mating pair - still together when we left: DukeofBurgundys 1 Bison Hill 9May16.jpg DukeofBurgundys 2 Bison Hill 9May16.jpg 3 or 4 Red Admi...

A Brimstone egg, among several, on a buckthorn in my back garden:

ATB

Peter

Superb Pearls & Dukes, Neil

Further to Trevor's point regarding Red Admirals maybe we'll see some sort of influx of Painted Ladies especially if the winds remain in the SE quadrant (or quarter?). From what I've read so far there has been very few reports of them.

ATB

Peter

Sorry, Goldie. I should have read your post more closely. The flower does look a little like V. Bonariensis. Good luck for the rest of the season.

ATB

Peter

Nice Orange Tip, Goldie. Is the flower Verbena Bonariensis? I had a male specimen roosting on such a plant in my back garden last night.

ATB

Peter

Hoggers wrote:Dungeness today

IMG_5936.JPG

They're back!

Hoggers.

Well done, Hoggers. Incredible that the one, assuming only one, you saw was ab. caeruleopunctata. How common is this aberration at Dungeness?

ATB

Peter

I recall Jack making the observation several years ago that, just when you think the Small Heath first brood is tailing off, it kicks on again. It's something that I look out for each year and Dirk Maes has also noticed some weird phenology with this species in Flanders. So there could be some prot...

Jack, you raised an interesting point but has the habitat ranges of Speckled Wood and Wall overlapped sufficiently for 'competition' to be an issue? Of course, we can't rule out the possibility of a parasite or virus being responsible. Anyway, I was reading some related material some days ago which ...