Pine Beauty moth

Good thinking Dave. I'll try to leave it alone outside in a little protective pot until early April and then inspect it daily until it colours up. Oh the joys of retirement
I'll let everyone know what (if anything) happens - watch this space... for 9 months

There you go Paul - Potential Bilateral Gynandromorph pupa on the left and a "normal" one on the right... The forlegs don't sit quite centrally in the "gynandromorph" pupa and there is a "step" in the gap between the left and right wing cases to cater for the larger win...

One of the 3 Green Hairstreak pupae I finished up with during my efforts to record the sound they make is this one... Gynandorsal.jpg Viewing it from above, it is lighter coloured on the right hand side than on the left and slightly smaller on that same side. On the underside, it has a larger wing a...

I was rather surprised to learn that one of the top 10 butterflies seen in last years Big Butterfly Count as shown on the wrapper of the latest copy of the BC magazine was a butterfly normally seen in Sri Lanka. The "Small White" looks suspiciously like a Psyche butterfly to me (Leptosia n...

Before you try Iain, please note that I accept no responsibility if the ants run off with your mobile phone and bury it

Yeayyy! I have managed to hear (and record) the sound that these pupae make. Just amazing.
Here is the video

https://youtu.be/keD1xwFAPXc

The final rewards of my rescue attempt - Worth every minute. Thanks to Chris for the advice

The previous time I went butterflying with only my mobile phone rather than my "proper" camera I saw a Large Tort Rosalyn... So I'm tempted to try for a third time to see what turns up
Good job you got a shot before it flew off

Having read that Green Hairstreak pupae are able to produce noises to appease/attract ants which are audible to the unaided human ear, I decided to try to photograph the part of the pupal case they use to do this... Never having seen a pupa before, I was surprised at just how obvious the flexible jo...

Thanks to Chris' advice, I am now the Obstetrician responsible for looking after 8 Purple Hairstreak pupae arising from the eggs rescued from the fallen Oak detailed above. I believe 5 are male and 3 female. Fingers crossed they emerge and inflate their wings as they should. I hope to release them b...

One photographed in an unspecified Bedfordshire wood as reported in the 'other' UK butterflies Facebook group. To avoid any confusion, that is the same butterfly (and venue) as Saturday - I was with the reporter on Sunday when his photo was taken (I had gone back with my "proper" camera a...

I saw a Large Tortoiseshell today in Potton Wood Bedfordshire (see April 2024 sightings forum post). Someone else must have seen it just before or afterwards as they posted on the Beds & Northants branch BC Facebook page...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/659226225199279

Trev

A strange day where fate played a HUGE part... My wife and I were going to look at the bluebells in one of a number of local woods. The first 2 were still closed due to flooded paths. We ended up at Potton Wood in Bedfordshire and after seeing the bluebells, we decided to wander along the rides as t...

When I was a young child during the 1960's, I spent many hours scanning the flowers on the Buddleia bush in my back garden - fully expecting that if I did so for long enough, I was bound to be able to spot every British species of butterfly as listed in my Observer's Book of British Butterflies :lol...

Thanks Chris
I'll never have a better chance, so fingers firmly crossed!

Yesterday I was gutted to find that a lovely old mature Oak just South of my village has succumbed to one of the Autumn/Winter storms. Not sure how long it has been down, but decided I should try to rescue some of the doomed Purple Hairstreak eggs it housed. I now have 22 :D . I have tried (unsucces...

A female spotted egg-laying in Bedfordshire today (reported on the Beds and Northants BC Facebook page), so it's starting

There are good numbers of adult Brown Argus butterflies around at the moment near me in Cambridgeshire and some seem to be laying on small Meadow Cranesbill plants that are emerging after recent hay-cutting activities... I note that Common Rockrose or Dove's Foot Cranesbill are the usual primary foo...

A Gatekeeper egg I found in my garden on Friday has coloured-up so I thought I'd try to get a detailed shot before it hatches... This image is made from two photos (one focussed on the front of the egg and the other focussed towards the back) stitched together. The shots were taken using a Canon MP-...