http://www.guypadfield.com/images2016/rivularishabitat1jul2016a.jpg (Hungarian glider habitat - a couple of males were gliding in and out here when the sun shone. I would have taken some video but the sun went in and I never saw them again!) Guy More interesting stuff Guy. That looks like the larva...

Another notable day's sightings, Guy. Cardinal and Iolas Blue are now firmly in my 'Top Ten to See' list, and the fact that you can encounter them almost casually on a cloudy day makes me want to relocate to the continent as soon as possible! Yes, magnificent images including the habitat ones. If y...

More interesting pictures Guy. Thanks.

In my limited experience with captive bred over wintering eggs in captivity, the little larva is soon fully formed within the protective eggshell and stays safely there until the Spring with warmer temperatures and fresh plant growth.

Since a very small boy, I've found the night skies fascinating. During the late 70s and early 80s, I used to go along some nights with the local Moth enthusiasts recorders with their Mercury Vapour Lights. Up on the higher ground such as Edge Common and Painswick Beacon. When the nights were cloudle...

That what appears to be a south facing bank will have it's own favourable micro-climate. When breeding a partial third brood of Apatura metis substituta back around 1980, I needed to find edible foodplant ( Salix ) for a few small larvae still feeding up into January. No chance surely. My potted foo...

Pete Eeles wrote:

Padfield wrote:I was going to work all day today but it was so sunny I felt it would be irresponsible

I feel like that most days

Cheers,

- Pete

I've felt like that for most of my life! ... The call of the wild places is always there.

>>> but in the end I took the oath and was formally pronounced Swiss. :) <<< Guy Now you qualify to invent something useful .... like a knife or a clock. .... ;) By the way, keep those night sky and snowy woodland pictures coming. Always a delight to my old minces ... ;) Those hanging old iris larv...

Home for the weekend as he works away during the week, my older son decided to visit a local car breaker yard as he needed a part for his car and his girlfriend's. . Do you want to come Dad? . Beautiful sunny, cloudless day but very cold wind. Snow covering the higher ground on the nearby Cotswold H...

Always good to see the Moon like that. Got up about 4 am last night ~ had a big mug of tea before retiring ~ and looked out of the curtains to observe a clear, cloudless sky. Only two bright sources of light visible in the Eastern and Southern sky. Assume Venus and Jupiter ... unless others know dif...

Remarkable amount of light pollution in the bottom left of some of those sky images GUY. Longish exposure exaggeration? Please keep 'em coming. Fascinating stuff...Every star is a look back in time, even our nearest star we see it as it was eight minutes ago IIRC. Back in 1969 or was it 1970, high u...

I believe that colour change prior to entering hibernation is structural rather than pigment change being involved. Tell you why, although it must be close to forty years since I used a hand lens ( x12 mag. ) to examine a hibernating larva closely, I clearly remember that when viewed using that x12 ...

Nice to see those images in the night skies Guy. Venus low in the early morning south eastern sky ( ca. 4-5 a.m. ) in Gloucestershire has been spectacular over the past few nights. One or two other bright "stars/planets" nearby enhancing the scene. Never seen Venus so large and bright to t...

Here in Gloucestershire we had clear skies. The whole family were about from about 3 a.m. until close to 5. Even with the naked eyes what we saw during that time was both interesting and impressive.

Those final two images are remarkable considering the range.Hand held even better...

Good pictures Guy. Even in the UK, construction and entering those hibernacula is often completed by late August. The hibernacula are very small. Even so, I know from my own now distant captive breeding experiences and to my chagrin, insectivorous bids find them with ease... Still fresh in my memory...

Have seen female Holly Blues inspecting various plants and shrubs over the years, Have seen them lay on the Climber Virgina Creeper too. I suspect it uses a variety of foodplants in addition to the better known usual two. Be interested to know how this single ovum progresses in the future. Many year...

Hi Mike, Doesn't work for me now either ... :( Thanks for the different link. It's not exactly the same article as my original link but the content is much the same in yours. I particularly liked the image of this fabulous moth feeding from Honeysuckle whilst on the wing. Something most Hawkmoths ar...

A close relative knowing my interest in anything Lepidoptera related, saves various articles which appear in the Daily Telegraph. That newspaper does appear to have a much higher input about butterflies, moths and anything with some Natural History content which is obviously a good thing. Helps spre...

Interesting Cardinal stuff Guy. Is there any possibility of occasional strong second broods? I try to rear livestock with as near natural conditions as possible only protected from the numerous predators and other things which must account for over ninety percent of any Butterfly's progeny. Reason I...

Some more interesting pictures Guy. Plus a late 1st instar larva too. Here in England, weatherwise, Summer 2015 reminds me very much like Summer 1972. Then I found freshly laid PE ova in mid-August. They had not coloured up suggesting laid in past forty-eight hours. Maybe laid only the day before. W...