Padfield

[Cotswold Cockney]

Thanks for the heads up on that Apaturinae book Guy. Looks like a must have for me.

The top left insect on the dust cover looks similar to but different from the Golden Emperor Dilipa fenestra also from the far east as is Chitoria ulupi. Fenestra because of the clear transparent windows in their forewing apexes where in many other Apaturinae there are the typical white spots. I have bred the Golden Emperor which has an unusual life history for an Emperor. The larva creates tents in the leaves Red Admiral style and feeds covertly most of the time. It is further unusual in constructing a tent where it pupates and hibernates for the cold Korean winters in the dead leaves attached to their foodplant trees. I had them survive our UK winter on potted Celtis saplings outside in my garden greenhouse.

[NickMorgan]

I have enjoyed reading about your Italian trip. You have captured some fantastic butterflies. I love your pictures that you describe as not great. They capture a moment in time and I would be very proud to have taken any of them (or to have seen those species!).

[Padfield]

You are very kind, Nick!

CC - if nothing else, the plates in that book will bring back memories ...

Ends of term are strange times and it turned out I was not needed in school at all today. It also turned out it was raining. But it was possibly my only chance this year to catch up on Euphydryas intermedia, the unhappily named 'Asian fritillary'. I say, 'unhappily named' because the subspecies wolfenbergeri is almost an iconic alpine butterfly, found very locally in a few high valleys. It is closely related to the marsh fritillary and even more closely to the scarce fritillary, Euphydryas maturna. Anyway, shortly before midday Minnie and I set off down the hill in the pouring rain and arrived at the site, a train and two buses later, in drizzle. For a while, the only butterfly we saw was northern wall, which, like many Satyrids, is not too bothered about things like cloud and light rain:



Even when the sun did break through the clouds little flew and for some time we saw one small white, a fleeting alpine grizzled skipper and a handful more northern walls. But then the sun appeared for about ten minutes and first a pearl-bordered fritillary then a female intermedia took to the air. She turned out to be very amenable and posed on some wood cranesbills for me:



The sun was in and out so I was changing camera settings between every shot but she hung around for some time, obviously taking in the nutrients necessary to mature her eggs.





She wasn't at all bothered by Minnie:



She was in still flitting around later in the afternoon, identifiable by the tears in her wings:



I also saw a single male intermedia:



Neither of these insects is fresh. Nymphalids in general seem to be flying early this year.

Other species flying included chequered skipper ...



... geranium argus ...



... alpine grizzled skipper ...



... and alpine heath:





For a rainy day (and it was spitting again as we left the site for the long ride back down to the valley) things didn't turn out too badly!

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

Your Chequered Skipper with Minnie in the background must be one of the most imaginative pictures of the year. Love it.

Jack

[Pete Eeles]

Your Chequered Skipper with Minnie in the background must be one of the most imaginative pictures of the year. Love it.

Jack

Indeed - lovely shot!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I've come to the conclusion you're a big softie, Jack.

I always knew Pete was a big softie.

Guy

[Jack Harrison]

I've come to the conclusion you're a big softie, Jack.

You are quite right. Our Minnie (cat) sleeps on my bed - and I don't really mind!

Poor Minnie has been a bit poorly after eating a vole (well, part of a vole). Serves her right.

Jack

[Padfield]

Popped up the local mountain this afernoon, mainly to see clouded apollos before they disappear - this is an early upland species with a short flight period in my region. As expected, several males were hilltopping on a ridge. They seemed never to stop but I got one, distant shot at one of them:



For the ridge itself, I keep Minnie on a lead. There is a precipitous drop on the other side, where ibex live. If Minnie went over she would not come up again ...



Elsewhere she was free to do what she wanted:



Other species flying, in no particular order, were marsh fritillary, dewy ringlet, bright-eyed ringlet, Titania's fritillary, heath fritillary, northern wall, alpine heath, pearl-bordered fritillary, shepherd's fritillary (no idea if that should be singular or plural ...), small tortoiseshell, orange tip, assorted whites, little blue, mazarine blue, dingy skipper, olive skipper and another skipper I'm not sure about (shown below). I'm sure I've missed a lot off that list (yes, I have - red admiral and painted lady, for example) but it was a short list whatever. It is still early days up my mountain, it seems.


(male bright-eyed ringlet)


(female bright-eyed)


(male underside)

Here is a tit frit:



I'm pretty sure this skipper is olive, though Roger might be surprised at how well marked the forewings are!



I managed to get a shot of the underside by using flash:



This one I am not sure about. I have my idea but will wait for an opinion from one of the Pyrgus fans out there before I venture it.





No - I didn't take my net, not thinking there would be any call for it today!

Guy

[David M]

Great images again, Guy. You are so lucky to live in a part of Europe as picturesque as that.

I'm sure Minnie appreciates it too, despite her occasional enforced restraint!!

You absolutely love that dog, that much is clear from every post....and I'm sure that love is reciprocated (why wouldn't it be? She's effectively won the canine lottery).

[Pete Eeles]

That last shot of Minnie is just ... well ... beautiful! That is one happy dog, I have no doubt

Cheers,

- Pete

[Jack Harrison]

Here is a tit frit:

I don't think I'll google that - never know what it might return

Jack

[Padfield]

David and Pete: yes, MInnie is a fortunate dog, but she gives far, far more than she takes. That is what I find so wonderful about dogs.

Jack, I tried googling 'tit frit'. Don't bother - no butterfly references come up .

I popped down to the woods before evening fell yesterday. Home-bred red admirals are always the last to mop up the sun in the rides. This one is recently emerged, I think, though it already has a nick or two:



No fun and games today - just school business.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Great shot of the Tit Frit and the Grizzlie like skipers I'm off to the Czech Republic, to the Eagle Mountains, in August so I was wondering if there was anything in particular I should be looking out for?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Jack, I tried googling 'tit frit'. Don't bother - no butterfly references come up

LOL!

I suppose it's akin to googling 'UK Butts' or 'cute bunnies'?

[Padfield]

Hi Wurzel. I think you'll have a ball in the Eagle Mountains. I can't say anything specific to look out for there as I've never visited, but the species density will be high. Just don't take anything for granted. Aim to identify everything. Once you start getting blasé you miss stuff - you get used to didyma and fail to spot the trivia, for example!! I don't know how high you'll be, but if I were going to the Czech Republic, xanthomelas and l-album would be high on my list.

David - I have a feeling 'butterflies' might mean something different in Japanese, too, as Google ads always directs me to pictures of Japanese ladies and my browser history indicates nothing of this kind!

Still all end-of-term stuff at school - prize-giving today. But I had a chance in the morning to go to the woods, where woodland browns are now common. I have been lucky with this butterfly. It is generally scarce but abounds everywhere I have lived.



On my way home I spotted a tufted marbled skiper flitting around the cut edge of a meadow. I can recognise this species instantly even in flight, as it occurred in the garden of my previous house. This was a female, clearly looking for places to lay, and she wasn't stopping. I got just one shot of her:



It appears the scything machines (or possibly strimmers, which they now use for the edges of fields) got her wings but she was still able to fly and should lay her eggs. This sighting was significant for me as I have not seen the species in Huémoz before.

The woods are now alive with white admirals. I don't know how they do it. Every single larva I've followed has disappeared off the face of the planet exactly at the moment of pupation and yet they must pupate ...

Guy

[Padfield]

Graduation this morning, then in the afternoon I took a friend from England to see cranberry fritillaries, Boloria aquilonaris. I wasn't sure we would see them, as the weather was very iffy and in some years they don't fly before July, but a small crop of fresh males was on show, and precisely because of the weather posed rather patiently for photos.

The main difficulty with this one was that he was cold and kept quivering his wings. This was one of my rare shots when his wings were still:



Here is a different male, resting on the foodplant:



It was an all-male party:



This underside shot was taken in natural light:



This one used flash. It brings out the colours but doesn't look natural:



Here's a closer shot of the underside:



Other species new for the year were false heath fritillary (this must have been flying for weeks but I just hadn't seen any) and lesser mountain ringlet, Erebia melampus:



Guy

[kevling]

Guy,

Nice photos as always.The underside of the False Heath is wonderful and vibrant. The Cranberry Frit is good also (nice find).
Only a month away from my trip to France where I'm hoping for a Frit fest too

Regards Kev

[Roger Gibbons]

I agree that Olive Skipper can have heavily marked upperside forewing occasionally. The underside says 100% that this is one of them. I think your second mystery Pyrgus has to be Olive too, judging from the underside. That makes it an even weirder upperside.

I only saw one Pyrgus today – Foulquier’s. If you only see one that’s not bad going. Plus only the third Southern Comma I have ever seen.

Roger

[Padfield]

Thanks Kevin. I hope you have a wonderful fritfest in a month's time.

Thank you for the input, Roger. When I photographed that second skipper I assumed it was serratulae again, mainly because I couldn't think what else it could be. The underside is not 100% convincing but I think you are right. And I agree, if you're going to see just one skipper in a day you could do a lot worse than bellieri!!

My parents arrived this morning, for their annual mountain break. This is the station cafe at Aigle:



I never realised how good the murals were until I took that picture!

From the bus on the way back up the hill I spotted my first great banded grayling of the year.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Cheers for the info Guy - I plan to try and get as amny shots of everything I can, just to be on the safe side! I hope your folks have a great visit

Have a goodun

Wurzel