Padfield

[Padfield]

Winter is back:



Spot the caterpillar:





Guy

[David M]

That's more like Switzerland in the first half of February, Guy! Looks like the UK is about to welcome some arctic air too next week.

[Jack Harrison]

Looks like the UK is about to welcome some arctic air too next week

The cold has been here in Sturgeonland for many days now.

Jack

[Padfield]

Well, at my altitude it has turned to rain again now.

Nevertheless, Gautama is still doing fine and there are loads of camilla cats bivvied up all over the woods. Here is one I don't think I've previously photographed:





Guy

PS - yes, it looks as if there are two hibernacula there. I did wonder that in the field and then rejected the idea. Looking at the photos (they are tiny creatures and very hard to see in the gloom of a rainy day) I still think that looks like another hibernaculum behind. Perhaps I'll try and get some more photos tomorrow, if I can relocate this one.

[Wurzel]

It certainly looks like its tucked up snugly in there Guy

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

They're happily settled in for the winter, Wurzel!

It was my birthday today - 52 - so Minnie and I headed off to the Papiliorama to escape the cold. Well, I escaped the cold. She had to wait in the dog hotel outside while I photographed the butterflies, but she always enjoys the journey, and just being with me for the day.

There was plenty to see today, though as it was so gloomy outside it was also rather dark inside and good photos were difficult. They were obviously doing a promotion on Graphium agamemenon, because this species was abundant. I first saw it in the wild just outside Mysore, in India, and it always brings back happy memories. Here are a few from today:


(with Idea leuconoe, Catonephele numilia just below the middle pair and a Heliconid lurking at the bottom of the picture)



Another species I saw properly for the first time in Mysore was Danaus genutia, a close relative of the monarch, Danaus plexippus. There were a few of these about today:



Plexippus and chrysippus were also flying:


(a rubbish shot of plexippus)


(an equally rubbish shot of chrysippus - I only include these to complete the Old World Danaus trio)

Lexias pardalis is another Indian species, but one I haven't seen in the wild. Males and females were sitting around today all over the place, never interacting. These are both males:





From Old World to New World - there are always several Ithomiids in the Papiliorama. This is Tithorea harmonia:





And this is T. tarricina:



Superficially, this last closely resembles Heliconius hecale, with which it was flying today:



Heliconius is a mystery genus to me. There often seems to be more variation within than between species and without knowing where an individual comes from the books are not always that useful (not that I've had time to go to the books since getting home this evening). I'm not sure what species either of the following two are:




(photographed from a great distance, right across the Papiliorama)

Heliconius melpomene is a case in point. I think these are all melpomene but really have no idea:









If Mr Spock is reading this he might comment, being an expert on Heliconius!

This is Cethosia cyane, from the Old World ...



... and Catonephele numilia from the New:



There were loads of Old and New World swallowtails, mostly tiptoeing delicately over the flowers, impossible to photograph. A few that stopped briefly were this Papilio constantinus ...



... its close relative, Papilio thoas ...



... and this Papilio demodocus:



Also flying today were Papilio nireus, Papilio helenus, Papilio polytes, Papilio lowi, Papilio dardanus, Papilio rumanzovia and Atrophaneura semperi - I've probably forgotten some of the other swallowtails - there were loads.


(polytes)


(semperi)

I could definitely bore for England when it comes to butterfly photos, and I took over 200 today. So I close with a couple of Siproeta stelenes and a couple of cats - Morpho peleides and Papilio thoas respectively:









Oh - and a sunbird:


(I never use flash on birds or mammals, so it's a bit blurry)



Guy

[bugboy]

Some nice pictures there, a very impressive range of species. Like you I'm a bit lost when it comes to the Heliconids but I can tell you that your sunbird is a male Collared Sunbird Hedydipna collaris, just in case you were desperate to know

Oh and many happy returns

[Pete Eeles]

Happy Birthday, Guy! Glad to see you made the most of it

Cheers,

- Pete

[Wurzel]

Happy Birthday Guy All the best people are born in February

A cracking array of tropical species and I agree whole heartedly about the Hecale genus which is amde even more of a nightmare by mimicry rings

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[NickMorgan]

Happy birthday young man!! That looks like a great way to spend your birthday.

[Goldie M]

Fantastic shots Guy, I went to Chester Zoo over the week-end and they'd very few species in the Butterfly House, I was bit disappointed but at least I saw some Butterflies.
Happy Birthday Guy, it was my birthday on the 9th of Feb, now I'm really one of the Golden Girls, Goldie

[David M]

An excellent birthday present to yourself, Guy.

All the best.

[Padfield]

Thanks all - and thanks for the sunbird information, Buggy. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, this species is mainly insectivorous, though I have yet to see one take a butterfly. Most of the species in the Papiliorama are bigger than the sunbirds anyway!

Guy

[bugboy]

Thanks all - and thanks for the sunbird information, Buggy. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, this species is mainly insectivorous, though I have yet to see one take a butterfly. Most of the species in the Papiliorama are bigger than the sunbirds anyway!

Guy

Lots of these butterfly houses use insectivorous birds as biocontrols to get rid of spiders. I know when sunbirds are breeding they do tend to fixate on spiders and they probably learn very quickly how nasty lots of the larvae taste!

[Padfield]

Thanks all - and thanks for the sunbird information, Buggy. According to the all-knowing Wikipedia, this species is mainly insectivorous, though I have yet to see one take a butterfly. Most of the species in the Papiliorama are bigger than the sunbirds anyway!

Guy

Lots of these butterfly houses use insectivorous birds as biocontrols to get rid of spiders. I know when sunbirds are breeding they do tend to fixate on spiders and they probably learn very quickly how nasty lots of the larvae taste!

That's very interesting. I've certainly never seen a spider in the Papiliorama - though there are plenty of ants.

After weeks of cold, snow and rain, it was sunny today - all day. I didn't have much free time, but was able to spend the middle of the day, up to about 13h30, in the Rhône Valley, where, unsurprisingly, Queens were out in force, as well as small tortoiseshells. Shortly before midday, a magnificent large tortoiseshell cruised by - my first of the year. Immediately, a fighter squadron of small torties was despatched to intercept it and despite valiant resistance it ended up gliding off over the vineyards. I walked back via the early large tortoiseshell hotspots but saw no more. The bulbocodium is in full flower, attracting small tortoiseshells, Queens and wild boar! Finally, I saw a single red admiral at Martigny station, bringing my day total to four species. I'm sure I could have added clouded yellow, and maybe another large tortoiseshell, if I had been able to stay longer.


(a slightly melanic small tortoiseshell - I wonder if they are beginning to adapt to all this winter flying)


(another dark, but not melanic, individual)


(a Queen)


(another)


(a Queen enjoying a trampled Bulbocodium flower)


(Bulbocodium)


(a patch of Bulbocodium gone over by the local sangliers!)


(hazy sun)


(still some snow patches)

Guy

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Guy - it makes me think that I need to start checking my 'early' sites should the rain hold off this weekend

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

It will probably kick off everywhere soon, Wurzel - it is nearly March ...

I worked all day today but found another visible (just) white admiral caterpillar on Minnie's lunchtime walk. It was an unusually long hibernaculum - or more strictly, a normal hibernaculum with the rest of the leaf still attached rather than cut off:



A casual passer-by would never guess a beautiful butterfly was lurking, in potentia, in this withered vestige!

But here he is, perfectly camouflaged to all but a trained eye (and he is only about 3 mm long):



Elsewhere in the woods, Gautama's tree is coming into fluffy flower:



By luck or design, none of the flower buds on his particular twig (one of those visible in the background) have burst yet.

Guy

[Padfield]

It's ages since I had a chance to get out. Although it is still winter up in the mountains, the Rhône Valley is clear of snow and I got out east along the valley today to look for large tortoiseshells. There were none at my first site, though I saw a fair few small tortoiseshells, my first brimstones of the year, drifting endlessly over the bushy hillside, and a single female clouded yellow, form helice. It was lovely just to be outside with butterflies again. I then moved further east - up the valley, towards colder regions - and at my second site saw at least three large tortoiseshells. Maybe four, but the last one could have been a repeat of one of the earlier ones - I didn't get a photo to compare it.



This was the first one I saw, taking sap. Here he is again...



... and again:



He was very active. Here is a short video of him:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3KvS8J89vLY[/video]

The second large torty kept high in the trees and I only got distant shots of him, including this underside:



The third was as active as the first, but on the ground, not a tree:





Simply magnificent creatures, and quite different from their plucky, pugnacious cousins:


(A small tortoiseshell at the first site)

On the way back to the station I watched a dipper taking a dip on the other side of the river. It was too far away for good photos, but lovely to see:







Guy

[David M]

Great reward after such a lengthy absence, Guy.

Those Large Tortoiseshells are stunning - how I wish they'd recolonise the UK!

[Wurzel]

Me too David - they're a cracking Butterfly Great shots of the Dipper too, that must be the black bellied form.

Have a goodun

Wurzel