Padfield

[bugboy]

Fantastic Large Tortoiseshells and Dipper pics, both species I've yet to see (hoping to find some Dippers on my trip up north I have planned later this year)

[Jack Harrison]

Bugboy:

I've yet to see (hoping to find some Dippers on my trip up north I have planned later this year

I have been living in a Dipper area since last July, but hadn't found one here (had seen many times in the past) until yesterday although had never really tried too hard. It was a deliberate search yesterday with aid of an OS 50,0000 map and I struck lucky at second place I stopped. Perhaps easiest way to find - as I did yesterday - is from a bridge over a fast flowing river.

Jack

[Padfield]

Large tortoiseshells are much, much easier to find in spring than in summer, but few people go on holiday to the kinds of places they fly at this time of year - except to ski, of course, and then they don't go butterflying. I will see them on every valley outing between now and May but will probably see only one or two in the summer. I agree, David and Wurzel - they are wonderful butterflies that we all hope will come back to the UK. Good luck with the dippers up North later in the year, Buggy. They're difficult species to see on demand but if you spend enough time in the right sorts of places you can't avoid seeing one eventually. As Jack says, a vantage point giving you good views both ways up a river is helpful. It is also helpful to know their high-pitched call.

Despite a chill wind, today felt really springlike. Small tortoiseshells were all over the place up here in the mountains, sparring, nectaring and courting. Here's a couple getting up close and intimate:



The only other adult butterfly I saw was a single red admiral:



Gautama hasn't moved in months but he looks very healthy:





Here's one of the very few brown hairstreak eggs on my local bush:



Guy

[Wurzel]

Nice collection of images Guy, you just needed a pupa and then you'd of had representatives of the whole life cycle

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

I don't think I've seen any wintering pupae except small whites, Wurzel. Something I should look for, perhaps.

I had the whole day free today, with no outstanding school work to do - all internal assessments, extended essays &c. now signed, sealed and on their way to the IB. So Minnie and I set off with a light heart for Italy first thing in the morning, to look for the first nettle tree butterflies out of hibernation. We cycled down the hill to Aigle at about 08h00 in bitter cold - so much so that my hands were numb by the bottom and then very painful as they began to thaw. By 10h30 I was cycling back up an Italian hill, in sweltering heat and with a dog in the backpack.

Immediately on arrival I found a couple of Queens of Spain and my first green hairstreak and small copper of the year, both fidgeting around in the grass:





Large tortoiseshells were common, as were small tortoiseshells, and male brimstones drifted past regularly as I continued walking. But for the full outward leg at this site, no nettle tree butterflies. Everything was still wintry and bare and the nettle trees themselves were barely in bud, let alone leaf.



In places at this site I have to keep Minnie on the lead, as it is a long way down to the valley and today in particular there was a lot of evidence of roe deer moving around (which gets her very excited).


(one lunge after a nimble-footed deer here and it could be the end of Minnie...)


(careful how you go ...)

Finally, as we walked back to the bike, a nettle tree butterfly came and nectared on a flowering sallow. It was some distance away, and directly into the sun, so I thought it would just be a record shot, but I was actually quite pleased with the result. Here are two different crops of the single photo I took:





For one large tortoiseshell at least, the season is already over:



I picked the wing up and threw it into the wind with a blessing, to take its last flight. Literally, a wing and a prayer.

Carrying on back to the bike I saw a wall and then a small white, both new for the year.

My second site had been scrub-cleared so was not very productive, but anyway it was clearly very early season. A single nettle tree butterfly flew through and either half a dozen orange tips or just one, roding, tracked past a sunny bank. I saw a probable dingy skipper in the distance but it had gone by the time I got there.



Finally, back to urban scrub near Domodossola itself, where a third nettle tree butterfly flew through and I saw my first (southern) grizzled skipper of the year on a sunny bank. There, too, it was still wintry, with no nectar flowers and no signs of new growth:



In the summer there will be idas and short-tailed blues there. Today, there were wary lizards (quite right, with a Jack Russell on the prowl):



A quick cool-off under a road bridge ...



... then back on the bike and off to the station, spotting a comma on the way. I haven't totted up yet, but I think that brings the year total to 13 species so far. [Edit: I have totted up now, and it's 14 ]

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

Some excellent exciting upland views, Guy.
Just like in the South of France, a bit of altitude delays the full arrival of Spring flowers.
Still, 14 butterfly species must be good for mid-March.
Cheers, Chris

[Padfield]

Indeed - it's a good start, Chris! The same trip on 18th March 2014 brought me to 17 species, though, so it's not a record-breaker, and three of today's species were single individuals. I note your first nettle tree of the year was only yesterday, though otherwise your season is well advanced compared to the Alps and North Italy.

Guy

[bugboy]

14 species, very impressive , my 2016 grand total still stands at a very unimpressive zero. Thats a very nice Green Hairstreak and I'm in agreement with the Nettle tree Butterfly picture, I think the first crop works better with more of the background.

[David M]

I always love your posts, Guy, but never more so than at this time of year, where you can seem to be stuck in winter yet have double figure numbers of species flying about.

Well done with celtis, and I agree, those backlit images are perfectly satisfactory!!

[Wurzel]

That NTB is a cracking image and one that I would have in my 'I wish I'd taken that' collection, saying that I think I might need to start a new collection entitled 'Guy's images I wish I'd taken'

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thanks Buggy, David and Wurzel. I don't have that kind of wish list, Wurzel, but I do often think, 'I bet so-and-so could have got a much better picture of that!' So-and-so including you, of course.

I stayed in Switzerland today, going first east along the Rhône Valley, then coming back west in the afternoon. The morning trip produced two more year-ticks: (Eastern) Bath white and peacock. The Bath whites were, as usual, motoring endlessly back and forth along the edges of fields. Females did occasionally stop but were immediately jumped by males, so this snatched shot from a long way off was the only reminder I have of the species today:



I only saw two peacocks in total. Here is one of them:



Flowering sallows were attracting the most butterflies today. This little group had small tortoiseshells, commas and brimstones crawling over its furry catkins:









Other species seen at that site were small white, Queen of Spain and wall. There are still very few nectar flowers out and as yesterday, it felt wintry, despite the hot sun. I had to remind myself that it is still only 20th March. When I was a child in Suffolk, 27th March was the day I associated with the very first butterflies of the year.

By the time I reached my second site it was cloudier and colder. There were lots of Queens and a few small tortoiseshells but little else. I had gone especially for grizzled skippers, as this is probably the last day of March I will get a chance to look for these (off to the UK for Easter). None were flying, so that one will have to wait until April.

Guy

[David M]

Bad luck with the Grizzled Skippers, Guy, but you did well to nail down a static Brimstone at this time of year.

Have a safe journey to the UK.

[Padfield]

Thanks David. I don't actually fly till the end of the week but there's school until then ...

I forgot to mention my first Berger's of the year. This male was on a fixed course away from me along the path but did stop very briefly at one point, allowing a record shot:



By coincidence, I was at the same site on 20th March 2014. Then, holly blues, scarce swallowtails, speckled woods, wood whites and grizzled skippers were all flying, as well as green hairstreaks and other species I saw yesterday in Italy but not today in Switzerland. So although this feels an early year and the winter was the warmest since 2007 (2006-7, I think) it is still well behind where it was two years ago.

Guy

[Chris Jackson]

Considering all the species you have on the wing at the moment, Guy, and then you saying

... I don't actually fly till the end of the week ....

I did a double-take and had to smile
Bon voyage,
Chris

[Padfield]

Considering all the species you have on the wing at the moment, Guy, and then you saying

... I don't actually fly till the end of the week ....

I did a double-take and had to smile
Bon voyage,
Chris

Glad to give you a chuckle, Chris!

As it happened, today was sunny and I was able to fit in a little trip to the valley before dropping Minnie off at her holiday camp. I tried for grizzlies again first, but despite ample foodplant in full flower they were not properly on the wing yet. I saw just one buzz past as I left the site. I also saw a couple of large tortoiseshells, loads of small tortoiseshells and Queens and a single clouded yellow.

Further up the valley, small tortoiseshells and Queens were still the commonest species, with Bath whites (edusa) coming a close third. Brimstones drifted by throughout this walk and a handful of small whites put in an appearance too. There were very few nectar flowers other than the sallow, which is now almost completely in bloom at this site. Small tortoiseshells, commas and brimstones were nectaring on the sallow but the Queens never did. While Minnie and I sat down for a pine cone and a coffee respectively, a male orange tip appeared, and then continued to rode as we enjoyed the sun. Because there were so few flowers here I didn't expect him to stop, but very kindly he did - and just opposite where we were sitting. So I got a quick photo without even getting up. I could have sat there quite happily for the rest of the day but Minnie had to be dropped off and I had loads of stuff to do at home too. So with slightly heavy hearts, we left. Minnie knew ...

Some piccies:


(small tortoiseshell on sallow)


(the only large tortoiseshell I saw settle)


(Queen of Spain)


(brimstone)


(Eastern Bath white)


(Minnie looking up from her pine cone to follow an orange tip)


(the orange tip)


(a comically serious blue tit on the sallow with the butterflies)


(I'm not sure what he was eating - but it wasn't purple emperor cats as there aren't any here)

Guy

[Pauline]

Wonderful images of the Blue Tit Guy Minnie looks very wistful and contemplative - you do know you struck gold with that little dog, don't you? I love seeing your shots of her

[Wurzel]

Cracking EBW and OT - hopefully the weather will improve and we'll be able to start seeing them here soon!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thanks Pauline and Wurzel. Yes - I'm well aware how lucky I am to be Minnie's human, Pauline!

I've been in Suffolk since before Easter, during which time I've seen commas, peacocks, brimstones and small tortoiseshells, mostly in my parents' garden. No holly blues yet, perhaps because it's still too early or perhaps because they've crashed, as they habitually do, after last year's bumper year.





And here's a happy baby rat on the compost:



Guy

[David M]

Your parents' garden must be intentionally butterfly-friendly for you to have seen these 4 species there last week.

No doubt you are looking forward to regular double-figure returns now that you're back in la Suisse.

[Padfield]

Not back yet, David. Flying tomorrow. But yes - we have a butterfly-friendly garden here in Woodbridge, with both green and purple hairstreaks on my home list.

The first small white - a male - drifted through this morning. I suspect I am just too early for the holly blues this year.

Guy