Pauline

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline,

Glad to see you got your Pine Beauty Strangely enough, since I had mine the other week I have been looking out for local Pine trees and the nearest I have found are a couple of old Scots Pines about half a mile form my house.

Love your Emperor Moth images , I have a few captive bred cocoons waiting to emerge myself. From what I am hearing they are just emerging around here, late like a lot of other things. There is a concerted effort to try and map this species distribution around Warwickshire with volunteers taking caged virgin female out and about to try and assemble males to them. Another snippet of information I recently leaned is that they will sometimes take a couple of years to emerge from pupation, particularly in a bad spring. I believe that a number of moth species do this and I am beginning to suspect it sometimes happens with some butterflies as well.

All the best,

Neil

[Pauline]

Thank you Neil. I really enjoyed rearing this species and I spent far too many hours watching the cats. I am hoping it won't be too long before the one with pink spots emerges. It would be great if it was a female. I had heard that it can take 2 years for the moth to emerge but I wasn't sure how true that was. I am intrigued that you suspect it may be the same for some butterflies - I would love to know more of your thinking on that and which species you suspect?

Yesterday I was ferreting about looking for anything interesting when I cam across what I believe to be a Ringlet larva. I think it is a Ringlet because exactly a year ago to the day I found a similar cat but in a different location, miles away:

Closer to home my WA continue to do well:

[Goldie M]

Lovely shots of moths and Glanville cats Pauline.
The Butterflies have been hiding here from the heat as well but I did get another OT Female in the garden again on Sunday No Dukes at Gait Barrow yet though. Goldie

[Pauline]

Thank you Goldie - it's kind of you to say so. With the weather being what it is I thought I would take the opportunity to take what may well be the last shot of the Glanvilles before they pupate:

[Neil Freeman]

...I had heard that it can take 2 years for the moth to emerge but I wasn't sure how true that was. I am intrigued that you suspect it may be the same for some butterflies - I would love to know more of your thinking on that and which species you suspect?...

Hi Pauline,

I am sure I have heard somewhere that Orange-tips have been known to occasionally emerge after a second winter in the pupal stage. I remember having a conversation with some Warwickshire BC members a couple of years back and this subject was brought up and a few of us had heard of it. I don't for a minute think it happens often, and perhaps just rarely with one or two species but it just seems that it is a viable way of nature hedging her bets and if it happens with some moths then why not occasionally with some butterflies. Nature is full of surprises

All the best,

Neil

[Pauline]

Thank you for that explanation Neil. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if that has been recorded in the past - stranger things have happened!

Well, I just couldn't resist the opportunity of seeing such a beautiful butterfly. I didn't manage to get any shots as beautifully posed as the one's which Dave succeeded in getting. In fact, mine were rather a 'grab the camera, press the shutter' sort of effort. It was laughable that I had taken the tripod with me which just stood in the middle of the field the whole time . This butterfly never stopped moving except to briefly grab some nectar, the sugar rush leaving it once again super charged! Gorgeous insect tho'

By way of comparison:

I saw a couple of females egg-laying and when they had left the scene I checked out the egg situation. This one is only about one minute old:

Anyone thinking of visiting over the weekend would be well advised to go when there is a chance of some cloud cover or later in the day when they are slowing down a little.

[Goldie M]

You lucky so and so Pauline lovely Butterfly Goldie

[millerd]

I'm glad you got to see this butterfly, Pauline - you got some great shots! I particularly like the first underside and also the oblique view on the bugle flower. It sounds much more animated than it was yesterday morning and still looks pretty new.

Dave

[trevor]

I'm glad that very unusual Pearl ab was able to be enjoyed by such an appreciative audience.
I've read Dave's account, and my serious regret is that I wasn't there!.
Still, I have plenty of Pearls locally to enjoy.

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Pauline I just hope that it's still there tomorrow morning!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

I certainly am lucky Goldie - both to have seen that gorgeous butterfly and also to have the flexibility to drop everything and go (even if it was for just a couple of hours!)

It's very kind of you to say so Dave and I appreciate the compliment. I didn't have much time there but if I'd been able to spend several days with it, I doubt I would have got a shot as good as the very first one you posted. I absolutely love it on the leaf which complements its colours beautifully (I should be saying this in your diary ). It was definitely much more active than you described and quite wide-ranging, as you stated interacting only minimally with the other Pearls. Thank you.

It certainly seems you have plenty of Pearls locally Trevor - so lucky as I have a fair old trek to see any

I hope you got lucky Wurzel. I was thinking about you and watching the weather which was quite variable, and I hoped that would be in your favour Don't keep us waiting too long!

[Pauline]

I managed a couple of hours out this afternoon, just wandering around Noar Hill with no particular target in mind. There were loads of Dukes - I mean loads! - in all states of wear and tear. What amused me was that so many of them seemed to be starving with their heads stuck down a particular yellow flower (afraid I don't know what it is called but it is a bit like a buttercup ):

I was pleased to see my first Common Blues of the year, several of them flying around the area where I recently found the Blue cat with the ants. Whenever I have visited Noar Hill since then, I have made a point of checking that ant's hill to look for a pupa without success. It would be nice to think that one of the butterflies I photographed today was that same cat. The Common Blues also had their heads stuck down the same yellow flower:

It wasn't difficult to locate Duke eggs so I guess all that egg-laying had given them an appetite . After finding 5 lots I gave up looking:

I made my way over to the triangle where, on my last visit, I had found the BH eggs which had hatched. I was hoping by now that I might detect some signs of feeding as my reared ones are eating well and growing. However, I could find no trace. I did come across this rather interesting moth which I initially thought was a bird dropping

and this horrible looking bug, the likes of which I have never seen:

There were also many of these among the blackthorn along with a variety of other predators - it is a marvel that any of the immature stages survive to produce the next generation:

I strolled further on to the next chalkpit where I spotted a Green Hairstreak ovi-posting. She was really well camouflaged down in the grass.

It was time to make my way back, having only managed to get half way across the site. I turned my attention to some of the birds, wishing I was better at identifying them:

[jenks]

Hi,

the bird is a male Yellowhammer, singing its heart out ! And I think the flower is a Meadow Buttercup but I stand to be corrected as I`m no expert on flora.

Lovely photos as always.

Jenks

[Wurzel]

Great shots of the Pearl ab Pauline, I would have posted before now but was busy finding it myself I love the final, washed out Duke shot, I bet it still had a lot of fight in it though!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Good to hear from you again Jenks and thank you for the ID's. D'you know, I initially thought Yellowhammers but I'm sure the last one I saw (a few years ago) was all brown with just a yellow head. So then I thought perhaps they were youngsters. Now I am wondering if they have different plumage with the seasons or increased age. So much to learn!

Cheers Wurzel - sounds like you had some success?

2 abs in 1 week would have been 2 good to be true! Still, it was good to visit a new site - something I try to do each season - and I thank Martin and Fred for the guided tour and for making the visit both enjoyable and informative. A few shots from HB:

[Goldie M]

Lovely photos Pauline not much going on here yet and we're back in the cold UGH! Still I'll soon been down there in just a few weeks now, hope there's some thing left to see Goldie

[Pauline]

Thank you Goldie - not long now

If it hadn't been for the ab. which was seen at HB, today I would have been doing normal 'stuff' which would have included a visit to the bank this afternoon. Because of my trip to Croydon I didn't have time for such mundane activities but I did have to nip out for some animal food. 5 police cars stood outside the bank which was cordoned off and a number of folk were being interviewed. Word in the village is that the bank has been raided and a couple of the customers shot All I can say is, I hope they have taken my overdraft Thank you Glanvilles. On my return I was very pleased to see this waiting for me. I believe it is a female so Martin, you were quite correct, the pink spotted cat was a girl

[MrSp0ck]

The 4th Glanville down is a female, the abdomen doesnt reach the bottom of the wings, and she is a bit pale in colour.

I hope the female Emperor drags in a male tomorrow, if one couldnt get to her today. it looks like she had been calling in the picture.

So it looks like "Pink" girl and "Yellow" boy. in the last instar larva, people should do more this year, to confirm.

[Susie]

Super photos as always, Pauline. Thank you for your help today and my thanks to Martin and Fred too.

[Maximus]

Lovely Glanville photos, Pauline, oh and that ab you saw last week wasn't bad either