Padfield

[Padfield]

It will never cease to amaze me how well camouflaged these wonderful critters are

Try this one Buggy - Kisāgotamī yesterday:





Sorry about the weather, Mike. Yes, my friend was very pleased, and amazed.

It wouldn't surprise me if chequered skippers showed clinal variation, Pete - but I'm not sure how reliable the colours are in photos. I actually toned that one down a little but the greens still look strong so perhaps I should have toned it down more. If I am photographing in dull light, with the white balance set for shade, I often end up with over-saturated pictures when the sun comes out and I forget to change it.

I expected Kisāgotamī to head off for pupation next week but she seems to have left in search of a site already. Not only was her leaf from yesterday (and the previous two days) empty, she had completely stripped the neighbouring leaf - something they normally do just before pupation. Here are the same leaves as in the above photo, but without Kisāgotamī. Her resting leaf is standing upright without her weight to pull it down:



Elsewhere in the woods I saw my first white admiral cat for a long time - they did not enjoy the warm winter and cold spring. He looks pretty miserable today, understandably, given the weather, but at least he is alive:



He's still pretty small - certainly not final instar yet.

This small tortoiseshell cat looks strangely fat and awkward. He was either foaming at the mouth or grazing on foam from something else. I have a suspicion he has been invaded by the body snatchers.



I hope I'm wrong.

Finally, some more little people - in this case, little men:





What gay fellows they look! I swear some of them are holding hands.



Guy

[MikeOxon]

How nice to find Orchis anthropophora in a roadside verge. I gather that this plant is quite common in the Mediterranean area although rare in UK, where Kent is a stronghold (relatively speaking!). I wonder how widespread the plant is in Switzerland?

It's odd - I saw the 'horns' of the PE cat first and then this 'giant' creature suddenly appeared on the leaf - I'd be looking for something relatively small, against the leaf!

[Padfield]

It is found in Vaud, Valais, the Jura and northern Switzerland, Mike, but is not generally an everyday flower. I am always delighted to see my local ones. Like many European orchids it is rather understated. You could easily walk past it but when you take a close look it is really something special.

The small tortoiseshell caterpillar I described yesterday as being fat and awkward was preparing for pupation. I did wonder about this, but as it was headside up I thought it probably wasn't. But it turns out the 'foam' I described was the silk pad it was to plant its cremaster in, which it was laying down from special organs in its head. This is a closer detail of yesterday's shot:



Today, it was suspended, inverted, from this pad:





When it has pupated I will probably take the whole nettle stalk and look after it at home. The farmer has a habit of driving through this particular patch of nettles and it was walking in the vehicle's tracks that I spotted the caterpillar (well - I had crouched down to scan for pupae). If he drives the same way in the near future there is a 50-50 chance he will run over this little chap. It is only a few hundred metres from my house, so there are no geographical or synchronisation issues.

I also found another white admiral cat not far from my house - on my daily, short dog walk. So they have not been completely wiped out at this altitude.



No butterflies today as it is, yet again, raining.

Guy

[Padfield]

I had to be in Lausanne this morning, for the licensing of a friend as a lay reader there. Minnie accompanied me, of course, and it was interesting to see how many people, although nominally there to worship God, spent a very considerable amount of time worshipping Dog. She has a way ...

When it was over, we took the direct train from Lausanne to Martigny to look for iolas blues and cardinals. Another friend is in Switzerland at the moment and wanted to see these, but he travels without any form of mobile communication or internet and I couldn't get him at his hotel last night to tell him where to meet me. This was a shame, because iolas blues and cardinals were out in force!

Even though it was cloudy when I arrived - and had been all day, so far as I know - the first thing I saw was a male iolas blue taking minerals on the ground:



What a wonderful sight!



I saw several more bounding over the baguenaudier and two more taking minerals, including this one:





I've never known them do this before. It certainly makes them a lot easier to approach than when they're zooming around the shale slopes.

Cardinals were coming to ground too:



They were also nectaring on clover, their absolute favourite nectar source:



At least a dozen were in evidence, all supping happily. At this time of year, males and females take little notice of each other. In August it is a testosterone-fueled sex war. In this rather poor picture - they were constantly moving - the female is in the foreground and the male in the background:



I took dozens of pictures.

This female is at least anomalous, if not aberrant. I didn't get close to her:





This is a normal female:



Compare that with another shot of the 'different' one:



I don't know if my friend managed to find either species today but while I was there another photographer arrived and was soon engrossed in pandora pictures:



Another male ...



... and a crumply female - but she had no difficulty at all flying, at great speed:



They breed among the vines and I suspect she had fallen victim to the vintners' machines, perhaps on emergence.

Talking of emergence, I am now the proud owner of a beautiful, gold-leaf, small tortoiseshell pupa:



I rescued it yesterday afternoon, while it was still a caterpillar, because there seemed to be a lot of activity in the region - scything verges, moving cattle around &c. I carried it home very, very carefully and put it in a safe place. When I went to bed, at about 23h00, it hadn't pupated. When I woke up in the morning, there it was! I took that photo this evening.

Guy

[David M]

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!

[Cotswold Cockney]

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 you wish to see those on Mainland Europe and wish to locate there, good luck....

Should you ever venture to see some of the exceptional insects found on the South American continent, your cup may well runneth over... Oh gorn all Biblical again over a favourite subject...

To this life-long enthusiast for these creatures and their night flying relatives, all are beautiful to my old eyes.

[trevor]

HI Guy,
Many thanks for the Tropical Butterfly ID. On the 15th of this month I am going to
the Cevennes on a Butterfly holiday. Your expertise may come in handy once again !.

All the best,
Trevor.

[Padfield]

Cardinal and Iolas Blue are now firmly in my 'Top Ten to See' list ...

So that rules out both of those for your no. 1 slot! I had my money on Camberwell beauty, but that was no. 2. I should point out, too, that both are very rare in Switzerland. I just happen to know where to find them.

Always a pleasure to hear from you CC. I agree, South America is remarkable for butterflies (though I've never been there). It is not so remarkable for butterfly books. Apart from the 7 volumes of d'Abrera, which I have, but which are rather out of date (nevertheless, definitely worth getting), there are few comprehensive guides to any country. Mexico and central America are sort of covered, and there are two volumes of Andrew Neild's Butterflies of Venezuela out, but I think the books per butterfly ratio must be the lowest for anywhere in the world. Maybe that makes it all the more exciting ...

Trevor, I'll be glad to help you with your Cévennes butterflies - as I'm sure plenty of other UK Butterfliers will too.

Yesterday, a year to the day since I saw a dozen poplar admirals and thousands (literally) of white admirals, I took the morning off and returned to the same spot. Absolutely nothing. Not a single white admiral, despite good weather. This confirms 2016 as a late year, at least for these species! In total, I saw lots of speckled woods, a handful of black-veined whites, a couple of chequered skippers, a few red admirals, a brimstone or two, one heath fritillary and that was about it. If I had had more time I would have tried to find white admiral pupae but I had to be back in Villars for a meeting (which in the end I didn't make, as a lorry overturned on the hill and the buses were cancelled). I must have been surrounded by thousands of the creatures, all waiting to break out of their crystal cases ...

Today, this local white admiral caterpillar was still only 1 cm long. I don't think they'll be flying here for a while:



I am down to two locatable purple emperors. This is Kanthaka - probably one week off pupation:



Rāhula didn't turn 5th instar until 1st June, so has perhaps another 11 days or so before he goes for it:



My small tortoiseshell pupa has changed tone. In the right light he is still metallic and gleaming (this is not at all apparent in these pictures, with the sun overhead, so not reflecting off him) but the dark colours have consolidated. The fact this has happened absolutely symmetrically reassures me he is still fine:





(I'm keeping him inside, out of the direct sun, but take him out for photo-shoots)

Guy

[Wurzel]

Those Cardinals are fantastic Guy, such a great palette

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel - yes, they are beautiful butterflies, and magnificent in their physical aspect too.

I forgot to post these pictures of a fledgling wren today:





It's the second one I've seen shooting around in the last few days.

Minnie finds my intest in orchids hilarious:





That's a white helleborine. She obviously couldn't care less.

Guy

[Padfield]

The last two emperor caterpillars were still on their leaves today. Kanthaka is 13 days into 5th instar so should pupate next week.

This white admiral caterpillar is just about to shed its skin:





The swollen neck contains the head, while the head capsule at the front is probably empty.

Not far away was this more mature caterpillar, that I must have walked past every day without noticing until now:



The first bird's nest orchids are pushing up:



This strange orchid has no chlorophyll. It is now classed in the same genus (Neottia) as twayblade which is, in contrast, entirely green - even the flowers:





Minnie had her second encounter with an Aesculapian snake, Elaphe longissima, today - at over a metre and a half, one of Europe's longest snakes:





They held gazes a while then the snake glided off and disappeared down a hole in the ground. This species is a competent climber and readily ascends trees to hunt birds but in my forest I think it feeds mainly on toads and voles.

Guy

[Padfield]

Old-timers will know I've long had a fascination with 3D pictures. I used to create close-up pictures manually, shifting the camera a little between shots, then combining the resultant pictures into a side-by-side or anaglyph stereo picture. About four years ago I bought a 3D camera and have continued toying - most recently with video. I will publish some videos when I've worked out the optimum resolution - sending full res stereo videos to YouTube takes days and low res ones lack 3D clarity. In general, large images (or videos) and high res work best for the effect.

A couple of reasonably large pics (of Minnie) are here if you happen to have a pair of red-cyan glasses lying around:

http://www.guypadfield.com/images2016/m ... n2016a.JPG

http://www.guypadfield.com/images2016/m ... e2016b.JPG

Here's a lower res, of Minnie and me, taken by a friend the other day:



ANYWAY, the point of this ramble: I suddenly realised the technique might be useful for spotting purple emperor pupae in the trees. I've often taken photos but it can be difficult to discern things half-hidden by foliage. It might be easier if distances are separated. For example (again, for anyone who happens to have a pair of red-cyan glasses to hand!), here are some honeysuckle leaves. There is a white admiral caterpillar easily visible even without glasses, but that is because I meant to photograph it. The leaves in the picture can comfortably be scanned.

http://www.guypadfield.com/images2016/c ... n2016a.JPG

It may prove fruitless - or not - who knows?

Guy

[Padfield]

It hasn't been butterfly weather for a while. Every so often there has been a break in the rain and sometimes even some sun but I can't remember a dog walk in the last few days when I haven't got a soaking at some stage. By chance, it didn't rain on Monday morning, which was to be our school sports day, but the sports field was so waterlogged we had to cancel this anyway. It was replaced with a whole-school 10km run in the valley. I ran it with Minnie and I'm proud to say that she not only ran the whole thing but beat almost every kid in the school. I think only two or three came in ahead of us. I often had to wait while Minnie Short-Legs caught up but she didn't stop once.

Today there was sun in the afternoon so when I got home after school I took Minnie to look for lesser marbled fritillaries on my local patch. There were none yet, nor was the meadowsweet in flower. Should be soon. Nevertheless, I did see my first large skipper and false heath fritillary of the year:





There was a mazarine blue there too, but very little else:



Earlier in the day I had checked on Rāhula. He is my only remaining locatable purple emperor caterpillar. This is his 17th day as 5th instar so he should be pupating any moment now. I checked again in the evening after the lesser marbled fritillary trip in case he had started moving but he was still there. This picture was taken at lunchtime:



Unless I'm very lucky it's unlikely I'll find his pupa. He is half way up a dense sallow tree:



It is in fact a perfect place for pupation but in my experience they never stay put.



The biggest white admiral cat I was following looked ready to burst then disappeared, as they always do, three days ago:



His neighbour had just changed skins the same day, but seemingly not moved from his hang-dog position:



I wondered if he was OK - but by the next day he was looking quite normal:



As we walked back this evening, not an hour after seeing the large skipper and false heath fritillary, a thunderstorm broke and drenched us. Bolts of lightning were striking the ground less than a kilometre away so we ran home. It is due to rain over the weekend.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Even though you saw 'only' a Mazarine Blue and a False Heath - I'd settle for just seeing those two any day of the week, glad to hear that Minnie is keeping fit!

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

I was happy to see them too, Wurzel! I don't think I used the word 'only' in my post!

It was nice to see a meadow fritillary today, too. This is a female:



The sun made a brave effort today and my first ringlet of the year flew as well as the meadow fritillary, but in the end these and a brave Chapman's blue were all I saw.

On day 18 of his 5th instar, Rāhula was still on the leaf where he has spent almost the entire instar:



He must move on soon. Then it will all go quiet in the woods ...

Guy

[Padfield]

The best weather today was forecast for central Valais, and though this amounted in total to about an hour's sun, divided up into 5-minute portions between 11h00 and 16h30, when I left, I did manage to play catch-up on a few species. My first port of call was a site for ilex hairstreak, where I also hoped to see Provençal fritillary, marbled skipper, purple-shot copper, southern white admiral and rock grayling. None of these put in an appearance in the morning, though there really was very little sun. Instead, I saw plenty of large skippers, my first small skippers of the year, my first marbled fritillary of the year, my first marbled whites of the year and a few Adonis and common blues. It started raining at about 12h30 so I decided to move on and up, to a higher site up the same valley, where Provençal fritillaries fly. There, the situation was similar - mostly cloud with very occasional moments of sun. But it was different terrain, and it was possible to scan the slopes for roosting butterflies. Before long I had seen my first Provençal fritillary and over the course of the walk saw heath and spotted fritillary too. Shortly after I arrived I put up a rock grayling, which immediately disappeared into a tree, and among the roosting butterflies I spotted was a very fine safflower skipper. Apollos and marbled whites were reasonably common up here and walls and large walls were flying. I cycled back down the hill via my morning site, where there was now more sun and a few more butterflies, though the shadow of the mountain was beginning to fall on it. Before I had even taken Minnie out of her backpack I spotted a southern white admiral - and saw another of these later. I also saw a single marbled skipper and another rock grayling.

Here's the first Provençal fritillary I saw, waiting patiently for some sun. This is subspecies berisalii, easily recognised by the black submarginal crescents where heath fritillary has a narrow black line:



The upperside is quite distinctive too and shows little variation over the small range of this taxon. Particularly characteristic is the italic x mark in s.1 of the forewing. These are two different individuals:





For comparison, here is a heath fritillary from the same site:



Apollo:



That glimpse of a rock grayling, after it zoomed into the trees:



The roosting safflower skipper ...



... who opened his wings briefly when the sun came out for a few seconds:



And the marbled skipper (not so amenable):



Here are a marbled fritillary and a spotted fritillary, both taken in 100% gloom!





These pictures give a taste of the weather:







This is a transparent burnet:



Every time I saw one it was accompanied by the same species of beetle. This picture was taken a long distance from the first:



And finally, to avoid posting all my pictures, here are a common blue, to show we don't ignore the common things out here, a southern white admiral and Minnie stalking the southern white admiral in the only way she knows - by smell:







Guy

[Chris Jackson]

Hi Guy,
Your yellow and black beetle may be Mylabris variabilis. I saw some this weekend in the South of France in the same context.
https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mylabris_variabilis
Nice underside shot of the Safflower Skipper for ID purposes.
Chris

[Padfield]

Thanks Chris - that looks a good match.

There are four species of Mylabris in Switzerland and variabilis looks the strongest contender. It is restricted to the Rhône valley and tributory valleys - precisely where I was today.

http://lepus.unine.ch/carto/index.php?n ... &year=2000

Guy

[David M]

Good to see you made the most of the day, Guy, even though your window of opportunity was brief.

Let me reassure you that things were far worse in south Wales this afternoon - as bad as a summer's day gets.....15c with persistent driving rain.

[Wurzel]

Sorry Guy I misquoted you Some more stunning butterflies to drool over whilst enjoying a typical British 'summer' (very little sun, cool and wet) Happy Solstice tomorrow.

Have a goodun

Wurzel