Rather than fill my Personal Diary with even more photos of Holly Blues, delightful though they are, I thought I'd start a separate thread dealing specifically with the amazing diversity of plants the first brood females seem to be prepared to lay on.
In the past I have seen them use lucerne, dogwood, purple vetch and birds-foot trefoil in addition to the traditional holly, and on Sunday 14th May, I saw the even more unlikely option of buttercup being selected, and serious interest being taken in some kind of crucifer.
My first encounter on Sunday was with a female agitatedly flying around and settling on a young lucerne plant. There were no flower buds, which no doubt she was seeking, and her agitation seemed to grow.
She moved to almost the next plant along the path, which turned out to be a buttercup. with little ado, she planted an egg on a flower bud.
From there she moved to a crucifer of some sort and appeared to do the same, though this time I could see no egg.
(Interestingly, a nearby plant of the same species had two GVW eggs on it.) After all this, a rest was in order!
Later on my walk, I encountered another female Holly Blue fluttering in and around a large dogwood. She settled on the bud clusters frequently and it was not difficult to find an egg.
I imagine there were many scattered on this one plant. The benefits to her of choosing this particular shrub were clear - she nectared lengthily on the open flowers, and basked nearby afterwards in the sunshine.
Have others noticed the rather broad taste this species has with regard to egg-laying? There are still a lot of the first brood around, despite the early start this year, and holly buds burst into bloom a while ago. This may mean the females are forced to find something else to lay on - almost anything seems to do!
Dave
