Padfield

[Pete Eeles]

That picture was taken with flash. This is actually quite a good way of spotting them - they stick out sore thumbs in a flash photo. Here is the same caterpillar as it appeared to the naked eye ... Much less conspicuous.

I'm mightily-impressed with your find, Guy, and also the tips I've only ever reared WLH in captivity and need to get out more - i.e. search them out in the wild Jamie Burston has some developed a keen eye also

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks Pete. Obviously, you can't go around flashing into every elm you see, but if you happen to know there are w-album cats in the foliage above you and you're getting a headache from peering up at some indistinct thing in a bunch of silhouetted leaves, taking a flash shot is a useful trick to know. I've also secreted a suitably hooked stick in the grass at the base of my best w-album tree, for pulling branches down to get a closer look. Yes, I've read Jamie's pages on this species - very good.

I finished school (invigilating IB exams) at 14h30 today and as today was forecast to be the only sunny day of the week I immediately zoomed off to the Rhône Valley to look for cardinals and iolas blues. I arrived on site shortly after 16h00, when it was still very warm, but it was obvious from the state of the bladder senna that iolas was not going to be on the wing yet. Most bushes had at most one or two flowers and there were no hints at all of the bladders.



Nor were there any cardinals flying, though I searched all their favourite spring nectaring spots and the vineyards where I know they breed. It was very windy, and perhaps too late in the day for them, so this does not necessarily mean they are not on the wing.

It was a pleasant trip, though. Here are a few piccies:


(wood whites)


(wall)


(green hairstreak)


(turquoise blue, Adonis blue and Queen of Spain fritillary)


(turquoise blue)


(pair of Provençal short-tailed blues)

Guy

[David M]

Lovely selection of species, Guy, particularly given you missed out on your main targets.

If only we in the UK could be afforded such recompense in similar circumstances!

[Padfield]

Thanks, David.

Here is a short video of the agonisingly slow progress of a white-letter hairstreak caterpillar. I kept at a distance, so he was not aware of my presence, hence the rather shaky quality (and there was nothing I could do about the helicopter in the background!).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zk9W9sV1wlI

Interestingly, he was headed back to a cluster of elm seeds, where he then settled down and stayed:









Wendy has now made the grade into 4th instar:



Stan is still laid up for his transition into 5th. It has to be soon - he has been like that for at least 3 days and probably more.

I watched a female brimstone laying eggs on young alder buckthorn. It was only a tiny sapling, sprung from a previously chopped-down tree. When she had finished, almost every fresh leaf spray had eggs on it:





I will try to keep track of the cats.

There were fresh, woodland Dukes in all parts of the forest today:



This striking caterpillar is a scarlet tiger moth:



Guy

[Padfield]

Iris status update (as much for my own records as an public interest, of which there's probably very little!):

Stan is still laid up for ecdysis (into 5th instar). This is now a minimum of four days he has spent in the prayer posture and probably more. I wonder if his biology senses that he is ahead of the season (due to the sallows coming into leaf almost a month early) and he has dropped into a slower gear:



Wendy was on her normal seat leaf when I passed on the way out but was missing on my return:



At first I thought she had been taken but eventually located her, checking out fresh pastures in her fashionable, new, 4th instar coat:





Mr Mackey has moved leaf sprays for a third time. I think he is now laid up for ecdysis into 5th instar but he's a bit inaccessible now and it's difficult to see:



Mr Garrison is still mid-4th instar:



Timmy has gone awol. Every caterpillar I've found on his branch in the past (low, by a shady path) has gone awol in mid-4th instar and I suspect he, like them, has simply headed up the tree to where I can't see him. But he might be in some happy bird's tummy too ...

Guy

[David M]

Timmy has gone awol. Every caterpillar I've found on his branch in the past (low, by a shady path) has gone awol in mid-4th instar and I suspect he, like them, has simply headed up the tree to where I can't see him. But he might be in some happy bird's tummy too ...

Let's hope not, Guy. I traditionally get rather attached to your annual 'cat' collection, and I hate it when one of them meets a sticky end.

[Padfield]

I hope so too, David, but I don't begrudge the tits their share.

Storms and heavy rain today. I had to take Minnie for her three-yearly rabies injection in the afternoon and teach in the evening, but in between I managed to pass by the woods to see if Stan had progressed to 5th instar. I didn't have my camera with me because I didn't call home first - just got off the bus on the way up the hill and cycled the rest of the way afterwards. But it was worth checking. He had shed his skin and was ready for the final stage in his leaf-bound life:


(iPhone shot of Stan, taken in gloom and rain - and quite a high wind)

His skin is under his tail end. Immediately after this transition the caterpillars look very big-headed. They increase in length greatly during fifth instar but the head and horns stay the same size. Here is a more contextual shot:



If he makes it, he should fly in about a month.

Guy

[Padfield]

This morning, with a very mixed forecast, I set off again for cardinals and Iolas blues, two of Switzeland's rarest butterflies. I know two sites where cardinals nectar in spring, and with cloud building up by the minute it was not obvious I would be able to reach and explore both under clear skies. But by a great stroke of luck, I almost immediately spotted a male at my first site. He didn't hang around, and no others were evident, but I got a few record shots before he zoomed off:





So, they have survived another year!! I was a bit concerned that the very strange weather this year, with an exceptionally warm March followed by an exceptionally cold April and a cloudy, cold May, might have finished them off.They're obviously tougher than that.

I then headed off to my second site, where they are generally more numerous. By the time I got there it had clouded over completely. A swallowtail was happily nectaring on their clovers but there were no cardinals to be seen:



I checked the bladder senna for roosting Iolas blues but there were none of these either, and the bladder senna was still not much in flower. But by another great chance I stumbled across a female Iolas blue just sitting on a leaf, taking in the world:







The poor light made photography difficult but she herself was very obliging. She eventually left her leaf and sat around on rocks before I left her to her own devices:



What a butterfly! Indeed, what a pair of butterflies! You can't beat cardinal and Iolas blue ...

I visited two more sites before heading home again. For a while in the afternoon the sun shone and while I didn't see a huge amount of stuff I did get some enjoyable moments.

There are still plenty of Camberwell beauties around. This one was relatively intact:



This one was more battle-scarred, but in his day he must have been among the most magnificent creatures in the air. How many of us can say that?





A few other piccies:


(Adonis blue)


(turquoise blue)


(safflower skipper)


(first geranium argus of the year)


(dog )

I returned home to thunderstorms and heavy rain.

Guy

[Kip]

what a beautiful female Iolas. Do you think she could have just emerged and you saw her before her first flight?

[bugboy]

A wonderful set of images Guy, one day I shall have to take a trip to your part of the world, nearly everything would be a lifer for me!

[Padfield]

HI Paul. She couldn't have emerged just there because it was some distance from any bladder senna - too far for a caterpillar to crawl. But she was very fresh, as you say, and I suspect this was her first day on the wing.

Thanks Buggy. Yes - you should definitely pay the Alps a visit! Let me know when you do.

For the record, here are my four iris cats today:

Wendy has moved again. I expect her to move higher up the tree before she finishes 4th instar, but for the moment she is still accessible (it took me ages to find her):



Mr Mackey has also moved again. He obviously wasn't properly laid up for ecdysis - nor is he yet - but I expect him to adopt the full prayer posture any day now:



Stan is growing into his 5th instar skin:



That was when I first passed. When I passed again on the way back he was exploring other leaves (for eating, rather than resting):



Finally, here is Mr Garrison:



I haven't been able to locate a single white-letter hairstreak cat in the last three days. Have they already left their feeding leaves (they were full size) and begun looking for good pupating leaves?

Guy

[Butterflysaurus rex]

Can't get enough of your amazing cat photos Guy. Not that there's anything wrong with your splendid butterfly photos either.

Looks like a week of wet windy unsettled weather here in the U.K. Can we borrow your climate for a bit?

Best wishes

James

[Wurzel]

Stunning images Guy, the female Iolas is interestingly marked, very different from the standard blue or brown females of the other blues Good to see Stan doing well, they grow so fast don't they

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Irrespective of whatever weather you experience, Guy, you always pull something special out of the bag.

I hope things clear up for you soon....more especially in a week's time, when I will be in the Pyrenees!

[Goldie M]

You've always some thing really interesting Guy, such lovely Butterflies Goldie

[Padfield]

Thank you for your comments, B Rex, Wurzel, David and Goldie. They are always appreciated.

It was properly sunny today. At lunchtime, the first meadow fritillaries of the year were flitting and gliding over the meadows where I live:



That makes four species of Melitaea on the wing now: spotted fritillary, Nickerl's fritillary, Glanville fritillary and meadow fritillary. I have yet to see heath or knapweed fritillary.

A few days ago (10th May) I posted a photo of four brimstone eggs on an unfurling leaf:



This evening, there were six eggs on the same leaf:



The yellow ones are the orignal four - their relative positions have changed very slightly because the leaf has expanded. The fresh ones are blue.

Mr Mackey had moved yet again - I waste hours looking for him - but is now definitely laid up for ecdysis. This is the classic prayer posture:



He is deep in the shade.

Stan, in contrast, was out in the open:



The next time I passed he was on a different leaf, feeding. I took this shot from a distance:



When I approached a little more closely he turned round and headed back up the leaf:



So I left him. I will doubtless lose track of him before long, when he heads up the tree, but I don't actually want to chase him away.

Wendy and Mr Garrison were fine, though Wendy had again moved. I have never known such active cats. Wendy and Mr Mackey are on a different leaf every day.

Guy

[Padfield]

Iris cat thermoregulation

I pass Wendy twice on my lunchtime dog-walk. On the way out today she was right at the edge of her leaf, taking advantage of the very little shadow available:



By the time I came back the sun was higher - almost overhead - and there was almost no shadow there. Wendy was now standing vertically on her leaf, I presume to minimise the surface area she offered to the sun. She cast virtually no shadow herself:





I checked again this evening, in case she had moved completely and I would have to spend hours more finding her. She was lying down centrally on the leaf, the sun having gone down.

Stan's leaf is already vertical so he is fine in the middle of the day, even though he's out in the open:




(lunchtime walk)

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

Interesting observation,Guy. I didn't know they could overheat like that. Just think, a couple of weeks ago they were being snowed on!

[Padfield]

Purple emperors never lay on bushes in full sun, Buzzard, and though the caterpillars become increasingly thermophile as they grow up they do need some protection in the heat of the day. I'm only speculating about the present behaviour, but it makes sense.

As a rule, I don't disturb my iris protégés at all but today I made exceptions with Wendy and Stan. Wendy had a perfectly formed white thing on her back, which looked like some kind of egg. I took a quick photo - which turned out to be rubbish - then tried to dislodge the white thing with a blade of grass. I couldn't. It was actually stuck onto her. So I gave up, checked Mr Mackey (who lives in a nearby thicket) and then came back to her. The white thing had gone. If she's gone as well tomorrow, having decided she doesn't want to hang around where strange men poke her, I can't blame her. Mr Mackey has graduated to 5th instar.

Stan, for his part, was sporting a tiny, winged passenger:



In case this should be a parasite of some sort, I took another blade of grass and flicked the bug off him. It didn't want to leave but hung around him. Here he is showing some annoyance at my disturbing him while the bug plans its next landing (on the right of the picture).



I waved the bug well away (to Stan's increasing irritation) and moved on to check Mr Garrison, who is now laid up for ecdysis. When I returned to Stan, the bug was back:



Again, I flicked it off him with a blade of grass and shooed it away and again it returned. In this picture it is flying directly in front of him:



I waited until the bug didn't return any more and then left Stan. If he too decides to move off by tomorrow I will understand!



Guy

[Padfield]

Back to winter this morning, with heavy snow falling as I left school at lunchtime. At my home altitude, 250m lower than my school, it was pouring with cold rain. When it weakened, Minnie and I set off for some caterpillar-hunting.

First of all, I was pleased that all four purple emperors were still there. Wendy is now laid up for her final larval skin change, meaning all will be in fifth instar by the date the first one was last year. By all accounts, this is a very early year for emperors and I understand the same is true in the UK. There will be purple in the skies by the middle of June. Here are my four, in reverse order of advancement:

Stan:



Mr Mackey:



Mr Garrison:



Wendy:



I haven't been showing photos of white admiral cats recently because a few weeks ago my most local honeysuckles were cut down, presumably in the interests of tidying up the track. I had time today to do a longer walk through other parts of the forest and found plenty of cats. Interestingly, they are not particularly advanced. Some are really quite small still. Here are a few piccies:









And to show the size of the smaller individuals, here's a picture with my fingers for comparison:



As I came home, the clouds cleared a little:



Guy