The sun did shine so we went off today for black hairstreaks and large coppers.
It was a very hot day. My first site was some 15km away from Geneva station and by the time we got there it was already too late to catch anything sunning itself. I had to pour water onto Minnie's backpack twice during the cycle ride to stop her overheating (I can tell when she's too hot because she puts a paw out of the bag). Black hairstreaks were flying, but mostly disappearing over the back of blackthorn thickets or diving down into them. Here is the only one that stopped long enough for me to get a long zoom on it:
That one is definitely a male, as evidenced by the sex brand in relief in the forewing. Most of the others I saw were females, going low and deep.
At that site the large coppers were not forthcoming - perhaps they had all been stashed away by this watchful shrike:
I don't think these circling black kites (against a backdrop of the Jura) concern themselves with such small fry:
At my next site I looked first in the places where territorial male large coppers hold sway. There were none there. I caught a glimpse of what I took to be a male and followed him for a while but he clearly had no intention of setting up anywhere. I got a record photo, from which I can't even confirm he is male. Later, as I was leaving the site, I saw a female drifting around far from water, seemingly aimlessly and never stopping more than a second or two. I managed a few snatched shots of her:
I didn't think she was looking for sites to lay as she was so far from any wet ground. But then I found at least two and probably three more females who definitely were intent on laying and were equally distant from wet ground:
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2017/dispar28may2017e.jpg)
(I think those two pictures show the same individual)
Here are the goodies they were producing:
The location - a dry field with horses, not very far from a running stream:
I can't confirm the species of
Rumex being used.
Other species new for the year were heath fritillary, knapweed fritillary, marbled fritillary, pearly heath, Reverdin's blue (pretty much over - just a single, very worn, male) and brown argus.
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2017/athalia28may2017a.jpg)
(heath fritillary)
![Image](http://www.guypadfield.com/images2017/argyrognomon28may2017a.jpg)
(Reverdin's blue)
The second brood of violet fritillaries was fresh on the wing:
I think these are late spider orchids:
Guy