Padfield

[Padfield]

Last day of half term and last day of May, so I headed off in the morning to top up my year list with some Valais specialities.

First on my hitlist was Provençal fritillary, Melitaea deione berisalii. This is a very distinctive subspecies, easily separated from similar Melitaea species. Three or four males were flying very locally - it seems it is still early for this butterfly:



Another local species is ilex hairstreak. I saw just one individual, freshly emerged:



Also new for the year were southern white admiral, which was out in quite good numbers, marbled white, suddenly common, and large skipper:


(southern white admiral)


(male marbled white)


(female marbled white)


(large skipper)

Marbled skipper was not new for the year but this was my first photo of the butterfly so far:



Here is a turquoise blue:



I also saw a single northern brown argus, bringing my year list to 92 species at the close of May.

Other species flying today were: Apollo, swallowtail, scarce swallowtail, small white, southern small white, green-veined white, Eastern Bath white, wood white, orange tip, brimstone, Berger's clouded yellow, common blue, Chapman's blue, Adonis blue, little blue, Provençal short-tailed blue, Queen of Spain fritillary, marbled fritillary, Glanville fritillary, comma, small tortoiseshell, speckled wood, wall, large wall, meadow brown, small heath, southen grizzled skipper, safflower skipper and dingy skipper. I'm sure I've missed some out there ... Notably absent were Swiss zephyr blue and purple-shot copper. It is not a particularly early year for many of these valley species.

Guy

[Padfield]

After being away for a week, Wendy returned today, all grown up (this is the 10th day of her final instar). I had just spent 10 minutes searching for her higher up the tree - I do this every time I pass - when suddenly I spotted her back down among the lower branches, actively looking for a new seat leaf:



She took no notice of me as I shot this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVh7hqsG0jg

For about 15 minutes she wandered all over the lower branches. I didn't want to influence her in any way (I also considered the possibility it wasn't Wendy but a more mature caterpillar, looking for somewhere to pupate) so left with Minnie to check on a couple of white admiral caterpillars. When I returned she had chosen her new leaf and seemed settled:



I think, in fact, she is a he. I remember CC mentioning two kidney shaped blue patches that appear in ripe male purple emperor cats. If you're reading this, CC, are these what you mean?



She/he was very photogenic today:





Finally, here is that white admiral caterpillar, still taunting the spider:



Guy

[trevor]

You've just whetted my appetite for about two weeks time, Guy.
I'm relying on Matthew Oates, who is predicting a mid June Purple Emperor emergence this year.

Bring it on !.
Trevor.

[Padfield]

I think that's about right, Trevor. The UK cats have kept pace with the Swiss ones almost day for day this season. The very first will fly before mid-June unless there is a cold spell but the bulk emergence will be during the second half of June. Wendy will not fly until the end of June.

Here is a gentle woodland scene, with Jack Russell and purple emperor cat:



She/he's a fine specimen now:



My spider-taunting white admiral cat has moved to a different part of the plant and begun eating with a vengeance, presumably in anticipation of a long journey to some pupation spot I will never find:



The brimstone cats are growing visibly. I saw three today, all about 1cm long:


(that photo was actually taken yesterday)

Dark green fritillaries and Essex skippers flying in the woods today.

Guy

[Padfield]

Met up with Paul K (Kip) today, who has just arrived in France. We visited some of my Geneva sites, aiming at poplar admiral, large copper, black hairstreak and anything else that chose to turn up.

The poplar admirals didn't put in a show. This was the same site where on 6th June two years ago I saw twelve males - a feat I couldn't replicate last year and perhaps never will. I'll keep trying but I have a feeling that was just exceptional. White admirals were out in force, though. Not up to their peak numbers but ominipresent after the day had warmed up. Here is Paul contemplating one before deciding whether to photograph it:



And here are some of the many we saw during the day:









One of the bonuses at the first site was woodland brown, which was just taking to the wing:



We moved on to my best dispar site. To start with it looked as if we wouldn't see any adults, though I quickly relocated last week's eggs and a caterpillar that had hatched from one of them:







Then at last we saw a single male, which disappeared over a fenced-off area of grass, and a beautifully fresh female:



As far as I'm concerned, the whole day was worth it just for her!

By the time we reached our last site, for black hairstreaks, we had lost the weather. Nevertheless, we saw two, and one stopped long enough for some record shots:



Other species seen today were small white, green-veined white, wood white, black-veined white, common blue, little blue, small copper, brown argus, Queen of Spain fritillary, heath fritillary, violet fritillary, marbled fritillary, comma, red admiral, small tortoiseshell, large tortoiseshell, meadow brown, speckled wood, pearly heath, small heath, grizzled skipper and dingy skipper.


(Queen of Spain)


(Heath fritillary)


(white-tailed little blue!)


(pearly heath)


(for the Minnie-lovers)

Guy

[Wurzel]

More cracking stuff Guy What was up with the Small/Little Blue with the white abdomen tip - was it paint and so possibly part of capture and release study or was?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Looks like Minnie enjoyed a day as spectacular as her human companions!

Large Copper is a butterfly I really want to see, but it is one of those few species that I will have to go out of my way for...ditto Woodland Brown - I've seen it in Austria but never in France, and you've done really well to get such a clear image, as this insect is normally spooked by the sound of footsteps 50 yards away!!

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel. I don't know what's up with the little blue's bottom but I doubt it's part of a marking experiment. The last place you would want to put paint on an insect is the reproductive organs. I suspect it's natural - and it does look quite smart!

David, you'll get your large coppers! You've done pretty well in recent years clocking up those species you'd always wanted to see (like cardinal, for example, in your recent post). The really striking thing for me with the colony where I took those pictures is that it really isn't wetland - not even a bit. Perhaps in this case it is the wintering stages that need the wet. Otherwise, bring on rutilus in paddocks near streams all over the UK ...

It was pouring with rain this morning. A large cherry tree that had been brought low by the May snows was hanging even lower and suddenly I spotted that one branch was covered with large tortoiseshell catkins:





They had completely destroyed the leaves on their branch. Most were absolutely stationary as if lifeless but one or two were actively eating in the rain. They were all fully grown and ready to go off and pupate but I didn't fancy standing around in the rain looking for pupae elsewhere on the tree. On some completely leafless branches there were seemingly dead, earlier instar larvae. Did they die mid-bite or are these empty skins of larvae that moved on?



I'll study all this more carefully when the weather is better.

I checked on Wendy. He has vacated his most recent seat leaf but eaten almost half of it before doing so - meaning, as I mentioned before, that he has gone walkies again rather than been eaten by something:



We needed the rain. May it rain all day then be sunny again!

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

Fantastic sightings, Guy!

On some completely leafless branches there were seemingly dead, earlier instar larvae. Did they die mid-bite or are these empty skins of larvae that moved on?

I'd wager that these are the old skins of earlier-instar larvae. I've come across a similar sight in Greece.

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

I'd wager that these are the old skins of earlier-instar larvae. I've come across a similar sight in Greece.

I hope you're right, Pete. I was impressed by how completely these larvae had stripped the leaves, as well as by the size of the full-grown ones. If the snow and rain had not brought the canopy to the ground I would probably never have spotted them but now I know what to look for I will make a habit of scanning higher up in future years. The whole mass is really quite conspicuous. I was also surprised to see them in cherry, but I have since confirmed this is a foodplant.

Guy

[Padfield]

Spot the cat:



That's Wendy, who is either back at eye level or never really left - it is possible to miss him even when he is right in front of your eyes.

Here he is again:



This is the 14th day of his 5th instar.

A large tortoiseshell cat ...




(different crop of same shot)

... and a brimstone cat, now nearly an inch long:



Another day of much-needed rain.

Guy

[Padfield]

15th May this year:



Today, just 22 days later, inch-long caterpillars were crawling all over the alder buckthorn:

















Many more eggs were laid than just the six I showed above but this is a very good survival rate whatever. And the growth rate is impressive too. It takes purple emperors eight months to reach one inch (OK - so that includes overwintering as a larva).

Talking of which, Wendy entered day 15 of his 5th instar with confidence:



He is probably ten months old.

Finally, a shot of my large tortoieshell cats to show the kind of damage they have inflicted to the cherry tree. Perhaps this will help those searching for evidence of breeding large tortoiseshells in the UK. Remember, these should have been at the top of a tree. Snow in May weighed the tree down and brought the canopy to the ground (though to be fair, I don't know when the eggs were laid - in the valley, large tortoiseshells emerge in late February/early March but in the mountains it is April/May). Somehow, though the tree is broken, enough phloem and xylem must have remained intact to keep the leaves healthy.



Guy

[Padfield]

Reports and marking to be done today but I did them on the train on the way to a new site for in the north of my canton (Vaud). The target was sloe hairstreak, Satyrium acaciae, which I knew on reliable authority to fly there. It turned out to be a lovely site - extensive meadow and blackthorn scrub - and there were indeed lots of acaciae. I arrived at the site before 09h30 and quickly saw my first hairstreak. By 10h30 all butterflies were so mobile in the heat it was difficult to find anything settled long enough for a photo. These are all rather hastily snatched pictures:



This next shot of the same female shows the black abdomen tip, characteristic of the species:



She uses the black brush to conceal freshly laid eggs.





The next one is clearly a male, having a tufty white abdomen tip:







That last one is also a female, though the black brush is not so obvious in this picture.

Those were pretty much the only acaciae photos we (Minnie and I) got from an enjoyable but hot five hours in the sun. By 14h00 Minnie was ready to go home and I had run out of beer! Other species seen during the day were green-veined white, black-veined white, Adonis blue, mazarine blue (my first of the year, and my 100th species of the year), small copper, wall, large wall, meadow brown, marbled white, small heath, pearly heath, violet fritillary, Queen of Spain fritillary, Essex skipper and large skipper. I am certain I saw several ilex hairstreaks, Satyrium ilicis, but none came close enough for a formal identification. Several larger hairstreaks were flying around the top of a tall oak at one place and at another part of the site several passed through checking out only the small oaks. The sloe hairstreaks ignore the oaks, moving from A to be only via blackthorn and privet.

Wendy had left his leaf yesterday morning (day 18 of his 5th instar - so exactly the same day all of them go off to pupate in my experience) and I couldn't relocate him higher up the tree. He will be much easier to find in a few days' time, when he is a chrysalis, dangling beneath a leaf. That is, if he stays in the same tree, which most do. It is a relatively small tree, and not spreading or dense.

Guy

[David M]

This next shot of the same female shows the black abdomen tip, characteristic of the species

Given my recent travails with this species, I shall use this identification advice as a matter of routine going forward, Guy.

Many thanks.

[Padfield]

It's most useful with very tatty individuals, David, where other features are obscured. Then again, as you will have seen, acaciae is actually quite distinct in the field, being visibly small and pale even in flight.

I'm running a mountain challenge this afternoon and decided not to take Minnie this time - it was just a bit too much for her last year. So I took her on a local lunchtime walk, choosing my spot to photograph lesser marbled fritillaries (which were on the wing yesterday but it was too hot and they never stopped even a moment). I got my shots, but as I was turning to home spotted something else buzzing around the meadowsweet:







I saw a violet copper here on my local patch once before, about ten years ago, but it was when hay was being moved around and I though it had got accidentally transported. Clearly they breed here - I just don't go to the right place at the right time (lesser marbled flies as violet copper finishes). I'm very happy with this - it means I should be able to follow the life-cycle in future (or maybe even this year, if I can find some cats).

Here's a lesser marbled fritillary - absolutely fresh:





Guy

[David M]

Beautiful final image of the Lesser Marbled Fritillary, Guy, demonstrating how once seen, it can never be mistaken for its close relative.

Great that you should also find Violet Coppers (albeit tatty).

Hope Minnie wasn't too put out by having been sidelined for once!

[Padfield]

Hope Minnie wasn't too put out by having been sidelined for once!

I was right not to take her, David! The race was in the afternoon, and it was very, very hot! We ran from 525m, near the valley floor, up to 1355m and then did a more or less level stretch back to school, at 1250m. I know my beloved Minnie - she would have suffered!

Today it was even hotter, and it was the first mountain leg of the Tour de Suisse. The cyclists set off from Bern in the heat of the afternoon, coming over the Col de Mosse, down to Aigle in the valley (that must have been a wonderful downhill stretch for them - I've often done it) then up to above Villars-sur-Ollon (where my school is): 143.2 km in total, with two serious climbs. The road took them past my village, Huémoz, where we turned out to watch them cruise by:


(Larry Warbasse, winner of this leg: http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-d ... 4/results/)


(these guys were amazing but were never going to catch him)



Meanwhile, in the forest, those brimstone cats were steadily demolishing the remaining leaves on their alder buckthorn sapling:



They are big, fat cats now:







Woodland browns are flying in the woods and I saw my first Arran brown of the year too.

Guy

[Padfield]

I met up with Paul K again today, at the end of his French holiday, to look for Hungarian gliders in Italy. We stopped on the way to take in Swiss Zephyr blues, which were flying with Escher's blues and freshly emerged rock graylings:


(Swiss zephyr blue)


(Escher's blue)


(rock grayling)

Then up and over the Simplon and into Italy.

We took a detour on the way to the gliders to check for large chequered skipper, seeing one lovely, fresh, utterly bouncy individual, which didn't stop for photos. At the same site were several large fritillaries, including silver-washed, new for the year, and purple-shot coppers, also new (for me) for the year. Here is a pair of great sooty satyrs - I saw my first of this species yesterday and they are already common:



As we passed over the Simplon we saw plenty of Darwin's heaths:



At the glider site there was a big 'vietato l'accesso' sign right where I wanted to go but Paul was game for accessing it by another route, climbing down through the woods. There we stood in the river and watched several beautiful gliders patrol up and down, barely ever stopping. There was one place where they did very occasionally stop. Paul positioned himself there and got a couple of record shots of gliders while I held back and got a couple of record shots of Paul:





A lesser purple emperor, form clytie, circled us much of this time. It stopped briefly near me, perched on my rock with Minnie:



A couple of late, rather tatty but still energetic, Camberwell beauties were holding fort not far away:



17th June - their children will soon be on the wing ...

Here is a heath fritillary enjoying some human sweat (mine) over the river:





It was a lovely place to be but very difficult from the point of view of photographing gliders, not least because of their incessant mobility. On the way back to the station to drop me off, we stopped at another field, also near the river but drier, and discovered there were several there too. They were also extremely mobile, never stopping for more time than it took to focus the camera on them, but I did manage to snatch some rather awful pictures:









It was very hot and at least one of them preferred to hide high in trees, in deep shade:



I think this is a female being bothered by a male:



If photo opportunities were limited, I think Paul still got the feel of this lifer for him and it was a wonderful day.

New species for the year for me were: Hungarian glider, large chequered skipper, purple-shot copper, mountain green-veined white, Darwin's heath, purple-shot copper, idas blue, silver-washed fritillary and rock grayling.

Guy

[David M]

What a day, Guy! Some beautiful butterflies and landscape there. Seeing these makes me even more eager to decamp to the French Alps, but I must wait a little over a week.

[Padfield]

They'll wait, David!

At the top of my local mountain it felt almost springlike today:



The high mountain butterflies are not really up and going yet, though locally clouded Apollos were numerous. Unfortunately, I was there in the afternoon and they were not posing. I was only able to catch a couple of record shots. The only Erebia on the wing at the moment is oeme. This was very common, if also difficult to catch at rest:



In a few weeks there will be a dozen Erebia species on this mountain alone.

Mountain and shepherd's fritillaries are not flying yet. The only frits about at altitude today were Queen of Spain, false heath, Titania's and lots and lots of pearl-bordered, which seemed especially attracted to the bilberry. Of course I checked for aquilonaris - but no, all pearlies. Oh, and loads of marsh fritillaries, if course. Nor are the upland blues on the wing yet - things like glandon, cranberry and alpine argus. But the summer season of skippers has kicked off, with a few carline skippers around:



I probably also saw alpine grizzled skipper but that one didn't hang around.

Water pipits are common around the houses in mountain villages. I think we must have been near this one's nest as he was jumping from house to rock to house and telling us off in no uncertain terms:





I cycled the ridge from Bretaye to Col de la Croix, sometimes carrying Minnie in the backpack and sometimes letting her run (it was very hot), then we enjoyed the 12km descent all the way down to my house. If only all Sundays were like this - not a cloud in the sky!

Guy