Padfield

[Padfield]

I'm glad you liked the tortoiseshell pictures, Trevor.

Today was sunny again and more tortoiseshells were on the wing in the valley. Because of the time change and because I had to be back early, I arrived at my site while it was still cold but there were a couple of large tortoiseshells there to greet me:



This species is always common in spring but my impression is that it thrived particularly well this winter.

As I continued my walk, small tortoiseshells and brimstones joined the large tortoiseshells. This couple were sharing one of the very few dandelions:



Just one sallow was in yellow flower ...



... but that was enough to attract peacocks, small tortoiseshells and large tortoiseshells:







There were no commas, surprisingly.

Here is Minnie. You can see how wintry things still are:



In the sky over the cliff, ravens flew in pairs ...



.. and a few buzzards passed over:



I began walking/cycling back at about 12h45, before which I only saw hibernators among the butterflies. Then suddenly a couple of Bath whites came spinning in, one of which paused a moment to nectar on speedwell:



Just before catching the train, I found another patch of dandelions where the occasional Bath white and a couple of small whites were briefly stopping before zooming on to look for females. Here is a small white:



It is beginning ...!

Guy

[David M]

Many thanks for taking time out to post those uplifting images, Guy, given the circumstances.

I'm sure your little trek out with Minnie was quite cathartic.

Best wishes,

David

[trevor]

Exquisite images of the Sallow visitors, especially the Small Tortoiseshell.

[Andrew555]

Some beautiful sights there Guy.

[Wurzel]

Great sightings there Guy especially the Bath White

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Goldie M]

Love the Bath White shot Guy, I'd love to see one. Goldie

[Padfield]

Thank you for your comments, David, Trevor, Andrew, Wurzel and Goldie.

A very mixed day today, weatherwise. In the morning, under overcast skies, I attached the few white-letter hairstreak eggs I was able to save after Storm Eleanor back onto wych elm branches, as I will be away when they should be hatching. I fear most are not viable, but this one seemed perfect still:



On my way back from the forest I photographed some more Easter eggs:





I had to drop Minnie at the kennels in the afternoon, so took her for a nice long walk in the valley first. There, there were moments of sun, though also a strong wind:



A single orange tip was my first for the year:



Male and female brimstones were common:



Here is a couple in flight:



As always, lots of large tortoiseshells, now mostly looking very tatty:



This one is less so - one of very few in such good nick:



No sun by that stage, though ...

Here is a small tortoiseshell:



And here a dog:



Other species seen were small white, (Eastern) Bath white and peacock. No green hairstreaks or grizzled skippers yet, though I cycled back through their hotspots. Admittedly, the sun had gone in by then.

After getting the tram back up to Villars, I cycled back home in falling snow. Bitterly cold on the hands and forehead and not so good for visibility either!

Guy

[Wurzel]

Those Easter Eggs are much better for your health Guy Lovely Orange-tip it still seems like an age until we'll see them over here, the current band of dire weather continues, anyone would think it's the school holidays That isn't just a dog that's one very contented looking dog

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[essexbuzzard]

Some wonderfully uplifting images there, Guy. Hopefully the sightings were uplifting for you too.

[David M]

It's amazing how it can be so cold in your part of Europe yet you've encountered Orange Tips at least a fortnight before any of us will!!

The landscape still looks austere and wintry.

[Andrew555]

Lovely images Guy, and Minnie not the least.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel, Buzzard, David and Andrew.

I've been at home in Suffolk a few days now. Today was the first sunny one and despite quite a strong wind (and sometimes dense, passing clouds) a peacock and a comma put in an appearance in the garden:





It's that time of year, when they're awake and just have to grab whatever opportunities they can!

Guy

[Wurzel]

Good to see that you can entice the butterflies out even here in the U.K. Guy All the best.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

It's not just the butterflies grabbing opportunities where they can, Guy, it's we humans too! Yes, we're now in April and nature has its own rhythm, and we must respect this and get out and enjoy it on those seemingly rare occasions when everything is aligned.

I'm hopeful that a corner has been turned in this dire early spring period. I would expect there to now be butterflies whenever temperatures reach 8c and there is sunshine. There are plenty of spring plants around and day length is immutable, so it pays to persevere at this time of year!

Well done with your home-sprung sightings!

[Padfield]

Thank you Wurzel and David.

My mother's funeral, which I had the privilege of leading, was on Tuesday - over a month after her death but the first date available. I spent that evening in Stansted Airport and flew back to Switzerland on the first flight on Wednesday, in time to teach on Wednesday afternoon. I hadn't slept at all and so was in quite a dizzy state! On Thursday - yesterday - our school hosted a nationwide maths competition and so I didn't get a chance to look for any butterflies until today, my day off. That said, I did take Minnie for a walk yesterday, seeing my first wood whites of the year and finding these brimstone eggs:



I am teaching a single lesson later today, so this write-up is hasty. Suffice to say it was a gloriously sunny day and in the time I had available I found 24 species on the wing. Many things are not flying yet that are usually up and about before the end of March (no rosy grizzled skippers, for example) but it is clear the year is finally getting under way. My full species list was: swallowtail (a single individual), scarce swallowtails (three or four), small white (common), green-veined white (common), wood white (common), eastern Bath white (common), orange tip (very common), brimstone (common), Berger’s clouded yellow (quite common), Chapman’s blue (a single male), baton blue (a single male), holly blue (common), green hairstreak (quite common), small tortoiseshell (a few), large tortoiseshell (three, I think), Camberwell beauty (at least half a dozen at a single site), comma (several), peacock (a few), violet fritillary (locally common), Queen of Spain fritillary (quite a few), small heath (locally quite a few), speckled wood (a few), southern grizzled skipper (two), dingy skipper (a handful).

Here are a few pictures, before I prepare for the lesson:


(Camberwell beauty)


(baton blue)


(southern grizzled skipper)


(green hairstreak)


(small heath)


(scarce swallowtail lurking in the grass - the other two or three I saw didn't stop at all)

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

Love the Camberwell beauty image, Guy. I think all your pictures are great of course, but that one, showing the context and habitat, is excellent.

[bugboy]

I don't know what it is about them but I almost go weak at the knees whenever I see a photo of a Camberwell Beauty

[Padfield]

Thank you, Buzzard and Buggy.

What makes me go weak at the knees is seeing Camberwell beauty on my home patch, as I did this morning. I think it was a female, as it was hanging around sallows and making no obvious attempt to defend a territory. Unfortunately, she was a long way away - binocular distance - and I couldn't observe exactly what she was doing. For a while I thought she was laying eggs. But in the end I realised she was only settling on ash and she was clearly taking some kind of honeydew from the buds.

These are awful pictures, because full zoom from a great distance and very heavily cropped, but they record the event:





More good news on the local front was that at least one of the white-letter hairstreak eggs I saved from storm Eleanor has survived to produce a caterpillar. This is the egg when I attached the twig on 30th March:



There were no other eggs on that spray.

This is the empty egg on 19th April:



I couldn't find the caterpillar that day, but I didn't have long to look. I found him today (these pictures taken from the other side of the twig):







The brown hairstreak eggs have not hatched - there are no leaves on the blackthorn yet:



Some white admiral caterpillars are up and about. This one is still very near its hibernaculum:



This one is still in bed, even though the leaves are full now. He might be dead:





I couldn't find any purple emperor caterpillars, disappointingly. There is time. They definitely had a rough autumn though, with all those I was following into the winter dying before hibernation.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Lovely set of images from one post back Guy - that Baton Blue and Camberwell - lush I'm hoping to pick up Scarce Swallowtail this summer when I'm in the Dordogne As for your 'heavily zoomed' Camberwell - it's still a million times better than the single image I've got

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

I love how you talk about a 'hasty' narrative, Guy, before going on to regale us with details of two dozen species that were on the wing!

The antiopa image is just otherworldly. In fact, I reckon that's what I might expect to see if I were in heaven and given a wish for a day.

Must be great to have heaven on your doorstep.