Pauline

[Pauline]

Thank you for your kind words Andrew. I'm always learning stuff from folk on this site which is what keeps the hobby so fresh and interesting

Hope you're feeling a bit better today Goldie. I'm pleased you liked the Cuckoo shots. Frustratingly, I have to wait for more aviary bits so it will be this weekend - hopefully.

I have searched long and hard for about 4 years now looking for a PE larva. This year I stepped up the search – The Straits, Abbots Wood, Bramshott, Chiddingfold Forest and today for my last attempt this season I thought I would go to Bookham Common. I took photos of many, many different cats and today I even resorted to taking shots of leaves with feeding damage which I had intended to post tonight in an effort to find out where I was going wrong.

In his diary Buggy had invited me to find some BH cats and I quickly found 4, marking 2 locations so I could direct him to them. I was surprised at how well developed they were:

I was going back through the gate, returning to the car park, as Buggy was entering. It was a real delight to meet you at last Buggy . Buggy kindly gave me a tour of part of this lovely area that he is so familiar with and that included his amazing find of a PE cat. Of course I wanted to know all the details: how he’d come across it, how he felt about it etc etc. I was just so excited and felt really very privileged to be shown such a special find. Naturally I had to take shots from every conceivable angle so I’m not going to apologise for the number of similar shots – for me this could well be a once in a lifetime event although it has spurred me on to renew my efforts to find another:

and in context:

I even suggested to Buggy that he should consider camping out to protect it and monitor it now that it is in its final instar .

Before I had time to recover Buggy took me on to show me my first ever wild Purple Hairstreak larva. Having reared them in the past it was my intention to visit Browndown quite soon in an attempt to see just this:

I should mention that Buggy also showed me a BH larva from one of the eggs he rescued. I wish I had taken a photo as it was quite tiny compared to the ones I had found earlier. Suffice to say that this has been quite some day which will certainly go down as one of my highlights of the season so thank you again Buggy.

[MrSp0ck]

Great to see you got your PE larva pictures. I did similar bumping into Greenie today, and was able to show him the Brown Hairstreak larvae, we found 5 in all, 3 at Farleigh Dean Crescent, that were also well advanced, and 2 smaller ones at another part of the site. It seems that Bookham and our site is ahead of others re BH, and they may be flying at the end of June at this rate. We checked the 7 BH eggs we found in Kent, but no larvae were seen although they had hatched ok.

Another WLH larva at Chapel Bank has turned brown and spun its girdle, so again will be flying in early-mid June.

[bugboy]

Nice pictures Pauline, your camera coped better in the poor light than mine from the looks of things. Nice to finally meet although you're lucky I decided to go today, you might still be wandering around now otherwise

[millerd]

Brilliant photos, Pauline. The camouflage displayed by all three of those larvae is amazing - the PE and BH look just like the leaves they sit on (and eat!) and the PH is extraordinarily like an oak leaf bud, with those overlapping scales.

Dave

[essexbuzzard]

Sooo jealous of that Purple emperor caterpillar!

[Pauline]

Kind of you to comment Mark but I reckon all the credit has to go to Buggy - guess I owe him big time now

Cheers Dave - Camouflage fascinates me and from my rearing activities I can appreciate how good they are at it and it certainly helps when looking for the wild critters

If we meet again Paul please don't leave me until you've seen me safely into my car Thank you again.

Thanks Martin, it was incredibly exciting - sounds like it's all happening in your neck of the woods too Please do keep us informed of the Glanville activity there and say hello to Greenie from me

[Pauline]

I thought hard about your hill Wurzel (and thank you for keeping me informed) but decided that for this year it is just a step too far tho I would really love to pay it a visit. Instead, a few shots from the Eastern Clearing which I think is looking so much better this year:

You've probably got much better than this Wurzel but never let it be said that I don't think about you

Still rubbish at the action shots :

[Padfield]

Great pictures of my namesake, Pauline! And of all the other butterflies and larvae, of course.

I'm quite sure you will find many more purple emperor cats yourself now. Start looking for the eggs in late July - this is (logically) the most numerous stage and they are quite conspicuous. I actually think there are few greater thrills than seeing a newly hatched caterpillar perched proudly in the tip of a sallow leaf.

Guy

[Pauline]

Cheers Guy. I really appreciate the advice and shall certainly give it a go. I have only ever seen 2 female PE and had been previously told that they lay in inaccessible places. Nevertheless, Buggy has given my motivation a massive boost and I shall continue to look for all stages.

Yesterday it was a sheer pleasure to stand alone in a relatively small area surrounded only by butterflies. I had the venue entirely to myself apart from perhaps 40-50 PBF (maybe many more) which, like me, were enjoying the sunshine. Along the ditch area perhaps a dozen or more females were looking for egg-laying sites and not wanting to disturb them I just enjoyed the view:

... and early stages from previous visits:

[Goldie M]

Great shots once again Pauline, Lovely Marshie's and Pearls, Goldie

[David M]

Breathtaking stuff, Pauline. I wasn't sure how you could make your PD appreciably better than it already was but you've gone and done it with those Padfieldesque PE cat images. That's not to say the other early stages are less deserving....it's just that the PE is the Emperor in all its stages.

Nice Marsh Frits too....

...he says almost as a token postscript

[Wurzel]

Great to hear that the Pearls are doing well in the Eastern Clearing Pauline - 30-40 is great and it seems that the chopping has paid off Very nice set of Marshies, I reckon you know which one is my favourite

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Great news that the Chequered Skipper is being re-introduced to England - 50 from Belgium being released into Northamptonshire (Rockingham Forest) later today . A species I'd definitely like to see.

Loving your comment and your sense of humour David - you do make me smile Your kind words are very much appreciated.

Cheers Wurzel - I was a little surprised not to see the Duke as I can usually spot at least one on each visit.

[Pauline]

Where do I start???? This is Belle when she was much younger:

She grew into a fine hen but some years on she is quite poorly and she is the reason why my recent outings have to be L&B (Local and brief ). She has fluid accumulating in the body cavity which could be due to heart disease, egg peritonitis or a host of other things. I am giving her antibiotics via a gavage tube but this is really a long shot and she only has until Saturday to show some improvement. Given the necessary vet visits I didn't get out (to Noar Hill) until yesterday afternoon, the intention being to check up on the little ones. First up were the Brimstones with many visible in diffent stages:

Next it was on to the BH larva. I am astonished at how many of these I am finding this year and how easy it is - given that I have only ever found one in the past. It has been difficult to track individuals. I have been paying particular attention to about 6 bushes (well, twigs really) across the site. What I have found is this:

a) one bush standing alone but about 12" from the next one had 2 larva on it but not now. Either they have been predated or the larva have moved, indicating perhaps that they are more mobile in the early stages in the wild than in captivity.

b) another bush holding 2 well developed larva now only has 1 small larva on it; either the large larva have been predated, have moved or have gone on to pupate (too early surely?). Either way they couldn't have shrunk so the small larva which has replaced them seems to indicate without a doubt that these insects are more mobile in the wild than in captivity perhaps because of the threat of predators.

I know butterflies can be caught and marked for monitoring exercises. How I would love to be able to mark these larva to get a better understanding of what is happening. A few shots:

Whilst looking for the BH I came across this egg on the back of a blackthorn leaf and wondered if anyone can put a name to it?

Whilst carrying out this monitoring - and it has to be said it is definitely a great deal easier doing it from home - I noticed a GH egg-laying and then resting up:

Ironically I was looking for previously laid eggs and it wasn't until I got home that I realised I had in fact seen one of the larva, just to the right of the hatched egg:

For anyone interested this is the typical feeding damage I would expect to see from a GH larva at these early stages:

Just to end this post (tho not the visit) I was aware that there were several Small Blues fluttering round next to me. I grabbed a few shots as it is great to see them back at Noar Hill in better numbers than I've seen for many years:

[Pauline]

OK! Back again, having managed to grab some lunch which is a novelty in itself these days I need to catch up on the Dukes. In particular I have been watching a couple of eggs and I guess the photos tell their own story When I visited yesterday afternoon it was obvious there were changes in these eggs. This shot was taken at 14.48:

I kept an eye on them:

15.10pm

15.56pm

but then I had to leave for another vet appointment. I remembered some years ago that Pete had 'camped out' on Noar Hill to watch Dukes hatching but I couldn't remember how long it took. Having returned from a long vet session I decided to return to Noar Hill. I was a little apprehensive going at dusk - some might remember I had an encounter a few years ago that was a little unnerving and I won't bore you with my train of thought that convinced me to keep going. The photo I got at about 8.30 was a waste of time as it was way too dark but I'll include it anyway:

At least it showed the eggs hadn't hatched. 8.30am this morning I was back there - did I say it is much easier to rear them??? It was overcast, misty and rainingbut with the recent BH in mind which had hatched overnight I wasn't sure what I would find. They hadn't yet hatched!!!:

I hung around for an hour or so but still no change and the weather was worsening.

Perhaps I'll get back there later.

I did see an unusual fly which I don't recall seeing before - ideas Buggy??

and checked the Orange Tips - some were huge and others were just little tiddlers

[Wurzel]

Just a stab in the dark but Xyphosia miliaria for the unusual fly? Though I'm not happy about the eye colour

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Best of luck with Belle the chicken, Pauline. I presume she's a 'bluebell' breed (although ours don't have brown necks)?

[Pauline]

Spot on David- at least that's what she was sold as but don't know what's going on with the brown feathers. She's a sweet, tame, friendly hen tho' and I'll be very sad (as will her Cockerel) if she doesn't make it. A photo of her from this morning:

Thanks for that potential ID Wurzel. I've checked it out and altho' it looks similar I don't think it is quite the same - perhaps closely related???

[Pauline]

A sick pigeon is keeping me here today with another vet visit scheduled for later Given the circumstances thought I'd post a few of the (hundreds of) critters I found when searching for PE larva:

I seem to remember this is a Lackey moth larva but can't for the life of me remember the name of this moth :

I assume this is some sort of Shield bug but not one I've come across:

A few more larva (which may be sawfly for all I know):

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, I found a tiny green caterpillar on Jim's shirt when we got back from a visit to Hall-Lee=Brook , I wasn't sure what it was but I placed it onto some Nettles, (I keep a few right at the back of the Garden) I did that last year about this time with one I found in the Garden and with all the plants I've got out there I think they should find some thing to live on.
Hope your hen is okay Pauline, you've lost a few animals lately. How's the Budgies doing Goldie