Padfield

[Padfield]

One for the connoisseurs ...

Up at 04h45 this morning to meet Vincent Baudraz (of https://lepido.ch/) and go on yet another christi hunt. I try for christi every year and before today have succeeded on four individual occasions in three different years (two in 2013). The normal routine is to spend the entire day on perilous slopes at serious risk to life and limb and see nothing (no christi, at least). This morning seemed set to follow the usual pattern. Here is Vincent prospecting at one or our earlier sites:



Lunchtime passed with no christi still, then finally, at 14h00 almost on the dot, Vincent spotted a female cruising along the track we were following. Somehow, it evaded his expert net and headed in my direction. It darted left - I lunged left - then right and up high over my right shoulder, and with a truly miraculous stroke of luck I leapt up and caught it with a backhand. Soon after, we were both photographing her, before she flew off to continue laying her eggs for the next generation, in two years' time. Soon after that, Vincent spotted a probable male, but that one evaded both of us, then not long after that I caught a second female - smaller, and with reduced markings - for more photos before she too headed off to do her stuff.

Both have some wing damage, doubtless due to diving deep into sheep's fescue, the foodplant, to lay. Here are the two of them, in order of capture:

Female 1


(in her observation box)


(poor underside out of the box)


(first glimpse of the upperside, before up and away ...)

Female 2







We saw plenty else besides, including a remarkable albino false heath fritillary, but I haven't had time to process the photos yet. For christi, I couldn't wait. Things don't get much better than this!

Guy

[Pete Eeles]

One for the connoisseurs ...

Indeed! I've "seen" you embark on this quest for several years now and, to be honest, wish I was with you! Every "connoisseur" of searching out something different and elusive would do well to read your diary!

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thanks, Pete - you'd have enjoyed it! It's a thing worth remembering, that every failed search for something - whether a purple emperor caterpillar, a populi hibernaculum or Erebia christi - just doubles the pleasure when eventually you find it.

A few more piccies from yesterday - most but not all from lower altitudes, as I was one-track minded in christi territory:


(Alpine grayling)


(Escher's blue)


(rock grayling)


(Darwin's heath)


(large wall)


(blue-spot hairstreak - Satyrium no. 5 for the year)

And here's that albino false heath (I think). It was very poorly placed for photos, on a bank, out of reach, behind waving grass, so this is just a record, unfortunately:



Oh - and here's the famous warning in the Laggintal that you can be fined up to CHF 10 000 if you get caught in possession of a butterfly net!



That's why, until yesterday, I'd never actually been to the Laggintal - I couldn't imagine trying to find christi without a net. Being good Swiss citizens, we left our nets locked in the boot of the car while there, but in the end it made no difference as we didn't see the butterfly there.

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

Interesting subject, that. I know it’s a controversial subject, but I have used nets in Europe on occasion and have no problem with them, so long as they are used responsibly, and any local restrictions are respected.

Do you get Alpine Blue near you, Guy?

[Padfield]

Hi Buzzard. Used properly and skilfully, nets are not just harmless but actively good for the butterflies and their habitat. No chasing, no stalking, no dubious records of half-seen species - just swoop, identify (and photograph if desired), release and move on. No habitat trampled and the butterfly inconvenienced usually a few seconds, or at most a few minutes in the case of something like christi, where good photos are desired. It is important not to decapitate flowers or swat the butterflies (!) but skill comes quickly. The problem is, they are also symbolic of a quite different attitude towards butterflies. Although I use my net when necessary, I generally leave it at home - indeed, I think I've only taken it out this year on christi hunts. Many people out enjoying nature find the sight of people with nets ugly and upsetting, for the best reasons, and I don't wish to offend.

Here's a female christi from 2013, happily sunning herself on my specimen box:



She really wasn't upset about it at all!

If others have strong feelings one way or the other, please don't use my diary to vent your feelings, but start a new discussion thread!

Yes, alpine blue (what I call alpine argus) is generally common on high mountains in late June and July, including my local mountains. It's difficult to guarantee on any particular day, but equally, it's difficult to go through a season without seeing a few.

Guy

[Wurzel]

Congratulations on another successful christi hunt Guy , I remember the 2013 image

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel. I'm amazed you remember the image - but I guess I probably effuse every time I see this particular creature!!

I realised on my way back on Monday that I had left my plastic specimen box at the site. That meant another visit was called for, both to prevent plastic pollution and stop some other prospective christi hunter finding it on the ground and putting two and two together. So I decided to revisit the Simplon today, first doing some non-christi sites, then dropping down the south side to retrieve the box.

This is the view looking down on the pass itself, with the giant bird standing proud at the bottom of the picture:



It is still early at this altitude. The place I had intended to pause for a while, where I normally see Cynthia's fritillaries, was still heavily snow-bound:



I managed a few butterflies but the Arnica wasn't in flower and the shepherd's and mountain fritillaries that usually nectar abundantly on it were nowhere to be seen. No moorland clouded yellows either, though a few mountain clouded yellows were drifting around. The only blues I found there were idas, little, cranberry and glandon:


(idas)


(glandon)


(cranberry)

There were amazingly few Erebia about too - a few euryale, a couple of epiphron, a single mnestra and one or two tyndarus. The sites above the Simplon have yet to get going properly.

SO, dropping down to christi territory, I found more flying. Here is a mating pair of alberganus, one of the two commonest Erebia at the site:



The other common Erebia - even commoner than alberganus - was euryale. I left Minnie's backpack on the ground in the sun, in case it would attract christi and within seconds a euryale had landed on it:



At one point there were five there togeter. They also came to Minnie's water bowl:



Other Erebia flying there were melampus, epiphron, pharte and mnestra ... and ...

... christi:





I was very lucky to get those pictures. There was a strong wind, gusting randomly, making the net blow all over the place and lifting butterflies twenty metres in a moment. But patience paid off.

Guy

[Matsukaze]

I have never visited the high mountains. One day...especially if they abound in very small blues!

[Wurzel]

Fantastic finds Guy How did Minnie feel about sharing the water bowl?

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Kip]

fantastic images Guy, I'm resigned to not seeing christi now, but I'm pleased it seems they're maybe having a good season?

[David M]

Haven't checked into your diary for a while, Guy, but doing so tonight has given me a lift. I'm so glad you got your christi and can appreciate the effort that goes into observing it having seen the habitat images!!

[Matsukaze]

I do wonder what kind of optimist first went looking for butterflies in these places.

[Neil Hulme]

Epic stuff, Guy. It makes searching for Mountain Ringlet at Irton Fell look very tame by comparison!
BWs, Neil

[Padfield]

Thank you for your comments and kind words, Matsukaze, Wurzel, Paul, David and Neil. You need to visit the high mountains, Matsukaze! And preferably while you still have the legs and lungs to do them justice ... There are certainly plenty of blues there for you.

I had a less epic but very pleasurable local walk today. The thistles are amazing just now, with silver-washed fritillaries thronging to them in unprecedented numbers:



Among the silver-washed are a few high browns (as well as heath and marbled):



I think this is the first valesina I've seen in these particular woods, though I might be wrong:





As is the wont of this form, she was mostly hanging around in the shade - and on the far side of the bush. She did briefly venture into the sun:



As I returned home I spotted what I took to be a particularly large female purple emperor. She glided and swooped, huge and majestic. But when she stopped, I saw she was Limenitis. Obviously populi flashed through my head - but no, she was definitely camilla. Each time she got up I said out loud, that just can't be camilla!! But there isn't any doubt. Has anyone else seen a white admiral larger than a purple emperor?

These pictures cannot convey her size - she just looks like normal camilla:





Guy

[David M]

It's always wonderful to see so many summer butterflies nectaring like crazy whilst the going is so good. As for the White Admiral, I'm sure that must have given you quite a shock. To be honest, I don't think I've ever seen one Peacock size, let alone Purple Emperor!

[Enthusiast]

I was impressed by the amount of wild strawberries in Laggintal and quite relieved to see the sign saying nothing about picking wild berries!

[Roger Gibbons]

I have never seen an oversize camilla although I have seen quite small ones.

Yesterday I saw something in flight that I thought had to be a Large Tortoiseshell (N. polychloros) on the grounds of size, but when it landed I could see the pale area of the underside and it opened up to reveal itself as a very large Small (sic) Tortoishell.

Maybe there's something in the air.

Roger

[trevor]

On the subject of oversize Butterflies, a couple of weeks back I found a White Admiral ab.
nigrina, which seemed a little larger than normal. And yesterday an exceptionally large,
Large White was found on a thistle. It was the impressive size of this specimen that made
me determined to obtain an image of it.

Very much enjoying your diary,
Trevor.

[Padfield]

Thank you for your various comments on large butterflies, David, Roger and Trevor. Very interesting. This white admiral was certainly a first for me - and it was remarkable how different its flight was, being so much bigger.

Yes - lots of wild strawberries in the Laggintal, Enthusiast. But you didn't say if you caught a glimpse of IT while you were there ...

Yesterday I aborted a potential large heath trip, on the exceptional grounds that the train I should have caught was cancelled. This does not happen a lot in Switzerland!! Today I got up an hour earlier, so if a train was cancelled again I could still get there in time. It wasn't cancelled, but it was delayed by 20 minutes (this does not happen either!!) so I missed the connection anyway. I did get there, though, and after a long, uphill walk to the marsh began looking for this very rare Swiss butterfly. I knew that 12 days ago several were seen and expected to be able to find several today, but in the event I found just one, after an hour and a half of searching. By that time the cloud cover was 100% and I didn't spend much longer there. It was a triumph, as I have never seen large heath in Switzerland, but a shame to come back with pictures of just one individual, deep down in vegetation:



I didn't take many photos, as I was constantly scanning for largish, floppy Satyrids (and there were plenty of very pale, worn ringlets and meadow browns to act as decoys), but here is a lesser marbled fritillary being buzzed by Titania's:



This is a rather past-it purple-edged copper:



And this the compulsory angle on a female Essex skipper:



Guy

[MikeOxon]

Swiss trains cancelled ... delayed ... We're all doomed