Padfield

[Wurzel]

Trains cancelled and delayed? Sounds like Southern Rail have started running Swiss trains If only there was a way to differentiate female Smessex skippers from the top side

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Well done with the Large Heaths, Guy. I don't remember you ever posting images of this species before from la suisse.

This is probably one of the only butterflies commoner in the northern half of the UK than in much of continental Europe.

[Enthusiast]

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 ...

Yes, just once - in the guide book of a fellow local enthusiast who spoke very little English but very kindly directed to the pictures in his book for local delicacies.

[Padfield]

Mike and Wurzel - yes, it is shocking. But trains on the same line were running on time today, so perhaps we can pretend it never happened.

No, I've never seen tullia in Switzerland before - and only once before at all, in France in 2008. The French site was more extensive and the species was relatively common there. The Swiss site was tiny but protected - this is a threatened butterfly here.

Thanks for the clarification, Enthusiast. I must agree, they're easier to find in books than in real life!

I was doing necessary stuff this morning but slipped out in the afternoon to get photos of hyale. The default 'pale' clouded yellow in most of Switzerland, including my region, is alfacariensis, and where this flies it is difficult to be certain if you think you have hyale. My trick is to visit arable areas without resident populations of alfacariensis and with seasonal, harvested clover crops. If you see lots of pale clouded yellows visiting the clover you can be sure they are hyale.

I last visited my chosen field about two weeks ago, I think, when the clover was just coming into flower but no yellows were visiting. Today, it seemed at first I was too late - it had just been harvested:



The next big clover field had been harvested too, but there was an expansive verge - amounting to a field in itself - where plenty of clover was in flower, and it was covered in very active pale clouded yellows and clouded yellows.

Here is a male:



And another:



For a while I only saw males, then at about 16h15 I suddenly started seeing females:



One was obviously laying and I thought I would get some good photos of eggs, but a male found her, wooed her for a while deep in the grass then chased her all over the field. I don't like to chase and trample so I watched them from a distance for a while and when it became clear he had no intention of leaving her I gave up. But here they are down in the grass. She looks much yellower here than in real life - an effect of the light deep in the grass and my camera settings:







Guy

[Wurzel]

Brilliant, stand out from the screen shots of the hyale Guy Those open wing shots are none too shabby either

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Well done for getting those open wing shots in amongst the grass stems, Guy. Interesting to note that you use location as a guide to determining between alfacariensis and hyale.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and David. Yes, ecological clues are important to be confident with hyale and alfacariensis, though as the first three pictures above show, hyale is distinctly pointy-winged.

I'll post a few pictures from today, though I had another trip a couple of days ago I haven't yet had time to write up. Today's was to the Aosta Valley for humedasae - a trip I didn't make last year. When I arrived at the site it looked as if my journey had been in vain, as the whole area was marked out-of-bounds by a very aggressive sign. The sign said there were works going on - but that wasn't true. I could see most of the relevant habitat from various vantage points and there was no evidence of anything going on. I wonder if they were simply protecting it, in a very dry year. Anyway, I didn't trespass and there was no suitable habitat in the other direction, so I chose a quiet place to have a beer nearby, hoping that a stray female would present herself. One did, so I got my token humedasae tick for 2018!





Other interesting species flying today were dusky meadow brown ...



... damon blue ...





(as you can see, by then there was no sun - and by the time I got home it was pouring)

... and this female southern white admiral, who spent a lot of time hanging around (literally) under leaves but didn't seem to lay any eggs:





On the way out I had time to use in Aosta itself, so went hunting for geranium bronzes. In the first town square I checked, where I usually see them, there were no Pelargoniums at all - just dried up baskets where they used to be - and I wondered if some edict had gone round telling people not to encourage this 'pest'. But at two other places in town I found the plants and quickly located the butterflies too:





To close - a statue of King Emmanuel II of Sardinia, later King of Italy (Aosta was once part of the Kingdom of Sardinia). The statue was called 'le roi chasseur' and showed the king with a slain alpine ibex at his feet:



There is some poignancy in this. By the 19th century, when the king lived, the alpine ibex had been hunted almost to extinction and only remained in two small populations, both in the Aosta Valley. The good king is therefore shown having killed one of the last remaining of its species in the world. However, the same century saw protection put in place for the animal (by the good king, so he could carry on hunting them?) and indeed it was reintroduced to the rest of the Alps from the two Aosta populations. Every alpine ibex alive today is a direct descendent of the Aosta animals. There is apparently very little genetic variation in the species now.

Here are a couple of ibex I photographed in 2010, showing what an amazing (and suicidally insane) animal was nearly lost to the world:



Guy

[Wurzel]

A year tick whilst having a beer, you've really got this butterflying lark down pat Guy Love the Damon Blue images

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Padfield]

A year tick whilst having a beer, you've really got this butterflying lark down pat Guy ...

This was, I should explain, beer I had brought with me (as I always do). Humedasae didn't actually turn up at a roadside bar for my pleasure!

Which reminds me - I forgot any pictures of Minnie. While I drank beer, she lounged in the shade (her water bowl is hidden in this picture, but of course it was there!):



I can't show the view in the other direction because it would give away exactly where I was ...

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

Interesting that all the Geranium Bronze I have seen in the Alps use ivy-leaf geraniums, as they are in your picture, rather than ordinary ones. Behind the statue of King Emmanuel are some rather healthy looking conker trees, do you get the horse-chestnut leaf miner moth in CH, Guy?

[William]

Wonderful stuff Guy - brings back happy memories from last year, an enigmatic butterfly, in a truly stunning place!

Cheers,

Will

[David M]

Lovely reportage again, Guy. I almost feel I'm there with you sometimes (I'm sure it must be the habitat shots you embellish your reports with).

[Padfield]

Hi Buzzard. I'm not very good on house/ornamental plants and hadn't really thought about what species the geranium bronzes were associated with. It looks as if you're right - but I can't generalise because this is the only place in the Alps I've seen this butterfly. I've often looked in my part of Switzerland, where they lilke their Pelargoniums, but never found any. As for the horse chestnuts - this is not a common tree here and again I can't consciously say whether I've seen leaf miners on it. But I'll keep your observations in mind!

Hi William. I remember you passing through the Aosta Valley some years ago without calling in for humedasae, then I think I recall you reporting seeing them. I guess that was last year - but I can't seem to track down your pictures. You're right - it is enigmatic, like all the anomalous blues - and also increasingly rare: http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/17941/0.

Hi David. More habitat pictures to come, from my trip a few days ago. But for now, here's the first of a fresh new batch of iris cats. Meet Peter Griffin:





Yes - this season it's Family Guy.

I think Peter was born this morning. First, he's tiny; secondly, there's no evidence of nibbling on his leaf yet; and thirdly, when I first saw him he was heading down the leaf and turned round while I was watching. I think he might only just have found his place.

Guy

[essexbuzzard]

The next generation has started! You’re right, that is tiny-well done for finding him.

[David M]

..But for now, here's the first of a fresh new batch of iris cats. Meet Peter Griffin:

That time of year already? Good luck with the 'Family Guys', Guy.

[bugboy]

I've been keeping my eyes peeled for eggs and babies in the spot where I found young Padfield a few months back. No luck as yet bit I shall keep trying

[Padfield]

Thank you, Buzzard, David and Buggy.

The new season has indeed begun. This is probably as good a time as any to announce that I won’t be able to follow these tiny people through to their big days. In a couple of weeks I will be relocating to Suffolk, to help my father manage following the death of my mother in March. That is also why I have been somewhat quiet of late - there is a lot to do to extricate oneself from half a lifetime in Switzerland! I will obviously retain my Swiss nationality and am free to live and work here without restriction, but for the foreseeable future I will be based in the UK.

This does not, of course, stop me enjoying these new, young lives - all things are transient! Yesterday I checked in on Peter, to discover he was fit and well and had begun nibbling the edges of his leaf:



Not far away, Lois was already 2nd instar! This is amazingly early. The eggs don’t normally hatch until August:



And further along the track I quickly located Brian, still first instar:



I didn’t have time to spend long looking - yesterday was mostly devoted to admin work for leaving. I suspect there are very good numbers of caterpillars around in the woods. They have a long and dangerous road ahead of them, though - 11 months being a caterpillar is a hazardous business.

Today I’m on a mission much further afield, to see if I can find one of just two remaining Swiss butterflies I’ve yet to see. More tomorrow ...

Guy

[trevor]

I am sure you will be welcomed home by everyone on here.
I am also sure that we will all miss the images of some of the more exotic ( to us )
species that you have seen on a regular basis in Switzerland.

Best wishes,
Trevor.

[Wurzel]

I echo Trevors' sentiments entirely, all the best with helping out your dad.

Have a goodun

Wurzel

ps On the plus side at least now you can come to the Winter Social and I'll stand you a pint

[Kip]

Wow Guy... you must have a wild mix of feelings about your relocation. I guess a meet up in the UK would be possible, though sounds like you will be busy and a bit restricted... good luck!