Padfield

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel. In my head I call it minimus anyway - I haven't thought in English names for years!

I think Satsuma is a boy, as I think his testes are visible in this picture from above:



They are also visible in this rainy picture:



I'll try to get pictures in better light tomorrow.

Guy

[David M]

Is that the pale, yellowish patch two thirds of the way down the body, Guy?

[Padfield]

Is that the pale, yellowish patch two thirds of the way down the body, Guy?

I think so, David. In fact, they were less visible in the better light of day today, though I still think that is what they are:





This caterpillar, Satsuma, is now the only one I can find in the garden. Egg-lay was high and mortality was high. He is in his 5th and final instar and now over 3 cm long:



The deep green underside with a sharp boundary to a pale upperside perfectly matches the light off the angled fruit bodies of garlic mustard:



Guy

[David M]

Thanks, Guy. That's very interesting. Hopefully Satsuma will go on to pupate.

[Padfield]

Thanks, Guy. That's very interesting. Hopefully Satsuma will go on to pupate.

I don't think I'll know, David. He lived next to the lawn, and as the lawn was to be mown today I shored up his plant last night to stop it trailing and getting caught in the mower. He was still there in the morning, before the mowing, but gone afterwards.

During Minnie's afternoon walk we revisited the best of the three green hairstreak sites I've found this year. When I first found them there, on 14th May, they were beautifully fresh and congregating on broom. By the end of May they had retreated to the hawthorn bushes, which were then in full flower. Now that is over but I still saw about half a dozen, tumbling and sparring over a young sweet chestnut. I couldn't get close, but a few shots on maximum zoom showed they were no longer in the bloom of spring - unsurprisingly on the summer solstice:









Lots of painted ladies about now, and suddenly meadow browns everywhere too.

Guy

[Padfield]

This afternoon I headed off to the coastal heaths to look for silver-studded blues. At first, I wandered a long way over the heather without seeing any - indeed, without seeing any butterflies at all - but then something caught my eye in the ling. It was a dead silver-stud, attended by a spider:



Sad news for the blue but it meant, at least, I was in the right place. There followed another, this time alive, not far away ...



... and then many more, males and females:









Some had very narrow borders, recalling idas blue:



Others had broad borders, especially on the hindwings:



A few were rather worn, suggesting they had been on the wing a while:



Silver-studded blue is a rare resident in Suffolk. In my youth it was commoner but its habitat, the sandling heaths, has been greatly encroached upon by development over the last thirty odd years. My local hunting ground, near Martlesham (which is not where I went today), has been almost completely built over and is now reduced to an orphaned nature reserve where once there was wilderness.

Guy

[kevling]

Hi Guy,

Lovely photos of the Silver Studded Blues. They certainly are a treat in Suffolk and need our protection.
I agree with how Martlesham has changed. I work there and will be taking to the heath nearby during lunch breaks this week hoping for one or two. In previous summers I have seen them at the far end of the old runway (Foxhall End).

Regards
Kev

[Wurzel]

Great to see the old timer Greenstreak Guy Lovely set of Silver-studs, another species to make a visit for - it's a hard life this butetrflying

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those Greenstreaks certainly have a lengthy flight period, Guy. You'd think they'd die young with all the fighting they do!

Beautiful SSBs. It's always a striking contrast of colours when they nectar on the heather.

Good luck with finding Satsuma again following the lawn cutting.

[Padfield]

HI Kev. Yes, it's tragic what has happened to Martlesham. I used to get lost on the heath and hope I could find my way back to the bike. Now it's difficult even to lose sight of the bike, so tiny is what remains of the place. I hope a few silver-studs still fly there.

HI Wurzel. Almost over for the year, those greenies, but I've seen enough activity to feel confident there'll be some next year too!

I haven't delved into the undergrowth to find Satsuma yet, David. I thought I should give him time to find a place, pupate and get the pupal case properly hard.

No time to get out today, but I was very happy that a female purple hairstreak, my first of the year, literally dropped into the garden (from the spreading oak canopy above). She was very inaccessibly placed, high in ivy covering our plum tree, but that's what super-zooms are for:





Guy

[NickMorgan]

I am sorry to read about Satsuma Guy. It is always sad when a caterpillar you have been following disappears. I notice that there are a lot fewer Orange Tip caterpillars on our Garlic Mustard than there were a few weeks ago. The several next boxes full of Blue Tits probably don't help!
I had a Comma caterpillar on some nettles in a pot, but sadly I found it lifeless lying on the soil last week. I then found a spider on the leaf it had been on and wonder if the spider had given it a bite. I also notice that most Garlic Mustard seed heads have spiders on them.
I am hoping that the five broods of Small Tortoiseshell caterpillars I found last weekend will still be there this weekend after the heavy rain showers we experienced. It's a tough life being a caterpillar!
I love the Silver-studded Blues you have seen. I have only ever seen them in the Sierra Nevada, where there are also Idas Blues. I find them very variable and the black border isn't consistent. I do wonder if I have managed to ID mine correctly! I have noticed that some of them seam to have a cleaner appearance on the underside and those individuals also tend to have larger silver studs. These seem consistent with what is shown as Idas Blues in the Sierra Nevada book.

[Wurzel]

Crickey Guy - it must be great for a Purp to just drop in I normally have to get up early or get neck strain

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those are pretty sharp images for a zoom, Guy.

No mistaking what it is!

This is a species I really struggle with as it's not common round my way and they usually remain in the canopy of tall trees.

[Padfield]

Hi Nick. Satsuma might be fine - I’ll have to wait and see. The reality is, of course, that most caterpillars don’t make it for one reason or another. I know spiders are one of those reasons. I’ve seen them taking white admiral caterpillars and seen the presumed consequences of them on purple emperors. And yes, the borders on silver-studded blues are very variable. Professional entomologists take specimens to establish the distribution of Plebejus species, but like you I imagine, I’m not prepared to do that myself.

Thanks Wurzel. Yes, it’s great to have purple hairstreaks drop in like that. It’s also wonderful to watch them dancing in the canopy, though ...

Hi David. In hot weather, purple hairstreaks will take minerals like blues. I don’t know if it’s hot enough in Wales for them to do this though!

I flew back to Switzerland yesterday for our school Graduation today. Between post-Graduation drinkies and drinkies with the Maths Department later, I had a couple of hours to run down to the woods where I have spent so many hours with Minnie. It’s hot here - 30 degrees in the woods this afternoon - and most butterflies were wisely hiding in shade somewhere but I enjoyed the brief excursion. Butterflies seen included scarce swallowtail (that was actually flying outside the tent at Graduation), chequered skipper, large skipper, small white, large white, green-veined white, wood white, clouded yellow, common blue, silver-studded blue, Provençal short-tailed blue, silver-washed fritillary, dark green fritillary, high brown fritillary, Niobe fritillary, cardinal (amazingly - I’ve never confirmed it in these woods before though I’ve seen it at this time of year in nearby clover meadows), painted lady, meadow brown, ringlet and woodland brown. I’ve probably missed a few out but it’s late and I want to get to bed for an early start tomorrow.

I took very few photos, as I was literally running, but here are a handful:


(Lesser marbled fritillary)


(marbled fritillary)


(chequered skipper)


(Provençal short-tailed blue)

Guy

[Wurzel]

This is a much more familiar looking post Guy Love the look of the LBFrit

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

I bet that brief outing was positively cathartic for you, Guy! Nice to see a few 'exotics' back on your PD.

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and David. Yes, it’s wonderful to be back, if only for a short time!

Yesterday I went up my local mountain. Things are late by comparison with a normal year - certainly a normal, recent year. For example, violet coppers were still numerous and some even fresh, even though it was the tail end of June. There were no shepherd’s or mountain fritillaries, no cranberry blues and very few dewy ringlets - the main Erebia being oeme, which was abundant. I’ve little time to write full reports, but here are a few pictures, provisionally processed on the iPad. I’ll begin with the birds, as it was so lovely to see mountain species atop every tree!


(ring ouzel)


(alpine accentor)


(water pipit)


(water pipit)


(bright-eyed ringlet)


(alpine heath)


(geranium argus)


(common blue)


(violet copper)


(violet copper)


(marsh fritillary - glaciegenita/merope)


(Apollo)


(large blue laying)


(the egg she laid, deep in the flowerhead)


(mazarine blue, with silver-stud behind)


(Adonis blue)

Up into less local mountains today for Asian fritillary.

Guy

[MikeOxon]

Your joy at being back in the mountains come through vividly, Guy.

[Jack Harrison]

As always, excellent photos Guy.

I was pleased with myself for correctly identifying Ring Ouzel, Apollo, Marsh Frit and even Violet Copper. But the Adonis Blue puzzles me. Yes, the black veins do extend to the wing margins but the wing colour is very much Common Blue. I am not questioning your i/d Guy but is that normal colour for a Swiss Adonis?

Jack

[Matsukaze]

Looks like we just missed each other Guy - we were staying in Aosta for a couple of days and ventured into Switzerland on the Friday, getting almost as far as Orcières before deciding not to risk the heat in the valley. There were plenty of butterflies to be seen along the length of the road to the pass, many of which were new to me and it will be some long while before I have worked out what they all are...