Pauline

[Goldie M]

Hi! Pauline, love your shots of the Painted Lady but I like the Clouded yellow on the Daisy best the back ground and fore ground fit's it perfectly, if you know what I mean? Goldie

[Wurzel]

Cracking set of shots Pauline - fantastic Cloudy and Painted Ladies I'm not sure about the male Wasp Spider as they're quite spindly and have a longer and less rotund abdomen than the one you've got images of

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Hi! Pauline, love your shots of the Painted Lady but I like the Clouded yellow on the Daisy best..

Agreed. There's something rather attractive seeing a yellow butterfly on a yellow flower. Nice Painted Ladies too.

[Pauline]

Cheers M - I'll be in touch soon

You're probably right Wurzel - Ah well, at least I'm learning

Thank you David for your encouraging comments.

One to finish with:

[Wurzel]

That's a blinder of a shot Pauline

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[millerd]

Smashing shot, Pauline. I love the way LTBs seem to bury themselves in flowerheads like that - especially on their favourite pea blossom. If that's your final final photo of the season, it's a great way to conclude things.

Cheers,

Dave

[MrSp0ck]

Great shot to finish with, ive done some lovely ones too recently. Everything other than CYs and LTBs now seems to be ending, a few Red Admirals still around though. Will anything be left after 4 days of rain.

[bugboy]

Fantastic recent posts, too many to pick out a favourite image! Your 'male wasp spider' is actually a female garden spider Araneus diadematus.

[Neil Freeman]

Some great reports accompanied by lovely photos Pauline

I was interested to read your earlier reports from Thorney Island. My daughters partner is in the Army and is based there, he currently comes up most weekends but they are planning on getting married in 2021 which means that she will most likely be moving down there with the grandkids. By then I am also planning to have taken early retirement which will mean that we will should have plenty of opportunity to visit them...and of course allow me to check out the area.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Goldie M]

Lovely shot Pauline, so unusual to see one so clear I'm hope fully wishing to see one some day Goldie

[Pauline]

I keep trying to get away - honestly - but you keep drawing me back with your generous and interesting comments.

Cheers Wurzel - if I'd been quicker I could probably have got more, better, etc, etc ............

Thank you Dave - it WAS supposed to be the end but I just have to say that your LTB shots have been way better than anything I have managed to achieve this year so well done to you.

Thanks Martin and thanks for your advice. For me it was quite exciting to have the ID confirmed and I think you are right about it being female.

Cheers Buggy - I shall track down a male Wasp Spider eventually!

Thank you Neil. If you visit Thorney in the future it would be lovely if we could meet up there. I hope you will let me know in due course.

Cheers M. - it seems they are becoming more regular visitors so I reckon you have every chance if you're in Kent at the right time.

The other day I was cleaning out the rabbit run (all 14' of it!) raking up soiled hay, droppings etc and being quite rough so I was astonished when the largest pupa I have ever seen was raked up from one of their tunnels. Hoping I hadn't damaged it I placed it in a container and Martin was good enough to identify it as a Privet Hawkmoth. I was so excited (I know, sad isn't it but it was such a welcome change from all the problems here). I have never seen one of these in any of their stages - how come I didn't find the cat I keep asking myself. Not far from the run is a large lilac tree and I assume this is where it came from. Maybe I should put the moth trap out more often! I really hope I can see this through but in the meantime:

[David M]

That's a wonderful Long Tailed Blue image, Pauline. As I know from experience, this species isn't the best in terms of approachability as it is usually quite frisky, especially the males.

[Allan.W.]

Hello Pauline ,
Just catching up on a few diaries ……………………..and Pauline ,those emergence images ,in particular the Clouded Yellow and Painted Lady are quite
superb !! As a matter of interest ,do you use a tripod for those sequences ? Pleased that you decided to keep posting for a little longer this season.
Regards Allan.W.

[David M]

The other day I was cleaning out the rabbit run (all 14' of it!) raking up soiled hay, droppings etc and being quite rough so I was astonished when the largest pupa I have ever seen was raked up from one of their tunnels...

That's one hell of a pupal case, Pauline. I hope you will keep us informed as to its progress.

[Pauline]

Hi all - hope you are all keeping safe. What a strange year eh? It was not my intention to update my diary this year but I have been persuaded otherwise (not wishing to be perverse ).

To Allen, thank you so much for your lovely comments and to answer your question, from memory, I don't think I did use a tripod in those instances. Sometimes I do but sometimes I don't. Depends on how prepared I am. More frequently I find I am being caught unawares and barely have time to grab the camera let alone a tripod but you'll see that in the next few posts.

Thank you too David. There has been no change yet as regards the pupa so hopefully that is still to come.

Some might recall that last season I spent a stupid amount of time looking for Brimstone larva and pupa in the wild very close to where I live. I was pleased to find many larva and a couple of pupa but during my search I also stumbled across many Orange Tip larva. Recently, when taking my daily exercise I located several Orange Tip pupa close to where I had seen the larva. I have reared these in the past but have never photographed pupa in the wild so I shall start with a couple of shots:

[Goldie M]

Fantastic, your back, Goldie

[millerd]

Wow. I have yet to find a wild Orange Tip pupa round here (or anywhere else either) despite their reasonable abundance every year.

Terrific shots - and welcome back, Pauline. I'm glad you will be posting again this year.

Cheers,

Dave

[Wurzel]

Cracking images Pauline - the sheen of the pupal case gives them the appearance of pieces of jewellery Great to see you return to the fold

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Goldie - amazing powers of persuasion

Good to hear from you Dave and thank you. They are quite well camouflaged but I had the advantage of knowing where all the larva had been. Purely by chance that I remembered about them - I was there getting some fresh willow branches for the parrots perches and stopped literally right beside them. I wonder if we will get the chance to meet up again this year - let's hope so!

Cheers Wurzel. I have always said that jewelers are missing a trick as many species have pupa that are (in my opinion) simply gorgeous and it would make a unique piece of jewellery rather than the usual butterfly on a chain.

I must confess that having visited the OT pupa several times I was concerned that a tightening of the restrictions would mean that further visits would be impossible. Added to that, following a strong breeze 2 of them were by now lying on the ground. I decided to bring them home. Just missed this one emerging - I was painting the side of the garage and when I looked up ........:

[Goldie M]

Those are amazing shots Pauline, your right about the jewellers, just fancy a brooch looking like your last shot

I've got a vase Jim bought for me one Christmas has a surprise, it's quite beautiful, it's a Moorcroft and it's got a Peacock Butterfly and a Red Admiral BF in all their coloured glory, I treasure it Goldie