Thanks
Otep, its not a butterfly I can ever walk past anymore, if they were as rare as a High Brown Fritillary imagine how far people would travel!
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Dave, the eggs are laid in early instar larvae, at least that's what a Mr Eeles says in a certain recent publication
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
. They certainly wouldn't find any on Holly round round here, there is no Holly! It's all Dogwood and Goat's-rue on my patch in the spring although I have seen the odd female also sniffing around Bramble flower buds.
I'm sure some will turn up Soon
Goldie
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Wurzel, I did some more pilates & Yoga moves to get the shots below, at least that's what my story was gonna be if I was questioned as to what I was up to
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Pauline, I've actually never seen that larvae before myself although the adults do turn up pretty regularly. They're quite common but rather small, here's one on a nettle where you can get an idea of its size by comparing it to the stinging hairs on the leaf.
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David, yes it's been a few years since I've reared some caterpillars, takes me back to my boyhood summer holidays where I had perminantly numb fingers from all the nettle I used to pick
![Laughing :lol:](./images/smilies/icon_lol.gif)
. I was reading up on them in Neil and Micheal's butterflies of Sussex and Neil clearly states that Essex have a strong preference for dryer habitats so I guess I shouldn't be so surprised with the ratio I found.
June 2020
Tuesday 16th. Another morning and another load of Peacock’s waiting to be released, seven had emerged overnight this time, I got up at 6am today but still missed the emergence of them al
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
l. Since I was up early, I thought I’d release them now and hope they’d sit. This time they were a lot more relaxed and I managed a selection of (ahem) carefully posed shots before one by one they all fluttered off
![Wink :wink:](./images/smilies/icon_wink.gif)
.
One of them had a slightly aberrant left forewing, almost like a photocopying error where the bottom half of the black spot on the centre front margin didn’t connect to the top half giving the impression of an extra spot. Interestingly it wasn’t symmetrical.
Once that was all over it was off to Epping Forest again. Small Heath were still numerous and numbers of Large Skipper were also increasing but interestingly, the only Thymelicus was the Small Skipper, but then the grass here is significantly lusher and the Yorkshire Fog doesn’t seem to have been too badly affected by the lack of rain.
![IMG_0100.JPG (79.81 KiB) Viewed 664 times This one seems to have been out partying the night before...](./files/thumb_13753_934d26325ff421a10e9c2cb5e358a6bd)
- This one seems to have been out partying the night before...
Meadow Browns were numerous too, mostly males and mostly fresh so still some way from peak emergence here. Also seen was my first Green-veined White for a few weeks, a couple of frisky Small Tortoiseshell and a handful of fresh Hutchinsoni Comma.
Near the end of my walk I did a spot of birding at the lake with the highlight watching a Great-crested Grebe fishing, popping up quite close to me with a bit of a mouthful! I think it was a Rudd but I’m not too hot on fish id.
![IMG_0449.JPG (136.64 KiB) Viewed 664 times The battle begins.](./files/thumb_13753_404b877ff51ce8fec3f593ecf6fbf18b)
- The battle begins.
![IMG_0466.JPG (162.24 KiB) Viewed 664 times there was little dobt who the winner was ever going to be.](./files/thumb_13753_179268a1ce553f7ba53469f7fac5f222)
- there was little dobt who the winner was ever going to be.