Pauline

[Pauline]

Cheers Buggy - that's the first time I've ever seen a Dingy laying and the first time I have seen a Dingy egg. It seems that they are white when laid but then turn orange (a bit like Orange Tips). I was quite pleaed with myself today as I found more Dingy eggs without having seen them laid. At the moment, being bright orange, they stick out like a sore thumb, so if you are in an area where there are a fair few Dingy Skippers, take a little time to scan the Birds Foot Trefoil. One from today:

Some plants even had a couple of eggs on each one (bit of a problem with my depth of field here but you get the gist):

I also managed to watch one of those gorgeous female blues egg-laying. This is one of her eggs:

Thank you so much Trevor. I can see how a moth trap can easily become very time consuming. It is a great way to get some idea of what is in your area but I find the sheer variety and quantity a bit overwhelming - and as you know I'm useless at the ID's.

Thank you so much for that information Maurice. Hope all is well with you. I have found that the food plants of a Fox moth include Sallow, Bramble, Heather and Bilberry amongst others so feeding 60 larva shouldn't be too much of a problem I shall let you know how I get on.

Just one from the garden. The OT larva are growing and this is one that has just shed its skin - the discarded head is just visible:

[Katrina]

Well done with your egg hunt. It is interesting to see where the Dingy eggs are laid.

[Matsukaze]

Fox moth larvae are notoriously difficult to overwinter, and I completely failed with about a dozen that I'd got right the way through summer and autumn a few years back - a real shame as they are beautiful caterpillars.

[Benjamin]

Some lovely moths there Pauline! I too am battling with identifying everything 2 or 3 times a week at the moment. Each year I seem to forget more than I learn - a few stick, but not as many as I’d hoped!

I find Google lens is pretty good - certainly gets close enough to give you just a few options to choose between.
No doubt there are other apps that do a similar job.

I collected a batch of Fox Moth eggs a couple of years ago, but I only reared them until they were ready to overwinter and then returned them - a good compromise if you don’t want to risk it going wrong!

[MrSp0ck]

Ive got Fox Moth larvae through the winter with one method, and the metod for a few butterfly larvae should work too. Fox moth larvae tend to get damp then get mouldy which is why they dont get through.

[Neil Freeman]

Good to see you have got the moth trap out again Pauline, a lovely selection there

Cheers,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Cheers Katrina - I surprise myself sometimes with what I just happen to see when I am hanging around waiting for something else

Hi Matsukaze - good to hear from you and thank you for the warning and advice. I hope I manage to get a few through but I shall let you know. Any tips you might have will be gratefully received.

Cheers Ben and thank you for your comment - that's a really good idea. I think I shall release some and try to see some thru - a case of not putting all the eggs in one basket

Thanks for sharing your methods with me Martin. I shall keep you informed.

I need a good mentor Neil to really inspire and coach me as I get so much moth stuff wrong. Glad you liked them tho'. Didn't get a huge number (thankfully) but the quality was there and thankfully no hornets!

I don't think I have posted any shots of Speckled Wood yet this season, so it is time to put that right. Lovely when brand new:

and a few more critters seen along the way, all with questionable ID's

Willow Emerald Damselfly:

4 spot Chaser:

Golden-ringed Dragonfly:

and its anybody's guess what this is:

[David M]

Some really interesting and varied stuff in your last few posts, Pauline.

Lovely selection of moths and the Dingy ova images are especially interesting; I must spend a little time turning over the bft leaves round my way as there have been (and still are) plenty of this species about this year.

Nice presentation of the Speckled Wood underside. It's amazing how many colours there actually are when you see them in close-up.

[Chris L]

Yes, to echo what David wrote, really nice to see the close up of the Speckled Wood. It is like a piece of fabric - that I can't quite find in my mind at present to name specifically.

[Allan.W.]

Hello Pauline ,
I think your Willow Emerald damsel is actually a female White Legged damsel ,i,m seeing quite a few about myself at the moment ,Willow Emeralds are generally a lot later (the "autumn" damsel ) and are more "Emerald " in colour ,although the Pterostigma (forewing wing patches) are the correct colour . Regards Allan.W.

[Allan.W.]

Hello again Pauline ,
Your four spotted Chaser is showing no obvious "spots " on its wings ,think its probably a female (or imm; male ) broad bodied Chaser.
Regards Allan.W.

[Pauline]

Thank you Allan for your help with the ID's - much appreciated. I was told it was a 4 spot chaser by a person on site but more than happy to take your word for it and agree re damselfly.

Hi Otep - the colours are quite varied when they are fresh, aren't they? Lovely! Thank you for your comment.

Thank you David. I, too, am finding the Dingies interesting, never having paid them a great deal of attention before. Today I checked those eggs and it looks like one is on the point of hatching. The other is literally having the leaf eaten from under its feet by the looks of it. Hope it'll be OK:

Many Dingies still in evidence:

I am just about on first name terms now with each and every butterfly on the common. Not only have the SSB failed to put in an appearance yet but there is a distinct lack of any more Common Blues - I would have expected more by now:

Female Brimstone soaking up the sun:

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline.

I have seen the first Silver-studded Blues reported from various areas over the past couple of days so yours shouldn't be long now.

Common Blues are low in number so far around my patch too. In fact numbers of most things have been low here recently.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Pauline]

Hi Neil - this is a very early site so your comment prompted me to look back at previous dates of when I photographed SSB here, just for my own interest. These are not necessarily the earliest dates the SSB appeared at this site - just the earliest date I happened to visit:

2011 - 9 June
2012 - 11 June
2013 - didn't visit
2014 - 3 June
2015 - 5 June
2016 - 5 June
2017 - 30 May
2018 - 2 June
2019 - 8 June
2020 - 27 May

and at last, this afternoon, 2 males appeared (there were none when I visited this morning!)

and another lovely female CB:

[Wurzel]

I too had noticed there had been a few sightings of Silver Studs and I know that yours is an early site Pauline so was wondering when yours would turn up - then I check your a PD and voila! The inky blue of the open winged male is just gorgeous but whilst they are great the colours on the female Common Blue - well they're anything but common and she is the star of that post for me

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[Pauline]

I agree with you Wurzel - these female CB's are gorgeous, but the real reason I have been spending so much time on the common is to try to monitor some of the eggs I have found.

At about 8.00am this morning I checked the Dingy eggs and found one of them now looked like this:

A second visit later in the day revealed that the egg had started to hatch (time 15.05)

Time 17.06:

The last shot I took was about 6.00pm and things hadn't moved on much further. I guess by tomorrow there will be a larva but I could stay no longer. There are others to monitor so perhaps I'll get lucky with one of them.

I also took the opportunity to check out one of the Painted Lady eggs which has also darkened c onsiderably:

[Pauline]

A few more from an hour at Bramshott this morning:

No females yet!

[Pauline]

As I suspected, when I returned to Bramshott the following morning, both the Dingy egg and Painted Lady egg had hatched - either very late in the evening or overnight. Thankfully, there are still other chances to see it happening:

Hatched Dingy Skipper egg and little larva about 12 hours old:

... and the Painted Lady:

This little chap was very active yet never strayed very far from his egg which can just be seen in the bottom right of the shot.

[Katrina]

Brilliant. I particularly like the egg shot where you can see the top peeled back

[Pauline]

Cheers Katrina but what I really wanted to see was the egg actually hatching. I've managed to do that today so here are a few shots - just about the limit my camera can manage. Once the larva had pushed the lid off the egg, there was a pause of a few minutes (thankfully, as it gave me time to change the battery in my camera!), almost as if the larva was gathering strength for the final push. The whole thing took about 15 minutes from when the egg started to fracture:

Another first for me!