Padfield

[trevor]

Among all the exotica you have treated us to recently Guy,
i have to say that the Desert Orange Tip is the one I find most appealing.
Superb reports and images as usual, even though some of your shots are
a little taunting to us over here !.

Great stuff, stay safe.
Trevor.

[essexbuzzard]

Well done Guy, I’m glad you took your chance and managed to get over there.

Those two tailed pashers alone makes it worth the effort!

[Benjamin]

A pleasure to follow along with your trip Guy. Particularly partial to the striped graylings and all things hilltopping (I find spending time with these species at their high points a unique kind of wildlife experience), but really it’s just exciting to read along and start thinking about exploring further afield once again.

[Pete Eeles]

Excellent report, Guy! Sorry to hear about the phone

Cheers,

- Pete

[Padfield]

Thank you all for your kind comments. And apologies for not reciprocating on your own various personal diaries, some with far more exciting domestic and exotic adventures! I barely had time to select, process and upload the critical photos each night before crashing exhausted (but happy)!

I travelled home yesterday, without mishap, and got stuck straight into duties here. I hope to update my own website with the new pictures and one new species over the next few days, time permitting. Fortunately, there is currently no quarantine for Spanish returns, though this may change soon apparently, with the rise of the Beta variant. For any others tempted into foreign trips in the near future, it's not actually difficult but there are a lot of technical hurdles to climb over and smart devices are virtually essential. You can't complete the UK travel locator form until 48 hours before you fly home, so unlike the outward-bound documents this is not something you can prepare in advance and print off. You need to fill in the form online then download the pdf with QR code to a device you can carry with you and bring out when required. I guess those who stay at hotels or upmarket accommodation could ask to use a printer but if, like me, you go for the cheapest habitaciones and hostales it's definitely better to have a smartphone or tablet. Or two. The predator who swiped my iPhone could have totally messed up my trip if I hadn't got my old Swiss one with me. He or she got at best a tatty device that could be sold for €100 at a push but probably much less...

By a bizarre coincidence, my sister e-mailed me excitedly on Friday, as I was travelling home, to say she had just seen a huge, blue butterfly in the local meadow. Yes - it was Morpho peleides, just like the one I saw flapping about in the Andalucían countryside less than a week before. She didn't get a photo of it but another neighbour did when it joined him for evening drinks later in the day, and he sent me the evidence. To the best of my knowledge there are no butterfly farms near here but we do have a very fine garden centre, Nottcutts, adjoining the meadow. Is it possible the Woodbridge Morpho stowed away as an egg or caterpillar on plants imported from South America and completed its development in the garden centre?

Guy

[David M]

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed reading about your trip, Guy (stolen phone aside). There’s a unique sense of satisfaction travelling abroad right now. I suppose it’s like being on short-term release from prison (not that I’ve ever been in that situation, mind!)

Some great general wildlife and I’m particularly interested in your baeticus/tripolina images, given that I have to identify these for paying guests on my own Spanish trip!! It’s only when you see them together that you realise that the differences, whilst subtle, are actually quite telling.

Great Pashas, Desert Orange Tips, etc….it really is a different world down there.

I’m glad you got back to the UK safely and without incident.

[Padfield]

Thanks David. I've been studying your baeticus pictures too. In Switzerland, I used to see alceae, lavatherae and flocciferus regularly and commonly and could identify them at a glance. It is taking me a while to get my eye in for baeticus but it's definitely coming. Males are easy from the upperside. I think some females are less obvious from the upperside but are identifiable from the underside. It's a learning curve. Several of the books say baeticus flies in Switzerland but this is not true, sadly. It did fly for a brief period at the beginning of the 20th century, as a result of imported plants, but has never been a native butterfly.

Since returning I've had limited time to post but have got out when I could. Here are some piccies from today to bring my diary sort of up to date:


(Small tortoiseshells have been notably absent this year. I was happy to find dozens today, feeding on buddleia with hundreds of red admirals and many other species)


(I've been watching silver-washed fritillaries in good numbers at a site in Rendlesham Forest, though sadly I didn't discover it until after my return from Spain, when they were already rather worn. This was the best I could do today!)


(Graylings are abundant in Suffolk at this time of year)


(I didn't see whether this male got his way - eventually they stopped running around on the ground and flew off)


(A southern hawker from my local meadow, this morning).

Losing the iPhone was definitely a downer, but I have to say the iPhone 12 (Mini) I replaced it with has an incredible camera. This photo of Bootes and Corona above my house was taken hand-held in twilight:



More stars are visible in the picture than were visible to the naked eye. I can't wait to try it on dark skies ...

Guy

[David M]

Thanks David. I've been studying your baeticus pictures too. In Switzerland, I used to see alceae, lavatherae and flocciferus regularly and commonly and could identify them at a glance. It is taking me a while to get my eye in for baeticus but it's definitely coming. Males are easy from the upperside. I think some females are less obvious from the upperside but are identifiable from the underside. It's a learning curve. Several of the books say baeticus flies in Switzerland but this is not true, sadly. It did fly for a brief period at the beginning of the 20th century, as a result of imported plants, but has never been a native butterfly.

I never knew baeticus existed temporarily in Switzerland, Guy. I know it is present in the French Alps, but I've never personally seen it there.

I've only ever seen around a dozen myself, but like you say, repeated exposure does something to the brain and suddenly you find you can identify them fairly easily.

That is indeed a great image of the sky taken with your new i-phone. To think as little as 25 years ago we had to visit Max Spielmann to have our images developed!

(nice ups of the Grayling too).

[kevling]

Guy, enjoyed your Spanish diary. As a lover of Orange Tips my favourite of course is the Desert OT. What a beautiful species. I was not aware they were a high summer species. Malaga certainly looks a nice place, another to go on my groaning ‘to do’ list.

Kind Regards Kev

[Padfield]

Thanks David and Kev. David: you can read more about baeticus in Switzerland here: https://lepido.ch/agir-pour-les-preserver/liste-rouge/ (a little down the page, under 'Espèces disparues'). Kev: I agree about orange tips. Desert orange tips are in a very different group from the British species, of course, and are essentially continuously brooded, becoming more populous throughout the year. Numbers are also supplemented by immigrants.

As posted in the August thread, I went looking for brown hairstreaks in Ipswich on Wednesday, finding them in two sites about 1km apart. I reached the second site in the afternoon, when there was not so much sun and the butterflies had finished warming up anyway. So just flight views there. But this female at the first site was a little more cooperative:





She was near, but not on, blackthorn, dividing her time between sycamore and rowan, where she seemed to be supping at sap and honeydew. This rather poor shot shows her drinking at a scar on rowan:



There were a few common blues in Ipswich - a species that has been unusually scarce around me this year:





This large white chose to pupate on the side of our house:





Guy

[Wurzel]

Lovely Brostreak shots Guy And the detail in the shot of the pupa is awesome

Have a goodun and stay safe

Wurzel

[kevling]

Glad to see you got some Hairstreaks Guy. Nice photos.
Lovely detail in that Large White Pupa. A couple of years ago we grew some nasturtiums at the front of our house with the intention of this happening. We got lucky as one pupated on the wall outside our bedroom window. The other unfortunately pupated in the window mechanism and we couldn’t close the window right up all window without squashing it. The things we do for butterflies.

[David M]

I'm so pleased you managed to catch up with Brown Hairstreak, Guy. Late summer wouldn't have anything like the promise if I didn't have this butterfly fairly close to where I live.

Thanks for the link. I see False Grayling makes that list too.

One question - Why does the site use muschampia for the generic name? Is that what it used to be prior to carcharodus?

[Padfield]

One question - Why does the site use muschampia for the generic name? Is that what it used to be prior to carcharodus?

I don't know why les frères Baudraz chose to use Muschampia for lavatherae, flocciferus and baeticus, and Carcharodus for alceae, in the latest revision of their web site and the new edition of their book. I've been meaning to write and ask (they're good friends of mine) but haven't got round to it yet. The documents they refer to here in the justification for the latest name changes don't seem to support this directly, though they acknowledge that there is work to be done on Muschampia and Carcharodus. See: https://lepido.ch/changement-des-noms-despeces/.

I'll let you know when I find out the answer - I don't doubt they have good reason!

Guy

[Padfield]

Thanks Wurzel and Kev. That’s the only pupa I’ve found so far out of hundreds of cats in the garden. I might move it somewhere safer when I’m sure it’s planning to hatch in the spring, not this autumn.

Guy

[David M]

..I don't know why les frères Baudraz chose to use Muschampia for lavatherae, flocciferus and baeticus, and Carcharodus for alceae, in the latest revision of their web site and the new edition of their book. I've been meaning to write and ask (they're good friends of mine) but haven't got round to it yet. The documents they refer to here in the justification for the latest name changes don't seem to support this directly, though they acknowledge that there is work to be done on Muschampia and Carcharodus. See: https://lepido.ch/changement-des-noms-despeces/.

I'll let you know when I find out the answer - I don't doubt they have good reason!

Thanks, Guy. I'm aware there has been taxonomic 'tinkering' with muschampia proto of late, so it's clear that this genus is subject to further study from that perspective.

It would be interesting to know the rationale of Messrs Baudraz.

[Padfield]

Hi David. Having read the document Vincent and Michel linked to (https://zookeys.pensoft.net/article/50878/) more carefully, I see that Zhang et al. do propose the change to Muschampia for all former Carcharodus except alceae and tripolinus (see p. 110). I was misled because they retain Carcharodus for all species in their phylogenetic wheels. Nevertheless, these make it clear the two mallow skippers are in a different clade (with Spialia) from the others (in a branch with Muschampia). It's very interesting, as by wing morphology tripolinus and alceae are much closer to baeticus et al. than they are to the Spialia species, and proto et al. don't look much like the other marbled skippers. Nevertheless, it does seem that phylogenetically - and therefore evolutionarily - those are the groupings! Some other books already use Muschampia for the marbled (but not mallow) skippers and I suspect this will become standard. The alternative would be to lump Carcharodus, Spialia and Muschampia into a single genus (or I suppose create a new genus for the marbled skippers), but it seems to me generic lumping is on the way out again now!

Guy

EDIT: I've now updated my own taxonomic checklist (here: https://www.guypadfield.com/checklist.html) to reflect this.

[David M]

...The alternative would be to lump Carcharodus, Spialia and Muschampia into a single genus (or I suppose create a new genus for the marbled skippers), but it seems to me generic lumping is on the way out again now!

Many thanks for that link, Guy. It certainly expanded my vocabulary, that's for sure!

Yes, after having some genera 'absorbed' into polyommatus a little while back, it looks like the opposite trend is now the order of the day.

The scientists behind all this must wonder how long it'll be before what they've decided upon becomes obsolete!!

[Padfield]

Glad to have enlightened you, David (for now)!

My large white pupa began colouring up yesterday and finished the job today, so I think he will emerge tomorrow morning. Here is a sequence showing the changes:


(29th August, a week after pupating, and wing panels the same colour as the rest of him)


(3rd September, showing an ivory tone on the wing panels and just a vaguely grey hint of the dark apical patch)


(4th September - this morning - showing a little more demarcation)


(4th September - this afternoon - showing almost black apices)


(4th September - late afternoon - showing a little more progression)


(4th September - 21h30 - looking ready to pop! The abdomen seems almost breaking apart at the seams, which are wider than before).

I fear I'll miss the emergence, as I have to leave home at about 09h45 tomorrow and won't be back before lunch time ...

Guy

[David M]

Great sequence, Guy. When seen in close-up like that you realise what a beautiful work of nature it is.