Pauline

[Pauline]

It was certainly a surprise for me David but given the amazing temperatures I guess it shouldn't have been. I imagine I would see an awful lot more if I spent more time here during the Summer. I cannot get on with the remainder of my garden furniture given the weather today:

Instead I shall start a brief resume of my activities over the Autumn. 5th September was so warm that I visited Old Winchester Hill specifically to see the Silver Spotted Skippers as they emerge late at this site. It was a morning visit and most of the butterflies were very active, mostly nectaring. In my experience most of the SSS egg-laying occurs in the afternoon although I did see a couple of females oviposting, and one female who persisted in dragging her abdomen across the flower head whilst nectaring.

However, by far the most interesting find for me was yet another newly emerged Adonis low in the grass. At first I thought it was a female as it was attracting a fair bit of male attention – in fact that is what drew my attention to it. On closer inspection I saw meconium being expelled from it and was given a brief glimpse of electric blue.

[Wurzel]

Fantastic Silver Spots Pauline I'm half way through October - race ya to 2022

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Those are beautiful, Silver Spotted Skippers, Pauline.

The proboscis is ridiculously long for such a small butterfly.

[Chris L]

Fantastic SSS photos Pauline. A species that I have yet to see but hopefully I will rectify that in 2022. I have scribbled down Aston Rowan Nature Reserve somewhere near High Wycombe as somewhere that they can be seen.

[Pauline]

Thank you so much Otep for your lovely comment on my summary of 2021 - much appreciated. I am pleased you liked the SSS as there is more of them to come. You are probably going to the right place to see them (although I have never been there). The colony near me is tiny and in some seasons numbers can be counted on both hands. However, some much needed land management has now been carried out which will hopefully help.

Thank you David - they are my favourite Skipper tho' I have yet to see a Chequered Skipper which I suspect could well take the lead if I am ever able to see one.

Cheers Wurzel - No contest - I shall beat you hands down. Just wait and see!!!

On 6th September I decided to make a very brief visit to Noar Hill just to check that there hadn’t been a late mass emergence of Brown Hairstreaks. There hadn’t been! From talking to as many folk as possible over the season it seems that the total number of Brown Hairstreaks seen here this season is probably in single figures. I have also been told that 3 rare orchids have also been lost from the site in the last few years and one visitor had even seen contractors spraying young blackthorn with herbicide. After an hour of searching I did however manage to find 3 eggs. Whether these will also be destroyed remains to be seen.

Not wishing to waste the early autumn sunshine I decided to nip down to Oxenbourne to monitor the SSS there. There was still a great deal of courtship and egg-laying going on. A couple of lovely fresh Small Copper also caught my eye:

(4 eggs in this shot tho' not obvious)

[Wurzel]

More cracking Silver Spots and that Small Copper is lush , although it does seem to be having a problem with it's mouth parts Still in September I see

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Wurzel - I think I have some advantage over you as you do not know exactly how many outings I was able to make before I started to strip the wallpaper from by bedroom walls (and ceiling). This room had not been redecorated for over 50 years (!!!!!!) and when I stripped off 6 layers of paper the plaster came with it!!!! It is plaster and lath and through the strips of wood I could see patches of lawn in the back garden!!! There has never been any lighting in this room either so, trying to find a silver lining, this seemed like a good time to remedy that. BUT, have you ever tried getting in a team of plasterers, an electrician and a plumber weeks before Christmas. Overall quite a traumatic experience but pleased to say once I completed the painting and wallpapering it now looks lovely - mind you, might be another 50 years before it gets done again!!!!


(Still in September)

I really should pay more attention to my tiny patch of nettles. Whilst grabbing a quick coffee I looked more closely than normal only to discover the empty pupal case of a Comma already departed. The tent constructed by the Red Admiral larva now held a pupa. The biggest surprise was to see a Red Admiral roosting and when he opened his wings in the early morning sunshine to reveal that he was most probably the Red Admiral I had seen earlier given his white spots and Ab. Status:

[Pauline]

On 8 September I decided it was high time to get on with some garden clearance and decided to start at the side of the house – a strip which I allow to grow quite wild for most of the year and which includes bedstraw, willowherb, nettles, wild strawberry and much more. I didn’t get very far as every bit of nettle had to be thoroughly examined and the first handful of bedstraw revealed a couple of larva of the Elephant Hawk moth. I excitedly phoned Martin to ask his advice about caring for them and he informed me that there would be more. Sure enough, when I went back out the following day I easily found another couple, simply by following the trail of frass. The droppings of this caterpillar are huge – so massive I could not resist taking a shot beside a 5p coin for some size context.

I found several more larva, a few of the Spectacle moth, as well as a couple of frogs and a toad. I also spotted a Small White pupa on the back of some clematis I was chopping back. It was at this point that I decided that this wild patch would have a reprieve – at least for the time being.

[millerd]

That just shows the value of letting a patch of ground grow wild for a while - all kinds of interesting things colonise it, relatively quickly too. I've always liked Elephant Hawk moth cats, since I first found one as a child. I struggled to believe it was real, and would turn into such a beautifully-coloured moth.

Cheers,

Dave

[Neil Freeman]

Really jealous of you seeing 7 species in you garden Pauline, that's 6 more than I have had in my garden so far this year and 2 more than I have seen around here in total

Lovely Silver-spotted Skipper photos from OWH, much better than I managed from there last year.

Love the Elephant Hawk Moth larvae, they bring back memories of rearing these years ago

Looks like I will be down that neck of the woods again in a week or so, Jane wanted to go down and visit Sarah and the kids over Easter so we have booked a few days in the same B&B we used last year.
Not sure what butterflies will be around then and I'm guessing a bit too early for DoB given the recent weather but thinking Grizzled/Dingy Skippers might be around and I have also seen a few Green Hairstreak reported so fingers crossed I might be able to see something.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

Great stuff Pauline I love the way that the light caught the 'eyes' on the cat giving them a pinky hue
I feel your pain with the decorating - a few years ago I took down all of the lath and plaster ceilings one by one luckily it wasn't anywhere near Christmas else I think I still wouldn't have any ceilings now

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[David M]

Thanks for the update, Pauline. As ever, you have seen (and done) lots of interesting things. The hawk moth larva is an incredible sight and never ceases to amaze me (the adults are pretty spectacular too).

[Pauline]

That is so true Dave. Trouble is, most of the wildlife friendly plants grow in the gaps of the path making it impassible but I guess it is worth it. The Hemp Agrimony (also in the gaps) has spread too - don't know where that came from!!

Hi Neil - have you still got my phone no/email address? If not, and you'd like to meet up send me a pm. I think animal problems got in the way last time. Don't know what the weather's going to be like.

Cheers Wurzel - seems like I just can't stop. Have now sanded, primed and painted the garden swing seat so that it matches the bistro set. Just got the cushions to sort now as I made a canopy last season:

Thank YOU David - updating my diary gives me a chance to sit down before I start the chores As you've probably realised, life is always quite hectic here.

STILL in September:

I spent most of the morning on 12th September watching a Red Admiral pupa (from an egg laid on my nettles). The emergence looked imminent and sure enough 30 mins later a lovely butterfly sat in front of me:

and those wing markings are just gorgeous:

I have watched these emerge before, several times, but somehow it seemed more rewarding knowing it that it 'grew up' in the garden!

[Neil Freeman]

Hi Pauline. Nice sequence of the emerging Red Admiral, like you say, always that bit more special when you know they are 'home grown'.

Yes, I have still got your number. Not sure yet what I will be up to down there, I suppose it will depend on family and/or weather but hopefully will be able to get out somewhere.

Cheers,

Neil.

[Wurzel]

A lovely set of images Pauline - a stunning sequence I love poring over the markings on the ings of various butterflies looking for numbers, letters, patterns, shapes etc it's great fun for a long winters evening - which it what it still feels like at the mo

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Thank you Neil - much appreciated. I was pleased at the number of butterflies in the garden last season.
If you call and I don't pick up I'll be mucking out animals so please just leave a message.

Thank you too Wurzel - I think the colours of butterfly wings are amazing. Temperatures to rise soon they say so don't despair.

Most of my autumnal sightings took place in my garden but on 12th September it was back to Old Winchester Hill in the hope of finding a Clouded Yellow. I was not disappointed and for once the cloud worked in my favour, slowing down this lovely fresh specimen making a few shots possible.

There were still plenty of butterflies around including several fresh Adonis males and a number of Silver Spotted Skipper females egg-laying.

A bird of prey caught my eye as it was behaving very strangely. I think it is a Kestrel, presumably a young one as it was flying from one low perch to another, just a few feet from the ground, intermittently landing in the grass – perhaps practising adult skills of hunting?

[bugboy]

Yup, that is a Kestrel. It could well have been hunting Grasshoppers or worms.

[Wurzel]

That is a lovely series of Cloudy shots Pauline I eventually managed to track one down but it was a lot more worn that your one I'm just about to do my first 2022 post - I feel a little bit dizzy from not living so far in the past

Have a goodun

Wurzel

[Pauline]

Cheers Buggy - I wasn't aware they ate either of those things.

Thank you Wurzel - you have only won the first round! Just think how dizzy you will feel if you ever get bang up to date!

I have to interrupt my update to record yesterday's events. There were both Orange Tips and a GVW in the garden bringing the total up to 9 species here this season. However, as pleasing as that was, it was not that which excited me. Yesterday I watched an Orange Tip emerge but I have done that several times already. However, this wasn't just any old Orange Tip - this was an Orange Tip that must have 9 lives and one which I had given up for dead a couple of times already. The eggs were laid in the garden last season and I watched them grow and develop. As the larva got bigger the birds started to pick them off but missed a couple which I brought into a safe haven (Life 1 used up!). Sadly, one escaped and by the time I located it, it was almost unrecognisable as a caterpillar as it had been caught by a spider and neatly packaged up, which involved it being folded completely in half before being tightly bound. I recorded this at the time in my diary but didn't take a photo as I was convinced it was dead (2nd life used up). Out of spite for the spider and curiosity for myself I removed it from the web and spent a considerable time carefully removing every strand although how I didn't puncture the larva in the process I really don't know (Life 3)! I was amazed to find the creature was still alive and even more surprised when it pupated a couple of days later. However, the pupal case looked a little deformed, bent at a strange angle where the larva had been 'folded'. I wasn't sure it would ever successfully emerge and even if it did I was convinced it would be deformed in some way. As a result I put it away for the winter in a safe place and forgot about it (Life 4) - at least until photos of Orange Tips started to appear on this site. I checked it 2 days ago and to my astonishment it had coloured up. Here's a few of the shots that really brightened my day:

The empty, bent, pupal case:

There seemed to be a mark on its abdomen where the 'fold' had been but that was the only apparent evidence of its previous trauma:

The butterfly spent most of the day in the garden seeming to prefer Daphne and aubretia over the many Boules Mauve and other nectar sources. Whenever the wind picked up it retreated to the shelter of a large Rhodedendron bush:

[millerd]

Considering its traumatic life history, that is an amazing outcome for that Orange Tip. Beautifully documented, Pauline.

Dave